This video was showed at our church (The Church at Battle Creek) on Sunday and it was really moving. Watching my friend Erin and her son makes me stand in awe at the lengths that parent's will go to in order to help their children live the best life possible. Erin and James - you are awesome parents, and I admire you for the marathon of life that you run for Keith!

Keith Turns Four!!

One of the sweetest little boys that I know is my best friend's son, Keith. He just turned four at the end of January and had an awesome birthday party. When they were preparing for his party all he cared about was that he had balloons hanging from the ceiling...as you can see, they came through in a big way. Happy Birthday Keith, we love you!!

Bath Time Baby

I promised my sister that I would try to start posting some video, so this is for you Aunt Hannah. This is Lillie's new favorite place to take a bath.

Adventures in Potty Training

Well, after many attempts on the potty, Eli finally managed to put something in there!!! YEAH!!!! We had a big celebration and took some pictures, so we thought we would share (but not too much.)

Seven Months Old Already

Tomorrow Lillie will be seven months old. It seems like just the other day I was posting newborn pictures of her. As you can see she is sitting up (no interest really in crawling) and she has two sweet little teeth. She is easy like Madison was as a baby but she is by far the happiest baby I have ever seen. Her smile is absolutely contageous. She loves both her brother and sister but it is obvious that she is ready to be her brother's playmate. Any time he gets close enough she will get a handful of his shirt (or hair, which ever comes first) and holds on for the ride. She loves to watch him and laughs at everything he does. Hopefully they will turn into great play mates.

One more sweet baby picture...

Big Birthday Boy

Elijah Cooper Beam is TWO! I can hardly believe it. The last seven months has been such a fun time with him. I definitely think the year from one to two is the funnest in the life of a child. Their personality really starts to show and they learn to do so much. Somewhere in the coarse of this year Eli went from being a baby to a little man. Although very onery, Eli is has a tender little heart that often makes me melt. He loves his mom and is dad. Mommy for the nurturing and daddy for the fun. However, he is always looking forward that next ride in Grumpy's pick up. He even knows which key on the key ring makes it start. He is a quiet little guy which makes it easy to overlook that he is very perseptive. Now on to the next big challenge - POTTY TRAINING. Tips are welcome (so when is it that you teach them to stand?).

Christmas

Okay, so I could fill up this page with tons of Christmas shots but I'm just not going to. Most of the picures aren't great, so I will spare you all. However, I am going to post one picture of the kids' big gift this year (and really our big gift too). We converted our garage into a play room and boy do we all enjoy it!! This is a picture of the room right after Santa Clause got it all set up.

Ok, I lied I couldn't resist posting this picture of Lillie and I figured it would be ok since it is her very first Christmas...what a sweet little happy baby.

A Birthday Tribute to Madison

On December 17, 2002, we became the proud parents of a sweet little girl that we named Madison Noelle Beam. She weighed 8 lbs 6 oz and was absolutely perfect. Since we lived in Colorado at the time and we didn't know what we were having, Granny kept calling all day trying to get the latest news. After many long hours of waiting we heard those magical words "It's a girl" and within seconds, before I even got to hold her, the phone rang with a curious Granny on the other end. That was the quickest drive to Utica Square ever taken. The shopping spree began and has yet to end (although now the benefits are divided with a younger brother and sister.) A couple of days later Granny showed up in Colorado, bags of girly stuff in tow. Before we ever brought her home she was playing dress up and forging a bond with Granny that could never be broken.

Madison was the easiest little baby...we got big laughs out of her serious nature and mature personality. Little has changed...silliness is definately not her style but this is for sure...she LOVES her Granny and fashion is a high priority. Now she is five, boy how time flies.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

During the ice storm we were lucky enough to have some tired, cold, lightless visitors. Grumpy, Granny and Aunt Hannah were a great help decorating our Christmas tree. Actually we all did very little, Madison pretty much tackled the entire thing on her own.

Here she is looking for her next ornament...she wouldn't even stop to pose for a picture.
Lillie...well, she just wasn't sure about the tree. She would stare at it for a long time then reach out and touch it and scowl.
Eli was his usual crazy self. Here he is about to pounce on Granny...again.
We were lucky enough to capture this one picture of the three of them. One of the only good pictures of the season. Most of the time we are having to hold Eli down to get him to take a picture with his sisters.

Ice Storm 2007

Some of you who live out of town have asked about how we weathered the ice storm. Although everyone we knew lost power, somehow we were fortunate to keep the lights on through the whole mess. However, our street was devestated by fallen trees. Here are a couple of pictures of our neighbors yard.

Unfortunately, the yard wasn't the only thing that suffered.