Sweet Dreams

So far this week Levi has slept with a car, a truck, and a taxi...but, the night before last he opted for something so out of the ordinary that it actually makes it into the range of normal. I couldn't resist the sweetness. He's actually curled up with something soft! No worries though, I don't think it'll stick. Last night he was back to sleeping with a good ole cuddly car.Have I mentioned that I think he's the cutest thing since sliced bread?!!!

Where I've Been And Miscellaneous Updates

After last Tuesday's post my internet mysteriously died on me, and I didn't get it back until Saturday!!!! For crying out loud, people, how does one live without Google? I'm not kidding. I had no idea how dependent I was...okay, so I had some clue. But, really, oh. my. stars. Every time I turned around I wanted to google something. Alas, it wasn't possible, and I really thought I was going to have to break down and head for the library...which is a ridiculously daunting task with an almost two year old on board. Thank heavens the internet people fixed the problem! So, I'm back. Yay! Now, on to the miscellaneous updates part:

:: A deer ate my garden. Bambi stew is sounding terribly tempting right now. Anger doesn't quite cover the feeling of seeing nearly every last adorable plant in my garden eaten and trampled by deer prints. Aaarrgh! I so thought I had the deer problem licked with all the shiny, spiny objects, and oh, yeah, THE DOG!! Oh, well, anyone have any deer deterrent ideas? I'm fresh out.

:: On a happier note, I simply adore Autumn. Lettuce has made a reappearance at the farmers market (ahem, since the deer ate mine), and lettuce makes me happy. I think I might have been a rabbit in a previous life.

:: Levi is saying crazy funny stuff now. When he's not driving me batty, he's cracking me up. The other morning, I pulled him out of the bath and held him like a baby. I said, "Are you my little baby?" He laughingly replied, "No-ooo." To which I said, "Well, what are you then?" And, he said, "Finch Toast." Well, of course, isn't everyone french toast in the morning?

::We'll be heading out to the pumpkin patch this weekend. I can't wait! I think Levi will be in heaven with tractors, hayrides, animals, and pumpkins galore.

Hope y'all had a great week. I'm still trying to catch up on emails and blog reading. My inbox scared me when I was finally able to check it again.

Sweet Dreams

This little yellow convertible wasn't always such. It used to be a little mini cooper until my ridiculously strong munchkin ripped the top off in one effortless motion. He loves it with or without the top. Oh, and did I mention he did away with the side mirrors as well? I think he might be a minimalist...
Whatever he is...it's stinkin' adorable. The thing I really wanted to post today was a picture of him sleeping with his beloved Snow White book. Alas, I couldn't get a pic of it. The nights when that was his object of choice, he was too darn grumpy to risk photographing. Sigh...I could still watch him sleep ALL night long. Does that feeling ever go away? Cuz I think when he hits his teens he's going to be seriously creeped out if I'm still staring at him and trying to snap photos of him sleeping. Guess I'll just enjoy it while it last...and while it's still socially acceptable. ;)

Laundry Helper

This is Levi's idea of "helping" with the laundry....He tries to help with everything, and the whole while he says, "Help me, help me." The mixing up of his me's and you's makes me grin every time.

Other sweet sayings that make a mommy smile:

::"Hold you me, hold you me."
::"I miss you" -- as a frequent response to "I love you"
::"I zuv ooo" and "I wuv ooo" and, oddly enough, just plain "I love you" -- he pronounces it all three ways.
::"Go work, go work; Gotta go office, gotta go office." -- he says this almost every morning when he finds out that his Baw-baw is at the office.
::"Coffee goo" -- he has no idea what coffee tastes like, but it must be good since Baw-baw drinks it.
::"Da-da. Sit down." -- "da-da" was his first attempt at saying sit down. Although he's mastered "Sit down," he still almost always uses it in conjunction with the original word for it.
::"Eye-keem", "Finch Toast", and "Email Cookies" -- the three most requested (and least eaten) foods in this house...ice cream, french toast, and oatmeal cookies....seriously every morning he asks for at least one of these!
::"D.V. Duck" -- We have a DVD of old, short cartoons that we occasionally watch at my parents house (we don't have a t.v. at ours). One of them is The Ugly Duckling. When he wants to watch it (he'd watch it 24/7 if I'd let him) he calls it "d.v. duck".

