So far behind

Time must be flying because I am over a week behind in blogging...wow. So, the events pictured below are from 2 weeks ago. Ben's mom came for a visit! It was wonderful to have her here for several days. The REAL reason for her visit was to surprise her father on this 80th birthday! Sue's sister, Janet and her husband Scot also came to surprise Lee!

Levi "sharing" Grandma's corn on the cob. He LOVES corn ON the cob, no need to cut it off for him.




The birthday boy! This isn't the best picture of Lee, but it's the only one I got during his surprise party. Uncle Scot is in this photo, too.


Lee and Mary Alice have an array of bicycles at their house. Lee has installed straps with buckles on this one so the boys can ride in relative safety and they LOVE it!


With Grandma giving power, cousin Ethan and Levi pretend to be on a train. I just love this photo, it makes me smile.


From the party we headed over to Newton for a church picnic and swim night. Check out the spread for the potluck - it was amazing!




After supper, we headed to the pool to do some swimming. Noah and Levi are completely unaware of the dangers of swimming pools, regardless of what we tell them. So, swimming is very stressful for me while they naively have a great time. The temps were only in the upper 80s that day so Noah was shivering by the time he got out of the pool.

Levi with book

This video does not show how well Levi can say "tractor" or any other verbal skills, but it's cute. I laugh each time I watch him trying to stand up on the book. Plus, Noah makes an appearance too.

Levi live

Three faces of Levi...

...while eating snack.

Our evening

Ben went to work in Oklahoma City today and ended up having to stay there overnight. So, it was just me and the boys tonight.

This is what our living room looked like in the 10 minutes it took me to make supper - lovely.




Peek-a-boo!


A new sprinkler attached to the garden hose in the backyard was a surprisingly big hit. I expected it to entertain them for about 5 minutes, maybe only 4. But, it lasted a good thirty minutes.




Snack time!

Haircut Night

Haircuts, haircuts, haircuts. We've gone several different routes with getting haircuts for the boys - barber shop, friends, the salon I go to, and the latest route is my Aunt Karen!

We had a wonderful time at their house the other night. The boys love to play with my cousins Austin and Braden (Kyle too, but he's out of state for the summer). There is a box of tractors, trucks and other toys that the boys can hardly manage to part with at the end of the evening. Not to mention a dog, kittens, sheep and plenty of basketball and football.

Thanks for a great evening Karen, Duane, Austin and Braden!



Levi usually screams and cries and has to be held tight to manage a haircut. But, thankfully, last night he actually sat pretty well on his own!




Noah, as usual, did a really great job of sitting still during his haircut.


Cheeser.

New Toy

Ok, so it was actually new in 1986, but it is certainly new in our house this week. The boys are loving - to the point of fighting over it - this Fisher Price Main Street. Little do they know it's far from a complete set with many missing parts. It can even double as a place to dump the grain truck during corn/wheat/milo harvest (which happens continuously in our living room these days). Now begins the hunt for more of the pieces.

What a Weekend

Our family a had nice, relatively quiet 4th of July weekend. We helped paint some of the newly finished rooms at my parents house, Ben got to play some golf, and we spent some time with friends - what more could you ask for?

We kind of invited ourselves over to James and Shari's house on the 4th. We initially thought that more of our friends would be available to get together that evening, but this year everyone except our two families were busy with other events! But, we had fun, ate really great food and had a nice relaxed evening together. The weather was amazing as well - a 4th of July with next to no sweat is a nice treat.

The pool was a big hit with Noah, even if he still hates to get his head wet.


Levi, on the other hand, LOVED the fire hose - but accidentally started spraying himself in the face.


If you're a serious swimmer, you must wear goggles.






Shari treated us to yummy lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting and fresh fruit. They were so good, I forgot to take a picture before I had eaten half of it - oops. :-)


Towards the end of the evening, after Levi was asleep, the three older boys became infatuated with cell phones. They all HAD to have one and they were all busy "talking" and "taking pictures".


On Friday, my sister and Rylee came out to the farm for most of the day. It was wonderful to see her again!