C-E-R-E-A-L

 As some of you know, Levi has been a faithful "oatmeal" eater for breakfast for some time now.

However, his breakfast of choice has changed...

He now loves to come upstairs in the morning and say

"C-E-E-E-W-E-E-E-A-A-A-L!"

Hilarious side note- He totally learned to finish off the bowl AND milk trick all on his own :)

Makes me smile every time I see it !

Bhaiya & U-u--u--ncle

One of our dear friends, and really- part of our family now...

Levi affectionately calls him "Bhaiya"~ a Hindi term for "brother"

 They are SO precious together!

And another one of Levi's favorite "family" members here...

Meet "U-u-u-u-u-ncle" :

 Sadly enough, we only had a couple months with "Uncle" living in our city before he moved back home, but during the time he was here, these two grew fonder and fonder of each other.

Levi would run straight to our spare room as soon as he saw "uncle" and call for him to come play-

and the fun would ensue!

This sweet man had such a gentle spirit and loved on Levi just like he was his own grandson.

They would just giggle and talk together- Levi often repeated his Hindi, which was awesome to hear.

Seeing these two together really melts my heart :)

"Uncle" would always scoop Levi up in his arms and give him a hug before he left our house.

We sure do miss our "uncle"!

Two random funny facts about "Uncle":

1.) He came to our city with this hairstyle that you see above, but during his time here- he embraced his "hair loss" and joined Craig's club of "The Clean Shave".

A much better choice in my opinion :)

2.) Although "uncle" is a commonly used term here for younger children to refer to older men, "Uncle" seemed to get confused as to who was actually "uncle", and would call Levi "uncle" when he talked to him. 

It gave us a good chuckle... Sweet sweet man!

: COOOOOL Dude :

 "Enough said"

: Best LIttle Helper EVER :

 Nothing could make the holidays SWEETER than having his little guy BEG to put on "his" apron so he can sit on the counter and "HEEEELP" me bake :)

His first time licking the batter from the beater... SWEET memories :)

 

"MMMM that was YUMMY... I'll think I'll have some MOOOORE"

 "Oooops- did you get that on camera? Tee Hee Hee"

~Levi

 I love that I get to be his Mama... Best job in the whole world!

JESSE ..::*::.. TREE

 One of our newest Christmas Traditions:

A JESSE TREE

 Some of you may be familiar with this, but this was the first year we got to actually do it with Levi and I LOVED IT!

Each day we got to read a story about someone in the Bible and color a picture/ornament that went along with it...

and we slowly traveled from the Old Testament, learning so many fun stories about important people all the way up until Jesus' birth.

 

We would then "hang the ornament on our tree" :) 

and post the story along the window frame.

It was a great way to share new stories with friends that came by throughout the month as well!

 

 Where does the name "Jesse Tree" come from, you ask?

Isaiah 11:1

Speaking of our coming Savior

We got a surprise "tree" in the mail (Thanks Grammy & Grandpa), so we moved the ornaments onto it, and here was the end result:

What a fun way to learn and see the Lord's hand in it ALL from the very beginning and a fantastic way to celebrate our Savior's birth :)

Looking forward to doing it again next year when Levi will understand even more!

(Although I must admit- he had some great "moments" as we would read the story and he would repeat little parts of it as we told it to him... He melts my heart with his sweet little voice)

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas and we wish you a Happy New Year!

:: Sweet Spoiling- Geese & Trains & Coffee- Oh MY! ::

 Our "palace" crew decided to take a night out on the town one night-

You'll never guess the FUN we encountered...

Oh yes... GEESE- Honk Honk!!!

 

You could buy some popcorn and feed the geese- the kiddos had a BLAST:

 

I think Levi wasn't sure if his job was to feed them or chase them :)

Once we escaped the geese, we looked out at all the boats on the lake- anything from paddle boats and  sail boats, to trolley boats:

One of Levi's favorite surprises was this HUGE TRAIN that was by the waterside for us to look at:

 "WHOOOOOAAAA!"

 " Mama, do you think I can drive it?"

 Precious boy- couldn't take his eyes off of it!

 Good buds- Levi, Gus, & Joya

We LOVE that there are lakes in our city- its just refreshing to look out on the water & the colorful boats:

 Love spending my days with these two!

Then we climbed a hill behind the park by the lake to a coffee shop

Here is the view from the top:

"Come on in... Grab a seat... Get some coffee :)"

Who could resist such a sweet invitation?

It was a GREAT end to our evening ~ sipping on some yummy drinks, overlooking a beautiful lake, and talking with some good friends.

So grateful for times like these and great folks to spend them with!

 

Thanks Summit for spoiling us!

:: Sweet Spoiling- The Palace Retreat ::

 We LOVE our home fellowship from North Carolina :)

A while back, they sent some dear friends of ours to our city for a few days, and we gathered with some other folks/friends who are living here in South Asia to have some Retreat, Encouragement, & Awesome Fellowship.

What better place to be spoiled, than the PALACE!

Fun view from our balcony in our room:

 

 The view from our balcony:

 It was a great reminder of how BEAUTIFUL our city is- so grateful the Lord has us here:

 

We made Levi his own little luxury bed:

  

I think he was happy about it:

 "Mom- what I'm really happy about is... JUUUUIIICE!"

Of course this little guy came away with some battle wounds- he slipped on the steps @ dinner and caught the edge with his chin- poor guy...

He loves to point at it and say "BOOO BOOO"

 "Don't worry guys, I'm tough!"

 

Ahhhh- sweet rest!

(I love this man)

And one of the best parts...

There was a "POOOOOOL"

 So we all enjoyed time in both the big pool, as well as our "mini pool"- it was a HUGE hit for all the little kiddos.  Especially our "pool" toys... one of the favorites being an empty creamer container.

Gotta love a kid's imagination!

Joya, Levi, & Uncle Jesse

"Ok, ok guys- I am done swimming laps now, can someone get these goggles OFF!"

 "Nevermind, I'll do it myself :)"

 It seems as though Levi's motto for our time there- was go BIG or go home...

Because one "BOOO BOOO" was not enough- if you look closely at the left side of his face, you will see a nice black & blue line running down his face.

The story?

Well he was having a ball running down the hallway by our room, however, he failed to realize that when you are RUNNING, it is always a GREAT idea to look in FRONT of you- so that a pole doesn't sneak up on you and catch the side of your FACE.

Oh yes- such a bruiser this boy is!

More fun pictures and adventures to follow...