Thayer family fun...

Blessed be your name

2011-11-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I had some major flashbacks of hard days in January 2006. Addison had just been born, we were so excited to finally have a baby and days later-- her birthmom changed her mind and decided she might want to parent Addison instead. We were heartbroken-- beyond heartbroken. It was probably the hardest time of our married life. But throughout the time of waiting to find out whether she'd be our baby or not-- the song "Blessed be your Name" (Matt Redman) was really big.

I remember times of just singing that song:

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name 

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

There were times that it was all I could do through the tears to just sing parts of that song.........
Fast forward a few years-- last night we were driving home from church and "Blessed be your name"
came on the radio-- Addison was sitting behind me and starts singing along.  I began thinking back 
to how many times I sang the exact song just dreaming of being a mom and parenting that precious 
baby!  It was amazing to look back all those years-- and to hear my girl singing the words.

When the song was over-- she said "Mom, that's my favorite song, that I wish we had on your iPod"....
Thank the Lord for the blessing of being her mom!

Cute things....

2011-11-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

Just thinking of two cute things that I will probably forget within a couple months so:

1-- Isaac calls his Grandparents "Bee-pa" & "Mee-maw"

2-- When Levi needs to go poopy he'll run to the bathroom and yell "Mom, don't talk"-- and you can't look at him or talk to him again till he's done. If you try to he gets a very panicked sounding voice and says "mom, don't talk"...... :)

Witches & ???

2011-10-30T16:14:00.001-07:00

This week at phy ed the kids were playing some Witches & Warlock game-- Addison told my mom that they played a game called "Witches & Lilacs".

You can say it Isaac....

2011-10-28T09:53:00.001-07:00

Levi has a hard time saying his F's-- so a word like "foot" sounds more like "butt".... anyway, my dad & Matt are always trying to get him to say his F's so they'll make him crazy by trying to get him to sound out his F. "Levi say Ff-Ff--Ffoot".... and on and on it goes. The other day in the van, Isaac and Levi were in their seats and I hear Levi saying to Isaac, "Isaac, say motorcycle, Ff-Ff-Fmotorcycle"..... and Isaac would say Motorcycle and then Levi would say "Very Good Isaac!" and then they'd move on to other words, all of which Levi would sound out F's before having Isaac say the word.

Drills.....

2011-10-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

Addison was telling me that they had a lyceum (sp?) at school the other day. Ronald McDonald was there and some other characters. I asked her what they were talking about and she said "Drills", I must have asked WHAT?! To which she replied "You know mom, drills, like Alcohol & Drills". Guess Red Ribbon week went well for the Kindergarten kids! :)

Kindergarten

2011-09-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

Since Addison started Kindergarten last week she seems to think that Kindergarteners are pretty big stuff. One of the first mornings she got up and said to me "I think this Kindergartener is going to start doing push-ups when I get up, because Kindergarteners are really strong cause they do push-ups when they wake up." :)

Isaac

2011-09-09T07:05:00.001-07:00

Isaac is talking a lot these days. Very funny boy-- assuming he will someday be able to say "Isaac" I figure I need to write down what he refers to himself as right now (age 2). Isaac calls himself "Deeka-deeka" (said pretty quickly). So if he sees a toy that he likes he says "deeka-deeka's car" or whatever. :) Such a sweet boy.

Old MacDonald....

2011-07-25T10:36:00.001-07:00

Levi walks around a lot of the day singing.... "Old MacDonald had a barm, Levi, Levi-O".....

10? Like Me?

2011-07-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were at Lake Beauty. During a chapel session I was sitting outside the gym (too loud inside for Levi). Another little boy was playing outside as well. Levi wanted to talk to him, so I prompted him in saying "What's your name my name is Levi"-- Levi repeated the words and the other boy said his name was Jack. Next I told Levi to say "How old are you?" So Levi walked over and said "How old you are" and Jack responded "I'm TEN!" (Which by the way is hilarious cause Levi is determined he's 10-- has been for months). Anyway, Levi looked at Jack and very excitedly said "Oh, you're 10? Like me?"

IN LOVE

2011-06-27T13:46:00.001-07:00

My parenting experiences are growing-- and any input would be appreciated!!

Today when I picked up Addison from school she was telling me that she's IN LOVE with a boy in her class. Let's just call him EH. She's so in love with him that she's going to marry him. She's decided he's a good boy to marry because he played at the castle the right way. And he stepped on her foot and he also told her something about someone farting in the barnyard.

The part I'm stumped on is I told her that there will be NO kissing this boy-- etc.... and she just keeps asking me WHY she can't kiss him...... I told her that she's 5 and there will be no kissing, but she still asks why. Then she asked if she can kiss him in the cafeteria, or the classroom, or the playground or at home? But WHY not?!

Boy am I glad summer school will be done in 3 days-- and maybe she'll forget about EH as quickly as she fell in love. And thankfully he's not in her kindergarten class next year. :)

Isaac

2011-04-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my dad made a comment that has come true way too soon. Dad commented that he'd be shocked if I don't take these boys of mine on multiple trips to the emergency rooms with broken bones, cuts, falls, etc.... I was a little irritated that he said it, but the very next day while playing at mom & dad's house Isaac was determined to jump off of their mission-style furniture (wood arm-rests, etc...). He was on one chair and jumped from one side to the other and smacked his left eye on the arm-rest-- therefore had a black eye from that.

