Levi: American Gladiator

After watching American Gladiators with Garet, and specifically "Rocketball",

This is what I found him doing in his room today (7 sec).

Quoting Levi: "I don't need the helmet and American Gladiator shirt, mom". I'm just thankful we didn't end up in the ER after the way he hurled himself on the floor.

Summer Sanity

This summer has not been a good one for me. For several reasons I won't bore you with, I am very ready for it to be over with and a distant memory. The fall can not get here quick enough! Part of the problem has been that I have not been able to "turn off" the noise around me. I am very much a multi-tasker, and so even if I'm doing something relaxing, I'm always thinking about other things in the back of my mind thus negating any relaxing I might be attempting.

For some time now, Garet has really encouraged me to take some breaks. It all sounded fine and good as he said it, but I struggled with finding the time...always claiming I was too "busy".

All that changed a few weeks ago. I randomly signed up for this sewing group at my church - it is something I always wanted to do, but time always seemed to be my enemy. What I have experienced has been so much more than learning how to sew! Because I don't know anything about sewing, I have to concentrate really hard, which means I don't think about the million things on my list of things to do. Plus, the ladies in the group are fabulous and their conversation is just as sweet.

As promised, we did pillowcase dresses this week. They turned out SO cute! Although, I put it on Kara and she somehow managed to untie the double knots, so I'm going to have to figure out how to keep the dress on her before she wears it in public. My mind is already thinking of all the variations I can do with this pattern (there I go again with the "noise", sigh).

One of those days

It has been one of those mornings where everyone is just a little off. I think these pictures explain a little of our day. We really need to get out of the house!

"Luckily" (ha!), we have Kara's 9 month pictures tonight (praying she won't flip out this time!). My brain is no longer functioning, so I've resorted to taking pictures of clothes for Levi & Kara and sending them to Garet to let him choose what they should wear:

If you happen to see this before 4 PM CST, let me know your vote - I need help! Although, with my luck, this will hit your readers at 4:01. I'll post the results tonight or tomorrow. Speaking of, if you've been reading this through a reader, I recently changed up my site - I needed something a little more cheery!

PS: Garet is home (you have no idea how glad I am) - I survived again....now I won't have to resort to getting Levi to feed Kara:

Hmmm...I've never seen that before

These are not the words that you want to hear by the doctor when you take your daughter to her well baby visit. Thankfully, it is nothing major (we hope).

"Baby Koko" turned 9 months old today and at her check-up, I told the doctor about her first tooth. He then looks in and says the title to this post. Turns out, her first tooth is not one of the bottom two. It is the one just to the left of the bottom two. Blame it on Kara being the second child, but I hadn't realized it at all, but it was very clear when he showed it to me. So, in typical Kara fashion, she's doing things just a little differently - her way. Anyone else ever heard of this before?

I know that you aren't supposed to compare your kids, but I do it all the time - it's too hard not to. So, I decided to take a look back at Levi at 9 months and Kara today.

Here they both are at 9 months (Levi: 7/11/06 and Kara:7/22/08):

Boy I wish Kara had some of the hair Levi has - we are going broke over his haircut bill since we have to go so often! Amazingly, they were exactly the same height at 9 months: 28.5 inches. Levi had the bigger head at 46.5 cm versus Kara's 44.5 cm head. But, here's the BIG difference...Levi weighed 18 lbs, 14 oz and Kara only weighs 17 lbs, 3 oz. They were a whole pound and 11 oz different!

While Kara is still a lightweight at 20% weight and 80% height, the doctor said that since she has maintained that big of a spread her whole life that he isn't going to worry about it even though it was under 5% for the ratio chart he showed me. Speaking of, LOVED the new technology at our pediatricians new office. For all of you with the same doctors that haven't been, you are in for a treat!

It's official, I can really sew

I know all of you have been on pins and needles (pun intended) after my post last week, so I wanted to show you what we conquered tonight. I may not be an expert (OK, far, far away from being an expert), but I did do this:

Can you believe it? Our little group made these purses out of kitchen towels AND we did it in about 2 hours. Either I have an amazing ability to learn quickly or we have a very good teacher, Carey. I'm thinking the latter too.

Next week we are doing pillowcase dresses - I can't wait. I've got to go shopping for fabric! So many decisions!

Pure Joy

I had the kids by myself tonight and for some crazy reason I decided to take them to Costco for a little shopping and to eat pizza. They don't have high chairs, so the new and mobile Kara was a little hard to contain in the cart while we ate. If I hadn't lost my mind by that point, we headed over to the children's fountain downtown. I had been wanting to take Levi for awhile now and the weather was PERFECT tonight. The fountain was a hit and it was so fun to watch Levi run, jump and laugh through the water. It made me want to be a kid again!

Trying to keep warm:

Kara wanted to play too, but the jets were just a little too powerful:

Fun Weekend...OK, so last weekend - I'm that behind

It's sad when I don't get a chance to update what we did LAST weekend until Thursday Night! I am so ready to get the school year started and get back into a weekly routine. I'm much more productive then.

