Just Levi

Signs of the times...

As you can see, fall is upon us.  Levi was bundled up, but at least it was nice enough to go outside for a while.  The sun was shining, the leaves were starting to fall, and there was a brisk wind.  But what a wonderful day it was!!

I LOVE BIG TRAINS!!

Franklin Library had trains set up last weekend.  Rob was working, so Levi and I jumped in the car and took a ride to see the choo-choos.  He loved them!

Levi in Jail!

Levi was sharing Peanut's cage at mom's house.  No, don't call CPS on us... 

Special Day with Maw Maw and Paw Paw

Train Expo at the Fairgrounds

Where have I been?

Wow, it has been a loooonnnngggg time since I've posted something here.  Where have I been?  Well, I guess I've been busy...  Time just seems to fly by!  Everyday, there seems to be something going on around here.  For example, here is last weekend's schedule:  Saturday was a cook-out with the college class at church which took most of the day;  Sunday was church, college lunch, nursing home, church, and church fellowship afterwards.  Busy, busy, busy.  I know I'm not the only one.  Those of you with more than one child certainly have your hands full!  Don't know how you do it!

On another subject, has anyone else noticed how fall snuck up on us?  It is here!  But where did summer go?  I do love fall, but it just seems too early for it.  I'm not quite ready.  Oh well, can't go back, so I'd better just enjoy it!  I do love to have the windows open and let the fall breezes blow through the house, but these last few days have been too chilly and windy to do that.  The temperature in the house with all of the windows closed has been in the low to mid 60's.  Hoping it warms up a little bit soon!  Looks like tomorrow will be very nice, then rain on Friday and Saturday.  We still need the rain, so I'm not complaining about that.  My tomato plants have new blooms on them; not sure if they will make it, but I'll wait and see.  My strawberry plants are still growing, blooming, and producing.  They are spreading everywhere.  I'll have to try to contain them, so I can have other things, too, in my garden next year.

It is time to pick apples!  What will I be making this year when I get some apples???  Hmmm....  Gotta look at my recipes and choose.  I need to get over to the orchard.  We were heading there this morning in Grandma's car when Levi threw up all over the place!  So, needless to say, we turned around and came back home.  Had to give him a bath, wash clothes, etc.  (You know the drill, Moms.)  Grandma had to clean out her car, too.  Fun, fun!  (Glad we weren't driving my car...  lol)  Levi isn't showing any other symptoms of illness, so hopefully this too shall pass.  I hope he doesn't get sick!  I was really looking forward to taking him to the orchard to pick apples!  And he was really wanting to go, too.  For the last two days, he's been talking about going to the "farm, pick apples".  I'm hoping we are able to go tomorrow afternoon (if Levi doesn't get sick).

Tomorrow evening ~ DAVE RAMSEY!!  We have been looking forward to this for several months now.  We have had our tickets for about 6 months!  Dave Ramsey will be at the State Fairgrounds for a seminar.  We have been working on getting out of debt for a while now.  Still have a little ways to go, but we are getting somewhere.  We just have my car loan left, and the house, of course.  Dave Ramsey has given us some great ideas on how to budget, pay off debt, stay out of debt, pay with cash/debit, NO CREDIT, etc.  Of course, all of this is common sense, but sometimes you need someone to smack you in the face with it!  He doesn't hold back, that's for sure.  He says it like it is!  Can't wait to hear him live.  Maybe it will give us another little push...  Looking forward to it!  Several families from our church will be there, as well, so it will be a good time.

We have an appointment on Friday to get Levi's two-year pictures taken at Penney's.  I know I'm a couple months late, but... (I think I lost another couple months somewhere.)  I'm hoping he will be more cooperative than last year.  He wasn't happy at all last time, but they still managed to get some great shots.  We'll see...

I have some pictures that I need to post from Saturday.  (When we went to the cook-out at church, Levi went to a train expo with my parents.  Levi LOVES trains, of course!)  Also, since October starts tomorrow, I probably need to work on my monthly meal plan today...  I'll try to get that posted soon, as well.  

Hope everyone has an enjoyable day!

Old Friends, New Friends

I was able to spend an hour on Monday morning with a friend from the past.  Stacey flew in from Texas for a few days to visit with family.  She has twin girls that are about to turn two.  It worked out for us to spend a little time together for a "play date".  We met at a playground where the girls and Levi could play together.  What's funny is that they had way more fun playing with the rocks than the playground equipment!  Oh, the simple things in life...

Stacey is the cousin of a dear friend that is a missionary in Japan.  So, I am glad that I had the opportunity to spend time with her in Shellee's absence.  

Ice Cream!

Yes, Levi loves ice cream, just like his mommy!!

