I love Christmas ornaments! Every year I add new ones to our tree that reflect our year! C made a couple hand made ones at Ms. Leah's and in Sunday School. I always add a new picture of her in a photo ornament (these are my absolute favorite)! She hand painted a Christmas tree on a cermanic ornament at Saluda Shoals which I also love! C began ballet this year and so we have one each from her aunt, Nanny, and us! We have a family ornament that marks the year! My favorite fun ornament is the one that we took in a photo booth during a recent Christmas family fun night at Harmon's Tree Farm that our church put on.

The bottom picture is not an ornament but a nativity set. I've never had one in our home but had one growing up. I couldn't find the perfect one for years. This past summer when we were in Charleston I passed by a children's boutique in the market and spotted this perfect child friendly nativity set. C can play with it and I don't have to worry about anything breaking. C loves it. We love it. We have loved telling C about the greatest Christmas present ever this Christmas...the birth of Baby Jesus!

For the past three years we've gone to Saluda Shoals to enjoy the park's fascinating light display and to see Santa! I was so excited when C said she was going to sit on his lap this Christmas and that she was not scared of him. She's been saying this ever since last Christmas and every time that we've driven by Saluda Shoals since! When the time came this year, mommy had to take her to Santa's lap and once she saw how nice he was she was willing to go forward with her plan and she sat on his lap! When I asked C what she asked Santa for she said, "a dollhouse and that's all"! Yes Santa brought the most beautiful dollhouse and our girl is pleased!

 

Last Saturday, my house was full of Christmas fun! Being together was a treat for all. Saturday had some "sunshine" but we all were thinking about the horrific news about Newtown, CT. My heart was not only aching it was broken. So so so sad. My prayers will be with those families and that town for the weeks and months to come for sure. I was thinking about making a memory ornament of Newtown and placing each person's name that lost their lives that day on a strip of paper and placing each strip inside a clear ornament. I want their memories to go on. This is just a thought.

So getting back to Saturday! I saw and loved on my twin loves, Big C and Kelsey! These four are my heart. I love them! They are precious in every way imaginable! LOVE THEM!

One of C's gifts from my sister was this pair of rain boots! She wanted to wear them all day. When she heard that Sunday would be a rainy day she couldn't wait to wear her rainboots! She also thought they were appropriate to wear to our Sunday School's Christmas party that night...

My Sassy girl!

Dear Blog,
I have not forgotten about you. I am however w.a.y. behind in my blogging with um..just about everything. I know I need to change your header and border! I promise I'm going to work on it very very soon. You are going to like being decorated with pictures of Miss C from my new camera! She is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E! Wait until you see her with her friends at their birthday parties and in her Pinkalicious Halloween costume! Love! Oh, wait you probably already saw her in that. Oh well I'm sure I didn't post them all! Our girl is growing up as you know. People were right when they told me that 3.5-4 is such a hard age. My girl is super sweet as you know because I've written so much about her and her preciousness, but she is also extremely strong willed and loses her "ears" from time to time!
She is my heart and I'm so glad that I was chosen as her mommy and Sam her daddy! (I know, I know, I say this in every other post!) She's funny and loves to dance! She's shy and has the cutest giggle ever! We can't get enough of her!
I am so looking forward to updating you about all of the above + more!
Love,
Your Author
P.S. Get some rest! You'll be working hard for me over the next couple of days!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! We have so many many things to be thankful for, too many things to even begin to note here! Today I am especially thankful for my little family! My two loves mean the world to me! Celebrating Thanksgiving today with family was a reminder of how precious "family" really is. I so enjoyed today's fun, food, and conversation!