Anyway, Friday Night, we took advantage of my parents pool. They have a nice area around the pool, so we made a picnic out of it. Levi is venturing out into the "big pool" a bit without floats - He's getting so big! Kara was totally ordering Levi around the kiddie pool as to where she wanted to be pushed...and she is only 8.5 Months - it's going to be some fun times with her. I also love the picture of Garet kissing her and the one of Kara with her "mowhawk".
Levi stayed over at Mom & Dad's and then I met Mom & Levi at the Botanical Gardens for the Dinosaur Exhibit Saturday Morning. I never know what might freak Levi out these days, but these big dinosaurs didn't bother him:

The Butterfly House with Grandma:

Exploring the Sunflower Maze:

Getting soaked in the Children's Garden...Lovely:

Saturday Night we had our Life Group over for a MUCH needed party. I once again sharpened up my "culinary skills" and served half-baked brownies to my Life Group. Sigh. At least they keep coming back! I didn't get my camera out until the end, but I had to capture this picture of Levi and the Boyachek kids watching a movie:

Nothing exciting planned this weekend, so we'll just live off the memories of last weekend!

Something for the fridge

Most everyday last year, Levi brought home a drawing, painting, sculpture, you name it, from school. As any good parent does, we placed a large number of them on the fridge. There were some Levi was more proud of than others and he made sure we knew it. This summer, our fridge has lacked the color that it has during the school year because I haven't exactly been "that mom" this summer that does all those crafty things with her kids.

While Levi may not have anything on the fridge, I made something last night that I am so incredibly proud of and I really want to put a big magnet on it...seriously! This summer, we are having Connection Groups (based on interests) at our church (one guess as to what Garet is leading) and one of the ones I signed up for was the sewing group. Thanks to my mom upgrading her sewing machine a couple of years ago, I have been the proud owner of a "sewing machine that has not seen light since I received it" - No longer! Last night, I dusted it off and lugged it up to church for some Sewing 101.

Our first project was to make this handy little square to help us know every stitch that we can do on our machines. Since I literally knew NOTHING about a sewing machine, I also learned how to do everything from turning it on, to threading all those things, to actually sewing two pieces of fabric together - it was a beautiful thing.

I'm looking forward to meeting with these great ladies this summer. We have a cute little handbag and pillowcase dresses on tap. I can't wait to see how they turn out and share with all of you. If you want to join us, let me know! Wish me luck!

She just won't stop!

Kara is trying to fit as many developmental milestones into one week as she can. Over the last 7 days, she has gotten her first tooth, pushed herself up from lying down to seated, pulled up to her knees, started crawling, pulled up to standing, ate her first puff and drank out of a sippy cup. The girl is unstoppable right now. If she starts walking tomorrow, I'm going to be worried. If only she was as motivated to gain weight...I'm thinking the 9 month check-up next week might not be good.

Could you imagine if we developed at this pace as adults? What would we be capable of? (Peter, I know you are dying to answer this one!)

Dealing with Disappointment

For the majority of my life, if I have set my mind to something, I have been able to accomplish it. I can be very self-motivated and this has always served me well...until about 3 years ago. From the time Levi was born, I've struggled with accomplishing everything I want (I can almost hear every mom saying "Amen Sister" as I type this - you know what I mean!). Since the difference between expectation and performance is frustration, you can imagine that my life has had a little frustration the past few years. (Side Note: I am in no way implying that I wish I didn't have kids - please know this!)

The biggest area I have struggled in the past 3 years has been my exercise schedule. When I went to Auburn, I became very motivated to get in shape. As a college student and then as a "Young Married w/o Kids", I had plenty of time to hit the gym or the pavement and I loved it! Exercise has always been a huge stress reliever for me and also something I truly enjoyed.

I was doing step aerobics at 39 weeks pregnant with Levi - it was great! Then, he was born. Hmmm....didn't know that was going to happen to my body. I had a slow start getting back to the gym after Levi was born. It took probably a full year to get back to my pre-children routine. I wasn't too worried when I got pregnant with Kara 3 months later, because I had worked out last pregnancy, no problems. Well, Kara was a handful even in the womb and kept me out of the gym with all-day sickness, severe sciatica pain and a mis-aligned pelvic bone requiring weeks of physical therapy. (Not gym-friendly conditions) Then, Kara was born and here I am 8.5 months later.

For 3 years, I have been trying to do a sprint triathlon. I finally got serious about it a few months ago and started a training program. Things went great for 5 weeks - I knew that this was going to be the year! Then, I lost a week when Garet's Granddaddy died. Then, Garet went out of town for 2 weeks and I just couldn't get in my 5-day-a-week workouts. I realized this week that I will have to give up 3 more weeks of training this summer as well and that's when I had to throw in the towel for this year's race.

It's been very frustrating and disappointing. I kept thinking I could hang in there and keep training, but I know that I wouldn't be ready and I want to be in decent shape if I'm going to actually finish. I hate always saying, "Maybe next year", but that is what I'm going to have to do for now. I know that things will be better in a few months when the kids are a little older. I'll finally be able to leave Kara at the gym nursery and school will be back in session, so that will give me some extra time. Until then, I'll cherish these days with the kids and as my dad always said: "Life is about bouncing back". I can't wallow in self-pity forever! After all, there is always next year...