2 days later, while at home Addison & Isaac were riding on toys through the kitchen. Isaac had the John Deere tractor and Levi commented he wanted to ride-- so ran to the entry way to steal it from Isaac. Pretty soon there were big cries from Isaac and Levi was on the tractor. I picked up Isaac to comfort him and realized his eye (left one AGAIN) was dripping with blood-- his eye lid was cut up. We brought Isaac to the hospital-- they felt that it needed to be glued shut to keep the scar from being bad.

Day after his cut...

Anyway-- 3 days after that Matt & I brought the kids to the playground in town. Isaac is fearless so I try and stick with him on the equipment to be sure he's safe. He was climbing the main stairs-- and I was on the top of the stairs with Levi and he tipped over and fell from the top step to the ground. I was scrambling to try and grab him, but couldn't get him-- and he fell to the ground-- head first onto the wood chips below. What an AWFUL feeling to watch your baby fall to the ground probably 5-6 feet down. His face was full of wood chips-- and it looked like he had cut his tongue and after we got home I found the top of his head was scrapped up too.

I don't need to have another week like this for a LONG time. My dad was quite accident prone as a child as well-- so when he heard about this he just said if my Grandma was still alive she'd say that Isaac is living up to his middle name...... Isaac Michael (my dad is Michael)..... I told mom today that I'm changing Isaac's middle name-- she says it won't help-- he's already got it figured out. :(

Jesus

2011-04-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight when it was time to read books to the kids Addison finally sat down quietly next to me (usually she's the wildest right when I need calm!). I was looking for a good "devotional" book for kids so I could read more about Jesus' death on the cross as I'm trying to implement more and more of this in the kids' daily discussions. And being today is Good Friday I wanted to talk about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. I read through Jesus dying and also his resurrection with Addison sitting right next to me-- the boys were in an all out fight over a counting book. So in the moment I explained to Addison again all about Jesus dying for our sins so that if we believe in Him and ask Him to live in our hearts we'll get to live in Heaven when we die. I also told her that Jesus lives in Mommy's & Daddy's heart, etc.... She finally listened longer than 20 seconds so I continued on, and then asked her if she'd like to pray and have Jesus come live in her heart too. And she said "YES!"

I prayed and she repeated all the words with me. I was so happy, but I had to deal with 2 little fighting boys, so couldn't dwell on it too long. :) So when I was tucking Addison & Levi in for the night I asked Addison to explain to Levi what she prayed about. She told him "Levi, I prayed that Jesus will come live in my heart. And we're thankful that He died on the cross because it forgives us of our sins". I hope we can continue to teach more and more to our children about Him. So thankful for this houseful of beautiful kids-- and just want them to KNOW Christ as their own.

Addison-isms

2011-03-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

Today on the way to school Addison pointed out the local Vet-- where Matt brought one of our dogs recently. While we continued on she asked "is the vet a dog doctor" and I started rambling about it being a cat doctor, dog doctor, horse doctor, cow doctor, etc... and she said "it can't be all of those"-- to which I replied, "yes, its a doctor for all those animals"..... so she started asking again if the vet is a dog doctor-- I said "yes, she is a doctor for all animals" and Addison still not getting it said "so it's a girl dog?" Finally I understood what she was thinking-- she thought the vet was a DOG that was a doctor!

5-year-old-mind

2011-03-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

Today on the way home from school Addison was mad that we weren't going to stop at A&W and get a Root Beer Float-- she's obsessed with the A&W right now. So she was testing her power and begging to go anywhere. I explained that we already went out to eat too many times this week, etc... She requested to go to the local ice cream store-- and again I said "no". Just out of town she said "Well, mom, the reason I wanted to get Ice Cream today is because something very sad happened after school today". I turned on my serious voice and asked her what happened. Addison says "My friend died after school today-- my friend Belle (this is an imaginary friend)-- she got kinda old and she died..... so her family all went to the ice cream store to celebrate cause she died".... It took everything in me to not burst out laughing. :) She continued on and on about Belle being old and dying-- so I asked her how OLD Belle was-- to which she said "I'm not sure, she was either 17 or 18-- which one is older" I told her 18 and she started in about "18 is really old, so she died". These are the conversations that are so funny-- 5 year old kids have such a funny grasp of reality.

Ugh...

2011-03-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

I really try hard to not complain-- especially when I consider how blessed I am to have a home, food, clothes and beautiful children. But today is a day that I'm starting to get frustrated with! I have LITERALLY swept the kitchen floor 7 times today, washed the dining room floor once, washed the kitchen table at least 3 times, moved chairs away from the counters 10+ times today, scrubbed the bathroom floor, washed, dried & put away at least 5 loads of laundry, served breakfast, lunch & ready to do dinner, and have given Addison & Levi 3 baths today (they keep going out to play in the mud)......... I'm pooped out and it's only 4:30-- still 2.5 hours left till I get everyone in bed..... Spring break is going to kill me. :)

Adoption

2011-01-25T17:24:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, on the way to church Addison was talking about babies and said to me a time or two "Mom, remember when I was in your tummy".... and I was avoiding the subject with her-- I just would say, "Yes, I remember when you were a baby".... Adoption is something we've discussed with her in the past, but I just don't know how often we need to talk about it or how she feels when we talk about it or ??? So I kind of ignored the topic when she brought it up.

