Picture of the Week - 4/26/2018

It's football season, y'all!!!

Spencer started spring practice today.  The team is practicing and preparing for the Spring Game on May 10th!  Spencer seemed to be kinda lukewarm about the whole thing, until it started.  Now he's fired up!  He's going to switch positions this year and will hopefully be playing line backer.  He's not big enough to play with his hand on the ground anymore, so it's time to find a new role.  Should be fun!  Here's a picture of Spence and Bob after practice tonight.  

I also thought I'd send along this (really poor quality) picture of Zane from the other night.  He took a shower, brushed his hair, and gave himself a wave in the front.  (Side note - he's got the BEST hair!  Just wave enough, thick, blonde, easy...  the girls will be jealous some day!)  Anyway, he combs his bangs into this perfect flip/wave and then turned to Bob and said - "Dad, new hairstyle.  I call it Sydney Harbor."  (Bob said it really did look like the opera house!  LOL)

This weekend is the last weekend of lacrosse games for Quinn this season (until the summer tournaments) because he's off to a band trip next week.  He's got 2 games.  Zane is playing on Saturday afternoon too.  And Bucky gets to go to a Jamboree just for U7 guys.  Lacrosse AND bounce houses...  they will be in heaven!

I'm off on Tuesday for my next MBA module.  When I get back the weather better be sunny and hot!  I've had enough chilly rain!!!

Have a great week everyone!

Picture of the Week - 4/20/2017

Here are some funny pictures of 3 of my 4 boys.  I, sadly, don't have a ridiculous picture of Quinn at the moment...  which really just means I'm now on a mission!

Some info about these...

Zane - He's got the thickest, most awesome hair.  Seriously...  people will be jealous of his hair for years to come.  It's just wavy enough to be beautiful and it's thick and, honestly, lush.  Lucky boy...  

Beck - I think half the pictures I take of Beckett are with THAT lacrosse field in the background because we spend half our life at Sawnee Mt.  Last night we were hanging out, watching Zane he he took my hair out of its ponytail and insisted I give him one.  Between that, the location, and that goofy missing tooth, it may be one of my favorite pictures of him ever.  

Spencer - HA!  I can't wait to use this at his HS graduation.  He insisted on wearing the ears with the tiara if he was going to wear ears.  LOL  He's actually quite hilarious when he's actually speaking to us!  :)

Have a fun and crazy week everyone!  

Picture of the Week - 4/17/2014

I thought I'd share a couple of funny Beckett stories today.  Our youngest is a TRIP and a half!  Love him to pieces - even if he is causing me grey hairs!

 

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From the time Beck could laugh he's had what we refer to as a maniacal laugh.  He would make a perfect villain baby!  If you heard it, you would agree that it sounds, at the very least, mischievous! 

 

There was a time (a million moons ago) when Spencer was a baby and we caught him quietly pulling wallpaper off the wall from his crib while he was supposed to be napping.  When I caught him doing that, he was so stunned/hurt/shocked/guilty that he sobbed uncontrollably for a LONG time.  We recently had a similar situation with Beck.

 

Bob heard strange noises from Beckett's room during a nap and went to investigate.  When he opened the door he saw Beck messing with the giant cardboard "B" we have on his wall (it's a decoration).  Bob said "Beckett! Stop!" 

 

Instead of breaking down into tears, Beck looked his dad in the eye and knocked the "B" right off the wall with a flamboyant flick of his pudgy little wrist.  And then he laughed his maniacal laugh, "Ha ha ha!"

 

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We typically bathe the little boys in the big garden tub in our master bath.  We have toys in there and a big bottle of bubble bath and another bottle of shampoo.  The boys know that they aren't allowed to touch 1) the hot water handle and 2) the bottles. 

 

Beck was in the bathtub one day and Bob got called away to deal with something for Zane.  When he returned, our naked little 2 year old had a hold of one of the forbidden bottles.  He knew he was busted! 

 

So he quickly put down the bottle and put his hands behind his back.  Without Bob saying anything at all, Beck turned from side to side, a searching look on his face and said "Hmmmm... ... ... where's that...  ... ... thiiinnnngggg?" 