Wordless Wednesday

This picture can only mean one thing:

Levi is potty trained!!! The "board" is now Levi's drawing board. I seriously can not believe that I am just now blogging about it - I'm behind. Except for one accident, Levi has been in "big boy underwear" for 2 weeks now. His dresser drawer looks so different now:
I haven't been brave enough to let him wear underwear through the night yet, but we are close (that is why you see the overnight pull-ups in the picture). The other night, he got up in the middle of the night to go and he is dry most mornings. I just value my sleep to much to have to change the sheets if I need to.

I've decided that we got by the whole potty training thing pretty easy. Several people told me to just wait until they are ready and that is what we did. Therefore, we started a little later than most other people (2.5 years), but it only took 2 and a half months, so I'm not complaining! I guess Levi was ready! This couldn't have come at a better time, because with Kara now on formula ($$), it is nice to only have to pay for one set of diapers ($$)!

In other milestone news, Kara is cutting her first tooth! Levi didn't get his first until he was 11.5 months old, so I wasn't expecting one this early (which I realize is late for most babies). She's had a rough week trying to get this tooth through her gums, but it is FINALLY starting to poke on through. There was no drama when Levi got his teeth, so this is a brand new thing for me. Kara even got that "teething fever" so many people have talked about. We love her "spirited" personality though and are so thankful that "Baby Koko" (Levi's term of endearment for her) is in our family. I also love the way she sleeps...with her little bottom up in the air. I couldn't resist a picture!

Fields & Fireworks

This year, Garet decided that we needed to support Jim & Family and buy some fireworks. This year, Levi decided that he does NOT like fireworks. Sorry, Jim.

The Fields came over to grill out (and help some on the playground). The night started out innocently enough with sparklers (I wonder what Garet is thinking):

Then, we lit this thing:

It is a monster truck and it turned after we lit it and it came straight towards Levi. This did not make him happy. He spent the remainder of the evening under a blanket while I watched Garet light the rest of the fireworks through the window. I think he will be fine next year - poor guy.

In all fairness to him, our neighborhood put on quite a show this year and it was very loud. Some of them made me jump they were so loud. Anyway, we hope all of you had a wonderful holiday. I don't know if I can wait until September for the next one!

We never waste a holiday!

To say that we don't waste a holiday is an understatement. For example, here is our 2008 holiday schedule so far:

Martin Luther King Day: Begin flooring project (I still need to do an update on that since we finally finished!)

President's Day: Travel to Maryland to visit my brother and his wife

Spring Break: Travel to Detroit to visit Garet's sister and family

Memorial Day: My 30th birthday trip to San Antonio.

As you can see, our holiday's involve either Travel or Home Improvements. So, what did the Fields do for the 4th??

Ta da:


Garet is fresh off his trip, so we didn't want to go anywhere and we had been talking about getting a playground for some time now. We finally bit the bullet and dove in. Everyone had warned us about the extremely tedious and long process these playgrounds take to put together, but, I have to admit that Garet and I have really enjoyed it. I got to sort all the pieces (which is how my mind is wired for enjoyment) and Garet got to be outside and build things with power tools. It was a win-win for both of us. Plus, we got to spend time together and I can hold my own with a drill now!

Here we are just getting started - you would not believe the amount of hardware:

Levi helping Garet with Step 1 (of 36 steps):

While the playground is rated for ages 3-11, Levi had no problems scaling every last inch of it. I think we have a winner!
The Finished Product. This is the Sunray Playground from Costco (where else?):
Side note: We did have to drive to the Costco in Nashville because our Costco sold all theirs and wasn't getting anymore in. I'll post our 4th of July pictures in another post.

I survived

I haven't blogged in over a week - yikes - I miss my therapy! Truth be told, Garet was out of town for 11 days straight...all the way to sunny Hawaii (ugh!). Being a single parent of a baby and a toddler is not easy and it reminded me to be thankful daily to have Garet as a help-mate. I didn't get a lot accomplished over that week and a half and now I'm paying the price! That time also challenged me to be more of a servant to single moms I know - I don't know how they do it - they really are super women!

Anyway, Garet finally got home on Sunday, but on Friday, I took the kids up (rather I rode with Garet's family) up to Nashville and then onto Lexington, KY for the annual Hurter Family Reunion at the farm. Always lots of fun, good food and a very hot hay ride. It was a challenge to take on a road trip with the two kids minus Garet, but we survived (with A LOT of help from Nana, Granddaddy, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins - Thank you!!). Thursday night after I was done packing, Garet calls to tell me that maybe I should just stay home and play it safe. Needless to say, I didn't back down and we had a great time. The kids were fabulous. I've said it before, but the Lord really does give me extra grace when Garet is out of town.

All the cousins in their matching outfits at the farm:

I never got a good one of Levi & Kara, but this made me laugh - it is SO them:

The "Girls":

The "Boys":

Our "attempt" to get a picture of the youngest generation of Hurters:

I honestly thought the hayride this year was never going to end - a memory for the kids none the less: