A new nephew!!!!

Well we finally have a new nephew!!! It was a long haul for my sister! Her water broke and she progressed on her own but when she hit 9cm..it all stopped! She ended up having a c-section.

Since I don't use my own boys names, I will tell you his initials are LCB. He was 8lbs 4 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

Both baby and mom are doing well. Dad and Grandma D are also fine but they are all tired!

A quick trip to Chicago

Last Thursday evening I jumped on a plane to head to Chicago. I didn't want to drive alone since we had potentially a lot of snow in the forecast. I wanted to go and spend time with my sister before she had the baby-or hoping she'd maybe have him while I was there. They are doing MAJOR work in the kitchen so we did a lot of cleaning keeping her extra busy!



Friday Morning we went to a little Diner for breakfast. It was called the Depot. Looking at it from the outside an outsider may not feel as though it would be a good place to stop.






Friday we went to the mall to walk and she ended up on the phone with work for 30++minutes. A good time for my mom and I to spend some time at Victoria's Secret.



Saturday we spent most of the day inside and then went "out west" later that evening so they could buy a hood for their cook top and a new garbage disposal. Then out for Thai food. A really cute little restaurant that had 5 tables. Saturday night she was having contractions that were regular and strong so they sent her to the hospital. We all stayed up, I got my suitcase packed and we freshened up. My mom and I headed out behind them at about 2:15 (Sunday Morning) and went to the hospital. It was about a 30 minute drive with not much activity except the groups of people standing outside various bars.



As you can see we must have been a little bit tired and silly as we were greeted by Ronald McDonald in the hospital waiting room.


They got her settled in the room, monitored the baby and had her do walking--NO CHANGE! So at 5:30am they sent us home. We got back to her house after 6am and then I slept for a few hours before I went to O'hare to catch my flight home.
She was scheduled to go in for induction Sunday night. More to come...

Still no baby...

My sister still has not had her baby yet. Her doctor told her to walk each night and she'd see her again this week. If she hasn't had the baby by the middle of next week they will induce her.

We can't wait...

A Red and Blue Christmas!

Okay so mom has a big mouth and said how cute it would be if the boys each had a tree in their room that was their favorite color...if front of the boys!!!!!

They have little girl friends that have small trees in their room and they thought it was pretty cool.

I am a sucker and they each got a tree. I tried to talk them into just one (green ) for the upstairs hallway but that didn't fly - not even with dad.

They were so excited tonight as we put them together that the small amount we spent was well worth it!! Now to decide how they want to decorate their trees-that will wait until the weekend

Hunting widow

Jon left for hunting camp at noon yesterday and will come home sometime Tuesday!!! He starting 'preparing' for his getaway early in the week and was quite excited to get out of town. I hate to admit it but I feel lonely already!

Last night N had his best friend over to play--oh my--how wild can 2 7 year olds and a 4 year old get!!! Did you know there is no such thing as "indoor voices" or "keeping your hands to yourself"? They played N's ESPN football game almost the whole time-3 hours! N fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow although he says he was laying awake for at least an hour! Z fell asleep yesterday afternoon so getting him to bed wasn't quite as easy. I was even asleep pretty early.

Today we woke up to SNOW!!!!!! There is only a slight dusting but white is covering the ground! Most years that Jon is hunting we get accumulation that I have to deal with!

I am meeting up with 2 girlfriends today and we are taking our boys/girls bowling! It should be fun!

A baby shower for my new soon to be nephew

Last weekend I had a little get-away to my sister's house for one of her baby showers. My dad and I left Friday and came home Monday. It was great to spend time with my family. Jon stayed home with the boys. It was so weird being there without them, but we were so busy that the time flew by. My mom has been there for several weeks already helping her get ready. We sure have missed her but I am so glad that she is able to spend time with my sister - something she hasn't been able to much of over the past several years.

Anne opening one of her gifts.

Lori (left) and Michelle (right) put the shower on for her. It was at Lori's home. It was a really nice time.

The big boys putting together the baby's furniture. What a big project! I didn't take a picture of the nursery before I left but it looks so nice!

She had a surprise shower at work on Thursday and my mom went up there to surprise her also. They played some games, had a lot of food/snacks and she got a lot of nice gifts.

They are also having a family shower Sunday with his family. We are going to have her shower here in Michigan after the baby is born.

