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.

Hard at Work

Levi spends each Friday at work with mom. He needed to send a very important fax one morning.

After touring the office to make sure business was running smoothly he needed to send some emails. :)
(He loves keyboards. I tried to get him to play with a keyboard that was not plugged into a computer, but he knew it wasn't the real deal.

Everyone I work with welcomes a Levi visit. Friday's are happy days, not just because they usher in the weekend, but becuase Levi is there to bring smiles, laughs, and happy distractions to all.

After a hard day's work at the office there is still work that needs to be done at home. Here Levi is helping dad tighten the bolts on the dining room chairs.

9 Months!

One of our snowy weekends in the Burg. Levi wasn't a fan of the snow once it started falling in his face. We only spent a few minutes outside.

Levi is an expert at opening cabinets as well as pulling things off the coffee table and the pantry shelves. We decided to keep the bathroon door shut from now on since we are getting tired of cleaning up after him.

He is a very happy boy most of the time, but especially in the tub. He loves to splash.

Levi got into the Valentine's Day spirit and sported a red shirt at church.