A Month of Firsts

The past month of June was a busy one for us with Ryan being out of town for 3 of the 4 weeks with church related activities (the summer is a busy time for youth pastors!). It was also a busy time b/c there were a lot of firsts for us.

Levi started walking, I mean running, everywhere!

The first broken bone in my family (boo!), Mom broke her wrist while visiting us.

The boys & I got to attend one of those weeks away with Ryan to Louisville, KY for our denomination's annual gathering (called General Assembly or GA). It was our first of many in the future I'm sure! Then we stayed in KY for a few extra days to visit my aunt, uncle, cousins, & second cousins in Lexington. It was the first time that the kids had met each other (there were six kids ages 3 & under...crazy, fun times!).

My papaw got to meet Levi for the first time!

It was a whirlwind month, but oh so fun! But I have to say, it is nice to be home as a family again :)!

The Best Donuts in the World: A Dean Family Tradition

Ryan's culinary world (at least the breakfast part of it) was rocked awhile back when he discovered a local doughnut shop, Monroe's Donuts, that just might make the world's best donuts. Now, you have to understand that it is a BIG DEAL for this Krispy Kreme-loving man to admit he might have found a doughnut that tops his original fave (I mean, his groom's cake was a tower of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, people!).

Gotta love that logo :).

Monroe's is kinda off the beaten path, but ever so often (can't do this weekly b/c the sugar might kill us all!), Ryan & Evan will head out on Saturday morning to buy us a dozen of these delectable, melt in your mouth glazed donuts. Part of the tradition is that Evan gets to go in his pjs, and Mr. Monroe always greets him with a free doughnut. As you can see from the picture, Evan sometimes dresses to the nines for the occasion :).

Dressed & ready to go!

Those of you who are local Jacksonians, check out Monroe's sometime soon. I promise you, you will not be disappointed! For those of you out of towners, if you come visit us, we'll make a special trip to get some just for you :).

Getaway to Rosemary Beach

I keep meaning to share pics of our recent (er, a month ago..) beach trip. We were blessed to get an early spring break in February thanks to a sweet couple in our church who let us go to their place in Rosemary Beach, FL, which is on the Gulf coast near Panama City. We had an amazing time, and my mom was able to join us too, which was a nice treat to have so much time with her! The boys love their Grammie, and Ryan & I got to go out on our own several times that week, be it a bike ride, dessert somewhere, or a nice dinner. We definitely came back relaxed & refreshed! Thanks to the mild winter, we even got to play on the beach a few days, but not the water, it was way too cold!

Levi loved the beach!

We were shocked Evan let us bury him (he hated getting sand on him last summer!)

Soaking up some rays!

Levi chillin' with Grammie

Loved the walking community at Rosemary!

The boys LOVED our daily wagon rides around town.

My Sweet Levi

This week Levi turned one year old! We celebrated with a birthday lunch with our immediate family & a couple of friends. We're going to have a party with our extended family in Georgia the end of this month while we are in town for a youth pastors' conference. Can't wait to celebrate Elmo style with party hats (per older brother Evan's request) & of course, a smash cake (wouldn't be a first birthday party without it)!

So a little over a year ago, I was a week & a few days past my due date when Levi made his grand entrance into the world. Before he was born, I had a fear that seems laughable now, but was a legitmate concern of mine. I wondered if it was possible to love another child as much as I loved our son Evan. For some reason I was afraid that it wouldn't be the same the second time around. Boy was I wrong! I love this little boy Levi with all my heart!

In case you don't get to be around him much (which is most of you, since he's pretty much always hanging out with me!), let me tell you a bit about this awesome baby boy. Levi definitely looks more like me than Evan does for sure, but I think he's going to have his daddy's outgoing personality. Whenever we're in the grocery store or out and about, he's always looking around trying to catch other people's eye. When he does, he gives them his cutest, big, open mouth smile and waits, expectantly, for their reaction, which, undoubtedly, is a big smile in return. And he's persistent about it! If at first they don't notice him, he tries again, and if that still doesn't work he'll use a cute squeal to get their attention. It really is hilarious to watch.

Other facts/milestones you should know about Levi:
1) He's very snuggly (my favorite thing!)
2) He has 6 teeth already, with 2 more on the way!
3) He's a fast crawler, but not too interested in walking yet.
4) His favorite snack is miniature Goldfish (he gets giddy when he sees the bag).
5) He wants to play with whatever toy Evan has (makes for interesting play times).
6) He loves to scream at the top of his lungs whenever he gets really excited.
7) He loves his family & life in general

What a blessing to have him for a son!

Ur & Whobody

You probably haven't spent much time thinking about pronouns & how useful they are, unless you're in the habit of watching Elmo, who always refers to himself in the third person (which can get kind of annoying after awhile-no offense, Elmo). Around our house, pronouns are all the rage with our 3 year old. And not just any pronouns, mind you. No, Evan has created his own that have proven themselves to be quite useful. They are, respectively, "ur" & "whobody".

ur: a contraction formed by the pronouns we or you and the verb are; "Where ur going, Mommy?"(are you); "Ur going to Target after naptime." (we are)

whobody: pronoun used when you don't know who the person is you are referring to; can be singular or plural. "Whobody going to cut down that tree, Mommy?" "We are going to give that candy to whobody." "Whobody's car is that?"

Go on, try them out. You might find them to be quite helpful! We've certainly caught ourselves starting to use them :).

Giddy up! Evan's three!

Last week, Evan turned three years old! We celebrated with a Backyardigans/cowboy birthday party (got the idea from free online printables- check it out, moms, for some cute, creative, FREE stuff!) at his favorite local park with some of his friends from church. Thankfully the rain held off just long enough for our cookout/play time!

