The Westerfield Family

Levi's Adoption Story

2012-01-27T20:45:00.001-05:00

This is way overdue, but I finally finished the video that tells our story of Levi's adoption. I've been working on it off and on for several months, but a fellow adoptive mom finished her video yesterday (and her son's been home half as long as Levi), so I was inspired and motivated to finish. I hope you enjoy our story. We are so crazy about our little guy and humbled that God let us be his parents.

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1st Day of School

2011-12-26T11:05:00.000-05:00

1st day of 1st grade

Uniform on the outside, still silly on the inside

Noah was more excited for his first day of Preschool than we expected

Noah started a day after Alyce

Indiana Dunes

2011-12-18T21:31:00.001-05:00

This is one of my favorite pictures of all the cousins (minus one). See Indiana Dunes pictures below

Who knew Indiana had such a nice beach? Lake Michigan was quite nice although a little weird being that it was fresh water.

Indiana dunes lived up to its name. The sand dunes were huge. It was fun to run down them. See video below.

Post dune run face plant

Noah being brave, see video below of this little nut

He spun around and laughed for about 10 minutes before we filmed him.

Millennium Park

2011-12-15T07:01:00.000-05:00

Next major free Chicago attraction, Millennium Park. Trivia, originally intended to celebrate the millennium, the park opened slightly past schedule in 2004.

The pavillion with free concerts

The dungeon of the park, aka the parking garage. We parked next to a Ferrari. Noah was excited to see a "racecar" but did not want to take a picture with it. Dont let the smile fool you. There are tears behind those glasses.

The Cloud Gate, aka the Bean

Crown Fountain

Lincoln Park Zoo

2011-12-12T14:36:00.000-05:00

This summer before school started, we took a fun trip to the cousin's

1st major attraction was the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was a small but free and fun.

We packed out the 12 passenger van. It was nice to travel together.

Rooooar!

Chicago Skyline

This was humorous. The "farm life" has become an attraction.

In the barn was a huge tractor.

Noah was excited but reluctant to get in. I think he was glad that he did.

Sprayground

2011-09-25T20:38:00.000-05:00

Recently, we took a day trip to Louisville to hang out with two other adoptive families. We met at a sprayground. It was an awesome and free mix of large playground and water fountains.

Kai (whose family we met in Korea), Levi, and Mabel

Levi loves water

Our new friends Erin and Mabel

VBS

2011-09-09T08:54:00.000-05:00

We had a fun VBS this year. It was Alyce's 2nd of the summer. At the end of the week she asked "Where are we going to have VBS next week?"

Theme: Big Apple Adventure

Noah in Pre-K/K class

Levi spent his time in the Nursery. He loves it there. I think he thinks he owns it.

Sarah ran the snack show

What is with the crazy eyes?

Levi leading a song

Alyce getting down

The fun bounce houses we had at the end of the week.

The Show

2011-09-06T11:27:00.000-05:00

Our kids have been putting on "shows" for us all summer long. They are quite the entertaining pair. After this show, Noah invited us to his room for a dance party.

Tank

2011-09-05T11:01:00.000-05:00

Saw a tank, took a picture. Not much else to the story.

The 3rd of Boom!

2011-09-02T08:27:00.000-05:00

Levi's first 4th of July show. Not sure if he liked it.

The sack race

Levi's BFF of the day, Courtney.

Hot and sweaty kiddos.

Another Day Another Cast

2011-09-01T06:05:00.002-05:00

In our attempt to make the weekend less traumatic, we also visited the children's museum in Cincinnati. It was fun to see that our kids are actually getting braver. It was sad to see Levi could do nothing. Thankfully, he did not get frustrated. He just was happy to be out doing something.

Pretending to be caught in the spider's web

The cast was removable and we were given several colors of wrap. Apparently, the wrap was originally designed for race horses.

Zoooooooo!

2011-08-30T13:12:00.001-05:00

The Children's Hospital was a few minutes walk from the zoo so while Levi was casted, Mama, Alyce and Noah went to the zoo. We met up later in the day.

