The Beck Family

Hint of Spring

2009-04-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

We went to the cemetery today to look at "Daffodil Sunday" where they have their flowers blooming. This cemetery is cool because President James Garfield is buried there and they have a huge monument to him and he and his wife's caskets are inside. The kids enjoyed it and we had a nice little drive. We have finally had some nice weather in Cleveland although it is supposed to possibly snow 0n Tuesday. Anyway, here are a few pictures until we get through this next week!

Corn Bag Boy

2009-04-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

So last night Brig wanted to use one of our corn bags for his pillow last night. He fell asleep with his head on in and before I went to bed I took it out of his crib (because I didn't want him sleeping on corn kernels all night) This morning Brig wakes up yelling "where's my pillow!!" He was torqued that I took it out of his bed. I put it back in and he slept for a little longer. I thought this was just a one night thing but-oh no! He wanted his pillow again tonight, he curled up on it with his "Nemo" fish, tractor and car and went to sleep. I told him tomorrow we can go buy him a new pillow from the store, but he informed me that the store does not sell pillows!! O.K. corn bag boy!!!! He is such a stinker, but we love him anyway:)

Food for thought

2009-03-22T18:01:00.000-07:00

These are some random pics I had on the camera today!!! So let me explain.... The first one Claire and Brig have discovered another food group-GRAVY sincethe beginning of time neither of them have ever wanted to touch gravy, well a few weeks ago we had a roast and we put a little on each of their plates, they both gave it a try by dipping their roast into their gravy and were instantly converted!! So tonight, (it was on sale) we had a $8 steak (split between 5 of us) Claire and Brig started to dip and loved it again. At the end of the meal I looked over and Claire had ladeled ALL of the gravy leftovers out of the pan onto her plate and was looking for more meat!! Now if we can just convince them how good mashed potatoes are too:)

This is a picture of Claire and Grant's amazing handwriting. I was writing out a shoping list and asked Claire what she wanted for lunch one day this week, she said ramen, so I gave her the pen and said o.k. write it down, I told her how to spell it and was TOTALLY blown away with how well she wrote!! She has them most amazing preshcool teacher Kathryn Jenkins who has put Clarire way ahead in soooooo many way!! Thanks Kathryn!! Anyway so Claire's is the top writing and Grant's is the bottom.

Grant has a nack for needing to eat right when it is time to walk out of the door, like trying to leave forStake Conf. today, so I made some toast and they ate it right before they left. Grant was willing to pose for a pic and Claire just got as close as she could and just stared at the camera.

Just a side note, our kids were outside this afternoon, talking to our neighbor Larry-who is a talker, I guess Larry said something to the kids and I walked out just in time to hear Grant say "Yea our house is always a pigpen too" I thought "gee thanks Grant!!!" Our vacuum would have to break yesterday (Saturday) so as you can imagine a day without a vacuum and 3 kids does not go well. First thing after I drop Grant off tomorrow I am buying a dustbuster to use until we get our vacuum fixed!!

"My hair is so blonde it won't stay out of my face" & "President Orock Obama"--Both by our dear Claire Bear!

2009-03-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

Our piano that we got for free! Man I love Ohio!

At the Lake Farmpark during the Maple sugaring season!

Happy St. Pat's

2009-03-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

Yes we are still alive!!!

2009-03-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

We know we have been away for months, but we are back-even though we never left, life is great we are just busy with "life". We are not going to write tons but we post pictures so everyone can keep updated on us!!! We will be back in Utah soon and we don't know if we are ready for Utah or if Utah is ready for US!!! p.s. Grant can't wait!!:)

Quote of the month

2009-01-18T19:11:00.000-08:00

"I think Brig had megatron stinks!!!"

-Claire

2009-01-18T18:24:00.000-08:00

Feast your eyes because there will most likely be another famine!!!!!

Wheat Grinding! No child labor laws were broken in the making of the bread we made.....

2009-01-18T18:19:00.000-08:00

Grant's Awesome Transformer Cake, Claire's amazing dress made by Granny, Grant "The Scientist" Beck.

2009-01-18T18:10:00.000-08:00

"The Thinker", Wheat tray party, Claire's Piano, New Year's Resolution or Sweet Ecstasy?, Grants Birthday Paleontology kit.

Pics

2009-01-18T17:38:00.000-08:00

We have decided to post again! Christmas Dinner with the Elders and our neighbors, Big Rig Brig, Orville nightmarebacher's popcorn, Christmas scooters, Brig's Big Wheel. More to come!

Where did all the trash go?

2008-12-25T18:15:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and is now gone. It's amazing to see all the boxes of presents around the tree and then to see the plethora of trash that goes out after the mayhem is over. We decided to take Christmas day a little different this year. We would let the kids open Santa's stuff, play, make a mess, get bored, open some more stuff, repeat process and then do our gifts in the afternoon. It was a good idea for a few reasons we didn't have mega disaster on our hands all at once, we could keep up with all the ribbon and paper pretty well each time. The other thing we realized is that our kids didn't need nearly as much as they got. They would have been just fine with their "first session" of gifts. (It seems that the best gifts are not the ones we give then anyway. They got some great stuff from grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. Santa doesn't always know best!!!We now know for next year, if you get the right thing you don't need 50 things, it's just a matter of figuring out what the right thing is. Anywhoo here we are-like Cam said he feels like George Banks on Father of The Bride shaking out the confetti from his shoe now that it is all over and he has a minute to breathe.

Here is a breakdown of the events.... We had the Ellingsons (great next door neighbors) and the Missionaries over for Christmas Eve dinner. We had a great dinner, potato soup in bread bowls, ham, green bean casserole, "Christmas salad", sparkling cider and a trifle for dessert. Dinner went well, it was fun and the kids had a good time. After dinner I had to scramble to make cookies for Santa, Claire had said Chocolate and Grant had said Sugar Cookies, luckily Grant ended up saying that Chocolate would be fine. I whipped some up and we attempted to get the kids down for bed. So here is where I have to explain a little. For the past 3 nights for one reason or another Grant has not slept well, on Tuesday he was up for a while coughing, he has been pretty sick. I had given him some Motrin and Delsyum to help his cough and help him sleep. I was not thinking at the time I did that that he had really had nothing to eat all day, around 9:30 up it came. Luckily he was sitting on the couch with me watching the classic White Christmas, he had blanket on so it caught it. We stayed up until around 11:30 and went to bed. The next morning at 5 he was WIDE AWAKE!!! Hello, I couldn't believe it, I was baffled. So we thought for sure he would sleep well last night (Christmas Eve) ya that's funny isn't it. A 5 yr old sleep well on Christmas Eve. We did all we could to get him down, Vicks on his feet and chest and Delsyum to sleep (we made sure he had at least a little to eat) We settled in for our Santa's helpers jobs, got it done and went to bed around 9:30. We were so tired I am surprised our eyes were not hanging out of our heads. So lo and behold here come Grant and Claire into our room this morning at 2:37!!!! I about died!!!! We told them Brig would not be awake for at least 5 more hours so they had to go back to bed, Claire went without a fight (gee I wonder if Grant woke her up?) Grant on the other hand played the "everything in the room is making dust and causing me to cough" routine. Cam and I were at our wits end. I pulled out the Dramamine and sat at the computer for a while trying to see if we would kill Grant if we gave him some with Delsyum in his system. (Mind you this is 3 AM in our freezing house in a COLD leather chair with not much on. I was ready for a dip in a warm bed ASAP. We decided not to give him Dramamine unless he came in again. Lucky for him he held out until 6:20. We told the kids Brig was still asleep and we weren't going downstairs without him. Grant and Claire went back to bed and Grant conveniently decide to kick his wall a few times (Brig is on the other side of the wall) I'm sure you can guess what happened next-you got it, CRANKY Brig here we come! Once I said Merry Christmas he seemed o.k. -check it out we've come full circle from the beginning of my post, now we sit, our eyes burning with tiredness watching silly TV, wondering why we are not it bed......who knows what tonight will bring...all I can say is there is a crapload of toys downstairs if anyone is up before 7!

