There is a Birthday Boy in the House!

As I write this, for I am sure to not finish this today so, it will not be tomorrow but today by the time I post this...Someone turns 9 in the morning and I am still having a hard time comprehending how quickly time flies by!  I think I shall start at the beginning because that is where all good stories commence.
Once upon a time, or more specifically 9 years and three days ago a young (shh, quiet...we were youngish) couple got a phone call that changed their lives forever.  The call was from Brad at LDS Family services, and he shared some very joyful news with them...news they had been waiting to hear for more than three years!  A woman was set to give birth to a baby on Friday...it was Monday, and she had determined that she was unable to care for the child due to some life decisions she had made. Brad shared with the young couple (yes, I absolutely insist on this being mentioned time and again) the concerns that come with a high risk pregnancy such as this was.  They were over the moon, all the years and tears that had passed seemed to melt away and they cried, for the first time in a long time, tears of joy.  A baby, they were finally going to have a baby.  You see, seven years was a very long time to wait for that precious gift to enter their hearts and home.  Brad told them to go home and pray to see if this was the right one for them.  They did, and a warm happy feeling settled in their hearts.  Hours later they called him back and told him this was definitely the right thing!
Family was called and more tears of joy were shed. Then the magnitude of the event settled in.  Monday to Friday was not much time to prepare for a baby to come.  There were so many things to do! The nursery wasn't ready, no clothes had been purchased and they had no supplies...none, no diapers, wipes or formula!  This young couple seemed to be running around like crazies trying to get it all ready (with much help from sisters and brothers)! Tuesday was a flurry of preparations! Then Wednesday came.  The couple had things to do, the young husband had work to get to and the young (and beautiful and wonderful...oooh, wait i should quit making up details) wife was a temple worker (for those reading this that aren't familiar with the LDS faith, the temple is a place of worship where sacred ordinances are preformed, such as eternal marriages, and sealing families together forever) and her shift started at 5:00 am. She was out the door and on her scooter in no time and soon after he was out the door for work.  While she was there her shift coordinator came in and said she had an urgent phone all and she needed to come right away.  The young wife was not sure what was going on, but she followed obediently. She was then informed the caller had been her husband and she was supposed to call him right away! She ran to her locker to get her (super cool old school) cell phone and found she had missed not only calls from her sweetie, but also from Brad!  With shaking hands she dialed her husbands number and when he picked up, all he said was, "it's a boy!  We have a boy!  he has come early and we need to go get him!"  She broke out in tears that would make a crocodile's look small!
The young wife changed out of her white dress and into her regular church clothes and bundled up in her winter garb and headed home.  With tears of happiness filling her eyes and streaming down her cheeks she miraculously made the journey home on her little trusty honda metropolitan!  Oh what a sight she must have been to any onlookers, for she had a huge goofy grin that surely covered her entire face!
The young couple, now far more beautiful from the happiness and joy that radiated outward, reached home with in minutes of each other and they together packed an over night bag, looked at all the unfinished preparations and rushed out the door.
The trip from Spokane to the Tri-Cities never seemed so long!  Whiles they travelled they started calling mums and dads and sisters and brothers and spreading the good news across the country....boy you should have seen their ginormous phone bill at the end of that month!
Then they were there at the hospital pacing the waiting room, back and forth back and forth!  Finally the social worker arrived and they were introduced to the birth mother's sister.  Because of hospital rules the couple, I mean, super cute and awesomely young couple, had to have someone with a wrist band with them to enter the NICU nursery area (the precious boy had been so excited to come he sort of went potty before leaving the womb and so they need to make sure he didn't breathe in any of the yucky stuff).  They had a couple of names they had always loved for a boy and had pretty much settled on Seamus...a good strong Irish name, and then they saw him, a Seamus he wasn't, but a Javin he undoubtedly was!  He had eyelashes that went on for ever and big beautiful brown eyes and a shock of black hair!  He was by far the more precious, most perfect child born on the face of the earth EVER (no biases here, just reporting the facts)!
Their adventure was just beginning and what epic endeavor it has been (and continues to be)!

See, No lies here..truly the most preciousness ever to be!

