While laying in bed the other night, Levi asked what was inside our walls. Here’s how the conversation went:
Levi: What’s inside the walls?
Daddy: 2×4′s (two by fours)
Levi: What are bufors?
Mommy: Hahaha!
Daddy: (thinking… ah!) I pronounced it “two bufors”, he thinks there are 2 bufors in the walls. lol
The light was reflecting through the decorative glass on the door which created several little rainbows on the floor in the foyer. Jonah says to Levi, “Don’t step on the rainbows”!…and of course, Levi stepped on one with each foot. Jonah freaked out yelling, “Levi, you are going to make the rainbows bleed”!
Levi wakes up a lot at night. Usually, he wakes up before we have gone to bed. Last night was no exception. We are in the living room watching TV and we hear him calling for us. Bill went to check on him only to find him digging through the pillows on the bed searching for us!
The other night, Jonah wanted to sleep with me. I told him that he had to talk to Daddy about it. He went to Bill, who was on the phone. Bill said for him to wait a minute because he was talking. So…Jonah went to Jada and asked her! I guess we should be grateful that we still outrank Jada. It won’t be long and we will be at the bottom of the totem pole.
A few weeks ago, Bill took Jonah to lunch at Burger King and to Toys R Us. I had the rest of the kids at the skating rink at the time. A couple of days after the event, I had both boys with me in the van. Jonah said to Levi, “Hey Levi, Daddy took me to Burger King and the toy store”. It isn’t often that Jonah is the one who gets something special and he just had to rub it in.
We went to church this morning as a family. I think it is the first time we have all been to church together. We went to the church where the boys go to preschool. I tried taking Levi and Jonah to the nursery, but they refused. They wanted to stay with Mom and Dad. So, we all went in and sat down. All of the kids behaved extremely well. Jonah eventually fell asleep on my lap. It was so nice to hold him and rub his back without thinking of the million other things I need to be doing. The girls complained and fussed about going and then they told me how boring church is. I told them that I understood that they felt that way, but I wanted them to keep it to themselves…I didn’t want to hear it.
So…Bill and Levi are currently sitting at the kitchen table, talking. I think Levi had had to reach some sort of record for questions asked. He said to Bill “Let’s talk about something besides smoke” (they had been talking about cigarettes and fires). So Bill asked him what he wanted to talk about. Levi said, “Let’s talk about God…you go first”. I just started cracking up. Bill admitted he wasn’t really an authority on the subject, but he DID go to church this morning! I started laughing inside when Levi asked why Jesus was a carpenter and Billy replied,”because they didn’t have computers”!
Christmas was a crazy time here! Did you expect any less? All of the kids got skates from Santa. We haven’t been skating yet, but I’m sure it won’t be long. Levi got his coveted “water building”, but the pots and pans work better for him. The girls got Build-a-Bear dogs and a couple of games. Jada really likes playing Yahtzee. After we checked out our gifts and had our Christmas morning cinnamon rolls, we headed to Grammy’s. We came home on my birthday and we all went out to dinner at O’Charley’s. The kids went back to school last week, much to their dismay.
Lana started gymnastics again last week. She really had a good time and is excited to go this week. The other 3 have swim class at the same time. Last week, the small pool heater was broken, so the boys didn’t have class. Jada got to swim though and she was thrilled. Jada and Levi start basketball next week. Levi doesn’t really “get” that he will be doing it, but Jada keeps asking “When does basketball start?”.
Mom and I went to Columbia, MO to watch Gail’s team play Mizzou. Texas lost, but Mom and I had a great time at the game and visiting with Gail. We went to dinner with Sonny, Jan, Colleen, Glen, Devon & Sean afterwards.
While we were gone, Bill was on Daddy Duty. He packed the kids up and headed to Marion for the weekend. It sounds like the kids had fun shopping and playing with Aunt Tracey’s dogs. I think Daddy had fun playing x-box games with Ben. He said the kids were really good while they were gone, which is so nice to hear.
According to the weather report, we are supposed to get 3-5″ of snow tonight, so I bought the necessary ingredients for snow ice cream…so BRING ON THE SNOW!
Levi has always been a VERY picky eater. The only vegetables that cross his lips are potatoes. One meal that he has traditionally eaten has been spaghetti. Last night I made spaghetti for dinner. Levi says, “I hate basketti”! We told him that he didn’t have to eat, but he wasn’t going to get anything else at all until he ate it. He didn’t eat it last night before bed. We told him that he could have it for breakfast.
This morning Levi was the first kid awake, which is unusual. I was in the bathroom fixing my hair when he walked in. His first words to me were
Levi: I hate you guys
Me: Okay
Levi: Want to know why I hate you guys?
Me: Why?
Levi: Because you won’t let me have anything but basketti!
I had completely forgotten about making him have it for breakfast, but apparently he remembered!
So, here we are….8 am…I’ve heated the “Basketti” and he has had 1 tiny bite…he got up from the table stating that “he didn’t care if he didn’t get anything else”…..I guess I’ll save it for lunch!
After Daddy, Jonah, and Levi get hair cuts this morning, we’re going to go to the mall to see Santa Claus and tell him what we want. Hopefully it won’t be too crowded, Jonah isn’t a big fan of waiting in line for things. Patience isn’t really his thing.