Happy Halloween

Well it has been 5 days since Halloween and I am just getting to the post

We had school parties as well as trick or treating.

I guess when a child is in 2nd grade it isn't "cool" for you mom to come to the party or parents just stop coming at this age. I went up to the school for the party and I was the lone ranger. I still stayed and hung out for a few hours. It was so much fun to see all the children dressed up. I do think "N" was happy that I was there with him. My Grandma J also stayed at the house with "Z" and they both were thrilled that she could stay and babysit. We had to take her to her Doctor appt. earlier that day so she just hung out with us for most of the day.

The weather was beautiful and we saw quite a few of N's friends around the neighborhood. Jon and I even got a 'special' treat bag just for adults :)

Z loves the candy!!! I had to hide it from our usual snack place since he will sneak it. He doesn't clean himself up very well though--the chocolate around his mouth is a dead giveaway!

Oh- remind me next year when I talk about carving pumpkins: DO NOT LET THE BOYS PICK A HARD PATTERN!! We go through this each year--they pick out something hard and then ditch the parents and we end up finishing the project!!!!

Girls Night Out

At the Landmark Inn after dinner.

"Cheers to Family"

This is what a few crazy girls look like heading home after a long night of fun.

After the football/family afternoon a few of us girls headed out for the evening. We haven't had a girls night in a long time! It was a few old friends and a few new friends as well. Everyone got along really well and we had a ton of fun! We tried to have an early dinner and of course it ended up to be a late dinner which ended up to be a late night overall. We had a few really yummy drinks and good conversation. I was able to run into a girl I work with as well as Jon's cousin and her boyfriend( so now I will really see if you do keep up with the blog :) )-- I didn't see really anyone else that I knew. I guess I don't get out enough. So after very little sleep Saturday night and being dead tired Sunday - I wonder if it was really worth it????

Flag Football

Last Saturday the boys had flag football. We traveled for their game and next week the other teams will come to our field. It is a YMCA program and is very basic and a little unorganized. The boys feel pretty cool about the whole thing however.

It was a BEAUTIFUL afternoon!! The 4 year old group was so hard to control/organize and the older group really tried to run plays, etc. N got to play 2 games and next week Z will for sure get 2 games. It was really hard trying to watch both boys play at one time. I tried to take stills as well as video it--I am sure the video will be hilarious to watch.

Let's hope for warm weather next Saturday too!!!!

Why can't they just play well

Well another Friday night has passed and we just got home from the football game. The team lost and my husband is not a happy camper!! There were 3 games left and the team needed to win 2 to make it to the playoffs, so... I guess they must win the last 2 to have any hopes of making it.

My parents came with me and the boys (Thank you!). We did the usual snacks and 50/50 -which I was only 3 tickets off! Z said he was tired at half time and he fell asleep in the 4th quarter. It is the second time he has fallen asleep at the game. Tonight my arms hurt from holding him, it is actually hard to type. He did wake up as we got to the car but he seems to have fallen back to sleep in his bed. I am waiting for him to call for me to come and lay with him.

N went right to bed after he washed up. He was done in the bathroom and yelled good night to me and was in the dark under his covers!! He was pretty tired today. There was no school and he was up ready to start his day at 6:30 am! I was up at 6:00 with Jon so thankfully he didn't drag me out of a dead sleep.

Tomorrow is the boys flag football game. The next 2 Saturday's are the games and then it is over. How fast the last month has flown by.

We will be taking the camera's so I will post more later in the weekend.

All Tuckered Out

This is what a long day at daycare will do to you...

Moon Sand

You either love it or hate it...Moon Sand

I actually really like the stuff. I enjoy playing with it with the boys. It can be a mess but it is easier to clean up then play-doh.

On the commercials they show the kits with 3 colors and they stay so neat and separated. That DID NOT happen at our house. We tried to keep them apart and then just mixed them all up!

Football Frenzy

Well the season is over half over and today we just had a Saturday game. I told the boys that if they had a good week we would make the road trip. I woke up this morning and didn't really feel like making the trip but I had promised the boys so we were going. At flag football this morning a friend said she was maybe going to take a ride to the game (1 1/2 hour trip!) so we decided to go together. We took one vehicle--thank goodness for 3 row SUV's! She also has 2 boys who are about the same age. N is one year older than her oldest and our youngest are in preschool together.





