It's Really Over...

Asher announced tonight that he doesn't want me to rock him in the rocking chair anymore before he goes to sleep, he just wants to get in his bed.  Oh- a shot to the heart!  Really?!?!  It's the beginning of the end... no more babies.

To Catch a Leprechaun...

Eli was once told by one of Oakley's friend that he caught a leprechaun.  He has since been obsessed with catching his own.  So never mind that the laundry hasn't been done in 4 weeks- we made a leprechaun trap.

Eli is anxiously awaiting the leprechaun to climb the ladder trying to reach the gold coins on the top, and then fall through the paper and be trapped.  He checks the trap really regularly and has tried moving it to different locations.  No luck.  I am even more hopeful than Eli, I think, because I would love for a leprechaun to show me the way to a pot of gold.  But if our trap doesn't work and we don't end up with a leprechaun, it provided happy memories working on  Project Trap a Leprechaun together.

Love Fest 2010...

Valentine’s Day included the usual follow-the-string for the boys to find their Valentines from Mom and Dad. Eli and Oakley were actually staying with Grandma Lee Ann on Valentine’s Day, so I was hoping I would get out of the need to string yarn all over the entire house for the kids to follow to the end for their Valentine. No such luck- the boys were hoping the string would be set up and ready when they returned home on the 15th. I cut hearts out of colored paper and wrote something that I love about Scott on each one and attached it to a kiss. Scott was coming home from a trip the morning of Valentines, so I had the hearts set out on the bed. He left a letter for me on the dresser, which was so heartfelt and sweet- the best Valentines gift ever. I'm teary just remembering what he wrote. It was such a nice surprise. I decided to tackle the guest room closet last week since it's become the "catch all" for anything that doesn't have a place somewhere else. During the clean out, I found a shoebox full of letters, cards, and notes Scott and I have written to each other over the years. (Boy, does that statement make me sound old!) The quantity has significantly dwindled over the years and it was a sad realization. So the Valentines letter was perfect timing- it was nice to have such heartfelt thoughts recorded forever.

The day also contained the making of heart-shaped dinner rolls and Jell-O, all to be forgotten - but the Valentine’s Day letter will be forever...

The Retiring of the Infamous Green Swimsuit...

Audrey is definitely the resident comedian - who deeply loves her green swimsuit.  One minute you'll see her in a cute dress and a few seconds later she's in the swimsuit- when it's below freezing outside.  She INSISTS on wearing it every day and has come to the compromise of having it under her regular outfit.  But given the slightest of opportunity and the outfit is a pile on the floor and she is her beloved swimsuit.  The green swimsuit has finally been retired.  I think we all will miss it.  We enjoyed it, Audrey!  Thanks for the laughs...

These pictures were taken at Lucas' Birthday Party in NOVEMBER. 

What's a party without the Green Swimsuit making an appearance?

Oh, What Joy...

The boys have always loved jumping and playing in the "ball pits" found at different children play areas- when they used to exist. I always wondered how many billions of germs were living on those plastic balls, but the joy they received outweighed the chance of catching some illness - so I let them play. The ball pits have become extinct, I would assume because of the aforementioned germ party that existed. When I found a few bags of the plastic balls on clearance at Target, I thought I would be able to create our own ball pit, which would only contain Beeson Germs. I thought an inflatable pool down in the toy room with 450 plastic balls would bring the joy once found only at trips to Chuck E. Cheese or McDonalds. Oh the excitement level was an all-time high when the boys saw all those plastic balls. The level was soon taken down many notches when, after an exhaustive search of the garage and both sheds, there was no inflatable pool to be found. It was then a memory flashed through my mind of a young labradoodle biting a few holes in the pool last summer when the boys were swimming. It was January- there was no running down to the store to just pick up another pool. After an internet search and my refusal to pay $50 for a small pool, the bath tub became the next best option. I was not going to let 450 balls have free-reign in the toy room; they had to be contained in some way. The bath tub became the next best option. The boys have been completely delighted. I am anxiously checking the store each time I go for summer toys to be made available so we can put the ball pit downstairs. But for now, this is working out and I am totally pleased with how happy this makes the Beeson Boys.

Eli's Birthday #6...

I thought Eli was going to burst trying to decide where he would have his birthday party with his friends.  He finally decided on Kangaroo Zoo- a place with a lot of inflatable jump-on toys.  I was happy with that choice- taking a bunch of high-energy 6-year-olds to exhaust themselves jumping around on things not in my house.  Unfortunately Eli woke up with a really sore throat and we weren't sure if we should cancel the party.  Eli acted as if we were sending him to the guillotine if we did cancel, so we went ahead and had the party.

While we waited for the all the guests to arrive, the kids all played on the ride-on toys out on the driveway.

While we were at Kangaroo Zoo, most of the kids came up at some point and said they just wanted to go back and play outside at our house.  Well, after just throwing down admission for all of them, I was going to get my money's worth!

After a couple of hours of jumping, we went back to the house for cupcakes and ice cream.  Happy Birthday to our Sweet Eli!