Annual Knochel Family Vacation

Every summer we make our best effort to go on a family vacation with my whole immediate family. This is getting more complicated every year now that Molly is in NYC, Seth is in college in Lubbock, and Kate and I are married and starting families. Despite all that we make it work and I am so glad that we do! Spending a few days all together with nothing to do but make memories is really special. This year we stayed in a cabin in Oklahoma near Beaver's Bend State Park. We had a wonderful time enjoying the lake, the scenery and the cabin. Thank you so much to my parents (Mom) for organizing everything and footing most of the bill. We love you! Here are several pics from our wonderful trip!

first time in my big boy seat! on our way!

Day 1- arrival, short trip to the river, dinner, dance party with babies, hangout. Day 2- morning, lunch and afternoon on a pontoon boat to enjoy the lake and scenery while swimming, tubing and cruising, relax at cabin, dinner with root beer floats for desert, family board gameDay 3 - big yummy breakfast, swimming then lunch on the beach, jet skis in the afternoon, movie, dinner, games, smores! Day 4 - group pics, head home and get bodacious bbq on the way :)

And a little Levi update; He had his 1 year appointment with the doctor today and did well as always :) The Dr. said he was advanced in both his motor skills and communication, but we all knew that right ;) I'm so proud...here are his new stats:

weight- 22lbs 9 oz (50%)

height- 31.25 in (90%)

head circumference- 48cm (90%)

So...he is still our tall boy and is burning those calories super fast by always staying busy, that is when he's not asleep :)

Levi's 1st Birthday Party!

We celebrated Levi's first birthday a day late on Saturday with a small "dog" party. His first word was dog and he loves the book "Go Dog Go" (which ends with a big dog party) so the theme had to be pups :). We had a meal of some of Levi's favorite foods; meatballs, sweet potatoes and fruit and then finished off with chocolate cake with butter cream frosting. My Mom always made the best shaped cakes for my parties, so I wanted to continue the tradition with my kids. It didn't turn out how I saw it in my mind, but the first time Levi saw it he said "dawgu" so I felt satisfied! He was really cute during the birthday song, but I have no pictures because I was a distracted photographer :) Did any of the fam take any pics during the singing? All I have is video. Levi relished in the attention, smiling and looking around the room and then happily clapped for himself when we finished singing. Any way...here are a BUNCH of pics!

The silly puppy cake (supposed to look a little like our Penny)I made some paw print cupcakes tooUncle Seth and Nora enjoying the festivities The birthday boy in his dog clothes with his PopThree generations of Reese BoyerI guess Aunt Molly really means it when she says I'm edible!first bite of cake....what is this crazy stuff?!whatever it is, it's crazy good!silly face with Momma and Dada

Thanks for celebrating with us! We sure do love our little doggie loving 1 year old! Soon to come, Knochel Family Vacation pics and details! We spent Sunday - Wednesday in the great outdoors and had a wonderful time!

1 year/12 months/365 days!

In about 1 hour my baby will turn 1 year old! That's right, on July 23rd at 12:41 am our little boy arrived and our lives have never been the same since. We love him more than words can express and our family is so much better with him in it! God truly blessed us by giving Levi as our son! This year has gone by so fast and I know that we will blink and he will be going to school, driving etc. I'm just going to try to savor every common little moment we have while he is still so little.

so proud of himself

Here's what's new with Levi this month:

-loves to climb (as you see in the pic - has scaled the bookshelf in his room, into the toy chest, onto the fireplace etc)

-says the new words of cat, nigh nigh (night, night), bu bye, no (so sad about this one)

-"dribbles" his balls - lots of little kicks in a row down the hall, across the room, around the corner

-catches a light weight ball (sometimes)

-drives his toy cars on the ground making rrrrr noises

-loves to imitate/copy people

-pretends - "talks" on the phone, "waters" the plants, "mows" the lawn, "reads" books

-still doesn't like to be still or green beans

-has started to try to use utensils to eat (with very little success)

-no more bottles (gets all his milk from Mom or a sippy cup)

-has started to be a little defiant

-fakes/forces a laugh

I have spent a lot of time the last few days looking at old pictures of Levi, I just can't believe it's been a year! I love him more and more and feel so lucky to be him Mom! It's the best job ever! Even though it's tough some times, it is 100% the most rewarding!

12 hours old

6 months oldOne Year old!

Dear Levi,

We love you so much, it's hard to explain. We are going to do our best to raise you and show you how much we love you. Thankfully, God will help us a lot with that! You are a marvel and we look forward to all the years and memories we hope to share! Happy First Birthday!

Love, Mama and Dada

Lead Me

You may have heard this song on the radio recently. It is the new release by the Christian band Sanctus Real called "Lead Me". The first time I heard it playing on the radio it brought tears to my eyes. I think all the time about how challenging my job as wife and mother is, but I don't remember often enough how much being a father and husband can be stressful too. I have to say, I think a lot of men (including my sweet husband) feel this way and I don't think I would like the pressure of their job. I just love this song and the words are such a special prayer that I had to share.

Philip, if you are reading this, I respect you so much and am so proud that you give your all as my husband and Levi's father. Thank you! I love you!

Rainy Days & Holidays

What a busy weekend! Rain, Rangers game, swimming, more house renovations, etc. Here are some pics from the last few days...too much went on to type it all out, and all you really want to see is pictures any way right?!

Levi has been enjoying playing in all this rain we have been getting!

We went to the Ranger's game on the 3rd with my whole family! It was fun, but I thought there would be fireworks...my bad, but the all you can eat seats were great!

All this fun makes for some long naps...
and crazy bed (or should I say crib) hair!

Philip's Dad helped him tile our kitchen.

It looks great and took 2 FULL days of hard work! Thanks Allen!!!