Utah Snow

It snowed in Utah today, so Levi got to enjoy playing in it for the first time this year.  He wasn't interested in snow at all last year, but I don't think many 8 month-olds are.
Today Levi enjoyed eating, stepping on, and shaking the snow on grandma and grandpa's back porch.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Alphabet Song & Bathtime Fun

Josh and I were both surprised to learn just how well Levi knows the Alphabet Song tonight. We were lucky enough to get him to perform for the camera in the tub...one of his favorite places.

O Christmas Tree!

Levi picked out and placed the first ornament on the tree again this year. It's a wooden duck that has a present that hangs around it's neck.

I just love the light of Christmas in his eyes in this photo.

We decorated the tree in the afternoon. He was doing a final inspection before bed.
Currently, two or three ornaments make their way to the living room floor each day. He says, "Crismas Tree," enthusiastically each morning when he makes his way into the living room. There are about a dozen gifts under the tree, but he doesn't pay any attention to those, which is nice.

Thanksgiving in Ft. Worth

We spent Thanksgiving with some very good friends of mine from college. The Smiley's have a farm in Weatherford, TX, 30 minutes from Ft. Worth. It was a 5-hour drive that was pretty uneventful. We had a nice few days, good conversation, and fun with the kids, as well as a yummy meal.

Josh carved the turkey.

Levi did a wonderful job of sharing with little Jane.

Levi enjoyed his sticker from the Dr. Pepper factory tour very much. We toured the original Dr. Pepper factory in Dublin, TX on our way home.

Its nice to spend time with other people so you can have family shots taken. :)

Now it's time for Halloween!

Enjoying his first taste of Halloween. We went to the Houston Zoo for Zoo Boo and got some additional use out of his costume. He enjoyed being Buzz.

Grandma Shawn came to visit and brought with her the great costume she made for Levi. They both enjoyed the zoo.

She also surprised us with Woody and Jesse costumes to match Levi. We were good sports about it. Too bad we didn't have hats.

Levi enjoyed the Trunk or Treat at church. He was reaching out for candy after the first or second trunk and did a great job. A few times a day he'll ask for, "CANDY!?" I think he's going to make a first rate trick or treater from here on out.

More vacuums!

Given Levi's obsession with vacuums, we decided to give him his own. He likes to just leave it running in the background. (Too bad it takes two C batteries and doesn't last very long).

He's actually developed an interest outside of vacuums, though.  Now he likes to get on Josh's computer to watch videos of himself playing with vacuums.

Dancing With the Cell

Levi is very attuned to music, and loves to wave his hands as though directing, clap along, and, occasionally, dance.

Vacuum! Vacuum! Vacuum!

Levi has developed an obsession with vacuums. Vacuums in our house, vacuums in the store--even pictures of vacuums in catalogs. He can stare at these things for ridiculously long stretchings, longingly pining--"Vacuum. Vacuum. Vacuum."

So we decided to let him play for a bit. We shortened the video to keep it reasonable. Just know that, if we let him, he could go on like this for hours.

My Baby Can Read!

No we have not used the My Baby Can Read Program. Levi loves, loves, loves books. His favorite book for the longest time was Buzz, Buzz, Baby. Here and he Josh are reading it together. Right now his favorite book is If You Give a Cat a Cupcake...we read it a few times a day along with Dr. Seuss books like "Hop on Pop", "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb", and just about any book that has animals in it. He can look at a page in Hon On Pop and say the first two words on the page...he's had that book since he was born.

He talks all of the time and repeats words very clearly. His memory amazes us all of the time. Those neurons aresure connecting in his little brain!

A Few Firsts

July has been full of FIRSTS for Levi.

He had his first haircut in preparation for his ring bearer duties. He had a small mullett in the back anyway...it was time.

He enjoyed his first game of pool at the Rehersal Dinner.

