winter

Well, I guess it's winter! Being outside you'd think it's January, but we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet! The last few days we've been blasted with snow, wind, and cold. But, I wasn't going to let that stop me from my plans for an overnight solo getaway! Last Thursday Mike found out that he wouldn't have to come back to work until this Thursday - I was thinking maybe we should do an impromptu family trip, but he suggested to go away by myself!  No arguments here.  :)  I hopped in Mike's 4WD truck yesterday morning, made my way to Holland, did a bunch of shopping, stayed in a hotel, and have done some more shopping today.  Right now I'm camped out in Panera for awhile.  Soon enough I'll have to head out for groceries, and then make my way home.  This has been such a wonderful time and I'm so thankful for Mike suggesting I do this and for his willingness to stay home with the boys.  :)

Last weekend was a nice family weekend.  And, looking at the calendar, the last 'slower' weekend until after the holidays.  Friday evening we had supper with my parents and started making plans for our vacation with them in March.  I already had an RV rented, and now I think we have a general route somewhat nailed down!  We're getting very excited about this.  I'm just a little nervous about the sleeping arrangements in the RV.  :)  Saturday Amy came over with her kids.  They played outside for quite a while, then got wild and crazy in the house.  It was nice that we could do a Saturday, since her oldest is in school during the week and the boys enjoy playing with him.  Saturday afternoon we went to see the RV we have rented, and then made a trip to Cabela's, and then Culver's for supper.  Sunday we actually made it to church as a family!!!  This is a rare occurrence this time of year.  Normal church responsibilities + winter sickness = we don't get to sit together in church much.  Levi "sat" through the whole morning service.  He's still a 2-year-old, so there's not much sit in his pants, but you gotta start somewhere!  Mike led our adult Sunday School class, and if I must say so myself, did a nice job.  :)

The boys have really enjoyed playing in the snow so far this year.  Definitely a big change from last year to this year in Levi.  Last winter it was just hard enough for him to get around that he wasn't a huge fan, but he's having tons of fun this year.  Mike is working on a fort in the woods and the boys enjoy 'helping' with that and playing in the woods. Roxy loves the snow, too.

Speaking of Roxy, she is growing LIKE A WEED!  Took her to the vet last Friday for a shot, and she had put in about 3 lbs in 3 weeks.  She's also not as innocent as she looks either.  She swiped a piece of pizza off the table when no one was looking.  And, she has a thing for socks and shoes, which she has access to because I just have a curtain instead of a door in the hallway closet.  She is doing VERY well with commands like "come" and "sit".  Probably the biggest thing we need to work on right now is not jumping.

Levi has been doing very well with potty training!  There were a few hit or miss days there, but now I think it's been a few days since he's had an accident.  Because of how things were going for a bit there we started putting him in pull-ups instead of underwear, but he's been staying dry.

Caleb and Logan will be 5 soon, and I can't believe it!!  It's exactly like they say, "The days are long, but the years are short."  SO TRUE.  Love my boys so much, but sometimes I wonder how I'm going to make it through the day, with all the fighting and disobedience and all, yet how has it been almost five years since they were born?!

end in sight?

After THOUSANDS of diaper changes, we may just be nearing the end!  For about six months now Levi has been good about doing his #2 business on the toilet - I believe there were two separate times that we had slight set backs, but now it's been a wonderfully long time since I've had to change a dirty.  :)  Anyways, I wasn't pushing him with #1 and just figured that he'd do it when he was ready.  Yesterday we spent the entire afternoon at my parent's house visiting with some missionary friends.  At one point Levi told me he had to go to the "bafroom", so I brought him, took off his diaper, and ran out to the car to get a clean one while he was sitting on the can.  I had used up my stash in the car!  So, we decided to just let him go commando and see what happened.  :)  He did great!  Put some underwear on him when we got home, and then a diaper for bedtime (who knows, we could be using a diaper at night for a while yet, but that's okay!).  This morning at church I was in nursery anyways, so I decided to go ahead and keep going with the underwear thing, and I told him that if he made it all morning without an accident I'd take him to Meijer to pick out his own brand new underwear.  (Mike was home with Caleb and Logan.)  So, he chose some Lightning McQueen underwear.  We did put a pull-up on for naptime, but he stayed dry!  He did have an accident a little bit after that, but so far that's the only one (and it's almost bedtime) - so, over a day in underwear with only one accident, I'd say we're headed in the right direction!!

cupcakes

Yesterday I made cupcakes for Levi's half-birthday (which was the day before, but we were hardly home that whole day).  We don't normally do the half-birthday thing, but, quite honestly, I did it just to spite Caleb and Logan.  ;)  Birthday's are the topic of discussion quite frequently around here.  Also, Caleb and Logan are forever finding ways to upset Levi.  About a month ago once such discussion about birthdays was taking place, and Mike and I must have said something about Levi being 2 1/2 soon.  Of course, Caleb and Logan made sure to pipe up and say that Levi wouldn't have a cake for his half-birthday, hoping to make him mad.  So, I said, "Maybe he will!"  And, so we had some yummy cupcakes with frosting last night, and even sang Happy Half-Birthday.  :)  While eating his cupcake Levi said, "Happy Birthday to....Myself!"  :)

sick

I am home from church with a sick Levi this morning.  :(  He's acting fine, but has a pretty yucky sounding cough, and I was up once in the night with him.  He started with this latest cold two weeks ago.  It could be a long winter!

We had a pretty busy week, and then a nice, slower weekend.  Monday was a beautiful day, and every farmer in the area was harvesting soybeans.  I took in a load for my dad and waited THREE hours to unload!!

Tuesday evening we headed to the Wayland Livestock Auction with my parents.  My dad had several cattle to sell, and the boys hadn't had the pleasure of experiencing the auction yet.  :)  Going there is like stepping back in time - the place is the same as it was decades ago except for the digital scale read-out.

Wednesday night Mike and I enjoyed hanging out with Levi while Caleb and Logan had Gopher's.  Thursday evening Mike had a committee meeting at church.  Friday Mike had the day off work again!  In the late afternoon we took the boys "trick or treating" to Grandpa and Grandma VanBeek's.

Yesterday was a chilly, but beautiful day, and we were finally able to get some fall yard work done.  Leaf raking and lawn mowing, and Mike and my dad were able to finish up with soybean harvest.

project

I recently completed a fun project.  A while back I found a $20 coffee table that I intended to paint and put up in Caleb and Logan's room for building Lego's, etc. on.  Now that the table is done, we're liking having it in the living room.  :)  So, we'll see what we decide to do with it long term.

Forgot to take a "before" pic before I started work, but this gives an idea of the color it was.  I turned the garage into my workshop, and could get used to having that space...  :)

Midway in the project.  On the left is the top drawer, which is full length and pulls from both sides.

One of the bottom drawers almost complete.

Done!