Friday, December 26, 2008

mighty machines!!!

beano loooves the mighty machines dvds! they put daddio & me to sleep. he has a favorite one we would get from the library, but santa brought him his very own! here he is belting out the theme song on the way to uncle tom & aunt donna's yesterday! i don't know why he looks so angry, he really gets into it! you can see cecee's arm to the left dancing.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

away in a manger

here's papaw's manger scene he finally finished. he's been working on it since before grandma died. i am proud of him that he completed it & has it displayed. it was a labor of love. he has struggled since grandma passed away, especially on the holidays (she went into the hospital Christmas eve & never came out). but, he is getting better. i think my kiddos have a lot to do with that. kids just brighten up a day.




i just had to post some pictures of my little shepard boy & angel tonight. last night, before bed i was telling beano about when i was little & would be in the Christmas program. i told him, hopefully someday (when we better attend church) he would get to be in a Christmas program.
well, low & behold the program has changed at our church. any old kid is welcome to participate, no practice required. beano said "i'm so xited, what's a sheperd do?" he ran all the way to the dress area with a big smile on his face.
check out his smile. he is so happy. you can just see the anticipation and innocence in his eyes.


i can't get over how dern sweet he looks!


i love this picture of the boys. it's looks like their having a talk about their sheep, or that baby they heard was born in a manger.



all the kids did a great job. i loved it. beano was so sweet up there, he was really paying attention to the baby in the manger.




miss cecee was a bit worn out during manger time & didn't want to be an angel for long. daddy had to go rescue allie from the wriggling toddler at the front of the church right away. she was mighty cute though.

Merry Christmas to all! i look forward to posting about our christmas adventures over the past few weeks.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

the new do..

here is his professional hair cut. he's my dollbaby. i'm so thankful the lady didn't shorten it too much. i care more about his hair than my own- a bit silly i know.

tonight, santa is visiting our home. the kiddos went to bed early so we could wrap & put together some things. nothing like waiting till the last minute. the kiddos got up at 4 this morning, due to beano puking. he felt all better by noon. daddio, on the other hand is starting to feel yucky. i hope he's feeling better for present time.
we've got lots of activities & a mini vacation coming up (to the smoky hills as beano calls them). i can't wait. i hope we magically get healthy.
merry christmas to all & happy birthday to my dear friend karen!!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

getting a haircut...

well, justin has been saying beano needs a haircut for several months now. i have been ignoring him. he has been strongly suggesting it lately, so i decided to trim it up & just get it out of his eyes. that didn't turn out too well. it's very uneven. today, damaw said she could feather his sides since she does the dogs' hair (what was i thinking??). he moved while she was cutting it, so one side is now super short.
what makes me laugh about his haircut is my mom had the same do when she was in the first grade, except her bangs were even shorter.

it really doesn't look that bad, but tomorrow we are going to a salon. i will post with results tomorrow.....

on another note; tonight, daddio was rocking cecee with all of the dolls from her crib. it was so sweet to hear him singing to her. he's such a good daddy.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

sweets made by my sweeties

we bought a premade gingerbread house for the kiddos to decorate. when i opened it up, i questioned my sanity. but, it turned out much better than i thought & we had a lot of fun creating it!
here is beano pouring the icing mix.
cecee dumping in the water..
i think this should go right here..

helping each other out. they really did a great job working together on this!


sneaking in a little taste...


we also made some chocolate covered pretzels to sharewith friends. beano put springtime sprinkles on them, as that is all we had.
delicious!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

love is patient

we haven't been to church in a while. we have a new pastor we haven't even heard preach. while our church was without a pastor, there was a lady that would preach who was so inspiring to me (she was also my cousins' kindergarten teacher). during sermons, i am normally trying to keep my children quiet & don't pay attention like i should. but one sunday her sermon stuck with me & i often find myself thinking about it. her sermon was on corinthians 13:4. love is always patient; love is always kind; love is never envious or arrogant with pride; nor conceited. she said at the end of the day replace the word love with your own name & ask yourself were you? me, not so much. this is something i am working on....

