GIRL?
OR BOY?

I DECIDED TO WEAR THIS TIE TODAY!

Birthdays, Christmas, and 2011!!

Our little nuggets are two years apart and while they're still young we have decided to do a combined birthday party while we still can. This year we decided to cross our fingers, hold our breath, and hope for the best as we took the kids to...

~ the movie Tangled, and.....

~ duhn...duhn...duhn.... CHUCK E. CHEESE.

The movie was cute, but Blayne was having none of it. Zach and I took turns taking him down the stairs and letting him run up and down the walkway off to the side so we could still see the movie. Xander did pretty well, he was contented with eating gobs of popcorn (that I had accidentally doused with too much seasoning salt -bleh!) and downing the large Sprite we had gotten to share.
Then it was off to the place I was dreading.... the place of germs and unsupervised, rowdy children.....
CHUCK E. CHEESE.
To my surprise... it actually wasn't that bad. It helped that this Chuck E. Cheese was brand new, and that there really weren't many other families there. The boys loved it and really enjoyed all the games and rides. I was just glad there weren't many creepy malfunctioning robots on stage.
We then headed home for cake and presents!
One of Zach's employees was sweet enough to make the boys a cute little train cake, they loved it! For those who don't know... the boys are obsessed with trains lately especially the Polar Express train.



I won't bore you with countless birthday videos, but this one is a definite must see.
This is the video of the first presents the boys opened, they were presents from my parents and Zach's reaction is priceless. Please disregard my horrid cackle-laugh, one of my New Year's resolutions is to get rid of it. Without further ado....

The video:




In my mom's defense... she claims that she didn't know the monkey screamed and howled because in the store it didn't make a sound. Zach's still suspicious that this is just a parent's way of getting back at us for what we did to them while we were children. I know that that can't be true because I was an angel.

Speaking of angels.... the kids were actually quite the angels the entire drive to Zach's parents house in Texas for Christmas. We only got to be there for a day and a half but it was nice to spend time with family. Thanks to Santa's little helper (LOVE YOU LINDS!!) Xander got exactly what he asked for.... Chocolate chip cookies. And they were FABULOUS!! In fact, the first thing Xander did when we went into the present room was grab a cookie and then promptly leave. Apparently he was serious when he said that all he wanted was a chocolate chip cookie. He got his cookie and he was set.



We did get him back into the room where he and Blayne proceeded to go to town on the rest of their presents. The biggest hits have been the train set my parents gave them, the cameras Zach's parents gave them, and the movie Despicable Me that Santa gave them. We had a great Christmas and apologize to any friends or family members who felt gypped this year. Zach and I made a promise to each other that this year we were going to stay on a budget, and not go overboard. We're trying to be more responsible with our money and we also decided to be selfish and get each other a really expensive gift.
We're really excited about it, and can't wait to play with it in June......



Yep, looks like the New Year is bringing a new addition to the Beck family. I am officially 18 weeks and almost 1/2 way through. We'll find out in about 2 weeks if we need to be thinking of little girl or little boy names. As far as Xander is concerned if we wanted a baby we just needed to make Blayne a baby again. I'm sure my body would've been just fine with that, the sickness I've had with this baby has been horrible. Oh the joys of pregnancy. Oh well, it's worth it in the end.

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas, and hope that your New Year brings only the best of tidings your way!!
Love, The Becks

All I want for Christmas...

So about a week ago our ward had it's Christmas party. As we were eating breakfast I decided to tell the boys the exciting news that we were going to a party that night and that Santa would be there. Much to my surprise the news of seeing Santa actually upset Xander. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Guess what boys tonight we are going to a Christmas party and guess who's going to be there... Santa!!!
Xander: **With a very distraught look on his face** Mommy, Santa won't be coming because I didn't write him a letter. He won't come!
Me: Sweetie don't get upset, we can write a letter to Santa this morning after we finish our breakfast.
Xander: And then we ride the train to the North Pole?!? (As you can tell a certain someone is obsessed with the movie, and book, The Polar Express)
Me: No, Santa will actually ride the train to come to us tonight.
Xander: Oh, that so nice of him.

After breakfast was finished I got out some paper and crayons and had the boys make drawings of the things they wanted Santa to bring them for Christmas and then I would write out what they wanted to say. Blayne basically just made squiggles all over the place while Xander appeared to just be drawing lots of circles. I then had them dictate to me what they wanted written.

Me: Okay Xander, what would you like me to write to Santa?
Xander: Tell him thank you for being Santa and for bringing toys, and all I want for Christmas is a chocolate chip cookie for me and for daddy.
Me: Is that all you would like me to write?
Xander: Oh! And a cookie for you and for Blayne.

Then it was Blayne's turn...

Me: What would you like me to tell Santa Blayne?
Blayne: Thank you, food, and movie.
Xander: Umm... mommy? I need to tell Santa to also bring me a toy that has a button you push and it makes noise, and a movie too.







Later that night as we awaited the appearance of Old Saint Nick, I was imagining my child sitting on Santa's lap listing off numerous amounts of toys and candies that he had forgotten to add to his list but had suddenly remembered as he heard the other children listing off their wish lists. When their turns came to sit with Santa, Blayne would have none of it. He just ran off crying to the corner of the room where a bunch of older boys stood in a circle. I guess he figured safety in numbers. Xander however went straight to Santa ready to make his requests....



