Pictures of the Kids

I took the kids out to get some pictures of them for Father's Day cards for Dada, Grandpa, and Grandpa Mac.  It was a scorching day.  So hot!  We arrived at the park sweaty, of course, since we don't have AC in our van.  We walked up the trail a few yards and the kids were dripping with sweat and had rosy red cheeks.  Just keepin' it real.  

I took this shot of the kids right as we were starting our walk.  Take a good look at Beckham.  This is the only shot of him with his "normal" face.  Minutes later, as I was trying to get my camera settings all squared away, Beckham fell.  And he fell hard.  Poor baby.  The boys had put him up on a bench and forgot that he doesn't know how to get down.  I wasn't watching and they weren't holding on and he fell off.  Makes me so sad!  I checked his teeth (because that's what you learn to check first when you have a dentist for a dad!) and nothing was loose or cracked.  His nose was bleeding and his nose and lip were all fat.

  

Oh, so sad!  But he still tried to be happy!  Poor little man!  He's so swollen that his teeth hardly show when  he smiles.

Poor, poor baby!  So needless to say, the rest of the shoot was soooo great.  (Could you hear the sarcasm there?)  But that's ok.  We got some good shots anyway even if the little Beckster doesn't quite look like himself and the shoulder of my shirt I was wearing will never look the same again.

Everyone together.

Claire couldn't resist putting her arms around Coen and Austin.  I though this one was cute.  You should see some of the outtakes.  Cheeks being pulled, necks strangled, and teeth gritting as she loves on those two brothers of hers.  So funny!

Austin Gavin

Dallin Ryan

Coen Grant

Claire Elise

Beckham Lane

Happy Father's Day!

Sunday was Father's Day and we got to celebrate with the best dad ever!

Too bad this is the only picture I have of Tory and all of the kids  on Father's Day.  Sorry about the naked kids and underwear.  They were just getting ready to take baths and showers for church.  Austin said, "Wait!  Is this going on your blog?"  I told him most likely and he ran for the back of the chair!  Privacy Mom!

We are so thankful for Tory. He is the best! He loves his five little kids and includes them in everything he does even though it usually makes everything 10x harder. They love to be with him. He takes them swimming, lets them come and play computer games on his computer at work, takes them to Home Depot, lets them "help" in the garage, cleans with them, eats lunch with them at school several times a year, plays wii with them, builds k-nex with them, bathes them, tells them made up stories complete with "puppets", takes them camping, makes computer programs to help them with their school work, reads to them, wrestles with them, bikes with them, and the list goes on and on. He is wonderful and we are so thankful for him and all that he does for us. Everything is more fun with Dada! We wouldn't trade him for anything!

Blueberry waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast...in bed!

Silly Dada!  

We made him homemade lasagna, salad, and bread sticks for dinner.

The Grand Finale for the guy who LOVES fruit more than ANYTHING in the WORLD!
(Well, edible things that is.)
Fruit Pizza!  Mmmm...

Of course I also have to say how thankful I am for my own father and for my father-in-law.  They are two wonderful men who we wish we could see much more of!  It was fun talking to them on Father's Day even if we couldn't be with them.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy 5th Birthday, Coen!

On June 17, this cute little baby...

...turned into this cute little 5 year old!

I really don't know where the time has gone but he has really seemed to change a lot lately. He has grown several inches, can finally reach all of the light switches, and is such a big boy. He's going to wait a year to start Kindergarten so I get to have one more year with him at home and I'm so happy about that. I'm sure he'd love to go to school and would do just great but after talking to several teachers and friends (and my own brother and sister who both were summer birthdays and started later) we've decided to wait. A lot of it has to do with down the road when everyone is maturing and he's still a year behind them. He'll do great no matter what.

Coen with his brothers and sister.  They were all excited to open presents!

Coen is such a fun boy. He's so smart and energetic and has such a fun sense of humor. He is also such a tender little boy. He loves dragons, Wild Kratts, bike riding, Diego, and the color green. His favorite food is still oatmeal and he would be happy to eat it for every meal but the great thing about him is that he'll eat anything.

I just had to throw this picture in because Beckham's face cracks me up.  He was totally getting ready to tackle Claire!

