Memory Making

I just dressed Weston is his complete frog costume to go to Michael's office.  There are some things I just don't fight because I think they are way too darn cute.  Who wouldn't smile seeing a little boy walk down the street dressed as a frog in the middle of winter?  Not to mention, it is a very warm costume!  This followed putting him down for his nap in his race car driver suit and that reminded me of some other little moments that I want to remember from these past few weeks.

-Weston, Vance, and I went for a walk a couple weeks ago when some warmer weather had melted some snow and left water and mud puddles.  Well, I decided early on that it was going to be a loosing battle to keep Weston out of the puddles, so I let him have at it.  The smile on that boy's face was priceless as he splashed from one water puddle to the next.  We even attracted some admirers who shared what a joy it was to watch him from their window:)  As we strolled along we came to a rather large mud puddle in the corner of the church yard.  I passed it first, careful not to draw any attention to it, but I think boys and mud naturally attract to one another.  I will give Weston credit for this, however, he did ask my permission before he jumped in the mud puddle.  Standing at the edge of the puddle he looked at me with the biggest smile on his face and said, "Mom, can I jump in it!?"  The amount of excitement he expressed left me with no option- "Go ahead."  One giant leap and he was in.  After a couple more jumps I told him he had one more jump because Vance was getting antsy and we needed to get back home.  He took one last hop in and I called him to come along.  He didn't move, so I call again.  He still didn't move and then with slight panic in his voice he said he was stuck.  I went over and pulled him out, but one of his shoes remained sunk in the mud.  After pulling his shoe out and getting it back on him I reassured him that it was funny, because I could tell he wasn't too fond of getting stuck.  The rest of the way home I heard over and over, "Did I jump in the mud mom?  Did my shoe get stuck in the mud mom?"  To which I repeatedly replied, "Yes, Weston.  Yes, Weston." 

Even though he loves to get dirty, I think he still likes getting clean even more.  Bath time is always one of his favorite times:)

-My mom came over the other day, took one look at Weston, and asked him, "Weston, did you dress yourself?"  He responded that he had and I said, "Gee, Mom how did you know?"  His entire outfit was on backwards.  The time will come when we teach him the correct way to put his clothes on, but for now I love when he puts them on backwards- especially his pants.

-Yesterday was my mom's birthday (which by the way marks two years that we have been back in Wisconsin).  Before we headed over in the evening for some cake and ice cream we went to the store to get her present.  I think the fact that Weston helped pick out her gift, a pink bead for her bracelet, made him particularly eager to give her her present.  Add in helping to wrap it and I don't know what he was more excited about- giving Grandma her present or getting to eat her cake.  When we got there he walked in the door, told Grandma happy birthday as he walked up the stairs, then immediately and very quickly opened her present at the top of the stairs to show what we got her.  After he was done he said, "Well, I guess I can take my coat off now."

-Michael came home the other night after volunteering at a fundraising event and he explained that at one point they had him stand by the outside door, which is normally locked, and let families in.  They didn't want to keep the door unmanned because there had been a 6 foot tall, burly man hanging around the school lately that made them nervous.  "I guess they thought I would make a good speed bump," he told me as he recapped the story... I found this particularly funny for some reason.

(He really likes this game- being an astronaut)

-Vance officially knows how to put on the water works at will.  However, he scrunches up his little face so much that he doesn't realize it has the opposite effect he is going for- it just cracks us up and makes us smile. 

-Vance is also starting to imitate growling like a bear, mooing like a cow, and trumpeting like an elephant.  He also has taken a liking to imitating Tory- he likes to sneeze like she does (he puts his whole body into it) and has on one occasion started licking the crumbs off the kitchen floor along with her.

-Both boys got a hair cut the other night.  It was Van's first one.  His hair was mostly long on top and by the ears.  This is the best before picture I got.

After

-Finally, a few weekends ago we went on a double date with Andrea and Andy.  Believe it or not this was the first time we have ever done this!  Factor in living in Texas for almost four years, then babies, and you can see why.  We enjoyed a dinner where we weren't catering to any children, doing a little shopping, and then time to actually play board games- kid free:)

Celebrations

Life has been busy these past couple weeks, so while I haven't had time to blog, I have lots to catch up on!  When I sat down to start blogging I realized everything we have been doing these past couple of weeks has centered around a theme- celebrating:)

Celebrating New Life

First and foremost, we got to meet the newest member of the LaVoy family- Benjamin Boyles!!  This also meant getting to spend time with Chrissy, Darrel (shortly), and Mae who we haven't seen lately because of their move to Kentucky.  I think Weston liked being reconnected with his cousin Mae:) 

Celebrating Birthdays

While in town, Chrissy and Therese teamed up to throw a joint birthday party

for their daughters Mae and Alaina.  We got to go swimming at a little indoor

water park for the party and Weston loved it, but Vance did not. 