Then while continuing to drive I decided I needed to say something about it. So I said to her "Addison, do you remember what adopted is?" and she said "no, do you know what it means mom?" :) I told her I do know what it means and went on to explain that she grew in someone else's tummy-- not mine. But that Mommy & Daddy picked her special to be their daughter and that it's a very special thing, etc... She kept looking at me while I talked about it with her.... then she asked something that she's never asked before. She said "What did you name me?"-- I told her that the lady whose tummy she grew in named her Addison, but that we wanted her middle name to be Grace after Daddy's grandma Grace. She was quiet for a minute and then said "Why didn't that lady name me something better like Beana?" (this is an imaginary name she uses a lot pronounced "Bean" "a") ........... :)

Oh the mind of a 5-year-old. And that was the end of the conversation. A 5-year-old grasps it so differently and it's so hard as an adoptive mom to know exactly how to explain things to her and to know when to say things and when to let it go.

Some favorite things....

2010-10-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

Needing to write down some things the kids do right now so I don't forget them....

Levi calls Addison "ya-ya"
Addison calls Isaac "doo-doo"
Levi will stay "momma's the princess-- I'm the KING!!"
Levi will ask "where'd daddy go?" when I say "daddy's at work" he'll reply "Oh, daddy's at jaaaiiil"
Addison told me the other day that daddy uses "handicuppers" at work to keep people at jail.
The big kids both wear their swimsuits at home most everyday

Well, I know there were more things I wanted to write down, but I forgot them for now. :) I'll have to be sure to write them down when I think of them again.

Last moments of 29....

2010-07-11T18:11:00.001-07:00

So, I've been spending the last few moments of my evening thinking about my life as a 20-something and about how those moments are QUICKLY coming to a close. I don't think it bothers me, but at the same time I've spent much more time thinking about it than I've thought about any birthday I think! Just wanted to jot down a few special moments from my 20's:

When I turned 20 I had been dating Matt Thayer for about 6 months
Married Matt Thayer at age 21
Graduated from Northwestern College, age 21
Purchased our first home, age 22
Went on 2 mission trips to Mexico
Traveled to Cozumel, age 24
Adopted our first child, age 25
Quit working to be a stay-at-home mom, age 26
Got pregnant with our first boy, age 27
Levi was born, age 27
Got pregnant with our second boy, age 28
Isaac was born, age 29

Those are just very small tidbits of all that occurred in my 20's.... Of course more exciting wonderful things happened than just those, but it's all I can write tonight!

Next, I just wanted to write about my day-- I assume 10 years from now my life will be a little different, so I thought I'd jot down all the little normal things of my life, day to day;

Addison climbed in our bed this morning- around 3 am and slept, mostly on Matt's side of the bed the whole night. Isaac woke up at 4 am for a bottle and then all the kids slept in today! I didn't get up till just after 7 and snuck over to get a shower.

We got ready for church, Addison was watching Scooby Doo while getting ready. At church I sat in the nursery with the kids as soon as we walked in the door-- I'm not able to keep all three of them under control to stay in the foyer to visit with people. :) When Gen Richter arrived to take the nursery for the morning Levi threw a tantrum about me leaving. I took him and Addison into the church service with me-- I think it's one of the first times in almost a year that Levi has come into church. He sat VERY well and made me feel like he's going to "get it" one of these days! Matt is leading worship at our church-- has been for a few months. After church we eat at potluck and then go home.

None of the kids napped today-- and Matt went to work at the jail at 2 pm. I nursed Isaac shortly after noon today-- might be the last time of my life to nurse a baby....

At 2:30 Addison decided to make "Christmas Cookies"-- (she took ritz crackers, put peanut butter on them and then used sprinkles on top);

I got out markers for the kids to color with-- Levi colored his hands and took all the tops off the markers and then threw them all on the floor, while Isaac sat and licked each one. I took the kids out to play on the swingset, but within 5 minutes a storm came in, so we went inside.

I made a cheese pizza for supper-- Addison's part of the pizza couldn't have sauce on it-- only cheese. Isaac had his first taste of pizza-- and seemed to like it. Levi dumped my entire glass of milk all over the kitchen floor.

All 3 kids got in the bath tub-- Levi seems to have possibly roseola and Isaac has a terrible diaper rash. Got everyone out of the tub and got Isaac's diaper on. Levi was determined to wear underwear, so brought me a pair of Addison's flowery undies, wore them about 15 minutes before wetting on the couch....

We watched a couple episodes of Caillou and then put Isaac to bed. Brought Levi to his room and read "I went walking" and "Goodnight Baby Bop". After reading we sing Jesus Loves Me (at which point Levi runs out of his room thinking he'll get out of going to bed) and then we sing Everybody Ought to Know [who Jesus is]. He lays down on the floor and I run out of the room while he screams, and I shut the door-- with the duct taped child lock on it, so he can't get out.

Addison comes to my room and watches Scooby Doo and won't go to her own bed to go to sleep tonight. Some nights she will, some nights she won't. She needs a measuring cup of cereal and a sippy cup of COLD water and goes to sleep.

