New blog

Well, few and faithful readers: I have a new blog! I hope you will stay with me. I've started a blog that I intend to keep more as a family journal, with (hopefully) Jeremy contributing as well.
I probably won't keep up with this blog anymore.
The new blog address is kersenbrock.blogspot.com

See ya there!

Baby!

Here HE is. :-) Baby boy #2.

Opinions, please

OK, I am trying and failing to figure out a good way to rearrange the kids room. I've taken some pictures--please pardon the mess! lol
The main pieces of furniture I need to fit are:

1 crib
1 toddler bed
Rocking chair
Dresser
Chest of drawers


Standing in the corner of the room looking towards the doorway.

Standing in the doorway looking left:


Standing in door, looking towards back left corner of room: (I normally have the crib pushed right up in this corner)



Standing in doorway looking straight into room:



I know it's hard to visualize in pictures, but any ideas for me??

I love him

I just love this little boy!
Pretty blue eyes that sparkle at me.
Silly giggles all day long.
Smiles to brighten my day.
Mimicking everything I do or say.
"Helping" with the dishes, dusting, sweeping, and trash.
Taking me by the hand, "Mama, up!" or "Mama, play!"
"Love you, Mama" with a big kiss.
Running up to me just to give me a hug.
"Hi! Morning!" when he wakes up.
Reminding us to pray before every meal, "praying" along with us.
Picking on mom, dad, and Dolly all day long.

:-)

Cool Pics

Here are some random pictures we've taken lately that I thought just came out really neat! I took the flower pictures and this first picture of the bug, the rest were taken by Jeremy.

This is what Jeremy calls a "wooly worm". You've gotta click on this picture and see it bigger to really appreciate it....look at the detail there! Pretty cool.

The Indestructable Coffee Table

When Jeremy and I first got married, our house was furnished via the local auction place. :-) Some of our finds included a $130 antique (beautiful!) kitchen table, a $5 microwave stand, a $30 waterbed, a $20 (ugly) couch, etc etc. Many of our finds have been slowly replaced as we have the money, and more will be replaced in the future I'm sure. And then there's our coffee table. Jeremy, not even being able to see it very well from his seat, bid $1 and won it. That's right, ONE DOLLAR. Somehow this ugly piece of furniture has never made it out of our home. It's so ugly it's unique. Although, I have to admit it has grown on me. Maybe it's the uniqueness, or the "ugly duckling" aspect of it, or the "character" in the patchwork looking top and the odd leather straps. (what on earth are those for???) Regardless, I haven't yet felt the need to toss it out on garbage day.
Another thing this coffee table has going for it is it's amazing durability. I have never owned such a sturdy piece of furniture! It's solid, thick wood and it takes all kinds of abuse on a daily basis without a complaint. I am no lightweight, but I can STAND on this coffee table and it doesn't so much as creak. (with our height difference, this puts me at the perfect height for kissing Jeremy hehe.) It's also right under the ceiling fan, which makes it a handy stool for changing light bulbs. Since Levi could pull up, it's been the perfect height for him to drive cars on, build things on, eat snacks at, or most recently, climp up and sit on. Daily he pounds on it with hammers, springs, or other various tools and toys, and yet it survives.
And so the coffee table will live on. :-) I am determined that someday I will replace it with something pretty, but I am just as determined that that day will come ONLY when our children are past the destructive stage. (wait a minute.....does that stage ever end?)


PS--Who knew you could write an entire blog post about a coffee table?? :-p

Many faces of Levi

Is he cute or what?? ;-)


Cute face:


The teenager face:


Serious?


Stern face:


Cookie face!! :-)


"Love you mom!" face


Stern but silly, picking-on-dad face. ;-)

I just love how Levi's personality develops more and more all the time. I think he most definitely has my silly, joking, prankster personality. He loves to tease and "scold" and just be generally goofy! He also likes to tell people they are "Funny!" while laughing at whatever silly thing they do. If you tell him something is funny, he giggles on demand. He sure can bring a smile to our faces. :-)

Nighttime Humor

My husband sleepwalks sometimes. :-D If I happen to wake up and catch him in the act, it makes for great entertainment!!
A few nights ago, I wake up to him climbing out of bed. I sleepily ask where he's going and he mumbles something that doesn't make much sense. I immediately realized he was sleepwalking, so I watched him and got ready to confuse him. ;-) He starts trying to put his jeans on, but is all clumsy and uncoordinated and can't get his leg in. I asked again, "What are you doing?" He: "Oh, I have to go out and fix that.....um.....that." Me: "Oh, ok." After several tries, he still hasn't been able to get his jeans on, so I say "Honey, why don't you just forget it." He heaved this huge, exasperated sigh, threw his arms out, and said angrily, "FINE!" On his way back to the bed, twice more he throws his arms out and sighs "Fine!" As he laid back down in bed with his back to me, I tried to put my arm around him, but he was quite mad and just laid there all stiff with his arm in the way. I finally started giggling, and his final reply was "Go ahead and laugh at me! It's NOT FUNNY!" which only made me laugh more. About this time, we both went back to sleep again.
In the morning, we both had a good laugh about the incident. He remembered a lot of it, even though he was asleep at the time.
Jeremy tells me I can be pretty funny in my sleep too. I talk sometimes, and I get really, really grumpy if he tries to get me to move over or if he takes some blanket away from me. The funniest thing to me was the night I think he was trying to get some blanket back from me, and I huffily told him, "You KILL me every night!!"

