Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas Fun

Christmas morning was fun at our house. Levi really liked coloring with chalk in his new "Barney Goes to School" book. He'd go anywhere with Barney.


He also had a lot of fun building a tower with his new Thomas stacking boxes, playing with his new Lego table and running his new trains over the blips in the Lego table. What a fun sound!

And what a better way to top of Jesus' birthday with a yummy cupcake!




Tuesday, December 23, 2008

God is "GWEAT!"

This past Saturday, we went to McDonald's for dinner after a long day of birthday parties and shopping for refrigerators. Scott brought our food to the table then took off to go get drinks and napkins. Levi was drooling for his McNuggets, so we said the blessing together while Scott was gone. When Scott came back around the corner, Levi greeted him by shouting "Daddy, God is GWEAT!" It was a really sweet moment and a nice reminder that God is, indeed, GWEAT!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Hill Happenings

There are a lot of things going on in the Hill house lately. In addition to trying to sell our house and MOVE, we are trying to keep up with Levi and his ramblings. Here are a few things you might hear around our house:

"Mommy got gween?" (Mommy is your shirt green?)
"Wook, daddy, wook! It's bus! Huwwy!" (Daddy, here comes a bus!)
"What color is dis?" (while holding up a crayon or any colored item)
"Play Wosie?" (Can we play Ring Around the Rosie?)
"Wook! Powice car! No, dat's fire twuck...no, dat's ambuwance..."

In addition to a few of the above, Levi now knows all of his primary colors (with the exception of the occasional mixup between brown and black--they are similar, you know?). He can also count items up to ten. If you ask him to count to ten, he sometimes gets in a hurry and says: "one, seben, nine, TEYUN!"

His favorite Bible songs are "Bringing in the Sheaves" (or cheese, what are sheaves anyway), "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and "Zaccheus." "Father Abraham" is also high on his list. He knows most of the words to these. The Barney song is also a hit and he can sing it by himself.

His favorite foods are chicken nuggets, yogurt, cheese and chicken nuggets. Mmmm, good.

Potty training is still going well. He doesn't do so well at church and you're looking at trouble if he tells you he has to poo poo and you're nowhere near a preschool potty or home. He won't sit on a regular potty. They are SOOOO scary.

Anyhow, he is lots of fun. We are blessed to have him!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Group Shot, Take 412!

Saturday night, Scott and Levi settled in for some male bonding time (ie watching Barney, playing chase and some good ole train crashing) and I headed out for food and fellowship with some of my good friends. Isn't this a smokin' hot group of ladies?

They're some pretty nice women to have in your corner when you need a good friend, too. :)

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Will This Be the Last Christmas on this Mantle?

Friday night, I finished up our mantle decorations, adding some of those big, retro, colored lights. I think it added a little something extra to the rocking horses, don't you?

We never thought we would be decorating for Christmas in this house again this year, but we are. Hopefully, someone will buy our house SOON so we can move closer to church, work, friends, etc...

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Before...and After

Monday evening I decided it was time to bite the bullet and take Levi for a haircut. Do you think he needed one?

Before...

And after.......
I think he did, don't you? Of course, when I use the words "take Levi for a haircut," it sounds so easy. I mean, how difficult could it be, right? He's small. He doesn't have much hair. It probably takes ten minutes tops, right?
WRONG.
The reason we let it get to the awful, shaggy state it was in above is that it's got to be the most horrible experience ever. I mean, thirty minutes of screaming, crying, flailing, begging, chafing, bruising, bucking, pleading, bribing, sometimes bleeding time in a barber chair. This time was so bad that the last five minutes at Sportclips required two of us holding him so the barber could finish the job. It is so horrible that I have truly considered implementing the use of ponytails or cornrows to avoid having to take Levi for a trim.
It won't always be this way, will it? If anyone has any helpful tips, please share!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Smooch!

There's just something about 2 year-old kisses that is oh-so-nice...


Sunday, November 30, 2008

Gobble Gobble

Scott, Levi and I had a really wonderful Thanksgiving. We got to spend some time with all our family and ate WAY too much. Some of Levi's favorite things to do were...

Play tackle with daddy on Nanni's bed...


Give Riley hugs after disturbing her nap...



And JUMP on the bed (until getting caught)...


We got to spend Thanksgiving Day at Moo and Pop's with our cousins that we haven't seen in a while, so that was cool. Levi enjoyed throwing rocks, climbing stairs and discovered a new favorite...chocolate pie!





It was really nice to spend a few days together just hanging out. We hope all our friends had a great Thanksgiving, too!










Monday, November 24, 2008

Sleeping Rebel

Just had to post this great pic of Levi celebrating the Ole Miss win over LSU on Saturday... :) Cheering for the Rebels is EXHAUSTING!


Friday, November 14, 2008

Oral Hygeine

We're all about clean teeth here at the Hill house. After his bath, Levi enjoys some quality time naked with his electric toothbrush. Sometimes he likes to brush his thumb and say "tickle..."


Other times we work on our Billy Idol impression. What do you think? :)




Tuesday, November 4, 2008

What does this pic say to you?

I was thinking about naming this photo. The look of concentration is almost too much for me to handle. I was going to say something about Levi getting ready to vote (since today is Election Day), but I think crayola markers would pose even larger problems than, say, hanging chads. Anyhow, name that picture! If I like your suggestion best, I might just give you a shout out in cyberspace...


Monday, November 3, 2008

Hallo-what?

