Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Glorious Easter Sunday

Noah and Levi don't really understand what Easter is about. I tried to tell Noah several times and he looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe next year, the Easter story will make sense to him. But, regardless of understanding the stories in the bible, the boys both understand candy and new farm toys. An Easter basket was simply a convenient excuse for me to get Noah a grain truck and to get Levi a loader tractor - both items we have been missing in Noah's ever-expanding farm play.

The day started with a search for Easter baskets. Levi had no clue what was going on, but he thought it was fun once he spotted it. Noah understood pretty well, but we still had to help him look.

Do you like Noah matching outfit? We're about a quarter of the way to having Noah potty trained at night, so there is often a partial wardrobe change in the middle of the night. He had no clue he was standing right next to the Easter basket when I took this photo.


Years ago, my parents hid one of my sister's Easter baskets in the oven. My mom had told Noah the story on Saturday night, but by the morning Noah had forgotten.




Our niece Rylee was dedicated at Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church on Sunday, so we went to be a part of this special worship service. Rylee was her normal-angelic-self and all three looked stunning!





After church, we stopped at Cracker Barrel restaurant for lunch. Oh-me-oh-my, do I enjoy their pancakes! We had a wonderful lunch - although not typical Easter food.




Sunday evening the Epp family gathered to celebrate Easter at my parent's house. Supper was unfortunately eventful - after eating a good supper, Levi coughed a few times and then threw up. He wasn't actually sick, though, I think it was his stomachs reaction to too much lactose. So, Levi had an early bath and got into his jammies before we even got out to the shed for the traditional Easter egg/basket/bag hunt. So, he wore his footy jammies with shoes out to the shed - he looked ridiculously cute.


Noah found his Easter bag in the tractor.


And, after herding the cats, I mean second cousins, together I actually got a photo of them! All but Rylee are on the air seeder. Addi, Caiden, Noah, Ty, Cambry and Levi - they make quite the crew!

A Saturday Together

We had a great day on Saturday. Noah went to sleep on Friday night anticipating eating breakfast at the doughnut shop. The first words out of his mouth on Saturday morning were, "We go to the doughnut store for breakfast?" So, we headed out to Druber's just as fast as we could get the four of us into the car. Otherwise, we played, took a trip out to the farm and just had a nice day together.

In the car, on the way to Druber's in Newton.








While Levi took his afternoon nap, Noah and I read a couple books outside in the warm sunshine. It didn't take long before Noah was bored with reading and got out the mower to pretend he was cutting the grass.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Johnny Appleseed

Noah loves to sing the prayer Johnny Appleseed. I got him to sing it for me, but I was a little slow in getting the camera going, so I missed the first part of the song. Enjoy!

Family Time

Ben's parents, Tim and Sue, were here this past weekend. I took a ton of photos, but none of them have Tim and Sue in them. I'm not sure how that happened, but unfortunately, it did.


Wrestling is as normal at our house as playing farm or trains.






Sleepy Levi just after his Sunday nap.




Noah got the idea that we were going to the beach on Sunday. It snowed on Sunday and was cold and miserable outside, but Noah wanted to go to the beach. So, Noah put Levi in swim trunks, Noah's swim trunks.




Levi was enjoying pulling Ben's hair. He laughed and laughed each time Ben yelled in pain.

New, but classic

A sandbox is a classic, but our boys don't know that. They think it's a brand new adventure, a brand new wonderful world to play in. Grandpa Schrag built the sandbox and on a visit last weekend he installed it in our backyard. Great Grandpa Hertzler came over to help, too.



Levi, ornery, Levi.




And, the finished product! Thanks Grandpa Schrag!!


Monday, March 23, 2009

Bathing with Tractors

Tonight at bath time we had a whole farm full of tractors in the tub. The boys love to play farm in the tub, but it usually turns into a fight over one tractor, even though there are 3 tractors available! Noah knows just what his tractor and grain cart are doing and the Levi tries to nab the tractor and on and on... Eventually tonight, I removed all the tractors from the tub, because they were creating more hassle then entertainment.

Noah protecting his tractor from Levi...


but eventually, Levi got the tractor (it got cut off the picture)








Blowing kisses

Monday, March 16, 2009

Sick...again

It's hard to be sick when the weather is so nice. I've got strep throat for the 3rd time in 6 weeks. Ben has strep throat for the 2nd time in 4 weeks. Noah has strep throat for the first time ever. Levi, thankfully, isn't sick but he is getting teeth.

We're a pretty sad bunch tonight. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better. Surely, tomorrow will be better.