p.s. Grant is awesome, he said before bed last night, it's o.k. if I just get coal in my stocking, I can use it at load it into my dump truck! What a kid!!

p.p.s. I am really working on being greatful I have my kids living with us, not in a hospital, or someplace else, and also that they have bodies that work so well too. I know too many times I take these sweet little spirits for granted when they are underfoot and more then willing to help with anything and everything. What a blessing to be a family and have such a great husband and kids too!! Enjoy the journey, it only comes around once.

last but no least, we are posting pics tomorrow morning so check back!

Merry Christmas To All!

2008-12-20T17:47:00.001-08:00

Picaso's mother must have been a very patient woman...

Lunch gone incredibly wrong...

The boys helping in the kitchen...

So it has pretty much been since Thanksgiving since we posted last. Time flies. The kids are getting excited for Christmas to come(Grant tells us everyday how many more days are left). Brig managed to pull off a stocking which was connected to a heavy stocking holder and got a quick lesson in gravity! It is a constant battle to keep Claire and Brig out from the tree. In other news Claire is potty training, Hooray!!! She is going to have her teeth rot out of her head with all of the treats she is getting for going though. She got a very beautiful dress for Christmas and loves to wear it!! Grant keeps us laughing. A few weeks ago, the kids were in bed and we heard Grant yelling something. We went in and he was saying, "Extolame! Extolame!" Appearantly he had seen a kids' show with some Spanish in it and Grant said the translation is Help! He had fallen down into the space next to his bed against the wall and was being silly. He says he wants to be a scientist...Ho Boy. Brig is pretty much a giant parakeet. He will repeat or copy words or actions shown to him by Grant and Claire, or his parents. Case in point, Audrey was driving the other day and the car was stopped at a Stop sign and Brig shouted, "Go people! Go people!", in a frustrated voice. Wonder who he got that from...The kids love Christmas songs and a favorite is Rudolph. Claire insists that it goes, "All of the other Raindeer used to laugh and call him Nate." Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

...all that and an Albino Turkey!

2008-11-30T18:02:00.000-08:00

It all started a few months ago when we got the hare-brained idea of going to Hocking Hills for Thanksgiving. So we packed up the family and hit the road! We should have known we were in for a rip-roaring weekend when we stopped into Psychoville, Ohio, to make pit-stops and buy a bite to eat. This little town made Cleveland seem like paradise. It was just off the freeway, sort of in the country but the gag was on us when it was filled with some of the most wigged-out looking folks we'd ever seen. Must be the water. Anyway, we quickly returned to the car and Purell'ed everyone and drove the last leg to our cottage in the hills. Upon arriving, I thought it would be nice to make some cookies while Cam took the kids to explore the surrounding terrain. I set the oven temp to 375 and put the cookies in and then sat down to read my book. Not 10 minutes later, the smoke alarm was going off and charred, chocolated chunky cookies were coming out of the oven. Conviently, there was a thermometer in the oven which read well over 500 degrees! I reset the oven and retried again, only to meet the same fate. This is when Cam and the kids came in and I broke the horrific news that not only were the cookies burn beyond recognition, but I was cooking our only other food source, Dinty Moore which was on the boil! We did a quick calculation of pantry items and realized it would be a sad Thanksgiving without a turkey if we couldn't get the oven working properly. Throughout the rest of that day and into the evening, Cam fiddled with the oven hoping to unlock its secret. Around 8 pm, he decided it was holding steady at 325, so he put the bird in to cook for 3 1/2 hours. Midnight came and the bird was lukewarm!! So Cam decided to set his watch alarm for 1 hour increments to check the bird. We were not going down without a fight. At 3 am Cam threw the towel in and the turkey was put in the fridge due to its albino-like color and pink interior. The kids also had trouble acclimating to their new surroundings and were up at 5:30 am on Friday. Claire was adamant about staying in her PJ's all day including going on hikes! Whatever. We decided to give the turkey one last hurrah, it was going to be eaten...or burnt trying. We threw it in the oven and left and didn't look back. We hiked around some really cool places and came back to find a delicious, golden brown Thanksgiving turkey. We had a wonderful feast of turkey, potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, rolls, corn, cranberry sauce, cherry pie, etc. Don't forget the cherry 7 Up that was spilled about 15 times! Once we cleaned up we explored some more of Hocking Hills and came home and ate again. The kids watched Charlotte's Web and went to bed at 7:00 pm. Cam and I went to bed soon after...serenaded by the crazy fridge that made a recurring sound remenicent of the beginning of "Fur Elise" by Beethoven over, and over, and over again. Fun, Fun! Cam and I both awoke at around 2 am on our hide-a-bed mattress. We lit the gas fire to stay warm and waited for morning to rescue us from the faint wails of Brig occasionally, and the fridge and the furnace coming on and off, etc. Whew! We got up Saturday looking and feeling like we had survived a taffy pulling machine! We packed up and began the journey back to good ol' Cleveland. Home, sweet Home! P.S. It sounded horrible, but it really was an amazing trip. We would highly recommend Hocking Hills to anybody. Just leave your kids at home!

Beat the Blue!

2008-11-22T06:49:00.000-08:00

Got up this morning and had to make sure that I let all who may be crazy enough to look at our blog know where this family stands on a day as important as this one is. So even though I am in Ohio today, I am still a Utah Man!!!!! Go Utes!

"Psycho" Saturday"s

2008-11-09T17:10:00.000-08:00

We thought Saturdays would be calm and down right boring since soccer ended. Wrong!! Last Saturday was a clothes trip to too many stores-our poor little kids looked like orphans with what they had to wear. Why do they have to grow so fast(and why does Brig have to be so FAT! He doesn't fit in to Grant's church pants he wore at that age) little stinker. So last Saturday we started out at Toy's R Us to get a great deal on some costumes for NEXT year! Grant had no luck but Claire is set. We headed over to Target picked up a pair of pants for Claire(She only had 3 pairs and I do wash every 4 days, you do the math) We were then FORCED to go to the "W" store I can't even write the whole name it's a swear word as far as I am concerned. Here's my tangent-get a cup of hot choco and relax- So I had bought Cam a pair of pants there last week-the real reason I went was to get Claire some pants since Target didn't have any. Well I should have know that "W" wouldn't have any either. They were either funky jeans with too many designs all over them, pencil pants or the best were the ones for like 4 dollars that the crotch was so low it would be down to probably the kids knees-and ya wonder why those aren't selling don't ya? So on my way out I found some jeans for Cam for like 16 bucks! Wahoo, I thought even though I knew in the back of my mind I would be taking them back-follow your instincts. So here we are to last Saturday again. I stood in their STUPID customer "service" line for like 20 minutes-two women were behind the counter one was helping customers but the other was SO concerned about moving CRAP around the counter that she couldn't be bothered to help any of the 500 people in line! I finally made it out of there and what a relief to be done. It was about 11:00 and our crasins and pretzels were getting low. (luckily we still had our stash of Halloween candy) The real reason we had to take this adventure was to get Grant new church pants also-he had a serious case of floods! We decided to head out to the Aurora outlet mall about 40 minutes away. We did but on the way made a quick stop to Wendies for refueling ( I don't know why we by kids a meal from a resturant, we should just by 1 meal for the three of them instead of wasting all that food) We got our stuff-pants for Grant and Claire and a few shirts. By the time we were done it was around 3:00. Brig really had a hankering to go to the zoo so off we went-in the opposite direction of the outlets. We got there around 4 and had a great time, it was cool but there were hardly any people there. We made sure to see all the highlights the giraffes, zeebas (as Brig calls them) and the bears (polar, black,brown). As we were walking up to the Gorilla and aquarium place we were "briskly" told that the Zoo closed at 5 and it was 5:15. That ended that trip. It was a crazy day but we really had a good time. I am glad we did what we did because it was daylight savings that night. We wore our kids out so well that they slipped nicely into the time change!