The zoo's special exhibit was bugs. Gross and fascinating at the same time.

This is not a posed reaction. This boy does not like bugs.

3D Dora adventure

Riding the carousel

Noah chickened out and chose the bench

Noah was afraid of the misty tunnel as well but once we went through it, it became a source of pride for him.

The cast. Levi handled it like a champ. We were worried that it might be a traumatic experience but he seemed resigned to his fate. Over the weeks he actually liked to have it on. I think it was because he received so much extra attention.

Round two: we convinced Noah to graduate to an animal. Still, it did not move up and down. Maybe next time.

The Cast

2011-08-29T08:38:00.002-05:00

This summer Levi participated in a Constraint Therapy study. He spent four weeks with a removable cast on his good arm to force him to use his weak arm. He did very well and gained a good amount of function on his left side. The only bad part was the judgemental stares we received while we were out in public.

We tried to make a fun weekend out of it so we stayed the night in Cincinnati (where Levi was casted) and visited the zoo and the children's museum.

Our street performer.

Outside our hotel room they had some sort of festival and Noah took to the streets. If we had a hat we would have made a few bucks.

More Greenville

2011-08-26T12:49:00.001-05:00

On our way home we stopped in Greenville again. This time we arrived earlier in the day so we could enjoy the park and downtown longer. This time the park was packed for a free play and some rather strange performers.

Alyce took this picture

Awkward family picture

We were able to look at a few shops. This was a fun little toy store.

Another 5th Grade Date

2011-08-25T05:59:00.003-05:00

Last time we went to Myrtle beach, we were somewhat made fun of for taking a "5th grade date" to Medieval Times. This year we tried to bump it up to at least Jr. high.

Mt. Atlanticus. The coolest miniature golf I have played.

Beach front dinner. Damon's for ribs.

The ferris wheel. I do think Sarah was genuinely nervous.

Mermaids!

2011-08-22T08:02:00.000-05:00

Believe it or not, Ripley's had mermaids.

Yes, she just blew me a kiss. Jealous?

Noah really enjoyed the show

Ripley's Aquarium

2011-08-21T19:48:00.000-05:00

Believe it or not, Ripley's Aquarium was a little underwhelming. The Newport Aquarium is much better. Still we had fun. We ended with a show (next post) that made it the admission price worth it.

It was a little bright outside.

The special exhibit was the Shark Encounter. It was very interesting but I still do not like sharks. Nothing personal Shark Week.

Apparently, around Paul my kids are brave.

The kid's play area was fun although somewhat dirty.

Pearls

The Breakthrough

2011-08-19T05:43:00.000-05:00

We finally convinced Alyce to go on the "big" water slide. You may not know but she is not so brave when it comes to water. Her first time she was about to chicken out but the lifeguard leaned over and said "Ma'am, sit down and pretend that you are going down with her and then give her a push, works every time."

So she was pushed her first time and with trust out of the window and going down a water slide, we were a little worried. Until,

she reached the bottom and had joy all over her face.

Then she could not get enough. We could hardly get her off the slide.

Clusterfluff

2011-08-18T06:08:00.000-05:00

Myrtle Beach has a Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream shop. We made a special trip and we discovered the best ice cream ever made, clusterfluff. Try it if you can. (you are welcome)

To justify our calorie intake we walked around the shopping area.

Pool Time!

2011-08-17T08:34:00.000-05:00

Ahh, the pool.

(No Pauls were injured in the making of this photo)

Poor Finely was a bum. As soon as they took him to the water he fell asleep.

Myrtle Barth

2011-08-16T06:55:00.000-05:00

We were blessed this summer to vacation with the Barth family in Myrtle Beach. We like you more now than we did then. But who does not love the Barth family! Here are a few pics from our first (evening) beach trip.

Levi loves the beach and the water. He loves to go and do anything but especially if it involves water.

The lovely Barth family

Tracy, the trip photographer, took 1200 photos, literally.

