First Day of School and Super Heros

Ian is a big first grader. I'm trying to decide if I'm happy or sad about that! It is nice having him home, yet he also needs some more stimulation than his brothers give him sometimes :) He was so excited he could hardly stand it! The night before school started the school had a big picnic and open house, to see the class and meet the teacher. Everyone seems really nice so that's good! He's had some adjustments to all day school but he's been for about a week and is still liking it so that's good!

My boys have a sheltered TV life, they mostly like to watch Winnie the Pooh videos. There is one with a segment called "The Masked Offender." Christopher Robin is reading a story about the "Masked Avenger" to his friends and then Tigger pretends to be the "Masked Offender." His goal is to help people, but it doesn't work out. He sees Rabbit's scarecrow and thinks it's trying to get his garden, so he cuts it down. Then of course the crows eat his garden. So, that's the basics of the movie. So lately Ian has been the "Masked Offender." It's great, because his purpose is helping! All I have to say is, "oh, who can help me put away this laundry?" and Ian says in his deep voice, "have no fear, citizen, it is I, the Masked Offender, who can help. Masked Offender, to the rescue!" Then he does it. Afterward I tell him thanks and he says, "no need for thanks, citizen. Masked Offender, away!" It's sure a great way to get some work done - that's my kind of super hero!

This is his airplane hanger he made. He likes paper airplanes these days. He's saving some up to show his grandpa when we see him next.

Birthdays!

Over a month ago Caleb and Levi had birthdays! It kind of got lost in the shuffle of moving - that week before their birthday the movers moved our stuff to our new house, then we came back to my parent's house, John came for the weekend to celebrate their birthdays, and then we had a family reunion and we left for our new home. But hopefully they didn't feel like it got too left out. We celebrated with my parents, Caleb and Levi share a birthday with my mom. Trying to get a picture of the three of them together didn't work out too well so I won't show those :)

Caleb!

He loved watching the movers put our stuff in the truck, and for days after he pretended he was a mover putting boxes in the truck. So I made him a moving truck cake, kind of sagging in the middle, but it looks a lot like our truck did!

Levi!

Levi pretends to be a garbage man a lot, so he has a garbage truck cake.

Just a few pictures from the year. Last year I wrote about their birth, so I won't again. I just can't believe they're 3!! It sounds so grown up, if I were still working they'd be in my preschool class - that seems so strange. But then when I see them in nursery with the younger children, they do seem like they're growing up :( This is Caleb at the park. He always wonders if parks we go to have "drivers" (steering wheels). Caleb loves to pretend! He does actions and everything. Usually he's "'cycle man!" (with his recycling truck).

Caleb raked this dirt for a good 45 minutes this spring. Why the hat? I have no idea. Caleb loves to be read to, he'll listen for a really long time. He's a good helper, especially since we've moved. He gets upset if he can't help get ready for dinner! He always asks, "Mom, what can I carry?"

And lately, he says, "I want to be all snuggled up" in a very cute little voice :) He is always asking questions. The other day he asked what a musher does. I said I didn't know what a musher was. He asked again. I asked him what it was, we were driving in the middle of nowhere and I couldn't even find anything he could be referring to. I tried to ignore him and he finally said, "Mom, tell me what mushers do!" Luckily there was some piece of heavy equipment coming up and that distracted him!

As far as development, Caleb is out of the therapies he was in, he's too old and doesn't qualify for preschool. He can now jump off of something small, and can go up the stairs with alternating feet, no hands! He still doesn't eat much, but luckily will drink a high calorie drink so we'll see if he's gaining anything when we go to his new doctor.

And then there's Levi....he cracks me up all the time! He's very thorough when he talks, very verbal - "I need to go downstairs to get my truck. I'll be right back." He's serious a lot, he needs things just so - the lids have to be closed on the ketchup during dinner, things like that. The other day Caleb was playing with an extension cord, using it as a microphone to be Woody during their toy meeting on the movie "Toy Story", it was quite cute. But then Caleb comes up crying that Levi took it. Levi said, "This is way too dangerous. It's not for little boys." Then one day in all seriousness, he said, "I want to be a cow when I grow up." I asked him what he'll do when he's a cow. "I'll moo." I love this stage!