By one year he was showing so much personality and a lot of chunky sweetness! He is lucky and shares his day of birth with his oldest Leavitt cousin, the adorable Nicole(:

At two, Javin was all about getting himself some of that cake...and if you look closely you can see I fib not, he was drooling all over it!

Three was still a year that was all about cake, and maybe seeing how very close he could get to the flame with out being burned!  Look at those crazy long eye lashes that handsome lad had (and still has).

When he turned four he was more about the presents than the cake!  And a dinosaur present was the be all end all. if you couldn't tell(;

Let me just say that his fifth birthday was by far the most ill nixon of them all!  Days before his birthday he told his mommy and daddy he wanted a costume party day 'cause halloween was too fun and to far away to wait for.  That still young and beautiful couple, asked their little prince or LML (little Mister Leavitt) what sort of costume would he want to have and he told them he wanted to be a pink bunny rabbit.  Poof and voilá!  One very pink and most bunniest bunny ever and by far the mostest redorable one ( redorable was how this cute bunny pronounced adorable for year)! and Those same cool parents made him the cake he begged all year for, a great white shark cake, all from scratch and from their own brains!! Sorry, just a bit of self aggrandizing there!

He was again very particular about the cake he wanted on his sixth birthday...Monster Truck race!  Again those loving parents out did themselves and he was in awe!  He was growing every year in size and personality!  GreenDog, his ever faithful imaginary friend shared his birthday this particular year, and Javin spun many yarns about the grand adventures the two of them were having!

In First grade the super cool and fun teacher had a cool birthday hat for the kids to wear to show it was their special day!  He was the "Cat's meow" that day!

Then Javin turned 8!  And 8 is great, it is great to be 8.  For members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 8 is a special age.  It is the age that boys and girls who have been raised in LDS homes, or have been taught by the missionaries, decide if they want to get baptized. Eight is the age of accountability, when they can truly distinguish between right and wrong and are held responsibility of for their actions.  The children make the decision, because our free agency is an important gift from Heavenly Father.  Javin decided he wanted to be baptized to follow Jesus example.

The story of this wonderful young lad continues and I am grateful for the privilege it is to have him in my heart and family and home.  He is a sensitive thoughtful boy who cares about the feelings of others and loves to make his friends smile and laugh.  He is the source of my well hidden grey hairs and the holder of my heart (a job he shares with two others!)!  I love him through the happy fun times and i love him through the difficult challenging times.  Javin Christopher Leavitt is my favorite trouble maker, soup chef and story teller!  I love every minute of this fast moving life of joy and trials!  Keep being awesome my little Pistol Pete wanna be!

My Little Miss Orissa Is Turning SeVeN

Ok, when I said I was back, I must have meant sporadically and unpredictably back, 'cause here it is the beginning of 2015 and I am finally writing again. This is for a special purpose, you see, we have reached a milestone! Orissa is turning SEVEN! My precious baby that started out this teeny tiny...

My sweet baby girl was born at a whopping 1 pound 13 ounces. I only saw pictures of her for the first few months of her life, wishing and praying for her health and secretly (ok, not so secretly) that we would be blessed with the opportunity to be her forever family.  When she was four months old and finally over 4 pounds, her Gamma Mary and Grandpa Bob were able to bring her home.
Not long after that, our prayers were answered when one Sunday in April we were eating dinner at Clancy and Monica's house when my cell phone rang.  It was Bob saying they had a sweet baby girl who needed a mommy and daddy and they'd chosen us!  I hung up the phone and shared the news with EVERYONE in the house!  We then hurriedly and excitedly headed out the door to pack a bag and head to Montana to pick up this precious baby doll (or baby doll sized angel)!  With in a hour we were on the road to be united with her.

The years have since, seemed to have flown by on the wings of angels and we have loved every moment...even the frustrating ones have been worth it all to watch her become the beautiful girl she is growing into.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank my Heavenly Father for this precious daughter.  She is just the perfect sister to our wonderful little man!

Here is Miss O on her first birthday.  She enjoyed the chocolatey goodness of her cake.  She was still so tiny people thought she was only a few moths old.