Thanks for the scenic picture Paul Barth!

Another nice touching moment, curtousey of Paul Barth

Hello Greenville

2011-08-15T20:12:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of summer we happened upon the funnest down town area we have been to in a long while. I really was expecting nothing and was wonderfully disappointed. Thank you Greenville.

Our hotel view. It was actually a very loud room. People were out enjoying downtown until the wee hours. There was a Scottish games (complete with hundreds of men walking around in kilts) and a large bike race that weekend.

Kozani, the Greek/Italian restaurant. Natural mix right? The strip was lined with almost every kind of restaurant you could think of. It was quite impressive.

The Reedy river. On the right was an old factory that was gutted and turned into a banquet hall.

4 Pictures

2011-08-03T20:50:00.000-05:00

Each year I try to get number pictures of the kiddos. This year for Noah, I did not schedule enough time so I just ended up with two pictures that are numbered. The others were either really cute or a great personification of Noah this past year.

Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital

2011-08-02T19:34:00.000-05:00

For Alyce's last field trip we were privileged with a rare tour of the Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital (http://www.roodandriddle.com)

We saw many sick and hurt horses, a brand new one day old baby horse and the start of a surgery.

They gave the kiddos some surgical gear which was apparently the greatest gift ever.

In this room they can check a horse's (or kindergartner's) airways.

This is the treadmill they use to with the scope. They can get a thoroughbred up to full speed. They showed us video, it was impressive.

Kindergarten Recital

2011-07-21T12:43:00.001-05:00

Alyce missed her main recital because she was sick for about 4 weeks at the end of school. She was well enough (barely) to be in the Pre-School/Kindergarten program. Here she is with the kindergarten violin class and Mrs. Doty.

Little Brown Seed (1:03). Alyce is top right.

Mrs. Dixon, Alyce's teacher, with a few girls from class.

Train Party!

2011-07-19T20:13:00.001-05:00

Check out this awesome cupcake cake that Eva made for us. Noah was extremely excited but honestly it was because it had real train toys on top.

We celebrated Noah's 4th at Berkshire Trains. The party room was a little awkwardly shaped but it was full of fun.

I think this is the "what did we do wrong" look

They had a Thomas train to ride

and two fully equipped train tables

they also had a craft where the kiddos could paint their own train

1st Easter

2011-07-16T07:22:00.000-05:00

Well, it might not be his first Easter but it was his first with us. This is about all we did. We are not too exciting.

Our 6 year old turns 4

2011-07-14T09:39:00.000-05:00

Noah is a sweet kid. He is passionate and wears his emotions on his sleeve. It is hard to believe that he is 4.

Alyce was super excited to get Noah a "piderman" mask.

Trains from Grannie and Papaw.

For his family fun outing Noah chose Monkey Joes. He was dripping wet when we left.

Sedona

2011-07-13T09:55:00.000-05:00

Sedona was quite a pretty place. And larger than we realized. We did not plan enough time to fully enjoy the area.

We stopped in a fun shopping center for lunch.

After lunch we tried to drive around some more and get some pictures of the red rock. Noah was very excited about it. Actually a storm was coming in and he was a little scared.

We did not get much off the road. Next time we visit we plan on spending a little more time in Sedona.

Montezuma Castle

2011-07-12T07:52:00.000-05:00

Neither a Castle nor built by Motezuma. Discuss.

Built by the Sinagua and apparantly abandoned. We took a day trip (still on spring break pictures) to Sedona, Az. We took in the sights on the way.

Ruins

Sycamore tree.

This is a seperate location but also used by the Sinagua. It is a sink hole fed by a spring with homes built into the cliffs.

Cacti

2011-06-22T08:06:00.000-05:00

Cow kaukau cow kaukau

2011-06-21T08:01:00.000-05:00

At Rick and Rachel's house for dinner

Apparently, Alyce really liked Kobe.

We also discovered on our trip that Pheonix has several Hawaiian Restaraunts. So we made a trip to L&L!

