1 Year

Today marks one year since our Sam was born. I'm so sad that he had to be born lifeless, and yet so thankful for all that his life ment to me and my family.  With God's help, Sam was truly a blessing. 

Without Sam's short life, we would not be expecting our fourth son, who is busy making my stomach move at this moment. I'm excited to meet this little one in October, yet wish there was some way we could have had all 4 of our sons with us on this side of heaven. Today is just bittersweet.

I love Sam and all he has done for me, and will never forget him. I look forward to the day when all of us will join together as a family again, however and whenever God will have that occur.  Meanwhile, I'm going to do my best to be the woman and mom God made me to be and love my family as best as I can. I'm so thankful for what Sam taught me; do your best to respect, enjoy and appreciate every day God gives you.

Celebrating Our Minion!

Celebrating Levi was so much fun this year! Since his birthday was on a Wednesday we did a few fun, low key things that day and then had a bigger family party on the following Saturday. In true Boyer fashion, most of the celebrating revolved around food :).

We have decided to follow in the tradition of my family and have family parties for the kiddos on the odd years and big friends parties on the even years. So, since Levi turned 5 this year we had a family only swim party at Papa and Nana D's house. Almost all of our immediate family on both sides were able to be there (minus the Abilene Longs and NYC Reids) so Levi had lots of people to show him some birthday love and celebrate! Levi had a lot of fun planning his party and decided on swimming, a pinata and a minion (from the Despicable Me movies) theme. Everything went off well and we all had a nice evening together celebrating our big 5 year old boy! My how time flies! Here are some pictures from our days of celebrating Levi:

Birthday Breakfast! Pig in the blanket & berries!

$1 kids movie with Moe and the Wallace clan :)

After seeing "Walking with Dinosaurs" we had lunch at Levi's fav, Chick fil A...complete with a candle in his icecream and lovely rendition of the birthday song

 

tried to get a pic of these two sweet cousins...couldn't get them to take their eyes off dessert :)

On the way home from buying the party supplies...turned around and found this!

 

 Birthday dinner of choice? "Homemade pepperoni pizza & a big cut up pineapple"

 

Enjoyed some phone calls from family, got to chat with Aunt Molly & Uncle Ryan during his after church sundae celebration on his birthday :)

I thought the favors turned out so cute!

Levi directed not only the flavor of cake and icing, but did the decorating himself as well...LOTS of sprinkles

It's safe to say these cousins LOVE the water :)

attempted a cute brother with Pop picture...way too much silly going on

Philip was the grill master and everything turned out great!

Levi loved the menu he chose; hot dogs, hamburgers, corn, watermelon and cantaloupe

Sweet Bennett rocked his party hair :)

Levi loves his cousins! Nick, Nora, Joel, Levi and Asher (L-R)

 

 All the kids took a turn hitting the minion pinata, Levi went first and last...

I've always loved Joel's determined face :)

Levi was thrilled to be the one to bust it open!

all the kids went home with quite a bit of candy!

 

  My sweet and silly boy posing with his cake

Happy Birthday dear Leeeeviiii!

 

It was a great party, and Levi enjoyed almost every minute of it. His huge Minion balloon popped off the string and blew away causing a major melt down, but he recovered. Otherwise, he had a blast and enjoyed swimming, eating, pinata bashing and present opening with his family. He wore his flippers almost the whole party, which was a first, but so funny! Everyone did a great job buying his presents and he truly loved each and every gift! He has already spent hours playing with his new toys, and is very thankful to have so many cool new things! What a blessed little guy! Thank you to everyone for coming to the party and loving our Levi. A special thanks to Allen and Deanna for hosting! We are so blessed to have this wonderful 5 year old in our life as well as a great family to help in the fun of raising him! Here's to many many more birthday's for one of our favorite boys in the world!

5 Years of Levi!

Levi turned 5 years old yesterday! Wow! My first baby is no longer a baby or toddler; at 5 you can really only say he is a kid. Weird. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital and starting our adventure in parenting. It has been a good 5 years, and although it isn't always easy, I wouldn't have spent my last 5 years any other way. We may butt heads daily, argue often and cause each other to grit our teeth, but Levi is one of my most favorite people in the world, and I know he feels the same way about me :) Levi is full or spunk, energy and sweetness, and we love having him in our family! Here's what he's up to at the age of 5:

Stats:
Height- 44 inches (75%)
Weight- 44 pounds (75%)
Shoe size- 12
clothing size - 5/6 or boys XS


