Hey dude

Just imagine Levi saying it. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

Sunshine

The sun was shining on Sunday and it was wonderful to be outside.



Pleasant chalk drawing turned into


throwing the chalk, which left us with lots of pieces of chalk. The more the better, right?




We even played some golf. Thank goodness for a few hours of warm sunshine!

Levi

Family Birthday Party

Sunday evening our house filled up with a total of 18 people as we hosted my Epp family for a birthday party. We celebrated the six birthdays that took place between October and January.

Aunt Pat reading to the kids

The kids set up a restaurant downstairs, they even had a menu! Addi made pizza and cookies and brought them upstairs to share with all the adults.

Rylee was there! She's such a peach; just about ready to walk, and content to just sit and play while all the older kids ran around her.

Levi got a Mr. Potato Head

andt markers, a pad of paper and a puzzle that makes sounds.

After everyone left, Ben and I did some cleaning up and decided that hosting 18 people wasn't nearly as difficult as we thought it might be. It helped to have a basement where the kids could go play and our toys were "new" to everyone except Noah and Levi. Surprisingly, Noah even shared his toys pretty well - except for his train. He was convinced that Addi broke it, but all she did was take it apart. It wasn't until last night when we put the train back together that he believed me that it wasn't broken.

A surprising evening

Concert going is not a normal thing for Ben and me. Having access to four el-cheapo tickets is not normal. Surprising my cousin Megan is not normal, but it is oh-so-much fun.

Ben had access to cheap tickets to the Brad Paisley concert in Wichita this past Saturday. We teamed up with Chelan to surprise Megan and it worked! We convinced her to come to Wichita with us, ate a nice dinner at Hanger One Steakhouse and then we even convinced her that maybe we could just check out the new Intrust Bank Arena. Ben's tickets came with a parking pass, so we had nearly next-to-the-building parking. It wasn't until we were inside the building that Ben handed out the tickets, and she was totally surprised! I love a good surprise.

We had a good time listening to Justin Moore,

and Miranda Lambert

and Brad Paisley. It was a good show. I don't think any of us LOVE country music, but we all knew just about every song Brad played. Plus, that man can play guitar, sheesh!

I was enthralled by all the technology. Each artist switched guitars for nearly every song, there were lights flashing in all sorts of fantastic ways and combinations, and huge screens showing videos and images. It's amazing - maybe I'm naive, but I thought it added a wow-factor.

Good times. The arena was pretty impressive, too. It was nice to be in such a big place and have the bathrooms so clean - that just isn't normal.

All the photos are from cmt.com.

Another birthday

I gotta say, turning 29 felt like...well, nothing really. I have found the transition to adult birthdays (you know, the one's that don't bring you a new freedom like driving, gambling, alcohol, renting a car...) to be such a downer. I would almost rather skip them altogether. I don't mind getting older, it's just that birthdays used to be a big deal and now they're just another page turned in life.

Ok, so regardless of all that...my birthday was an enjoyable day. We had my aunt, uncle and cousins over for supper. I share my birthday with my cousin Austin - he's 10 years younger then me.



Our boys LOVE to play with my cousins. Kyle and Austin are in college, Braden is in high school yet thankfully they still remember how fun it is to get on the floor and play, trains, tractors, and games.


Duane and Karen - it is a blessing to have their family near us.


Levi keeping up with the Huskers before their game made it onto TV. The Huskers won the Holiday Bowl - easily, it was awesome.


Austin and Braden


Kyle eating "cookies" Levi made for him.


It made for a full basement, but it was great evening with family!

Two!

Levi turned 2, on Monday.

This is Levi saying and showing you, "Two!"




We had a small party for Levi with cupcakes and ice cream. My parents came over and Andy and Hannah were still here too!






Levi got tractors and legos from Grandma and Grandpa.


And from us, he got a Handy Manny Toolbox.





It seems like a complete cliche to say but - it's hard to believe that he's already 2. Strangely, at the same time, it seems like he's been with us much longer then 2 short years. He is a loving, silly, loud and more-and-more aggressive little boy.

These 3 are nuts

When the Schrag kids got my camera, this is what happened...

Best of 5

The Tim and Sue Schrag family managed to get a family picture and out of the 5 we snapped on my camera, this is the winner. For all of you who don't know everyone in the photo...back row: Andy, Josh, me, Levi, Ben, Noah...front row: Hannah, Sara, Sue and Tim.



And two random photos...

These two are getting married. We're looking forward to it. :-)