Mahalo Hawaiian Sun

Mahalo L&L

Pool and Playground

2011-06-20T08:48:00.000-05:00

The Desert Oasis

The "quiet" pool that truthfully we should never have gone to. It only took a few minutes before we realized that we could not be quiet enough for the quiet pool. Here Alyce is trying out her goggles. That did not last long.

A big playground is a must for any family vacation.

Pizza Party

2011-06-19T15:40:00.000-05:00

Waiting at a fun and popular pizza place. Sorry Rachel, I do not remember the name.

Rachel, judging the drawing contest. This was Alyce's favorite game through out the trip.

Uncle Rick taking the competition very seriously.

Phoe-Zoo-nix

2011-06-18T10:16:00.001-05:00

We had a bunch of fun at the Phoenix Zoo while Mama and Auntie Rachel celebrated Mama's birthday at the spa.

Levi really liked his Uncle Rick

Noah picked a flower for Mama

There was a Little People play area. It was fun to see "life size" Little People.

My Auntie Rocks

2011-06-15T14:01:00.000-05:00

Excited to see Auntie Rachel and Uncle Rick.

Meeting Levi for the first time.

Flying to AZ

2011-06-15T13:53:00.000-05:00

A little postponed but here are a few from our spring break trip to AZ to visit Auntie Rachel and Uncle Rick.

A bonus of smart phones, being able to find all the airport play areas.

Pretending to be Uncle Rick.

Princesses Watching Princesses

2011-05-08T21:32:00.000-05:00

The girls were super excited about Princesses on Ice again this year.

Princess Panera Dinner

Two Rapunzels

Aladdin and Jasmine were Asian. I guess it is hard to find Arab ice skaters.

Ariel (Judd)

Care Package

2011-04-24T21:11:00.000-05:00

Levi recieved a care package from his foster mother. It was fun and he was excited to get mail. The silver bags are seaweed sheets. We are set for a while. It is actually very tasty.

Superman

2011-04-23T15:01:00.001-05:00

was adopted.

Poor Levi was getting over a cold in this picture. We went 2.5 months of having one or more people sick everyday in our house. I am glad that we are all healthy again.

View from the Top

2011-04-20T20:23:00.002-05:00

From a balcony of "Cabin B" in Gatlinburg, mid February. We vacated for a long weekend with two other families. It was fun with hiccups.

At the Racetrack. Noah was not too sure about the go carts and once we started he was completely sure he did not like them. I think we ruled out racecar driver as a potential career.

Noah had much more fun on the kiddy rides, especially with Cameron.

Post racetrack Ben & Jerrys store stop

At the Ripley's Aquarium. The fish were all swimming with wide open mouthes in case you were wondering.

As you might have noticed, Noah was the only child pictured. Alyce came down with a stomach bug the night we drove down and was completely out of comission until the evening before we left. She was in bed being sick the whole time. The evening before we left at dinner she finally felt better so we all went out for ice cream. The sad and cute thing was when we put her to bed, during prayer, she was thankful "for all the wonderful things" she saw that night (in case you have never been to Gatlinburg it is like christmas light city).

Happy Noon-year!

2011-02-01T22:03:00.000-05:00

This year (technically last year) we hit up the Explorium for new years eve festivities. It was fun but crowded.

Making party hats

"Levi the Elf, what's your favorite color?"

Waiting for balloons to drop at noon

Unfortunately, Noah was too grumpy to get in the picture.

Noah's Quilt

2011-01-31T15:22:00.000-05:00

Noah was very excited to have his handmade Mama quilt finished

Now That is a Cake!

2011-01-30T17:14:00.000-05:00

Although slightly distracted by Oma's unfortunate accident, we were still able to celebrate Sarah's ##th birthday. It was apparently not enough of a celebration for Alyce since she still wants a day for Mama to pick something fun for the family to do together.

Sarah was inspired by a friend's cake and decided that this was the cake for her (European Delights bakery in Brannon Crossing shopping center).

