Love notes from a lover boy

Levi is one of our kids that I would have said was higher maintenance, but that just means that he can portray such a wide array of emotions on any given day, and ever since he started learning how to read in k5 last year, he has been writing notes. He wrote love notes to Gracie and put them in her seat sack last year. He writes notes to Tim and me instead of asking us a question and he writes notes just to say "I love you."

One day we were at my friend Erin's house and Levi took some sidewalk chalk and scribed an ode to mommy on her driveway.



If you couldn't read his writing (he hasn't got the grasp of vowels just yet) this is what it said:
"I Love you mommy love Levi you ar the best mom in th hole wide wrold."

Some days I want to pulverize him for being so drastic in his emotions and other days I want to melt because he is a little love bug who shows his love to me by hugging me, sitting in my lap and best of all, writing me love notes. sigh.

The graduate

Levi graduated kindergarten (good grief, it's been a month ago now) and I am finally still enough to sit down to post about it. I'm on vacation in Texas and have nice pictures to post but have other things to do first, my being slightly compulsive about chronology and all. I'll try and get caught up soon, but you all know right well, it won't last long.

Levi got to do most of the speaking again, starting with the opening lines, and clearly they emphasized to him that he needed to SLOW DOWN and enunciate his words. He did that perfectly.

By the end of the program, they had all been on the stage way too long and boys being boys, they had to fight...who knew a scrolled diploma could be a light saber?

Afterwards we had to stop and take a whole lotta pictures and poor Levi was not game for too much of that. Well, until his friend passed by.

Romeo stopped to pose with one of the little girls (Kayla) that would always run up to him and hug him or lift him up and not let him go. It actually was a bit annoying. Well, to me anyways.

Grandpa G...

This is the best a photographer can do with this bunch. We were way too tired to stand anymore, so what do you do with a bunch of wound up kids itching to run around like lunatics???

You take them to Dairy Queen for ice cream, of course. We went to Steak and Shake for Elijah's graduation and this year, Levi chose DQ. I like that choice much better.

Leviboy we love you, we are proud of you and we are excited to watch you continue to grow up into the young man God will have you to be. Happy graduation!

Vacation for a day...with Daddy

Tim had to go to Michigan for a week for one of Moody's Share's (week long on-air fund raising that takes care of a year long budget) and his hotel was only a couple hours away, so mom and I drove up to see him one day after the boys got out of school just to go swimming. It was a great way to spend an evening.Eden was quite the little fish. Once she had on her floaties, she was in her own little world jumping in the pool and swimming from end to end. She loves the water!

Titus on the other hand needed a fairly long break-in period. He wasn't so sure he liked the water and wouldn't let go of me and Tim when we were holding him. Ever.

However, by the end of the night, he was a new little guy and I was so excited for him.

This little girl...I just want to eat her up, chubby thighs and all. She was so cute waddling along the side of the pool and the hot tub. She didn't mind going up and down the stairs of the pool but she was not at all fond of going out into the water. It wasn't until I blew up the floating thing she could sit in that she somewhat enjoyed herself.

This little guy started out the afternoon not too certain he even liked the idea that there was a deep end, but by the end of the night, he was having full faith in his floaties and even got the fabulous idea that he didn't need them anymore. Nice try!

Here is an example of Eden and her new found love for jumping.

Here is Titus. He is pouting, as you can see, and when Titus pouts, he completely drops his shoulders and his head and does the complete dramatic presentation of pout. If it didn't tick me off, I would think it was completely hysterical.

Watch at the beginning and you may catch the terribly ugly face he makes...he is a character indeed!

Mr funny guy here was just spending his time improving his ability to swim. He did wonderfully going back and forth the length of the pool. I was so proud of him but I still don't think he is ready to be on his own unattended just yet. He would disagree.

If I had one word to stick to this picture I would put IMP!!! Oh my word she was killing us with the arm crossing and goofy face. So darn cute. Is this how the youngest gets spoiled??? Doggone her! She's got some mad skills for sure! What she was doing here was basically dancing for her food...

The video quality is terrible, but I think you will still see the imp at work here!!!

One month ago...

I guess it's time for a new post. I am going back about a month to some pictures partly because that's where I left off and I am the queen of catch-up and partly because I just got scolded by my SIL, Shelley, for not having anything new to read after she spent umpteen minutes trying to get connected to the internet in the first place. How disappointing! Sorry Shelley! To make it up to you, I am doing a post that will feature you...or a part of you. That should get me back on your good side! ;-)

This is Nadia. Around our house she is called Nanee (nah-nee). Micah knows how to say Nadia as plain as day but I think she prefers Nanee. Every baby Micah sees is Nanee. If she hears a cry...Nanee. You get the picture.

Well just about a month ago our sweet little Nanee (along with her mommy and daddy) left Chicago for Indonesia where they are training with New Tribes Missions agency for Bible translation. Once they learn the culture and language of Indonesia they will (once they have more support) go off into a village that [most likely] will not have a written language, come up with a language for them, teach them to read it, translate the Bible for them so that they can finally have something they can use to begin telling these people about Jesus. Exhale. This post is made of the pictures we took of their last few days with us.

Titus is generally a monster, but somehow he can muster up a lot of tenderness for Micah and Nadia. Well, at least in comparison to his natural bull in a china shop tendency.

He even mustered out this kiss...what a guy.

I loved watching Tim with Nadia...I could never tell she wasn't his own.

Micah, on the other hand knew better

and didn't always like it!

Ok, so I really wanted to get a picture of all the cousins together before Nadia went off and got "all growed up" so after they all got baths and after it was way past their bedtime I thought it would be perfect to make them all sit still for a photo session. Sorry, baby.

The next day she was having a blast in the swing even though it was a touch chilly; enough for runny noses and chubby red fingers. I miss those fingers!

Here's the clan at my mom and dad's house on Easter.

There's nothing special about this picture...I just liked it and it's my blog and I can post it if I want to!

It was a nice enough Easter day (unlike the past how many years) that we took turns on the paddle boat. Are they doing "the Titus?"

Uncle Tim, I still don't like it and now you're laughing at me...I'm gonna cry!

I love this face. It's like she's deep in thought or making a poopie. Either way, I like the shot.

Again, Micah isn't thrilled with her daddy at the moment. What gives?

Ok, so this is the day they are leaving...not even an hour before...and I catch Nadia trying to make a face at me.

I caught many stages of the face,

but never the actual face. This one was close and though it certainly didn't contain the personality she was throwing out there, it still makes for a good note to end on.

Actually, since I am featuring Nadia today, the note I want to end on is just to let whoever reads this post know that if you or anyone you know are looking to support a missionary, I am not shy about saying Phil and Shelley are someone you may want to check out. Ask us anything about them or I can just send your email out to them to get you on their mailing list. They do have a blog which is thesvobodas.blogspot.com and that will start you off at getting to know them.

I hope you enjoyed what took me hours to do. Doggone TV. How do you all keep up with your blogs? Do you have maids or something? I don't blog much because I have to wait until the kiddos are in bed and now tonight, here it is 12:17am and I am still up. Guess who's going to be nodding off in church tomorrow?!? Well I'll try not to.

Vista "Pictcha" Blues

Ok, so I just got a new laptop...finally. But now I am stuck with learning Windows Vista and all the ins and outs of picture organization the way I like it and the way I can find stuff. As of now I can't seem to find the pictures I want in the order they happened and to top that, somehow all the dates are wrong as to when the pictures were taken...that drives me nuts. So all that to say I'd actually like to post but it may be a few days...not big deal I suppose. Aren't I always behind...?