Now that his language skills are absolutely exploding, I just can't keep up. I intend to write down every last adorable thing he says, but so often I'm too busy enjoying the moment to go hunt down paper or sit at the computer. Oh. my. there's so much more that comes out of that sweet mouth and so much more to come. I just want to capture all of it in some strange attempt at making it hold still just a minute or two longer. Do y'all have any tried and true systems for documenting all the cuteness?

Edit: I can't believe I forgot two of Levi's cutest, most endearing sayings...He's such a little parrot. I often say "Oh. my. stars." and "Whoa, Nellie!" So, of course, the little munchkin has his own renditions..."Oh, stahs!" and "Whoa, Nayeee!" He also now goes through stores saying "How cute!". Can you tell he always shops with women?

Fall Fun

One of our favorite Fall hang outs...
He calls it "Swing, swing"
After quite a bit of playing he said, "Hold yoooo me, hold yoooo me!" So, I held him. We wandered aimlessly for a while.
Then, we discovered the joy of a piggy back ride.
Have I mentioned that I love fall? The weather is just so nice....makes for excellent playing conditions.

Snow White...Betty Boop...Who'd A Thunk It

My dad stumbled upon this one the other day while trying to feed Levi's Snow White craze...the munchkin is beyond smitten with the girl with lips red as a rose. And, now I'm smitten with this rendition of her. Enjoy...

Potty Time

I got Levi an itty bitty potty of his own. To be honest though I have no intention of potty training him. That probably sounds strange. I know I'm "supposed" to potty train him, but really, do you know any adults who don't know where to do their business? My grandmother raised 7 munchkins...she didn't potty train any of them. So, I'm figuring he'll catch on given time. Until then, he loves his potty. He puts it in a laundry basket and totes it around the house. He carries it from room to room. He stands on it.
He even sits on it, and pretends to be going potty. He generally has a diaper and pants on while doing this. Oh, yeah, note that he's taken the pee catching apparatus out of the potty. Hmmm...what shall we do with this?
Oh, I know! A hat. ;)
He has actually peed in it once. Last week, we were getting ready for a shower when he decided that it was imperative that he sit on his potty. About 10 minutes later he gets up, crouches down for a closer look, and says, "Eeww, goss." Low and behold, there was pee in that potty. Hmmm...maybe he's catching on faster than I expected....then again, maybe not. ;)

Sweet Dreams

The other day, Levi handed me a bowl and requested cereal. Of course, it had to be "cooked" first. Have you caught on yet that we're very into cooking around here? When the cereal was ready he pulled an ice cream scoop from his kitchen stash and proceeded to eat. Hmmm...that looks practical.
Naturally, he wanted to go nap-nap with the empty cereal bowl. Who wouldn't?

A Fall Garden

There are two things that make me sad about Autumn...1) The blueberry bushes are empty. And, 2) This is the last of the tomato plants. The only reason it's still hanging around is because it's in a pot, so it's not taking up precious garden space....The rest were ripped up and replaced with these beauties...
peas...sugar snaps and two other varieties whose names I've currently forgotten...oops!
And lettuce...yum!
I've also got some kale, spinach, arugula, and swiss chard popping up. Can't wait till it's ready to eat. Have I mentioned that I have a thing for food? ;)

Are You Sure These Are Socks?

While getting dressed, we encountered some confusion. I tried to do the typical mommy thing...you know put socks on Levi's feet. Hmmm...apparently that's a problem. He insisted that they were gloves...that as such, they needed to be on his hands....and...he "need do tings." Apparently these "tings" are very important and must be done with socks on hands (and tongue hanging out of mouth).
He's now on a sock and shoe strike...which is fine by me. I'm partial to a barefoot childhood...
Hope y'all are having a great weekend!!

September Beauties

Just a few lovelies from around the yard...

Hello, Autumn!

I can already smell it and feel it in the air. But, now the true indicator of Autumn's arrival is out...Welcome...Sigh...these are my favorite Autumn flowers. Not just because they are beautiful...although, that is quite enough by itself. But, they are also the bringers in of cool, crisp Autumn air. I can't wait. What's your favorite sign of Autumn?

Email Cookies

The other day Levi brought me a pot from the kitchen. He said, "Coo-key, coo-key. Make coo-keys. Cook oven. Coo-key, Coo-key." He then set the pot down and pretended to turn on an imaginary oven. All the while jabbering about wanting to make cookies.
I couldn't possibly resist. We made oatmeal cookies. He stood on a chair and "helped." I can't believe how big he is getting. He tries desperately to help me stir...especially when nothing needs stirring. I just wanted to kiss him a billion times and I might have had the urge to eat him up with a spoon
.
.
.
I resisted.
The cookies cooked as he went on and on about "Coo-keys, coo-keys." When they were finished and cooled he announced to me that we were eating "email coo-keys."
.
.
.
My heart nearly burst, and my side nearly split from the joy and the laughter.