We really had a good time and the boys did really well. It was great to have some "girl" time but also did something special with our little guys at the same time.


Oh- the team did win too ( that makes for a happy husband )





Here is a picture that was taken the night of the homecoming football game. We haven't had bad weather yet and there are only 3 games left!! Aren't they cute~

Memo to Mommy

I found this in Parents Magazine (September 2008)

You have a lot of lessons to teach your little one, but he has a few words of wisdom for you too.

"Stop freaking out about the mess! There's always time to clean-but how often do we get to make mud pies?"

"Love me, even when I'm naughty. I'll only be this age once."

"Be patient. I do everything for a reason, but I don't know enough words yet to give you an explanation."

"Let me do it. I know you can do it faster and better, but sometimes experience is the best teacher."

"Don't expect too much of me. I want to do what you ask and make you happy, but I'm still little."

"Don't try to reason with me when I'm having a tantrum. Trust me-I can't hear you over my own screaming."

"Keep your promises. It's all about trust. When I'm a teenager, you'll understand why it's so important."

"Don't keep asking me if I've been good. I'm not even sure what that means, but if I was bad I'd never admit it!"

"Don't let me think that you are perfect. I feel a lot better knowing I'm not the only one who makes mistakes sometimes."

"Set limits. I can't actually eat a whole box of cookies-I just want to see if I'd get away with it"

My little "kitty"

Today I was reorganizing the boys toy room and Z came across this cute little outfit mixed in with some gifts that were being stored in that room. It was meant for one of our nieces. (She had outgrown it by the time we gave her the gift. ) He said he was being a baby kitty-pretty smart given the print on the shirt. He also said the skirt was shorts since there were attached shorts underneath.

He kept it on until dad, coach and his brother came home from school. Daddy was not very happy with his little guy, but also understood where he would have come up with the idea.

I didn't mind since he thought it was a costume and not a little girls outfit. Play and make believe is important so we just had fun and didn't make a big deal out of it.

We survived our first week of school.

Well we made it through the first week of school with out too many problems. We had TIRED boys who were somewhat crabby!

N doesn't talk much about what goes on at school but he is having fun!

Tonight is the first home Varsity Football game. The boys will be all dressed in their authentic Patriot jerseys ready to cheer on the home team. Grandma and Granpa D and Grandpa B will also be attending.

We will keep you posted on the game and will also post a pic of the boys

First Day of School 2008

Today was the first day of school...2nd Grade!!!!!

N decided he wanted to ride with Daddy today so mom couldn't follow the bus up to school :(

I did take pictures of them in the front of the house before they left. Z was still sleeping so it wouldn't have worked to travel to school.

I have found that boys aren't very talkative about certain things. The day gets summarized pretty quickly but then throughout the day you can trick them into giving you more information.

He is pretty pumped about being able to stay with Dad after school and go to football practice. And Thursday's are almost as good as Fridays (game night) because he gets to eat dinner with the team.

It was so cute -- Last night on the way home from camp he was reviewing all of the paperwork we needed to send back in to his teacher and was taking it all pretty seriously. Now if I was to sit down with him and tell him the rules and all of the other info he wouldn't have listened but since he read it himself it had new meaning to him. He was such a big boy. I was very proud of him.

Happy 4th Birthday!!!

Our little guy turned 4 last Wednesday!! We had his party on Friday night. He was soo cute. He said he wanted to have a Hulk/Princess (Barbie) birthday party because the girls would not like Hulk. So we did half n half. What a little sweetie. The weather was beautiful so we really didn't have to have any formal games-the kids just played outside. Anne & Chris were able to get home to celebrate with us too!

I was pretty Martha-ish too. I made a chocolate cake and frosting from scratch as well as a different frosting for my store bought cupcake mix. I thought they both turned out well. I did buy Z trick candles so when they didn't go out all of the kids started to help. I guess that wasn't a great idea --who wanted to eat spit that flew across the top of his cake. I didn't get any pictures of the cakes since my husband went back out to play bean bag game while we did cake ( I had the video recorder).

Our niece was sweet enough to help Z read all of his cards before he opened them. He was very patient and looked at each card as they read them.

We then of course let both boys stay up really late that night so we had crabby boys the next morning.