By her second birthday, she was finally starting to get some hair on the top of that head of hers. And this is when she really started to show her love of all things eyewear!

At three she wasn't quite sure she liked all the attention when everyone started singing happy birthday...it stressed her out a bit. Mind you, she was all for the cake!  He hair was nearly long enough to braid!!

Four was fun, she definitely had her own ideas on what was cool and fun and her imagination was growing rapidly.  Just look at that beautiful curly red hair!

Five was fantastic!  She was in preschool and even had the hair every mommy of a girl wants...hair long enough to make "pretty".  She finally was excited about people singing to her and understood what the "day day" song meant!  This is the sock kitty her nana made for her!

And then, 2014 my little Miss hit kindergarten and had her first classroom birthday party!  I think I was more thrilled than she was, but I am a sucker for milestones!  When each new year rolls around and I look back at how much this precious gift from Heavenly Father has grown I am in awe that I get to call her my daughter.
My children are such blessed gifts in my life.  I love them both with all my heart.  The moment I laid eyes on them, they forever stole my heart.  I am thankful to Gramma Mary and Grandpa Bob for trusting us with such an amazing baby girl...for she will forever be my baby girl!
Happy birthday my sweet, funny silly beautiful little Miss Oriss, I hope you never stop being uniquely awesome!  Hugs from mommy!

Well, Look Who Decided To Come Back!

Oh how days can turn to weeks and weeks to months and well months to years. I really cannot believe what kind of slacker I have become! When I started this blog, I thought I would be blogging at least once a week! Hahaha, look how that turned out. Why am I back you might be wondering(or maybe not)? Javin came to me the other day and said that GreenDog wanted to hear stories from when he, Javin, was little. That made me think about where I have these stories recorded. In my hand written journal and here are really the only places. The blog is by far the easier place to find specific stories. I read post after post to him; I read for over an hour and he and Orissa sat listening. Javin begged for more and Orissa mimicked him. The next day he asked for more and I happily ablieged. They laughed at the stories and oohed and aaahed at the pictures. This is the point when I realized I need to get my act together and start posting once again. Too much has happened to fill in all the details. I will say, three years ago we moved from the hustle and bustle of the big city to small town (actually country) living. The kids are loving living out in farm country and my little man who loved riding with papa on the tractor has so many more chances now (he even has a couple of uncles who are happy to take him along)! Orissa even loves all the room to roam...just maybe not as much as Javin. Javin has completed kindergarten through second grade and Orissa finished kindergarten last spring. The summer has flown by with many hours spend in Isaac and Chelsi's swimming pool and many more roaming the countryside. There was even a couple of weeks where i was super sick and could hardly move...but that is over, thank goodness!Though, I will add that I was sick at just the wrong moment...I missed all the good huckleberry picking time and thusly didn't make it out to pick. My sweet sister and her family shared some with me, so all is right with the world. Now, summer has ended and my life has changed from all day everyday with my kids to a lot of time on my own. Just today they headed back to school. Javin is a third grader and Miss Orissa is in the first grade!! Oh how quickly my babies have grown up on me. Orissa loves school, and has since she started in preschool. This year is no different. I didn't even get a goodbye hug when I left her on the capable hands of her teacher ( not even a backwards glance). She spends half of the day in the regular classroom and the other half with the special education instructor. I was concerned that Javin wasn't going to be all that thrilled to go back to school. It isn't usually his favorite place to be stuck for hours on end. We headed over to his classroom and he met his new teacher (who had a treat on each desk for the kids...I'm sure that helped him he a bit more excited). He feels like one of the big kids because his class is in one of the portable classrooms. He is also now allowed to play on the big kid playground stuff! He even came home excited to do his math!! Woot woot!!

They have grown leaps and bounds since I last posted. Javin is still big for his age and people often think he is at least 10 years old. He is only about 6 or so inches shorter than my mum. And he makes sure to measure against her every time he sees her. Orissa is nearly the same height as her contemporaries, though weight wise she still has a ways to go. All the kids and teachers just love her and want to do every thing for her. So, basically, she has them all wrapped around her little finger(;

JAVIN tuned FIVE!

