Benjamin’s 2nd Birthday
Samuel R Berky
After a scary start, Samuel R Berky was born into our family on January 13, 2006 – a Friday the 13th, no less. We were expecting to have a caesarean delivery (due to placenta previa) and had it scheduled for a few days later, when Sam decided to arrive early. We had a 3am, 100 mph rush to the hospital and went directly into the operating room. They prepped LaReita and Julles made it in time to watch along with David. Dave later said, it was just like M*A*S*H. Samuel was born at 4:36am and weighed in at 6lbs 7oz.
Eating Ice Cream
James First Grade Class
Benjamin 16 months old
Benjamin
Swinging
Life
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September 2004 – Life
James’ Kindergarten class went on their first field trip today (Sept 17, 2004) to Spring Lake. Just about 20 minutes from Spanish Fork. Everyone went fishing and everyone caught a fish! He was so excited! And I was excited that they gutted the fish for me so I didn’t have to! We’re going to cook it up tomorrow night. I think it’s a Rainbow Trout. Should be pretty yummy. We’ll roast it over our fire.
I had just finished feeding Benjamin his cereal, when I heard James calling me from the other room. I went to see what he wanted, then when I came back in the kitchen to a very funny sight. Anthony had dumped rice cereal flakes into the bowl (it was overflowing) and was feeding it to Benjamin. Benjamin kept smacking his lips to get some moisture on the dry flakes. When Anthony saw me come in he got a nervous look in his eyes as I said, “Oh Anthony!” But I reassured him that I wasn’t mad at him, and thanked him for wanting to be a good helper. (It’s something we’ve been working on with Anthony…giving him more positive reinforcement…basically trying to catch and praise him for doing something good.)
Benjamin smacking his lips from the dry rice cereal.
The week after our cruise, Benjamin started pulling himself up. Here you see how happy he is with his accomplishment! Hard to believe that he’s almost 8 months.
LaReita’s Birthday
(If viewing extract, click on the “Read more about…” link below to see the pictures.)
September 3rd, 2004 – LaReita’s Birthday
For my birthday I just wanted to be with my kids and family. Especially since James went off to Kindergarten for the first time today! On my birthday!!! Good thing it wasn’t my 30th birthday or it might have been harder than it already was! Julles orchestrated getting the evening party put together. Meika made dinner, Lynette brought side dishes. Julles and Meika made Chocolate cupcakes (what were they thinking?…they know I can’t have chocolate in large quantities because of Benjamin!). So I pulled out a Schwan’s pie to defrost and in comes Lynette with some of her famous Key Lime Pie (just as good, if not better, as the real stuff we had a couple weeks earlier). Julles said to me, “You were worried for a minute there weren’t you? You don’t think we would be that cruel do you?!” I should have known better.
Dave decided to carry on a Leavitt family birthday tradition. Grandpa bought a piece of farm equipment for Grandma’s birthday, so she bought him a sewing machine for his birthday! So this year Dave bought me a firepit. He’s been wanting one all summer long. We were going to do a fancy cement firepit like at the campsites, and also cement in our side driveway. But I decided to spend it on a cruise instead! So Dave decided to go ahead and get that darn firepit he’s been wanting all summer. I must say that the enormous box that appeared on our front door step on my birthday was quite a shocker. I really had no idea what it could be. And I certainly didn’t expect a firepit for my birthday! But I do like it. We had smores, and a few other friends over including the Lewis’s. After the kids were in bed we had lots of fun burning…..stuff. 🙂 Those that were there, you know what I’m talking about….
Amanda Lewis, Karalyn Lewis, Anthony notice he has no shoes? The boy refuses to wear shoes even in 60 degree weather!, James, Brynn Lewis
Benjamin looks so little in this picture, but he really is BIG!
Anthony Age 2 3/4
Kiku – cookie
Bang-bang – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – loves to watch
Nilk – milk – likes it so much that some days that is all we can get him to eat.
Juice-pop-milk – soda or milk
Sometimes wakes up in the morning and wants pop corn for breakfast or a corn dog.
Likes to take apart the laundry basket and make piles of dirty laundry to pay in with James.
Yells louder and louder as he tells you he want something, his voice and demeanor get more and more serious as he repeats his request/demand.
Always liked reading the book “The Way I Feel” would want you to read it 5-7 times in a row.
Called Julles “doowie”
Called Meika “beika”
Says “thankucome” for “Thank You” and “You’re Welcome”
Falls asleep anywhere.
Likes to watch Care Bares videos.
Feet are as big as James’ feet wears same shoes.
Knows how to play on the pbskids.org website.
Always wants to watch “TB” when we get in the van. Pushes button to drop down the screen when he gets into the van. When mom closes the screen he says “NO, Anthony wants to watch TB!”
Often refers to himself in the third person.
In gymnastics class, the teacher calls him “strong boy”.
He can hold onto a bar suspended for 15-20 seconds.
Likes to play with mom’s hair as he goes to sleep. Has to play with hair when he drinks milk.
At night he prefers to be with dad and have dad read him stories as he falls asleep in mom & dads bed.
Will take items away from younger brother Benjamin and say “No baby, dangerous!” Watches out for his baby brother.
When mom has her cello, says, “No mom ?adfadfdf? down” if mom doesn’t put cello down he climbs up on her lap to make it harder for her to play.
Always has to shower with whoever is showering. Plays with cars in the shower.
Still gets very excited to go on a car ride.
Even though he may fall asleep between 10 and 11pm he is still up between 6:30 and 7am. Must have D Henry’s farmer genes.
Need to put kid DVDs on a higher shelf or he opens them up and plays with them and they get scratched.
Can work the DVD player and the VCR even though they are both over his head on a shelf – stands on his tippy-toes.
Likes to play games on the computer and watch James play games.
Sings “Oh where is my hairbrush” song from VeggiTales.
Calls Banjamin “banamin” or “baby ben”.