Onto this weekend if you are still reading. So every Saturday Grant has really enjoyed the idea of Saturday morning cartoons. I don't know who enjoys them more the kids or Cam and I becuase we go back to bed for another hour.In our pic the kids are watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as you can tell they are freezing and completely enthralled in the show. Cam had the great idea of going to the beach! (Why not its a balmy 39 degrees outside) We bundled up-big time and headed out. The kids had a great time walking along the shore despite the STIFF constant wind. We couldn't be done with our day yet, we thought about going to Pattersons Fruit Farm for some fritters but we decided to go Lake Farm Park instead. It's like Wheeler farm. They were having dry land dog racing. Brig couldn't get enough of the dogs, he was just laughing as they licked his face and hands. We saw the other animal and decided to head home-did I mention it was COLD? I headed out to a baby shower and Cam took the munchkins shopping. The great thing about Giant Eagle where we shop is they have the Eagles Nest where 3 years and older can go play while parents shop(Brig could pass for 3 couldn't he?) But sure enough as Cam was shopping he hears Cameron Beck please come to the Eagles Nest in so many words they told him they had a dancing child who needed to let out some bodily fluid in the VERY near future or they would have a major accident on their hands. So Cam took Grant to the "potty" and went on shopping. That reminds me that we didn't have time to go shopping last Saturday so we went Monday. I don't know if people just had butter fingers or what but there were spills all over the store. Some poor girl dropped her pickle jar right as we were walking in (no she wasn't expecting) there will spills all over the store, to add to it we were on our way to check out and I tossed Cam's Diet Pepsi onto the bottom of the cart well we added to the mess, one of the cans exploded in the box I just started laughing so hard, all we could do is take it off the cart, put it on the floor and walk away. Those store janitors were sure to have an uphill battle that night! Enough of the ramblings-it's Sunday night the kids are asleep, and my AWESOME bed warmer that Cam's WONDERFUL parents gave us last year is on and ready for me to sleep warm tonight!! Until next time.....

Halloween Update

2008-11-02T19:23:00.000-08:00

Just another one of our hodge podge, potpurri of pictures! Enjoy!

Here is our bunch of trick or treaters!

Claire's fashion taste takes a sophisticated twist....shinguards and heels.

Brig the friendly dragon.

Should Cam be worried about this sly young chap?

Claire is such a pill. She has absolutely no desire to be potty trained. I got the potty training book from the library. If only Claire could read, maybe she could toilet train herself. HELP!!!

Ramdom thoughts of late.....

2008-10-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

Strange but true, I woke up last night because I was having such a BORING DREAM-how weird is that! When I woke up I had the feeling of just being bored, it was so boring I can't even remember what it was about. I have never had that happen before and I hope it never happens again-it wasn't bad, just annoying to wake up in the middle of the night to get yourself out of a boring dream!

Claire announced to me the other day that she is going to go "stinks in the potty" when she is a mom!! Gee GREAT-like my friend Melinda said she is going to have a hard time getting married-dating scenario"can you excuse me for a minute while I go change my DIAPER" I don't think she will get many dates with that one:) So I was telling my sister Jenny about Claire and her decision and she said give her a baby doll and say "Congrats, you're a mom, you can now go stinks in the potty!" I might have to try that one. I checked out a potty training book from the library by the America Academy of Pediatrics- it said some children are not potty trained until they are 4 and 1/2-the sad thing is Claire is already in ELEPHANT SIZE diapers from Costco and they don't make a WHALE SIZE!!!:)-dang it!

Life with Cam is a hoot! For those of you who don't really know him he has such a great sense of humor and really knows how to have a good time. Last Sunday night (10:30 p.m.) as I was downloading our fall pics on the blog Cam decided he was going to try and make a donut recipe he had seen on Food Network. It started with a ready made pizza dough. Cam had bought some at Alescies. All was going well until he some how managed to start burning the oil. It was a chilly night and I really didn't like the idea of windows being open so we suffered through the acid smoke. Our eyes were burning so bad we didn't know what to do. I now wish we would have taken a picture of us. We were both sitting on the couch, with our eyes completely blood-shot and watering like crazy, this went on for a while, we finally decided to go to bed.(Cam was torqued because the recipe was a flop!) We went to be but laid in PAIN for a while, trying to figure out if it felt better to have our eyes closed or open. We were both lying there thinking to ourselves "I hope I can see when I wake up in the morning" We survived and I don't think we will do that one again.

Claire, Brig and I had gone to the Zoo and after I decided to vacuum out the van. While I was doing that Claire and Brig were having a ball in the backyard making themselves as dirty as possible in the "mud" pile and just running around. I had told them to take their shoes off if they went inside because they were so muddy. I finished up the vacuuming and went in to grab the broom. I was inside for a few minutes and came back out. The gate was open (it is usually locked) so I went out to find the kids. I could hear noised in the garage, I opened it and there was Claire, I asked her where Brig was and she said she didn't know. I 'rounded the corner of the yard and headed East (it's the way we always go on our walks) the first thing I saw were two cars stopped oddly in the street, for a second I thought maybe it was an accident. There was a lady out of her car and the other people in their car were talking to her. The next thing I saw was Brig!!! Standing on the corner, no shoes, just socks-holding a butter knife!! Oh boy. I ran over there and said, I am so sorry. The lady who was out of her car said they just wanted to make sure he was o.k. (Sure he's fine, standing with no shoes on and a butter knife!) I am surprised the DCFS hasn't come to see me yet. At least I looked half decent-not like some strung out freak-maybe they let me off for that one!!! I know I have no one to blame but myself. I am sure glad Brig does such a good job of staying on the sidewalk-I have brainwashed him well!!

Grant is such a pill when it comes to clothes! He is sooooo picky. We bought him some jeans at Target like a month ago, he had given his approval that he would wear them, so what doe he do. He takes the tags off tries them on and said he wont' wear them because they are brown people pants (African American)! O.K. Whatever Grant!!! Poor kid I hope he makes it through life without having a serious breakdown before he is 10! His class has a field trip on Wednesday to the Holden Arboretum. He doesn't want to go because he doesn't want to ride on a school bus. I asked him why and he said because of all the things the teachers at school told them about what to do in case the school bus get in an accident! What other 5 year old would even think twice about that? He is doing excellent in school. He is the ONLY kid in his class that has gotten a green sticker every day since school started. Green means you are doing well, they have various other colors too for various degrees of problems. He said today that only he and 1 girl got green the rest of the class did not. What a good kid:)

FALL!!!!

2008-10-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

This is a fun tag!

2008-10-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

I got tagged by Jamie Lamb who used to be our great next door neighbor here in Cleveland. Anyway, the tag works by posting the 4th picture in your 4th folder of your pictures on your computer. How fun!! Mine is a picture of Claire-obviously exhaused,sad and done for the day, becuase granny has been with her while mom and dad were at the hospital having Brig. Brig is that tiny thing and you can see part of me too!!

I tag

Sherrie Thurnagle

Ashlee Jenks

Lisha Hoops

Jackie Sanders

Kids

2008-10-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

For you mom

2008-10-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

My mom is trying to find some craft ideas to do with her YW in New Zeland so this post is for her! It's the easiest way to get her pics-their e-mail takes like 45 minutes to download 1 pic.

Mom if you have any questions let me know.

Love you mom! Good luck!!!!

The joy of being a dental student wife......

2008-10-02T18:15:00.001-07:00

So I went down to the dental school again today. Cam said I have 11 cavities that need to be replaced/filled and 4-yes you read that right 4 crowns-gold ones!!! By the time this year is over I am going to know the dental school as well as a dental student. The thing I hate the most about going to the dentist is-why do I bother to do my hair? You always walk out with bed-head! The back of your hair is always smashed and it seems your neck is cranked one way or the other so you always have a flat side of hair too. Cam does a great job and I guess if it's the only way we can be on a date without kids I will take it. Oh, I am also his guinea pig for his dental camera!

p.s. at least I get a cool t-shirt with the CASE logo on it!!

Is it here yet?

2008-10-02T18:07:00.000-07:00

Halloween can't come fast enough around here! Our kids are too excited. Last Sunday they got into our old costumes and were firefighters for a day. They sure had tons of fun. We set up our Halloween decorations for FHE on Monday night. We have about 50 lbs. of spider web hanging from our plant strung across the front room to the stair rail! Grant sure can decorate!

The dress-ups are HERE

2008-10-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

Abe brought Claire's dress-ups Lis had found for her! The only way I could get her to try some of them on was to tell her it might make Brig laugh if he sees her in them. She did it and we got a few shots. Claire is so funny, she does not like dress-ups by herself but when some friends come over it's what they want to play. Claire is really into Tinkerbell right now. We got her a Tinkerbell color-wonder coloring book and she colors all the time in it. Christmas will be a challenge for all of our kids:) What to buy?!

Thanks again Lis and Abe!! We couldn't have done this without you!

Abe the BABE!!

2008-10-02T17:46:00.000-07:00

We got to meet my GREAT brother Abe and his fun traveling companion Ron in Erie PA last Friday night. Abe and Ron were in NY for some business they were doing in some elementary schools. We thought it would be fun to get together for dinner. They drove for almost 3 hours to meet us at the Cracker Barrel. We had a really fun time. It was so great to see Abe!!!

Triple Trouble Sundae with a Cherry on Top

2008-09-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

We decided Saturday to go the Lake Farmpark up by Kirtland for the Fall Fest they had going on. There was music, apple cider sampling, a corn maze and other fall related stuff. It was another one of our hairbrained ideas for a Saturday activity which ended up being pretty fun.

Grant grinding up apples. Go muscles!

This was the corn maze which was pretty cool. The corn stalks were taller than the adults. Grant was a little concerned about being able to find our way out at first, but then had fun running around with Claire. All in all another memory made in Cleveland...we're gonna miss this place!

Dress-ups! The life of a 3 year old girl

2008-09-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

I know you are starting to wonder if this blog is just about Claire-well it's not! She is just the one who I have things to talk about. (Like changing 8 stinky diapers between her and Brig today!) That's for another post. Yuck!!

Claire has caught the dress-up bug with her little friends. It seems the first thing that happens when little girls come over is, off go the shoes and on go the heels, rings, bracelets, and dresses. We were fine for a while until like a month ago. Background-since we moved here the closet in Brigs room has REEKED of something horrible, well the dress she is wearing in this pic somehow took the brunt of the smell since it hung in that closet for a while. We tried everything we could to get rid of the smell, washing it, letting it air out, you name it, we tried it, nothing worked. We finally had to throw it away because it made whatever room the dress was in stink to high heaven! It was bad!! After bombing the dress we were down to one-you do the math one dress and two girls doesn't work so well. So for like the last month I have been an e-bay freak!! I have been trying to find Claire some dress-up clothes, the problem is not the lack of clothes on e-bay it's a matter of being faster with your bid then the person you are bidding against.(And not wanting to pay 150.00) After loosing too many times I called my awesome sister-in-law Lis and told her my plight. She is as crazy as I am when it comes to Thrift Store shopping, as it happens she was on her way to one and said she would look for me! Wahoo!!! She called later and said she had found some stuff for Claire. I don't know who is more excited Claire or me!! Thanks a Million Lis!! I can now unglue my fingers from the computer keyboard and move on with my life! Moral of the story don't have me bid on anything on e-bay for you-I'm no good!

p.s. if anyone is getting rid of girl dress-up stuff we will gladly take it off your hands:)

Cam, come quick!

2008-09-18T18:37:00.002-07:00

First let me get this out-this pic of Claire is OLD! Her hair is not this short!! I just liked the eyes and thought it would add to the story.
That being said here goes.
So Monday night, Claire woke up crying. I went in to see what was going on. Somehow she had wedged herself in between her bed and the wall. (so she was her feet were on the floor and she was leaning over on her bed.) I hopped up on her bed to pull her out and try as I could, she wouldn't budge. I dashed out of the room and yelled in a loud whisper"Cam, come quick! Claire is stuck" Cam came in the room in a TOTAL daze. I told him to bend down with me and pull the bed of from the wall so we could get Claire out. I bent down and he just stood there! I was like "HELLO!" After I told him several times he finally helped me pull the bed out. Claire was not even phased by it and went right to sleep. Back in our room, Cam said "Sorry, I just woke up and I can't perform that well!" He was still waking up. I just started laughing and laughing! The difference between moms and dads I guess. Moms I think have the ability to be woken up out of a dead sleep and be awake and alert and I guess dads just can't do that. The best part is I asked him about it the next moring and he had no clue what had gone on at all that night! Poor guy is so stressed with school that I think he is just dead to the world when he sleeps.

The calm before the storm-literally

2008-09-18T18:37:00.001-07:00

We made some rolls on Sunday afternoon to go along with our roast dinner. The kids had a great time helping me, as you can see. Brig was king of the rolling pin! He did not want to give it up. Claire loved brushing the rolls with butter, and Grant made sure not too much flour made it on the floor. If we only would have know what was to come we wouldn't have been so calm. We would have been running around digging out batteries for our flashlights....oops! So around 6:30ish during a fun night of games the lights went out, no big deal they will be on soon-right? After finishing our game and getting our friends off we settled in for a long night of no power, it could be worse, at least it was pleasant temperature wise. Monday came and went and still no power. We cleared out our fridge, bought bags of ice and put stuff in coolers. Monday night we took our freezer food to a friends house for the night. On Tuesday we woke up to no power still. Around 11 A.M. it came back on-we were stoked. I was just loading up my laundry to take it to a friends house. We had heard rumors that the power could be out until possibly Friday so we are glad it came on when it did.
Good stuff about no power-kids played pretty well together, they used their imaginations more, we did stuff that we seem to not have time for when we have power-like playing "go-fish" this might sound mean but, no phone, it was nice to not have to worry about phone calls from people! Don't get me wrong we love to have calls from anyone but it was a nice break!
Bad stuff about no power-number 1 for me no hair dryer, can't cook a thing. Poor Brig kept asking for toast and he couldn't understand why I couldn't make it for him.
Overall it was an adventure!

Our wonderful son Grant!

2008-09-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

Houston we have a problem...

2008-09-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

Grant has been in school for 4 days. His first day was Friday, he had Saturday, Sunday and Monday off becuase of the holiday. So when I picked him up today I asked him how school was. He said "I'm tired of school"..... Um O.K. not quite the answer I was looking for. I told him he has a long way to go before summer-so buckle up. I don't know if he is just literally tired or if he just isn't being stimulated enough at school. He knows how to write his first and last name, knows his letters, colors, shapes, can count to like 5,000 and has this HORRIBLE thirst for knowledge. We'll see what happens once they get a little more settled. Another problem is they have 27 kids in his class-for one teacher, that's a lot of kids to help, and a lot of kids to wait for help too. Grant is a great kid and will do well in whatever he does. I just hope he isn't bored.

The YABUT

2008-09-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

We have mysterious creatures that have come to inhabit our house lately. One is the YA-BUT. This creature comes out at the most in-opportune times and really makes parents hair go gray(faster than it is already) This creature only live in peoples homes who have other creatures like toddlers, young children and possibly teenagers too. So if you don't fit into this category find yourself blessed. Another one of these creatures is the IDONTNEEDTO! It also makes calm,caring,loving parents go CRAZY!! An example of the YA-BUT-"Grant turn off the TV you have already watched 40 hours of Curious George today!" "YA-BUT I want to watch 50 hours of Curious George today!!" Another example-"Claire please pick up your princess shoes YA-BUT I am coloring right now!" The IDONTNEEDTO is worse than the YA-BUT! Example"Grant your eyes are the color of a bodily fluid that should have been released 3 days ago that you are still dancing around holding in-GO TO THE BATHROOM!!!!!!!!!!!! "IDONTNEEDTO" As he is writhing on the couch to the chair to the couch to the chair to the couch to the chair....... Back and for about 50 times. It's amazing how the IDONTNEED to never comes out when it is dinner time or toy clean up time or ice cream time or.... Some how Grant KNOWS at that exact second the Levy is going to burst so he makes a run for it-every time. The worst part of it all-Brig has become a IDONTNEEDTO creature also! I wonder what would happen if the YA-BUT and the IDONTNEED to every came face to face in a fight to the finish, I'm not sure who would win... I guess I'll never know. Until next time, watch out for YA-BUTS and IDONTNEEDTOs.

Screaming

2008-07-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

I would like to remove the vocal chords of the person who invented the scream!! What a horrible thing to start and share with others. It's like a nasty Bologna sandwich with mayo-yuck. So we finally made it to the library(the way COOL library that used to be someones mansion)Grant had wanted to go for a while but with Brig being sick and then Grant and Claire being sick we never could go. We were finally there. I came prepared or so I thought with a diaper and wipes. Brig had already had a stinker not long ago so I thought the only one that will maybe need a change will be Claire-wrong!! Both had horrific smells coming from their diapers. So armed with 1 diaper I changed Brig in the bathroom and headed out to the car to change Claire. I did and left her diaper under the tire to take home with us-it would be too cruel to throw it in the library's garbage can-yes it was that bad. So on our way back into the kids room I decided I would make a pit stop myself. I couldn't just leave Claire and Brig outside the bathroom(like I had left Grant in the kids room this whole time) so they came in with me. Here come the screams!! Oh what fun it is to SCREAM and LAUGH in a deathly quiet library bathroom that echos so well!! They thought it was funny and I was furious! I finished as fast as I could washed my hands and started drying them with the dryer(all the time telling them to both stop right now, while they just kept on screaming and laughing) While I was drying my hands a knock comes at the door!! (CRAP I think) it's a librarian and she is really mad because some obnoxious kids are in the bathroom just having a ball. I opened the door and much to my relief it was just 2 teenage girls. We went back to the kids room and all was well. Even before the bathroom though..we had just gotten there. The kids were playing with toys and I was looking for some books to check out. Brig got the great idea that he is going to wander over to the librarians desk and check out the stuff on top. He finds a little vase-full of water-why not-there were NO FLOWERS -just water waiting to be tipped!! Here we go-he tipped it all over the desk-which had books, papers, all sorts of junk, and a COMPUTER on it! I raced over with my handy dandy wet wipes and started mopping water as fast as I could. (note to self and anyother human that carries wet wipes around on a regular basis:they don't mop up water very well-duh!)I told Grant to RUN to the bathroom and get a ton of paper towels-he came back with a wad of toilet paper-which I later understood why-no paper towels just dryers for hands. I continued to mop and move stuff including the computer and everything else. Luckily we were the only ones in there at the time. Why can't kids just leave well-enough alone! While there a little girl-Brigs age came in with her mom? and two other "girls" none of them were that old. She kept trying to put a construction hat on Brig and he didn't want it so he kept saying "no,no,no" finally one of them slapped her and she said "stupid"! Way to go-what a word for your 1 year old to learn! And ya wonder why America is so messed! Poor kid she was really cute but has a long up hill road ahead of her.

Prelude to a Post

2008-06-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

The Great Weekend Adventure

2008-06-29T17:11:00.001-07:00

Warning: Contains Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, High Fevers, and Sore Throats. Read at your own risk! We were going to start our weekend out by going camping with some people from the ward but Brig got sick and so we ended up not being able to go. Grant was crushed! He had been looking forward to going so much. So we decided to set up our 12' by 10' six man tent in our living room and "camp". We could barely move from the dining room to the living room but we got the tent up. We cooked hot dogs on the stove and had indoor S'mores. The kids watched a movie in the tent and fell asleep during it. Cam and Grant slept in the tent and Audrey and Claire slept in the kids room. Little sleep was had and 6:30 a.m. came early. We had promised Grant we would take him fishing so we loaded up and headed off to Punderson State Park for a day at the beach and fishing. Brig was immediately magnetized to the water and never left it except for an occasional sandy cracker snack attack. We caught an enormous "panfish" that measured about 4 inches--fought like the devil. We watched a Division of Wildlife Officer ticket a Canadian guy who wouldn't stay within the buoys to swim. Among other things we had some annoying kids whose dad was out kayaking on the lake take our shovels and sand toys to play with. He would get mad when Brig went to play with the stuff! Audrey basically ended up babysitting 5 or 6 kids it seemed. Brig and Claire had a ball and got sand everywhere you could imagine. Grant enjoyed fishing and we tried to have patience as we untangled line caught in the weeds from stray casts. We got home and decided since we hadn't done enough already we'd go shopping to get Cam some new church clothes. We stopped at probably 6 different stores and the volume level increased with each stop. Claire was true to form in Bath and Body Works and screamed the whole time for dad. Had it not been for the loud music in the store it would have been quite a scene. We then got home scolded them soundly and put them to bed--Not before Grant had a sore throat and Claire felt like she was going to throw up! Grant and Claire ended up with blazing fevers and Tyrannasaurus sized tonsils. Audrey slept with Claire in her bed and discovered a new definition of bunk-bed back. We ended our weekend taking the kids on a walk to get the sickies out of the house. As we left the house, ominous black clouds were gathering fast. It didn't take long and we were in a deluge of Ohio rain, running with Claire in the double stroller Grant riding his bike and Audrey carrying the trike. Ahh, memories. We had dinner, popped popcorn and watched part of good ol' Swiss Family Robinson. Motrin is going down like water around here...each of our kids has their dispenser cup of it. Good Night Nurse! The Beck Family