With Aaron being away all week working in Warden on the farm, it feels like I have no time to blog...and thusly I have missed blogging about Javin's birthday...so, nearly 10 days later I am finally getting it done!
I really have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that he is indeed five years old. It truly feels like last week that we got the long awaited call from the adoption agency. Oh what a crazy happy time that was. We ended up having only two days to prepare the nursery for his arrival. Adoption is a lot of hurry up to wait and then after (for us anyhow) over three years of waiting, there was that frenzied hurry up and get ready.
I remember getting to the hospital the morning he was born. We were there mere hours after he was born, and we could hardly wait to see and hold him. The adoption agent wasn't even there before us! We waited again to see him...luckily it was only a few hours this time! He was in the NICU for the first day because he decided to go potty before he was out of the womb, so they had to check for infections. At first they told us we would have to wait until the following day to see him because for each child born in that hospital there were only two arm bands issued. Jamie's sister had the second one. WE thought we would have to settle for the picture they took right after he was born. Oh how beautiful that picture is to me....to this very day! I cried, Aaron cried and we waited, and hoped something would change, something that would allow us to see him in person. After three or four hours of sitting full of hope and more joy than can be expressed in the human languages, Jamie's sister came down and brought us up to the NICU to see our little guy. We only were allowed a few minutes in the room with him on the day he was born, but there were precious moment to us.
We then went rented a hotel room and waited the rest of the day out! Come morning we were up ready and at the hospital before I would have thought possible...beings that I am NOT a morning person AT ALL! That was thursday morning, and it was much better than the day before. Javin was out of the NICU and we were given our own hospital room, and treated like any other parent of a new born baby. I was over the moon to have him in my arms, to feed him and change his tiny little diapers!
That was a day we shall never forget. There have been a few of those kind of days in our life together. The day were were sealed together as husband and wife, the day that Javin was born and the day we finally had him in our arms, the day we got the call from Grandpa Bob and Gramma Mary telling us Orissa was going to be our little girl, and the day that we were all sealed together as a family in the Spokane temple. those are the days that are forever etched in my heart!
And now here we are five wonderful years later. He is such an amazing boy. He is all heart and imagination! He is full of hugs and kisses and tells me at least a dozen times a day that he loves me. He sees the cool in everything, and can make nearly anything into a game. Every holiday is a time to be something else. For Christmas he wanted to be a dinosaur. And for his his birthday we wanted to be the Easter bunny! and so, the Easter bunny he was. Of his own volition he decided to have a costume birthday party! Well, when that was the theme on the table, we decided a costume party needed carnival games!




Thus we had a party full of games and prizes. But the piece de resistance was the cake. The much asked for and long awaited SHARK cake. Since the day after his fourth birthday, he started asking for a SHARK cake for his 5th birthday. Month after month he reminded me. And month after month I put off looking of a shark pan. Then around the middle of January I decided it was time to look. And guess what I found...Nada, nothing...they don't make a shark pan. Lucky for us Aaron and I had been watching the CAKE BOSS, and we were pretty sure were would be cool enough to make on all on our own. Off to Caroline's Cakes to get all the supplies for the project I went (and thanks to my sister Megan I didn't have to drag the kids in there). After spending more than I care to admit to, I came out with two half sheet pans, a tub of fondant and a can of edible spray paint.
To make a long story a bit shorter, Aaron came home from Warden and we went to work shaping and frosting and covering it with fondant and making it as sharky as we could. At 2:30 in the morning we finally finished our masterpiece! It was, I must say, pretty darn amazing! I am sure that is, in a VERY large part due to Aaron's artistic talents...he is the one who carved the cake into the SHARK!





The party was a hit the cake was fantabulous and the pure joy and huge smile on Javin's face when he looked at that cake made the whole thing worth it! I still cannot believe my little baby boy is now a handsome, mischievous and wonderful little boy! The time really does go by WAY WAY WAY too quickly!

