Levi's 2nd Birthday Party - "Melmo" (AKA - Elmo) Theme

We celebrated Levi's 2nd birthday a week early - so that all our family in Sac could attend. It was a combined party - for Father's Day and my brother Joey's birthday also. It was at our house - and we decided to try to do a character cake - for the first time. The "Melmo" (what Levi calls Elmo) cake was a challenge.

Here are the lil cousins all intrigued by Levi's presents.

Big brother helping Levi open the presents. Levi wasn't too interested in opening them all - he was OK with brother helping. He started getting distracted by a few presents.

Thought I got a picture with them both - and then Levi turned - and Jacob has the "fake" smile. Oh well - see they are wearing their Sesame Street garb - Jacob in Cookie Monster - and Levi's shirt had Elmo and Grover.

Levi needed a little help blowing out the candle. He tried once - and then Mommy helped.

Levi had a pitiful face while we sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He didn't know what to think - and I thought he might start crying. There were about 12 of us singing - and I guess my brothers can be a little scary! :D

The cake.....after several hours.....a few jars of red dye.....gobs of money and realizing after returning to the store for more potent dye that it would have been cheaper to buy it.....the taste of black frosting (mmmmmm.....not so much).....but the sound of Levi saying "Melmo"..........priceless!

Memorial Day 2009 - Sacramento Zoo

We decided to go to the Sacramento Zoo on Memorial Day. It was a beautiful day - almost chilly in the morning. We had fun walking through the zoo. A much smaller zoo than Wichita - which has some positives - much less walking for Mommy and Daddy :) Here is Daddy kangaroo and his lil Joey -

The giraffes in their space - our giraffe's in Wichita have so much more space to roam about.

Here is our lil explorer!

Here are the chimpanzees - which are kinda hard to see. They are sitting on the ground by the wood poles.

After the zoo - we went to Mommy & Daddy's favorite store - Lowe's. The boys were enjoying being in the car cart - and being silly together. We look forward to future giggly boys just playing and having fun as brothers.

Mother's Day - 2009

We celebrated Mother's Day at Joey's house. The water was too cold to swim - but the kids had fun outside anyway. Here is Jacob and Salma - being oh-so-cute cousins together on the "4 wheeler."


Levi - just being his cutie lil self!

Antonio chillin in the shade. He was itchin' to go swimming - but had to wait another week or so.

Cute lil Salma - cruising down in her sweet little dress!

Levi - zooming down so fast - had to be braced for the landing!

Although there are no Mom pics here - Mom was at the party too! We had a good time - enjoying fried chicken and tasty treats together. I am ready for next year!

Hillary Joy Kell Got Married!

We traveled to Fresno on May 9, 2009 to attend Hillary Joy Kell's wedding. Hillary is now Hillary Belmont. She looks gorgeous - and all grown up!


I babysat the Kell girls for several years - I think I started when I was 15 - babysitting often until I began working for the State when I was 20 - and when they moved away to Fresno when I was 21. I was trusted with caring for Hill when she was 4 months old - and saw her almost every day til she was a little over 2. When she was just learning to talk - she would greet me by calling me "Ho...ho...ho...ho". I have fond memories of the Kell family - and Hillary still holds a special place in my heart. Out of the 4 girls - she has a hint of red in her hair (like me) - that her Dad often said that I must have dyed.

Here are the 4 girls - they are all so beautiful - inside and out. Amanda was 1 when I started hanging out at her house; then Ashley - who was about 3 - and could get into trouble (nail polish in the clothes hamper, crayons on the piano keys); lil Hillary; and Melissa. I remember playing with the girls - taking the cushions off of the couches and place them upon the floor - that we needed to balance on so as not to fall in the "water" below - I loved to braid and "do" their hair - I loved getting them dressed in fun clothes for the day. Those were fun times.

Here's Hillary - looking beautiful in her dress with her hair just so - and holding a football. This is how I remember Hillary - she is THE athlete.

My friends Michelle Crowley and Debbie Kell. Both great women - and special women in my life. Michelle led me to Christ, discipled me, and was a wonderful friend and leader to me in the youth group at El Camino Baptist Church. Debbie Kell - along with being the mother of those great girls I babysat - she is an awesome game player (cards, board games, anything - kicks my booty at!) - and a truly kindred spirit. When I have the opportunity to spend time with either of them - they are still sweet bosom friends that you can start right where you left off. I regret not keeping in closer contact with them over the last 15 years. Life has taken us all to different places - but it is amazing how God continues to tie us all together with that bond that never changes and endures forever.

Trucks....Trucks....and more Trucks

Levi loves cars and trucks - more than Jacob ever has. Levi - since the time he could walk - has loved to push the big trucks around the house. He definitely likes order - and has some Type A tendencies already.....see how he lines up the trucks and shopping cart (one more is around the house somewhere!). He often will push the big vehicles to the front door lined up - and then a little while later - he moves them back to their "parking" space in the family room.

When he plays with little people or Ty beanie baby bears - he stands them up all neat and lined up too. Very interesting to observe these behaviors - from such an early age!

Easter 2009

Happy Easter!

It is so difficult to get 2 boys to cooperate with picture taking - when there are so many other things to do - like play with toys and eat candy! Notice Jacob chomping on a piece of Easter gum. This was the best we could do - together - and almost smiling!!

We celebrated on Saturday evening at our house - for Easter and for Jackie's birthday (the BIG 20 - no longer a teen!).


We had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard after dinner. Here's Antonio with his face-painted snake and basket full of eggs.


Jacob searching for some eggs...


Salma finding a few...


And Levi's first experience with egg-huntin...


The kids also got some fun treats from Grandma and Grandpa (Nana & Poppop) after the egg hunt.

We went to church on Sunday morning and then came back home and the boys got to enjoy their Easter baskets from Mommy & Daddy. As you can see, Levi is so excited he wouldn't even turn around for a picture.

Here are the boys with their goofy sunglasses. What hams they are!

Levi saying "cheese" while playing with a new toy.

Levi was pretty excited about having some candy. He definitely likes sweets like his Mommy!

Jacob has definitely learned how to pose on command now. He got a transformer - that was a bit difficult for him to manuever - but Daddy sure knows how to do it well...who was the toy for...really?

Had to include this picture - of the boys in their matching Easter church clothes. Doesn't Jacob looks super tall! Levi looks like he is wearing brother's clothes....he will grow into them soon :)

Playing with some of the toys from Nana and Poppop!

Easter evening we got to have another egg hunt with the Resurrection Eggs (12 eggs with a different symbol of the Easter story in each one). The first year we have done it with the boys. They both searched for the eggs - and Jacob listened pretty closely as we briefly explained the significance of each one. He liked doing this - and we searched and went through them twice. We look forward to doing this again next year - and for both of them to understand a bit more each time. It was a great weekend together - and the first of many in our new home celebrating this Resurrection weekend.

Bathtime

One of our first bathtimes in our new home. Levi loves taking a bath - and once he sees his brother is getting one - he gets all excited and starts trying to disrobe. He is a big cheeser!

You lookin at me?

It's so much easier on Mommy and Daddy to bathe him in the sink. Trying to bend over a tub - is so hard on the back - for us old folks!