Dee came home early today with a picnic to take to the beach. There was a chill in the air that wasn’t there yesterday but the kids didn’t seem to mind. We misjudged and went down when the tide was on it’s way in, so our trip was cut short but also by Levi bonking his lip on a log and bringing Alice down with him. Trey was camera shy and then downright hostile about getting his picture taken so this is the only group shot that was decent.

School’s back in tomorrow…yippee! The boys have cabin fever and really need to get back to their regular routine. Mama K does, too!

Shopped a little this morning, but the only great deal that I found was at the Disney store. The boys each got a “Woody” doll for $1.25 (which they carried around ALL day and are now sleeping with…that’s money well spent) and these Buzz Lightyear costumes for $4 each. The wings light up and all, the boys had a ball and can’t wait until morning when they can put them on again.

So we got the boy’s Valentine’s pictures back and they are cute. I think they’re going to hate me when they are older and see this one, but it’s funny.

The weekend has been the best, both productive and relaxing and all in all I feel good about it. The boys went to Saturday Club for 5 hours on Saturday and Dee and I got a chance to wander through Winslow and go into all the little shops that we don’t dare take the boys into. We didn’t buy anything, but it’s always fun to look. We found some stores we have no idea existed in our little town!

We picked the boys up and headed to the park with Mary and Alice, the kids played around awhile then we headed home with Alice in tow for a sleepover. Got the kids fed and let them watch a movie before bed while we ate our dinner.

This morning we had breakfast with Mary, but Alice woke up not feeling great so they took off to get her some more rest. We took the crew outside and got to work. I washed the van and Volvo and Dee mowed and played in the garden. The boys are so happy to be outside again, it truly changes the whole mood of the day when they get a few hours to run outside.

No school for the next couple of days so I’m sure we’ll be finding ways to keep busy with them. Weather is supposed to be nice, so it’ll be lots of trips to the beach and the parks.

So I find myself cruising Ebay in the wee hours, looking for deals on clothes and shoes for the boys, I’ve done it since day one. Tonight there are lots I’m watching, but I doubt I’ll end up buying (I’m cheap, there, I said it)

I’ve had people say that they won’t buy clothes for the boys because I’m picky about what they wear. Well, at this point I can say “anything Adidas” works. They look great in it, it’s comfortable and sporty and what’s now to love? Now, if I could only get the boys modeling for them….free Adidas clothes, that would be cool.

The boys are jazzed, they know it’s just one more goodnight before Valentine’s Day. We worked diligently on our Valentines cards last night and I have to say they are pretty damn good. I can’t say it was a fun project, with 3 control freaks all trying to run the show and Dee and I struggling to get a finished product that actually looked like a Valentine, there were battles. Levi wrote his name on ALL the ones for school and the homemade ones (for the cousins, grandparents and godmas) and I was highly impressed with how legible it was. We did the “I write in yellow, Carlos writes over the top” trick and got Carlos to sign all of his. Dee wrestled and tried to guide Trey’s hand to write his name but that lasted all of 2 cards and we just wrote his. Seriously, 2 year old giants have NO interest in signing their name on a Valentine’s Day card. The cards came out looking like a heart sticker factory exploded on them, but that’s what it’s all about.

We may be getting a new foster baby (Baby X) in the next couple days. We’re waiting for him to be release from the hospital. He’s older but preemie so newborn size and I went to visit him yesterday at the hospital. What an angel. It was a treat to hold him and feed him, a nice quiet break from the chaos that is our lives. Thank you Nana for hanging with the boys while I got some baby time.

Busy day today with speech, taking Trey to the pool, coffee with Maymay and a conference with the boy’s teacher this afternoon. Oh, and making our Valentine’s cookies…yum…gotta have those!

So Levi is really into writing letters and drawing pictures. He has a little magnetic doodle pad that he’s always writing on and asking us to write his name. Saturday afternoon he wanted me to write his full name on the pad, and I could fit only Levi Dominic. We started talking about his name and how Mama K and Mama Dee picked “Levi” because we really liked it and it really fit his personality. We also talked about how his middle name came from his birth family. I asked him if he remembered when Dominic was his first name and he said “yes, that was when I was at the other family and then I came back home” I was FLOORED. He was only 1 year old when he left our house, left to live with a relative and then came back home. I reassured him that he would live with us forever, he would always be our boy. He seemed really good with it and even talked about how his birthmom was the one who kept him under her shirt when he was really little. How sweet is that?!
Levi is our super sensitive guy, and he’s been a little stressed out lately since he heard me talking about Las Vegas. I’ve been trying to have some extra one on one time with him, letting him talk about his feelings more and just get some extra hugs and reassurance. He’s worried about the Vegas trip, though and he thinks that Dee and I are leaving for good. Seriously, we have only left overnight once since we’ve had the boys, so this will be hard on us all but Levi has some abandonment issues (not a surprise!) so I really worry about him. I won’t get started…on one hand I’m so excited to go on the trip and have some grownup time and who doesn’t love Vegas, but on the other hand I’ll miss my boys terribly. I get sad just thinking about it. Weird, I know, I’m insane.