The Tale of the "Tired-Not-Sleepy" Girl

Here I sit, tired, yet not sleepy, I was pouring over the watch instantly tab on Netflix and not finding anything to watch...then I went off to IMDb to play the click on the movie, find an actor/actress and thread my why along (see what they were in, click on a movie under their list...pick a different actor/tress...shampoo. rinse. repeat like) till I am so far off the topic I can't remember where I began.
This might sound REALLY lame and all, but this type of time filling activity is NOT an unusual thing for me. I know, what a life I lead! I don't sleep well, and there are times when I don't sleep at all for days, sometimes even weeks...right now it is one of my I sleep an hour or so a night for a few weeks in a row cycle and it is less than fun.
I find things to occupy my time. There is my frien-enemies, Netflix (always tempting me with the watch instantly tab...drawing me in and making me search for hours for the right title or the right actors in the film); Hulu with all those shows I ignore on regular TV but get pulled back into watching, cause, hey, there are only REALLY short ads that intrupt the show; and of course there is IMDb. I love this site. Yes I am a movie lover...or addict or whatever. I have seen more movies than I can count...trust me I have tried to list them all before, and after I get to three or four hundred titles listed I get bored! I can give a rough estimate of the number of movies/TV show I have see...I have rated over 2800 title on netflix...and I am always coming across more that I have seen.
Wow, this makes me really sound like a LOSER who REALLY likes to waste time infront of the tube. But, when sleep is NOT on speaking terms with you, there are a few things to choose from. You can read a book, watch a movie, or stare at the walls and ceiling...I choose movies and books (I have an impressive book collection too...and the number of books I have read is nearly as high as the movie count!). Ok, there is often a bit of ceiling watching that happens too, but that is after I have watched the movie, or read the book and THINK I can finally sleep, only to discover that I am once again staring at my lod friend mister ceiling!
Ok, where was I going with this? I hardly remember...it must be the tired part of this tired-but-not-sleepy girl mind. I have found, after two weeks of little or no sleep a night my brain is as dull as the unsharpened pencils that sit in the drawer by my kitchen sink. Oh...my favorite game, that is what this started out as...well, it's not really a GAME...just something I do for fun when I don't have a good book to read and can't find a title that strikes my fancy! I start out with a favorite movie or actor in the search field on IMDb and when the page comes up, I scan for a movie or actor I don't recognize, click on it find something interesting on that page, click and repeat...kind of like the shampoo bottles tell you to do, and kind of like the blonde joke about how to keep a blonde occupied. Only, sometimes I find out interesting stuff. Not important stuff, just useless pointless information about this movie or that actress or this sound track or that film location. Today I started with Val Kilmer...one of my ALL time FAVORITE actors...did you know for years he was the YOUNGEST person accepted into Juilliard's?...and ended up here writing a blog about my insomnia! That was of course after 20 or so movie title and at least as many actors, and a jump to facebook to see who has what to say about their day, then a jump back to netflix. I am telling you, if a person were so inclined to search my computers history and "cookies" all they would find is HULU, NETFLIX, FACEBOOK, IMDb, a few blogs and the WEATHERunderGROUND. I know, my internet searching habits are so random and unpredictable...what can I say...I guess I am just that awesome!
I don't have a genre that I watch the most, I watch whatever strikes my fancy, which is a different fancy all the time. I have found some AWESOMELY funny, QuIrKy, silly, strange, and cHeEsY...movies since I started getting netflix. One of my most recent finds was ASSASSIN in LOVE. Hilarious I tell you! Oh, and Randy and the Mob...there is even a movie out there called....wait for it(now this might only be awesome to those of you who actually know me in the real world)...I am the Cheese and of course Megan and I found Dragonslayer all thanks to first, my not sleeping and second to Netflix and their HUGE coffers full of movies of all classes and ages! And all the old movies and B films...oh I am a movie DoRk! I sometimes watch movies that other people have criticized, if someone says a movie is over the top cheesy, well you can almost bet I will give it a go (sometimes they really are that cheese filled, others just the right amount of cheese for me).
So, I think I have turned Javin into a MOVIE buff. He definitely has favorites that are his go-to but he loves finding new favorites. We can both get sucked into the movie section of the store for hours if you let us...sure we aren't always on the same page when it comes to movies, but hey, he is only 5! He was trying to convince me this evening (ok this later than evening, way past bed time night) that he wasn't tired and he should definitely watch a movie with me. I wasn't fooled...I may be a bit dull witted from lack of sleep, but even I can tell when he is full of bologna...three fits within a 10 minute period could convince anyone that tired was what he WAS...not wasn't! I did promise him a movie in the morning....so if I was the sleeping type that is what I would go do, to make sure he got to watch his movie with a non-muzzy headed mum!
Orissa hasn't succumbed to the movie madness. Which is good, not sure a whole house full would be such a good thing...hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!
Maybe next time I dither on about something with this sleep deprived mind that I must confess is all mine, it will be of more important things, like my StarWars book collection (hey, no judging, I read them not just collect them...and I have NEVER dressed up as ANY character from the books or movies) and all the other books that fill my home. But not today! I think my nattering is over for the time being (don't celebrate too loudly, the people around you might just think you have gone a bit looney)!
As a prize for all you who stuck it out, made it through the mazes of my murky mind I give you pictures...not much of a prize if you don't think my kids and my cooking are the greatest thing since ice cream...but hey, it's what I got!
I had to try my hand at strawberry rhubarb pie...I loves to eats it, so why not bake one all by myself? Ok, not all by myself I had this guy as a helper bee!
She is always mothering her "baby". I guess the kitchen cabinet makes a GREAT crib!
No judgement till you try 'em..these are some of the best brussel sprouts I have ever had!
I know, they are completely unrelated to the entire post. But they are not unrelated to the things I love the mostest...my family, food, photography and movies...see they fit in there! Or not, but I just felt like a blog post with out pictures is like an omelet without cheese. Sure you can do it that way, but isn't it so much better with the cheese?