Broke it: Oma

2011-01-28T17:03:00.000-05:00

Poor Oma took a trip down the stairs with not all her appendages in the right direction Christmas morning. Thankfully, she took one for the team and little Micaela, in her arms, was as happy as could be.

A Cousin Christmas

2011-01-24T10:39:00.000-05:00

For some reason we decided to open gifts in the smallest room in our house. With 14 people it was a bit chaotic, but fun. Next year we would like to get more people and try to open gifts in the 1/2 bath.

With 8 kids it is hard to get every one looking with open eyes, I think if you combine these two pictures it makes one whole

I like Micaela's little smile in this picture

Levi loved the chaos but was frustrated that he did not get to open every present. He did not necessarily want everything, he just wanted to help.

Excited about Turbofire!

Uncle Wayne, excited about sausage!

Not excited about being wrapped up

New family

2011-01-22T22:20:00.000-05:00

Levi really liked his new cousins, especially the baby. Levi really like babies in general. He wanted to frequently help by holding the bottle (translated: shove the bottle in Micaela's mouth). He was really excited to be apart of everything the cousins did.

Southern Lights

2011-01-21T09:51:00.000-05:00

Poor Frosty looks like he is crying.

The cousins! It was great to have the Harder family visit.

We crammed in the little train

We took up two cars (50% of the train)

In '10, Lexington painted horses. The horse park of course had a display of the horses painted by local schools

Levi sure loves his Mama!

All the kids

The only picture that we actually took of the lights

Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

2011-01-20T10:05:00.000-05:00

No, neither of us won. We are still waiting on the recount.

Oma & Opa

2011-01-19T21:28:00.000-05:00

We had a great visit with Oma and Opa this Christmas, full of belly laughs and broken bones. Levi took to them quickly which was nice.

Waiting for lost luggage at the Spaghetti Factory.

Really enjoying waiting for lost luggage at the Spaghetti Factory

Enjoying lunch at Shaker Village. Amazing food!

School Christmas Program

2010-12-29T10:36:00.000-05:00

Despite the ice and snow, Trinity squeezed in the Pre-K/Kindergarten Christmas program. They sang songs, recited poems and scripture and the beginner Violin class gave a performance.

Probably the best face Noah has ever made!

BFF Audrey

One of the violin performances.

Korean Culture Day

2010-12-28T07:46:00.000-05:00

Our local public library sponsored a Korean culture day presented by the Lexington Korean School

They had Korean toys, dress, snacks, art, etc. We thought Levi would really enjoy it but he did not seem too sure about everything.

A Hanbok. Alyce was excited to play dress up. Noah thought they were all girls clothes and did not want to wear them.

We did not stay long since it fell mostly in nap time but it is a yearly event so we are excited to come back again.

Kids Christmas Service

2010-12-26T20:49:00.000-05:00

Alyce partook of the children's Christmas service. It was cute and well done. Good job to those who planned and practiced.

Alyce the peasant girl.

She learned some new songs, had a few lines and was not even nervous!

A clip from the show.

Christmas Card

2010-12-25T22:16:00.000-05:00

Our Christmas card pictures a la Tracy. She did a great job on short notice in bad lighting. Thank you Tracy

2 Handsome

2010-12-17T13:48:00.000-05:00

Snow Day!

2010-12-16T21:24:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the sideways start, but Noah's laugh is great. Our park is great in the snow!

Doozie of a Twosie

2010-12-15T22:38:00.000-05:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Levi!

For Levi's birthday meal we went to lunch at Han Woo Ri (on limestone). He was extremely excited and was very emphatic about getting the Bokum Bab.

The food was really good. Levi was mmmm-ing between each bite. Unfortunately, Alyce and Noah did not agree.

Levi did not really know what to do with the presents. Now he has really taken ownership of those toys. It is fun to see since to me it feels like daily material reminders to him that he belongs in our family.

Dessert at Orange Leaf. We let him have his own bowl and spoon. Again, he was beyond excited.

