Beeler Update

Yes, I know....they should revoke my blogger license!

The start of school has brought many changes...the main change being that I have little free time! It's good to feel productive again but hard to stay organized.

So here's the update: Kellie-Laine has a boy that has shown some interest in her, and she has returned that interest. I'm not calling him a "boyfriend" because she's not allowed to have one. The extent of their interaction is talking at school and note writing. This has been an interesting series of conversations I've been having with her because this is territory I've never ventured into! Things seem to move so fast these days, and I believe it's my job to slow them down. Even though I'm not entirely comfortable with this boy-girl thing, I realize it's part of growing up. I also appreciate that she still depends on me to help her understand this new venture. A week ago, she came home and asked if she was allowed to write notes to this young man. At first I said no, but then I reconsidered. I told her she was allowed to respond to his notes and that she needed to be aware that at any time I could ask for and read them. She was happy with that compromise, and I think the note writing has been humorous and sporadic at best!

Landrie has successfully completed about three weeks of pre-school, and I'm blown away at the things she's learning! She has found a few boys that she calls her "best friends" and that's pretty much "typical Landrie." She definitely beats to her own little tune.....even though she's as girly as they come, she prefers to have friends who are boys. She spends most of the day playing teacher and will line up all of her animals and babies and call roll. I was playing with school with her the other day and she told me, "When I say your name, you say 'present' or 'gift.'" Isn't that funny?

Emerie has developed quite an opinion, and it's usually different than mine! She prefers being outside and will stand at the front door and whine to go out. She loves holding my hand to walk (even though she can take 8-10 steps on her own!), but she is definitely doing the leading. She, too, started one day of Mother's Day Out, and I think she's giving the teachers a run for their money! She refuses to take a nap at school but will sleep for 10-15 minutes only if they rock her! She will help me sing "twinkle, twinkle little star" and will swipe at her head when I say, "brush your hair!" I had a "proud parent" moment the other day with her...I had given her a wet wipe to play with and when I turned around, she was wiping the cabinets with it to "clean" them. I am a constantly cleaning--it's kind of an obsession of mine. Children imitate what they see, and Emerie sees me wiping down the counter tops at least 5 times a day!

Cody and I are doing great....starting to enjoy the little bit of freedom now that our littlest one is getting older. We're getting more dates in and enjoying our evenings together on the couch! I'm about three weeks in to my Daniel Bible study and it's just what I've been needing! The Lord has really been speaking to me this past week about tactfulness, and I'm trying hard to listen and learn what He desires for me in this area.

Until next time.....

Happy Birthday Babies!

This past Saturday, we hosted a double birthday party for Landrie and Emerie. Being born 8 days apart seems to have it's advantages! We rented the WBA gym, a Dora bouncy house and added lots of scooters, dodge balls, plasma cars, etc. While we invited only close friends and family, we ended up with around 15 adults and 27 kids....can you believe it????

The party was a hit! At first, we tried to organize a few relay races, but we quickly realized the kids had more fun making horse and chariot contraptions out of jump ropes and scooters. Even the bouncy house was pushed aside for dodge ball and good ol' running around! I guess the lesson I've learned is that kids don't need such elaborate parties...just a big building or yard and a few friends!

I am the "queen" of elaborate parties, and I've done them all: baking party, ooey-gooey party, Survivor party, carnival party, pop star party, Six Flags party. I usually wear myself out with the details of the perfect invitation, the perfect party favors, and the perfect party games. But no more! The simpler, the better.

I'll post pics from the party once I load them on the computer and edit them a little. Hope you guys are all staying well...lots of little bugs and illnesses going around with the kiddos being back in school! Take care....

First Day of Pre-K and 6th grade

Whew! We made it through the summer! I can't believe it, but I'm glad it's over. The final few days left were really tough. If you think the age difference between Landrie and KL is enough to curb the fighting...think again. Sometimes it's worse! School has provided the much needed break for dueling sisters, an attention deprived baby, and a tired momma!

KL started this past Wednesday and there wasn't too much to report. There are 16 kids in her class...most of whom have been in her same class since kindergarten. Things are pretty much the same for her: she likes her teachers, is frustrated with math, and plays soccer with the boys at recess. Landrie is the one who I was concerned about. Everything was new for her this year. But who was I kidding?? This is Landrie I'm talking about, and she practically walked herself into the building and into the classroom! I was not needed one iota!

Landrie's teacher is great and reported that Landrie had a terriffic day. Landrie's been talking about her new best friends: Will and Cooper. I guess I'm a little confused by her preference of male friends, but I'm gonna roll with it....again, this is Landrie. She beats to a different tune!

Along with the start of school comes the start of my own schedule and commitments. I officially rolled off the board at Waco Baptist this year, but was asked to stay on as advisory and continue to chair the Marketing Committee. Add to that my Monday Morning Bible study at the church (Beth Moore's Daniel....I'm soooo excited!!), co-chair of the WBA Variety Show, Wednesday night choir, fellowship committee at WBA, and a possible spot working with the high school youth at church. Oh, should I also forget to mention that my friend, Julie, and I have started working out again????!!! I am not busy AT ALL.

I have tried to be very deliberate and purposeful with my obligations....all of which take a backseat to my family. I don't know if I've done a good job of this. Please pray for me that I won't over-commit. My only desire is to be available to my family and not push them aside because of my busy-ness. I know God will direct me and give me the strength to be super mom, but I need to be able to hear him through all this.

On a side note: Emerie turned one last week. I am sad. She is our last....or so I think. But she has developed quite a temper....

I hope you all are enjoying these first few days of school...before you know it, we'll be dropping our kids off at college. Yikes!

High School Musical Back to School Party!

I thought I was being pretty creative by hosting a HSM2 back to school party....apparently there were about 10 million other creative moms who joined me in this endeavor! We hosted 10 girls at our house for pizza, sugary soda and plenty of giggles! We asked the girls to come dressed in their pjs and bring a favorite pillow. It was really an easy party...the girls snuggled together to watch the movie and when the show paused for a commercial break, we had locker mirrors for the girls to embellish with paint and jewels. (thanks, Julie!).

The funniest thing was that during the movie, the girls were completely quiet...even shushing one another if the talking got much above a whisper. UNTIL......the kiss (or should I say "kisses") between Troy and Gabriella!!!!! The girls let out an ear piercing scream and did lots of clapping. Cody and I looked at each other with an "uh-oh" expression on our faces! I'm not sure I like this kissing business....as long as it involves people on the big screen and not my daughter!

The girls spent the remainder of the night outside playing "ghost in the graveyard" and begging their parents for 5 more minutes when they arrived.

Overall, it was a successful back to school party, and I even watched most of HSM2 myself! My review of the movie? Well, I'd have to watch it again and actually pay attention to the plot of the movie....I had a hard time focusing on anything but cutie-patootie, Zac Effron!! (It wasn't too long ago that I had New Kids on the Block magazine posters plastered on every wall of my room.....)

Have a blessed week!

A

Just a Swingin

Today was "hospitality Wednesday" at the Beeler household. One thing I love so much about our house is that it's central to everything (especially Target!!). Because of this, we get frequent visits from our friends and their kiddos. Today my friend, Ashley, and her 3 girls came over this morning followed by my friend, Faith, and her two boys this afternoon. Landrie had so much fun "entertaining" her friends and spent quite a bit of the day outside on the swing and in the pool. (Kellie-Laine, poor thing, felt a little too old to do much with us and Emerie was too young to enjoy the fun!) I took a few photos of Faith's boys on our swing...aren't they gorgeous (the boys, not the photos)??? Her kids are so photogenic and super handsome! These boys are on my "arranged marriage" list for Emerie and Landrie. My dad picked up a zoom lens for my camera at a really great price, and I'm enjoying using it...if you don't have a zoom lens, you should think about getting one. It allows you to take candid photos of your kids from a distance so you get a lot of natural smiles and not too many "posed" photos.

Our girls start school next week...I think I'm ready, but to be honest I'm not desperate for them to start. It's been a long summer and there have been very trying days, but time has flown by like crazy and I haven't really had a chance to enjoy it! Many of you know our dilemma with Landrie but for those of you who don't: she has an August 28th birthday, so we've been struggling with the decision of holding her back or starting her on time. The solution we came up with was allowing her to start Pre-K three days a week at Waco Baptist Academy with Kellie-Laine. If we feel she's ready to progress onward to Kindergarten next year, then we'll do that. If not, she'll repeat Pre-K again but move to the 5 day class. It's so hard to try and look into her future to know what's best, but for now we feel good about the direction we're heading.

My teacher friends: I'm wishing you the best of luck this year ahead---you are priceless!

Take care,

Angela

A little R&R and Puffy Eyes

Just got back from our "friends & family" getaway to Kingsland, Texas (Lake LBJ). It was four fun-filled days of rest and relaxation, mainly because I left little Emerie with Auntie Flo! As terrible as it may sound, I had a completely relaxing time hanging out on the boat, by the pool, and just sitting around talking with my girlfriends. There were moments when I really missed my baby, and many moments when I felt horrible that Flo was having to work so hard just so I could relax...but in the end, it was worth it!

Here are the kids that were on our trip...all 12 of them. The adults were really outnumbered!

The last day of our trip, Landrie woke up looking like this:

Isn't that so sad? The day before she told me she had a headache and as I checked her forehead, I realized she had a huge goose egg on it. All she could tell me was that she bumped it on the bathroom counter. She didn't complain about it one bit. The next morning, I froze in my tracks when I looked at her like this! All the swelling had started draining down behind her eyes, and even as I write this today, her eyes are still swollen and very red.

You can check out the place we stayed here http://www.logcountrycove.com/ or here http://www.theavonne.com/ it was located down in the hill country, and I've really grown fond of the beautiful scenery there.

I'm also posting some pics from our family vacation to Wimberely, TX....not such a successful trip as the one we just had, but still some good memories were made. Wimberley is a little community built around the Blanco river. The river is the main attraction. So when it starts pouring down rain and the river turns into white water rapids, there's not much else to do. This downpour of rain continued until the last day of our trip, and we were really bummed! Finally, Cody decided come hell or high water we were going to salvage this trip, so he took us to Sea World. It was a perfect overcast, slightly rainy day and there were few people there. Even with the inclimate weather, our girls braved the water area and swam their hearts out! They returned to us freezing cold with blue lips, but they had so much fun.

Obsession

HP Pavilion 6000 Laptop

This is the reason I haven't updated my blog in a while. I freely admit it....I'm obsessed with it. Laundry has fallen by the wayside, dinner is whatever I can quickly make, husband is ignored, children get the "hold on just a second" answer to every request, my mild case of carpal tunnel's is full blown, my extremities are numb, and did I mention my bloodshot eyes from staying up too late???

Help me stop the insanity!!!!! I've got so much to learn about Vista, Photoshop Elements 5.0, what hardware I truly need versus what the store people are trying to sell me, and how to get all my stuff organized JUST THE WAY I WANT IT! It's a maddening cycle of awe, frustration, and realization that technology has passed me by. If any of you laptoppers have suggestions, I'd be ever grateful.