In the mean time, Isaac is still crying, I bring in a bottle to him, and get to watch as he drifts off to sleep. What a sweet baby he is. Now the house is silent, it's 8:32 pm and all I have left to do for the night is to carry Addison over to her room and put her to bed. I already checked on Levi-- he's asleep right behind the door with his lights on-- I find him in strange places every night, and usually all the lights are on.

What will the next 10 years bring?! I'm sure I couldn't imagine what these 10 years would bring and here I am at the end of it!! Strange to think my kids will be 14, 12 and 10..... Very, very strange!

Happy Birthday

2010-04-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

On Levi's 2nd birthday we sang Happy Birthday and Levi got SUPER embarrassed. He hid his face-- turned all red and he hid his head in Ruth's shirt.... I thought this was just a fluke and ignored it....

2 weeks later we were at a Thayer Family function and at the end they were celebrating April birthdays and sang Happy Birthday again-- when it was over Levi SCREAMED and took off running down the hall-- crashed at the end of the hall and then I picked him up and he hid himself in my shirt for awhile.... Again, fluke?!

This past week we were at church and there was a man there-- it was his birthday, so everyone sang Happy Birthday to him-- this man was on the opposite side of the room-- no one paying attention to Levi. The singing got done and he let out a HORRID scream-- which of course everyone heard. Ugh.

Crabby Patties

2010-04-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

I've been working on some "life skills" with Addison lately-- such as folding washcloths.... Whenever I have a load of towels I'll have her work on doing all the washcloths. Before she can fold any of them she has to create a "grill" and then sets up her work station and creates the "crabby patties"-- okay, I can admit, she's a SpongeBob fan. :) So she folds each washcloth and serves up each one as a "crabby patty" and kisses each one when they're ready.

Everybody ought to know...

2010-04-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

We listen to a "Sunday School" song CD in our van when we're driving around. On this CD is the song "Everybody Ought to Know who Jesus is"....... Addison has gotten VERY good at singing along with most of the songs on the CD.

Yesterday on the way to church (Easter Sunday AND Levi's 2nd birthday) the CD was playing on this song came on. If you know anything about a 2 year old you know they all can say the word NO. So, this song came on and Levi would chime in ONLY on the word "NO" or "KNOW" whichever! So the song is playing away and he'll yell out NO-- and then at the end he'll say "is"... super cute. Hopefully I can tape him doing it one day. :)

"Everybody ought to KNOW, Everybody ought to KNOW, Everybody ought KNOW, who Jesus IS"

Grandma....

2010-03-11T04:20:00.000-08:00

Grandma did pass away last evening. Addison & I went to the nursing home to hug my dad, etc... after she was gone. We went into Grandma's room when our pastor came to speak with the family. After we got in the car I started to cry and Addison wanted to know why I was crying, I just said I was said because I'll miss Grandma now that she's gone to be in Heaven.... Addison just said "she's not in Heaven mom, she's still laying in bed."Top:Christmas 2009-- Grandma with her children
Middle: Christmas 2009-- Grandma with some of her grandchildren
Bottom: Christmas 2009-- Grandma with some of her great-grandchildren

Can I say failure?!

2010-03-03T19:33:00.000-08:00

So, obviously I need to go to bed-- it's past 9:30-- Isaac will probably be awake in about 2 hours, Matt will be home from work by then too...... needless to say-- I'll be woken up AT LEAST twice tonight, and that's a positive outlook. :)

I was just looking through random people's blogs and I found that I have failed as a mother! :) TONS of blogs (I just clicked the button that said "next blog" at the top) are about people's children, and I will admit-- all of these bloggers only had one child and all of these only children were under age 1...... but still, these parents go through month by month posting pictures and little ditties about what their kids is doing each month. And Megan, I know you're good at this too.....

I, for one, cannot tell you anything BIG about Isaac's 6 months of life. I can tell you he's 6 months, weighs over 18 pounds, laughs very heartily and loves to eat-- and that he bite me (while he was nursing) tonight....... Other than that, all these beautiful little lists that these wonderful parents can make about their children-- I can't do it.

Hope my kids will forgive me for it. Luckily I never did it for the first born-- so the 3rd born can't tell me that he was left out! ;) I can admit though that Addison had 3 photo albums complete of her by 3 months...... Isaac doesn't even have an album at 6 months-- I mean, there are pictures to put in, but I don't have a book to put them in yet!

Good night!

Death

2010-03-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

My Grandma Pickard has been failing in health for the past year.... last summer she wasn't doing well and they thought she would pass away before the summer was over. She's held on this long-- and really was doing pretty well over the last few months, however the end of February she went to the hospital and spent at least a week there-- and was then released to the nursing home. She's retaining fluids, has heart failure, kidney failure, etc.... her body is shutting down. She's on a lot of pain meds and they have stopped with her other medications, so it's seems to be a waiting game right now.

I've been trying to find the right words to talk to Addison about Grandma dying. I didn't want to tell her that she's "sick" or "old" because little kids can sometimes get the wrong idea and associate these words with anyone who we say is "sick" or "old".... My mom and sister suggested I just tell Addison that Grandma is getting ready to go to Heaven and live with Jesus there. Tonight while driving home from church (in the dark), I decided it was time to talk to her about it-- so I just said "Addison did you know that Grandma Pickard is getting ready to go to Heaven and live with Jesus".... she said "Yeah, so she's dying?" I was shocked she put that together so fast. After that her concerns were "who's going to live at her house", "who else is going to die right now" (we just had Matt's uncle die a couple weeks ago).....

