out

Yesterday Levi got out of his crib and started coming downstairs!  It was during his morning nap - he hadn't been settling down, and I heard a noise that made me think I should go check on him.  No huge thump like he fell, and he wasn't crying.  I get to the bottom of the stairs, look up, and who's at the top making his way down with a big grin on his face??  That certainly was not what I expected to see!  I put him back in his crib and he settled down and took a nap.  At bedtime I checked on him a couple times because I thought I heard something, but he didn't get out at all.  Phew!

We've been a little bit sick here since last week.  It really snuck up on me!  I guess it's because everyone else has gone back to school and started sharing germs - how nice of them to share them at church, too, since I have no one in school.  :)  Levi had a croupy cough for a couple days, now he's just kinda congested with a little bit of a runny nose, and drooling like CRAZY - I think it might be the congestion combined with some teething.  Caleb and Logan have been coughing, but nothing else really.  I've had a sore throat and some congestion.  So far Mike is in the clear.  Hope it stays that way!

Celery harvest is ALMOST done.  Probably 2-3 weeks to go.  Mike is really ready to be done.  Lots of employee issues, and he's pretty worn out from getting up at 3:30am every day (even earlier on Friday's when he has two trucks to load).

Caleb and Logan can both sing the ABC song really well!  There's just a couple spots where the don't say the letters quite right, but they've pretty much got it down.  They both can memorize their verse for Gopher's pretty well, too, except Caleb is rarely willing to say it.  Logan does, though.  I've had mixed success doing their daily "quiet times" for Gopher's.  Sometimes Caleb wants to do it, sometimes he doesn't, and it's not something I want to force at this point.  Logan usually wants to do it, but then gets VERY easily frustrated that he can't do something (e.g.: draw a square around something).  Even with me helping him, he just wants to give up and not try because he can't do it right.  Hmmmmm......sound familiar, Mom?  Mike says he was the same way, too.  So, I know how he feels, but I don't know what to say/do to encourage him to keep trying!  Working on this stuff with them has really reinforced to me that I would not do well as a preschool teacher.  :)

I did some of my own canning last week!  Feeling so domesticated.  :)

A couple Friday's ago we went to a family from church's house.  They have 8 kids (6 boys, 2 girls), but they're pretty much all grown, so there was only one there for part of the time we were there.  Anyways, the boys just love Mrs. Burkey, and she loves them, too.  :)  We all had a great time there - roasting hot dogs and marshmallows (I'm not sure how many s'mores Vonita gave Caleb....), and then inside they played with blocks and their dogs.  Oh, I almost have to mention, I took family portraits for them last spring, and when we did the photo session, Vonita had a project in mind.  She put a family tree up on the wall in her living room with the photos, and it looks really cool!

The next night Mike went to a Tiger's game with my dad, brother, and nephew.  It was a great game - went to 12 innings and the Tiger's won.  Made for a late night, though - I think he got home at 3:30am!

Last Tuesday we had a greater Steenwyk family party at my parent's.  My cousin from CA was in town with her three girls (two-yr-old, and 9-month-old twins).  My other cousin with 6-month-old twin girls was able to be there as well, babies, babies, everywhere!  Levi acted a little jealous when I was holding another baby, but not too bad.  :)

record

I wish I had a way to record the kids all the time - oh, the things they say!  Caleb and Logan have started with our church's Wednesday night program (we do a Word of Life program, and the boys are in Gopher's).  There are daily devotionals that we do, and it has started out in Proverbs.  The other day I hear Logan say to Caleb, "You're a fool!"  So, I guess that's all they've picked up on so far - the word "fool"....

About a week ago Mike and the boys were talking about his dad.  Mike has talked about him alot, and the boys know he died and where his body is buried, but it's hard to know what all they really grasp about it.  Anyways, I can't remember the whole discussion, but at some point Caleb got a look on his face like a light bulb just went off and he said, "Hey!  Maybe Grandpa could be your dad!"  (That's what they call Mike's stepdad - my dad is "Papa".)  They know Grandma is Mike's mom, and they know Mike's dad died, and they know Grandma and Grandpa go together, but I don't know if they've connected all the dots yet.  :)  But, obviously Caleb's thinking about it and trying to figure it all out!