Coen is the "exact" middle child. He loves to be with his two big brothers but is also best buddies with Claire. They are so alike that it's like having twins. Ha. He is also kind and gentle with little Beckham. Sometimes it's hard to be in the middle. Sometimes he's part of the "big" kids and sometimes he's one of the "little" kids. He doesn't want to be a big kid when it's time to clean but he doesn't want to be a little kid when it's time for naps. Poor guy! But I think he's got it figured out and is the best man for the job!

The Great Pyramid!

When I asked Coco what kind of cake he wanted he said "an orange cake" so I asked what shape and he said "triangle". I didn't think he was serious but for several days his request was an "orange triangl" so that's what we went for. I decided to put Tory in charge of the cake. And in true Tory fashion, an orange triangle was not enough. He needed something 3-D. He went all out and turned it into a giant pyramid! it took 4 cake mixes! All different flavors! It was quite the cake! Coen LOVED it! We barely made a dent in it though. Ha!

Make a wish, Coen!

Coen got a Night Fury (Toothless) and a new big boy bike helmet. He also got some toy soldiers and little horses and some summer shorts that fit his tiny waist. The boys made him sme fun gifts outnofnwood scraps. One was a "Go Deigo Go" plaque and one was a "Spyro the Dragon" plaque. Pretty cute.

Austin the Magician

We started the day with doughnuts as requested followed by a magic show put on by Austin. Austin went to Cub Scout Camp all that week and one of his last workshops was learning magic card tricks. Tory taught him a couple others and then Auatin made up a couple other tricks of his own. It was quite the show! 

Pick a card...any card!

 Good job, Austin! He even dressed up in his black suit pants and white shirt to look the part. Very cool!

The Orange Feast

For lunch we had all orange foods.  Carrots, cantaloupe, Cheetos, and hot dogs.  They look "orange-ish" right?  Eek.  I'm still not sure why he picked hot dogs for his lunch because he doesn't like them and never eats them (and didn't eat them that day either.)  I'm sure the big brothers might have done some convincing.  We finished the day with a two-hour evening swim with the whole family. It was a perfect way to cool off from our 102 degree day! Everyone had a blast but especially the birthday boy!

Happy Birthday Coco Bean!

We sure love you!

Tory's Custom Game Boards

Tory was busy last weekend building another custom game board.  This time it was a Cribbage board.

It turned out really nice.  

The man in his shop.

I personally like the headlight on his hat.  Very nice.  He's using the drill press to drill the 346 little holes for the pegs.  Pretty cool pattern don't you think?  It's got 3 tracks on it.

The wood in the center lifts out to store the cards and pieces.  I love the checkerboard border he made.  It's made from different kinds of wood with just polyurethane on top to let the colors show through.  Very nice.  Makes me want to learn how to play cribbage so I can have a board like that!

 Of course the boys have to be out in the garage working on a project if Dada is.  Tory always lets them build things with his scraps and they love it.  Dallin and Austin were working on a present for Coen here.

I just realized I never posted about the other game Tory made back in December.  This board is for a game called Crokinole.  I think it's a Canadian game.  We had never heard of it before but now I want to learn so that, you guessed it, I can have a board like that!  Very pretty!  I didn't get a picture of the little black and red disks that he made to go with it and I'm not sure what the rules of the game are but I think it involves shooting the disks into the center hole.  One player has the black disks and the other player has the red disks.

The finishing touches.  Red felt, stained bottom and corners, black paint on the edges, and natural wood top.  He did a ton of research to find out how to make it.  Even the lines on top and how they are very light pencil marking was all researched.  Awesome.  And very pretty.

It's pretty big isn't it! Tory had a lot of fun making this one.  Sometimes it's hard to see his projects go.

Award Ceremonies

We made it through Austin and Dallin's award ceremonies this week.

{sigh}

It would have been 100% more enjoyable and so much easier if I didn't have to bring Coen, Claire and Beckham both times....but I did.  And I had to wake them all up from naps both times.  Not good.  Dallin's was on Tuesday at 2:00 and Austin's was today, Thursday, at 2:00.  I also had to go to Dallin's 1st grade celebration day at the same time so we cut out of the 3rd grade award ceremony a little early to check out Dallin's fun.  I brought way more cracker bribes this time than I did on Tuesday.  It still wasn't enough.  

