Let's Play Ball!

Summer is officially here, well at least summer vacation started. 

While we haven't had the warmest days, we are sure enjoying them. 

School is over,  everyone is home, we are enjoying the freedom of not having to be out the door so early in the morning and not running everywhere all day. 

Today the boys started T-Ball and they LOVED it!

We haven't participated in any organized sports because they haven't been interested in attending all the practices or games.  T-ball is all summer, twice a week and they have been anxious for it to start since last week when we bought their shirts and had their names and numbers put on them. 

Elijah may have worn his for almost 36 hours straight and I may have had to wrestle it off of him to wash it. He also has been wearing his baseball cap quite religiously.

Richard took the boys to pick out their baseball gloves and they both needed new tennis shoes.

Funny story about that...Richard said when they were at Play-it-again Sports picking out baseball gloves Elijah had his face in the glove he picked and was sniffing it. 

Then as he pulled it away from his face he casually stated "it smells like a vagina."

Richard wasn't sure he heard him right so asked him to repeat himself and when he did in fact confirm that Elijah thought his beloved new baseball glove smelled like a female private part Richard asked him if he remembered what that word meant. 

Elijah shook his head no and when Richard reminded him that it was the word for his mom's private part he pulled the glove away and didn't say another word about it. 

When Richard told me this story I couldn't help but ask Elijah the next morning if his glove maybe reminded him of leather he said nope. Then he told me he couldn't think of the right word for it but would tell me when he did. 

Elijah was ready to go 30 minutes before T-ball started (which is impressive if you know him at all).

He looked so grown up in his gear!

So proud of his shirt too!

Brother Ball Players

Double T-Ball Trouble!

They were practicing in the yard while they were waiting to head to practice. 

I heard LOTS of details about their 1 hour of practice and am looking forward to watching it next week...well "watching" with Liv and Isaac might be a challenge but it will still be fun!

Wedding Fun

This weekend we were able to do some celebrating with Richard's extended family.

It was so wonderful!

I feel truly blessed to have married into such a great family.

The only problem is we don't get to see each other often enough!

The weekend of fun started Sat night with a BIG get together at one of the cousin's place south of town.  I forgot my camera so don't have any proof of the fabulous time we had.

Richard was at state track and the boys were wonderful.

They had a ton of fun playing with all the kiddos and I was even able to visit a bit!

The wedding was Sunday and they were so excited to play again, which made the ceremony a bit difficult because they were so anxious to get to the reception party!

Here are the 2 excited guests...

Liv took a cat nap on the way to the ceremony.

Here we are waiting for the ceremony....

Jonah was so excited that during the wedding he kept whispering to me about how excited he was to go to the party and who was coming. 

I kept shushing him and answering his questions quietly then told him he needed to stop talking about it and pay attention. 

Then he leaned over and started whispering something else and I told him we were done talking about it and he said, "No, it's not about that....there are 139 pieces of wood on the ceiling."

I thanked him for sharing that with me and told him he needed to just wait quietly until it was over.

We had left Isaac at my parents house for the ceremony since he was napping and well, because he is 2 and unable to sit for more than 3.3seconds quietly. 

After the ceremony we snuck in a quick family photo....sans Isaac...(thanks Jennifer for taking this picture that Richard really wanted).

After swinging by my parents house to grab Isaac we headed to the hotel where the reception was. 

When we arrived it was almost time to eat and the boys were so excited to dance they could hardly stay in their chairs!

Isaac was quite enthralled with the dinging of the glasses to get the bride and groom to kiss.

He may have been responsible for that a few times. 

Then the dance started and the boys later told us is was the best night ever!

Here is the beautiful bride and her dad!  This one always gets me....so precious!

The adorable flower girl and ring bearer.

Here are some other great pics of the dance....

Elijah and Isaac busting some moves...Elijah had this fascination with trying to do the splits...Jonah was break dancing....Isaac was shaking it pretty good too...in case you are wondering we don't do that at home!

The DJ handed out glowsitck necklaces to the kids....genius idea...totally kept them entertained all night!

Here are my boys with Ian, one of Richard's cousin's son, proudly showing me their glowsticks!

Jennifer if you ever want to ship him here for a week we would gladly take him....seriously what's one more boy???

Me and Miss Liv cooling off

 Isaac and Liv taking a dancing break...

There was a little girl about 18 months old totally in love with Olivia and Isaac had a hard time letting her be close and checking her out.  This little girl kept calling Olivia her baby and Isaac would get in her face and say, "No, MY baby!"

Sweet Girl, you are so blessed to have these 3 big brothers to keep you safe!

Here is Isaac showing me some of his moves.

Richard and Liv dancing...Brown Eyed Girl came on so I had to snap a pic of Daddy with his brown eyed girl!

 Grandpa Frank dancing with beautiful Leah

The Kirsteatter's rocking it!

Dance party fun...

Uncle Frank the baby whisperer!

Richard and John deep in conversation...

Isaac missed our family pic earlier so we snapped this one quick since someone, ahem I won't name names, didn't think it was wise to attempt a family pic at this time. 

We lasted pretty late and headed home 930 or so!

I can't believe that Richard and I will be celebrating 9 years of marriage soon!

We feel so blessed to have these 4 to care for and to challenge us!

It was such a wonderful time together and we were even able to have some family stop by Monday morning on their way out of town!

Hoping to post about that soon!

Elijah and Jonah had so much fun they want to have a dance party at our house with glowstick necklaces and invite everyone who came to the wedding!

They even asked me to send out invitations so people could put it on their calenders!

It might be a good excuse to get everyone together again?!?!

As long as we have good food and LOTS of coffee I think we could expect a few dancers!

Goodbye Pre School...Hello Kindergarten!

