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Levi turned 2.

Levi had his 2nd birthday this week. He had lots of fun being the center of attention. We celebrated by doing stuff he likes with him. We made a pit full of balloons, played cars and blocks, let him be the leader while we copied his moves. We danced and played duck, duck, goose and hide and seek. Clara and Greta made a yummy carrot cake for him. I took him and Adam to see Cars 2 at the theater.
He is such a fun kid, he walked around with the bucket on his head. I love the shot of his sad face, that bottom lip. He is starting to talk and we understand him. His older brothers and sisters love to practice words with him. The other day he asked for a 8th helping of noodles and I said, "Seriously? he answered back, "Seriously!" I cracked up.

Destin, FL

We loved our family vacation to Florida this summer. We swam in the pools, the beaches, went to an Indian Mound, schoolhouse from 1917, and stopped by the site of the Battle of Vicksburg to tour. We loved having friends and family to hang out with and enjoyed the cooler weather.

Yes, it has been hot.

We cooked a couple of eggs one afternoon on our driveway, they didn't sizzle but they definitely were cooked. I have loved the clouds this week in the morning. When it started to thunder on Monday, I got back in bed just to listen to the rumble.

Clara's new haircut

Clara got brave and cut 8 inches off her hair and she LOVES it! She told me that she thought she liked long hair, but there are so many things to love about her short hair. I think it is adorable.

Happy Birthday Quade

Isn't he the cutest thing? I call him a marshmallow since he is so fair and chubby. He is riding a merry go round.

Jay and Ashley's Wedding

My brother Jay married Ashley this weekend. It was awesome to share in their beautiful day and be with all my brothers and sisters. We had a great weekend. Now all 3 of my brothers are married and I have 3 Ashley Stahles as sisters-in-law which I love. We refer to them as Jashley, Dashley, and Ivashley.

Mother's Day 2011

I had a lovely Mother's Day with sleeping in, sweet gifts hand made from the kids, and a yummy breakfast. My mother joined us for church and we met with Mike's family at the park for supper.

NYC

We took Jonas to New York City for his DimensionU tournament. It was such a fun place to visit. He made it to the semi-finals, scoring better than half of the 100 kids there. He didn't move on to the finals though. The trip was an awesome enough prize. We stayed with my brother Jay and his fiance Ashley in New Haven, Connecticut where they invented pizza. We went to Pepe's ,it was yummy stuff from a coal fired oven with an Italian bakery next door with delicious ices. We also discovered we like Cannolis. Th first day we toured Mark Twain's house in Hartford, he lived next door to Harriet Beetcher Stowe who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. That was all in just the first day!

The next day we went to Mystic Seaport on the CT coast. It is a working shipyard where they restore wooden whaling ships and build new ones. We climbed aboard a recreated Armistad. They also had lots of little buildings showing how they did stuff 100 years ago like nautical instruments, clocks, make rope, barrels, and printing presses. We ate on the river next to a drawbridge and had calamari and shrimp.

The next day we took the early train into NYC, rode the green line #6 Subway to the tournament at Hunter College. Afterwards we went to the Statue of Liberty, Empire State building, and strolled through Central Park. The weather was beautiful and lots of people were out. We saw magicians, acrobats, musicians performing. My favorite building was the NY public library huge lion statues out front. We walked up Wall street and Jonas touched the bull. Jonas got a pretzel from a street vendor. It started raining as we got to Times Square, so we went headed back to Grand Central Station to get some NY cheesecake at Junior's and catch the train back to New Haven.

The next day we went to the top of East Rock which borders New Haven to see Long Island and the city. It is all trees with colorful houses dotting around. Then we headed to the West Haven beach where we watched some old Italian guys play boccie ball. We drove around New Haven and saw the old university buildings of Yale and all the interesting houses. I loved all the porches and stone walls.

It was a great trip and our hosts were wonderful- they are getting married next weekend! Mike's parents stayed with the four younger kids who had a great time being with their grandparents. Jonas is already planning on attending next year's tournament. He will attend Jackson MST and they had 15 kids at the tournament.

Texas Day in Kindergarten

Greta had Texas Day after her unit on Texas History. They had lots of fun activites like bingo, square dancing, racing wearing over sized overalls and boots, and a petting zoo. Jonas performed in a skit about not picking bluebonnets.

Current shots of everyone

Jonas' tour of the Cowboy Stadium

Greta's soccer season

Greta played in her first soccer season this spring and did well. Her long legs earned her Best Defensive player since she could catch up to anyone on the other team and kick the ball away from the goal. We had lots of fun in the beautiful spring weather and made friends with the other players and their families.