This is the only decent picture captured of the two birthday girls- Mae turning 2 and Alaina 4.

Weston enjoying the frosting part of his cupcake.  You don't have to unwrap the cupcake because as soon as he is done licking off all the frosting he is done with his cupcake.

Mike also recently celebrated his 28th birthday!  He took the day off of work and wanted to spend the day working our kitchen cabinets (pictures to come soon).  He enjoyed the satisfaction of getting a house project done, getting to take a nap, and just plain relaxing with his family:)  That evening my parents joined us for dinner, cake and ice cream, and a movie.  We watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which is very fitting to watch with two middle school teachers.  For any of you who have seen the movie, Weston is very adamant when you ask him if he touched the cheese, "No, no.  I didn't touch the cheese.  The boy on T.V. did.  I didn't touch the cheese!" 

One gift Mike received from the boys and me was an audio recording of the Rosary.  Weston helped me create it and here is a little clip of him saying the Our Father.  (There is no picture, just audio.)

Van is also now officially 11 months old!  These pictures capture our Vancie perfectly- silly and sweet.  His smile just melts our hearts and lucky for us he doesn't hold back in sharing it:)

 

Celebrating Success

Last weekend we headed to Milwaukee for Catholic Financial Life's Annual Awards Gala.  Mike was awarded for a contest win, earning the trip to Mexico, and for leading almost the whole year as Rookie of the Year, only to be beat the very last week of the last quarter. 

Weston stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the weekend and Vance came with us (my Aunt Lisa, Uncle John, and cousin Bri watched him during the event).  When we dropped Weston off at Grandma and Grandpa's house Friday night he was sooo excited that he was going to sleep there.  When it came time for us to leave he made sure we knew he wasn't going with us and he was going to sleep and Grandma and Papa's house.  Then as we walked out the door he sat next to my mom on the stairs and happily waved bye to us.  I think he would have started crying if we told him he had to go with us! 

The next morning we headed out to Milwaukee- Jacob and Mike drove up early for training and then Tamie and I drove up later with half of their kids and Vance.  Talk about success when you can achieve three babies sleeping for the whole ride up!  We did end up getting a little lost when we arrived in Milwaukee, but all ended well and we met up with our husbands at the hotel.  Once there we didn't have too much time before the dinner and ceremony started, but Tamie really wanted to get her hair done.  Since we really had to talk her into coming in the first place, I decided I could at least go get my hair done with her (even though I don't like to get my hair done).  Well, the nice lady at the receptionist desk of the hotel found us a place a few miles up the road that she couldn't promise was any good, but it was close.  So we met up with Nicole, the fiance of another agent from LaCrosse, and headed out and arrived at "Salon Unisex" located in a shady strip mall.  If I had been by myself I would have never gone in, but we headed in and found ourselves to definitely be in the minority.  Let's just say our red, blonde, and brunette hair didn't fit in.  Now, mind you, the place wasn't a dive; after all, they had a huge flat screen T.V. blasting Beauty and the Beast that three little kids, belonging to the owner's daughter, were watching.  After establishing with the owner, who had a heavy Spanish accent, what we were there for Tamie went first.  Chit chat was quickly ended when Tamie was told to, "Look down, look down!"  This lady seemed all business- except when she took time out to grab her little dog from the receptionist chair (who we didn't even know was there) and smother him with kisses.  She then proceeded to curl Tamie's hair while holding her little dog in one arm.  In the end, this salon owner was very talented and Tamie's hair turned out great.  Next, I was up.  I proceeded to show her a picture of what I wanted and just added that I didn't want as much of a puff on top. 