What about you? Do you do anything weird in your sleep?

Already??

It would seem that even though I am ONLY 8 1/2 weeks pregnant, I am already visibly showing. Yikes--am I going to be enormous? I thought I was big last time!
Now, admittedly I was fat to begin with. So, I took a picture right at the beginning, so later I would be able to compare and tell when I actually started showing. I didn't expect it to be so soon. It's not quite as noticeable depending on what I'm wearing, but I CAN see a difference.
I'm going to do something unheard of and show off my fat here on my blog. ;-) The first picture is the beginning of my pregnancy, and the 2nd was taken yesterday. A noticeable difference, wouldn't you agree?

Love

Found this on another blog and thought it was awesome.

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but have not love--I am a housekeeper, not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements but have not love, my children learn of cleanliness--not godliness.

Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh.

Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints in a newly cleaned window.

Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk.

Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.

Love is present through the trials.

Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive.

Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child, then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.

As a mother there is much I must teach my child, but the greatest of all is love.

Levi and the Kittens

HEY WHERE DID THEY ALL GO??

Have You Heard?

ZOO!!

Well as you know, yesterday we took Levi to the zoo. It was not a mistake! :-) He really, really enjoyed himself and it was a blast watching his reactions and hearing him "talk" to the animals.



Enjoying a new souvenir cup and a cool drink in the shade.





Ohhh, fish! This was a popular exhibit, as I knew it would be. Whenever we go to Wal-Mart we stop in the fish aisle so Levi can oooohhhh over the fish. He can say "fish" and seeing a whole building full of fish, many he could walk up to like this, was a hit!




Roar!


The giraffes were greeted with wide eyed stares and whispered, "Wow!! Wow!!'s"


The tiger was having a hard day. LOL Levi enjoyed roaring at this guy.


The leopard inspired many very loud "Meow! Meow!!'s" hahaha




Watching the elephants. They were another favorite.




A fun day, for sure!

Little Boy Boots

I just LOVE cowboy boots on little boys. Absolutely adorable!!! Unfortunately, Levi has rather thick, fat feet and I have never been able to find boots that he has been able to wear. I have a hard enough time finding regular shoes he can wear.
However, the other day at Wal-Mart, I just happened to spot some new boots on display. I thought they looked like they just might fit my little fat-footed boy. Sure enough, we tried them on and found them to be an excellent fit! Woooo! Look! Aren't they the cutest things you've ever seen????????? :-D

My Levi

I've gotta say, this age that Levi is at right now is my favorite age so far!! He is an absolute joy, a doll, and such fun. He's young enough right now to still be a little babyish, and still want to snuggle with mom, and not sass ;-), but he's old enough to play, entertain me, make me laugh, and amaze me every day with the things he's learning and picking up on.
Here are some cute/fun things he does right now:

*He can say around 30 words, maybe a few more than that. He loves to point to things and say the word....he's so proud of himself when he does that!

*EVERY time we go to wal-mart, as soon as we walk in the door he starts asking for "nana" (bananas). The whole time we are in the store, he will talk about bananas. lol.

*He knows all our pets by name. When we pull in the driveway, he starts talking about Molly and Cocoa. His 2nd word upon waking in the morning (after "daddy?") is "Dolly?"

*He knows how to say "please" to get what he wants. :-)



*He has figured out our routine for church. :-) When he sees Jeremy taking a shower and then shaving (Jeremy normally showers at night and only shaves on Sunday) he starts saying "ch, ch". When he sees Jeremy putting on his dress boots, Levi goes and gets our Bibles. He has a Bible story book that he absolutely loves, and calls that his Bible and wants to take it to church. :-)

*He LOVES his daddy SO MUCH. As soon as he wakes up, he is asking for daddy. He talks about daddy all day long, and when Jeremy gets home from work, Levi often hears his truck drive in. He screeches "DADDY!!" and runs to the door. When Jeremy walks in, Levi runs up to him and puts his arms up in the air.

*He really, really loves tractors. He also associates tractors with daddy, because he'll see a tractor go by and say "Tractor!" Then, "Daddy?"

Next week we'll be going to Denver for 2 days and we're going to take Levi to the zoo. I can't wait to see his reactions and how much fun he has there!!!!