Batman and Robin

Tonight was the first Halloween that these two will remember... and it was a good one. We started off at one of our neighbors houses showing  off their costumes, then we all got grilled cheese sandwiches at Dee's (where Nana and Papa used to take everyone after trick or treating), and we ended the night at Jack and Sam's neighborhood filling their bags with yummy treats from nice neighbors, it was a really fun night.

The gang.

Anxious anticipation at the very first door knocked at.

Picking what was going to go in your bag was the hardest part...

And, I loved over hearing the conversation between these two buddies. They chatted the whole time and gave themselves pep talks when they saw older kids in scary costumes...

Noah: there are some yucky costumes over there.

Jack: Yeah, but they are just pretend.

Noah: Yeah, I know. And we're brave.

Jack: Yeah, we are. But if we saw real monsters, we would hurt them.

Later on... we were asked to go up to a door with some really creepy decorations. We tried to avoid the house, but the neighbor was standing in his yard inviting us to walk up. We didn't feel that we could turn the neighbor down because we didn't want to offend him so we went... but we gave the boys a super quick pep talk on how everything is just pretend, and that they are brave and scary guys are always afraid of the good guys because they know the good guys are always bigger and stronger. We told them to just say "BOO!" to anything they thought was scary... so the whole way up to the door we heard Noah saying, "BOO! BOO! BOO!... BOO!" He was so proud of himself for scaring all the bad guys :)

I love my brave boys. 

TWO

Levi, you are two today. TWO. I can't believe it. Time with you has gone by so quickly... and I want it to slow down a little so I can keep you under our roof longer. You are growing up to be such a sweet, tender, funny, happy, CURIOUS, and determined little man. You have an amazing spirit of adventure, and you love your brother like crazy. You're not discouraged by the word no (we're working on that)... and you're not intimidated by anyone... even kids that are much MUCH taller than you. But I'm not going to lie... I like that about you. And I think that one day you will be unstoppable at whatever you set your mind to. We just pray that whatever you decide to put your energy towards that it will be for Jesus. We are so proud of you... and can't believe that we get to be your mommy and daddy.

Here you are last year:

Here you are this year (we made you a pizza, since it's your favorite):

Love you dude. Our family wouldn't be the same without your spunky, cheerful, silly self. 

Two sweet boys

lucky me :)

Our mornings

Sometimes it's hard for Mommy to get out of bed the morning... but then I remember we get to do this :)

And I'm usually greeted with such a cheerful "Hi guys!" that I would much rather be watching cartoons and snuggling than be in bed. I will miss these mornings when you decide you're too old for snuggles and cartoons.

What's my name?

You finally named me. You have known who to point to for a while when people say "where's Mommy?"... but you finally gave me a name. It's "Mom-o" and I couldn't be more tickled. Hearing you yell that from your crib when you're ready to get up, or when you're doing something that you want me to see or be a part of makes me melt. I hope that this name sticks, becasue I like being your Mom-o.

Comedic timing

This morning you were a little bit fussy after daddy got you up. Usually you're happy to get up and hang out in your crib for about an hour playing with toys and talking to yourself, but today you were not content to do that... at all. Which is fine, since I know it's not the normal.

So I went in to get you figuring that you were just really hungry and brought you downstairs and started getting you your breakfast. But you weren't happy to be downstairs and started being naughty to prove that. Daddy put you in your chair and I handed you a bagel (your favorite), then you folded your hands and looked at me to pray. My prayer went something like this:

"Dear Jesus, thank you for our food, our family, and for a beautiful day. Please help us to all have good attitudes today and for Noah to take a wonderful nap. Amen."

Then I looked at you and said, "I sure hope that Jesus answers my prayer about us having good attitudes..." and took a sip of my coffee, and you VERY seriously leaned forward toward me and said, "No."

Your dad, who was standing behind me, shoved his head into the pantry (so as not to show you he was laughing) and started shaking all over... which meant he was laughing pretty hard. I almost spit coffee out all over the table because I started laughing, and when you noticed how hard we were laughing you started laughing.

Not one of our better parenting moments. We're trying to figure out how to be more effective next time...

Old McDonald had an I-YA... ei ei oh.

Lately, you have been super into making all kinds of sounds. Animal sounds, car sounds, so many. I had to document this, because we've never been able to capture it on our camera. The second you see a camera you turn into this little ham and will never do what we're trying to get you to do... you turn into a little comedian instead. So here are your current animal sounds (we're working on trying to correct some of them...)

Bear & Lion: RAAA!!

Sheep & Goat: Baa

Dog: voof voof (your absolute favorite animal ever)

Cat: I-YA (not sure why...)

Goldfish (out of one of your books): BAAA

Cow: MM MMM

Car: BVVVV

We're ready for you to start talking dude. Any day now. We can't wait to hear what your little mind is thinking!