Saturday in a Nutshell

2008-06-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

Saturdays are always a mixed day of fun, tears, dirt, sticky faces, driving and a myriad of other things. Today was just one of those Saturdays again. Cam went to help a family move in the ward and then we planned to head to the Akron Zoo, then back to feed the missionaries dinner. Grant is a total addict when it comes to Saturday Morning Cartoons, so it does not matter if your bladder is going to explode or if your sleep bugs are out of your eyes yet or not. Grant is on his "spot" on the couch at dark-thirty(with CRANKY Claire) at his side for cartoons. After that it's pancakes for breakfast. Dad leaves for the move and all heck breaks loose. Mom tries to pack for the day, take a shower, put out fires, change too many diapers and keep the kids out of the candy cupboard, and their fingers out of slammed doors(Brig got the finger slam today) Our day was over and it wasn't even 11:00 yet. Cam gets home and we are off to the Zoo. We went to the Akron Zoo because we have a pass to the Cleveland Zoo and we can get in for free at the Akron one so we thought we would give it a try. The drive was nice. Brig was sooo funny. He kept pretend sleeping! I have never seen a kid that young do it. He would close his eyes like he was sleeping and then open them to see if we were looking at him. He did this for about 5 minutes and then was OUT. Claire was soon to follow-she is a perma-tired girl. What would a trip to anywhere farther than 30 minutes be without a trip to a eatery of some sort? Poor Cam was beside himself with hunger so we stopped at the Golden Arches and got two large fries. (Not just for Cam mind you, he did share one of them with the fam) We made it to the Zoo finally, they were having a bike race and every road we wanted to turn on was blocked for the race. At least the officers were nice and told us how to get there. We were excited because they had a jelly fish exhibit that was cool. The kids had a fun time. Grant got to feel a star fish which he loved, and Claire was not going to give up her marker at the coloring table for anything. She was rather snobby about it too!! Brig was loving running around getting in peoples way and just being cute. At one point we all sat on a bench for lunch. Brig was next to me and I think I put a little too much jam on his sandwich. It was all over him and all over me. Some drops of jam landed on my shorts so I stared flicking them off , I felt so bad for Cam, I didn't realize that I was flicking them onto HIS shorts!(He was now standing trying to help clean Brig up) OOPS!!! It was pretty funny! The highlight for Brig was a worm. He would pick it up and throw it up and let it drop to the sidewalk. He did it again and again and thought it was too funny. We had a good time but we would not go back again. On our way there we passed a Krispy Kreme shop and you know what that means. We had to stop on the way back. Claire was having so much fun eating her donut in the car while her hair was flying all over. She sure does have fun.

Dream Home and more!

2008-06-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

In our many travels throughout Ohio, we came across a home that we have claimed as our "Dream Home". We plan on purchasing it at some point in our delusional lives. We love how it has such a HUGE yard and is perched on a little hill. The old architecture is pretty cool too. Brig is King of the Hill around here it seems. He thinks he can eat whatever he wants whenever he wants. T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

Recent Snapshots from Saturday

2008-06-15T19:02:00.000-07:00

We did a triathlon on Saturday! We started out at the local library for the Big Rigamarole Truck display. They had fire, police and garbage trucks on display which the kids enjoyed seeing. After that we decided to head to Patterson Fruit Farm where we found some lunch and some delicious doughnuts. They had some trails so we went on a little walk and saw a few ponds and an apple orchard. It was a nice break and it was good to be outdoors. Audrey then went with the missionaries and we had a "backyard blowout" as the kids called it--basically a no holds barred water fight. It was a day. Today, Sunday, was good. Happy Father's day to all the great fathers in our lives!

Beck Kid Pictures

2008-06-14T12:25:00.001-07:00

A friend took these pictures of the kids. Enjoy!

Oh boy-this is awkward

2008-06-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

Cam just got home from picking up some new hair clippers. He came up to show me what he got. We were just hanging out in our room with the window and door to the deck open minding our own business. The only problem is our door to our deck looks right into our neighboors bathroom-right to their toilet to be exact which faces the window. Sooo Cam is talking to me and he looks out the door and says-"oh boy this is awkward, someone is sitting on the toilet!" Hello! do ya think you can CLOSE THE WINDOW WHEN NATURE CALLS!! Apparently they don't really care if their neighbors can see then or not. Maybe they figure as long as we are not on a first name basis it isn't as embarassing to have someone watch you take care of business? One of the many reasons to live on lots of land-you can walk around nude if so desired and you don't have to worry about the neighbors:)

Cuyahoga Valley

2008-06-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

test

2008-06-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

A day with the family

2008-06-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

We went down to one of our favorite spots in "The Ohio" again yesterday-Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We went on a hike this time and really had fun. We were worried about the weather, it was supposed to be 90+ degrees and high humidity. We got down there and it was definitely HOT!!! We brought our kid carrier backpack and a small backpack that Grant or Claire could carry. FYI if you ever go on a hike with Claire these are the kinds of things you will find in her pack.(We had no idea what was in there until we got down there.)So here were the items in her pack 1. An empty baby carrot package. 2. One of Grant's "crock" shoes. 3. One of Brigs Sunday shoes.
4. Our mini crocodile Dentist game. 5. 2 bottles of water. She was so happy she had packed it all herself and she wanted to carry it too. So after we emptied her pack of all her unnecessary items (she wouldn't let us take the crocodile Dentist game out.) We headed on our way to the trail. The scenery was amazing it was truly magical. There were very few spots where the sun came through the trees so mostly shade the whole time. EVERYTHING was covered with bright green moss-trees,rocks,everything. It was such a feast for the eyes. We had a map they provide at the head of the trail so we were following it to the "Ice Cave" Luckily we ran into some people and asked them if they had been to the ice cave they said they were just heading there. We were going the exact wrong way!! We hiked a little farther and then turned around to go to the ice cave. We knew we were there because cool air was oozing out of the cave. It was amazing to be by it. I guess it is like 50 degrees all year round at the cave. They had cool rock formations you could hike through. They reminded me of the Narrows in Utah. The kids really had a great time. We will be going back in the near future!!

Why did we switch the kids rooms?

