You've had another birthday...

Yep, it's birthday time in the Beck household once again! I know, crazy right? Even crazier....

OUR LITTLE XANDER IS NOW 6!!!

Yep, you read right. Our first born is an official six year old. How did this happen? How did time fly by? How do we have a six year old?!? Wow, that means Zach is really getting old.

We cuddled up on the couch this morning and I told him about the day he was born. It was so fun to see his reactions to hearing about his birth and how excited Zach and I were to have him in our lives. I still remember so vividly the heartache we felt when we were told we were going to lose him, and the utter joy and elation we had when he finally was safe in our arms.





He's always been too smart for my own good, and was quick to figure out how things worked. He loves learning and is so happy to be able to finally go to school. He has been reading on his own for almost a year and a half and is getting smarter and smarter day by day.



His smile and joy are contagious. And he's always quick to forgive and apologize.

He is very creative and quite the good dancer.

He's always willing to help out. Whether it be around the house or....

with his siblings.

 

We just love our little Xander man and are so glad to have him in our family! 

We love you Xander!!!

One year older and wiser too....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!


Yep, today our little "Blaynie-Boo" officially turns 4!
 I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone. We hung the birthday banners, and let him pick what he wanted for breakfast and he was as happy as could be. Until later while dropping Xander off at school and he realized that he still couldn't go to school. That realization always bums him out.

From day one our little Blayne has been our sweet, spiritual, kind, emotional (both good and bad), intellectual, musical, clumsy, quick as a whip child.

He's always ready to help any way he can...


but also really loves to be waited on. I.E. "Here mommy, you can put my shoes on for me. You're welcome." Although lately he has gotten a little more of the 'No, I'll do it all by myself' attitude which makes me happy for his growth and weary of my tests of patience.


He has an infectious laugh and a smile that's to die for. Every time he flashes a smile my way and showcases his little dimple I melt a little inside.
I love the way he talks about movies/tv shows as if they are real life I.E. "Oh mommy, today Bot got into some real trouble when he wore the wrong skates. We better be careful if we put on any roller skates today."
I especially love when he says grown up phrases in his little man voice. It always makes me pause for a moment thinking did that phrase/knowledge really just come out of my little one's mouth?!? He has such an old soul in that adorable little body!

 

Most of all... I love his desire for, and love of knowledge. He has been reading for almost 7 or 8 months now and gets so excited when a new book is purchased. I love listening to him read. The pauses and inflections in his voice, the random British accent that comes out every time he sounds out a new word, and his excitement with each page make those mom moments even more precious.
The other day while making lunch I let him watch a new kids show and at the end I asked him if he liked it or not. His response... "Ummm... not really, I really didn't learn anything and it was kind of silly." He loves Team Umizoomi because it teaches him math, shapes, and patterns. He loves Little Einsteins because it teaches him art, classical music, and tempos. And he loves Starfall.com because it teaches him "Oh so many things!!"

Today as we got back from dropping Xander off at school and were pulling into the garage Blayne said "Mommy when we get inside can you write my name on this drawing pad for my Birthday? I'm trying to write it but it's just not all right." I turned around and asked to see what he had written, this is what I saw...



Astonished I said
"Blayne, I don't know why you're so disappointed you wrote all the letters in your name and you did it very well!"
"Thanks mom, but it's not all together the right way."
"That's okay buddy we can work on that, but you should be proud of what you did write. Really, honey you did a great job! How did you write that so well?"
"It's because I'm 4 now."

Four now... but forever my baby.

We love you so much Blayne!! We are so lucky to have you in our lives and in our family!!!
LOVE YOU!!!

A little cheer....

Well, it's official. The holidays are upon us.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with some delightful people from our ward, and our kids were in heaven. Xander was asking to sleep at their house and he and Blayne have been asking to go back every day since. I don't blame them because the Hunts are just the coolest people around. I think Zach and I had just as much fun as the kids, if not more. It's always nice to be able to go were people treat you like family. THANK YOU HUNT FAMILY!!!

