Birthday Events!

Friday, Sept. 24th, was Levi's 1st birthday! We started the day with birthday pancakes, then went to a park to play and go for a family walk. Afterwards, we went to the Runge (of course, one of our fave places) and then to lunch where we brought birthday cupcakes. Levi loved his cupcake so much he was aboslutely distraught when we took it away (as you can see in one of the following pictures, you'll know it when you see it). Later that day, we went to Dairy Queen and let Levi ride facing forward for the first time. He couldn't stop smiling and pointing at everything (which he does ALOT). After ice cream (yep, more sugar), he came home and opened one present, his swing. Preston plopped him in it and swung him back and forth in his arms. Levi loved it and couldn't stop squealing with excitement.

The next day, we had his party with all the family that could come. We had an awesome birthday party with lots of nice gifts, hugs, cake, ice cream, and love. He dug right into his cake (after the cupcake practice round the day before). Both boys had tons of sugar over these 48 hours, but it is an extremely rare treat (especially for Levi at this point).

Year in Review...

So I decided to sit down and pull some pictures in the order they were taken over the last year. Levi has grown sooooo much! It never ceases to amaze me, even after experiencing it with Noah already (and still). I'm not a wordy or descriptive person when it comes time to blogging, I just enjoy sharing our family through pictures and short descriptions. I like it short and sweet. Here are a few descriptors of my Levi: very content, happy, smilely, loveable, content, cuddly, sweet, friendly, content (did I mention content?). Levi can light up a room with his smile. The few times he's fussy is when he is teething or when big bro loves him "too much" (aka knocks him over when huggin him, etc.). Levi does everything at his own pace, such as standing which he did for the first time a week ago (but only holding furniture). Words can't describe how much our family loves him and how much he adds to our family! Noah loves him immensly and Levi wants to be anywhere that Noah is. Enjoy a few of the pictures I pulled from this past year!

Canoeing Down the River

This weekend we went on a float trip with a bunch of Thompsons. We went down to the Maramec River and stayed in a Ranch House with 16 people. Noah had a blast on his first canoeing adventure! Levi was along for the ride, since he couldn't go canoeing yet. However, Levi did pull up to his feet for the first time by himself while we were on the trip. I know several people who have babies 3-5 months younger that are aready doing that, but I've said it before, Levi is very content and does things at his own pace. Here he is making faces at me through the pack 'n play.


Here we are getting ready to lauch for our first canoe trip with Noah. It took about 3 1/2 hours total. Noah was excited to get going but was white knuckled holding onto the bar in front of him b/c he saw his great Aunt Sandy and Uncle Doug tip over within a minute of launching and then Papa T. and Uncle Jake tipped alongside of them. Sorry to those that went with us, but Preston and I were definitely the "more experienced" canoers. After about an hour or so Noah finally loosened up. We were Turtle Hunting while in the boat. That was Noah's job, to look for turtles that were sitting on treestumps sunning themselves. We saw TONS of turtles and one snake. It was funny because Jake (my sis-in-laws hubby) had just gotten done saying that the water was too cold for snakes, we went around a bend, and what do you know, a snake swimming in the water! Funny!




Here is one stop along the way. The water is springfed so its cold, but it was warm enough outside to feel nice. Noah had fun exploring.




Here are a few family members from the trip.


Noah is looking through the water, at the end of the trip, trying to find good "throwing rocks".



These butterflies were awaiting our return at the end of the float. They were everywhere!



Noah is showing me a butterfly he caught. This is the first one he has caught 100% on his own! It was very monumental that he was stealthy enough to sneak up on it and pick it up by its wings like he was taught to do at the Runge Center a few weeks ago.

Meramec Springs Park

Friday we were able to drive down to Meramec Springs Park. I had never been there before, Preston had and wanted to share it with myself and the boys. We had a wonderful day! The weather was absolutely perfect! We got to feed the trout, learn about the old iron mill and town that used to be there, and go for a long walk along the spring and the river it feeds. It was a great way to start the weekend!