It's very interesting to speak with a 4 year old about death-- and to see all the pieces getting put together for them. To have 2 funerals in a matter of weeks (I assume) seems a little confusing too-- but she has asked some of the most amazing questions about death: where do we go when we die, won't we miss the person who dies, how do we get to Heaven, etc....

Chores

2010-02-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

I thought it might be fun to start a "chore chart" for Addison this week.... was a very simple design-- 7 days and 4 chores per day. The chores weren't very interesting ones (change your underwear, brush your teeth, brush your hair and make your bed)..... so day 1 she completed all the chores very excitedly. That night before bed she changed her underwear about 20 times hoping she could get more stickers on the chart. I told her that once all the squares had stickers (7 days) that we'd bring her out to the local ice cream store. So day 2 she excitedly got up and got things done. At nap time she got the chart down, and put stickers in ALL the remaining squares and then VERY seriously wants to know if it's time to go get ice cream. I told her no, and that I must not have explained it very well and she said "dad will have to explain it, he has a better voice anyway."

Milk

2010-02-03T19:02:00.000-08:00

On the way to church tonight Addison made comment about Isaac eating sweet potatoes..... which reminded me that I forgot to bring food (oatmeal & applesauce, sweet potatoes or pears) along to feed him. I said "shoot I forgot to bring food with for him".... Addison VERY seriously said, "don't worry mom you can feed him milk"; I said yes, she was right about that-- so that was good. She continued on "mom, you didn't forget food, you can feed him milk from your tummy, so that's good". :) Then she said "how did the milk get in your tummy?" It was like after all this time it was the first time she had ever thought about how the milk got there!

Pictures

2010-02-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

This week I was putting up new pictures of the kids in the living room. I told Addison that we needed to take down the picture of her & Levi (Levi is only 6 months in the picture)... She started looking at another picture of Levi and said (kinda sad voice) "We're going to take down the picture of Levi cause we don't like him anymore?"

Duluth

2009-08-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

After looking at all of Matt's days off between now and when the baby is due to arrive-- yesterday was the only day we had with no plans/ appointments, etc.... We haven't been to Duluth since before Levi was born and I thought we should go up there. We finally decided we'd just run up for the day-- see some boats coming and going and spend the day carefree and have some fun.

We left our house about 9 am-- I was very crabby and didn't feel very good-- I'm on Terbutline (sp?) to keep me from going into labor right now, but it makes me really shaky and feeling kinda gross. So, I was just trying to get out the door, etc... We began driving, things were going fine. Matt commented that when we got to Grantsburg we'd put gas in the van. I thought that was fine-- I didn't have a map to look at so I was just waiting till we got to a gas station to get a map. After we went through Danbury we realized that Grantsburg is on a different road and so we wouldn't be getting to Grantsburg. By this time we were down to less than 50 miles left on our tank of gas, and knew we had more than 50 miles till the next town. So we were holding our breath-- finally with 20 miles left on our tank we see a little station. Whew!

We continue down the road about 10 miles to arrive at Pattison State Park. We paid our entrance fee and went to park to look at the waterfall. Matt flipped on the blinker and I noticed something sounded wierd. By the time we were in the lot I noticed that the clock was off, the computer module was off, the spedometer was off, the fan blowers were off, etc.... So I told Matt that it looked like our alternator had gone out on the van-- UGH!!!! He shut it off, and yep, it wouldn't start again. We got someone to jump us, and started driving up 35 toward Superior-- the van was chugging away and right then there was a service place-- WHEW!

We pulled in, the owner came out and he had us pull up to the garage and had a guy come pull the alternator out. It's about noon by now, so Levi is CRABBY (naptime) and we hadn't eaten lunch yet. They got us squared away in under an hour so we were happy about that. Unfortunately, when we left for the day I had looked at our checkbook and told Matt we had $305 for the next two weeks.................. he went in to pay for the service and it came t $340. Eek. So he had paid for it out of our checking account and so we left feeling a little sick.

We finally arrive in Superior and then into Duluth-- and Duluth was a disaster. There were people everywhere-- it was unbelievable how it could be that busy on a Tuesday afternoon!! Levi fell asleep in Superior-- so I told Matt to get to a beach and he and Addison could go swim and Levi could stay asleep for awhile. Of course by the time we got to a beach and got ready-- Levi was awake. We let the kids play in Lake Superior for awhile, but they were too crazy, we thought we'd try to park in Canal Park once more. It was too crazy there, so we gave up and left Duluth. Went bckto Pattison, let the kids swim and play there and then looked at the waterfall.

By the time we got home last night I think we were a little less crabby-- but it was a maddening day to go for a FUN day-- to come home BROKE for the next 2 weeks and really didn't get to do anything we had wanted to do. Grr.

Pretend

2009-07-22T05:14:00.001-07:00

Levi has started a new important thing in his life--PRETEND. To be honest, I don't remember when Addison started pretending things, but am so suprised that Levi has already started it. Addison pretends things all day long-- everyday so I'm used to it-- and I know that it's a positive thing they need to do.
On Sunday we were playing outside at the playground at church and I saw Levi walk over to the picnic table and pretend to grab something to eat-- and then stick his hands in his mouth and chew up the pretend object. He walked away, turned around and went back to the table over and over again to continue eating it! Since then I've noticed him doing lots of pretend things. Yesterday Matt was flossing his teeth and Levi was watching and pretty soon had his hands up just like Matt has his and was doing it too. :) Age 1 is a lot of fun, they learn more and more every day.

