in the river at 9 months

On Sunday, Levi turned 9-months old. Our church gathered at Camp Mennoscah and we discovered that Levi loves the river! We started out with him in jeans and t-shirt, just dipping his toes in the water...


then the jeans came off...



and the diaper...



I realize his expression doesn't communicate "joy" but he would begin crying every time my mom tried to get him out of the water.



Finally, the shirt went too and he spent some time crawling around in the shallow water. He just loved it!



A peak at Levi - happy 9-month birthday kiddo!

It's genetic, it's got to be

Noah has fallen asleep on the floor at his door a couple nights this week. Two nights we have found him with his hand in his waistband...

Noah's sheds

Noah has begun using his stacking blocks as sheds for his tractors. One tractor or implement per shed and he'll let you know what goes where. It's complicated though, because it changes every time we play "farm". I just love to watch him diligently work to get his sheds set-up and drive his tractors in and out.

Levi, Noah, growling, squealing

Levi makes a lot of growling noises. I keep trying to get it on video, but so far I have failed. We have found that Levi thinks it's really great when we growl at him! This video has Ben's voice in the background encouraging Noah to keep growling at Levi.

Arboretum evening

One evening this week, we took the boys to Dyck Arboretum to feed the fish and turtles. It was a lot of fun and Noah really likes to throw little chunks of bread in the water. Levi seemed to enjoy it too.

A weekend on the farm

Last weekend for various reasons, we spent nearly all of Saturday and Sunday at the farm. My sister and the dogs were there too! The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed a lot of time outside.

Good times in the tub!

We've got a sign, do you?

As a Mennonite, Presidential campaigns are a tricky thing. I'm opposed to war, I'm opposed to using violence to solve a problem. Yet, the President of the United States is in charge of our military. Our President has the power to flip switches and press buttons that could potentially heave this world into horrible, violent, ugly, and wasteful battles with any number of countries around this planet.

That being said, I am more involved in the presidential campaign than any other one of my lifetime. No, I'm not up on every issue - I'm not even sure where Obama stands on some of the issues I should probably know about.

My vote in November will be for Obama. He at the least, gives me hope that our country can work alongside other nations around the world in a decent, dare I say healthy, manner. He also gives me the most hope for our government embracing alternative forms of energy. There are more reasons, but it's getting late and I don't want to bore anyone.

Maybe drilling isn't the best way. Maybe taking the time to blink is a good idea. OK, those are the only negative comments I'll make about McCain and Palin except to say that I'm scared of McCain. Literally, he makes me fearful. Check out the video at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iQoZFCtAQE

Puddles and Boots

On Friday it rained all day, and when the rain stopped we were thrilled to find lots of water to play in. Noah and Ben slipped on boots, Levi and I tagged along to watch and it was a great time for everyone. Our backyard, especially the easement behind our fence, had tons of water - just the right amount for Noah to walk through, but not fall over in.



Levi's trying out the water...his feet curled up as soon as they felt how cold the water was.



"On the fence" - well, sort of. Noah tried and tried to throw the ball over the fence, but I don't think he ever got it. We also found huge spiders and amazing webs all around the yard. I never could tell if Noah actually saw the webs, or if he just said he saw them. He wasn't as amazed as Ben and I were...maybe he's still too young.



From the backyard we moved to the front yard...playing "soccer" on the driveway - in boots.

Photos from the weekend

Husker football was on at our house on Saturday afternoon. A couple of our friends from college came over to watch and Clark brought his daughter Mara. Mara is 3rd cousins with our boys and here are a few photos of them.









Sporting the red jersey for the Huskers.



Below, Noah and Levi playing in the church nursery.



Bedtime with Noah.

Flying in circles

I usually only publish posts to this blog when I have photos to go along with them. But, on Thursday, when Levi and I left on what was expected to be a 3 day/2 night trip to Akron, Pennsylvania, the camera was the least of my concerns.

Ben and I dropped Noah off at Debbie's house, and then we headed for the airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:40 a.m., so Levi and I burned a little over an hour crawling around at our gate, waiting to leave. Finally, we got to board the plane and it was a pretty full flight, but it just worked out that the seat next to us was empty. That was the first sign from God that our day would turn out well. I was so relieved that the seat was empty b/c I was planning to feed Levi when we took off and I was going to need the extra space to make that work. Then, the pilot got on the intercom and said we were delayed leaving and would have to sit on the plane for an hour. My connection in Chicago was tight and I knew I wouldn't make it with this delay. Maybe our day wasn't going to turn out so well.