Santa: What's your name?
Xander: Xander Beck.
Santa: And what would you like for Christmas Xander?
Xander: A chocolate chip cookie.

Santa then looked at me with a look of shock and surprise, and I just smiled with pride over my sweet little boy.
Later on when we were telling the story to some of my girls at mutual Xander began laughing. When I asked him what was so funny he responded with:

Xander: Mommy, I asked Santa for a chocolate chip cookie, and he gave me a bag of candy and a balloon. So funny.

Basically, Santa has it really easy this year at our place.
You're welcome Santa, you're welcome.

The new hair do....

Many of you have been asking questions and making comments about Blayne's latest hair do. **Especially those who saw it when it was a close buzz and hadn't begun growing out yet. **

To answer your questions....
#1: No, he's not going into the army.
#2: No, he's not sick with some disease.
#3: No, we were not planning on making him 'Mr. Clean' for Halloween (even though the hair cut did take place the 1st week of Oct.).
#4: YES, his big brother did play an influential role in the decision to get his hair cut. And that role being.... instigator.

See... ever since Blayne was born anytime Zach and I would try to wash, comb, or trim his hair we were met with horrible banshee screaming and flailing of the arms and legs. Our little one made it very clear that his hair was a "NO TOUCHIE" zone.

That being said... it was a busy day back in the beginning of October as I was rushing to get the family packed for our big trip to Utah to see my family (which, as a side note, was absolutely fabulous even though the one thing I forgot to pack was our camera). All that was left to do was to get all the boys things packed away into their bags. A seemingly easy thing if you don't have two little toddlers who like to pull things out as soon as you put them in. So to get it done without any interruptions I decided to give them their t.v. time for the day. Usually t.v. time for my boys is 30 min. of eyes glued to the show and many exclamations of counting, singing the alphabet, or answering the questions of whichever t.v. character happens to be on.
I raced back to their rooms and began packing like a mad woman. Amidst my frantic packing I realized that sound that every mother dreads..... the sound of complete and utter silence. Any mother of young children knows the silence which I am speaking of. Not the longed and wished for sound of peaceful silence, but instead the utter and complete silence which means something naughty has happened or is happening at that very moment.
As I rushed back into the front room where the two culprits were, this is what I saw.....





Yep, my poor little baby had been clipped. The saddest part was not that my oldest had disobeyed me and been playing with something that he has been informed is off limits, no... the saddest part of it all was that the small amount of hair that Blayne did have had taken him almost 2 years to grow. I sat imagining my child bald for the next 2 years, and images of the movie "Powder" kept popping into my head.

Needless to say the culprits were indeed punished:





And have since learned that scissors are not to be touched without a mommy or daddy present. I'm still shocked that as Xander was chopping Blayne's hair, Blayne didn't make even one peep. Tickle me Elmo I understand because he was currently in the OFF position, but I didn't think Blayne's banshee scream had an OFF button (And yes, Xander not only cut Blayne's and his own hair but Tickle me Elmo's as well. Obviously the kid wants to be a barber when he grows up.).

Thankfully, his hair is actually growing quickly and in my opinion he looks pretty cute with a buzz cut. For those interested here's the interview with the culprit/victim right after the incident had occurred. You'll have to forgive him for being a little camera shy, he had just been through a pretty traumatic event.

Nana's Story Time

Every now and then the boys get to have story time with their Nana Kendell over Ichat. The boys get so excited each and every time we start an Ichat with Nana and Papa Kendell, that often before a hello is even said they are jumping up and down asking Nana to read them a book. Nana Kendell not only has some wonderful and exciting books, but has a special talent as a story teller as well. We feel so blessed to have such a talented and loving Nana. Thanks Nana!

HALLOWEEN TIME!!!

So those of you who know me know that I LOVE me some Halloween!! I give credit to my awesome parents and siblings whose creativity and decorating skills always made our house the place to be on Halloween night. Of course, it also helped that we were celebrating the birthday of one of the coolest kids ever.... my little brother Cameron!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMERON!!!!

This year we not only had our ward trunk or treat party to look forward to on Wednesday night, but we were lucky enough to receive an invite to a Halloween party on Saturday from some friends who went all out and made the night quite spectacular! There were games, contests, and food galore!! It was fabulous, and we had a wonderful night! Xander was quite entertained with all of the motion censored skeletons. Thanks so much you guys!!

Each year we try to come up with a family themed costume and this year we decided to be....

Goldilocks and the three bears.






Sadly however... my sewing skills are not up to par and instead of looking like bears people thought the boys were either mice, or puppies. It also didn't help that I sewed their tails too low making it look like they had poop hanging from their pants. Oh well, at least that gave us some good laughs throughout the night!





When people started asking if I was Shirley Temple, or (the more popular response of...) Britney Spears, Zach was worried that our three year streak of winning the best family costume at the ward party was coming to an end on. Miraculously however... either people finally caught on to what we were trying to be, or there is some video of Britney Spears with dancing puppies that I have yet to discover. Either way.... we won for best family costume, and our streak is in tact!!
4 YEARS IN A ROW BABY!!!
(*A big thank you to whomever took pity on poor Britney and her puppies*)
I guess if I want to make it 5 I had better start working on my sewing skills A.S.A.P.
Hope your holiday was as fun as ours!!!

BOO!!!

POOPED IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT!!!

More to come!