Oh how quickly they grow up...

Top secret blueberry patches

We were finally able to get out and pick blueberries this summer. We happened to stumble upon a patch while we were on a little outing near our home, but the ants were HORRIBLE!!!!! I had them crawling under my shorts a few times. Then I got a map to a "secret" location that was awesome: a ton of berries with NO ants!!!! For all of you fellow pickers: Sorry I cannot disclose my locations to anyone--TOP SECRET! My source made me eat my map. We have a freezer full of berries with some at my parents house as well. My mom also has been out quite a bit this summer and she has no room to spare in her freezers as well. I wanted to go out this weekend, but the boys weren't really up to it. We also had rain during the night so I thought the patch might be a little too wet to make the adventure.

My little guys were quite excited the first few times and then for the first few minutes each time after. The last time we went I packed extra snacks and movies for them to watch. That seemed to keep them occupied a bit longer.

So now we should have plenty of berries to last...I hope.

I love the 'scraps'--i think it is so pretty.

Just a sampling of our berries.

sorry it's been so long

I just tried to post and an error came across the screen--so I will try again. I don't know where the time has gone. It seems as though summer has just begun. I am not going to make it long since the site seems to be not working very well.

We have been busy with a little bit of this and that and will write several postings to cover some of it.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July!!! (Almost)

Another fun-filled, jam packed weekend of fun!

Jon is out fishing with my dad and Chris. They brought the boat to camp so decided to fish while they were there so the little guys and I hung out with my mom and sister for the evening. They are both asleep now and I am debating what I should do...fall asleep on the couch, do some housework, or repaint my nails a bold RED in honor of the 4th. I am certain the housework won't get done but hopefully I can redo my nails before I fall asleep!!

N is going to walk in the parade with his baseball team tomorrow. We usually watch it near the beginning of the route so we can get to camp a bit sooner, but someone needs to get him at the end so we will be watching it near the finish. It was a small detail I almost forgot about. I don't think he'd appreciate it if there was no one to pick him up at the end! The weather should be nice so hopefully the boys will enjoy the water. I haven't been swimming once yet!

The boys saw my parent's neighbors doing sparklers tonight and they were soooo excited! If only they stayed that excited about the simple things in life...

Well if I am going to accomplish anything before the morning, I better move it.


Have a great weekend!!!!!

Another busy weekend

How quickly the weeks fly by!!
It is Sunday night and I am getting organized to start another work week (while the boys are home vacationing!) I did't even take my camera out this weekend to catch any snapshots!!!

The little guys went to our Camp on Little Shag Lake with Grandma/Grandpa on Friday night for the first sleepover of the summer. Jon & I were invited to golf with 3 other couples so we needed a sitter and it worked out perfectly. Well for the boys it did. It started to rain and then poured as we got to the golf course so we didn't golf just went out to dinner. We all had a some good 'adult' time. It wasn't too exciting of a night since we were home at 10:05pm. Even when we don't have the boys we still are in early!!!

The boys went to a picnic on Saturday and we went to the UP Allstar Football game for the first half and then headed out to camp. Then we all stayed for the night. The weather did not act like the end of June and we headed home early afternoon. I haven't even been in the water yet!!! Let's hope the Holiday weekend has a better forecast.

Little League & Tball

Well N had his playoff game tonight and his team lost. It was a close game but in the end they scored more runs than us. The team we played was way to serious about it, actually a little annoying. N had a great year and had a lot of fun.
He actually got hit in the head with a fly ball tonight. If he would have been a little bit taller it would have hit him right in the middle of the forehead. It hit the top of his hat and he claims it didn't hurt at all. The poor kid is prone to injury.
So Monday night is the Championship game with an awards program and picnic to follow.

Until next year...

Z is still playing tball for several more weeks. Apparently he isn't very cooperative and likes to exit the field quite a bit. I am at work so I am unable to attend and see for myself. He says he really is having fun doing it and denies it that he doesn't cooperate. Oh well what can you do.

Chicago Trip and I will be an auntie

Last week we took our semi-annual trip to see my sister in Berwyn, IL. We left Thursday morning at 9am and headed south. We were making pretty good time until we hit the outlet mall. We had stopped for breakfast but no other stops were made except quick bathroom breaks. The boys were set up with their dvd players, toys, books and of course snacks! So we stopped for a 'quick' trip to shop, but ended up getting sucked in and almost 4 hours later we were back on the freeway just in time for rush hour traffic!! We did find a few good deals but knew we'd probably do shopping there too.

