Spring Official

{and now for the big...} HELLO!!!!

I took a mandatory (however unplanned) vacation from my blog in order to pass my finals. But, here I am and I intend to update the world on the internal affairs of our home (yet to be named- but our estate needs a title...).

First of all, its *finally* spring! Can you believe it? Its been a tumultuous season weather wise. I'm convinced of a few things. 1. The weatherman was being optimistic - every single time and the weather just wanted to contradict him. 2. God was having a hard time letting go of winter. Over all it was very rainy, drippy, cold, snowy, sunny, fresh, damp, on and on and on...
But, now its finally spring and we have our near 70 degree days welcoming us with lots of sunshine.

Levi is a busy body. He has learned to climb which has put me in the mood for shopping Craigslist for a jungle gym or climbing cube (whatever they call those Little Tikes things). We noticed he wasn't sleeping so well at night and was grumpy most times when he woke up. We set out to search for a new mattress and found upon bringing the new one home, his old mattress was squished down to nothing. We got it and I think it had seen better days - but we are so thankful that we had it! Levi has been sleeping very well and greets us with happy shouts instead of grumpy ones. Yay!

The newest words spilling from my son's mouth include "no." That's it. Not really, but that is the majority of his chosen vocabulary right now. Most times I find it funny, other times it has to be curbed with a "yes, mama/papa." His (other) words are starting to sound more and more like English. This is helpful. For instance in the car on the ride home from Lowe's, Levi was telling us all about how much his tummy hurt (hunger) and we had a good understanding without watching his gestures from the backseat. "Guk" or "Gak" now has a meaning. Duck. Levi *knows* what ducks are and calls them "Guks".

Mr. Busy Body also LOVES the outdoors. He can't get enough of it, even when its yucky out. He usually goes right for his sandbox (in previous picture posts) or beelines for daddy's lawn tractor (also in previous pictures posts). His world of exploration is an enjoyment for me. I love to watch him develop thoughts and explore (even if by the end of the afternoon I want to crash). Recently I was studying for my exams when Jon and Levi returned from a trip to town. Jon called through the house and I stated my presence from the living room. Jon told Levi (who was busy picking a dandelion) where I was and immediately Levi grabbed a fistful of dandelion heads and ran inside to the edge of the stairs and threw the dandelions at me. I loved it! Levi is learning very well from his daddy (who gave no prompting for the sweet act).

Jon finds himself busy with all the upkeep and remodeling of our house (of which we just passed the one year anniversary of ownership). He has been installing french doors and raising the floors, installing new flooring and reworking the platform walls. I'm amazed at his talent. He has an eye to see how things must be done and occasionally calls upon the professionals when he becomes stumped (not very often). He's also been working diligently at his job. He's now in a different department at his request and has switched to different hours in order to have a three day weekend every week. He is in the middle of his third year at this company and continually the Lord has granted favor for Jon. I'm thankful!

Me? Well, up until a week ago I was busy with final exams. Now that the semester is over I find myself catching up on all the extras that were left in the wake of my textbooks and classes. I'm thankful to have passed with decent grades and for that matter, to have passed at all. I think every nursing student has felt that gratefulness at one point or another.

I've been enjoying doing research of my own choosing this past week. I love history, so I've been digging into that. Also, just keeping up with our 5 cats and 2 dogs and Levi. My grandparents are en route to MN soon and it will be fun to spend time with them.

Well, this is a book, but its the extent of our update for now. Yay!