Hunting

2009-07-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

While we were driving around Estes Park we noticed an Elk Crossing sign close to our campground. Matt was telling Addison that we were looking for Elk-- to which she started saying "there's an elk, there's a deer....." and you know she's just making it up-- she does this at home too-- she'll stand at the window with binoculars and say "there's a bear behind the pond"....

So Matt said to her-- "Addison you'll have to come hunting with me cause you see so many animals...." she said "I can't go hunting daddy, I'm just a little girl..... I can only go hunting when I'm a daddy."

It was the cutest thing!!

Update

2009-07-11T17:26:00.000-07:00

Looks like it's been over a month since I posted anything.... so I'll give a little update of where we've been this month, etc....

On June 19th we left on a trip to South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado & then home.... We had 10 days to do this trip, and it was WONDERFUL!

The first day (Friday, 20th) we drove to Interior, SD and stayed at a dumpy little campground. After 500+ miles of promising a swimming pool to Addison, we pulled into the campground and she said "There's the 'cool'"-- Matt and I looked over to find it was empty...... She was a trooper and just kept saying "Sorry there's no 'cool' mom".... :) We made the best of it-- played awhile and went to bed.
The second day (Saturday, 21st) we over-did it and went to Badlands, Wall-Drug, Custer State Park & Mt Rushmore, after all those things we drove through Deadwood on our way to Spearfish. Just a LONG day. From Custer to Mt Rushmore we took the "Needles Hwy"-- which was a lot of switchbacks, etc.... and then Levi threw up. Poor baby. Stayed at a nice campground, went swimming, did laundry, Addison got to feed a baby goat at the petting zoo, etc....
The third day (Sunday, 22nd) we went to Devils Tower, WY. After seeing the tower started a LONG drive south-- into nothing! We drove all day and past 8 pm to finally arrive a another dumpy campground on Exit 2 of Wyoming. Again, promising a pool all day and again not getting one! Addison was still a little trooper and just apologized to us about the lack of a pool. What a sweetheart!
The fourth day (Monday, 23rd) we drove into Colorado and swung through Windsor-- just to see if I could find CBC-- we did it first try, which I was amazed at-- the town is COMPLETELY different. But we found it. After that we headed down to Colorado Springs to find the cheap hotel I had booked. After we headed into the neighborhood of the hotel-- Matt stated "I can see why you got this place so cheap"-- it was a creepy neighborhood and a creepy hotel. :) Oh well, we survived, and it had a pool, so the kids were thrilled! We hooked up with Jenny Moriak that evening and took a tour of Garden of the Gods and then went to the Air Force Academy. It was a nice evening.
The fifth day (Tuesday, 24th) we drove to Estes Park-- by way of Grand Lake and across Rocky Mtn National Park. Arrived at our campground (Jellystone)-- and it was TERRIBLE!! We got set up and decided that the next day we were going to leave-- even though I had made a 3 day reservation. It was so steep that I couldn't walk up it with the kids-- and Levi couldn't walk around cause he'd fall down. Addison & Matt swam for a little bit and we went to bed
The sixth day (Wednesday, 25th) we wokeup to a rustling noise-- Matt went to see what it was and found a bear licking Levi's booster seat-- broke it. :( The bear ran off and after the kids got up I packed up the camper and Matt went down to cancel our reservation. We left by 9 am and drove down to Elk Meadow Rv park-- it was just before the entrance to RMNP and gorgeous! We got a site and set up camp. We all went for a swim in the pool and had a great day hanging out. That evening we went into town (Estes) and looked through shops, etc.... Just a nice day.
The seventh day (Thursday, 26th) we drove into RMNP and found a spot to eat breakfast. We ate breakfast at a "Christmas Table" (as Addison calls a Picnic Table) and went to look at the river by where we ate. We drove some more as Matt wanted to get up to the Continental Divide that day. The kids slept through most of it-- but we saw dozens of elk as we went. It was a nice drive up the mountains. After that we went back to our site and relaxed-- of course then it rained the whole rest of the day, so we were stuck in the camper the whole day. We had our first ever "family movie night"-- and put in Madagascar to watch-- Addison was asleep within 30 minutes, Levi stood in his pack-n-play to watch and would have watched the whole thing if we didn't turn it off and make him go to bed!
The eighth day (Friday, 27th) we packed up camp-- did our laundry, washed the dishes, emptied the sewer, etc... and headed into town. Matt wanted to go to a couple more shops-- he wanted to buy a rock and then to look at some carcasses at a shop. We did that, ate lunch and then headed down the road. The kids both fell asleep right away and we drove down to Loveland and then drove through Ft Collins and then to Windsor. We got checked into our dorm room and unpacked some stuff. Lori & Jason were already there-- greeted them briefly and got ready for the weekend! Sarah & Roy arrived next, followed by Adam & Stephanie, Megan & baby Jack, Sara & Matt, Kathie & Sam, Suzanne, & Chad... We saw others throughout the weekend as well. Had a relaxing evening catching up with old friends.
The ninth day (Saturday, 28th)-- we stayed on campus all day and relaxed. It was a nice day. Had supper out with everyone and came back and had a bonfire.
The tenth day (Sunday, 29th) we headed for home. We left Windsor about 9 am mountain time and arrived home shortly before 2 am central time. The kids were great and we were able to drive and drive and drive! :)

It was a great trip. We unpacked on Monday when we got home and cleaned up the truck & camper, returned it to mom & dad and worked on getting back to life-as-normal. The following Friday (3rd)-- I took the kids to LBBC for family camp and came home on Sunday (5th).... now we're all tired and paying for it!