Levi has a truck book that has a picture of an ice cream truck in it.  Well, his Daddy decided to teach him the name of that truck.  He calls it "Mommy's truck".  Funny, Rob.  Real funny...

I LOVE BIG TRAINS!!

Another train-centered getaway!  We went to Metamora, 1 1/2 hour drive east of Indy.  It is an 1838 canal town located along the 

Whitewater Valley Railroad.  It's been maybe 25 years since I've been there (wow, am I that old???).  I went there with my family and my friend, Shellee, and her mom, Pam.  Oh, the memories...

The reason we went this past weekend was because they had an old steam train there.  And, since Levi is so obsessed with trains, I thought it would be a nice opportunity to see a train up close.  We didn't ride it, for one reason, because it was so expensive.  But, I also thought that Levi would have much more fun watching it from the outside.  We were able to walk around in it while it was parked at the train station; that was pretty exciting!  Then we watched it leave and return for two of its trips.  It was VERY LOUD, which had two different effects on Levi:  screaming in fear or holding his ears.  

When the train was gone on its trips, we walked around and looked in some of the shops, ate lunch, walked through the mill, rode on the horse-drawn canal boat, and ate an ice cream cone.  What a long, but WONDERFUL day!!  Lots of memories!

Friday Night Boredom :)

No surprise here ~ 

Levi found the John Deere tractors first thing.

We went south to the booming metropolis of Edinburgh to the "Heartnut Festival"...

Pretty interesting.  We saw some tractor pulls (really just souped-up lawn mowers), Levi rode a little carousel ride (thanks to Paw-Paw), we found a swing set, and we found the little trains.  These trains are small; you actually ride on top of them.  They are only $2 a ride, but they weren't giving rides that night.  We will hopefully go back on the third Saturday of October to ride.  I'm sure Levi would thoroughly enjoy it.  Hopefully, Daddy can go with us then.  (He was in Chicago for a business trip for the weekend.)

CIRCUS!

Today's expedition was a last-minute trip downtown to the CIRCUS PARADE.  The Ringling Bros. Circus is in town, and they had a parade around the Circle.  I found out a little late, so we were driving around looking for a parking space at a meter when we saw the elephants walking down the street.  We were a block away, but Levi could still see them.  I finally found a place, and we ran over to the circle.  We missed the elephants and the marching band there, but we did see some miniature horses and acrobats.  They gave out free circus hats, and Levi got one.  It's a little big, but he likes it!  Trying to get as much summer in as we can before it's gone...

"A Christmas Carol" Train Tour

Levi, Grandma, and I went on a little excursion on Wednesday.  (I love these free field trips!)  We drove down to Bargersville, which is about 20 minutes from our house, to see the Disney "A Christmas Carol" Train Tour.  We didn't go because it was Disney; we went because it was a train that Levi could see up close and walk on.

The exhibit was supposed to open at 9:00 a.m., so I decided we should leave my house at 8:00 to beat the crowds.  When we arrived, there was probably about 100 people there, so the line was pretty short and quick to tour the train.  The train cars had memorabilia, pictures, and videos about the making of the new Disney animated "Christmas Carol" coming out in November.  It was pretty neat to see, although it was more geared towards the older "kids" like me.  Levi was just happy to be on a train. 

It took probably 20 minutes to get through the train.  When we got off the train, there was a huge line already forming at 9:15.  I would say maybe 1,000 people were there by then.  We walked around the town looking at the booths for a while, then headed home.  By the 5:00 news, they said there was a 5 1/2 hour wait for the exhibit.  (There's NO WAY I would wait that long!!)  Crazy!

Another Trip to the Zoo

We took another trip to the ZOO last week.  Since we have the family membership, I've been trying to get a lot of use out of it.  It really has been worth it!  The weather was very nice last week, so we decided to go on Friday morning.  My mom went with us.  When we arrived at 9:30, there was hardly anyone there, so it was even much more enjoyable!  (Maybe we will go that early all of the time...)  

The baby giraffe was out; it was only three weeks old, I believe.  So cute!  

We also decided to ride the zoo train.  It was not very affordable, but Grandma wanted Levi to ride it, since he loves trains so much.  The train at the zoo is a neat little train; the tour, however, not so much...  It takes you around the outskirts of the zoo where you see the administration building, Washington Street, the 

medical building, and the back of some of the animal exhibits.  Not very exciting, but Levi loved the train ride nonetheless.  

The dolphin show was not very crowded, either, so we got good seats this time.  (Maybe one of these times we'll sit in the splash area.)  We had a great little excursion.  And, when we exited the zoo at around 12:00, the parking lot was almost full and the lines were long.  Guess it pays to get there early!