 

He's the picture of innocence I tell ya!  LOL

 

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Background...  I drive a black car.  Bob drives the 11 year old, stinky, falling a part, stinky, grey, stinky, minivan - which he affectionately calls the "Man Van".  Beckett sometimes gets confused about who drives what car and why, so we talk about it a good bit.

 

One day on the way to school, Beckett asks Bob, "Daddy, dis your back car?"  Bob responds that "No.  This is the Man Van.

 

Beckett responds, "Oh.  Ok.  Daddy, dis your back Man Van?"  Zane helps out here and says, "No.  The Man Van is Grey".

 

And a moment later, Beck again, "Daddy, dis your gay Man Van?"  Bob, over a somewhat successfully stifled giggle, "Yes.  Yes it is!"

 

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Beckett is 2 going on 6.  He's kind of a riot!  He's definitely not for the weak of heart!  Once again, I am comforted by the knowledge that God really does know what he's doing because that crazy child is the perfect exclamation point for our little family!  (Now, if only we could get him to poop in the potty...)

 

PS - The paper Beckett is working on in the pictures is Spencer's homework.  NOTHING is safe!

 

 

Picture of the Week - 1/23/2014

Everyone staying warm?  I know it's worse in other places, but it's SOOOOO cold down here.  I hate it!  Come on spring!

 

One bright point to all the cold weather is that we've been hunkered down in the house much more than normal.  This has lead to homemade soups and trying new recipes.  It means cuddling up on the couch with a blanket.  We have had lots of extra hugs and hang out time with the boys.  It could be worse... 

 

Maybe it's because we've spent so much more time together lately that we've noticed some big changes in our littlest boy.  Or maybe we would have noticed these things anyway and the extra downtime is just a bonus to get to enjoy them.  The short story is that Beck is quickly transitioning out of the toddler days and flinging himself with abandon into the preschool phase. 

 

It seems like overnight his vocabulary has exploded.  He has, like the other boys, was an early talker.  He's been able to communicate effectively with us for a long time, but now he's stringing together 6-7-8...12 words at a time.  He's moving away from the typical toddler speech which leaves out all the superfluous words and adopting more "grown up" speech patterns.  It's a fun phase!

 

He's also using his imagination more and more.  I have to credit Zane with this little skill.  Zane has always done more imaginative play than the big boys did.  He will happily sit with a couple of super heroes and a car and play for long periods of time.  He has a very vivid imagination and it seems his creativity is rubbing off on Beckett.  This is both good and bad.  It is pretty darn awesome to sit and listen to the little boys playing together and making up elaborate storylines about whatever strikes their fancy.  But the imagination can also run wild in scary ways.  Beck is pretty afraid of "monkers" right now - especially that one that he's convinced lives in his closet.  He's had a couple of episodes where his fear is practically tangible...  it's pretty heartbreaking!

 

One thing that continues to surprise me is the sturdy nature of this little dude.  He's kind of built like a little tank.  He throws himself at anything and everything.  He loves (maybe more than anything in the world) rough housing with his brothers.  How lucky is he to have such ready and willing playmates all the time???  I figure it's only a matter of time before he gets too rough for at least one or two of his big brothers.

 

Here's a picture of Beck dressed up as either a super hero or a villain...  never can be too sure!

 

Also - a quick PSA - if you happen to have a nearly 10 year old who happens to have an assignment to write a paragraph explaining a common household item, you might want to ask what item he needs to describe before suggesting he look it up on Google - because you never know when the common household item needing Google research is going to be "screw".  You are welcome...

 

Sending out some special prayers for a speedy recovery to a good family friend having some surgery today.  Hope you are back up on your feet in no time!

 

Until next week...  everyone think warm thoughts!

 

 

Picture of the Week - 10/31/2013

Happy Halloween everyone! 

 

We just got done Trick or Treating.  Had a great time!  I love my little Bovengers!

 

Hope you all had a safe and Happy Halloween! 

 

Boo!

