Für Claire Elise

My most favorite piano piece to play is "Für Elise".  I've always loved it.  Grangran always loved it, too.  Every time she came to our house or I went to her house she'd always ask me to play "her" song.  I've had it memorized for years.  Claire's middle name is Elise and I can't wait for her to learn how to play that song.

Of course it's a little early for piano lessons for Claire but I've been doing some lessons with Austin.  He's so excited and loves practicing and learning.  I have him clap and count the notes of the song he is learning so he can learn the rhythm and get used to counting out the notes, etc.  So it's a pretty common occurrence around here.

Sunday night as we were getting ready to put the kids down I heard Claire counting over and over again and clapping.  I went to the family room and saw her seriously studying the piano music and then she would count "1, 2, 3" and clap over and over again.  Guess someone else is picking it up!  Ha, ha!  She'll be playing Für Elise before we know it!  

Co-Co Train

There's a stretch of walking paths around where we live that I like to do a good interval workout on.  I run and add in jumping jacks, lunges, and stairs.  That's right.  Out in the middle of nowhere is an old wooden staircase that leads to nowhere.  Just stops at the top of the hill.  I don't have any stairs in my house so I love to get them in when I can.  Of course I do my workouts with my double stroller loaded with three kids.  I usually kick Coen out at the half way mark.  Just when I'm getting tired and he's ready to get out and run or ride his scooter that I bring along.  He keeps up pretty well and one less child sure makes a difference!

Another great part about this particular stretch is that it goes under the train tracks.  I personally don't like being under the bridge when the train is going over us so I usually hurry and run through quickly.  But it is fun to watch the train pass by that close.  Today we were lucky and a train came at just the right time.  I told the kids to wave.  The driver saw them and gave them a big wave and then blew his whistle two short times for them.  Coen got really excited.  He said, "Mama!  Did you hear that train?  It said 'Co-Co'!  How did that train know my name?  That is a really smart train."  Pretty funny.  One of his nicknames that we all call him is Coco.  He was just amazed and so excited to tell the boys when they got home from school.

Not This Time

Austin let us know that he was not chosen as student representative today.  He was disappointed, of course, but knows that you win some and lose some.  He knew from the start that he might win and that he might lose.  In fact, he was a little disappointed last Monday when he came home and reported that no other students in his class had turned in posters, which we thought meant that no one else was running since the deadline for posters was Monday.  He said that it wasn't going to be as much fun just winning because no one else was running and that it would be more fun to have someone else to run against even if it meant that he could lose.  He was a lot more excited Tuesday when he found out two other students were going to run. 

I think that what he was most disappointed about today was that the girl who won did so unfairly.  She stood up and told her classmates after her speech was over that she would give them an ice cream party if they voted for her.  The rules that each student running for student council were given clearly stated that bribery was not to be used and those using bribery were to be disqualified.  I think that to be fair to Austin and the other student who ran, this rule should have been enforced.  While we can't go back and change the votes or the outcome, I think that an opportunity to teach the class about being good citizens and following rules was missed.  The students in the class did not miss and are aware of what happened.  Austin had students come up to him in class today and tell him that if they were him they would tell the principal because the other girl cheated.  It's one thing to lose fair and square but another thing to lose when you know the winner did not follow the rules and that something could have been done about it.


It was still a great experience and Austin is glad he ran.  His teacher did chose him to be an Eagle Escort earlier last week so he is excited for that.  An Eagle Escort helps new kids feel comfortable, shows them around the school, and he gets to eat lunch with the counselor periodically.  

Hood Ornament and Other Beauties

As I was driving the kids to school this morning I noticed a little something extra on my hood...

Oh, yeah!  I got to go through the drop off line with my nice new hood ornament.  Thank you Austin!  Little rascal!

Not exactly sure how I missed it but with buckling up two kids, loading a baby car seat, and closing van doors I managed to miss this beauty.  And while I'm talking about "beauties" check out this one...

This might look normal to some of you who live in an area that is participating in "Fall" but we're not even close to that stage yet.  In fact, this is how our tree in our front yard has looked since August 1st.  Nice.  When we left for Colorado Springs for our family reunion the end of July our tree was nice and green and leafy (like the tree you see across the street...just look through our tree and you'll see it.)  It should look like THIS.  When we returned four days later our tree hardly had a leaf left on it and the ones that were still hanging on were brown!  How does that happen in 4 days?!  Actually this seems to happen to this particular tree on really hot summers but it has ALWAYS come back and leafed out again and it never loses its leaves that fast!  It's like it goes into shock or something.  You can see the buds for the new leaves on it this year, too, but for some reason it isn't leafing out again.  I don't know if it's too late in the summer or what.  At least we know it's not dead.  But now we've got this lovely tree all ready for Fall in our front yard.  Looks great!  I thought I'd take a picture of it this morning while I was photographing my lovely hood ornament.