We got to my sisters house in one piece before the sun went down and we were able to see proof of her pregnancy. Oh yes my sister is pregnant-almost 17 weeks. She is due the beginning of December. She does have a little belly and cannot hide it any longer. The boys are pretty excited to have another cousin and keep calling the baby a her. They aren't so sure of the whole thing however. Z kept asking if the baby was still in there or had it come out since we'd been there.

We hit a great weekend for FREE admission to certain attractions...

Shedd's Aquarium was first--to be honest I wasn't that impressed with it. The free part was the basic Caribbean reef and you had to pay more for the other areas. Don't get me wrong the reef was very cool but was sooo packed with a thousand groups of children. We brought the stroller in with us so one of us had to step back with it for most of the viewing.

Then off to the Museum of Science & Industry. That was so much better. We went there as kids so I really wanted the boys to experience it also. We spent 4 hours there and basically just skimmed over everything. The Aquarium took us just over an hour. We would have stayed at the museum longer but we were all getting pretty tired. I think we will definitely spend an afternoon there as well.

We of course did our usual shopping, and had all of the usual meals (burritos, pizza and Chinese). Chris made us breakfast each morning.

Don't ask me how I slept while there...just about as bad as the tent. One night I slept on the boys ready-bed (small inflatable air mattress) and had my legs from the knee down draping off the end of it. N ended up in bed that night with Jon and Z. Z never makes it an entire night alone in his bed!

Z woke up sick Saturday night so we left fairly early on Sunday. I didn't want a 7 hour car ride to any more miserable than it had to be. So straight home with no shopping (good thing we got sucked in on the way down) He did really well and is still being bothered with asthma/allergies and most likely a cold.

My sister did really well with all of our craziness, and we thank them both for their great hospitality. We wish we could make the trip more often.

Camping...in a tent

A few weeks ago we went camping with several other couples and their families. Everyone else has Campers/5th Wheels...except the Beckman's! We head our Friday early afternoon and get all set up with our tent behind the 5th wheel under some trees to give us some shade and something to tie a tarp to if needed. It got soo hot in the tent during the day I never thought I would make it through the night. Well I didn't but it was because I was cold, couldn't sleep, our air mattress wasn't all the way full (so I kept sinking!!) and could hear every single noise from around the camp ground. We did have a lot of fun during the daylight hours. Playing bean bag, football toss, volleyball, badminton and riding bikes pretty much took up most of our time. I was up very early with N as he had planned to practice with his band behind the tent at the trees. No one came since everyone else was nice and warm in their cozy camper. N had a buddy from his class camping across from us as well as another boy a year behind them in school, so we had a few extra kids running around. We went to the beach Friday afternoon and it was sooo windy! The kids had fun playing but got pretty cold once they were wet.

We also celebrated our friends daughter's 6th birthday. Saturday afternoon the weather didn't really cooperate. It was raining and then would clear up and get hot and then rain again. I wasn't so sure I was up for another restless night in a tent with a good chance of rain so we packed up and went home in time for bed. The little boys were very disappointed but they soon got over it. We had a sleepover in our family room that night.

I love camping but am realizing that doing it in a tent is just not much fun. I don't know if I will do it again this summer- we may just head to the campground to visit.

Grandpa & a Lemonade stand

We had our annual neighborhood rummage sale a few weekends ago and I decided that it would be a great time for the boys to have a lemonade stand. I got the really cute stand ( but has to be held down with weights so it doesn't blow away--it was really windy that day). We made cookies and brownies also. N was up at 7am showered and was ready to start selling. I was so proud of him. He made over $20!! That never happened when I was a kid. We didn't make him pay us the $5 or so for supplies so more of a profit for he and his brother.

Then Grandma and Grandpa bought each of the boys a few books so Grandpa had some time with his boys in the grass.

Lake Superior

We took the boys for Mexican food one day last week and then went on a hunt for rocks. N got a rock tumbler so we need to find cool rocks. It was VERY windy as you can tell by my hair! Then an older man tried to take N's sandles but offered to take our picture as a peace offering.