Proud Mamma

Hi guys! Hope you all have been well. We've been having a good time up here, I really can't complain about life. The above picture is Julie Cutts and I, we had a 7 year reunion this last month. (She's now living 1 1/2 hours away from me). I grew up with her and it was so great to talk and catch up on things. It's a wonderfully small world. Here are some updates from this Leavitt family:

1. I gave my dreaded talk this past Sunday. The neat thing was that it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I got my weeks mixed up and prepared my talk a week early, so I had all this past week to review my talk nightly. By the time I was supposed to give it, I was really familiar with the content and able to speak comfortably. It was a really good experience. I think the next time I'm asked to give a talk, I wont stress out. :) I just have to remember to prepare my talk a week early.

2. I'm so proud of my little girls. They are so cute and make me laugh daily. This is my little brag time for Claire. Today I was updating my play list and the girls and I were grooving in the kitchen to Beyonce's irreplaceable song. At the point where she sings in the song, "Can you walk and talk at the same time?" Claire piped up and said, "I can!" :) She was so proud of herself for that. The other funny thing she did happened at her gym explorations class. Claire was in a class with 8 other 4-5 year olds and they were playing the game "Captain May I." (The same game as "mother may I," different name.) The teacher was telling all of the kids to move a certain amount of steps forward, and then it was Claire's turn. The teacher said, "Claire, take three steps backwords." Claire said, "Captain may I?" She then immediately turned her back to the front of the room and took 3 big steps backwards towards the teacher. :D We all laughed about that, and I was so proud of my clever little girl. The funny thing is that that really defines Claire. She is such a practical little thing. She didn't even think about what she was doing, she wanted to move forward and so she made it happen.

Claire playing hockey (so cute!)




Claire playing soccer (I love how she would put her foot on the ball when she was listening to the teacher)


Cady is doing well also. She's taking a ballet class now and is so precious in it! (Her pictures are on Bryce's laptop, I'll add them later). Her favorite moves are making a sailboat with her legs (stands on one leg and lifts the other foot up to the side of her knee) and jumping like a frog. It's exciting seeing her learn and grow. She's still my little bookworm and loves to read to herself.

3. I've started a hobby of collecting...Calico critter things! It all started this past Christmas when my inlaws bought the girls a calico critter house and some animals. Now, I find myself looking on ebay daily and making bids on things I don't need but really want. :D I think I like these things more than my girls. I just have this vision of a huge table (like one of the big train tables) and a whole village of calico critter houses, playgrounds, shops, and families. Doesn't that sound like fun? Fun, but dangerous. I find that I get so caught up on ebay in bidding and wanting to win that by the time I remember to factor in shipping costs, I haven't really gotten as good of a deal as I thought. I've only bought two things so far. :) I'm trying to pace myself.

4. I just finished reading a wonderful book-- Left to Tell, by Imacule Ilibaganza (not sure that's the exact spelling of her name). It's a true story written by a Rwandan holocaust survivor and how her relationship with God helped her through the ordeal of hiding in a bathroom stall for 3 months with 7 other women. It really was an exceptional story, it really changed my perspective on life and made me more grateful. I awoke this morning feeling so thankful to be alive, safe, and living in America with my freedoms and with my beautiful family.

5. We went ice skating as a family this past weekend. It's the first time Claire and Cady have ice skated. They were so cute! They loved it. By the end of the night they both had skated on their own without holding on to us. Bryce and I were so proud of them! We're thinking about signing them up for ice skating classes, as a tribute to their Minnesota heritage. :)





6. I'm doing a preschool co-op with 2 other moms, and I taught this week. One of the days we talked about babies. I went somewhere that I'm now regretting...I let them use baby bottles during snack time. Claire has been asking me to let her drink from the bottle again for the last 3 days now! I forgot how much she loved the bottle, guess she still hasn't outgrown it. :)Sound familiar to anyone else?

Well, that's all of the current events I can think of right now. I guess I'll end this post by saying that life is good and we love and miss you all. It's wonderful to be in touch with all of you. Technology is amazing. Hope you are having a great day, and thanks for checking up on us!

Hello again!

Long time no post, sorry about that! Here are some pictures of recent happenings. Hope you all are well!


Christmas with the Leavitts. Claire and Cady with their Truman cousins.







Christmas with part of my family.


So, I got new kitchen knives for Christmas....need I say more? Yes, they are indeed sharp, and yes I have a new found respect for them.



Doctor Bryce! How convenient that he just happened to have all of the supplies necessary to give me stitches sitting in our garage (old dental school supplies).
The girls were alternately fascinated and horrified by the sight of Bryce stitching me up. We used this as a lesson for them as to why they should never play with knives!


My new thumb with 4 stitches. This was my first time ever getting stitches. Bryce did an excellent job. However, I'm going to do my best to avoid this experience in the future!(Now if only I could figure out how to use my new apple slicer without cutting myself as well...) :D



Our house. We wanted to show you how much snow we are surrounded by. The ground in front of our house is completely flat, right now there is about 5 feet of snow piled up by the sides of our driveway. I find myself frequently thinking about summer and trying to wrap my mind around the fact that it really does exist and will return to MN at some point in time...


We love you guys!

Oh christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree...