November Christmas Parade

2010-12-15T10:24:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving weekend we headed downtown for the Christmas parade. We were not prepared for the cold, mentally or clothes-ly.

We tried to huddle together for warmth. Thank you to a local church for giving out hot cocoa. I do think you literally kept us alive.

Probably the most exciting "float." Sorry Lexington, you need to work on your parade skills.

On the way home we cut through a building to stay warm and we ran into Rudolph and Frosty!

6 at Monkey Joe's

2010-12-14T22:49:00.001-05:00

Alyce had her friend party several weeks after her birthday a ~~Crazy~~ Monkey Joe's. It was exceptionally loud but it was nice to not have to set up or clean up afterwards

Awesome cake by Tommie

We packed the house

Benjamin and Audrey

Noah and Eli

Mighty Fine, Clark

2010-12-08T16:53:00.000-05:00

Field Trip: Bi Water Farms

2010-11-19T21:16:00.000-05:00

Alyce's kindergarten class at Bi-Water Farms in Georgetown (October). She had so much fun that she wanted everyone in the family to come back.

Luci and Alyce

Snack on a train

Alyce thought this was really cool.

Harvest Moon

2010-11-08T17:36:00.000-05:00

In October we met up with a family, the Cravens, who we met in Korea that were adopting at the same time.

They invited us to FCC and yes, we do not have children from China and neither do they but it was still fun.

Alyce made new friends on the hay ride.

Levi "wrote" a letter to his birth mom to release with a balloon.

Levi and Kai. They were adopted a few days apart.

A Joy

2010-10-22T12:51:00.001-05:00

to see the Joy. We met up with Joy (our director from HI) recently in Louisville. It was a fun but short visit.

Silly picture, of course.

Joy playing with Levi

Our Lil' Pumpkin

2010-10-20T11:14:00.000-05:00

Making faces for the camera and we couldn't be more proud!

Boyd's Orchard

2010-10-16T15:05:00.000-05:00

On the hay ride

Ahhh, what a cute family...wait a minute.

Hay ride companions

Cooornnn! Maze

Noah showed no fear on the big slides, as long as Cameron went too.

Portraits

2010-10-13T14:32:00.000-05:00

Hey Levi...

2010-10-12T11:34:00.000-05:00

where is that cute smile?

He can light up a room with that grin.

Field Trip - UK Arboretum

2010-10-11T10:55:00.001-05:00

Alyce's kindergarten class. This is a big change from her 7 student preschool class.

Ashley and Alyce

Learning about seeds and how they spread.

Learning how seeds "hitchhike" on clothes and animals.

A buzz lightyear scarecrow, well sort of.

Looking for turtles

The "play ground." Normally, what I would label a mother's panic attack.

Welcome Home Levi

2010-10-10T15:57:00.000-05:00

Our little Levi has been home for a little more than a month and we think he is doing really well adjusting.

He really enjoys eating. Many times he does better than Alyce and Noah in the foods he will eat, as well as the quantity.

Levi is a hugger and very social. "Going Bye Bye" is his favorite thing to do. It does not matter what we do, he just likes to get out.

1st day of school

2010-10-04T21:18:00.001-05:00

1st Day of Kindergarden! (8/18)

As a comparison, here is Alyce on her first day of Preschool. She is actually wearing the same shirt.

Fun Run

2010-10-03T08:59:00.000-05:00

A midsummer's night run (8/14). Unfortunately for Alyce, her race was rained out. She was disappointed and I am sure she would have won!

Waiting out the rain with the other runners. It let up right as the 5k was beginning. It still drizzled through out the race. Alyce and Noah enjoyed that.

The Champs

The other Champs.

The silliest family in town!

Catch up

2010-10-02T19:57:00.003-05:00

As of late we have had our hands full. Thankfully we can now put a few blogs up again. This is from back in July in FL.

We bought a new pool for our trip. Good thing Papaw had an air compressor or we would have had a few passed out parents.

