This was called the “shh, don’t tell Becky Levy fellowship”. Jeff threw a great surprise party at the pool on Sunday as a way to say thanks to our Sunday School class members for watching out for his wife (Becky) and children. Now the Levys are moving to Guam - they left first thing Monday morning. We are incredibly sad, as this sweet family has touched our hearts in an unforgettable way.
The party was at noon, and since there wasn’t a cloud in sight, all my pics turned out nicely. And yes, Shannon is crawling across the table in her dress to get a picture with Becky.
June 30th, 2009
by Jenna
Looks like it runs in the family.
June 28th, 2009
by Jenna
A friend from church had this perfect idea for a Father’s Day craft and playdate. She bought 3×3 frames for the kids to paint, paper for painting a card (or handprinting one) and some brown wrapping paper to wrap up the frame. She also had the letters D & A for the kids to hold up while Mom took pics, to spell out DAD in the frame. I took pics of my kids on my camera and then took them home to upload, resize, and print out.
Let me say that again. I took pics of my kids on my camera and then took said pics home to upload, resize, and print out. Is your jaw dropping yet? If it’s not it should be. I’ve never done this before. Kevin is always the camera guy with all the expertise and skill, and as much as I wanted to surprise him, I should have known that things wouldn’t turn out perfect. (Are they ever?) BUT I pressed on toward the goal…. and after a few hours, I did it! (And, ahem, I guess now I’ll be taking and blogging more pics..)
However, the pics you see are 4×6’s, not 3×3’s (or even crop-able 4×6’s). Instead I just took a frame Kevin had from work and put the pics in there. How did he like it? I’ll let you be the judge.
I am quite proud of myself, thank you very much. Kevin was impressed too, although I might have to borrow the D and the A again to find out how to make pics for the 3×3 frame.
Other pics - Kevin’s first Father’s Day with Carlee, his mini-girl
Kevin and Kennedy saying CHEESE!
Kevin and Carlee making the same face. (His on purpose, hers not so much.)
Kennedy learning how to get to Daddy’s wallet
She opened it up and found a card that was expired… She called it “a-spidered”.
Colby has been a busy reader this summer. Here he got my cousin Ally to read to him.
Colby has also been very proud to write his name over and over and over… and on his card to his daddy, he asked me how to spell, but he wrote all by himself, “I LOVE DAD”. The pics of this didn’t come out well, but I am more proud of this than I am of my blogging success!
Hope everyone else had a great Father’s Day as well.
June 23rd, 2009
by Jenna
Her baby sister gets to hang out in here, so why not her baby dolls?
June 20th, 2009
by Jenna
Can you see how thrilled he is that trains were the theme this year?
June 20th, 2009
by Jenna
One of Carlee’s first times to eat real food. Here she has a helper.
June 20th, 2009
by Jenna
Lots of pics. In one you’ll see how much Carlee looks like Kevin; in another you’ll see Kennedy and a lovebug on the slide (if you look closely).
May 26th, 2009
by Jenna
“…talk toooo much.” Or that’s what the song says….
Colby has been asking more questions (in a good way, so far) and figuring things out (also in a good way, so far). It seems like the day he turned 4, he learned how to speak correctly. All those “baby sayings” have gone out the window, which is a little sad, but he’s definitely growing up. He also sings his heart out, which I LOVE to hear. And he’s great at singing songs to his sisters and reading them books, to comfort them. I also love to hear him pray - he recalls his day and thanks God for being able to do whatever it was we did - go to the park, go outside and blow bubbles, etc. etc. etc.
Speaking of bubbles, this would be Kennedy’s favorite thing to do. She asks every day when she wakes up, “Go hot-side (outside) and boh bubbles?” She is also a non-stop talker and speaks in paragraphs. It is neat to hear her say a lot of the same things Colby says. She loves her big brother and wants to do absolutely everything he does. She’s also having big success in the potty department, although she wants to keep herself naked so she can run to the potty at a moment’s notice. This is fine with me, until someone drops in unannounced. (So do me a favor and call me first if you want to come over.)
Carlee is figuring out that she has a voice too. She’s very happy all the time, but if there’s ever something wrong (diaper issue or sleepy, usually), she let’s me know about it and screams at the top of her lungs. She’s not unhappy when she screams, she’s just talking at a very loud decibel level. It’s very cute and very ear-piercing at the same time. And when she’s falling asleep, she’ll groan loudly because she’s trying to keep herself awake but she knows she’s about to succumb to the sandman…. I can’t believe wonderfully sweet she is.
I am a big fan of my kids, in case you couldn’t tell. Even though I talk a lot about them.
May 22nd, 2009
by Jenna
Kevin celebrated a very big birthday recently. Let’s just say that his birthday was March 30th, with a big emphasis on the 30. He was upset with me for not blogging about his birthday, but that was because I had big surprises for him on that day and didn’t get to take pictures of any of them.
The day before his birthday I took packages of black balloons to children’s choir with me so I could blow them up with some help. I had 30 balloons, but nowhere to put them, really, because the containers I brought to hold said balloons were obviously too small and my car had too many car seats for them. So my poor helpers took 2 trips to get the balloons to the car, but during the 2nd trip, they opened my back door and swarms of balloons came spilling over the edge and under the other cars around. If you were in the church parking lot and heard a loud POP as you backed out, I’m sorry, that was my fault.