Scott and I always try to escape our neighborhood on Halloween. It's just total, crazy chaos every year. So, we put Levi in his Thomas the Train pants (props again to Mary) and headed over to Colonial Heights for their annual fall festival. It was so awesome. They had tons of games, a magic show, inflatable jumps for all ages, ponies to pet and ride, a hayride, etc. etc. But wouldn't you know, all Levi wanted to go was play on the playground. I'll bet he went down the slide 100 times. We did manage to snap this one pic when we went down the super tall blow up slide (please disregard the bottoms of my naked feet!). Woohoo!


Thursday, October 30, 2008

Birthday Party Pics!

We had Levi's birthday party on Sunday afternoon at Bop's. It was the perfect day for an outside party. Especially when a train ride is involved! We were so glad so many of our friends got to come have cupcakes and Bop's with us!

Serious thoughts...blue icing...is the train coming back?


This one was taken while everyone was singing "Happy Birthday...." He did not like being sung to!

The wonderful, marvelous train.


Can you believe this? It's a REAL CHOO CHOO TRAIN!



Riding in the green car all by himself...(notice the cool t-shirt from his Aunt Christi--it reads "I'm This Many" and has a hand holding up two fingers) wearing his custom-made Thomas the Train pants courtesy of Mary. Thanks, Mary!






Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Fall Fun!

Last night, Madison hosted Freedomfest at Liberty Park. It was COLD, but that didn't stop our fun. Levi had fun riding a pony!


On Sunday, Levi turned 2... It's hard to believe he's gotten this big so quickly. For his birthday, he got a train set. He is madly in love with them. I honestly think he could go to sleep standing up at the table!













Sunday, October 19, 2008

Punkins


Yesterday, we took a family trip to the pumpkin patch. We got to go on a hayride, meet some animals and pick pumpkins, too! :)



The hay was a little scratchy, but it was still fun!!!


Friday, October 3, 2008

Anticipation


We love the new potty-minded Levi. It is great to be diaperless, at least for a while. However, sometimes there must be patient episodes of waiting on the potty. For the perfect moment. To come. Like during half the VP debate. But it was worth it!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Sweet Words

Scott and I have been amazed over the past couple of months at the speed and extent to which Levi's vocabulary has grown. It's like someone flipped a switch and he suddenly started repeating everything we said. He went from a total Barney fan to being obsessed with Thomas the Train in about two weeks. He knows at least twelve engines' names (Thomas is his favorite, of course) and knows at least six or seven of them by sight alone. Crazy!

We've often wondered if Levi has any memory of Aaron or our long stay in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We have pictures of Aaron in several places in the house, but Levi usually doesn't mention them. One morning earlier this week, we were standing by the fridge gathering a juice cup and heading to school. Levi was looking up at several snapshots of Aaron on the fridge and he started naming off everyone he saw in the pictures. "Daddy," "Nanny," "Bebi" (his name for himself), he said, pointing at everyone. I pointed to a picture of a sleeping Aaron and said "who's this?" not really expecting him to know. Instead, he startled me by saying plainly "dat's Ahhh-non...he's night-night." I handed him his juice and smiled because it warmed my heart to know that he hasn't forgotten his brother. He smiled at me and I told him, "that's right. Aaron lives in heaven with Jesus." "Jesus," he said, and headed for the door.

Our conversation made my day. He is a proud big brother, still.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Potty News


Okay, so I haven't shared the news about potty training yet. I wanted to see if it was for real before I jinxed us. We did potty training over Labor Day Weekend--the three day method--no holds barred, hard-core PT. After two days of crying (me crying, not Levi) and cleaning up puddles, and a week of holding our breath, Scott and I are proud to say that Levi is officially a BIG BOY. This is a picture of the only acceptable underwear ON the big boy. So much for all the Cars undies, superheroes undies and Elmo drawers. Maybe they'll get some play someday...
Oh, and here is a picture of his sticker chart from over the weekend. You will see that he took plenty of opportunities to use his potty and get his sticker PRIZE. Fun times...


HIP HIP HOORAY FOR LEVI!


Worms


Yesterday afternoon the weather was so pretty that Levi and I played outside for hours while Scott did yard work (sorry Daddy). We slid, played with sand, found sticks, pulled up grass, poked holes in watermelon, blew bubbles, etc. etc. Scott had been pulling weeds in the flowerbeds and moving some dirt around when he discovered a worm. Levi wasn't interested in seeing it at the time, so Scott threw it on the ground. Some thirty minutes later, I was sweeping and washing off the deck. I stepped inside for about 6 seconds to put away the broom. As I was about to walk outside, Levi met me at the door holding the giant, squirmy WORM in his hands. I calmly escorted Levi outside and we returned Mr. Worm to the dirt. This is what he did shortly thereafter.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Swimmin'








I must admit. I thought sixteen weeks of swim lessons sounded like a breeze. I didn't anticipate the tears, splashes and angst over not being able to have more than one cookie after our lesson. However, despite the craziness, Levi had a great time learning about the water. Needless to say, he didn't come out of swim school doing laps, nor do we think he will be the next Michael Phelps. But we did have a large time every Monday evening. :) Levi even made a new little friend, Gavin (pictured in the top photo with Levi).


Wednesday, August 27, 2008


Several weeks ago, Levi decided he liked spaghetti. It is particularly humorous to watch him eat it and even funnier to see the ring around his mouth (nose, chin, etc...) when he eats it. At least I didn't have to clean up the floor after this meal.

Getting Started

Well, this blog business is not as easy as I first thought. But we are up and running! After facing ridicule for not being a facebook junkie or myspace guru, and being asked for new pictures of Levi on a weekly basis, we decided a blog would (or could) be a nice safe forum for picture sharing and communicating with family and friends. So, here we go!