What a great summer it has been so far! The baby is scheduled to arrive on August 20th, which gives us just over 5 weeks to get everything ready. When we got home on the 5th, we moved Levi's crib to Addison's room and they've been doing great sharing. :)

WHEW! That's the update for now. Will post a couple funny stories in a minute!

Funeral

2009-05-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

Today we attended the funeral of Lucas Smith. Before leaving for the funeral I was trying to decide how much to tell Addison, because I was afraid that she'd blurt out things that she shouldn't say, but didn't want her completely confused. I thought I'd start off by just telling her we were going to see Donna at church at the funeral. (Donna is Lucas' mom).... So I told her that much and she got very excited and said "Donna is my friend!" So I said yes, she's your friend make sure to give her a hug. The next thing out of her mouth was "Will Lucas be there too?" And then I didn't know what to say.

On our way to the funeral I told Matt about our conversation and told him I was afraid she might ask Donna if Lucas was going to be there or ???? So I thought we should tell her SOMETHING about where Lucas was. Matt took a stab at it-- we told her again that Donna would be there and she was happy about that again and again asked "Lucas too?" To which Matt just replied "Lucas is in Heaven now", all she kept asking is "what took him to Heaven"-- we replied "God did" and then she wanted to know "Does Lucas work in Heaven?" (Because the only reason to NOT attend church or other events is because we're at work!) So we told her yes, Lucas works in Heaven.

Once we got to church we went up to hug the family-- and the casket was by Donna of course.... Addison caught a glimpse of the casket and the man in the casket and wouldn't look away. Once we got to our pew to sit down she asked "What's that man doing lying in bed?"..... again, how to respond?!

Just a tough thing for a little girl to grasp-- and don't want to say too much and have her confused like by saying "Lucas died because he was sick"-- I've heard then kids will think every time mom & dad get sick they might get worried and think we'll die too......... :(

Baby

2009-05-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

This pregnancy Addison is much more interested than last time. She asks everyday where the baby is growing and will pretend to feel the baby-- although I really don't think she has ever felt baby kick she claims she has.

A couple months ago the local hospital sent out its publication and it shows pictures of all the babies that were born there throughout a period of time.... Addison was looking at the pictures with me and kept pointing at different babies and saying "lets get that one...." I thought I explained then that we didn't get to pick out a baby, but today she saw me looking at baby pictures of friends' babies on Facebook and again-- she was picking all the babies she wanted us to get at the hospital. :) Then she kept asking "is this a Levi baby?"..... I'm really not sure what she thinks is going to come out of my belly this fall!

Poop

2009-05-02T17:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the gruesome title on this one-- but it's all I can smell and think about right now......

The last two days have been DISASTERS here-- and I'm not sure why. Addison had 2 accidents yesterday-- one on the couch and one on the living room floor.... not like her at all. Today was going a little better, except at naptime choked (really) on some candy-- Matt got it out, she threw up on her floor a little, but then napped 3 hours (a RARE thing these days). I finally went in and woke her up cause she was sleeping too long.

We had an enjoyable evening..... well, earlier in the day went out to lunch at the Pizzeria-- Levi pooped up to his shoulder blades there.... and pooped 2 more times throughout the day. I assume he's teething.

Now onto today. It was going better after nap time.... we played Candy Land (bought it at a garage sale today)-- Addison beat me twice. Tried to play with our train set, but Levi takes it apart as fast as we put it together..... SO-- after supper Addison got ready for a bath (while in the kitchen)-- I told her to run to the bathroom and go potty..... off she went-- then yelled that she had an accident-- right in front of the toilet she went.... so, cleaned up that mess while the kids were in the bath.

Got Levi's pj's on and we were watching "ding-ding"(wheel of fortune)..... she was cooking in her room-- telling me it's where she works-- and Levi too. She said that tonight Levi was a princess and she was a cook. Okay, whatever. She shut her door and me & Levi were watching Wheel of Fortune. Finally I'm curious what she's been doing in there for more than 5 minutes without talking-- I open her door and there is poop EVERYWHERE.... she had it on the carpet, the walls, her kitchen set, the rocking chair, the stool and the dresser......... she has NEVER done this before. No, I didn't take pictures-- I couldn't bear to. So now, after an hour of scrubbing poop out of everything she's quiet in bed and I'm still grossed out. GRR.... Can't wait till Matt's off work again!!!! We have a date for Monday-- it's his birthday-- so hopefully I'll feel a little more sane and human like again after that. We'll see though.....

Bugs...