2008-06-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

So life is so GREAT with kids!! Can you catch the sarcasim in that one?! The past 2 mornings Claire and Grant have been up at 5:40!! Hi, that is like an HOUR before our alarm goes off. The first night was an amazing lightning/thunder storm that woke them up and they couldn't get back to sleep. It was kind of nice in a sick and twisted way though, becuase Claire was SOOOO tired most of the day she didn't have enough energy to be CRANKY! So last night we get our window units in-for those of you with Central Air it is a room A/C unit in your window. So we got ours in our room and had the door closed all night to keep the cool in. We had the monitor in Brigs room so we could listen for him(he never wakes up in the middle of the night anyway) So at 5:40 this morning Grant comes in our room because Claire has been screaming FOREVER!!! and we didn't get her. HELLO! We couldn't HEAR A THING! So they were up again bright and early with the birds. One of the most frustrating things is I was going to hang a blanket on their curtain rod to block out some of the light but they think it is sooooo fun to take their rod off and use it as a sword or whatever! So here is the SUN @ too early in the morning to wake them up. We switched kids rooms. Grant and Claire have a bunk bed (that used to be Cam's) and we couldn't fit a window unit it the window behind the bunk bed so we took the beds down, and put them in Brig's room and put Brig in their room so we could fit window units in both of their rooms. Does any of this make sense? Anyway not an hour after doing all this switching, my friend called and asked what we were up to and I told her we switched the kids rooms but could not remember why we did I KNEW we did it for a reason but just couldn't seem to figure that reason out at the time! It's just like trying to cut a sandwich in 3rds-it takes a minute!!Whatever:) I really do love my kids(especially when they are SLEEPING

We're back in business

2008-06-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

So for all 3 people who have checked my blog in the last month and a half and noticed we have not done much with it here we are again. Blogging is annoying because I feel like it's a baby I have to take care of all the time. As you have noticed my "baby" would be way dead by now! Anyway. We have a lot to catch up on so I will do my best. Claire turned 3 and no-she is not potty trained!!! She dosen't really care either. She will tell us if she has stinks on occasion but that is about it. Brig on the other hand might be out of diapers before Claire. The other day he scrunched up his nose and said "stinks" and about 30 seconds later was doing his business in his pants! Way to go Brig!!! Cam made it back from Minnesota and he had a great time. He learned tons and ate even more!!! He had a week off after he got back so we did lots of fun stuff with him off of school. We went to the Botanical Gardens which was really really cool the kids all had a great time and we did too. We also went down to Cuyahoga Valley National park and did some dutch oven cooking, we also went to the CASE farm and did more dutch oven cooking! We had a great week with Cam off but we are glad to have him back in school so we can stay caught up on "life" like the wash and a cleaner house.

Do you ever feel like a total jerk?

2008-05-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

So for those of you that don't know. Cam has been doing a Dental Externship in Minnesota with the Indian Health Service for 2 weeks. He will be back on Saturday which will be nice. It has taken a toll on all of us having him gone. Grant has said many times that he misses Cam and can't wait until he gets home. Claire has had a hard time understanding what is really going on. Today for the first time she said she misses dad, and tonight as I tucked them into bed she asked to have dad come in and give her a hug and a kiss when he got home. I felt so bad that I had to say he wouldn't be home until Saturday! Claire is pretty moody most of the time, but more so since Cam has been gone. While she was laying there in bed tonight she said "when we get up in the morning can we do something together?" I said -yes we are going to the park, I know that is not what she wanted to hear. She is the typical middle child who gets pushed around because she is the middle. Grant demands attention in his own way and Brig gets attention becuase he is the youngest and needs help. Claire it seems only gets my attention when I am mad at her or she is bugging Brig. She always wants to play but there is always something "to do" instead. I was watching American Idol tonight and David Cook sang a song about not wanting to close his eyes so the moment would last- or something like that. And that is when it hit me. I started to cry and felt like such a JERK!!! Poor Claire is always wanting my attention and I am never giving it to her in a postive way!! I turned the TV off and laid with her in her bed for a little bit while she slept. I am going to try to be a better mom and be more in tune to what she needs. She dosen't want to go to the park-she wants to be with ME! I am not the kind of mom to sit down and play with my kids, but I guess I need to learn! Thanks for reading my vent-it's nice to get it out!!!! P.S. if anyone comes to see me and you notice my house has gone to pot-it's just because I am trying to be a better mom-not the maid:)

Pics

2008-05-08T17:29:00.000-07:00

I added a few more pics so you don't get so sick of the old ones.

Brig

2008-05-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

Brig is such a pill!! He has some serious screaming issues!! Like I am being chopped up into tiny bites screaming-all the time. I am worried about the rest of the family's hearing! I say "stop it" or "no" but it does not really seem to phase him much. I started covering his mouth when he screams and saying "no". So guess what now he covers his mouth and screams!!!! HELP! He also has major anger management issues. He gets really mad really easily and will, hit, pull, bite, throw or just scream when he is mad. What is the deal? The real reason I am typing right now is becuase Cam is gone for 2 weeks and I was done with Claire tonight. I left the room and threatened her with a spanking if I went back in so I am typing instead of going back in. Thanks for reading my vent!

I am going to be a mechanic

2008-05-05T18:20:00.000-07:00

We took our Mazda in to be fixed before Cam left to go to Minnesota for 2 weeks to do a Dental Externship with the Indian Health Service. It ends up because the car is SOOO old-a 1991. They had a hard time getting a part they needed. Cam had to leave Saturday and the car wasn't going to be done until Monday-today. So Cam took the van and I got the car. Mind you this is not just any 1991 car this thing can really rock and roll. I really like to drive it. I told Cam I am going to get a license place border that says looks like crap..drives like a porsche! It really is a great car. Anyway $600 later, we get it back. When I called to see if it was done the guy said, yea they are just having problems closing the hood, have you had problems in the past with the hood not closing? No it's always been fine. They got it closed and I picked it up. Cam had bought some new hubcaps-$13 at WALMART because we have been missing one for a LONG time so it only adds to the beauty of the car. I put the kids down for bed and went out and replaced the hubcaps-they look good. I also checked the oil to make sure I would make it for the next 2 weeks without Cam. It was fine so I tried to close the hood, again and again, it just wasn't closing! After making a lot of noise, I got our next door neighbor who is ALWAYS out working on his cars. He came and tried to close it a few times too and still the same thing. He went to grab some tools and I stood there looking and saw some sort of a cap just sitting on the rim of the car. I picked it up and when he came back I showed it to him. He said it was the old radiator cap that they didn't throw away. We look up and there was the evidence. Duh-a DENT in the underside of the hood from it trying to close on that cap! Hello!! How much of a discount do they give for dumb mechanics? I could do that job!!!

The Whites have it

2008-04-26T20:33:00.001-07:00

Thanks for all who gave thier opinion on the chairs I think I am going to go with white!

True Blonde

2008-04-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

Poor Claire is a true blonde! We were at the library checking out some stuff. We had to go downstairs to the adult section which is so quiet you can hear your shoes squeak. Anyway, we went to the check-out desk and got what we needed. We were going back upstaris because we had parked upstairs. Claire ran smack into a bookshelf! I know she saw it so I don't know why she ran into it but she did. As you can imagine she let out a great wail that echoed through the floor. I got her to a chair by the stairwell to try and calm her down and it made her crying echo even louder. We sure know how to make ourselves known when we go places! All was good in the end she got a treat at the desk and recovered o.k.

The Dancing Spider

2008-04-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

*Warning* If you are weasy when it comes to spiders (Eric and Dalyce) don't read any further! Last night I went to bed pretty early, I had a long day at the Dental School being a patinet for Boards, so I was tired and went to bed. Cam headed to Sam's house to watch a movie. I guess when he got home he went to get ready for bed. In the bathroom he turned on the light and "ta da" the dancing spider!! There was a spider having a ball dancing on CLAIRE'S TOOTH BRUSH BRISTLES!!! Cam said it was the most disgusting thing ever! He said it was like just moving all of it's legs all over just loving the feel of it or something! I don't really mind spiders but that is just too sick!! Happy brushing:)

chairs

2008-04-19T04:38:00.000-07:00

I put a pic of one of my chairs on. Scroll down a little and you will see it.