So, that's the story of email cookies. I don't think I'll ever look at another oatmeal cookie the same way. It's funny how these little critters totally transform the landscape of your life in such funny, quirky little ways.

Sweet Dreams

Normally, Levi takes a daytime nap sans strange objects, but apparently this bucket of kitcheny items called to him. He plopped it up in bed and said, "nap-nap, nap-nap." I kinda had to draw the line at a metal bucket full of metal stuff. There's no way he'd have gotten to sleep with all that clanging.
And, this is what happened when I told him he could only pick one item to go nap-nap with...
Pitiful, huh? I felt a little guilty. The tears became even more dramatic, but, finally, all was right with the world. And, the little munchkin fell asleep....with a citrus juicer. Because that makes sense. Don't you think?

Because I "Needed" More

I have this sweet friend who works for an interior designer. When she's chucking her fabric samples and swatches he gives me a call. The last time the stash was unbelievably HUGE...as in a truckload. Tons of the "samples" were giant pieces of fabric. It took some major effort to find enough space for all of it, and, despite my best efforts, I still haven't made a very big dent in it. I am so not complaining. I can often be found just flipping through the fabrics...dreaming and imagining.
This time the stash was thankfully smaller and involved mostly sample books. I've found spots for quite a bit of it, and am hoping to quickly use up what I can't find storage space for...
I use tons of scrap fabrics anyway, so many of these samples are the perfect size.
So far, I've made bunches of these...
I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure what they'll become. I also whipped up a few silk pumpkins, and am currently working on a Princess and the Pea play set for my goddaughter. Pictures to come as I get the time.
What do you collect in ridiculously large amounts? Are there any freebies that you just can't turn down no matter how huge a collection you already have? Obviously, my answer is fabric. It's about as bad as a drug. If I could inject it straight into my veins, I really just might. I'm kidding....sort of. ;)

Explorations Continued

We took a family day trip to one of our favorite childhood haunts last weekend. Rocky Springs is a pretty little creek on the Natchez Trace. I can't count the number of times my brother, sister, and I played here. We absolutely loved this place....still do. It's perfect for little ones. The water is shallow, and there are naturally formed little kiddie pools sprinkled throughout. There's even a little sandbank. Levi thought it was the beach...
We caught vanilla beetles...that's not their actual name, but they smell like vanilla. Okay, so if you really want to be grossed out it's more than likely their pee that smells like vanilla. Yes, we were strange children....completely and utterly fascinated by smelly water beetles. It probably explains a lot about what we're like as adults.
On a less gross note, we chased butterflies. There were tons of them. We also did lots of damselfly chasing. You can check one of those out here.
My siblings and I like this creek because of the bugs and the water. My parents come here for the rocks. Seriously, they like rocks. I guess it's not as crazy as liking bugs.
Levi got into the whole rock hunting bit too. Although, I don't think he caught on that he was supposed to be looking for agates and fossils. He just likes the noise two rocks make when bashed together.
A cute little baby toad that entertained us for quite some time. Levi is fascinated by such critters.
Believe it or not, this is a waterfall. I know, right, where's the water? Hmmmm...Something about damming up rivers, etc. kinda messed that up. If you come after a big rain you can see more than just the tiny trickle here. And if you like heights you can stand on top of it. I don't like heights, so you get the pic from beneath. That's Annie and Levi in that cozy little nook...
We took about a kabillion pictures...which is why I was so slow getting them posted. It was just so darn hard to pick out my favorites! If you missed the initial post click here.
So, what was your favorite childhood haunt? Have you taken your munchkin there yet? I'd love to hear about it!

Wednesday Wishes

A list of wants and "needs"...things that I absolutely wish, wish, wish I had the time, space, money, etc. to buy...the lovelies that make my heart smile...

~Today, I'm wishing and wanting...

~These and these for me.

~And, this or, while I'm wishing, maybe even this...for the fire truck obsessed little munchkin.

~And, this ...to make my house that much prettier (because in my wishing world I have ceilings tall enough and money to burn!)

~And, this...to read.

~And, this Pictorial Webster's...to drool over.

~And, this adorable fortune teller...just because.

What are you wishing for this Wednesday?

We went....

Exploring...
More pics to come...