2009-04-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

We brought Addison with to Levi's dr appointment on April 6th. (1 year check-up)... The nurse is asking us all these questions about what Levi does and things. Addison was just sitting with Matt listening to the questions and all of a sudden blurts out "Levi eats lots of bugs.... especially at Grandpa & Grandma's"

Everyone laughed and laughed and laughed. :) But it is true, Levi does eat lots of bugs-- he sees Asian Beetles at my parents house and he goes nuts to get them in his mouth before we catch them!! YUCK!

Flowers or Olives?

2009-03-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

I told Addison a couple days ago that we'd be eating at Olive Garden in a few days.... The next day we were talking about going to McDonalds for lunch and she came over to me and said "I want to go to the Flower Garden"-- which I just smiled and said, "Oh sweetie, there aren't any flower garden's right now....". But Matt figured out what she was talking about-- she was thinking OLIVE GARDEN.

New Underwear for Christmas!!

2008-12-22T06:32:00.000-08:00

My mom always buys her Granddaughters underwear for Christmas.... she always did for me & Katie, and the tradition carries on. We all know the underwear is coming, but I guess Addison wasn't aware of this tradition. Addison opened her present with her new underwear and got SO excited she immediately stripped off her jeans, socks and underwear (in front of everyone) and put on a new pair! It was cute to see someone so excited for their new underwear. :) Mom says she'll never give Addison new underwear again!! Guess we could have killed the underwear tradition YEARS ago if we would have shown such enthusiasm for the gift!

Naked

2008-12-16T15:28:00.001-08:00

Lots of times during the day Addison runs around naked-- and I always say "you're running around naked"-- which I have never explained what "naked" is.... tonight while I was making supper Addison wanted a MILLION things from me and I was kinda ignoring her and just kept walking to and from the refrigerator, the stove, etc.... all of a sudden she says "quit running around naked!" :)

Grow

2008-12-16T15:26:00.000-08:00

Matt's mom gave me an amarylis for Christmas-- I planted it on Sunday morning and now we just have to wait for it to grow. I had it just sitting on the counter by the sink-- no where special. During lunch today Matt decided to move the pot onto the table so we could watch it grow. He explained to Addison that it was going to grow very tall and we could watch it. After lunch is over it's time for nap time. She finished up and we said okay-- you need to go lay down and she said "No-- I need to watch that grow".

Too Many

2008-12-07T18:12:00.001-08:00

When Addison wants something-- and wants a lot she calls it "Too Many". So, when she asks for raisins or cookies or animal crackers (especially the chocolate ones) she always says-- "I want too many _____"
One day my dad was holding up fingers and asked her how many they were-- one, two, and then he held up 3 fingers and she said "too many"!!

Jail

2008-11-15T17:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had our Christmas pictures taken in Roseville.... while waiting to go into the portrait studio Addison began chatting with some other people waiting. She was telling them lots of random facts and randomly stated "We don't get to go to jail very much"...... have to say, when a 2 1/2 year old says something like this people get a freaked out look on their faces!! So I explained why she talks about jail and we moved on....

So later, after having the pictures taken we're waiting to view our session and there was a 9 month old little boy playing on the floor with Levi. Addison asked his mom what his name was-- she told Addison his name was Sawyer-- and then Addison asked me where his dad was.... to which I responded "He's at work"-- and Addison blurts out "he's at jail?" !!!! Again, this woman gave me such a look-- so I needed to re-explain why she'd say that.

I'm just betting that people half-way don't believe us when I give the explanation that Matt WORKS at the jail!

Jesus

2008-11-13T16:34:00.000-08:00

So, we've been singing our Christmas program song at home MULTIPLE times a day right now-- just hoping I have ONE child that will sing with me....
Addison & I were watching the news and she saw a Christmas tree-- and asked me what it was. I told her it's a Christmas tree because Christmas is coming, etc.... then I decided it'd make more sense if I said that it was a birthday. So I whispered to her "Christmas is Jesus' Birthday"-- to which she turned around with a scowl and said "Don't talk like that to me!!!"

Not sure what I did or said wrong?! :)

Voting

2008-11-04T11:48:00.000-08:00

Last night I told Addison that "mom & dad need to go vote".... she asked if she could come with-- and Levi and I said yes. She said "mom & dad are going to go vote on the water?".... Poor girl was all excited cause she thought we were going in a BOAT.

Levi is 7 months old today-- and it sounds like he's going to be a big cousin next summer!! We are so excited about this news. :) He makes a new funny face where he scrunches up his nose with a smile so big that he has to close his eyes... He makes that face especially much when he sees Addison. They are so sweet together.

Little Miss Muffet

2008-10-31T04:34:00.001-07:00

I started reading and reading nursery rhymes to Addison & Levi.... So she picked out to read Little Miss Muffet. I asked her to repeat after me, so we started
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a Tuffet
Eating her curds & whey......

Now I know that this curds & whey makes no sense to most people, especially a 2 year old. So at this one she repeated and said "Eating her turds away"

Turtle

2008-10-31T04:27:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago Matt was sitting by Addison on the couch and she told him that he stunk.... Matt asked her what he stunk like and she said "You smell like a turtle".........

Sunday School lessons

2008-10-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

The first weeks of Sunday School the 2, 3 & 4 year old kids were learning about creation.... the first week the lesson was "God created the stars, moon, sun", etc.... So I gave each of the kids a black piece of construction paper and different colored starts. A few days later I asked Addison "what did we learn in Sunday school"-- and she said..... "God created Stickers"

:)