My poor daughters have no pajamas! Sad, but true…they sleep in old shorts and a tank top, or sweats! Last week Lana had a pajama party at school and we had to call Madelyn (the little girl next door) and borrow a pair of winter pjs. Today, Jada’s class is doing a project with the Polar Express and had to wear their pjs, so we called Madelyn again! I sure hope Santa brings these neglected girls some jammies!
Bill’s work Christmas party was on Saturday. We had a nice time visiting with people. Bill looked really nice in his burgundy shirt…not a white shirt this time!!!!!
The boys have been enjoying the myriad of Christmas shows on TV. I just had to turn it off and send them to their room to play! I did enjoy rockying with them while we watched Special Agent Oso, though! Jonah pulled my head down and gave me a kiss on the cheek and said “I love you, Mom”…..awww…how sweet!!!! I hope he will still do that in 15 years!
As always, it is non-stop action around here! We just got back from Thanksgiving in Marion. As always, it was great spending time with family.
Lana spent the entire weekend with ear pain. She was on an anti-biotic for a sinus infection, but she actually had an abscess in her ear canal. So, she is now on a different kind of medication. On another note, she is doing okay in school, but having some difficulty with her math and punctuation. We try and work on the math every night, along with her reading.
Jada is going well in school. Her teacher has started to give her more challenging work to keep her from getting bored. She received recognition at school for a writing assignment. The top items on her Christmas list are 1. a cell phone and 2. a real dog…poor girl is going to be disappointed!
The boys had preschool today. When we walked into Levi’s class, he informed the teacher that he looked really cute with his hat and gloves on today! She got the biggest kick out of his expression when he told her!
Jonah is pretty well potty trained. He has some issues with going #2 on the toilet. He starts to go in his pants and then finishes on the toilet. Even though he isn’t totally there yet, he’s got a great start! I am SO excited…no more diapers!!!
The boys have their Christmas program on December 20th. I’m sure it will be cute! Jonah keeps singing “Mary rode a donkey” over and over…I hope he sings it when he is supposed to!
The Christmas tree is up with the decorations centrally located thanks to my little helpers! The other holiday nick-nacks are out too, but the boys keep relocating them. Most of the shopping is done (I hope), but only a couple of things have been wrapped! Bill’s work Christmas party is on Saturday. I am looking forward to a night out. I know a lot of the people he works with and/or their spouses, so it will be a good time. We are using a new babysitter, so hopefully the kids won’t scare her off and we can use her again!!!
To top it all off, Levi has now figured out how to pop his tongue like his father. Billy is just tickled pink about that, that his “big boy” was the first to learn to do it, but the rest of us? Not so much!
I’ve put in my application for 2 teaching positions. Hopefully, I will get one of them. Although, if I do, the kids will be in for a shock. They have gotten used to sleeping until 7:30 in the morning, and so have I 
I had asked Levi a couple of weeks ago who his friends were at school. He said that he had 4 friends, but he didn’t know their names. So, the next time I picked him up, I asked him to tell me who his friends were. The only friend he mentioned was Lila. She has long blonde hair. After we left, he asked me if I liked Lila and did I think she was pretty. This was on Monday.
Last night, after the kids were in bed, I heard Levi yelling for me. I went back to his room and he said “Mom, do I have school tomorrow?” . I told him yes. He then responded with, in a very soft and shy voice, “Lila’s going to be there”. I told him yes, she would be there and instructed him to go to sleep.
This morning on the way to school, he had silly bandz on his wrists and he informed me that he was going to give one to Lila. He had a grin on his face and a bounce in his step. This was the first time he was excited to go to school! We got to his room and I checked him in and we realized that Lila was not going to be there…she was on vacation!!! Levi’s smile fell, his shoulders slumped and his eyes welled with tears….I thought I was going to cry. His teacher redirected him and told him about Lila’s vacation and told him she’d be there on Monday….when I left, he was crying 
He perked up and was in a good mood when school was over. His teacher assured him that Lila would be there on Monday….I sure hope she’s there…LOL
For Lana’s 7th birthday, she wanted to visit the American Girl Store. So, over Labor Day weekend, we went to visit Grandpa and Gram in Schaumburg. We got in around 9 on Friday night and the kids played will all of the fun toys that Grandpa and Gram have until very late! The next day, we all took a train ride into the Windy City. Then, we got to ride in a “taxi car”, as Jonah likes to call it! The American Girl Store lived up to the girls’ expectations. With their money that had been saved from birthdays and allowance, Lana bought a new doll, which she named Dakota, and Jada bought an outfit and glasses for her dolls. Gram also bought them each and outfit for their dolls and got the dolls’ hair fixed. Josefina REALLY needed a new do! On Sunday, we did a little shopping and went to the park…it was a perfect day! We headed home on Monday and stopped by to see Jennifer & Patrick’s new baby, Derek. All of the kids were begging to hold him (he’s only 8 days old) and didn’t want to give him up when their turn was over!
Levi & Jonah started school at St. John’s Lutheran Preschool today. They were very excited to get into the van and go! We hung up backpacks and went to Jonah’s room first. He gave me a kiss and was on his way. Then it was Levi’s turn. He was more timid when it was time for me to go. After I signed him in, I realized that I hadn’t signed Jonah in and had to go back to his room. When I got there, he was standing alone looking at the firetruck that someone else was playing with…when he saw me, he said he wanted to go home and got very clingy. Finally, the teacher took him and redirected him to the toys. After school, they both said that they had a good time, and Levi had a good note home. He did admit that he cried because he missed me