 

 

Picture of the Week - 7/18/2013

So we have a coat tree.  We've had it forever.  I don't actually remember when we got it or who got it for us or if we bought it ourselves.  I'm fairly positive we moved it to Georgia.  And I'm fairly sure that it's Amish.  It's been used in our foyer, in a closet, in the basement, etc.  It gets a TON of use because I rarely clear the stuff off it and with 6 people throwing (yes, throwing) coats and jackets and such in the general direction of the coat tree, it's typically overloaded.  I wouldn't say I *love* the coat tree, but it's definitely been a useful piece of furniture for some undetermined, but lengthy, period of time.

 

That is until Wreck It Beckett came along.  Somehow within months of that child becoming mobile our coat tree, hence undamaged through 3 other boys and years of use, was broken.  Even more amazing was that somehow he managed to pull that thing over and break 2 of the hooks without injuring himself.  He's an impressive child!

 

So we've been using the crippled coat tree for months.  It was actually kind of ridiculous to see how we attempted to balance a family's worth of crap on 2 hooks (and of course the ever-so-classy solution of just throwing stuff over the top.)  Bob and I decided we should fix the thing up before fall coat season.  So I hit up ebay and bought some new hooks.  I got all fancy and decided to buy 8 hooks instead of 4 so we could install some child-level hooks in an attempt to make Z and B a bit more independent.  (I'll let you know how that goes...)  The hooks I bought were black - mostly because they were significantly less expensive than the pretty nickel coated ones I really wanted.  Maybe someday we will upgrade our coat tree hooks, but for now cheap is good. 

 

Bob came up with the idea of painting the tree black.  It is oak and, while a beautiful wood, didn't really match anything in our current house.  So I agreed and we bought a can of black spray paint.  We are super fancy, y'all!

 

At some point on Sunday Bob took the tree into the backyard and painted it black.  Honestly, I didn't think anything of it.  This had turned into his project and I was busy doing other stuff.  Later in the day, after kids and dogs had been in and out of both front and back doors about a million times, Zane asked if he could take Ozzie downstairs.  We said yes, but asked him to let Oz outside when he got down there.  We went on with our business.

 

10 minutes later Zane came RUNNING into the room.  He exclaimed, "DAD!  There's an X in the backyard!!!"  We heard him, acknowledged, but didn't really comment.  He went on excitedly, undeterred by our lack of enthusiasm, "It's a BLACK X!"  This time we looked at him with a somewhat confused look on our face while thinking "yeah...  ok...  your point...", but saying nothing.  So Zane then got to the point, while doing the little dance he does when he's really amped up about something.  Arms shaking, doing little hops, he asked, "Do you think we should go do some digging?!?!?"

 

We then burst out laughing.

 

Zane, bless his little innocent heart, thought that a black X in the middle of the backyard must certainly have been placed there as an indication of buried treasure. 

 

Have I mentioned lately how much I love being a mom?  :)

 

May you all find some treasure in your backyard this week.  Just look for the X!!

 

 

Picture of the Week - 1/24/2013

Beckett

aka - (alternately) The Boy Who Keeps Us Entertained or He Who Is Trying to Kill Us or Wreck-it Beckett (I give Disney's Wreck it Ralph credit for the last one, but maintain that Beckett would be a better name for their main character.)

 

Beckett is a wild man. 

 

(I really could just end things there and let you all imagine...)  ((Maybe I should...))

 

Watching he personality begin to appear is pretty fascinating.  He's the baby of the family and WHOA BOY can you tell!  He's spoiled.  I admit it.  But I am not the sole cause.  He is also spoiled by his dad, his Berber and Pappy, and every SINGLE ONE of his brothers.  He cries and someone is in his face trying to figure out what he wants?  He wants to sit on Berber's lap for hours on end?  She lets him.  He wants milk IN A BOTTLE* in the middle of the night (EVERY night).  Bob gives it to him.  He wants a bite of that cookie or a french fry.  Spencer hands it over - while nearly taking Zane's hand off for trying the same stuff.  And Zane...  well Beck is HIS mini-me!  He's got someone to boss around and someone to show stuff too.  And he beams when he's getting attention from his little brother. 

 

* None of the other boys had a bottle past their first birthday.  Shoot, Zane gave up bottles around 10 months old.  But Beckett...  well, he really LIKES his bottle.  And he is very vocal about it.  And (see above) having a 15 month old with a bottle isn't really a big deal, right?  I mean, he DOES drink from a sippy cup too, when he doesn't have one of the above people around to cave and fill up a bottle!