At the Houston Children's Museum he got to play with an amazing Light Bright. I loved my light bright when I was little. I'm glad Levi has gotten to experience the magic of plastic pegs as well.

Levi had a friend over to play for the first time. It was also my first time babysitting since becoming a mother. It was 2 hours...I was glad Levi was asleep for the first hour.

Levi went to his first professional sporting event...maybe even his first sporting event. Today, his 15-month birthday, we went to the Houston Astros v Chicago Cubs game. Levi was so well behaved and we got to stay for 7 innings.

We all had a lot of fun and the Astros pulled out an 8-1 victory. :)

A July Wedding

On July 2nd, the first of my 3 cousins was married. Jacob and I are 4 months apart and grew up like brother and sister. He was in the Air Force and unable to come to my wedding, so there was no way I was missing his.

The Booth boys in their suits.

Jacob Lance and Kathleen Earnest were married July 2, 2010.

The weather wasn't too bad for Iowa in July.

The flower girl and ring bearer (our own Levi Booth) were pulled down the aisle in a wagon. We did a few practice rides in the wagon to ensure a smooth trip down the aisle.

It was a nice visit with family and an even nicer break from the heat and humidity of Houston. :)

May & June 2010

Levi started opening his mouth very wide every so often. He's funny.

He played with toes or fingers under the bathroom door in our Williamsburg home.

May and June were busy months for the Booths.

1. Sloan's job ended at Colonial Williamsburg.

The ladies I worked with were very sad to see Levi go. He misses them too.

2. We flew to Houston to find a place to live.

Grandma Shawn took care of Levi while we went apartment hunting in Houston.

3. Josh graduated law school at the College of William & Mary.

4. We had a vacation at the Outer Banks with Josh's parents.

Levi enjoyed swimming for the first time.

There's just something so cute about a little boy in a big hat.

5. We packed and unpacked our home.

6. We MOVED to Houston, Texas.

With all of that we did have down time to devote to Levi and making his last few weeks in his hometown enjoyable. We were sad to leave beautiful Williamsburg, but we are excited to see what adventures are ahead of us in Houston.

Moving Day- Saturday, June 12th. STRESS

We moved to Williamsburg from Logan, UT with a 16-foot moving truck and had a lot of space leftover, so we thought we could move from Williamsburg to Hoston with the same thing. Well, that was no easy task. As friends from church carried boxes full of all of our earthly belongings to the truck it quickly became apparent that we have A LOT OF STUFF. We knew that adding Levi to our family brought a lot of additional items, but we had both done the same over the last three years. I guess working in the Products Division of Colonial Williamsburg helped with that, but when I think about everything I bought there I can only really picture it taking up 3 boxes, maybe. Who knows what else we've added, but it took a lot of dismantling and creative placement to get it to fit in the truck (front and back) as well as in our Honda Civic. We hope we don't have to move ourselves again, but if we do we know we have to upgrade to the 22-foot truck. We're very grateful for the help we received on that very hoy, very humid day.

Everything didn't fit so we had to take trips to Goodwill and to a friend's garage sale pile before we left. We had to mail 5 boxes of books to our new home too. We were so ready to leave and just be on our way. It started to rain as we were making the last few trips from our house, but that was fine. It was the GIANT SNAKE on our porch that halted our departure from Williamsburg for 20 minutes. I have determined from internet photos that our unwelcomed visitor was a rat snake!

(This is not my photo...if I knew where my camera was at the time I would have documented this experience.)

I HATE, HATE, HATE snakes. My toes curl and I have to get away quickly. *shudder* Lizards don't bother me. I think because they have feet and I can see where they are headed. With snakes you have no idea. I think they are gross, sneaky, and just awful. I didn't have any childhood experiences with them and maybe that's my problem. Anyway, a 3-4 foot long, black snake was on our porch railing and was slithering up the side of our house to our porch light. The light had been the home to a bird's nest for a month or so, but was destroyed 3 or 4 weeks prior by a rainstorm. I never saw any eggs, but there was a sparrow that sat faithfully on her nest each evening.