I.am.worn.out.

I wish my busy day was over but it's not.  I get to go to the big Round Table meeting for the scouts tonight at 7:30.  Most likely I'll have to bring them all with me and try to meet Tory there to switch off.  Did I mention our AC doesn't work in our van?  Broke last summer.  So I get to do all this running around with 5 sweaty and miserable kids (oh, and a sweaty Mama.)  Our thermometer in the car read 104 but dropped down to 100 degrees as we drove.  Fun.  So if you see us and we look windblown and sweaty and our clothes are sticking to us...now you know why.  But anyway...getting off track a bit.  Back to the awards.

As difficult as it was I wouldn't have missed it.

I sure am proud of my two little school boys.  They have both done so well this year and have worked so hard.  Not to mention, they are the two best boys in the entire school!  Boy am I lucky!

* * * * *

DALLIN

Dallin received awards for:

Participation in the First Grade Reading Initiative

Participation in the Six Flags Reading Program

Silver Medal for Eagle Math

Social Studies Award

Outstanding Citizenship Award

Most Improved Writer Award

(and let me tell you...he has come a LONG way!)

Good Job Dally Boy!

* * * * *

AUSTIN

Austin received awards for:

"A" Honor Roll

Outstanding Citizenship Award

Service as an Eagle Escort

Outstanding Reader Award

Participation in the Six Flags Reading Program

Silver Medal for Eagle Math

"Puts in the Extra Mile" Award

He also received "Commended" medals in both Reading and Math on his TAKS tests.

He got his test results back and only missed one question in Math and one in Reading!  He did GREAT!

Good Job A.G.!

ONLY 1 DAY LEFT BOYS!!

Memorial Day

I absolutely love Memorial Day.  It was always a very special day for our family growing up.  I wrote about it in THIS post.  Every year we'd go with Gran Gran and Grandad and decorate the graves of all of our loved ones buried in the little cemeteries in the area.

These pictures were taken just before Memorial Day 2003.  This was the last year I got to decorate with Gran Gran.  Austin and I drove out to Kansas to see her graduate and receive her High School diploma all those years later!  Since I was there and it was so close to Memorial Day we decided to go out and decorate.  She passed away in September of that year.

Austin was such a cute little helper.  He was only one and a half years old...almost!  This is Uncle Jimmie's grave (my brother).

And this is Grandad's grave.  And Gran Gran's now of course.

Here I am picking flowers out of Gran Gran's box full of flowers.  She snuck a picture of me.  She had sooo many flowers!  They would fill the trunk!  Special memories.

I love that it is such a relaxing day with almost always beautiful weather.  Pools open up, school is almost out, summer break is just around the corner.  It's just the perfect intro to summer.  This year we had a very fun Memorial Day without a single picture to show for it.  Too bad.  I guess I'll just have to write about what we did so that we can remember it.

Not my picture but it is our park here.  Pretty isn't it?  

We started out the day with a family bike ride at the park.  We've been doing that the last few years and it's now our new Memorial Day tradition I guess.  We didn't go last year since Beckham was too tiny for the trailer.  But this year we were all set to go!  The hardest part was figuring out how to get all of our bikes loaded onto the van.  I should have at least taken a picture of that.  We have a bike rack but it only holds two bikes.  We used to be able to throw the kids bikes in the trunk and behind seats but their bikes are too big now.  So Tory put Austin and Dallin's bikes on top of ours sideways and zip tied them on with these giant zip ties he has.  We put the bike trailer and Coen's bike in the trunk.  Wow.  I'm going to have to figure out an easier system or else get a four bike rack to make it through the summer since Tory won't be able to go on a lot of our morning rides.  Either that or invest in a lot of giant zip ties!  We rode for a couple hours and I was so proud of little Coen.  He kept up with us the whole time and never stopped.  Those little legs were pumping!

We came home and had some lunch and then the babies went down for naps and Tory and the three boys went swimming for a couple hours.  They had lots of fun and got to finally use their new goggles that they got in their May Baskets.  The water was much warmer than the 72 degrees it was the last time they tried swimming!

