The Year Brand New

Please excuse me as I reminisce on the past two months of our lives.

Micah likes to reminisce too. His favorite book to read at home is our 2016 family yearbook. I'm not sure if that can actually be considered reminiscing, since he obviously wasn't even present to share in the memory-making that year. 

The first weekend after reviving from our Christmasing, we joined my family at a hotel in Cedar Rapids for two nights of family bonding time, games, swimming, and eating.

Being the second weekend in a row at a hotel, Levi really started taking a liking to swimming! 

Daily life happenings have kind of returned to normal again...

Shadrach kept Levi and Asher entertained with the bubble machine one night at Seth and Brenda's! 

The boys loved this little kids' table at Great-Grandma Lanz's! 

Uncle Jesse was over one day and helped Levi build with some of his Legos. 

He's so proud of his messy face! But how I dread cleaning him up!

Levi saw that Daddy was wearing this shirt one night, so he ran into his room and found a shirt to match! :) He loves being just like Daddy! 

The skating crew got a few hockey games in while the ice was decent for skating! 

Matt made a bunch of blocks for the boys to play with, and we have had fun building with them! 

Our "Church" 

We made stoves for cooking! It is kind of fun that they are learning how to pretend! 

Then there was this sweet kitty who showed up one day and stuck around for a few days. The boys loved it so much-a cat still small enough to hold and cuddle! 

Talking to the kitty. Sadly, it only survived a few days around here before a tragic run-in with a vehicle claimed its life. 

As for the other cats, they're still lounging around. Matt found them both asleep on the Gator seats one afternoon.

And then there's those everyday moments...

 

Levi lost the strap to his glasses for a day, so rubber bands came to the rescue.

11 months old on January 11th! What a big boy! 

And those funny faces...silly boy! :) Oh, and a new bump on the forehead. A perfect snapshot of Micah at this age. 

The boys both LOVE brushing their teeth!

Perhaps we will never have to go to the dentist again if they keep up the habit of brushing their teeth for 30 minutes a day. Micah throws a fit when I say it is time to be done!  

Sometimes, these two make a great pair. Other times, I worry what would happen if I left them alone... 

We got quite a bit of snow toward the end of January. Rather than going to all the effort of getting everyone bundled up to go outside for two minutes before they got too cold, I just brought a pan of snow for them to play in with their gloves. Much simpler for me! 

 Not sure if I should have called it playing. They really just gobbled it all up. 

The boys got this car for Christmas and they love it! Here, Levi was quoted saying, "I'm gonna drive to Grandma's house. Oh, first I need to put on my tie." He's definitely starting to get this dress code thing figured out... 

Then...BIRTHDAY TIME!! Levi turned two in January and Micah turned one a couple weeks later in February. Levi's second birthday was quite exciting, as he was old enough to recognize that something special was going on and I could make a big deal out of it! We made an outing to the library for story time (our first story time EVER) and then met Daddy at work for lunch!

We started the day out with special pancakes!

...and ended with a chocolate muffin! 

Daddy made the evening extra special by playing games with his boys! 

We celebrated the boys' birthdays together with both families. It ended up being quite the big birthday bash after we ended up inviting their cousins over to help us eat our massive ice cream cake! I wasn't expecting the cake to end up this size when I started making it...

They were mesmerized by the singing. Not bored out of their minds, even if this picture depicts the contrary. 

Micah devoured his cupcake in seconds. Levi didn't get very far on his cupcake, but Micah was glad to eat it for him. :)  

Perhaps one of their favorite birthday gifts was a workshop from their uncles. I usually avoid having too many toys upstairs, but decided to try leaving the workshop next to the kitchen in hopes that it would give them something to do while I work. Because for some reason, they will only play with their toys in the living room if I am in the living room. And guess what? Having a workshop in my kitchen has actually been somewhat effective at keeping them occupied. So I remind myself to be cheerful as I ineffectively ignore the 2,397 pieces of this set that are permanently strewn all over the floor. 

Hard at work. 

Matt's handcrafted birthday gift for Micah's first birthday was this waddling penguin...so fun, and quite impressive craftsmanship! 

There he is...our one year old boy! What a little goofball and giggle box! He gets around quickly and keeps me on my toes! 

Micah was Jesse's substitute piano teacher last week. People wonder about Jesse's secret to being such a beautiful pianist...it has nothing to do with his teacher! Simply practice, practice, practice!!!  

Levi made our Valentine's day dessert. Mostly by himself, actually.

We went up to Ames for services over President's Day weekend and stayed overnight at a hotel with the other visitors, including some of my family. It was very nice to see my brothers and spend time with the church people and visitors for the weekend. However, I have learned my lesson about staying in hotels with little boys and we do not intend to return to another hotel with children under the age of two! 

 This is my photo from the weekend. Mom supplied several of the snacks for the evening, and I was amused by the sign behind the food: "Healthy Takes."  

Some beautiful weather has come our way! The boys have finally gotten some time out on the porch. For some reason, Micah was in his PJs at three in the afternoon that day. But he was quite thrilled to be outside. 

Matt has started making wooden casserole pan holders to sell! Talk to him if interested!

We enjoyed hosting a young couples Valentine's dinner last weekend! 

We met Tim and Laurie at Pizza Ranch in Fairfield on Sunday. The boys had fun playing with the balloons Shadrach got for his birthday! 

This cupcake was an exciting end to the month for me...gender reveal time! Well, for me and Matt. The rest of you will be waiting for baby's appearance! We were very thankful for a good health report from the doctor at my ultrasound last week, as that was much more important than the gender of the baby. We are very blessed. 

I am done catching up now. :) Have a good week!