6 months

 Yup, that's right.  Lexi is already 6 months old.  Time sure does fly!

And the joys of turning 6 months old??  Solid foods!  Yay!

 Levi has officially graduated out of the high chair and Lexi has moved in.  Here she trying it on for size.  She looks good, eh?!

Ahhh, toes!! Her favorite toy.

Here we go, Lexi's first attempt at solid food.  What's on the menu?  Rice cereal, of course.

Here we go with the first bite.

and her face says it all.

Not a fan of rice cereal.

Please don't give me anymore, mom!

We gave her several attempts at the rice cereal, and she has nibbled on some sweet potatoes and bananas, but so far she is still not too found of anything other than milk.  Talk about being the complete opposite of her brother - the boy who will eat anything, anytime, and in mass quantities.
Once we stopped feeding her she was happy again.

With time she will learn to love food.  It's just going to be a slower transition with this one.  As long as she's healthy and happy.

She has found her voice ~ and at times she has a lot to say!

  Happy Six Months, Lexi!!

Levi's 2nd Birthday

*Get ready for picture overload!  All of these pictures help tell the story so I just couldn't leave any of them out.  Hoping our family far away will be able to experience the birthday through pictures.* (Also, I didn't enlarge any pictures this time, so if you need a closer look you should be able to click on each individual picture to enlarge it.)

My favorite picture with my favorite birthday boy.

This year we kept Levi's birthday party pretty low key, small, and super casual.  And it turned out perfect!  We had just a few of our very close friends over for some food, cake, presents, and kiddo playtime.  Levi had a blast!  We really don't have any family close to us, so we are always thanking God that he gave us such amazing friends who not only care about us, but love our children.  As much as we would have loved to have some of Levi's grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. at his birthday party, we know that he was still surrounded by just a few of the many people here that love him. 

Moises set up the Xbox Kinnect for the big kids to play while the little ones ran around getting in the way.

We finally were able to get the girls together for some play time.  Lexi is 10 days younger than Kinsleigh.  They were womb buddies. =)

Avery asked me why everyone always takes pictures of her when she's eating. LOL

Ainsley ~ One of Levi's best friends

There we go, a non-eating picture of the beautiful Avery.

He was far too busy to stop and smile for the camera.

We always love spending time with the Jenkins' family.  We have known them since we lived in Maryland over 8+ years ago.  So thankful that God brought our families back together!

Eating by himself in a booster (not a high chair) like a big 2 year old.

Kadence playing with the girls.

Saying "cheese" while eating some cheese. (Yes, he will smile and say cheese, he just won't always look at the camera when he does it. )

Balloons!

Can't help but wonder if Ainsley is my future daughter-in-law.

If not Ainsley, then surely Kinsleigh will be my Daughter-in-law.

Jace!  Levi has always had fun playing with Jace.

Lexi loves Ms. Lissa!  But then again, everyone loves Lissa!

Kadence ~ the life of the party ~ she loved having her picture taken. =)

Wish I could remember what we were talking about here.

 Levi was SO excited to wake up from nap and see balloons everywhere.  So excited, in fact, that he broke out into a joyous jumping frenzy.  If you scroll through the next few pictures kind of fast, you will see what I'm talking about.

 Moises enjoyed a few minutes entertaining baby Kinsleigh.

 We thought it would be a great idea to get a picture of the babies together.  Well, these little 6 month old girls didn't quite pose and say cheese like we asked them to, but they still showed off their uuber cuteness.  Total BFFs in the making. =)

"Come on, Kinsleigh, suck your fingers like me.  All the cool babies are doing it."

Sucking on fingers... a baby gang sign, perhaps?? "What up, yo!?"

Deciding who's toes she wants to chew on.

Good choice, Lexi.  It's never a good idea to chew on any one's toes but your own.

Love the expression on Lexi's face...

Had to stop taking pictures of the girls to snap a picture of a jealous Levi.  I think he was wondering why the girls were getting attention at HIS birthday party. =)

Levi finally learned the concept, if you can't beat them, join them.