When we finally left the ground, Levi was a perfect travel companion. He nursed on the plane before we took off. He slept for a little while and ate his lunch without complaint. Another sign from God that our day would turn out well.

We got to Chicago the screens told me our next flight was "Closed" - perfect. Now what?! A very friendly customer service representative helped me figure out what my options were and I booked a ticket on a flight that was to leave at 4:15 to Philadelphia. Now, Philly was not my original destination. I originally had plans to fly into Harrisburg. So, Ben saved the day and changed my rental car reservation to Philly and everything seemed like it was going to be just fine. I would get to PA, just a couple hours later than I had originally planned. Levi slept while I figured all of this out - all signs from God that we were going to be OK.

The bad news is that the flight to Philly was delayed and didn't actually board until 6 p.m. and once this large flight was full of people, all ready to depart, it was announced that the flight had been canceled due to mechanical problems. It was announced that safety is United's first concern, but then they didn't give any instruction for everyone to get off the plane - it was pure chaos as each person tried to get off the plane and figure out their best option for getting out of Chicago...kind of ironic. Levi and I waited for our turn to get off - what was the rush? Nothing was working out for us at this point. However, through all of this, Levi was an angel. He napped, nursed, played and charmed all sorts of strangers in the airport.

Our next flight was scheduled to leave at 8:15 to Philly, oh wait, it's delayed until 9:15. So, we would get to Philly after midnight, then rent a car, install the car seat, I would have to navigate my way out of a city I've never been to, to a small town in rural PA about 2 hours away, settle my finicky 8 month old into a hotel room and then crash for whatever sleep Levi would allow me to get. All to attend a full day of meetings the following day with my MCC communications colleagues. Hmmm...that didn't sound good. That scenario didn't even feel like something I could tackle on my best day, let alone a day as long as this one had been.

So, another very helpful customer service representative booked us on a flight back to Wichita. The flight was to leave at 8:05 and arrive in Wichita just before 10. Nice! We hustled through the beauty that is known as the walkway between concourses B and C at O'Hare (I truly love that part of the airport, it might have been the highlight of my entire day) and made it to our gate just in time to start boarding. The flight was on time, the flight took just a little less time then it was scheduled to and Levi slept for the entire thing. My always helpful parents met us at the airport to take us home. Too bad our bags were still in Chicago...but at least we were home!

God was looking after us all day and never gave me more then I could handle. Ben was a strong support to me all day and Levi was on his best behavior. Thank goodness I don't have air travel plans any time soon.

First Haircut

So, I have a lot of guilt about how little I have written in Levi's baby book. Ben joked the other day asking me if Levi even had a baby book. Funny, but not so funny. He has a baby book and just after he was born I had it up-to-date, but since I returned to work I have completely failed to keep it updated. So, in the spirit of not documenting Levi's life as well as I would like, he got his first haircut on Saturday with no camera around to document the momentous occasion.

Actually, Noah, Ben and Levi all got haircuts (at the James Robert Salon in Goessel). James did a great job with the boys and managed to give Levi a pretty thorough cut even with all the wiggling and head turning.

a tree, finally a tree

We have lived in our house in Hesston for over a year now and we have finally planted a tree in our yard. There are two small trees growing in out front yard, too far from the house to provide much useful shade, but that was it. This was a tough change for me from our yard in North Newton, where we had several mature trees.

Noah was thrilled to be able to help dig the hole for the tree. My pictures are blurry b/c I was holding Levi while I took them...

Long Weekend

Labor Day gave us a 3-day weekend, but it's felt longer than that. Ben and I are more worn out at the end of this weekend then we were at the beginning. But, that's to be expected these days. We might be tired, but we did have a pretty good weekend. Sunday evening we gathered together with friends and Monday afternoon and evening we were out at the farm.

I guess I have the pictures in a strange order...the ones from today are here at the top, the photos from Sunday evening are at the bottom.



Coloring with Grandma's big crayons.



Two of Noah's favorite modes of transportation. The 4-wheeler is regularly a part of our time at the farm. My dad's school bus is something that Noah has never actually ridden in, but he likes to pretend to drive it.



Fall harvest began on the farm today. My dad cut two small fields today, one of which is right around my parents house. Noah was mesmerized watching the milo stalks get cut by the header.



Sunday evening we were at James and Shari Wiens' house for an "end of summer BBQ". It was a beautiful evening and their new house was just great for our group to gather in. Thanks for hosting us James and Shari!



Levi had a great time standing at the fireplace and checking out all the farm toys!



Yummmmmm.



These three were very serious about their food. How cute are three 2-year olds chowing down on hotdogs, fruit and chips?