Winter survival

We have been so stir-crazy for the past month!  Am I the only one that wants to punch a groundhog?  Here are some of the things we've been doing to combat the winter blues.

2/1 - had a playdate with superhero friends!

 2/8 - date night (took the kids to Jason's parent's house - thank you MiMi!) for Jason's 35th birthday!

 2/14 - Valentine's day - we made his school V-day box out of one of our (many) empty ice cream containers.

Weekend of 2/17 - Jason took out the deer meat he cut up and froze in November so we could process it.  Josiah had a great time helping out!  Now we have breakfast sausage, summer sausage, and 2 kinds of jerky.

Grinding...

 Stuffing sausage casings...

and making jerky.

 2/18 - Levi decides he wants to play with the Sam's size ketchup bottle.  He doesn't even eat ketchup, but this is still the best Heinz advertisement I've ever seen.  :)

 2/21 - Ice.  Lots of ice.  It looks like there's snow on the ground, but it's really just...

(you guessed it) - ICE.  Since he couldn't make a snowman or even a snow angel, Josiah figured out that hitting ice with a stick is a fun game.  Until your mom makes you come inside because it's too cold.

2/23 - a great thing to do when it's cold, the ground is wet, and there is very little wind?  Burn a brush pile!  When the fire died down we went out there and roasted marshmallows over the embers.  It was a little weird to roast marshmallows in 30 degree temps with ice on the ground, but we stayed plenty warm sitting next to the fire. 

The kitty was happy to have company.

2/26 - we finally got some snow!!!  We were able to make a snowman (which he tackled shortly after this picture was taken).  Also, it's not really a snowman.  It's a one-eyed snow pirate.  Levi is mad in this pic because the cat keeps knocking him down. 

So happy that winter is almost over!  Time to start planning out our garden (start planting potatoes next weekend!), think about getting chicks (to raise for meat), and decide if we're adding a pig to the farm!  Yay for spring!

Hello 2013

 Just to finish up 2012...

12/25 A fun Christmas pic!

 12/27 Levi trying on his first pair of Levi's (thanks Nate & Jen!):

 12/29 Fending off Christmas break boredom with a volcano science project.  Our lava turned out more pink than red. 

 12/29 Levi in his "cool dude" glasses.  He wears them around the house saying "coo doo".  :)

 12/30 Just hanging out!

 12/31 Enjoying the brief snow - Josiah built this snowman with his daddy. 

We were sick for three weeks straight, including some of Christmas.  Croup, stomach flu, and regular colds all passed around the house.  We are very thankful to be healthy now!

On to 2013!

1/16 Enjoying some green smoothies - they are Josiah's favorite! 

 Levi is asking for his cup back, but I just had to get a picture of his green mustache.

 1/18-1/19 We finally made a trip back to Kansas City to see some friends!  A lot of them hadn't met Levi (he is 18 months old now), and there were several new babies that we had yet to meet.  It was a really great trip, and it was reassuring to not feel that Kansas City was still our home when we visited.  It is nice to feel like where we live now is where we belong.  But we still miss all of these people (and Costco).  :)

 Super fun times!!!  I am feeling super blessed in life right now.  Really wishing there was a pause button.  Levi is communicating more and getting more social (which is not saying much, but any progress is good).  Josiah knows the rules and for the most part obeys them (except for the peeing on the carpet incident over Christmas break).  He is a great reader and is now in gymnastics and jujitsu (though he will have to pick one or the other soon!).  I am super thankful for my family!  We are praying right now about the possibility of buying land and building a house.  A daunting but exciting prospect.  We have yet to find land, so I guess if God wants it to happen then we will find some!  We would appreciate your prayers!

Celebrating

Here are a few of the fun celebrations we've had lately!

11/3 - Girl's weekend for me - beautiful location and amazing friends!

11/5 - Just goofing off and practicing walking.  He is an expert now!

11/10 - I took the boys to my parent's house while Jason went pheasant hunting.  They loved playing outside and enjoying the unseasonably warm weather!

At my parent's house, Josiah got to open some early birthday presents, since he wouldn't get to see my parents on his birthday (he didn't mind spreading his birthday out!).

11/22-11/24 - had a fun Thanksgiving with Jason's side of the family, and then they came to visit us later that weekend, and Jason hosted private shooting lessons/target practice for them.  Our niece Samantha (far left) was a huge fan, and is now putting a .45 on her Christmas list. 

12/1 - we took Josiah for a very last-minute planned trip to Silver Dollar City for his birthday!  He loves that place, especially the roller coasters.  They had amazing Christmas lights - it was a great time of year to go, especially since it was 70 degrees that day!  Last minute planning is very against our nature, but it was a fun day and a great surprise for Josiah!

12/2 - we had a fun family birthday party for Josiah at his MiMi's house!

The cake I made was supposed to be eaten hot, but unfortunately it melted the bottom of the candles and we had to throw this piece away!

12/6 - Josiah's actual birthday!  It was a Thursday, so we took Transformers cupcakes to school, and that evening we went to Bass Pro with friends to see Santa! 

As you can see, Levi thought Santa was going to abduct him. 

That evening we made pancakes for dinner (one of his favorite meals), and then opened presents. 

12/7 - one final birthday celebration - we went to a bouncy house in Springfield with Josiah's best school friend.  They had a blast!  

 

The evening of 12/7 we left to go to my parent's house for our first Christmas!   We had a great time seeing everyone and getting to relax and hang out. 

 

After coming home from Christmas with my side of the family, I downloaded pictures from the camera to the computer (the same way I always have for the last 5 years), and then deleted them from the camera.  Problem was, they didn't all download.  It was strange - some in the middle of the sequence got left out.  So I lost about 200 photos - Josiah's birthday and Christmas pictures.  But then my amazing husband came home and was able to do a restore using a program he found online and retrieve the deleted images from the SD card.  He is my hero!!!  Seriously, what would I do without that guy?

The last month has flown by, but we've had so much fun and enjoyed celebrating Josiah's birthday, as well as beginning to celebrate Jesus' birthday!  Merry early Christmas!

Fall fun

 On 10/11 we went on a field trip with Josiah's class to a pumpkin patch.  I think his favorite part was the tub full of corn!

 Then he really wanted to carve the pumpkin he got.  I kept trying to convince him that a big one would be better to carve, but our little one turned out cute, even though the candle we put in it burned the inside.

 Just hanging out with daddy.  Love those guys.

 For Halloween we went to Webb City to Mi Mi's house.  Josiah (Spiderman) got to trick or treat with his cousin Trent, so he had a blast.

 Levi (Yoda) had fun too, and even got some goldfish (I love that not everyone gave out candy!).

Levi has finally started walking on his own!  Without prompting from us!  He's not walking everywhere, but he is getting braver every day.  He's still working on standing up in the middle of the floor without something to pull up on.  He has been such a happy little guy lately - it has been so much fun (and I am thankful we have gotten past some of his fit throwing!).  He also now says the words "up" and "achoo".

Enjoying these fun boys!