Levi's big thing right now is wearing his big brothers' shoes.  He is often bringing me a shoe and "asking" me to put it on him.  Once on, he's happily clomping around the house.  He's also still very into doors.  Loves making sure doors are shut - he'll point and say "bye" when he wants a door shut.  For the past week or two I've been working on "rug time" with him, and he's doing pretty well.  I can't leave him on his own to do it yet, but once he's trained it will be SO worth it.  I did this with Caleb and Logan and it was INCREDIBLE (and it's still paying off).  Levi actually asks for it now!  He'll go to the spot where I have a small Thomas the Train rug set up for him, point to the timer I set, and point to the box of toys I put over there for him.

As mentioned earlier, Caleb and Logan started Gopher's at church.  I know parent's usually takes pics of the first night of this kind of stuff, but oh well, guess I failed in that area...  They were excited to go, and once we got there Caleb got pretty scared.  Logan was fine.  It's in a different part of the building that they've haven't really been in before, so I think that made it a little extra intimidating.  Mike was able to make it in time that we could drop them off together, and it was SO STRANGE to just drop them off and walk out the door with Levi.  (When they start Kindergarten I don't know who's going to have a harder time - Mike or myself...)  Mike and I took Levi to a nearby park for a walk and to play, and we really enjoyed our time.  We were talking about how much fun Levi is now at that age, and reflecting on what it was like with Caleb and Logan.  I remember it being a fun age with them learning new words and doing new things, but I'm thinking I might be able to enjoy it more this time around.  Anyways, when we picked Caleb and Logan up after Gopher's they were both very enthusiastic and told us all sorts of things.  I didn't have a chance to chat with any of the teachers, but I guess I'm assuming that if there was anything bad enough they would have told us.  :)

Yesterday afternoon I got to go to work!  They were shorthanded for harvesting onions, so the kids went to Harold's, and I drove tractor for the afternoon.  It was fun to have the chance to do it (although I still get nervous even though I've done it a thousand times...), and it's nice to be "qualified" to help out.  The day before (9/11), I had been reflecting on 9/11/01, and I had harvested onions on that afternoon.  I was so glad I had gotten out of the celery packing shed to be in a tractor with a radio.  After my first load yesterday Bruce hopped over from his tractor and asked if I remembered what I was doing 9/11 - so he remembered, too.  We were just down the road from where we were on that day (yesterday we were in Rich Schreur's field, 9/11/01 we were in Wally Hamberg's).  Yesterday it was nice to have a break from the kids for the afternoon, but working also made me glad I don't have to do that every day, and that I get to stay at home with my kids!

said

Couple quick things I gotta make a note of:

Tonight I took Logan out on a grocery shopping date.  On the way to the store I was asking him how his throat was feeling (he told me this morning it hurt).  He said it was feeling fine and, "I hope I don't get a chilly, I don't like chillies!"  Took a split-second to figure out he was using the word "chilly" instead of "cold".  :)

Levi always says "bye" when he wants a door closed.  And, I think tonight the boys taught him to say "yuck" at supper time.  Nice.  You can always count on big brothers to teach good things!  ;)  I'm curious to see how his speech continues to develop.  He's saying some things, and of course he's got older siblings he hears talking all the time, but yet I feel like we're able to communicate pretty well with his various noises, grunts, and pointing, so maybe he won't be as motivated to use actual words??  We'll see.