Now, for those of you who know me, you know I am one of those sticklers when it comes to Christmas music. In my book Christmas music starts on December 1. I mean, there's a reason it's called Christmas music people. However, last year my sister gave me Mindy Gledhill's Christmas album and the kids and I loved it so much that I think it was played every day on a continuous loop from the day we got it, till the end of December. As an added treat one of the main songs Winter Moon  had a bonus video that my friend Jed Wells was involved in making. To say that my kids enjoyed the video would be a major understatement. They adored it and would even get their own puppets and sing along (yes, the video has puppets to add to the entertainment). The hours of entertainment and adorable moments the video provided was priceless, and although it is usually against my will -us being a few days away from Dec. 1st after all- we have begun listening to the cd and watching the video and will probably do so all month long. I love this time of year and love the spirit that Christmas music brings. I guess it might be beneficial to listen to it all year long to always feel that spirit, but let's not push it folks. A few days early is all I'm ready to do for now.

Sneaky...

I got on the computer this morning and discovered that....

 we either have poltergeists living with us, or two sneaky little boys getting up in the middle of the night to take endless pictures of themselves on our computer. (*Seriously, I found about 60 different pictures of them with all sorts of backgrounds*)

It never ceases to amaze me just how bright and clever little ones are. We've never really been able to truly baby proof our homes because Xander has always managed to figure out all the different baby proof contraptions within a day. When we bought our new fridge I was thrilled that the ice/water/control panel had a button to lock everything, then not so thrilled after Xander figured it out and taught Blayne how to work it in less than 40 minutes. Let's not even mention how intelligent they are when it comes to our computer, because every time I think about it I cry a little inside with the realization that it's likely they already know more about how to use it than I do. Zach and I  really can't spell out words to each other while talking because Blayne immediately tells us what word we're spelling.
 "What do you think, should we give them some C-A-N-D-Y?"
"Ohh! Candy?!? Yes! I would love some!"

And little miss Kendell? Yeah, she's much too smart for my own good as well. She definitely has already figured out that one little cheesy grin, shy little smile, or sad little cry face to daddy will get her anything she wants. Yep, she's already got him under her spell, oh the teenage years should be fun.

Although their clever little minds cause me worry (and sometimes frustration) I feel so blessed to have such wonderful, brilliant, loving children to love, teach, and more often than not... learn from.

I LOVE YOU, MY LITTLE NUGGETS!!!!

Way... too... FAST!!

At the end of lunch the other day Baby Girl told me she was "all done". I was so shocked I asked "Where did your lunch go?" She again said "all done". Still in disbelief that she was saying those words I asked a third time, in response... she looked at me with a look that said 'Seriously lady? Are you really not getting this?' then said it a third time while signing it as well (apparently she figured saying it in two languages might help me comprehend things). Thankfully she appeased me once again as I giddily called Zach to have him hear that our Baby Girl is slowly becoming a Big Girl.

Roller coaster....

Yeah, yeah... I know. It's been forever since my last post. Basically our life has been a little like the picture above.

                                 ONE BIG ROLLER COASTER RIDE. 

Don't get me wrong, we've had more ups than downs and we're thoroughly enjoying ourselves but the stop was a little jerky and we're feeling slightly sick to our stomaches (Literally.)
As soon as things settle down I promise to get back on my game and maybe even show you some fun pictures of the new digs! *We're all unpacked I just want to give it a good cleaning before taking photographic evidence.*

In case you were wondering...
yes, I did realize that my boy's eyes look slightly creepy in this picture but I left it like that to represent the way society can leave us feeling slightly dazed, disoriented, and even inhuman. (That reasoning sounds better than 'I'm computer illiterate' right?)

Father's Day

Zach and I were both blessed to have some pretty great dad's of our own, who truly bless our lives. Thankfully my children are lucky to have that same blessing in their lives since they have Zach as their dad.

Zach is funny, creative, loving, hard working, and really good at "bringing home the bacon"!

The kids absolutely ADORE him and love every minute they get to spend with him.

He's also a wonderful example,

and has really cool friends (*mainly me*).

