Nine Times, Mrs. Yeager

Levi, Amy and Noah. November 5, 2011.

As the clock winds back an hour, it is time to retreat to the old PP&M standby, Yeager Boys Home Alone.

For those of you new to the blog, this is the time when Mama Yeager departs overseas for a few days to leave us a Yeager boys home, well, alone.

This marks the 9th time we’ve done this. Some are easy, others are more of a challenge. (Nine times? Nine Times, Mrs. Bueller.)

We begin each trip with a departure photo. The one time we didn’t take a picture, Amy was stranded earned a few extra days in Europe thanks to a volcano. Call me superstitious, Just don’t call me well-rested.

Hair cut time, because we all know how important hair is to a male Yeager.

Amy tries to leave later on Saturday so we can have some time together before she flies and this launch day was no different.

One item on our agenda was to get two little boys a hair cut. Mission accomplished.

We put some furniture back into our front room after our renovation was finally complete. We ripped out carpet in that room and put in a hardwood floor.

It will be my job to make sure the floors have minimal scratches, wears and no tears on her return.

One way to do that is to send Levi’s wrestling partner, Noah, to cousin Jenna’s for a sleepover. So, Noah had fun going to Chuck E. Cheese and Levi and I had a quiet night planned.

But first we had to make a lot of noise at the grocery store. Levi no longer wants to sit in the toddler seat and look back at the driver. He wants to sit in the main cart area and stack groceries on him. After awhile, he’s ready to stand up in the cart and stand on everything in the cart. No cardboard box, loaf of bread or broad egg noodles are safe.

Levi did keep asking for No-No, but instead it was just his daddy. Amy and I have talked about how much calmer and easier it is to just have one child instead of two. At the time we had just one, it seemed sooooo complicated. I’m sure our friends with 3 and 4 kids will tell us that two is a walk in the park.

Levi and I ended up in the basement and I’ll let him tell you what we were up to. http://youtu.be/Vg6p4LpMUvA

I wonder where Levi gets his love of the camera?

Church, play dates and a missing shoe in Day 2

Noah with his friend Rohan.

Sunday’s for us involves church.

Even when Amy is away and we’re in YBHA mode, we try to make it to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church for Sunday morning.

For one, Noah has Sunday School to attend. Secondly, it gives us all a chance to get out of the house.

Sunday was no different. Some weeks I do have to sing with the choir. That’s getting to be more of a challenge with Levi not wanting to sit still and be held for the usual 3 or 4 minutes a song takes.

This morning I was to rehearse with 4 other guys for next Sunday’s service. We are part of the first Sunday for our newly called Pastor, Tim Olson. I was on call committee, so whatever we can do to help him feel welcome, it’s important to do.

I let Levi and Noah walk/run/play around our practice room. That lasted 90 seconds and they were both needing my attention. So, my apologies to the guys as I tried to balance the boys and learn that alto part in Beautiful Saviour. Any ideas on cool arrangements, send them to Andy Pollock.

Noah made it to church school without incident and Levi and I made it through 30 minutes of the service. He seems to do better when penned in like a sheep, and not having an aisle of easy escape nearby. Today Levi wanted to be in the aisle and not with me.

Following church was lunch. Always an adventure. Levi likes to feed himself. Look for that update later this week.

I got Levi to sleep fairly easy and Noah had 20 minutes of quiet time before the babysitter arrived. I had to go back to church for the annual meeting. Those yearly gatherings are always entertaining. This was no exception. The boys were good for Bridgett. Noah likes having her for a babysitter.

The boys and their track.

Prior to Amy’s departure on Saturday, a play date was set up with Noah’s long-time friend Rohan.

These two characters were friends at their last daycare and have continued to play together since going to different centers.

They enjoyed an afternoon of playing with a race track and other normal shenanigans those two manage to create.

Levi and I attacked the grocery store during the play time. As I took Levi out of his car seat, I noticed he only had one shoe. So, I removed the remaining shoe and took him into the store  with only socks on his feet.

He’s a good shopper and even performs a few taste tests on the carts. I’ll let the folks at Hy-Vee know if we found any germs as they work through his system.

When Levi and I got back to Rohan’s, we found Levi’s shoe laying in Rohan’s driveway. It was a little cold, but it still fit his foot.

The boys struggled through supper as Noah was hungry and Levi was just pleased to have a banana for supper.  Noah and I made pizza. The mess was a good one, but worth it.

We made it through the weekend. Let’s hope the forecasted snow doesn’t alter our game plan for the coming week.