Visitors

We’ve had some visitors this week!

Miss G braved the Frat house for an afternoon. She had fun with us making pizza, decorating cookies for Valentine’s Day, playing, and taking in a little Daniel Tiger. 

He got some cuddle time with a friend (and awesome babysitter!) while I ran to Aldi during nap time. 

Bob (and Greta!) stopped by for brunch, books, letters to the mayor, and a tour of the Newman Center. It was a great morning together!

Sunday Bake

Victoria, one of Logan’s teammates, mentioned that she has taken to baking or cooking something she enjoys on Sunday afternoons. This particular day she was planning on cinnamon rolls so I offered her my kitchen and to join in the fun with the boys. She was delighted. I decided if we were going to work on rolls all afternoon then we should have a pot of my Aunt Pat’s white chili simmering for dinner. 

And so we did. 

Lewis helped for three and a half HOURS. I don’t think he took a break. 

She was so patient with him and let him do almost all the measuring. 

She also let him have some dough to work with and he had a blast. 

He’s pretty familiar with the whole process thanks to Grandma Susan. 

All the boys are familiar with this task, and they jumped right in. 

I kept up with the dishes for many hours. Vic and I chatted while we all worked as well. Two other missionaries joined us for dinner. 

Christine held Levi for quite a while, much to her delight. Usually Levi doesn’t let any of the missionaries hold him because 1) he’s deep into the stranger danger phase and 2) it’s always a big crowd when the team is over so he prefers mom and dad. 

Elias insisted on showing Vic his rolling skills. 

She made a dairy free batch! We coded them with yellow stars. It made for a weeks worth of delicious breakfasts, and we had a lot of fun on a not-so-lazy afternoon!

Random Happenings

Playing with his Fireman Sam set that Ava made him a year ago for his birthday. He still loves it. 

Standing with an adult nearby. Not pulling up yet, or crawling. 

Building all the fire houses and playing for a looooong time. He loves being home. Not doing preschool this semester was a good decision. He’s so easy to have at home. 

St. Valentine’s Day

I’ve come to love Valentine’s Day now that I have...a Valentine, and kids. We read a very vague story about St. Valentine about 100x over, and we do the traditional make valentine’s and pass them out. We also do whatever activities I feel like doing here and there. Anything that has to do with the holiday. I also decorate quite a bit because I like to and it’s my one chance per year to put up a bunch of pink stuff in a Frat house. 

I whipped up some cut out cookies with Elias one day because the wind chill was really cold below zero, so we were stuck at home. Then I found all the toppings in my cupboards so I made a cookie board for Logan’s bible study that meets at our house. 

I won’t say they loved it, but they partook in my holiday fun and got some cookies out if it. 



My cousins always have heart shaped pizza on Valentine’s Day, and that seemed doable on day two of windchills keeping us home, so we made mini heart pizzas for lunch. 



I made a bigger one for myself because carb caution to the wind on a holiday and nursing. I’m. Always. Hungry. and yet, I’ve lost another two pounds. Such a great perk. 

Then we decorated more cookies for G’s family and our family and the big boy’s teachers. 

I made a cute centerpiece with some stuff I had and added a few new things to it. Elias made the nature part on top. 

Logan and I each wrote down five things we love about each boy on a heart paper doily and then put them on their doors. We will do this every year. It was a great exercise for us as parents, and very good affirmations for the boys. They loved it. 

Using the paper doilies is a fond memory of my childhood. My grandma would send each grandkid a paper doily with our name written on it in all caps, a $1 bill rolled up and taped onto it, and she would sign it “I love you! grandma Irene”. She gave us that same valentine with a $1 bill from the time we were tiny until her last Valentine’s Day on earth when we were all adults. And I loved it every single year. 

I made a lovely brunch table the day after Valentine’s Day when Bob and Greta came to visit. 
Elias and I also listened to Valentine’s Day songs while we played. He is really into memorizing songs, and making up his own. 

Enjoying my Valentine’s Day mug daily. 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Everyone In Gingerbread Jams

Augustine & Lewis

Elias & Levi

What Lewis Has Been Up To

Spelling! He got these letters for Christmas to use on the light pad. Last week he practiced his spelling words with them, and other random words he can spell.