Oh yeah, even with boys we do have plenty of drama around here.  Tonight I was supposed to take Caleb out with me.  He said he was going to go, but then at the last minute said he didn't want to go.  So, I offered it to Logan instead.  Of course then Caleb changed his mind, but we're trying to work on "Say what you mean; mean what you say." so I made him stay home.  He was not happy when we left, but was fine about it later when I got home.  Logan and I had a really nice time the whole shopping trip, until the very end when I bought us a bag of M&M's to share.  He thought the whole bag should be his and he didn't want to share with me.  We had a lengthy discussion (basically saying the same thing over, and over, and over, and over again...) about how I bought the candy and I was sharing with him.  Anyways, he was terribly upset about it all.  And as soon as we got home, he and Caleb were right back at it (Caleb purposely making Logan upset, and Logan walking right into it.).  Ahhhhh, the house is nice and quiet now!

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So, I always think of all this good stuff to put in the blog, but I don't write it down, and then when I actually have a chance to type out a post, my mind is blank...

Oh yeah, the other day I rearranged Caleb and Logan's room.  I've wanted to for awhile, but just never got around to it, and now I really wanted their beds farther apart (they are SOOO not ready for their beds to be bunked together...), so I got 'er done.  They are now on opposite sides of the room from what they were, and that first night when Mike and I went to check on them before we went to bed, we didn't know quite how to handle it!  :)  We're in such a routine - do we walk to the same spot (different kid), or check on the same kid first, therefore altering our traffic pattern??  I know, major dilemma.  :)

Did I mention in the last post that Levi is really good at following directions?  Let's see how long that lasts!  He loves cleaning up after himself after a meal, and putting food that was dropped on the floor in the trash (not so much that he drops intentionally...he is improving in that area).  Today I told him to put his sandals in the closet, and he did.  He also knows if we're going outside and will get at least one of his sandals - it's so cute when he just plops right down so you can put them on for him.  He's very concerned that all doors be shut, except for the bathroom door, of course - if it's open he'll just walk right in and "check" on the toilet...  He likes to play with trains and tractors, and when we're outside he loves to ride in his car that he got from Grandpa and Grandma for his birthday.  Today we were at a friend's house for awhile, and they have a cat.  He was both intrigued and fearful.  You should have seen his face once when he was kinda following the cat, but then it turned to come back towards him and Levi turned right around and hurried back to me with a serious look of concern on his face.

Alright, not thinking of whatever else I was going to write...it'll come to me once I shut the computer down and the kids' quiet time is over...

good-bye

Well, we've already said good-bye to both of the goldfish!  I'm not feeling too bad.  :)  It was kinda fun to have them, but extra work for me - which I don't exactly need right now...  Caleb's fish died after the boys dirtied up the water (I was mowing the lawn and Mike, super exhausted as he is this time of year, fell asleep on the couch), and Logan's fish was just dead when we got back from the cottage Saturday.  Well, now I've got fish food on hand for fair time next summer!

Both Caleb and Logan have gotten into getting dressed in various clothing items.  The other morning they sneakily got dressed first thing in the morning and surprised me by showing up downstairs like this:

It's fun, but we've also got to work on taking care of their things - they have been making a disaster of their room!  I'm fine with the room not being perfect, but really, they don't need to just open the drawers and start throwing everything out...

Levi is just too much fun right now.  He's gotten really good at communicating and getting his point across when he wants something.  He's also our resident doorman - he goes around to make sure all doors are shut.  He's pretty attached to me - when there's an evening that I'm going to leave to get groceries or something he'll be crying when I leave, even though he's with Mike.  And, the other night the boys had a babysitter for just a bit because Mike was still at work and I had to leave for a photo shoot - Levi was NOT happy.  I think he calmed down fairly soon after I left, but Mike said Levi ran right to him when he got home.

Saturday was a fun day at the cottage, Sunday was a busy day with church stuff, and today it was super nice to have Mike home from work.  Labor Day is always very much needed around here!  We had breakfast and spent the morning at my parent's (beautiful morning for a hayride), for awhile in the afternoon I went to a friend's house to learn about canning, and we just spent the evening at home.  Back to reality tomorrow!