Last week was a bit emotional for this momma...

Elijah had his last day of Pre School and can hardly wait for Kindergarten to start!

He looks so small here on his first day of Pre School...

And so grown up on his last day.

I love that he said he wanted to be a sword fighter when he grows up.

This will be fun to look at when they get older.

His graduation ceremony was last week and he was so excited for it.

He asked me about 500 times, well it may have been 501, if everyone was coming to his graduation! 

The ceremony was a little preview of what a typical day was like at preschool.

These pictures aren't that great...but here they are.

The beginning of the ceremony with his graduation cap on.

Saying the pledge of allegiance. 

Singing some songs and acting them out.

Receiving his diploma.

Elijah with daddy who also went to Sunflake!

The crowd of ladies who were there to support him.

Elijah with Grandma and Grandpa.

He was so adorable afterwards asking when Kindergarten started and milked the day for what it was worth by asking to do special things and saying he should be allowed since it was a special day.

He is a smart kid.

I sent Isaac to daycare that day so I could enjoy the ceremony and then we ran some errands afterwards.

It was nice to spend that time with Elijah.

Plus, Isaac LOVES daycare and Grandma Helen.

Such a blessing for sure!

To add to my emotional Olivia was up on her hands and knees rocking all day and Helen said Isaac had been going potty all day at her house!

Yikes! Too much growing up in one day for me!

Elijah has been asking when school starts almost daily since his graduation.

Poor buddy, only 91 days to go!

Glad he is excited!  It will help when I am a puddle of tears dropping him off in the fall.

Until then I hope he can enjoy the time off this summer while we wait for school to start again.

I know I am!

Moving on Up

It seems like only yesterday this boy was so excited for his first day of school!

And just like that the same boy, just had his last day of 1st grade!

We were so blessed to have another great teacher this year!

We will miss Mrs. Huus so much, but are crossing our fingers that Jonah might end up in her class next year as she is moving up to 2nd grade!

She is so caring, energetic and passionate about teaching.

Jonah adored her!

(and we did too)

She also is the mother of 3 boys! 

How sweet is that?

Can't believe that these 2 are going to both be at Viking next year.

They are both so excited to "be together" again.

We are looking forward to lazy summer days and lots of playing!

(and catching up on blogging as I am so behind)

Coming December 2012

I have been so excited to share this wonderful news waiting patiently to introduce you to....

Becky Jr...if it's a girl.

Or Beck Jr if it's a boy of course!

This little one will join our family sometime early December of this year.

Can you believe it????

Jonah, Elijah and Isaac were so excited when we told them.

Jonah and Elijah want it to be a girl of course. 

Olivia was excited too, well she drooled and smiled when we told her that she was going to be a 

BIG cousin!

I am going to be an AUNTIE!!!!!!!

These 2 crazy cats are going to be PARENTS!!!!

My sister Nikki and her hubby Tom are having a BABY!

Today they had an ultrasound that confirmed the little squirt is 10 weeks and looking good!

They got to see the little heart beating and we are celebrating this sweet little life.

I teared up when I saw the picture this morning.

God is so amazing! 

I can hardly wait to meet the little one!

Praising the Lord for this blessing.

Oh Where Is His Toothbrush?

As any parent knows, with each child more things are added to the house.

Sometimes it is difficult to find a place for everything.

Of all our children, Elijah struggles with his possessions and has a large collection of junk "treasures" on his bed.  He has a small bookshelf at the head of his bed that is covered with items as well as his entire bed.  Some nights there is barely enough room for him to lie down in bed. 

He also is possessive of his things and struggles with Isaac touching them or getting into them.

One of these items is his toothbrush.

He has tried to keep it in a variety of places, the counter, the drawer, or suctioned to the mirror...but Isaac inevitably finds it and sticks it in the toilet uses it and then Elijah needs a new one.

We have two bathrooms and Elijah also likes to make sure things are in the right place in the bathroom upstairs that he uses most frequently. 

The other night I went to brush my teeth and noticed how clean the counter was.

Elijah will wipe up the globs of toothpaste & dirt smears from the counter clean it for me often.

I noticed something was missing at first and couldn't quite put my finger on it...

until I looked up.

Here is a closer look...

I chuckled to myself thinking Elijah must have been so proud to discover the perfect place to keep his beloved toothbrush safe from the sticky hands of his 2 year old brother....the ceiling! 

The next morning I asked him about it and he beamed telling me that not only was his toothbrush safe on the ceiling but the shadow made a "ninja fan" which was an added bonus!

So if you have a big family and are struggling to find a place for things, you can give Elijah a call.

He just might be able to help you out!

6 Months Old

Has it really been 6 months since this sweet princess blessed us with her presence?!?

Now that she can move around more, it is a bit of a challenge to take her picture!

She also didn't want to look at me and smile for many...

Then she wanted to grab the camera...

This face was after Isaac "rocked" her in the chair...I think she was wondering why I was taking pictures instead of rescuing her!

She can almost sit alone, still just LOVES tummy time and watching her brothers, and being right near the action.  

She has been waking up in the night and snacking and I have allowed it to keep her from waking Isaac who has been struggling to sleep well after his hand surgery. 

She still likes to be swaddled and takes her pacifier at nap and bedtime but isn't attached to it. 

She gets so excited when she sees people she knows, especially daddy, her brothers, grandma or grandpa and her aunties!

She has started to develop a bit of stranger anxiety. 

It isn't too bad and usually she is fine as long as she can see me, but gets overwhelmed if it's lots of new people at once. 

She is still a peanut and is quite a bit smaller than her brothers were but almost as long as they were!

I hate how fast the first year goes! I can't believe she is half way to 1 years old!

Whew! I better go before I blink and it's October!