So when it came time to get ready to celebrate this special guy I decided to read the kids this book that explains Father's Day and what it's all about. In one part of the book they talked about stepdads and the fact that some children have no dad. Blayne stopped me mid-sentence and asked...
 "Mommy, what a stepdad?".
 I responded with...
 "Well, if Mommy and Daddy were no longer married and Mommy married another man he would be called your stepdad."
I guess I should have made the explanation more broad than personal because Blayne took it a little hard. He began crying and pleading with me "Please Mommy! Don't marry another Daddy! We love our Daddy!"
Xander then jumped in and said "Blayne, she wouldn't do that. Our Daddy is the best Daddy ever."
I quickly agreed with Xander and reassured Blayne that I loved Daddy and we would always be together.
Then later that day, while at the store, we ran into some people from the ward and as we were talking she asked the boys if they were excited for Father's day. Xander replied "Yes because my mommy is still married to my daddy." Worried at the confusion that statement might cause I quickly explained the stepdad issue that arose earlier that day and we had quite a good laugh.
The next day we had our good friends the McMurrys over for dinner and Xander asked if he could say the prayer. Mid-prayer Xander made this statement....
"And please bless that this family won't break apart."
Needless to say, when the prayer concluded the looks on our friend's faces were a mix of confusion and mild worry. I once again explained the stepdad fiasco from the day before, we all had a good laugh, and I'm sure our friends were relieved to realize that they weren't invited over to hear some horrible news.
We are so grateful for "the BEST daddy ever" and LOVE HIM WITH ALL OUR HEARTS!

LOVE YOU DADDY!!! Thanks for all you do for us and for blessing our lives.

All our love,
Mommy and the nuggets

Look who's 1!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

KENDELL!!

*Or... Snyom Roshdyenye KGB*

From the first day we saw you, we knew we would absolutely LOVE you!

You fit perfectly into our little pod,

* I think she was jealous that Blayne's going to be a Flamenco Dancer*

and it's quite obvious that your brothers just adore you!

You bring so much joy, happiness, and fun into our lives and have made us quite the happy family! Thanks for being a part of our lives and for always keeping us on our toes! *You are a super fast crawler!*

We love you with all our hearts, and are so lucky to be your Mommy and Daddy!   Love, "Muma" and "Dada"

In memory of a "GREAT" Grandma

My Grandma was a wonderful, loving woman who always created special memories with her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Growing up with Grandma Kendell meant love pats, treat bags at birthdays ( I.E: She would give each grandchild a treat bag with money and candy at every birthday party so no one would feel bad that it wasn't their birthday. Needless to say... we all loved when it was not just our birthday but each other's birthday as well.), but most importantly...

It meant the goodnight lullaby of "A Bushel and a Peck".
She may not have sung, or even have known all the correct words, but the added humming and extra "Doodle oodle doos" just made it that more special.

The other night as I was getting the kids ready for bed I was tickling them and telling them how much I loved them *in sing-song voice, I'll admit it* when suddenly Blayne started to sing "A Bushel and a Peck". I was a little shocked considering that I had really only sung the song a few times here and there, and had never thought they had even heard me or were listening.

As I sat listening to his sweet version of the song I couldn't help but think of my Grandma and how happy it would make her to hear his version of her goodnight song. When he finished I took the time to tell the kids how much I loved the song and why. I told them of special sleepovers at my grandparents house and how each night before bed my Grandma would read me stories and sing me that song. I told them that every time I hear the song it reminds me of special times with my Grandma and makes me happy. But most importantly it reminds me of the selfless love of my Grandmother. She was a kind, and thoughtful woman who was always on her feet trying to do something for someone else. When I finished Xander asked me if she was "one of the old Nanas who died" and "who's mommy was she".   I explained that she was one of the Nanas who was in heaven and that she was Papa Kendell's mommy. His reply was "Oh, I bet he misses his mommy. I think he loved her." I assured him that he did and thanked him for being so thoughtful.
Then this afternoon when I was getting them ready for their naps Blayne brought me the video camera and said "Can we sing the song for Papa?" Xander jumped in with "Ooh! That a great idea Blayne! Then he can listen to it and think of his Mommy!"

 So Papa (and everyone else in the family) this song is for you....

Grandma Kendell, this one is for you......

Love you Grandma, thanks for all the wonderful memories.

Peace Offering

SO IT'S BEEN A WHILE....

 I haven't written for a while because:

 1: I had a severe case of blank mind where I couldn't think of what to say or post.
 2: I was being lazy.
 3: I was convinced that no one was reading this blog anymore anyway so it really didn't matter that I hadn't put anything new up.
 

 Then my sweet husband made the observation that maybe the reason no one seemed to be reading anymore was because I had made the title of my last post "My husband's better than your husband" and people were offended.

If in fact that is the case and I did unintentionally offend....

 MY DEEPEST, AND SINCEREST APOLOGIES TO EVERYONE.

