Cheerios and flowers

This week was a major mile marker for Lillie...she is eating Cheerios!! It is so nice when a child begins to feed themselves, even if it is just a small snack. She was fun to watch. She would put the Cheerio in her mouth and then stick her tongue out for me to look at it. She knew that I thought she was too cute to resist.

With the weeds in full bloom, the kids have been bringing me lots of "flowers." Funny enough, these weeds actually add a bright little touch to my kitchen that I have quite enjoyed. Amazing how a gift from a child, regardless of content, can be so sweet and beautiful.

Easter

This Easter started like most with some fun little treats from the Easter bunny. Each basket was filled with treats for the zoo and a family zoo pass. YEAH! Summer fun.

Luckily we got one good picture before loading up to go to church. Unfortunately not the greatest background, but hey, look at those cuties!

What would Easter be without a good ole Easter egg hunt. We had lots of fun searching high and low in Granny's yard for all sorts of hidden surprises.

One more kid pic. Notice the Chocolate bar hanging out of Eli's mouth. Needless to say, it was a long afternoon of sugar high at the Beam home.

Yes, she was the cutest baby in the nursery at church. Happy First Easter Lillie!

Baby Mike

Being the only little boy in a world of little girl toys, is very hard for Eli. He envies all of his sisters pretty, shiney, cuddly things. So, finally we broke down and let Eli pick one of Madison's babies to adopt as his own. He picked out a sweet little cabbage patch, which, of course, needed a name. We made several suggestions, but Eli, on his own, picked the name Mike. (For those of you who don't know, Mike is a close family friend, that Eli has really come to enjoy playing with on his visits to his Grumpy and Granny's.) So, we couldn't help but post a few pictures of the new babe.

His sisters where happy to pose for this post-adoption ceremony picture.

Daughters

Today I had the pleasure of taking both Madison and Lillie to the mall with my mother to shop for their Easter dresses. After a couple of hours, we finally managed to tear ourselves away and head home with a little more than just Easter dresses. (Thanks Mom!) On the way home, Madison and I were talking about her bag of clothes and she kept saying, "Don't tell Dad, I want to surprise him." As soon as we arrived home, she ran to her room, shedding her clothes on the way. A couple of minutes later, she remerged from her room to show off her new Easter dress for her Dad. She giggled and twirled for him while he OOOOD and AAAHD over her. I love standing back and observing these moments and it made me think of this song.

Lovin' this Weather!

The last couple of days have been beautiful, and the Beam family has been taking full advantage of the opportunity to be outside. Monday we had T-ball, but yesterday all we did was play outside until dark. Some very good friends of ours are getting ready to move, so they gave us their trampoline. The kids have been loving every second of their new toy. Eli calls it, "My jumpy." This is some video from our time on the trampoline yesterday.

Tune Up

Madison's Pre-K teacher Mrs. Wood has a time out system that she calls "tune up." The idea behind tune up is that all participants in a problematic situation are sent to tune up even if they are not the instigating party. After a short time in a tune up chair all parties are forced to reconcile with one another. Madison, of course, has never had a trip to the tune up chair.

Today, after lunch, Madison came into the living room, somewhat hesistant, and said, "Mom, guess who got a sad face today and had to go to tune up." I said, "I don't know, who?" Head dropped and shameful she said, "Me." After some discussion about why she went to tune up I praised her for her honesty and went on about the day.

I had to smile to myself a little about the situation. For a little girl not used to getting in trouble outside of her home, today will probably be a marked memory. As for mom...I couldn't be more proud. I have always wanted my children to know that no matter what, they could find refuge in sharing honestly with us. Today was confirmation, (even though small), that Madison is starting to understand that honesty is the best policy.

Lillie Grace is 8 months old!

Last week Lillie turned eight months old, and she is still just the happiest little baby ever. In fact, we joke that she may never crawl because she isn't motivated to be anything other than a little baby. She is totally content just sitting and watching all day long, crying only when she is hungry or tired.

We decided to try some solid food this week thinking that she wouldn't like it, but boy where we wrong! She devoured that cracker like a champ. In fact, she ate three crackers, and would have eaten more had we not put an end to it. Growing up is so much fun (and yummy too!)

Madison's First Day of T-Ball

Today was Madison's first day at T-Ball. We were lucky that the weather was beautiful and everyone was very excited. Above is a picture of most of her team, and as you can see, Madison's friends Addie and Hope are on the team with her. Madison did great! She got right out there and did everything that the coaches told her without even hesitating!

Tonight while I was helping her get ready for church tomorrow, I asked Madison what her favorite part of the day was. She said that she liked getting to put on her helmet and use the bat to hit the ball. She said that she loved T-ball but didn't always like having to bend over with her glove to the ground because it made her legs hurt, but that she would keep doing it because it was good excercise. We look forward to the season ahead and probably will have lots of T-ball posts.