6th of July

Sunday our church had a very nice ceremony dedicated to military appreciation, for Freedom Sunday, as our pastor called it. All the military (active duty and retired) wore their uniforms, and the wives recorded a message about their husbands being in the military and how we feel about it. They called out each person's title and had them walk up on the stage to receive a flower lei and be saluted by a child. Jenene sang the National Anthem and a little girl sang "Proud to be an American." And then they had wives come up too and the church prayed for us. There was also a potluck after the service. It was quite the to-do. It is nice for them to appreciate our military. And there are several military men at our church that have to go to Iraq several times while they're here, so it's especially nice for them to be recognized and prayed for.

Levi's vocabulary is coming along rather nicely. He's really starting to carry on conversations with sentences. There are still several wobbly words in the midst, but most of the words can be deciphered nicely. I like it when he surprises me with a new word that I haven't heard him say before. A few weeks ago we were outside playing, and I told him I'd be right back cause I was gonna go grab something in the front yard. As I was walking away he said, "Hurry Mama!." It was really cute. Mostly because Nathan and I say that EVERY time one of us leaves the house, or even the room for a second. We always say, "Hurry!" So it was sweet that he joined in the tradition. Now he always says it as we're watching Papa leave on his bike out the window. Also, one of his newest words that is so cute the way he says it is "Movie." He says, "A hoovie" It is so cute. I can hardly contain myself. It makes me always want to say, "yes, you can watch movies all day!" He either asks for "A hoovie car" which is Cars. Or "A hoovie doggy" which is 101 Dalmatians. His two favorite things really...vehicles and animals.

He pretty much always has a car in his hands and makes it drive on the walls, the windows, the table, the ground...everywhere it possibly can. And, he's always kissing everything! And now licking! I can't get him to stop licking. I mean, it gross when he licks my face or something, but it's worse when I have to tell him to stop licking the dressing room door at wal-mart. I don't know. I just hope he doesn't get mono or something from licking and kissing every blasted thing under the sun. We sit on his bed and he hugs and kisses all his animals one by one. And lots of times in between says, "aaahhhh." We have a monkey magnet on the fridge and he spotted it and promptly asked me to take it down so he could hug and kiss it. So, I guess observing his love of cars and his love of kissing everything from babies and animals to doors and flowers, he is apparently manly and nurturing. Pretty good.... Except that he and JoJo kissed...on the lips...the other day when they were saying goodbye. I think Nathan and Bryan both almost had a heart attack. So, to quote from the very inappropriate movie Knocked Up "Uh oh. Looks like some one's getting home schooled."