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

mama's little piggy

oh, i love the movie, a christmas story. i think we watched it several times every year when i was growing up. that movie is one of my alltime favorites.
beano was eating a few nights ago bread covered in jelly (but not too much he says). when he was done, he licked the plate.
it so reminded me of mama's little piggy eating.

what a doll & having a ball!

cecee loves to rocky her dolls to sleep. usually it's just 2 of them, but i threw them all up there with her for the picture. she is so loving to her dolls, i love watching her pretend to be mama.

we have a ball that will barely fit through the hallway. it's called a rib it ball. i stumbled upon it at a local thrift store & it has been a blast. it is so easy for the kiddos to catch & throw. & it doesn't hurt when it is thrown at your head (at least too much).

check out beano's masters of the universe shirt.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

plans

i've been trying to get a grasp on all of our holiday plans & it was starting to get the better of me. i think we have somewhat of a plan now, but if something changes that is ok.

i don't know if it's the excitement of christmas or what, but sleep has been a bit challenging. last night, i sang & stood on 1 foot swaying cecee while beano held my other foot in bed. it was after 11 before they were both asleep. i keep telling myself what deedee always says, "this too shall pass." & it will.


it seems like just yesterday beano was born & we were bringing our little glow worm home. i stayed awake the entire first night home, making sure he was ok. he was.
the second night, i had a plan with daddio to take shifts so someone would be up at all times. i woke up in the middle of the night to beano crying & daddio patting my leg thinking i was the baby (which was in the bassinet). by the end of the second week, i was no longer setting the alarm for every 3 hours to make sure & nurse him.

& it's hard to believe it's been 17 months since cecee was born. i had a 3 or 4 page instruction manual for the grandmas & poppy on how to take care of beano (like they wouldn't know) while i was in the hospital with cecee. i tried to plan everything out just so. when she was born, it all went out the window. she had breathing problems & was in the nicu for about a week. one of the hardest things for me was to leave the hospital without her. at the time, it seemed like the end of the world to me. but it wasn't. we made it through & she is now a beautiful, healthy little girl that lights up a room with her smile.

good things came out of the time she was in the nicu. it brought daddio & i closer together. he was my rock. it made me realize how blessed i am to have my family. namaw took off work to care for beano so i could stay at the hospital with cecee. auntie jen offered to fly up from florida to help out. damaw took care of zaky & came down to help out. our family doctor would come to the hospital almost every morning before work to check in on us (most mornings he woke daddio & i up in sleeping together in the little hospital bed). that all meant so much.

beano & cecee, from their births, have been teaching me that life doesn't always go as i plan. it's something i have a hard time with, going with the flow & putting it in god's hands. but i'm working on it!

Monday, December 8, 2008

christmas card picture time


on my to do list this week was getting a picture of the kiddos for the christmas card. last year was a bit challenging, we had to do separate pictures. i was hoping i would have deb's luck & get a good shot the first time. we did!

big brother loves to hug his little sis.

a few action shots...



i am so happy to mark this off my list!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

birthday party - round 2

yes, my kids are spoiled. i like to think they are very well loved. i do think that they are growing up to be loving & appreciative children though.

today was round 2 of beano's birthday.

here was the cake decorating a few days ago.
we're still working on sharing, aren't we cecee?


& the final result: a motorcycle cake that plays songs, just what he wanted (we had a candle that played music) i found the idea here, her's is much better!
here is the cake beano helped make for his special friend that turned 4. it was covered in sprinkles!!

we sang happy birthday to the kids & they made their wishes


miss mimi looked so pretty in her dress & hat today!!
i didn't get a good action shot of beano in his birthday shirt, but it's a motorcycle shirt i made for him out of an old tie. there's a 3 on the side. i think it's pretty cool.

my, today was fun!!!! i think this might have been the best day of his life. he loved all his friends and family coming over to play and open presents. we even had a pinata! i wish i had founf my camera for that part. the boys whacked it pretty hard & miss a hit it so delicately, just like a lady. aubrie was the one to smack it to smithereens, don't mess with her!!

check out the indoor trampoline beano got for his birthday. i was hoping this might wear him out, but he was up till 10pm tonight! i think this will be a lot of fun! i just wish it had a higher weight limit for big mama (as beano calls me).


this evening, he sat his new desk from neighbor j & starting writing cards of thanks. isn't that awesome?

thank you to all our family & friends that made today (& everyday)so special. we missed those of you that couldn't be here, but we were thinking of you! we are so lucky to have you in our lives.

artsy fartsy & grandpa phil

grandpa phil was in town this week & brought ben what every grandson wants for his birthday - hotwheels! we had a fun time visiting & trying to put the thing together. once it is together - watch out.
as beano says,"it's super cool!"

it was open house at the mitchell art academy this weekend. the turnout was great! we had a wonderful time there visiting with darbs & jl & making masterpieces.
i love how hard at work everyone is on their pieces.

if you have the chance, i highly rec commend going. miss laura is so sweet & it's great family time. we're starting to be regulars there!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

some dancing

the other night we had los bravos takeout for dinner (yummy!). our entertainment for the evening was the kids dancing to dan zanes. i love to watch them dance. they are so sweet together. beano is such a good big brother. they just go round & round..