Quickly, she told me- "Oh, that no look good.  With your hair that no look good.  Here let me show you."  She sat me down and pulled my hair straight  back.  "See you just want straight back and that flat.  It no look good."  Then she creates a loose puff on top and says, "See that look better.  You see, you see?"  (Pulling my hair back and forth).  Okay, so by now I could tell something was lost in translation because I didn't want my hair pulled straight back into a bun, but I also didn't want a bee hive on top of my head.  So, a little flustered I said the dreaded words, "Just do what you think will look good."  With that she turns me around and proceeds to create three GIANT rats nests on top of my head.  At first it felt like she was taking a razor to my head, so I was a little relieved when she turned me around I just saw a snarly mess, but then I thought I am going to have to cut my hair to get these out!  Then, as she pulls some front hair over the nests, I notice the only aerosol can she has sitting on her counter is an anti fungal, antibacterial, anti mold spray for veterinarians, hairdressers, and some others.  I thought to myself,"Is that what she was using as hairspray in Tamie's hair?!  (Panic) Oh, please don't put that in my hair!! " Then she reaches down and pulls the real hairspray from between her knees- WHEW!  Bobby pins got jammed into my head, hairspray became 90% of my hair's makeup, I didn't utter a word the whole time because I don't want her yelling at me, and then she was done.  My thoughts- "Oh my, this is fancier than my wedding hair and that isn't a good thing!  I look like I have a bee hive on top of my head!!  Someone else could pull this look off, but this isn't me!  I have no time to change it and I am not about to ask her to!"  I then smile and tell her it looks great, get down from the chair, walk through the cloud of hairspray (literally), and sit down next to Tamie.  In a whisper, I joke with her that this is memory making and I am now officially out of my comfort zone.  Then I hear, "Excuse me, excuse me.  You no like your hair?"  To which I respond, "Oh, no I like it, it looks great."  Then I shut up.  Nicole gets done with her hair, which I might add turned out great, and we proceed to pay and leave.  The girls inform me I look straight out of a magazine, but I say, "Yeah, a high fashion magazine that totally isn't me."  Now, this picture is a bit exaggerated of what my hair actually looked like, but it is exactly what I felt like it looked like! 

As we return back to the hotel running late, the guys impatient because we had forgot our phones and they couldn't get a hold of us, I walk in the hotel room and proceed to tell Michael our experience.  Any frustration he felt because we were running late is replaced by him hardly able to contain himself because he is laughing so hard.  He totally understands what it was like for me and says he likes my hair but agrees it isn't really me.  So, in the end I decide to walk with confidence, like I think my hair looks awesome, and I enjoy the rest of the evening:)  We all forgot our cameras, so I don't have any actual pictures from the evening, but I don't really mind for my sake.

Celebrating A Packer Victory

We returned home from Milwaukee just in time to head over to my parent's house for the Super Bowl and to cheer on the Packers for a victory! 

 

Pipi's Latest Book

http://www.tikatok.com/view/shared/09467fd18fb77f8c2bd195ab458bc6eb

Best Cousins

Wes and Gigi (which is how they refer to each other) are two peas in a pod, pals, amigos, buddies, best cousins.  Sometimes I feel like they interact more like brother and sister than cousins.  The older they get the longer they can tolerate each other, the more excited they get to see one another, and the more fun they have playing together.  They seem to have a similar sense of humor, but definitely have their differences.  Sometimes they get on each other's nerves, but most of the time they want to be doing exactly what the other one is doing.  Andrea and I like to think that one of the best things we did was have them close together:)

I have a feeling this will be a picture we pull out when Weston and Gianna are having their joint high school graduation party!

They also do their share of influencing one another.  If it is okay for his cousin Gigi to prefer pink and wear dresses than why can't he?

And then there is Vance; Gigi is doing a good job preparing him for growing up close in age to a girl cousin.  We can't wait until baby Ella gets here so Vance can have a playmate too!

Remedial Birthday, Potty Training, and New Faces

On Monday I celebrated my "remedial birthday"- it was Michael and the boys way of making my birthday even more special (being a week after the actual day- I was very surprised).  Michael took the day off work (the best present for me) and they did all the little things that I appreciate to make the day special- getting to sleep in, homemade cards, no cooking or diaper changing on my part, going shopping, getting time to work on redecorating our dinning room and kitchen, and a movie night.  I had a great day, but was brought back to reality the next day when my potty training endevor resumed.