My little girl learning all that she can about Jesus puts a big ole smile on this momma's face! I know that teaching Caroline about Jesus comes first from the home. We need to believe it, live it, so she can see it, believe it, and want to live it too! I love our church family and our children's department especially our children's director, Maegan Bolding, and preschool/Sunday School leader, Andrea Krick. I've loved Ms. Andrea and her sweet husband, Kevin, the moment they took Caroline from our arms on Caroline's first day of SS when she was four months old. Ms. Andrea is the type of person that knows how to make anyone feel special and she certainly has the "motherly" touch of everything, she is by the way, a mother to four precious children. She is one of the most positive persons that I know. I love her! As a parent and a church member, I see how the Kricks are investing in the lives of LBC's children. They are absolutely unbelieveable. Sam and I have a very small role in our church's children's department. It is very miniscule compared to what the Kricks do on a daily/weekly basis for our child and the hundreds of other children that walk through the children's department doors. I'm glad that we get to have a part, to have the opportunity to help or "give back" even in some small small (very small) way. Hopefully Caroline will see us in this role or ministry and know that it will one day be "her job" as a parent too. I'm grateful for The Krick's investment in my child. They are pretty special people and are certainly role models for all young parents! What an example!

Happy Boo Day from The Leviners!

We took Pinkalicious to Boo at the Zoo Tuesday! Our Pinkalicious was very precioulicious and she had so much fun as did the mommy and  daddy! We are looking forward to more Halloween festivities this weekend and of course next Wednesday! Happy Halloween blog friends and readers!

October is breast cancer awareness month. This print is in honor of my mother who is now two years after the big C diagnosis. I can officially annouce that my prints (this one and the two in the post below) are now part of a fundraiser for a friend's brother who has cancer in many places in his body. My friend's brother is undergoing intense rounds of chemo and is having to remain in the hospital for treatment. He is recently unemployed, and is married with two children. I am giving my friend's brother a percentage of each print that is sold. If you are interested you can message me two ways. You can leave a comment with your email under this post or you can click on the link on the far right of this blog to email me. Once you've messaged me I can give you prices, etc.

This print is an 11 by 14. It will be a poster print for you to frame.



My favorite new art obession are with these two subway art prints. I made a "Vows" print last spring just to see what I could do with it and it was pretty...even more so framed, which I did recently. I made the USC print yesterday and then I made the Clemson print by request. I think both prints are pretty neat and I love how both pieces are so personal!

I am receiving other requets for subway art prints so I would be glad to make one for you about a school or college of your choice. I can even do special event prints like baby's name and stats.

These sure are keepsakes! I sure can't wait to have the USC print framed in my living room!

Print sizes are 11X14. They are available on canvas too. They will make the perfect gift of any kind!

 

I am so glad that tomorrow will be just like a weekend day! C and I get to sleep in, wear our pajamas later than 5:15 am and 6:10 am, and do whatever this princess wants...I'm sure lunch out is an option! All because tomorrow is not a "work" day for this teacher mommy!

 

This makes me smile every time I look at it! We were eating out earlier in the summer at my fav, Mellow Mushroom! Once C got her crayons and paper, Sam asked her to write a C! After writing "C" by herself, she was just pleased, proudly saying, "I made my own C", I did it mommy and daddy"...so proud! This little girl is left handed and so I have no idea about how to help her hold crayons and pencils the left handed way. Even having the paper turned "different" confuses me! She's a smart girl! I'm pretty sure she's already got it figured out!

Miss C will be Pinkalicious for Halloween this year so what more could a girl want than a personalized package from Pinkalicious (aka Aunt Rhonda) herself! Miss Caroline was beside herself with giggles, grins, and smiles this afternoon when she opened up the special halloween package and saw that it was a Pinkalicious book! C thought the packaging and book topped going to ballet tonight...it was that fun!

We ended our evening by going to dance and coming home to eating Sam's homemade apple pie (ahem...Skytop Granny Smith Apples) and vanilla icecream and reading none other than Pinkalicious!

 

This sweet girl is also a diva! We were in the men's section at Target and I turned around and she's trying on high heels in women's shoes! It was a ruckus trying to get this girl out of the shoe section. She literally tromped all around wearing those high heels and did a fabulous job even with the strings attached! She picked out the shoe color too! She's too much! Love my sweet girl! She's so full of personality!

 

 

One of our last family summer vacations of 2012 was to my favorite city in SC...Charleston! This trip was family funfilled for sure! We had many manys! I love spending time with my family in this historical beautiful city!

 

This little love bug is sweet on her daddy!

After a picnic lunch, (and feeding squirrels and having a very close encounter with a hawk...conversation for another day), and running around the park at the battery, this little girl stopped long enough so I could capture the happiness!

Loving my sweet girl!