Josh figured the snake was smelling bird and was looking for dinner. Well, he failed, but succeeded at keeping me prisoner in the house. When I told Josh there was a "huge snake" on our porch he figured it was going to be a foot long...I do exaggerate a lot, but snakes are not a joking matter. I was afraid it was trying to get in the house since the door had been open all day and the cool air was inviting him inside. Well, he did end up taking his time inspecting the former nest home and from the safe confines of our empty living room I made eye contact with him through the porch sliding door and told him, "I need to leave. I can't leave until you leave, so please leave." He explored some of the porch and even after I couldn't see him anymore I had to wait to make sure he was really gone. It was awful. Pretty sad that my last memory of our Williamsburg home had to be the worst ever. ;)

The drive to Houston was pretty uneventful. Josh and I took turns driving the truck and the car. We didn't push ourselves too hard. Our longest day was 7 hours and the shortest was 4 1/2. We got to visit with Josh's oldest brother, his wife, and their 3 kids in Atlanta. We also visited the Rosa Parks museum in Montgomery, AL. Everything worked out well and we arrived in Houston on Wednesday after only a few rainstorms. We received great help when we arrived too. Yay for church families wherever you go. Josh and I tried to get as settled as best we could before Levi joined us after a 10-day visit to G&G in Utah. We're very grateful they welcomed him into their home so he didn't have to endure packing, driving, and unpacking. Yes, we missed him, but he had a nice visit and we had a nice move.

Birthday Cake

Levi is about done with his cake in the video. You'll hear him say UP twice. Shame on you if you can't understand him, just kidding. :) First words are hard to understand, so don't feel bad.

ONE

Mom and dad helped Levi figure out what to do with the colorful heap in front of him. I neglected to get a picture of the table decorations, so please pay special attention to the ball baskets that had food in them. I was very pleased with my ability to plan and execute a cute and successful birthday party.

Our happy birthday boy.

Levi's presents. He didn't really enjoy opening them very much. Mom helped a lot.

The ball cake I made for the party. We didn't end up cutting into it at the party. I made mini balls for the guests and we had some left over, so we didn't need the one I worked the hardest on. Josh and I just cut into it this evening and its very tasty. :) Icing tinting still doesn't come very easy to me.

ICING! He had just a few bites of his cake. He didn't make too much of a mess.

Playing with two balls from his ball themed birthday party. I found ball easter eggs on clearance and thought those could make fun favors for the kids.

Enjoying his Little People barn from G&G. This picture is from April 28th, his birthday. Notice the small bruise on his left cheek and the macaroni and cheese on his shirt as well as dirty knees from crawling?! Yes, that's our BIG BOY!

A Cool Treat

Popsicles were on sale for 99 cents a box. I thought they might make a nice treat (and a method of hydration) for Levi as the weather warms up...too bad they won't make it to Houston with us. Well, here's Levi's first taste and so far only taste of icy, sugary goodness.

He enjoyed it for a little bit, but was certainly ready to be done. Mom was certainly ready to clean him up. I knew he couldn't eat the popsicle on the stick, but it was enjoyed in pieces after a photo op.

Recent Funnies

Its a happy boy in the tub, no it's Super Levi!
He has foam letters to play with in the tub. Who knew that an adult size washcloth and foam letter could turn a little boy into a super hero.

We try to feed the ducks and geese around the corner about once a week. Well, the ducks are a lot friendlier than the geese. This little fella got really close to our little fella. :)

Levi had a cold two weeks ago and we had been giving him some Triaminic. We had also been giving him the syringe after giving him his medicine. He found the medicine bottle and carried them around together for a while. He knows you need both to get better.

Levi and mom have both found a new treat...grapefruit. I didn't grow up eating grapefruit, but in an effort to eat healthier I discovered it was a yummy treat, even without sugar, and Levi feels the same way.