Picture Day!

Today was picture day for Will and Ellie! Of course, Will was grumpy and Ellie was uncooperative, but Mindi West was great! She got some really cute shots of them. We will have to get together again when Billy can be there for a family photo session. 

We went to the park for the pictures, and it was gorgeous out, although a little warm. We found a shady area near the water and set up some blankets. Here are some of the resulting pictures...

I will post more as I get them...this is just a little sampling:)

I also tried my hand at making baby legs for the first time today...here they are!

I got the idea from my sister first (thanks Myndi!) and then used the tutorial from a blog called Little Birdie Secrets. http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/10/baby-legs-tutorial-make-your-own-leg.html

So easy, and they fit Ellie so well! She will be styling this winter:) I plan to make a few more pairs in different colors and styles.

Update!!!

Wow, it has been forever! I have thought about writing a new blog entry many times in the last (almost) year, but it has been crazy! So, where do I begin???

William Joel Levengood made his entrance into the world and changed our lives for the better on May 1, 2012! My sweet boy is almost 4 months old now! He smiles, laughs, coos, and fills our hearts with joy. Here's a picture of his cuteness...

And yes, the picture is supposed to be upside down!

Elliana Grace is now 2 years and 2 months old...such a big girl! She talks in full sentences, loves to sing, and she also fills our hearts with joy.  Toddlers are interesting creatures...so difficult and yet so much fun! There's nothing else like them. Here's a picture of my sweet girl...

I took a leave of absence for a year from teaching, so now I am a stay at home mom. I love spending time with my kids and getting to watch them learn new things and grow up. God has truly blessed our family! I also watch  two little girls from our church on Fridays, and we have so much fun! Life is never dull in the Levengood house...

Billy is now working at the Coffee County Anti-Drug Coalition, pastoring Encounter Life Church, and going to school full time this semester. He WILL finish his master's degree, and I will be SO proud of him when he does!

So, a couple of stories about my babies before I'm finished...

Ellie loves to sing (at least she got something from her mom), and she has been picking up songs that we are singing in church and at band practice. Last week I heard her singing "Behold Our God" and my heart melted into a gooey puddle! "Behold our God, seated on His throne. Come let us adore Him!" That ranks right up there with "I lofs you, Momma!" (Translation: I love you, Momma.) It is a beautiful thing to hear my daughter sing praises to the King. She also sang "Holy, holy is the Lamb," last night on the way home from the connect event. Can you guess which song that is? :) Love her!

On a not-as-cute note, we are working on potty training, and I think we may have hit the regression stage. Boy, I don't like this part! I will leave the details to the imagination, but let's just say that I have grown very accustomed to cleaning up messes. Ugh!

Will is my easy baby, and I praise God for that every day! Ellie is so busy and takes so much attention, and Will just sits back and watches! It's awesome:) He is a chunky little boy. And I seriously mean little...as in short! I am curious how Billy and I have a short, chunky baby with tiny ears, hands, and feet. I do believe he has just gone through a growth spurt, so the "short" part is not as bad as it was. He is wearing 3-6 and 6 months clothes right now, and he's not quite 4 months old yet. Such the opposite of Ellie as a baby! Each child is a completely unique, wonderful creation from God!

I hope to continue sharing all of the great stories of being a SAHM (stay-at-home mom). After nap today we are going to the grocery store, so I may have some good stories to tell tonight! ;)

Here are a couple more pictures...

It's been a little while since I've blogged, so I guess this will be a catch up post.  I'll start with yesterday...

I was so bummed yesterday morning when I left for work because I knew I was going to miss the Thanksgiving lunch for parents at Ellie's preschool.  I don't get to go to her preschool events because I'm always working, and I miss her fall and spring breaks because they are scheduled on different weeks than mine.  Usually that doesn't bother me too much, but yesterday it really did.  Well, my principal heard me talking about missing the lunch and she said to hurry up or I would miss it all together and that she would get someone to cover my class for me!  I was so excited and I was smiling so wide that I thought my face would split it two!  Billy and I had a great time getting to eat a delicious meal with Ellie in her environment with all of her friends and the wonderful teachers at her preschool.  Here are some pictures of us in her classroom after we ate...

She looked a little rough, but that's what happens when you're having a good time at preschool!

Today I got to leave school 2 hours early for an OB check-up.  I drove home, picked up Billy and Ellie, and we headed to Murfreesboro.  Billy and I were both starved so we stopped at McDonald's on the way (the burgers were gross by the fries were so yummy!).  Ellie was kind of grumpy and difficult because I had to wake her up from her nap so we could leave this afternoon.  The fish tank in the waiting room kept her attention until we had to go back to the exam room.  She didn't like being cooped up!  Dr. Jones thought she was just adorable and was so pleased to hear that she is healthy after all of the problems I had with her being too small while I was pregnant with her.  Ellie showed off for Dr. Jones and completely stole the appointment!  We got to hear the baby's heartbeat though and it sounded really strong and loud!  She calculated it be about 159 beats per minute...pretty average and just slightly higher than Ellie's was at that stage.  We scheduled an ultrasound to find out the gender on December 20th, a wonderful Christmas present!  I can't wait to find out if we are going to have another daughter or our first son.  Either way, though, we will be thrilled as long as the baby is healthy and growing well. 