Weston + Potty training= UGH! We tried and we are postponing this wonderful endevor. Overall, I really don't think Weston is ready. Sure he should be at the age when children are capable and he does seem to have the understanding, but when you have a boy who could care less he is wet; doesn't like taking time out to sit on his awesome froggy potty (that he was excited about the first day); no longer finds stickers, M&Ms, squirt guns, or the promise of a new movie motivating; and shows no signs that he is ever going to tell Mommy and Daddy he has to go potty after days and days of "training"- it really doesn't set you up for success. I was really working WAY HARDER than Weston in this whole process. Sure he does well if I remind him every hour and bribe him in some way to sit on the potty, but I think the icing on the cake was after training him for days, he peed down his leg, onto the floor, and then galloped around the room saying something to the effect that he made it rain.  Bottom line- you can't train a child who just doesn't care!  So, I don't know when we will try again, but it won't be anytime in the next couple weeks!


As far as Vance news goes, here is a video that explains his latest development- an emerging goofey side. We caught him on camera making he new funny face/gesture and it cracked Michael and I up sooo much because, from what we have known so far, it is COMPLETELY out of character for him:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPSqz9_2l9w

(I am trying to figure out a video posting method, so let me know if you were able/not able to view the video.)

We're Back!

It is a new year and I have decided to try my hand at blogging again.  I was inspired one night when I signed into my account and started looking at past blogs- it was so fun for me to read what I had written and documented!  I also decided that with my second attempt, my view for blogging will be different.  Before I blogged mainly to share info/pictures with others, but now I am doing it mainly to create a memory book (inspired by Andrea) for each year.  It will be a diary of sorts for our children to look back on. 

Now, this blogging thing isn't easy for me and I have literally spent ALL evening and into the wee hours of the morning trying to figure out the best way to upload pictures and videos onto this thing!  I think I finally have the picture thing down, but the videos weren't cooperating, so they will have to wait for another update.  I didn't even come close to making my blog layout look presentable, so bare with me and it should look much prettier in the (hopefully) near future.

So, without further ado- A Lavoy Family Update!

Weston- Almost 2 1/2 years old!

-The boy LOVES to draw, paint, and color.  Sometimes I feel like he would do this morning, day, and night if we didn't introduce him to other fun things!  I have to believe that he has gotten some of Michael's drawing abilities- as he already has figured out on his own how to draw many of his letters (B,P,D, W, E, S, T, O, M, I, H, C, j, i, t, and b), adds an awesome smiley face to most shapes he draws, has his version of Piglet ( an oblong shape complete with a striped body and face), has had the sun thing down for quite some time now, and also draws his own stegosaurus!

-He likes to do most things by himself and takes great pride in doing so.  The other day he came bounding into our room and excitedly pointed out he put his own shoes on!  Michael and I didn't have the heart to tell him he forgot his socks, so we let him go to church without socks on. 

-He cracks Michael and I up with his if/then thinking.  The other day I walked into his playroom and he was standing on his chair with one foot midair about to step onto his table.  Me: "Weston you can't stand on your table."  Weston: (points to the hallway) "Can you go out there?"

-He also has a mind I would love to see into for just one day.  We took down our Christmas tree the other day and this is what I found

Weston is always taking his socks off (no matter how cold it is) and I ended up finding four socks hidden in the Christmas tree.  Case of the missing socks- solved!  Who knows when he put them in there and why.

-He is developing a preference for Daddy and gets extremely excited when Daddy gets home from work.

-He LOVES to watch Donald Duck movies on the computer.  He literally thinks they are hilarious and laughs out loud while he watches them.

-He is FINALLY a good sleeper- goes to bed without a fuss and sleeps in his bed the whole night.  We established bedtime rules and posted them in his room that seemed to do the trick- a couple nights of screaming his head off and realizing mom and dad weren't going to give in made them sink in.  He always falls asleep playing with his ears and finds comfort in sleeping with his "Patron Petey" tucked under his arm.  However, Patron Petey can also be a little creepy when Weston accidentally rolls on top of him in the middle of the night.  Patron Petey says an evening prayer when you push his belly and it always takes me a couple seconds when I am half asleep to figure why there is strange voice coming from the kids' room.

Vance- 10 months old!  So close to a year- I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!

-Vance is still our little sweetie, but also has figured out how to show his will and isn't as content all the time as he once was:) 

-He LOVES his mommy:)  Who can blame him- what is not to love?

-He mostly goes by the name of Vancie around our house, which is a shorted version of Vancie Pancie- a nickname I am sure I will have to apologize later for giving him and one I don't know why I said in the first place or why it stuck.  Weston is the only one who calls him Vancie Pancie in public.

