...:::* Riley Joanna ~ 8 MONTHS OLD *:::...

. October 27, 2013 .

Our little girl is officially 8 months old.

What a fun month we have had this past month!

Memories & Milestones:

MONTH 8 (Sept 27-Oct 27):

- getting more and more sturdy pulling yourself up- on tables, on couches, and you LOVE to pull yourself up on mommy's pants and stand by me when I'm working inthe kitchen

- sleeping a little better

- oct 11 started clapping your hands :) 

- think its hilarious when Levi gives you raspberries on your belly

- tried beets and carrots so far. You have a serious gag reflex everytime you try something new. But then it slowly grows on you. 

- click your tongue in your mouth 

-10/14 bottom Left tooth poking through

- 10/15 started shaking your head "no". 

- 10/18 climbed the steps on your own. Crawled up to the first landing!!!

Our Precious Daughter,

Riley Jo~

As you grow in your understanding of your teeny hands, by clapping them, by using them to grab a hold of things, by waving them...
We pray that you will always allow the Lord to use your hands to be a blessing to those He brings into your life.
May your hands become His hands- free to offer in help, quick to embrace a friend who is hurting, always willing to clap and cheer others on, and the list could go on....

My heart is overwhelmed with love for you, dear one.

~All Our Love for Always~
Mama & Papa

Yippy Yippy LEVI'S THREE!

. October 12, 2013 .

Our first born precious Son-
Levi Elliot was born THREE YEARS ago in good ol' North Carolina.

My heart rejoices and is sad all at the same time.
I am going to choose to focus on the REJOICE part so as to not stay sad too long about how quickly time passes.

Every day this little guys  brings JOY beyond measure into my life
(He also gives me many opportunities to practice: patience, grace, unconditional love, etc...)
In it all, I REJOICE and am overflowing with GRATITUDE to a loving Father who saw it fit to allow me to be his Mama.

Ok ok ok- onto the party and fun :)
Well it's been three years and guess what Levi STILL loves?????
CARS!!!!!
So we stuck with the "car" theme:

One of my favorite memories of this year's birthday is whenever anyone would ask Levi how old he was going to be, he would respond:

"I be TRIANGLE"

(*TOTALLY unprompted- he did this ALL on his own. But you know this Math Teacher Mama was SO PROUD!)

We formed teams and played games on each side of our "race track" we made in the living room:

Everyone colored their own "steering wheel" and

 we played Pin the Steering Wheel on the Car

Everyone gathered around and we sung Happy Birthday and watched Levi blow his candles out.

(Something this little guy has looked forward to for a while- He LOVES to sing Happy Birthday and blow out candles.  And OF COURSE eating cake. hahaha)

I Love him SO MUCH!

 

Then it was PRESENT time:

(He had all the assistance he could need ;)

 

"Oh no she DIDN'T... wait... YES SHE DID! Aunt Buff bought me a THOMAS train!!!!!"

~Levi

 

*This face brings so much JOY to my heart :)

Thanks Aunt Buff for knowing my little boys so well!

This was such a tender moment captured:

Levi opened his gift from his friends- 

Sarala, Sam (pictured left), Jackson (pictured right), Parks, and Wint

It was the PLANES book and as soon as he opened it- Sam just opened it up and began reading it to Levi- Isn't that SO SWEET?!?!?!

I may LOVE that he thinks books are so much fun :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Levi!

You have grown in SO MANY ways over this past year.

You have become a Big brother, a quite fantastic one at that.

You have continued to adapt to South Asia so well.

You talk up a storm :) and never cease to amaze us with what new things come out of your tiny mouth

You always make Mama & Papa laugh (Riley Jo, too)

You love to laugh.

You love others SO well.

Mama & Papa LOVE you more than we can say, sweet boy.

And we count it an HONOR and PRIVILEGE to call you Our Little Boy!

:: Playtime Moments ::

Any Time. Any Place.

 Cute & Smiley

 Crazy. Wild. FUN!

 Play HARD or GO....

to sleep :)

 With each other and with friends!

Their common passion & joy:

CARS!!!!

They even let our car washer in on their FUN!

Sometimes we may play a little TOO hard :(

 I absolutely LOVE when Levi wants to read books to Riley Jo

and she is happy to oblige:

Random ideas are the best~

This is what I found when I heard "Row Row Row your Boat" coming from Levi one day:

 Creative points were awarded that day!

Anyone remember Levi's favorite hiding spot when we first moved to our city????

Yes- under that little table.

Well guess who ALSO has a new found LOVE for crawling under that same table:

You got it- Little blue-eyes herself:

Y

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U

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M

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These two especially love willing souls who will let them pull on their hair, climb on their backs, then lunge off onto the bed.
This lucky winner was Bubble Auntie!

So many fun moments!