 I promise that I will no longer write such offensive posts, and would like to add that
           YOUR HUSBANDS ROCK!
Never again will I make such bold declarations (1- because I don't want people angry with me, and
2- because Zach said to "knock it off, it's embarrassing".).
 To show how truly sorry I am I offer to you these photos of my sweet baby girl as a peace offering (and to melt your hearts).
I hope that we can once again be reunited in this world of the blog.
 Sincerely, Codilyn

To sweeten the deal...

here's a video of baby girl when she first started crawling.

My Blayne-e!

I think its my turn to post now. (Even though everyone prefers my wifes post, as do I)

But I need to tell you about Blayne.
Blayne and I are complete opposites.
He takes his time to eat.
He is a little dramatic.
He picks up music very well.
He can fall asleep anywhere.
He is stubborn, not a trait of mine.

And it has taken me three years to figure him out.

And do you know what I say to him, fine! You decide when you are finished with dinner, I am not going to hurry you up. You decide which music is better, I am glad you have an opinion. You decide when it is nap time and just let me know when you want to stop wearing pull ups...and I am ok with that.

I love you Blayne and your morning hair!!

This is how he wakes up, can you believe it!!

My husband's better than your husband....

Yep, if you couldn't already guess from the title... this is a brag post about my awesome, amazing husband.

Aside from the fact that he's a hardworking, intelligent, thoughtful, spiritual, fabulously wonderful husband who just happens to be the loving, helpful father of our three beautiful children:






He is constantly surprising me by making and creating unique and ingenious things for our house.
Case in point...
Before we had a frame for our bed Zach cleverly made a headboard out of some materials he got at Lowes, adding some substance and visual interest to our otherwise lacking "bedroom set".
He's continued to do other unique and interesting things to make our house more beautiful and visually interesting (things with paint, etc...).
If I weren't afraid that women would fall in love with him, and he would received some unwanted stalkers, I would make sure he ended up on some clever D.I.Y. home show on HGTV.
That being said...
let me introduce you to the latest addition to our home. The boys lovingly refer to it as "Mommy's treasure box".



He brought home this tattered, about to be thrown away chest, sanded it, painted it, and added some cool hardware. He also lightly sanded it afterwards to add a weathered look to it and I couldn't be happier. The boys adore it and are constantly touching, inspecting, and playing with it. Their favorite thing is to climb on top and jump to the couches.
Well, like I said before....
MY HUSBAND IS BETTER THAN YOUR HUSBAND. I'm sorry, you'll just have to get used to it.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer!"

Realizing that it's been far too long since I last posted something I decided to peruse the collection of photos piling up in my computer. I felt pressure to give an update on the holidays since I hadn't said a word about what we did on Thanksgiving, the boys birthdays, Christmas, New Years, or even Halloween. However, the realization that this might take up all the free time I had lead me to make the decision to post something short and sweet. Until I actually take the time to update all the happenings of the holidays just find it in yourselves to be contented with knowing that they were wonderful.
Now onto the short and sweet....

Upon finding a few photos of myself with Kendell I came to a few different conclusions.

#1: This little girl is growing up way too fast!
It seems as though every time I blink she's a few weeks older. If this keeps up within a few weeks she'll be using my makeup and asking Zach for the car keys. I wouldn't mind this "Quantum Leap" journey of hers *as much* if she weren't somehow taking me on the journey with her. I'm not sure how she's doing it... maybe she does it while we're all asleep, maybe it's just "journey residue" transferring itself onto me whenever we touch, or maybe it's just an effect of messing with the Space-Time Continuum. Whatever it is.... it's making me age along with her, and I don't like it!

#2: Apparently whenever I wear that shirt I feel like taking a picture of myself. I either really like the way it looks on me, or just really need some new shirts.

#3: I am forever indebted to Drew Barrymore for making the "ombre" style popular. It gives us busy (and or lazy) mommies who have no extra time, energy, or money to get our hair done, a great excuse for letting our roots grow out. Thank you Drew for giving my laziness the cool and hip excuse of "fashion".

#4: This little girl is just too cute for words!!! We are all completely and totally in love!
One little smile or giggle from her and we're all in a trance. She has us in the palm of her hand, and we will do her bidding.
Until, of course, boys come into the picture. Then her Daddy will go into Protective mode and all young boys had better watch their backs!

Until then, we'll just enjoy the coos, the giggles, and those deliciously snackable cheeks!