So, last week we bought our first live Christmas tree! We chose a beauty, a 3 foot little thing. It was the only one we could fit easily into our car, and the price was right, $9. We were so excited to have a tree that we decided to go ahead and spend some money on decorations. We bought an $.88 box of candy canes at Walmart. Mysteriously enough, there was not a trace to be found of them by the second day, only plastic wrappers littered throughout my house. Can't figure out for the life of me where they went to... :D Needless to say, I'm NOT buying anymore candy canes for that tree.

This is a picture of Claire in her awsome fort she built, with our little tree in the background.



I'm sad to announce that after last night, we no longer have a need to decorate our little tree. I noticed yesterday that I had little bug bites on my arms and legs. I've heard before of someone getting a flea infestation in their house thanks to a live Christmas tree, and at first I thought that was my problem. Then however, I realized that there was no earthly way the fleas were biting my arms, hands, legs, and tummy all at the same time without me seeing them at all. After a few hours and a mammoth breakout of hives, I realized that I was having an allergic reaction to the tree!!! I guess it kicked into high gear once the tree started drying out and the needles were dropping everywhere. We disposed of the tree immediately, vacuumed, and emptied the bag into our outside trash. Happily enough, my rash hasn't progressed, I'm still rather itchy though. I'm hoping I wont have a repeat of last night--waking up every hour or so because of unbearable itchiness! I love real trees, I love the look and smell of them, but I think we are going to be an artificial tree family from now on. (It's definitely not worth the great smell!)
Well, it was fun the first 2 days we had it. :)

Fall Fun

We were playing outside with some friends when I had a brilliant idea. I made a bed of leaves right at the bottom of our slide so they could slide right into it! Yes, that is the extent of my great idea (hope you weren't expecting more). :D The kids loved it, it was fun. We buried each other and had leaf fights too.







Claire saw that I had the camera out and begged me to let her take some pictures. I, feeling exuberant and a bit reckless from our fun play, decided to turn her loose with it. The following slide show is composed entirely of pictures taken by Claire. I think she may have a photography career ahead of her...I'll have to send her up in a few years to train with Johanna. :D

Hair Cuts!!!!

****This is a break from my catch-up posts. This is something that happened this past week.*****

After seeing my friends give their little girls hair cuts, I decided it was probably time to do the same for Claire and Cady. But then when I actually looked at Claire's hair I thought, man, this hair is too pretty to just throw away! I then hit upon the idea of getting it cut professionally and then donating it to Locks of Love. Seriously, this decision was one of the best I've ever made!! The day after I had Claire's hair cut, I took Cady in to get hers done as well. Claire and Cady both had 10 inches of hair cut off. I no longer have to bribe them with TV to do their hair---all it takes is a quick 2 minute round brush session with the hair dryer to poof out their bed head hair. I'm really enjoying this new look for my little girls.

Before pictures. Claire had slept with her hair in a braid the night before.




Cady's before pictures




Cady holding her hair! (I didn't bring my camera when Claire's was being cut)




Funnily enough, this was the first time Cady has ever had her hair cut, and she fell asleep in the chair! That's the same thing her sister did during her first "real" hair cut.




After pictures!







This week I was busy sewing the girls new dresses. They helped me choose out the fabric and embellishment. It was such a fun project! I really enjoy sewing, I'm so grateful to my mom for putting me in sewing classes year after year when I was young. :) I wasn't very good back then, but it did give me the feeling that I could sew if I so desired. Well, these were by far my favorite dresses I've made. I just loved seeing them in their new dresses with their new haircuts!

Bryce's Induction to Med School

Bryce is currently in med school and Mayo recently had an induction ceremony where there was a speaker and then each student walked across the stage to receive a framed Hippocratic oath. This ceremony reminded me a lot of Bryce's white coat ceremony in Dental school. I made it through 5 minutes of the program before having to leave due to the girls being too loud. Claire discovered that the chairs squeaked when she stood up and then sat down really fast and Cady had (has) yet to fully master the concept of whispering. :) I did sneak back in briefly to snap a picture of Bryce crossing the stage. It was a nice ceremony, but I was glad when it was over and the girls could be their normal chatty, noisy little selves.

Cutie Pies

This was one of those mornings when I looked at my girls and just sighed with happiness. They are so precious to me. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a good picture of them both smiling at me because they were trying to finish their show on TV. (I bribe them with a show in the morning so they will sit still for me to do their hair). I know I'm a nuisance with my camera, but these moments are so worth it to me!






This is Bryce being brave one evening and sharing his laptop with the girls. He was teaching Claire how to use the fingerpad while playing a Backyardigans game. I love their time together.

Fall Afternoon

These pictures were taken on a warm and windy fall afternoon. The only thing that I want to point out to you is that they are wearing authentic Jean Leavitt dresses. :)

Believe it or not...he's there!

This is one of the girls favorite pasttimes, pretending the couch is their boat and then proceeding to load up every possession they own onto it. The funny thing about this time is that Bryce is buried beneath their things. :) He chose a rather unfortunate place to nap this afternoon.

Claire took a gymnastics class this fall, and it was awesome! I got the biggest kick out of her, she just looked so cute and was so very excited about going. She got to do this class with two of her friends as well. This was definitely one of our favorite community ed classes. Claire learned how to do front rolls, a bear walk on two parallel bars placed on the floor, jumped up and down a long trampoline, jumped into a sponge pit, and even attempted a back roll. Lots of fun stuff happening. Cady had a hard time sitting out and watching Claire. Next fall she'll be old enough to do it as well. We can't wait!