Uh...And Another One

Either Dallin is really getting excited for Halloween and Jack-o-lanterns or he wants to make sure there's something to sing about for Christmas.  Either way, this child is losing teeth right and left and up and down.  Austin pulled his tooth out for him (actually the last two...and maybe a few earlier ones as well).  He's becoming the official tooth puller at our house.  Hmmm...is dentistry in his future?  It does run in the family.  Guess only time will tell.  In the mean time, we're keeping the Tooth Fairy very busy around here.

**Dallin wanted me to point out that the spaces left from his missing teeth look like a pistol.  Ha, ha!  Totally does.  I didn't even notice that!  Very cool Dallin!

(See the handle on the left and the barrel pointing to the right?)

Another One Bites the Dust

A couple weeks ago Dallin lost his fourth tooth.  Another top one.  His other top one hasn't even come in yet so he's got quite the gap going right now.  He can still whistle amazingly well, though!  Impressive!

He wanted his picture taken with his tooth before the Tooth Fairy took it away.  He called Tory over and said he was ready for pictures.  We had to laugh.  He had every pillow from our bed all arranged in front of the front door.  I guess he wanted a nice backdrop!  He sure was excited to find a dollar the next morning!

Men in Black

Ah, these boys just crack me up.  Their latest "thing" is to get dressed in dark clothes and sneak around the house.  I think they think I can't see them or won't notice them as much.  They pretend that they are hiding from bad guys.  Their costumes crack me up.  They might be dark on one side but if they turn around they've got bright pictures on their backs.  They wear pj's, shirts inside out or backwards, vests, and anything else dark.  The only downside is that these wardrobes take a lot of digging through their clothes baskets and a BIG mess to clean up afterwards.  Oh, well.  They do have fun while it lasts!

I love how they're trying to look so "tough".  Little Coen was too funny.  He couldn't quite figure out how to stand there with a tough guy face on.  You should see some of the outtakes.  While the bigger boys steadily held their pose, Coen changes his with every click of the camera.  He has a lot more "cute" than "tough" going for him.  

Student Council

Austin decided he wanted to run for Student Council Representative for his class.  He filled out the application, got the required signatures from previous teachers, and turned it all in.  Friday he was sent home with a paper telling him what he needed to do for the elections the next week.  The first thing was to make a poster 12"x18" to hang in the school.  He had to have it turned in by Monday.  I thought it turned out pretty fun.

He brought it to school Monday and his teacher hung it up.  When he got home he reported that his was the only poster.  Since Monday was the deadline we figured he was it.  He was actually pretty disappointed.  He said it wasn't going to be very fun to be the only one giving a speech and just winning because no one else was doing it.  Well, Tuesday he went to school and two other girls in his class brought posters.  So now there are three of them running.  He's way excited now.  Guess he likes a little competition?

He also has to give a speech.  It has to be no longer than 3 minutes.  Each class presents their speeches to their own class.  His teacher was going to be gone on the election day so they decided as a group that they would do their speeches on Wednesday (today).  Austin was all ready to go this morning.  He had his speech memorized and everything.  I just got an email from his teacher saying the other two candidates weren't ready to give their speeches today so they're moving their elections to Friday.  Gee whiz!  Those girls are a little late on everything!  Too bad.  I guess he'll have more time to practice though!  I'm sure proud of him for giving it a try!

On Your Mark, Get Set...

...GO!!!

Our kids love to run.  Sometimes I send them outside and tell them to run from one stop sign to the other...just for fun!  They love it!  If the weather isn't cooperating-too cold, too hot, too wet, too dark, too early-then they run around the family room.  I think I have a circle pattern worn down in my carpet.  Behind the couch, around the brown chair, in front of the TV...over and over and over again.  They'll run forever!  Even Claire will call to the boys and say, "Run!" and start the races.  She loves it as much as they do.  Oh, yeah!  We've got our little cross country runners in the makings!
(The best sport EVER...sorry Tory!)

So anyway, after school today the kids decided to race in the backyard.  (Pay no attention to our very long grass.  Hasn't been mowed in over a week.  We had to wait for the yard to dry out after the hurricane rains turned it into a lake.) 

First, they had to do some stretching...which ended up in a little wrestling.

(There you go Tory.  That will make YOU proud!)

And then they were off!  I think they had a dress code for this race.  Hats required...but no shirts.  You never know with this bunch.