So sassy and sweet!

One of our Charleston adventures was to the Children's Museum where C played and played and played! We had the best time playing with her and seeing how many of those golf balls we could get into the many different places! 

Painting with water! Who knew that this could be so much fun!

Gardening...she has a green thumb just like her daddy!

Shopping!

Artist at work!

Creating a masterpiece for our fridge!

And everybody says, "Cheeze" at the SC Aquarium!

Baby shark, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!

(Big C, that was for you)!

So dramatic!

She's so brave! Her momma doesn't do snakes...of any kind!

Love her...and the daddy!

Frog makes a great picture prop and a friend!

 

Charles Towne Landing was fun and HOT!

  

A day at the IOP with many small Leviner children...fun!

Back in July we celebrated C's friend, Hannah, turning 7! Hannah has been C's favorite big girl friend since the day she started Ms. Leah's! C loved Hannah's horse birthday party and the fact that it was a swim party too! C was not afraid to even jump off the diving board for the first time either! So glad that this girl is not a scaredy girl like her momma!

My two sweet loves!

Ready, Set,...

Jump!

She did it again and again and again!

Her sweet friends Joel and Nathaniel!

Sweet Hannah and our sweet Caroline!

Two precious "big" girls!

At the end of July C had a cousin day at the zoo! It was a lot of fun for all of the kiddos including their mommas! We did a lot of walking! We feed a lot of animals! The children participated in many zoo activities! It was a day worth spent! PS...it was not blazing hot either!

 

Silas, Caroline, Franklin, and Anna

Silas feeding a Lorikeet. He loved it!

Sweet girl feeding one of her momma's fav animals!

The giraffe!

Anna and Silas did the rope climb! This was fun to see!

These kiddos were so brave!

Getting a pony ride!

Anna and C feeding the goats!

Franklin! He's so funny in C's stroller!

 This week began week three of dance for Miss C! I took dance as a child for years and enjoyed it. I loved each year getting new dance shoes and dance clothes, wearing costumes, and participating in parades and recitials (getting to wear big girl makeup for the recitals was also a plus). C has talked about being a "dancer girl" for what seems like forever and I couldn't wait to enroll her in a dance studio. After finding the right studio for our family I was ready for the frills and twirls to begin! I love watching Caroline each week in her adorable pink leotard, tights, and slippers as she tries her best to listen to Miss Kathryn and imitate dance movements like plie and porte de bras. Caroline is really a good listener (ahem...the best in her class) and she tries her heart out at paying attention, doing her job, practicing and learning! She amazes me at how hard she really tries each technique and how well she listens (when all the cute pies are running around C is still standing in her circle in first position while Miss K rounds up the friends).

Initially we wanted C to take a tap/ballet combo class but the studio didn't offer it because Kathryn felt like it was cheating the girls that didn't like the one but the other and vice versa and they would have to go through 30 minutes of the one they didn't enjoy so that made sense. We might add tap next year but we were not disappointed after her explanation of why she no longer offers the tap/ballet combo. C is happy with ballet and "we are all good" with that! Who knows she may not want to take dance next year or she may! She's talked about being a gymnastics girl too ever since going to a gymnastics birthday party over a year ago (this girl doesn't forget anything...like her momma)!

So you can imagine the excitement around my house today when a special package comes in the mail addressed to C from Big C! I secretly knew what it was but couldn't wait for her to open her gift! When she opened it she pulled out a very special pair of shoes. They were black and shiny with ribbons as ties. They had special "tap" soles! Big C got her a pair of tap shoes...AHHH (happy dance)! C didn't know what they were for (to my surprise) and I didn't tell her right away; instead I put them on her and told her that she would figure out her special shoes once we walked into the kitchen. Too bad for me that my video camera was dead but I had my camera ready! I went into the kitchen first to get a great first picture of her in those fancy shoes for Big C and I got.....

 

this! She loved them! Look at that

extended arm! It was like she knew exactly

what to do (who needs a class when you can

wear the special shoes at play and tap on

the kitchen floor, ha)!

She loved them so much that she...

tapped and tapped and tapped!

I think she put some ballet moves

in there too (using the counter

as a barre)!

Thank you Big C for my special shoes!

I love them!