Alyce also decided to lose (aka yank out) her first tooth. She was really excited and suprisingly brave. She immediately sold it for $2 to mama.

Fishin' with Papaw

2010-09-12T21:41:00.000-05:00

Three very determined anglers

This one cracks me up.

360 View

2010-08-28T19:12:00.000-05:00

360 view from N Seoul Tower

Band Together for LEVI

2010-08-19T09:03:00.000-05:00

We are selling shaped bands (aka Silly Bandz) as a fundraiser. If you are interested they are $3 per bag of 12 shaped bands. If you need us to ship them we are more than willing. Shipping will most likely be between $1-2 unless you would like Priority Shipping which is $4.85. The available shapes are Dino, Alphabet, Numbers, Cars, Princess, Fruit, Animals, and Misc. Thank you for your support!

Family 4th Pics

2010-08-18T16:05:00.001-05:00

Family picture by Tracy

No kids were hurt in the making of this photo.

Noah is making his Bill Cosby Jello Pudding Pop Face

The next two, Sarah asked them to make silly faces. They are still in training but these are A+ efforts.

Alyce by Tracy

The Big 3 (a few months later)

2010-08-13T21:05:00.002-05:00

Keeping with our family tradition, here is Noah with his "3" pictures. Enjoy!

Our tough guy. He will probably hate that tatoo we let him get when he is 4.

These next 4 really capture Noah this past year.

We love our Noah Bear!

Noah-nand the Bull

2010-08-12T15:31:00.000-05:00

"He liked to sit just quietly and smell the flowers."

The Hill and Noah

2010-07-24T20:13:00.004-05:00

We went to a birthday party at the park and they were kind enough to bring the hill!

The big boys were rolling doen the hill and Noah wanted in on the fun.

Noah's first rolling down a hill.

Mama Wins the Race

2010-07-23T20:50:00.003-05:00

The winners

The cheering section. They actually posed for this one themselves.

One Last Putt Putt

2010-07-08T15:27:00.005-05:00

"What?" We finished off the vacation with some family putt putt. It ended up more of a photo shoot than a golf game.

More Wedding Pics

2010-07-07T11:41:00.007-05:00

School Pics

2010-07-04T17:27:00.002-05:00

On The Boardwalk

2010-07-03T09:43:00.004-05:00

The myrtle beach boardwalk that they just finished. It was really nice.

You read right. We went with the intent of bying shirts for everyone we know but they only had one shirt! Seriously! Only one to choose from. If you are going to call your store by this name you really need to self market with shirts, magnets, bumper stickers etc. They are missing out on a gold mine.

Couch Full

2010-06-29T21:07:00.004-05:00

of O's ('ma and 'pa) and kiddos

silly O's and kiddos

East of Chicago

2010-06-28T07:53:00.009-05:00

for giant pizza and Abigail's birthday

Oma and Opa

tv, the opiate of the masses

East of Chicago was a little chuck e cheeses, a little gatti town

cheesy car

big 7

Happy Birthday Abigail!

Just Beachy

2010-06-23T11:16:00.007-05:00

The cousins at myrtle beach.

the whole of the beach, it was a very deep beach.

ejoying the water

and the waves

but he liked it

Our 5th Grade Date

2010-06-20T21:44:00.009-05:00

To Medieval times. Laugh if you want to, it was fun. Cheesy but fun.

"shakes the very ground"

Our medieval faces

This must be his summer job because I swear to you this was Ryan Seacrest.

What ever is going to happen to our brave champion? (he ended up losing his first match up)

Family Trip

2010-06-18T20:06:00.012-05:00

The pond/dock behind our room.

Noah staring down the ducks

playing putt putt at our resort

the chaos of playing with 6 kids

Noah getting ready to pick up the ball and drop it in the cup.

