This week

Lulu came to visit over the weekend! She was in Los Angeles for a few days for work, so she extended her trip through the weekend so she could stay with us. The kids were so excited.

Tuesdays I pick Levi up from school at 12:15, and we hang out locally until the older kids get out at 3:10. Yesterday we were at a park. He rested on me for a while, and I relished it because he doesn't do this that much anymore.

Levi-isms

• Jon and I overheard Levi playing with a new Lego policeman who came with accessories like hand cuffs, motorcycle, etc.: "Now I'm going to put the hand cups on you, bad guy!"
• The kids and I were talking about the ten plagues in Old Testament Egypt, and we described the water turning to blood. Lucy said, incredulous, "Who would want to drink blood?!" and Levi answered, quickly: "Mosquitoes!"
• Jon was watching a basketball game between Oklahoma City and Memphis. Levi said, "I'm not cheering for Menthis."
• New one to add 5/31/14: "Mom, are you wearing glip gloss?"

Clippers game

A couple of weeks ago, we took the boys to a Clippers basketball game; it was Levi's first.

Jon and I used to go quite a bit before we had the kids and he would get partial season tickets. 

Levi loved the game and was interested the whole time--which is impressive!

Levi tonight

Levi question

"Do fire ants shoot fire?"

Kids playing nicely

On the days Janel and I don't do our carpool thing, Levi and I pick up Lucy at 12:30 and occupy ourselves in Aliso Viejo until Nate gets out at 3:00. Dinosaur Park is a favorite spot (for me too: there's a Starbucks across the street). That's where we are today. L and L have the run of the whole place and are playing really nicely together.

Like walking for the first time

I did a closet clean-out of Levi's clothes today (after the first two shirts he put on for church on Sunday were too small!) and brought in the next size up in all the hand-me-downs. Flip-flops were among the new wardrobe, and he was excited about those. I don't think he has ever had them before! Learning to walk with them is tricky!

Levi-ism

Levi-isms

A few Levi phrases from this week...
- In the car, as we drove by something smelly: "It smells like egg fingers in here!"
- When he saw me watering the grass, I told him it helps the grass grow. "But Daddy doesn't want the grass to grow!" he said. I asked, "He doesn't?" "No, he doesn't. He's always cutting it!"
- "I just got wedgied by myself!"
- Levi's favorite song on the radio is Awake and Alive by Skillet. (Funny side note: when we are listening to the Christian radio station in the car, I've noticed Nate tends to like the rap-type songs, and Levi always likes the "hard rock.") I told him the name of the song and band yesterday, and then later that night asked if he remembered the band name. He thought for a minute... "Spill It!"

Levi laugh

Levi-isms

Some cute things Levi has been saying recently:

Pink-a-boo!
That's ridicklious!
Daddy, can you give me a piddy-back ride?
I'm telling duh troof!
He thinks a lightning bolt is a "lightning bulb."

There are so many more, but they all escape me once I sit down to write about it. :)

Back to school

The house is quiet(er)! It's back to our regular routine, which includes more work getting done for me AND more play time, walks, and scooter rides.

Levi-isms

I made pot roast for dinner tonight after Jon requested it a while back. The children loved it, and Levi wanted to ask for more. Forgetting the name but remembering when we've had meat loaf, he asked, "May I have more meat love?" We said yes, he may have more pot roast. A few minutes later, he said, "I really like this love roast!"

The kids have little teeth floss things they use some nights, but Levi can't remember the name. "Mama, can I have a ... a ... a sloff?" ("A what?") " A sloff!" ("A what?") "You know--one of those things for my teef!"

Whistler

Happy 4th birthday, Levi

Happy birthday to our funny, not-at-all shy, car-loving, all-boy boy!

I love how cute DJ looks in this picture:

First day of school

We had a great morning!

Truth be told, I teared up when Nate walked into his class. I was glad he didn't even pause to look back, though!

Lucy had a little bit of a hard time walking from the car to her class because of her shoes (there was a 10-minute delay while she took them off and put them back on a couple of times. I arrived early for this reason), so I actually didn't feel too misty-eyed when she went into her class successfully. :) Here she is with one of her new friends she met at the kindergarten park playdate last week:

And now it's just this guy and me.

We went to the school's opening ceremony together, which was for 1st through 8th graders (so we saw Nate).

Then he asked me to take this picture of him.

Now we're home and it's pretty quiet!

Newly discovered spider species

Goggles

Levi's first goggles came in the mail yesterday. He's very excited!

Boots in the bath

Levi tonight.

A boy and his bike

Last week, I found a balance bike (a bike without pedals that helps kids learn how to balance on a bike before they go to a "real bike," never needing training wheels) on Craiglist for Levi. It took him about 2 days to figure it out, and now he is in love. He thanks God for his bike when he prays ("Dear Father, thank you for this food. And thank you for my bike. And thank you for dying on the cross for our sins. In Jesus' name, Amen.").

Here he is on the second day:

Here he is on the third day:

Within minutes of this video, Levi rode his bike head on into a tree while avoiding a car that was pulling out of a parking space. Thank goodness he was wearing a helmet, because he made contact pretty hard! It also splintered the front part of the bike pretty badly. I thought it was beyond repair, but Jon was able to fix it the next day. Levi was very, very happy.