So, I/we blew up 30-ish black balloons and put them all over the house (which wasn’t hard because the kids had SO much fun taking them in every room. And then later that week the kids enjoyed even more getting me to pop the balloons. I have to admit it was pretty fun!). I also made him a “30 things I love about you” calendar of sorts that he can reuse for each day. I think his favorite thing I love is his hair, and on that card I wrote -”Bald man + goatee = HOT!”
My parents so graciously kept the kids for us while we went out to eat at Johnny Carino’s. I got a drink “From the hot guys at the bar”, a.k.a. Kevin’s co-workers/friends. (It was a virgin pina colada, heavy on the sugar. Woo!)
And then we went to rent a movie at the $1 box at Kroger’s. (Have you seen these? Also Redbox does $1 rentals. Much better than paying $5 at Blockbuster…) He picked to watch “Eagle Eye”, which was really very good. I’ve been a fan of Shia LeBeouf’s since he was on “Even Stevens” on the Disney Channel so many years ago. (Don’t lie, you watched it too.)
For his “real” present, I told Kevin I wanted to take him out to eat at a fancy place. But, like most birthdays, he ended up getting his own present. This year I can’t complain, though, because it’s a gift that will keep on giving for years to come.
What is it? A new house. Yep. We close and move in 2 weeks. We’ll post pics when we actually own it.
Happy birthday, my love! 30 years down; I can’t wait for 30, 40, 50, 60 more with you!
May 22nd, 2009
by Jenna
Colby now calls me Ma. Kennedy is starting to call me Ma. How in the… I mean, who would… I… have no idea where they got this, other than that Aunt Alicia willed it in her heart that my kids would call me Ma. Thanks, Leesh.
It’s actually pretty cute. I get things like, “Hi, Ma!” and “I love you, Ma!”. But it stops being cute when Colby says it fifteen times in a row, increasing in volume each time. You know what that’s like:
“ma.”
“Ma.”
“Mah!”
“MAH.”
“MA!”
“MAH!”
“MAHHH!”
“MAAAAAHHHHH!”
And I wondered why my mom always said she wanted to change her name? Now I’m trying to get Kevin to be Pa… *evil laugh*
May 22nd, 2009
by Jenna
Thought you’d enjoy pics of the kid who got to go in with daddy, the kid who didn’t, and the kid who was oblivious. Maybe not in that order.
May 3rd, 2009
by Jenna
Four short years ago you entered our world. You, as a tiny little baby, changed our lives forever. You were the best little tax deduction we ever could have dreamed of. You gave me a reason to celebrate Mother’s Day. You gave me my new full-time job.
Colby, you are so funny and endearing. Everyone who knows you loves you. I am amazed by your empathy and your ability to love others unconditionally. I am so proud of all you have learned and I’m excited about all you will learn.
You are incredible, super Colby. You are a strong and mighty warrior. You are a wonderful child of God. You are a treasure to me. And you are the best Colby ever.
May 3rd, 2009
by Jenna
Where did the time go? Our (not-so-little) chunky monkey weighs a whopping 19 pounds, although she hides it well. Come summertime, when she’ll wear sleeveless dresses and such, you’ll be able to see just how well-nourished she is. She hasn’t eaten any solid foods nor been offered a drop of formula; all her baby goodness is from mama’s milk alone.
This month Carlee is grabbing her feet and trying to put them in her mouth! What a cutie. She’s also getting quite the bald spot on the back of her head, from rubbing her head on the floor when she’s playing. We are a little fearful that she might have found her thumb… and while I know she’s sooo sweet, I’m not thrilled that she might start sucking it. Our friend the dentist tells us to discourage the thumb too.
Carlee really loves her siblings, and they love her too. This past week Colby has been climbing into Carlee’s crib and reading her a book before naptime. After all, he gets a book for naptime, why shouldn’t she? I can’t even capture how precious this is in pictures. Kennedy loves to play with Carlee and get right in her face while she’s in the exersaucer.
Speaking of the exersaucer, Carlee likes to be in this but only for a few minutes and only if she can chew on the toys. She likes to make noise with some of the toys, sometimes, but chew on all of the toys, all of the time. No teeth yet but she sure is drooling.. we expect them any day now.
April 10th, 2009
by Jenna
Jenna, the kids and I went out this evening to get pictures in the bluebonnets before it gets too hot and they disappear in the weeds. Got some really cute shots of the kids. Unfortunately we don’t have one of all 5 of us, but just imagine it. Click on each one to make it larger. Enjoy!
April 9th, 2009
by Kevin
Well Kennedy turned 2 on Saturday. She’s really growing up fast. With a big brother Colby in the picture to teach her all kinds of things, she seems to be doing things so much faster than he did, which makes sense. She’s speaking in full sentences and conversing with us a lot, which is really cute. One of her favorite things is to get “tails” put in her hair. Here’s a pic of Jenna giving her pigtails.
Another one of her favorite things is Tinkerbell. She has a few sets of Tinkerbell pajamas and loves wearing them. Her hair is getting longer and is beautifully blonde. I can only imagine that Jenna was this cute when she was a little girl. I caught this picture of her sitting in the window looking up at me the other day, which is one of my new favorites.
The “no!” is starting as well… she’s pretty good at it, she has the face and the finger pointing right back at you. Quite comical… hopefully she can’t read just yet so she doesn’t discover that I think it is pretty funny. Anyway, Happy Birthday little girl… love you Tink.
April 6th, 2009
by Kevin
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