Just a Few Pictures

Here are just a few pictures of the boys. Levi's got a nice "little" belly on him. Noah loves his new little so much. We were driving in the truck the other day and when we turned around her was sitting up against Levi's car seat just admiring him. Noah loves talking abot how cute Levi is. He is a wonderful big brother.





And, of course, here are the Halloween costumes. Noah is Sheriff Woody and Levi is a Zebra.

Visitors from a Far Away Land

Last weekend we had some visitors from a far away land come to see us. Uncle Chip and Aunt Rachel from Albequerque, NM came just to see us and spend time with their new nephew. We had a great time! We went to the Runge Center in Jeff City (conservation center) and got Noah on the great big bullfrog, which we've never managed to do w/o him wiggin' out on us. It was also Levi's first trip there...yeah, he slept through the whole thing.



The next day we went to Herman, MO which was Octoberfest and visited a winery place since we had never been to one. We also had a good time just hanging out at the house.



Chip decided to join in w/ Noah and do the silly squinty "CHEESE" face for the picture. See any resemblence w/ these 2?

Poop for Pennies!

So I know it probably sounds gross or weird, but for the last month Noah has been earning pennies for pooping in the potty. Just about every kid "regresses" at some point when their potty training. Noah had about a month ago too, a few weeks before Levi was born. We were pulling our hair out because not only could we not get him to poop in the potty (which was the only thing holding him back from big boy underpants most of the summer), but he decided peeing in the potty wasn't important anymore either. Finally, Preston and I decided to try giving him pennies for going poop in the potty b/c he showed an interest in having his own "money" no matter what kind of coin it was. So about a month ago we started giving him about 2 cents each time he did #2 in the potty. It was slow at first, then once the ball got rolling with it and with some additional help from family while I was in the hospital having Levi, we had a break through. Now he poops at least 4 times a day IN THE POTTY!!!! Needless to say he earned enough pennies in the last month to buy his first car! We took him to Walmart yesterday and he picked out his very own '67 Mustang Hot Wheels(Shelby GT). I was very proud ('67 Mustang was my 1st real car). He was super excited! Today he got to wear big boy underpants again for the first time in a few months.

Fall is Here!

Here are a few newer pictures of Levi with his big brother. To explain Noah's goofy faces, he has learned to say "Cheese" everytime he sees a camera pointed in his direction whether you tell him to say it or not. When he says Cheese he scrunches up his entire faces and looks really goofy. I have to try to take the picture when he's not expecting me to now in order to try to get a normal face or smile. He is such a Ham! A few of these are the boys in front of our house after we got our pumpkins for the season.

My Little Painting Picaso

Okay, so here is one of those "Are You Kidding Me!!!!" moments every parent will have with their toddler eventually. Last Friday afternoon Preston and I had both just returned home from different places. I had Levi with me and Preston had Noah and Nick (and boy in our youth group). Preston sent Noah downstairs to play in his play room while he and Nick were getting things ready to go to Fulton's homecoming football game and while I was taking care of Levi so the boys and I could head into Columbia. After about 10-15 minutes I headed downstairs to make sure Noah was ready to go and if you look at the pictures below you will see what I found. Noah had gone into his bathroom and gotten into pink paint and tried painting his bathroom! This was partially my fault because I hadn't moved all the sample paints we used to paint his room with a month ago. He had never even tried messing with it before and all but 2 of the paint containers have big screw on lids that he can't open yet anyway. He found one of the 2 acrylic craft paints with the flip-top lid to use. He poured it into a cup I had used to mix paint with and then found 2 smaller paint brushes to paint with. He had no paint on his hands (luckily), and had proceeded to paint his face, one spot on the jacket he had been wearing, the bathroom door, counter, toilet, bath tub, baby bath tub, waste basket, door frame, sink, and a few other nooks and crannies. Luckily everything that had paint on it was a hard surface (except his jacket) and came off almost entirely. There are 1 or 2 spots that still have some residue but you wouldn't know if I didn't point it out.






Immediately one tip came to mind that my mom gave me a long time ago, "Take the picture first while they are still smiling about what they did, then spank them." This picture was one of those moments for my mom.

Baby's 1st Bath at Home

I don't have any super recent pictures to share yet because my memory card is full on my camera, but I'm headed out today to buy a new one so I don't miss Kodak moments. Here is a couple pictures from over a week ago when Levi had his first bath at home with big brother Noah.
Levi is 2 weeks old today and is absolutely wonderful! So far, he is much much more laid back than Noah ever was. Noah is still the one that requires most of my attention. I love my boys!