Then everyone got showered up, we played a few games on the wii and relaxed for a bit and then went to a bar-b-q at our friend's house.  It was a lot of fun and the food was delicious!  The kids had a blast playing in the backyard.  There were 12 kids there so plenty of fun for everyone.  We adults played Taboo (girls smoked the guys) and then a few rounds of Spoons.  It was super fun!  Thanks Michalann and Jerry!

Unfortunately, the kids had school the next day so we had to get home to get little people in bed.  They did not complain one bit and all five of them were out in a flash.  Not one peep came from their hallway.  They definitely got their exercise in for the day!  Completely worn out!  It was a great day and a little taste of the fun and freedom that are now only two days away!  Summer here we come!!!

The Grand Finale

And for the grand finale of our adventures with Grandma & Grandpa we went to the ZOO!  It could have been Disneyland for all the excitement there was at our house.  You see it has been a long, long, long, long time since we have been to the zoo.  The last time we went was January 2006. 

Austin had just turned 4 and Dallin had just turned 2.  I was five months pregnant with Coen.

Tory was right in the middle of Chiropractic school and we had just moved into our home here in Texas less than three months earlier.  Wow!

And we've never been back.  Not because we didn't want to but because it's so expensive for our family to go!  Wasn't on the school budget.  We could go on half price Wednesdays but Tory's always had work or school and we've just never made it happen.  Both Austin and Dallin say they can't remember the first time we went at all.  So this trip to the zoo was like the first time for everyone.

The zoo was so fun!  There is a sign at the front of the zoo saying it's one of the top 5 in the nation I guess.  It was really pretty.  I don't remember it being that pretty last time but then again, it was January and it was 5 years ago.  

First stop was the monkeys.

The zoo has really cool dinosaurs all over the zoo.  They moved and made noises and were quite life-like.  The boys loved them!  Claire was terrified of them and would not get close even if one of us held her.  

Grandpa & Grandma

We spent at least an hour, if not more, looking at all of the snakes and reptiles.  The boys wanted to read about each and every one of them.  They love snakes and reptiles and have lots of books they've practically got memorized about them at home.  Sometimes we research them online just for fun.  They thought it was fun seeing them all in real life.  And it was nice being inside an air conditioned building for that part. :)

Claire chillin' by the alligators.

Checking out the animals with Grandpa.

Big yawn!

Poor baby.  We arrived right at Beckham's nap time.  He was very tired but still liked seeing all of the animals especially if Grandpa was holding him.

It rained on us for an hour or so.  It felt kind of nice since it was over 90 degrees out with at least 500% humidity and not a breath of wind.  We watched the lions under the shelter for awhile.

We got to touch the starfish, rays, and crabs at the touch tank.  Coen got in a little trouble by the zoo lady because he picked up a crab and turned it over to check it out a little more closely.  

"Soft touches only!  No picking up the animals!"  

Just so you know.

Another dinosaur along the way.  Still no Claire in the picture.

Tired little Beckham hung out with Grandpa most of the time until he finally fell asleep in his stroller.

Finally, Claire got "brave" enough to stand by the very last dinosaurs we saw.  You can tell by her smile that she still isn't too sure about being this close...even if they are smaller dinosaurs and Dada's holding her.

And that was the end of our zoo adventure!  We got there right after it opened and stayed until it closed.  We had a full day and it was so nice to take our time and see everything.  And I'm pretty sure we saw everything!
It was so much fun!

We finished up the day by driving up to Babe's Chicken.  We always hear everyone talking about this place and how yummy it is so we thought we'd give it a try.  One look at the line told us it must be good.  Wow!  We waited for an hour outside in the heat before it was our turn.  I think we drank an entire pitcher worth of water each.  The waitress couldn't keep up with us.  Luckily we were seated right by the drink station.  Ha.  They only have two things on the menu-fried chicken and chicken fried steak.  Then you get all the sides you can eat-corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits, and salad.  It's all served family style.  It was really good and a perfect place to go with five tired, hungry, and very loud little children.
Thanks for the wonderful day, Grandma & Grandpa!