Claire couldn't quite keep up since they stuck her over in the corner.  She decided to cut through the patio.  Good thinking Claire!  Run, run, run!

And this is just a cute picture of Claire.  Of course she had to have her hat on since the boys did.  She is such a little copycat at this age.  She copies everything and I mean EVERYTHING that the boys do.  So fun!

I love it when they run and play and exercise together.  I remember when I was little my sister Amy and I went through this phase where we "wrestled".  We had our uniforms that we always wore.  White undies with the matching white undershirts.  Had to be that specific set.  They had a little strip of lace on top of the undershirt.  Very nice.  Our little brother Jimmie was always our referee.  I don't know what we did.  I don't really remember actually "wrestling" but there was a lot of circling and a lot of laughing that went on.  I think it was fun to just dress up in our "wrestling" gear.
Ah, it's great to be a kid!

Coen the Builder

Coen's been learning about "B" this week at his preschool.  Tuesday he got to make bread and today...

...he got to be a builder!  He loved it!  His teacher asked each of the boys to bring a hammer from home and they got to hammer in nails and even got their own "hard" hats.  I'm pretty sure this must have been heaven for the 6 little boys!  I know it was for Coen.  He got out of the car and went right back to work hammering in a few more extra nails he had put in his pocket.

I have to say one more thing about his preschool this week.  We rotate houses each week and this week the house he was at has a really big labradoodle dog that Coen is in LOVE with!  Seriously.  I could not get him out of their house Tuesday.  When we got back home Coen walked in and sat down and just started crying!  I had no idea what was wrong and the tears were just rolling down his cheeks!  I asked him and he finally managed to get out, between sobs, that he REALLY wanted that dog to be here and live with him.  Poor little guy.  He was sooo sad!  We sure need to get a dog for our boys but first we need a bigger yard because I want a big dog. :)

6 Months Old

Our little Beckham turned 6 months old on September 5th.  What a big boy he is getting to be!  I can't believe we've had him for half a year already.  What a delightful baby he is.  We're all so happy that he's in our family.

Beckham had his 6 month checkup last Friday.  Here are the stats:

9/10/2010

6 months 5 days

Height:  27 inches - 67%

Weight:  17 lbs. 10 oz. - 50%

Head:  45 cm - 80%

Such a big boy.  Just exactly like Dallin was.

Look at that poor little left thumbnail.  It lives in a very moist environment. :)  Beckham still loves his thumb!

Beckham is rolling around everywhere now and travels all over the floor.  He never stays on his back.  He loves going on walks in the stroller and especially loves looking at trees.  I had a hard time taking his picture (above) because he kept looking at the tree behind him.  Couldn't take his eyes off it.  He eats solids like a big boy and loves everything he has tried but prefers his cereal to have a bit of fruit or veggies scooped up with it.  He's all about flavors.

(Yes, that is a skeleton hanging on a stand behind him.  Not because we decorate early for Halloween but because we have a Chiropractor in the house.)
He sleeps in Claire's room and even takes one of his naps with her.  And speaking of naps...he takes 3-4 a day.  He goes to bed at 8:00 pm and wakes up at about 6:45-7:00 am.  Perfect time so I can feed him before we have to leave to take the kids to school.  He loves watching his big brothers and sisters play and really likes when someone will play peek-a-boo with him.  He has the cutest giggle ever.  He is a good sport about going wherever the rest of the family needs to be.  He gets loaded in and out of his car seat at least 3 times every single day and usually more.

He loves playing with toys and investigating everything with his cute, chubby, little hands.  As you can see (above) his brothers and sister are happy to load him up with plenty of baby toys.  He is such a content baby and will just sit and snuggle with your forever.  Just like Claire did (and still does!)

And the best thing about Beckham right now?

When you pick him up he puts his face down into your neck and holds on as tight as he can and squeals.  Oh, I love it!  Talk about the best hugs ever!

We sure love our little Beckham!

Purple Space Dragon

Dallin had his first school project due the second week of school.  He was given an astronaut and he had to decorate it to represent himself.  Well of course the first thing Dallin thought of was Spyro the dragon.  (Surprise, surprise)  He wanted to make his suit purple.  I looked around for purple paper and the only thing I had was this old school scrapbook paper with yellow stars.  He loved it and said it looked like Spyro in space.  Perfect!  I held up his astronaut to the window while he traced the arms and legs and then he glued them on.  Of course he had to have wings and horns like Spyro, too.  I'm not sure if anyone else knew what he was but Dallin LOVED it and was grinning from ear to ear when he was finished!

He is pretty cute, I must say.  Can't you see the resemblance?

