April Blue's

Bluebonnets!

This is one of the best parts about Texas in the spring - the wildflowers! And this year didn't disappoint . . . they were beautiful. Although we only found a small, small (very small) patch within 20 mins from home, I think they turned out pretty cute! My mom was in for the weekend and helped me with the feat of getting the pictures taken and wrangling my children. It was her idea . . . Thanks Mom!

Smile at Mommy!

Easter Fun

April has been BUSY! It has come (and almost gone) & we haven't stopped! Easter was so great! We spent the day watching general conference - how lucky we were to have it fall on Easter! It was very special to hear the words of the prophets and apostles! The other fun part was spending time with family!

Bethany enjoyed all that the Easter Bunny brought her . . . the favorite being her chocolate bunny and jelly beans (which she called "hot dogs") After some Easter food and conference watching we headed to the Dyer's (my sister) neighbors for an Egg hunt. Miss B had a ton of fun and quickly figured out the eggs had treats inside. Elise was perfect as always, hung out and beamed her cuteness all day. It was a perfect Easter!

Spring Break Fun - Cabin Style

The first few days of our spring break were full of outdoor cabin fun! Walks to the lake, roasting marshmallows, riding the four wheeler, hanging out and just enjoying one another!!

My parents have this great lake cabin in the middle of nowhere East TX. It is a super fun getaway. Bethany especially had fun exploring the outdoors. It was perfect weather the whole time! We made some great memories with our Mama Leslie, GrandPappy, Aunt Deanna, cousins Caroline, Sophie, Natalie, Susie, Samantha and Aunt Angie!

The Gang

Sis Deanna and sweetie Sophie with Bethany and Mommy.

Grand Pappy with 7 of his 17 grandchildren! He loves to get pics with them on the four wheeler. Too cute!

Two 2 yr old cousins . . . they were so fun together!

Cookout

Mama Leslie with Elise

The perfect roasted marshmallow. Yum!

Sophie was very interested in helping change Elise's diaper. To her delight, Sophie was able to assist a few times over the weekend. Too funny!

What? Me?

Daddy and sweet baby E.

Bethany & Grandpappy hanging out around the fire.

Loving being outside and playing in nature.

What I Think

With all the government health care hoop-la yesterday and this whole past year . . . I am borrowing a former president's words - one who I highly respect and consider a true patriot. If only more of our present day presidents had a clue. So sad!!

"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases." ~Thomas Jefferson.

Think on that. Don't say we weren't warned.

Ray of Sunshine

Hopefully some day soon I will actually have time to write all the wonderful things about this sweet baby . . . until then just enjoy the cuteness.

Here's Miss E at 5 and 1/2 months old. She is growing too fast!!

A Lot of Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

There is a lot of LOVE going on in the Leavitt home. See for yourself!

We love them both to pieces! Who can resist these two sweethearts!?!?!

We send our love to all our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and family all over. We LOVE you, miss you and hope to see you soon!

4 Months & Then Some

Where has all the time gone? Elise is 4 months old plus some!

In my crazy, busy, going-and-coming, dealing with depression, working mom, too much to do, lost my mind, health troubles, what is going on? - world of mine, my sweet Elise brings sunshine to my day and puts a smile on my face no matter what! She is the most even tempered, easy-going, no fuss baby that I have ever known. No kidding. Elise makes everything all right at a time when it isn't. She just smiles and coos her love all day! We are very blessed and grateful that she is part of our family. We love her to pieces.

At her 4 month check-up here were the stats:

Weight - 14 lbs 10 ozs (now double her birth weight exactly) 75%
Height - 24.8 inches 80%

Elise loves to sit up and look around at all that goes on. She is laughing now and we have gotten mostly little giggles out of her but today she actually LAUGHED for me - a real laugh while looking in the mirror. Too cute. She LOVES her pacifier and that is just okey-dokey with me - for now. Elise is kinda trying to roll to her side (from her back) but can't quite get all the 14 lbs to flip over yet. We're working on it.

Elise grabs for everything and likes to hold onto toys, blankets and whatever she can get her hands on. She is sleeping 11 hours through the night which makes all in the Leavitt house quite happy. She even gets passed along to many friends all through church because no one can resist her. Seriously. Big sister Bethany just loves her so much and is very sweet to her - most of the time.

In the words of my father - "I want 300 more just like her" - and I really do. I am the luckiest mommy. Both my girls are angels.

Christmas Wrap-Up

Christmas Day was spent very low-key, hanging out, eating more food, opening more gifts and enjoying family time. We loved having Mama Judy, Mama Leslie and Grandpappy here with us. Grandma Gloria even joined us later on Christmas day to spend a few days with our family and finally meet baby Elise.

Bethany and Elise in all their cuteness on Christmas day.

Mama Judy, Mama Leslie and baby Elise

Mama Leslie getting in grandma time with the girls.

Grandpappy with Bethany . . . She so loves him very much but won't really go near him until now. Much of Christmas day was spent with Bethany on his lap getting in some good snuggle time.

Bethany didn't much care for the snowman up close but frequently checked on him from inside the house.

Bethany watched as her daddy put together her first Christmas snowman on Christmas morning. She kept saying " Hi, Snowman" after that.

Ryan was hard at work making our fun snowman. He lived on our back porch for 5 days until the warmth took him.

It was a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!