Ellie seems to learn or say something new every day, and I am told that this age (17 months) begins a period of rapid growth in language and communication skills.  Right now she wants to wash her hands all the time (thanks preschool!), and she will rub her little hands together and say "wash" so clearly.  She says cup (bup) and up (pup) as well as "Jodi Mama" whenever she wants to get my attention.  She has taken a liking to DVDs and will watch for about 10 minutes at a time before she gets bored and finds something else to do.  She's never really been very interested in TV, so 10 minutes seems to be good for her!  She likes watching Veggie Tales and listening to their Christmas Sing-Along Songs.  She has also begun to whine a lot, which we are not so thrilled with and we are trying to teach her that whining will not get her what she wants.  I think this will be a struggle for a while! 
Anyway, it has been a great week!  My 4th graders rocked out on the Veteran's Day program on Friday and I couldn't be more proud of the way they honored our veterans who were in attendance.  Now I just need to get my Christmas program ready to go...this could be a real challenge!  Wish me luck!

Thursday, Ellie, and baby names

I've been sitting here for a few minutes trying to think of something really cute and crafty to start my blog with, but I can't think of anything...it's Thursday.  I knew it was Thursday about the time a sharp pencil went whizzing by my head this morning while I was playing the piano for my 5th graders!  However, I got a lot accomplished today and even started to work on the yearbook.  I think it's kind of funny that I will be on maternity leave when the yearbook gets handed out in May...
Enough about work, though.  Ellie and I had a great evening!  I love it when she is in a good mood, and she certainly was today.  She is very girly in that she loves to wear "bracelets", which are actually teething rings, around her wrists.  She also saw my necklace this afternoon and just had to wear it so I put it on her and she pranced around the house with a big smile on her face:)  She said "eewy" for the first time today, which translates as "shoo-ee" in grown-up language.  I sometimes smell her feet and say shoo-ee and she giggles like crazy.  Well, while I was changing her diaper today she pulled her sock off, stuck it to her nose, and said, "eewy!"  I couldn't help but laugh, so she did  it over and over again. 
Ellie and I made cookies today too, which really means that I made cookies while she ran around finding things to get into and begging to be picked up because I wasn't paying attention to her.  They are called whoopie pies (yep, I know) and they were soooo yummy!  I brought them to band practice and now they are all gone...we certainly didn't need to keep them around the house!  Ellie was pretty good for band practice tonight.  She ran around with a pacifier in her mouth for a good portion of the time.  I really don't understand her...she refused the pacifier as a baby and now she throws a fit if I don't let her play with them!  I hope it's just a toy for her because we certainly aren't starting that habit at this point!
I had a dream this morning before my alarm went off, and in the dream the new baby's name was Mallie.  We are at such a loss when it comes to baby names so I guess we'll hold on to that one for a while as an idea.  It's crazy the things that a pregnant brain comes up with!  If anyone has any good suggestions for baby names, we can't do much worse than Baby #2 Levengood, which is what Billy has suggested...feel free to share your ideas!
I am tired and I can tell it from my writing, so I guess this is good night, or as we would say to Ellie, "Night night!"

It has been such a good day!

I have had such a good day!  I have been so miserably sick for several weeks with Baby Levengood #2, so you can imagine how thrilled I am to have a normal day!  Ellie was in a great mood when she got up, which is always a blessing.  We had to go to the car dealership to get some work done on our Highlander and we ended up with a loaner so they can do the repairs on Monday.  I have to admit that I like the way a Corolla drives!  I feel like I can zip around and whip into parking spots without worrying about how much space there is...that's probably not a good thing for everyone around me!
Anyway, after Billy went to work I laid Ellie down for her nap and she slept for 2 1/2 hours...a much needed break for this Mommy!  She woke up a little grouchy and didn't seem satisfied with being in the house so I decided to take her to the park.  It was a little chilly (55 degrees) but we had a great time on the seesaw, swings, and slide.  I just love to hear her belly laugh as she swings high in the air and I try to grab her feet!  We stayed at the park for about 30 minutes before we were both frozen and hungry.  When we got home I turned on some music and we danced around the living room like I used to do with my sisters and my parents...it brought back some great memories and I enjoyed making memories of our own.  She is so stinking cute when she dances, bending those little knees and bobbing up and down as her hands flail in the air!  I caught a glimpse of us in the mirror and thought how blessed I am to be holding my little girl and carrying our second baby...God has been so good to us!  I can't think of anything better than being a mommy to Ellie and baby #2 and a wife to Billy. 
Here are some cute things that Ellie has done recently that I think are just to funny...she loves to wear socks on her hands.  She will bring two "ock"s up to me and hold her hands out for me to slip them on.  Then she prances around the house holding her hands up in the air and trying to grab things.  She also got tired of carrying her milk around this evening so she set it on the floor and bent down to take a drink from it without using her hands!  Lazy bones! 
For those of you who are wondering about the title of the blog, every time Billy and I put Ellie in her crib we say, "Mommy, Daddy and Jesus love you!"  I never want her to have to wonder if she is loved, and not just by us, but by Jesus, the One who loves her more than I can even fathom! 

Here's a picture of Ellie with her socks on her hands.  It's not a very good one, but I couldn't get her to sit still for very long and my phone doesn't do well with moving targets!