Mmm, mmm, good!

August 29th Beckham ate solids for the first time.  Now that he's six months old it was time to give him a taste of food.  I always dread this part.  So much more convenient when they're not eating solids yet.  No preparation, no dishes, no clean up, nothing to bring along.  But this big boy was ready for more food and let me tell ya.  He loved it. 

He seemed to know just what to do with that spoon and food.

Mmmm...brown rice cereal.  So good!

Only one problem.  That little thumb kept finding his way in there!  I need three hands!  I've never had this obstacle to deal with before!  Ha!

Beckham has now been eating solids for two weeks and he has tried brown rice, green beans, squash, pears, sweet potatoes, peas, and apples and loves them all but he REALLY loves the squash and pears.  He practically sucks it right off the spoon!  We've got a few more flavors to introduce and then the fun begins.  Making baby food!  No, I'm not really that excited about it but it's got to be done.  And it's really not that bad.  I'm sure I can throw out several batches one of the mornings when I only have two little ones at home.  And seriously...homemade baby food tastes WAY better than that jarred stuff.  Trust me.  I've tasted them. :)  Plus they get WAY more variety.  Don't worry.  I still do jars but just when I need something portable.

Seriously

He does make toes look good though!  He's always sucking on those cute little feet now days.

I can't blame him.

He is delicious!

Coen's 1st Day of "School"

After an entire week of getting his backpack all ready, filling up his water bottle, arranging his binder, and setting out his clothes every night with the big boys...only to be disappointed time and again to find out that it wasn't his turn yet, Coen's day finally arrived.

He started his preschool co-op on August 31st.  Me and 5 other moms from church are taking turns teaching preschool every Tuesday and Thursday for four hours.  All six of the kids are little boys.  So fun!  Coen is just eating.it.up.  He absolutely loves it and I can tell he thinks he's pretty big stuff doing his papers and bringing his lunch just like Austin and Dallin.

When they get home and I go through their binders he makes sure he gets his ABC binder out to show the boys what HE made that day.  So cute.  He takes his getting dressed in the mornings very seriously.  He likes to pick out his own outfits and have everything ready to go.  On the first day he wanted to take pictures outside with his backpack just like the boys and even stood in their spot and posed just like they did.  He's been watching them for several years now!  I have to say I do miss the little guy when he's gone.  It's kind of strange just having Claire and Beckham at home for those few hours.  So quiet!  And so strange trying to think of things to play with Claire while he's gone.  I always forget or don't realize I guess, how much the bigger kids entertain the little ones.  But it's been fun and I think it's good for Claire to be able to have some nice gentle play time :)  Plus, it's so easy to get some grocery shopping in with only two kids!

*Does this backpack look familiar?  Check it out HERE three years ago!  Ha!

Strike a Pose

Claire loves to dance.  She hears music and she just can't help but swing her hips and move her arms and soon the twirling begins.  But on this day she was cracking me up!  She would dance around and then sit down on the floor, one foot up, head back and look up at the ceiling.  She'd hold the pose for awhile and then get back up and start again.  It was really hard to get a picture of but this kind of shows her doing it except that she's looking at me instead of the ceiling.  Funny girl.  Wonder what she thought she was doing?  Ha, ha.  Just makes me laugh.

Swords

One of Tory's favorite things to do with the boys is sword fighting.  The boys love it, too!  They usually use sticks or poles.  Yeah, I know.  Sounds dangerous.  But they are actually pretty careful and seem to have some silent or unwritten or common knowledge rules that they all seem to follow.  I don't know.  I don't really get it either.  I've tried a couple times and it's super uncomfortable swinging a big old stick around for one thing and then it's not that comfortable when you make contact and you feel the vibrations from your fingers to your toes.  Just not my thing.  Call me crazy, girly, wimpy, I don't care.  These guys will stay out forever and come in just dripping with sweat and breathing hard.  Tory says it's a really good workout for him.  He's made them all wooden swords with nice handles and guards but they always seem to splinter and break so this is the new model he's come up with.

He made it at his friend's workshop where he could weld the metal together for the guards.  Heavy duty.  No bending or splintering with this!  He wrapped foam around the outside (not shown in these pictures) to absorb a little of the energy.  They love it!

Now he just needs to make three more because this one is Dada's!

Cozy

Sometimes I put Beckham in Claire's bed while I'm getting his blankets all situated in his bed.  They have lots of fun.

As you can see Claire's about maxed out in her bed, too.  We've got bed issues right now.  Beckham's supposed to be in Claire's bed and Claire needs to be in Coen's toddler sized bed and Coen needs to be in a twin size bed and Tory needs to build a set of bunkbeds so that we can fit three twins in one room. 