Levi loves to pretend, too. Here he's driving his train. He likes to drive most anything with wheels! He likes to go to the store and buy things, and surprisingly with his somewhat unhealthy diet he buys asparagus, broccoli, and apples quite often :)

Lately he's been feeding ducks. He'll go get some pudding, use a spoon, and pretend to feed his green and yellow ducks. Levi has a good memory, and can repeat parts of movies, and has parts of several books memorized - he loves books! He can list the steps it takes to do something, like each little step to go somewhere - first we need to find our shoes, then we put them on, etc.

As for development, he also doesn't qualify for state-run preschool, which is great! For cognitive development they're both right on. Physically he can jump with two feet on the ground, not off something yet, and has been alternating his feet on the stairs while holding on (those are the next steps toward physical development). As far as eating, he is finally eating some! He's eaten crackers, sandwiches, pancakes, things like that, and even tried a grape and green bean! He still has a long way to go, is maybe eating 10% of his food by chewing, but he's definitely making progress!

Little mirror images!

Still small enough to ride in the same swing - barely! It's a little tight for them. This gets long with two boys to write about, but we sure are glad to have these two little boys in our home, they are so sweet and fun and we love every minute - except the fighting :)

Lots of pictures

I am just going to write about these pictures as they posted, since I'm too lazy to organize them differently. Sorry! I do have many things to write about, like birthdays, but this will have to do for now.

This was taken after they moved Levi's crib in our old house - can you tell what it is? He must have had dirty feet....but I had to take a picture before I cleaned the wall.

This is a view from my living room window. It's much better in person, every time I come around the corner into the room I see this and am amazed at how pretty it is. You'll just have to come see in person, I guess! The morning after we got here we watched the tractor cut the hay (or whatever it is). That was pretty fun.

This is one mural on Ian's walls, there's a whale and many fish.

We found a place maybe 10-15 minutes away to hike. And, by the way, the little boys love their family reunion tie-die shirts!

On the way to where we hiked.

This pheasant is almost always in our yard, or seen with another pheasant walking the neighborhood.

Levi blowing his horn, and then in the chair driving. He and Caleb are always driving something - a firetruck, garbage truck, recycle truck, whatever.

Notice what's in Levi's hand, half eaten? A peanut butter sandwich - that's right, his first meal that I didn't make him any special food! He's getting there, for sure. Still he can't (or won't) eat a lot of things, but he's getting better!

Caleb has turned into Linus, he carries his blanket everywhere and wants to be "all snuggled up."

Eating a pudding popcicle.





Caleb and Levi have found some nice times to play together, amongst the pushing and fighting.....

Ian at his new school's playground, which is only 2 houses away!

For some reason Ian wants to go down the stairs this way.....








Ian has renewed his love for Legos, and plays for hours during Caleb and Levi's naptime.

Just because it's cute :) We made a box into a restaurant.

I need to take more pictures of the house, but it's really a mess right now. We still have a lot to unpack and figure out where it goes, and then maybe I'll do a photo tour. But here is my new long term food storage room - under the stairs! It wraps around all the way under the other set of stairs, too. I can get a lot of buckets in there!

It is different living here, in a smaller town, but nice so far. It cools down at night by 8pm, so we can open the windows and turn on fans to cool it off (no AC). That's great until a skunk comes around...... We got a new phone book and there are 23 towns listed in the book - and with both white and yellow pages it's less than an inch thick! I could actually fit it in a phone book drawer, if only I had one! We've found lots of parks and met some friends there already, Ian is excited about school starting and mostly about the ice dispenser on the front of the fridge that came with the house :) Levi likes his purple room, Caleb wants to go back to "my other house that doesn't have any stairs." I'm glad they are good at walking up and down stairs, since this is a split level house, but Caleb doesn't really like them. All in all, it's nice to be here. John is still learning his job, the boys and I have explored a few of the places around here, and today a friend took me to buy fruit and corn to can/freeze!

More Fun Than a Barrel of Monkeys

More good news

I have so many things I could write about, and fun pictures to post that may or may not ever get done. But, the good news - Levi is finally starting to eat! I have doubted at times that he'd ever get it, ever get to where food didn't gag him as soon as it touched his tongue. But, he's eaten some crackers, and he's eaten a few bites of other things like muffins and pancakes. It has to be on his own terms, but he's starting to do it! One of these days, I can stop buying baby food - hooray!

And in other good news, we're ready to move! Within three weeks of accepting a new job, we'd sold our home here and bought a new one in our new town. John is already there working, and in a few weeks we'll be all moved and starting to get settled in our new place, before school starts (which school is only two doors down from our house!). It's going really fast, that's for sure!