6/2/11- Levi Turns 3 Years Old

It's My Birthday...Finally! We had to explain the order of when his birthday was and now it was his turn.

Family Shot on Memorial Day

We celebrated Levi's 3rd birthday two times this year. The first party was on Memorial Day with the Koopmans side up at Half Moon Lake. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the sunshine and the water. Levi and Dadda went tubing with Collin and Uncle Dan. I went tubing with Mom K and was glad that I did not fall off when I felt the water.  When I asked Levi what kind of cake he wanted this year he said that he wanted an orange one and chocolate one.  It was orange and we had orange sherbet too. Levi got his big boy bike and his helmet, a new sleeping bag and a  Handy Manny backpack. He has the sleeping bag on the floor in his bedroom and likes to crawl way inside of it. The bike is a balance bike info here at Strider Bikes. Of course, it is also orange. Grandma K also made him a special photo book with ABC's.  On Wednesday, the night before his birthday Levi was screaming in his bed and Ryan went to find him covered in puke, all over his face and ears, chest and pillows. He was shaking and had a fever of 103. Over the next day, he had a continued fever and sore throat and not drinking or eating much. No fun to spend sick on your birthday. We had to cancel our zoo date with friends. I took him to the Dr after I looked in his throat and saw the "spots", strep throat. He was put on an antibiotic and the 2nd birthday party with the Roedema side was postponed one day till he felt better. So on Sunday, we had the Roedema side over for brownies, snacks and icecream. Levi was feeling much better and could not get enough of his presents.."next one" was what he said. He got a John Deere tractor, coloring books, CARs chair and cars, Lego dump truck and a sprinkler. On the night of his birthday, Levi also told me after his bath that he did not want to wear a diaper to bed...so with underwear since and no accidents in the night. He comes and wakes us up at night to go...but that is ok. No more diapers for him! Yeah! Other things that Levi has been up to are expressing his independence by spending time in the "chair", time out. He is biting, hitting and yelling saying NO! We have been taking away his toys and that usually shapes him up pretty fast. Beside speaking English and Spanish, Levi has started making up his own language, called "oka". Ryan and I know a few basic words and Maci seems to understand some.:) He loves talking in "oka" and then seeing how Ryan and I ask him "what?" and then he explains what he said. He also loves going to the park, reading books, playing with his lawnmower and his friends next door and riding his bike.

The Annual Motorcycle Picture and Levi's new bike!

                                           We love you Levi and the big boy you are growing up to be.

5/25/11- Maci 9 Months Old

Maci, What are you doing?

Today is Maci's 9 month birthday. Ryan said last night that with Levi milestones/time seemed to go so slow and with Maci it is flying by. Maci is an awesome little eater. She is eating all big people food now and some night eats more than her brother. She is a good napper and when she is home with me a Mama's girl. She is very predictable with her naps and eating which is good.  We just have to lay her down with her paci and blankie and she is set.I really do not remember that with Levi. She smiles and babbles alot. The other night I swore I heard her say" all done" and then the next day "hot" when she tried to take my coffee. But who knows. She can pull herself up and plop her self back down. She loves to bang her hands on the screen door and the front door. I have eternally given up on trying to keep the fingerprints away..some days I just laugh..o well. We sure love our Maci Jean and think this summer will be fun with all the new things that she will encounter and explore.



Finally Sometime Outside!



Helping Dadda!




Levi had to have his own rake and red hat like Dadda.



Little

  Miss Maci Jean loving the sunshine and playing in the sandbox. She did eat some sand but after the first few "bites" had enough. She also loves to sit in her stroller and eat..snacks like golfish crackers and "puffs" and watch Levi and Dadda in the yard.

It is weird how the old is becoming new again. Line drying is coming back as far as energy savings. It is also a great way to dry my cloth diapers and the sun is a natural stain remover. I got this online and Ryan made a cement bucket pole thing in the ground for support. So far so good. We just need more sunny days. Levi seems to love to help with this too which gets us up and moving in the morning. I remember my mom line drying..but where is the line now? Who knows. Here is a summary of the cost saving comeback.

Debates also arise about having clothes lines in neighborhoods. Hopefully I do not get in trouble for this.

Find that article from The Wall Street Journal here

We will see how this all goes. Just another way to try something new!

One Reason Why We Recycle....

Maci is 8 Months old 4/25/11

Maci is 8 months old this week. It is hard to imagine she is that big already! She is doing so much better this week after having a fever of 102-103 for five days last week. She is eating now and taking a bottle which she was not doing much of last week. She is also back to her active self. Maci is offically crawling and can move. She moves faster on her stomach with the army crawl but still manages to find Levi and or Mama and Dadda and see what we are up to. She is into exploring her surroundings very well: pulling over plants, pushing over her basket of books or eating her diapers. She loves to eat and we have been giving her "puffs" and other small finger foods and she seems to like it all. She also loves music and after supper while we are cleaning up we usually put on music and dance and sing..she flaps her arms and laughs at us all. She knows when Mama or Dadda leave and it seems when I work a day and then are back home she is more clingy to me( but that is ok :))..she will babble..ma..ma..and I think she is just babbling..but maybe she is saying MAMA :) Levi is offically in his big boy bed downstairs and the toddler bed is away. They are no longer sharing a room and that quick transition had partly to do with a night last week where Maci was sleeping and Levi got out of his bed about 20 times and this lasted till about 10 pm. Of course waking Maci up in the process. We do have to stay by him for a few minutes downstairs while he settles in but after that he is ok. We have the baby monitor in his room and he knows he can talk into that and we can hear him.

Spring Break Project...

A few weeks ago a coworker was telling me about how her husband made her pedestals for her front loading washer and dryer...that got me thinking. I asked her where she found the idea and it was on this website. I showed it to Ryan and he put it on his "to do list" saying that "I could do that". I added the idea of having " laminate flooring on the pedestals to help with wear and tear. I do not think that I would ever buy the pedestals in the store because they seem too expensive this was an alternative that was much cheaper. Needless to say, Ryan got the pedestals made, painted and installed in 2 days time staying up one night till 4am to finsh. We had to move the cupboards up to make them fit(thanks Case and Laura for your help)but they look better than I/we thought they would. It organizes our laundry space better and makes the room seem bigger.

4/10/11- Maci's Baptism

What a beautiful day to celebrate Maci getting baptized. Record high temperatures in the 80's and gathering for lunch with family. During the service Maci did great.She looked so cute in her little white sweater dress and hat. Levi was a little restless but did not yell or say that he had to go pee pee in the front so that was good. Maci did not mind the water for the baptism at all and I am sure that is related to Daddy and Levi's bathtub splashings and sprayings..."just getting her ready for swimming". so the few sprinkles were fine. We are committed to raising Maci to know and love Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and our families will help with that too. We know that Maci is loved! Daddy said a prayer before lunch and shed a few tears for the love that he has for his extended family and Maci Jean. We rested after everyone left and then headed out for some icecream a great way to end a blessed day!