Camping

A few weeks ago we went camping with several other families from church.  Friday night was C-O-L-D, but we survived.  It warmed up on Saturday and ended up being a beautiful day.  We took a little hike up to the falls and enjoyed some time away from our normal life.

Enjoy some photos of our fun weekend (courtesy of the very talented Megan Drennon)

Making cupcakes

Helping Dad pack up the tent

The family we shared a site with brought their dog Maggie (a collie) with them.  I guess since Maggie was smaller and furrier than George, Levi thought she was a cat!  While we were having church, Levi dropped his graham cracker, and Maggie quickly snatched it up.  Levi looked surprised, and said, "That CAT ate my cracker!"

Levi came home very dirty and with a few new bumps and scrapes, but on the way home today he told us that he had a fun time camping.  I can't wait for our next trip!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from our little turkey!

Look what I found...

a cord!

He is his father's child...

I see so much of Mat in Levi- more than just the way he looks!  

He's a daredevil,

he enjoys sporting events (not for long, but he does love them),

he loves this particular children's atlas,

(If you don't know Mat very well, he is obsessed with all things maps...)

he loves to go FAST,

he's very particular about certain things,

and he loves his musical instruments.

I love my guys!

Arrrrgh Matey!

This year Levi's birthday party was all pirate!  

Pirate ship cupcakes

I asked Mat to build us a cardboard pirate ship, but his vision was much grander than my original thought.  It was a hit!  The kids loved steering the ship and walking the plank.

We also had buried treasure for the kids to hunt for.  Kennedy and Lleyton were the oldest kids here.  They were great about finding the treasure, and then making sure that all of the littler kids had enough in their bags too.  When Mat went to dump out the sand he said they had found every last piece of treasure except for two gold coins!

We enjoyed having friends and family here to help us celebrate our sweet little guy.  He got lots of cool new toys- an art easel, a new kitchen and food, a guitar and a drum, a grill, vacuum cleaner, and lots of fun new Cars toys.  This was the first time that Levi actually got into opening his presents, and he loved them all!  He has kind of been on toy overload for the last few weeks.  He starts playing with something, and then turns around and finds another new toy to play with!  Happy Birthday, Levi!

Happy Halloween

from our little parrot!

Thanks, Megan, for sharing your pictures! 

Our Little Professor

A few months ago Mat and I started noticing one of Levi's eyes was weaker than the other and would float towards his nose.  We first started noticing it in pictures when he was looking right at the camera.  Then we started to see it when Levi was really tired, but lately it started happening more and more often.

At Levi's 2 year well check Dr. Spellings sent us to see a pediatric opthamologist.   He said that Levi has strabismus, but that it could be corrected without surgery until the age of 9.  His first plan of action is glasses.  We'll go back to see him in January to see how they are helping.  It's also possible to use an eye patch or even dilation to help strengthen his eye muscles.

What a cute little professor!

This is an issue that can be easily fixed (and there is nothing seriously wrong with Levi's eye), but it has still been a hard transition for all 3 of us- especially Mat and I.  I don't think Levi ever had any chance of not having glasses- every one in our family does- I just didn't expect for it to happen at 2!

When Mat brought the glasses home, I fully anticipated a huge battle.  It hasn't been a walk in the park, but it has been much easier than I expected.  He has worn them on and off all weekend.  Saturday he was willing to wear them as long as he had his fedora on, so he got to wear his fedora every where we went!