I planned to upload some pictures of the party tonight, but I just saw that my sister uploaded pics to her blog today (and her camera is MUCH better than mine), so please take a minute to check it out! Thanks for saving me some time, sis :).

Farm Family

Last year, Evan cried when he had to wear his costume to our church's fall festival. This year, he was thrilled that he got to wear his costume twice (school & church) and practically dragged us out the door to get to the "Halloween party" as he called it. Since both of our little ones were farm animals (cow & horse respectively), Ryan & I thought it would be fun to dress up (and I use that term loosely) as the farmer & farm lady (as Evan referred to me). We had a great time!

Levi's not too sure about having a cow for a brother!

Fighting Fires

Last night our neighborhood participated in the National Night Out program, which is a part of our neighborhood's crime prevention partnership with the local police department. It was a cook-out where folks got to know their neighbors. Some of Jackson's local fire-fighters showed up with their fire engine trucks for the kids to enjoy. Let's just say that Evan was in little boy heaven!

On another note, you know that adorable stage of babyhood when they become so darn cute that you just want to keep kissing them all day long? Well, Levi (now 6 months old) has officially entered that adorable stage--laughing, smiling, cooing, & drooling non-stop. I just love it! Here's some proof:

What a weekend!

This past weekend was a special one for our family. Levi was baptized at Redeemer's morning service on Sunday, and that evening was a special church service in honor of Ryan's ordination into the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) after a year long process of examination. The weekend was made extra special by having each of our families in town, as well as our former pastor and his wife, Dave and Jill Seifried.

Levi being baptized by our pastor, Mike Campbell

David, Holly, Gail, P.D. and Jill enjoying Sunday lunch

 

Our parents and us at Ryan's ordination reception

Evan totally adored his cousin Kyle!

Summer Fun in Hotlanta

It's been awhile since I've blogged...partly because we were out of town for two weeks, and partly because, well, I guess summer mode has kicked in and I've just gotten lazy about it!

Evan, Levi, and I had the priviledge of spending two weeks earlier this month in the Atlanta area visiting friends and fam while Ryan spent two weeks at the beach with the youth group (one week with junior high and one with the high schoolers). Now don't go thinking I braved the 6 hour drive all by myself. My sweet mom flew out to drive back with me (shout out to our family friends, the Thompsons, for providing her with a buddy pass!) so I wouldn't have to manage an infant and a preschooler on my own! The boys did great, but the trip there took 10 hours instead of 6! We paced ourselves to say the least.

Our time in Georgia was wonderful. We spent lots of time near the water since it was in the upper 90s and even got to pet some animals at the Yellow River Game Ranch (very fun!). Check out the fun below:

Levi loves his Aunt Erica & Uncle Matt
(looking tan back from their mission trip to Nicaragua!)

Celebrating Poppy's bday at Chili's

Evan showing some love to the bunnies
at Yellow River Game Ranch

Nana and Levi hanging out poolside

All the cousins enjoying the kiddie pool

Bob and Larry

Evan, like many preschoolers around, has a slight obsession with Veggie Tales. He even has two pint sized stuffed animals of Bob and Larry (thanks to Grammie) that sleep with him every night. So when we received a mailer of a Christian bookstore grand opening featuring an appearance by Bob and Larry, it sounded like the perfect family fun day activity. We were pretty sure our timid son would admire them from a far but be terrified up close. We were not disappointed.

Apparently pint sized stuffed animals is one thing, but a monster sized cucumber and tomato is something else entirely. Who can really blame him?

First Vacation

Levi took his first trip to Atlanta to visit family a little over a week ago. I was a little nervous about traveling 6 hours by car with a 2 1/2 year old and 12 week old, but the boys traveled surprisingly well! We first went to McDonough to stay with my parents for several days, then we spent the last bit of the week in Decatur with Ryan's side of the family. Because it was so hot, we made sure to spend as much time as we could near cool water! All in all, it was a very nice week with both sides of the family. Levi definitely enjoyed meeting many of his extended family for the first time.

Poppy & Evan, chillin' poolside

The awesome quilt mom made for Levi (her 1st one!)

Aunt Erica getting some laughs from Levi

Nana & Levi

Cousin Fun Time (Lydia, Kyle, & Evan)

Levi & Great-Grandma

Like a Weed

Our little Levi will be 10 weeks old on Monday, only, as it turns out, he's not so little! At his two month check up, he weighed 12 lbs. 12 oz, was 23 1/2 inches long, and measured in the 95th percentile for size (big difference from his 25th percentile older brother!). To get a better idea of the difference between the boys, the picture below shows Levi, at 9 weeks old, wearing the same outfit Evan wore for Easter at 5 months old. Looks like Levi might catch up with Evan before too long!

Levi, 9 weeks old

Evan, 5 months old

Evan's BFF

So Evan has a new BFF around these parts, and no, I'm not referring to his new little brother Levi. It seems that Evan has entered the pretending stage of play because his stuffed Elmo is officially his new best friend! Coincidentally, he received this little Elmo the same day he met Levi at the hospital, so at least he's warmed up to one of them (just kidding, he loves Levi too!).  At our house, whatever Evan does, Elmo does: eat a snack, play a game, ride in the car, watch a video, get his nails trimmed, etc. Here's some documentation (Disclaimer: none of the following were staged, except by Evan himself):

Sharing a graham cracker

Evan directing Elmo how to play "Old MacDonald's Farm"

Elmo is clearly enthralled.

Apparently Elmo wanted to play with Levi, too!

Easter 2011

We celebrated the Lord's resurrection at Redeemer Sunday morning, then in the afternoon we had friends over for an egg hunt and cook out. It was a blast! Here's some pics from the day:

A very happy Levi & Daddy

Mommy & her boys

Evan insisted on wearing his Bob the Builder hat for the hunt.

Pure joy!

Evan chillin' with his buds!