What the Doctor had to say: Levi is developing right on track and is ahead in many areas. His vision tested to 20/40 in each eye (since it was 20/30 at his 4 year check up he may eventually need glasses or contacts - not a surprise, most people in our family do). He said that Levi is in excellent shape mentally, physically and emotionally. I have no idea how he knew all this because Levi was so hyper and silly the whole appointment, speaking in silly voices, making goofy faces and being very wiggly. The doctor asked Levi several questions and he had to ask many of them twice to get an answer. Sheesh :)

An interview with the little man:
Favorite color: red and blue, white and green, actually every color except girl colors like pink and purple
Favorite food: hot dogs and hamburgers and grilled cheese
Favorite book: Cat in the Hat
Favorite song: "hawken delane" and "Oh God You are My God"
Favorite game: baseball
Favorite treat: candy or gum
Favorite toy: spiderman
Favorite movie: Despicable Me
Favorite weather: rain (to play in)
Favorite thing to do with Daddy: play tag
Favorite thing to do with Momma: feel the baby kick
Favorite thing to do with Joel: play outside in the back yard and play "kings of green and yellow", wrestle
What he wants to be when he grows up: "I don't ever want to work, I'll just stay home and make things"
Thoughts on starting Kindergarten soon: It's going to be fun!
Thoughts on having a new baby in the house soon: I'm really excited! I'm going to hold the baby lots!

Observations about Levi from a biased Mother :)
-loves to dress up/pretend and is very creative
-is very loving and affectionate with his family and  friends (gives Momma hugs and kiss several times a day)
-is smart and picks up new concepts quickly
-swims very well and would live in the water if he could
-enjoys books and loves to be read to, is starting to sound out words as well as sight read with help
-has a mind for numbers, enjoys talking about math with dad, can count well and do some very simple math
-is a fact learning and spewing machine, tells us random facts he has heard from books, TV etc all the time
-has a tendency for addiction to video games (this one worries me a bit) and LOVES to play kindle games
-is very advanced in gross motor skills, but sometimes gets frustrated with fine motor skills such as writing
-loves to try new foods, eats very well (and LOTS) and loves to help Momma cook
-about all that eating; he wants to eat all day long, and eats as much or more than Momma at most meals
-is almost completely fearless and enjoys trying new things such as rock climbing, monkey bars, diving etc
-shares in his parents tendencey to be "passionate" and can be very stubborn, competitive and tends towards frustration and anger when things are not going his way
-is in CONSTANT motion unless he is sick or sleeping or playing a video game
-is loyal, caring and kind to his family and friends
-loves his little brother fiercely and considers him his best friend, but can treat him so mean sometimes too!

 Well, I think that describes my little love pretty well, I don't want to ever forget what he was like at this sweet age, and I hope one day this will help me fondly reminisce his 5 year old self. God blessed us immensely when he added Levi to our family. I cannot imagine what all God has in store for our special guy, but I know that He will use him in big ways!

less than and hour old...family of 3!

sweet 1 day old!

 

5 years in Daddy's Boots :)

Summer Lovin'

We have been having fun this summer enjoying the relaxed days of having little schedule beyond play dates, naps, and church. Lazy mornings, fun with family and friends, lots of swimming/water activities and playing outside have filled our days. Here is our last few weeks in pictures :)

Lunch with the Steidls..we sure do miss them!

visiting Great Gramma

porch swinging with Great Gran

farmers market country dinner...YUM! Sauted kale, fried green maters and venison sausage

getting good use out of our NRH2O passes!

 

making pickles with all of our cucumbers from the garden!

Rangers game with [almost] all of my side of the family

Levi and Joel helping lead singing at Sunday night church

Levi had a blast at his
"super hero" VBS and is obsessed with his shirt

Joel had a brutal stomach virus...thankfully it didn't spread

very serious "knights"

 playing in the rain, attire varies based on location ;)

Joel loves to feel his baby brother kick and is very patient

playing with Momma during brother's nap

and occasionally snoozing due to all the fun

I haven't been able to bring myself to wash this off just yet

hours of fun with chaulk

family fun night at Inn and Out Burger...with shakes for dessert!

Dollar movie date with my boys!

Levi's wheezing strikes again, getting a breathing treatment and we now have an inhaler for home

 

We had a great evening watching the fireworks on the 3rd

Play date with the always fun Lindstroms

lazy afternoon watching shows on the kindle

Kadin's biggest fans

we had a blast cheering Kadin on in his little league championship tournament

Joel is officially allergic to sunscreen :(

little sous chefs

Lots of pancake breakfasts

I'm looking forward to all the laid back days and fun times we will share for the last 6 weeks of summer. With all the changes that are coming for our family this fall (Kindergarten for Levi, Preschool for Joel, moving and welcoming another baby to the family!) I'm trying my best to relax, enjoy this time and soak up all the special little moments summer brings!