 

Beckett is starting to really communicate with us.  He has several words that he uses regularly (and appropriately).  He can say Willow (Wee Woo) and Bye Bye and Hi (which is freaking adorable when you get him up in the morning!) and Mine (me me me me meeeeeee) and All Done and Uh ohhhhh.  He also says dada and occasionally mama, but not consistently.  We haven't gotten him to say his brothers names yet.  I'm looking forward to that!  (And may fail to point out that he learned the dog's name first...)

 

Even with this somewhat limited vocabulary Wreck is pretty efficient at getting his point across.  Here are a couple of examples:

 

A couple of days ago Zane wanted a snack and came out to get some dry cereal in a bowl.  Then he went back to the toy room where all 4 boys were playing/watching TV/had their heads in various video games.  A few minutes later Beck came out, found Bob and HOLLERED at him.  He was NOT crying.  He was yelling.  And he yelled more when Bob tried to give him a grape.  And he yelled when Bob tried to give him a sippy cup with milk.  And he yelled MORE when Bob caved and tried to give him a bottle.  Upon the refusal of the bottle it became clear that Beck wanted what Zane had, simply because Zane had it.  A little dry cereal in a bowl and he was good as gold. 

 

One of the things that Beckett does that I don't remember the other boys doing is sign language.  I know they teach signing at school, but Zane didn't pick it up nearly as much.  (I admit that I LOVE watching him sign "please".  And sometimes I make him do it just to watch him.)  Anyway, the other day Beck came out to the kitchen, got into the drawer where we keep the plastic plates, watched over to Bob with the plate and signed Please while saying "me me meeeeee".  He then led Bob to the fridge.  Pretty clear he was a little hungry and needed a snack.  He was tickled pink with some grapes. 

 

Maybe my favorite form of communication recently is the temper tantrum.  I can tell by the way the Wreck surveys the child locks on the kitchen cabinets every time he walks in looking for one we left open that he's a bright little boy.  And he knows that he has us all wrapped around his finger.  So when we hold our ground and say NO to him, the resulting throw down can be pretty spectacular.  It's so dramatic, in fact, that it is usually REALLY hard to keep a straight face!  He yells (not cries) and then throws himself to the ground with style.  It's hilarious!  (Which I'm pretty sure is not the message he's trying to communicate!)

 

All of these little personality quirks are combining into a little boy that seems to make our lives complete.  His smiles and giggles and wide open mouth, slobber kisses are pretty awesome.  I wish we could freeze time here for a while.  I've always loved this stage.  So very sweet!

 

Here's a picture of Mr. Beckett on the back porch over the weekend**.  He's not quite as obsessed with being outside as Zane was at that age, but he never says No when you ask him if he wants to go out.  And he usually pats his belly, which tells us that he is actually saying "Yes, please!"

 

Have a great week everyone! 

 

**My favorite part of this picture is the dimpled knuckles. 

 

PS - Beckett had his 15 month check-up today.  He's doing great (with the exception of some surprise ear infections) and continues to be bigger than Zane and smaller than Spencer.  He is almost 26 lbs and almost 32 inches.  Growing up too fast...

 

 

Picture of the Week - 1/17/2013

Let's see...  what's going on with us...  lotsa little stuff and not too much of anything.  It's been pretty awesome actually!

 

So here are some random thoughts...

 

We decided to get some new furniture for our living room just after Christmas.  This is going to be good for 2 reasons.  One - obviously - is that the current furniture has seen better days.  I still love it, but the cushions aren't supportive anymore and it's just not very comfortable.  Two - we desperately need more than a small couch in the toy room.  We have more boys than places to sit and this has caused occasional conflict.  (As an aside, the lack of places to sit has also created an environment for CUTE because the current favorite arrangement of boys is big ones sprawled with one head on each couch arm and Zane perched in the middle between their legs.  Pretty darn adorable!)  So our plan is to move the current living room stuff into the toy room and the toy room couch/sleeper sofa into the basement which will look horrible, but will be functional for a while.  This whole furniture relocation plan has caused us to look at the toy room and realize that it was a mess and really wasn't working.  So Bob has (nearly single-handedly) undertaken a big toy reorganization plan.  He's moving the big boys stuff to the basement and moving little boy stuff into the toy room and they couldn't be more thrilled!  I guess when you can actually SEE the stuff you have to play with you tend to actually, ya know, play!  Here's a picture of Zane from last weekend after discovering some costumes and a bunch of similarly sized robots with Captain America.  I can't really tell if the robot army is protecting Spiderman from the dino or if they are all about to attack.  We may never know as Zane got engrossed into something on TV and never finished the story.