OR

We could buy a bigger house.

Hmmm....

I guess we're all OK for now.  We like cozy.

Moving Out

I miss these little toes greeting me every morning...

...and the cute little voice coo-ing.  Beckham always wakes up so happy!

But he had to move out.

As you can see he outgrew his bassinet.  He was getting pretty squished in there and needed some more wiggle room so we moved him in with Claire.  I miss my little guy.  He was such a good baby in our room.  I would put him down at about 8:00 and he'd put himself to sleep and then we could come in and out and even turn on the lights and talk and it wouldn't phase him.  Such a good baby.  All of our babies have been really good sleepers and somehow they have each gotten better and better.  I don't know how that's possible but I am very thankful!

Beckham's having fun sleeping in Claire's room.  He says sleeping in a room with pink walls is worth the extra space to roll around at night in his "big" bed.  He sleeps in the port-a-crib.  He says he doesn't mind that either because it's got cool mesh fabric on the sides that is really fun to scratch and makes great noises.  Now I get to hear his cute little voice on the monitor.  Still cute, just a longer walk to go get him.

Zzzzz...

I guess he didn't want to sleep in his bed!  This is how I found Coen at nap time a few weeks ago.  You can see his bed in the background.  Very tired little boy.  He still takes a two hour nap every day and thank goodness for that!  He sure needs one!

It takes a lot of energy to be Coen!

Babies

One of these things is not like the others...

Can you tell Beckham has a sister who loves babies?

Sweet Beckham just goes with the flow.

Where are you and why aren't there any pictures?

Those are excellent questions.  I'm here...but do not have a computer.  My computer time has been restricted and reduced.  I now have just a small window of time where I have Tory's laptop when he comes home from work.  So no pictures.  Better than nothing but I sure miss my computer during the day.  Like...I couldn't even drop Coen off to his preschool (more on that...and many other things...later...when I get my computer back.) because I didn't know the address.  We switch each week.  Then I couldn't look her number up because her number is on my computer directory.  Luckily I had her sister's number on my phone.  See...the things you take for granted!  Even cooking!  Most of my recipes I just pull off my recipe blog.  Ha!  Inconvenient when you can't get online.  So anyway...I should be up and running again this weekend.  Fingers crossed.  In the mean time...well, just know I'll be back and enjoy your computers! :)

The Good and the Bad

Bad News:  My glasses broke in a really weird place on the left ear piece a couple weeks ago.  In all my years of wearing glasses (and I've been wearing them since 2nd grade) I've never had this happen before.  Looks like the spring mechanism just got all bent up and came loose.  I wore them all day, put them on my nightstand that night, slept, got up and went to put them on in the morning and they just fell apart in my hands.  Strange.  And all of the kids were still sleeping so I can't even blame them.  They are really old though.  Guess it was just their time.

Good News:  I was able to "fix" them with some tape.  Took a lot of tape.  A good couple inches wide to get them to stay put.

Bad News:  All I had (or could find) was masking tape.  (Scissors and tape have a very hard time staying where they are supposed to be in our house.)  My glasses are dark brown.  Hmmm...doesn't "blend" very well.

Good News:  I do have contacts.

Bad News:  They are really old and give me headaches when I wear them too often or too long so I try to only wear them when I'm going out.

Good News:  My tape job seems to be working for now as long as I remember not to fold the ear piece in...it's permanently in the "open" position.

Bad News:  I had a hard enough time keeping those babies up in prime condition.  Always were sliding down my nose.  Now that they are balancing on one ear and a little "wider" than they should be (it's hard taping up an ear piece all by yourself!) they seem to always be falling off my face.

Good News:  They've been taped for a couple weeks now and haven't fallen apart yet.

Bad News:  I've kind of gotten used to the tape and have forgotten about it and gone out in public with them all taped up.  Cool.

Good News:  I don't get out too often so my exposure has been limited.

Bad News:  I did forget and wear them to Dallin's parent orientation for his class.  Nice close little meeting with just his teacher and all of the parents of the students in that class.

Good News:  I was able to snag a seat in the back.  Plus...I've already worn a hot pink bow to school.  What's a little masking tape?

Bad News:  Probably won't be replacing them any time soon.  It's been pouring here lately...and I'm not just referring to the two solid days and nights of downpours and flooding we've been having  from Hurricane Hermine.

Good News:  Today I found packing tape!  It's clear!  They look much better now even if they do sit a little crooked on my face.  So it's all good.  But I think I need to redo my tape job...keeps sticking to my hair!  Ouch!