What Augustine Has Been Up To

Making a very cool diorama (or as Elias very seriously called it, a diarrhea). He chose his favorite animal, the salt water crocodile. My favorite part is the very detailed bird flying in the air. He made it by hand out of paper!

He spent the day with his cousins at G&G’s. They did a lot of projects, including Valentine’s Day sweater cookies. 

Augustine has been reading longer chapter books lately, being a baby whisperer with his baby brother, playing outside every chance he gets, looking forward to our next family art show (coming soon!), and enjoying his new room He moved to a bigger room so Levi can have the little one. 

Matching Jams

Augustine and Lewis wore these matching jams way back when. Still cute!

Levi 9 Months Old

Levi is nine months old today. He’s been out as long as he was in. Fourth time around and that’s still hard to comprehend. Why does it always go so much faster on the outside?

Levi is 23.5lbs and he wears clothes sized anywhere from 18 months to 2T. He HATES sleeves. 

He loves his binki and isn’t a great sleeper. Probably because he’s sprouted 6 teeth in 5 months. Having influenza A, ear infenctions, bronchiolitis, tubes in his ears, and strep all in a matter of four months didn’t help either. 

Levi has been sitting up without help since he was 4 months old, and now he can flop to his tummy and scoot backward a little. He is not crawling yet but he’s right on the verge! He can roll both front to back and back to front. 

He is my first baby to figure out a tippy cup this young, and doesn’t mind baby food. So far he eats carrots, sweet potatoes, pears, apples, and prunes. He had a horrible reaction to peaches. He likes graham crackers if I smoosh a small piece into crumbs and put the crumbs in his mouth. 

He doesn’t mind wearing hats or being in the car seat.

He likes to play with toys. He concentrates very intensely when he plays. He likes to hang toys on his thumb and gently move his hand up and down while he studies the toy. His favorite toys currently are plastic recipe cards, a simple wooden puzzle, measuring spoons, the munch mitt, at the zoo book, and the pretend pizza slices. 

He makes all sorts of sounds and noises with his voice/mouth. He says Mom when he’s sad/upset, and Dad when he’s happy and playing. 

We love you, Levi!

Keeps Us Laughing

“Ok. Let’s get dressed for Thursday, no...Friday.”

Me: what did you make me?

E: a roundabout. 

Me: What flavors did you put in it?

E: flour and chocolate chips and roast beast. 

E: do you know what “actividor” means?

Me: no. 

E: king to the food. 

“Take a picture of me with my mower to send to Grandma Susan.”

Me: we forgot to give grandma Susan a bday gift because we got so sick and it took us a long time to get better. What should we get her?

Elias: a book. 

Me: a book?

E: a magazine book. 

Me: about what?

E: turkeys. 

Me: a book magazine about turkeys?!

E: that’s what she wants. 

Elias: Would you like some 

coffee? We have three kinds but I don’t have hazelnut. We have...hazelnut, powder nut mint sugar, and perfume stinky and that’s all. 

He was a podiatrist. Her foot was hurt. 

The other day we were leaving the house. Elias was extremely irritated that we had to leave and I could not figure out why. He whipped out a play phone, dialed it, and started talking very irritated to the other person. He said “I’m sorry. You can’t come over. Mommy is making us leave. You’ll have to come another day.“ When I asked who he called he said “it was Greta of course. And now she can’t come over.“

While looking over the decorated church...

Dad, I like the angel best. But who will come to judge the living and the dead?

While driving home on Christmas Eve...

We always see trees when we drive. But the Alaskans don’t see trees.

Levi is a good name for our baby because he smiles more than girls.

Elias: what school does grandpa go to?

Me: he doesn’t go to school. 

Elias: what does he do?

Me: well he’s retired so he doesn’t have to work anymore. He does help the ninjas on Thursdays though. 

Elias: yeah. And the soldiers. Do Roman soldiers have to get pokes? I don’t like pokes. 

Me: sometimes. It keeps their bodies healthy. 

Elias: are we retired from pokes? 

Me: um, for now yes.

Me: can I read the paper when you’re done?

Elias: it’s going to take me a while and a half. 

Brothers Lately