I think they were done with the photoshoot at this point.

Derek enjoying some ribs here.  Funny story, the day before the party Derek asked Moises if he was making ribs.  Well, ribs were not originally on the menu, but they were after that!  No one complained.

Even Ms. Kendra came to wish Levi a happy birthday.  Lexi loves herself some snuggles with Ms. Kendra!

 Levi's current infatuation involves any type of sports ball, with the football (or "fuugo", as Levi calls it) being his all time favorite.  So we had a football cake courtesy of Costco, and some sports themed decorations, courtesy of the Dollar Tree. =)

Much the opposite of this last birthday, Levi was thrilled to have the "Happy Birthday" song sang to him, and he even gave us all a round of applause at the end. (He tends to do that quite often.  Go ahead, sing him a song - chances are very high when you're done he will clap and scream out YAAAAYYY!!!  It's quite the confidence booster.) I don't have any pictures of us singing to him because Moises video taped it instead, but trust me he loved it.

Enjoying his birthday cake was a real treat. He was given his very own piece of cake, he was in heaven!

Moises thought it was pretty cool that he captured the drool in these pictures...

Present time!!  This gift was from Pastor D and Ms. Lissa. Quick funny story: for a time as Levi was learning to say Pastor D, it kept coming out as "donkey." Haha!  He can now easily say Pastor D, so only time with tell if the nickname "donkey" will go one.
Levi was given a super cool nurf sports ball set, with a soccer ball, basketball, and a football!  It was a perfect gift for him and he has spent many hours playing with each of his new balls!  Thank you so much Derek and Alissa, you hit the nail on the head with this one! (Sorry no pics, again this was on video.)

Moises and I both picked out a birthday gift to give to Levi.  Moises found a really cool police car that lights up with sirens wailing and drives by itself with the push of a button.  Levi exclaimed "WOW, Lights!!" Moises also got him a few toy trucks and tractors, all of which also make lots of noise with lights. =)  Levi was pretty excited about all of his new toy autos.

I picked out a toy dyson vacuum that, other than the color, looks exactly like my own real dyson vacuum. Score!  This toy was a hit, as I knew it would be.  He runs around with it vacuuming and saying "keen up," (clean up).  And as excited as he is, I may be even more excited because now I get to use my vacuum all by myself again.  This is by far, in my opinion, the best gift we've given him.

 Levi was even intuitive enough to find his little toy a home - right next to mine in the closet.  I didn't even know he had put it there until the next morning when I opened the closet and saw this.  What a smart little 2 year old!

Lexi also enjoyed the party.

In 6 short months it will be her turn!

It was quite obvious that Levi had fun, so I would consider the party a success.  Levi is, and has been for the past two years, an absolute joy in our world.  I've said it before, and I will say it again, we feel so undeserving, yet so fortunate that God picked us to be Levi's mom and dad.  We truly are the lucky ones!

Love you so much, Levi!  Happy Birthday Buddy!!

A few 2 year old facts about Levi

Weight: 33 lbs
Height: Tall.  Whatever the average height of a 3 or 4 year old is, that's what Levi is (will update his actual height after his Dr. Appointment)
Favorite books: "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" and "That's How Much God Loves you"
Favorite Cartoons: Veggie Tales, Super Why, and Dora
Favorite Songs: "Twinkle Twinkle," & "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"
Favorite Snacks and Treats: Funyons, Goldfish, and Fruit cups
Favorite pasttime: Playing fuugo (football) with his daddy, and helping mama wash the dishes
Favorite little sister: "Ah-Sess"  Aka: Lexi
Favorite sleep props: Monkey, George, and a Blaaaaaankieeee
Levi can: Count to 10, say & sing his ABC's, and drop kick a soccer ball.  He learns multiple new words on a daily basis, and makes us laugh on an hourly basis.  He loves to play, loves to laugh, LOVES to be tickled, and loves to make everyone else laugh.