 

Speaking of Zane - he's been pretty awesome lately!  He's funny and creative and 90% of the time (which is a BIG improvement) pretty easy to deal with.  He has the same vast vocabulary that Spencer did at that age, which makes for some really AWESOME stories.  He talks nearly non-stop and usually requires, no demands, a response from whomever he's talking too.  A simple "umm hmmm" doesn't really cut it for him.  So I have found myself in some very odd conversations about dreams and plans and why things are the way they are.  That whole "why why why" stage - equal parts fascinating and exhausting! 

 

We have had LOTS of rain down here over the past week.  It's been cloudy and rainy and dreary for a full week.  I know this may not seem like a big deal to some people, but we are really spoiled here.  It's very unusual to go this long without sun...  and I'm not loving it!  The forecasters tell us that today is the last cloudy day.  I hope they are right!  The rainy (and honestly unseasonably warm and humid) weather has been good for one thing though - Zane's hair!  His wavy mop gets curlier and curlier the more humid the weather.  But unlike MY hair, which just gets frizzy and rather unruly, his just looks cuter and cuter.  I tried desperately to get a picture of him with his awesome hair on Sunday.  I failed...  he wasn't having it.  And no amount of pleading and bribing helped.  So I gave up on my hope for a shot of a curly haired, rosey cheeked, smiling boy and settled for this picture, which Bob tells me is totally a Zoolander Blue Steel stare. 

 

Finally I will share with you a couple of stories from last night.  One of them because I think it's a riot and the other because I hope that it will make you go "awww" the way it made me go "awwwwwwwww". 

 

So to understand the first story, I must explain that Bob and I have decided that it's high time (probably past time, honestly) to get the big guys more involved in the daily chores around the house.  We're starting with the post-dinner clean-up chaos.  What we're doing is asking one of the BBs to help with the dish clean up and dishwasher loading while the other BB is on little boy duty and responsible for entertaining the brothers.  This frees Bob and I up to sit back and eat bon bons.  (LOLOLOLOL)  So last night Q was on dishes and S was on LBs.  Beckett was still in his highchair and was pitching an absolute fit because I wouldn't give him a container full of spaghetti sauce.  Bob and I were ignoring the fit, but Spencer, who had been tasked with taking care of him was a bit distressed.  Spence asked if he could get Beckett down.  Bob said, "No.  He's not done eating."  Beckett hears this exchange, looks at Spencer, takes the food out of his mouth with one hand and throws it behind him.  Spence says, in the most deadpan, dry voice, nothing more than, "I'm pretty sure he is."  Cracked me up.  Actually it still cracks me up!

 

A little later in the evening, Bob and I were working on framing up a bunch of cool pictures of the BBs that I ordered (and will show you all as soon as we get them hung) and the BBs were playing downstairs.  Zane and Beck were in the living room playing with a bunch of Mr. Potato Head parts that Bob found during the great toy migration.  They were having a blast together.  Something caught Beck's attention in the toyroom and he left Zane.  This was OK for a while, but apparently Zane was really enjoying the company of his little brother.  So Zane starts calling Beck to join him.  "Beck, come back in here and play with me."  "Beckett, come see what I've got."  "Beck Beck, look at this."  All of these pleas were ignored, so Zane took things into his own hands.  He got up, went to the toy room, took Beck by the hand and led him back to the living room where they played happily for another half an hour or so.  Come on...  doesn't that just make you say, "Awwwww!"

 

Here's to the return of sunshine.  A big Falcons football game this weekend - RISE UP!  And more quiet family time to let everyone soak in the goodness of being together before our crazy spring schedule gets underway in a few short weeks.