Blog bLoG blog BLOG!

Someone has been guilty of dereliction of duty. Someone has fallen asleep at the wheel! This is a disgrace! I mean really, how many days? weeks? months? have gone by since someone updated this blog anyway? I will just have to have a firm talk with the guilty party and make them pay! I will make them pay for this abandonment of post! Wait, uh, oh yeah, um, silly grill, that would be me eh?
We are still alive and kickin'. I am still taking lots of pictures (and cooking...kind of combining two loves...food and photography),
and working hard to get my name out there in the Spokane Photography community...slow going really! Still attending to the kids as a 3/4 time single parent...and always wishing for MORE chocolaty goodness: recipes candies, and well, just chocolate, grood chocolate, to feed the hungry beast...aka my chubby belly ( which reminds me: a sad thing happened this week...I finished my Butlers Chocolate...as in, it is all gone, no more and there are lots of tears!)! I haven't even started making any holiday candy...I guess that is another duty I have neglected to preform...I, uh, I will have to make amends on that front also!
Javin is still full of life, energy, smiles and is VERY excited about the coming of Christmas. He says he wants to be a sharp tooth for Christmas...and every time we inform him that people DO NOT dress up for Christmas, he says, "I do Momma! I like to be a sharp tooth for Christmas!" He has, in recent months decided to become a soup chef and my little model. He is getting pretty daring with the spices and ingredients...never the same combination twice. And when we are out running errands, he will scout and shout new locations where he thinks he should be shot!


Orissa is still full of way too much attitude and is still as stinkin' cute as can be. Well, not at this very moment...right now she is sick with some sort of stomach bug and is making her displeasure for the whole thing VERY clear to anyone and everyone around (which is only Javin and I...but still)!! When she isn't sick and whiny, she has become very attached to any baby doll she can get her hands on. Orissa LOVES the kid kitchen at Nana and Papa's house and the doll house that Maama and Pumpa recently acquired!


Aaron is still on his grand adventure, hunting for a job in his field of expertise and working on the farm in the meantime. Out on the farm they are busying themselves with the grandiose task of turning the old barn into an office and/or apartment. I am pretty sure that a part of Aaron is glad for the manual labor...it had been several years since he has had to do "real" work! He is also still picking up a bit of freelance work here and there. We are ever hopeful that a job will make itself apparent soon! He has had a few bites from some companies around the country. Who knows, soon we could be traveling to a new home...ya never know!