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.

Eli loves Grumpy

About once a week I am fortunate enough to get a chance to get to drop the kids off with my parents and get a few things done without the aide of my children. Lately, since Eli is a little bit of a handful, my dad has tried to help by finding creative things for the two of them to do. Last week the two of them loaded in the pickup and went off for a great salvage yard adventure.

Those of you who have been around Eli very much knows that he loves trucks. Grumpy said that he would walk right past the cars and head straight for the trucks. Eli "worked on" about 50 different trucks during this trip! Needless to say, Grumpy and Eli both took a good nap when they got home.

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.)