The middle of January

I'm not very good at blogging in the middle of January. I take very few photos and life in general has a sense of normalcy. Just one normal day after another. But when I take a step back and really think about it. Some important things have happened, some I don't want to lose track of in the continuous spin of life.
On Thursday we said good-bye to our daycare provider, Debbie. Noah and Levi don't remember going to anyone else for daycare. That's a big deal. Debbie let us know they were moving out of town a couple weeks ago and let us know that another woman in town was going to start-up a daycare to take all of Debbie's kids. Awesome! What a relief, I told myself. I felt almost no stress about the change. We visited Tara's house and the boys already know her and her daughters. It's in a convenient location - great! I thought saying good-bye to Debbie would be easy, until the day I had to say good-bye. It hit me like a ton of bricks on Thursday when I had to pick the boys up that nothing about this would be easy. She was a mom to my kids when I was at work. She fed my babies, changed their diapers, helped to potty train them, she gave them medicine, taught them to share and to clean up and to be kind - all while I was at work. But the part that gets me the most is that she gave them love. She genuinely loved my boys and I have known that from the start. She wasn't perfect, none of us are and I didn't need her to be, but she loved my boys and they felt loved. I am so thankful for the years of love and care she gave our family.
So tomorrow Levi will go to Tara's house and I pray that it all goes well. He's excited and Noah's excited to go there after school. I'm not worried about it. But it is a change, something new, and that's a big deal.
Ok, so switching gears....you better watch out, because Levi's got his eyes on you.

 He's been doing this a lot this weekend. It cracks us up because he looks so.very.serious.

It was a glorious day outside today. Crisp, clear and cold. We headed outside in the middle of the morning to finish a tree clean-up job we had started on Saturday. The silo is making a strong shadow on the photo below, but you can at least get a feel for the mess we were working with. Several dead trees had fallen over, a couple healthy trees were mixed in with a bunch of dead ones. 

The boys found the ice covered mud right away. What's better than mud that's covered with a layer of ice?! 

After a little bit of work with the turbo saw, chain saw and loader tractor the area was looking much better.

 Levi found the best place to relax, we considered keeping it for lounging on the patio...but it eventually found its way into the fire. Working to clean up dead and in-the-way trees is really satisfying work. You can see the progress you're making and I'm a total sucker for instant gratification.

Noah had a good football weekend. We played on Friday, he played with Ben on Saturday and then we played again today! He loves it - and I usually have a good time too once I'm out there playing. 

 

 Today we even kept score on his dry erase board. We ended with a tie, 35-35. Noah has learned to be a good sport, especially when Levi plays with us. Levi often doesn't follow the rules and gets upset when his physical ability doesn't match up with what he wants to do. So Noah steps up and gives him extra chances, says things that build Levi up and give him a chance to run for a while before Noah tags him. It's sweet to watch them work it out and to watch Noah be a nice older brother.