-Chances are if you spend any good length of time with him you will hear his phlegmy throat that he is finally getting better at clearing with a little cough.  This has plagued him since July, and after a round of allergy meds that didn't do anything and treating him for a sinus infection twice, it has been concluded that it is just him and he just has a lot of mucous that drains into his throat.  He could care less that it is there; therefore, he breaths with a rattly throat at times (instead of clearing his throat).  Add a cold on top of that and it becomes even more frequent and louder, but when he doesn't have a cold I think I have become immune to hearing it (it used to be all I could hear because it drove me a little crazy)!

-He is a much better eater than his brother was at this age and he eats just about anything we eat- if it is small enough and soft enough, because he only has his two bottom teeth so far.  Also, unlike his brother, he seems to be a much better teether! (The picture is actually him finger painting with mustard and jelly- a combo he couldn't resist tasting.)

-He makes lots of silly faces and this is one we see often that we love- squinted eyes with a puckered half smile:)

-Vance has good balance, but as soon as you let him go he sits himself down.  So, needless to say, he surprised me the other day by doing this- I turned around to see him up the step ladder and removing an ornament (which by the way the boys were very good at the whole time the tree was up, but not so good at when it actually came time to taking them off for good- it isn't fun to take them off when you are suppose to!)

"The Boys"- There is a bond forming between them that I love to watch develop. I love to think of the fact that Vance doesn't know a life without Weston and Weston won't remember a life without Vance. Every time I see them interact in some way cute (Weston doing something silly to make Vance laugh or them copying each other at dinner time) it makes me glad that we gave them the gift of each other. I also can see something remarkable, it is in the future and I love when I get a tiny glimpses of it- the boys playing TOGETHER. Oh, how wonderful will be the day when it is for more than five minutes, and it isn't mostly some form of Weston torturing Vance, Weston thinking it is hilarious, and Vance just putting up with it.  Even so, it says something when Vance and I have to wake up Weston from his nap and Vance squeals with delight when we walk in the room and I put him on Weston's bed.  (This is usually followed by Vance grabbing Patron Petey and Weston clenching his teeth and grabbing him back, but still I like to think Vance LOVES his big brother and is happy to see him.)

Mike- Almost 28 years old;)

-He is still working for Catholic Financial Life (formally Catholic Knights/Catholic Family) and is enjoying his job.  Overall, it is a tough job that has some great highs, but also some lows.  I don't know when, or even if, I will get used to a commission based job.  However, it does help that we get to go to Cancun, Mexico in March because of this job!  Jacob (Mike's brother) was recently hired as an agent and we can't wait until he and his family move here!!  (Please pray that they can sell their home in Necedah.)  Mike is really looking forward to working along side Jacob and it will be a wonderful change in the work atmosphere for him:)

-His latest endeavor is trying to get a fellowship committee started at church.  He has been running Donut Sunday for over a year now and wants to step it up a notch.  We have loved being back at St. James, but wish there was more fellowship like we had when we attended the chapel at Goodfellow AFB.

-He is doing a wonderful job being a provider, father, and husband for his family.

Maria- Just celebrated my 28th birthday and actually celebrated it with Andrea- something we haven't done in six years!

-I attend a women's bible study every Tuesday that Melanie Frei teaches.  She and I worked together at Youthope when I was in high school and college and I have enjoyed reconnecting with her!  The study takes a look at the book of Psalms and also emphasises basic bible knowledge- like memorizing our books of the bible, so Weston and I are doing this together.  (He can rattle off Genesis through Nahum with little to no prompting!)  The study also provided another learning opportunity for Weston- being separated from mom!  It took a couple of weeks, but he now does great going to the child care while I do my study:)

-With some of my free time I have also been helping Michael's dad get some of his writings printed into books.  I have enjoyed this work and look forward to purchasing each book so our children will have a collection of books their Pipi wrote!  I also like seeing the joy it brings to Michael's dad.  He writes and illustrates stories based on his interactions with his grandchildren, and I think that is so special.  Here is an excerpt from one of our latest creations.

-Other than that I fill my days with preparing meals, changing diapers, planning structured learning activities for the boys, and just plain hanging out with them!

Now if that isn't an update, I don't know what is!  It is officially 3am and I NEVER stay up this late (well, out of my own free will)!!!  So, if there is typos then I will blame it on the time.  Goodnight!

Blog Hold

Okay, I am not totally abandoning this blog- yet, but it is so much easier and faster for me to post pictures on Facebook. So, since at this phase in life leaves me with limited computer time, I am putting this blogging thing on hold. However, I will keep Facebook updated with pictures and videos!