The cousins wrestling the alligator

Silly uncle Wayne

Then we hit up the play area

Sansom's and Sharky's

2010-06-16T18:02:00.007-05:00

We were blessed to take a "family trip" to myrtle beach recently. (I read today that when you have kids under six there is no such thing as a vacation. You can only take a family trip. No vacating allowed.) Well, on our family trip we meet up with the Sansom family for a short time in NC. It was great to see them again and we hope to see them again soon.

Luke my buddy. He was shy for about 10 minutes but then he just jumped in my lap, literally.

After lunch at Sharky's we found a playground. The sun forced us under the slide but it made for fun sand time.

After the heat we agreed it was worth an ice cream stop. Thank you Sansom's for a fun half day.

Final Field Trip

2010-06-13T19:59:00.008-05:00

Alyce's Preschool class at Fink Farm. They did a hay ride, petting zoo and...

rode the bull!

Yee-haw

They had zebra, camels, llamas, long horns, buffalo, yaks, highlanders, mini ponies, and goats. But the animal that stole the show was a kitten.

A Watusi

petting zoo. Alyce's favorite part of the petting zoo was the "goat that snorted and sounded like a toot."

New Sheriff in Town

2010-06-12T20:39:00.003-05:00

Finshed the blog update.

The Flower Girl

2010-06-09T16:28:00.005-05:00

Alyce in the big show.

Getting ready and playing "I Spy"

Ready for the rehersal

These last two at the rehersal dinner are my favs.

Mother's Day Tea

2010-06-08T13:26:00.005-05:00

A picture given to us from Mrs. Rowe that was used in a Mother's Day gift.

Alyce's class put on a Mother's Day Tea. Word is, it was Tea-riffic.

Alyce and Mrs. Rowe. Alyce was excited to have summer break but she said "there is one thing I am sad about, I do not get to be in Mrs. Rowe's class anymore."

The girls of her preschool class Meredith, Audrey, and Alyce. (the boys also attended but were not pictured)

Levi's Lattes

2010-05-31T15:51:00.007-05:00

As you may know we are in the middle of an adoption. We just completed the finger printing stage and hope that next week we will be sending off our papers to Korea. While we wait we float in the slightly uncomfortable phase of raising funds.

Unfortunately, adoption can be a very expenses process and we are trying to think of fun ways to reach the goal. We found a really cool company called Just Love Coffee that sells fair trade specialty coffee and donates a large portion of the sales. They set up a website for us and for every pound of coffee you buy, $5 is contributed to our adoption fund. We receive a monetary portion of all other items - bags, mugs, shirts - as well. If you would like to join us in this venture please visit:

www.justlovecoffee.com/LevisLattes.

Thank you for your support!

Another Cars Party

2010-05-26T12:20:00.008-05:00

Noah really wanted a cars party again this year.

The humane pinata. (protested everywhere by Nerf and AFV)

Noah and his awesome cakes. When it was time to eat he said "Okay, everybody come sing to me."

Cakes by Tommie

Great job Tommie, thanks.

Field Trip

2010-05-19T08:54:00.007-05:00

The whole class on the moon.

Audrey and Alyce riding a champ!

There sure are a lot of horses at the children's museum.

3 Something

2010-05-11T16:13:00.003-05:00

For birthday breakfast, Noah wanted a Starbucks scone. His Mama has taught him well. For b-day dinner he wanted pancakes so we hit up the IHOP.

Since Noah mainly had little presents we let him open one a day for a few days leading up to his actual birth day. Every morning while he opened he would say "What gonna be, what gonna be?" Very funny. (FYI it is Mater the Fire Truck, big hit)

Noah's big present from Grannie and Papaw. He was really excited. And yes, we actually let him drive it around too.

30 something

2010-05-09T19:59:00.007-05:00

For b-days we hit up the melting pot. It was a fun experience. If you go, make sure you don't eat lunch or breakfast that day. You will thank me.

gents

and ladies

Pro form!

Irrefutable proof that Paul lost every game

Thanks for a fun birthday.

The Amazing Mr. Knucklehead

2010-05-05T08:21:00.002-05:00

aspiring to applesauce