White or Black

2008-04-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who have not had the awesome experience of living in the Cleveland area I am going to give a little backgorund. Tree-lawning is taking stuff off of the lawn next to the street(the tree-lawn) in front of someone's house when it is garbage day! This to really a cool thing. The stuff people throw away is amazing. We have gotten tons of great stuff from tree-lawning...anyway last fall I stumbled upon these really cool old fashioned chairs-they remind me of the ones you would see at a wedding being held ouside or something like that,they are a white metal and I got 8 of them!! So here is the problem. I need to get the rust off and give them a new coat of paint or they will not be moving with us! Do I paint them white or black? Give me your opinion? I can put a pic on if you think it might help you decide! Everyone let me know. Thanks!:)

It's Tag Time

2008-04-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

10 YEARS AGO:
I was just finishing up Floral Design school with my AWESOME friend Nickie Anderson, in Minnesota for a year. Working at Primary Childrens Hospital and Dan's Foods in Foothill Village. Writing to a missionary named Elder Beck.
FIVE PLACES I HAVE VISITED:
1. Yellowstone
2. Palmyra, NY
3. Virgin Islands
4. Oregon
5. Virginia
FIVE THINGS ON MY TO DO LIST:
1. Not be so uptight with the kids
2. Prep my tree-lawn charis for painting
3. Work in the yard
4. Iron some clothes
5. Figure out what to do with all my Martha FOOD magazines
Lifetime Goals
1. Be an awesome mom
2. Enjoy the moment
3. Drive a car that is in the same decade I'm living in
4. Have a great garden
5. Go on a mission with Cam
THREE BAD HABITS:
1. Throwing dirty diapers out the window!!!
2. Speed reading my Scriptures
3. Not putting the lid back on the toothpaste
FIVE THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME...
1. I have a degree in Floral Design
2. I broke my collar bone having a race down a sand dune
3. Cam was the first guy I kissed-the only one too!!!
4. I LOVE to shovel snow and mow the lawn
5. I can't stand onions-cooked or raw

I am tagging Jackie, Alisa and Danielle

My own account

2008-04-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

I am SOOO excited. Cam is going to give me my own g-mail account so now everytime I post a comment on someones blog it dosen't look like Cam said it! Like you look so cute in that dress-posted by Cameron, it just dosen't seem quite right. I am also in the process of attempting to log on to the library website with NO LUCK!! It is really annoying-my password does not work-HI, I only have like 2 to choose from and neither are it. No you can't request it on-line or get a hint of what it might be sent to your e-mail, you have to march yourself and your 3 kids into the library with your ID to get your password re-set just so you can see if you have any books over due.

My REAL name is Sue....

2008-04-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

The other day, the kids and I were sitting around in the front room, just hanging out and waiting for Cam to get home from School for the day. I glanced over at the mailbox and noticed a letter in it. I thought-that's odd, I already got the mail. Grant went into our entry way and grabbed the envelope-it was open, with no writing on it-weird, I flipped it over and there was a note in really shaky handwriting. It said "Dear Sue, I would like to get in contact with you. Please call me @ blablablabla. Signed-Ken Kanter. So now you all know my code name is Sue and I am dating a really old guy named Ken! J/K! Now I don't know if I call the guy and tell him he had the wrong HOUSE or if I just leave it alone? The woes of a stay-at-home mom!! I guess at least Cam dosen't have to worry about me running away with the mailman because it's a mail WOMAN!

This does not look like the Zoo...

2008-04-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Cam had this past week off for spring break and we wore him out really well. We all had a great time each day doing fun stuff as a family like vacuuming, dishes, wash ect.-No-I'm kidding I did that stufff and we still had fun as a family. One day we flew Grant and Claire's mini kites at a park-Cam and I had a ball because we could actually keep the kites in the air. Claire rode her trike most of the time and Grant just pouted becuase he couldn't keep his kite up but he didn't want help either. On Tuesday we went to the Natural History Museum it was a really neat place, we had not been before. All Claire wanted to do was see the dinosaurs, so she didn't really care about all the other cool stuff there. Grant on the other hand could have spent a week there and still not wanted to leave. Wednesday, we decided to take a trip to the Columbus Zoo we had been once before and really liked it. One cool thing is they have a Manatee there. After dropping off our Mazda to get a new muffler and coming home to pick up about 6 things we had left including the DIRECTIONS, we were on our way. Life was good, the kids all did really well on the way down. Cam and I made it past the dreaded town of Wooster-what a name-that's the only reason we don't like the town! It takes a little over 2 hours to get there. We got to our final exit and were trying to orient ourselves nothing we saw looked familiar. We continued to follow the directions and they led us through a quaint little neighborhood. The last direction said turn right on Riverfront Road (or something like that) and then right again and you are there. There we were in a muddy alley that as Cam described could barely fit our van with the river right next to us. There was only one small problem NO ZOO!! HELLO! Thanks for nothin' Google Maps!! We had to think quick becuase someone was behind us (maybe they were trying to go to the zoo too!) So we got out of the not so quaint alley and headed for a more populated location as to hopefully piggy-back on someones unsecure wireless computer connection. We found our way thanks to a unsecure connection and a call to my sister Jackie, we were on the road again-to the Zoo this time. We made it and had a really good time. It is a really clean zoo with tons of different animals,imagine tha a zoo has animals! They had just opened their Asian exhibit which was cool. We saw the Manatee which was cool, Claire was more excited about the lettuce floating in the water that they eat then the actual Manatee itself! Brig was parked right up to the glass so he would try and touch the fish and sting rays as they floated by him. For some reason the ONLY animal Grant really wanted to see was the Buffalo. North America was our last stop and by this time the Zoo was almost closing and Cam and I were DONE. If I had to feed anoter fish cracker to Claire or Brig I might have turned into a cracker myself!Cam had carried Brig in a pack on his back the whole way and I had pushed the stroller. The Zoo is like 80 acres-it's a ways to walk. It's a good thing I have been doing Tae Bo! We saw all the North American animals and were headed down to see the Buffalo-but no-the ONLY one they had was WAY FAR FAR FAR AWAY on a hill and only Cam was tall enough to see it! Maybe they need to ask Yellowstone for a few more!? Grant was quite bummed, he just kept saying all I wanted to see was a buffalo! Cam and I tried to remind him of the time he was 1 1/2 years old in Yellowstone and he got to see them but he didn't believe us. Poor kid. We made it out of the Zoo but we didn't have directions home-here we go. We stopped by Wendies for fast (make you sick)food and asked for directions. We went the way we were told for a while but then got lost in a gated community. With our really LOUD rattly van we chased down these two walkers in this very nice community and had them tell us the way to the freeway. We made it home with only half a cup of Wendies lemonade spilled in the back seat and garbage including but not limited to fruit snacks, french fries, paper, wrappers, candy and lemonade soaked books. Dosen't it sound like fun! Any one up for a Zoo day-we have a pass.

Would you like a some pie with that fight?

2008-04-07T18:18:00.000-07:00

For my birthday our friends the Meeks invited us to a BBQ at a local park. We had a great time, a little windy but not too bad. The kids enjoyed riding their bikes around the sidewalk and on the tennis courts and playing on the playground. As you know Cleveland is know for it's mix of race. That said ,we were not the only race at the park tonight. I ran home to grab some ice cream for dessert (Meeks had made a strawberry and apple pie) when I returned I couldn't help but notice that our little group was quickly becoming the minority. Cam was tossing the football with Grant while I was talking to my friends, I turned around to see a fight erupt, it was quite the fight, one guy was sure getting a beating for who knows what, and as you can imagine the language was GREAT!! Not 3 minutes into the fight the sirens started, it didn't take those kids long to figure out they better get the heck out of there or they are not going to be spending the night at their own homes. You should have seen them scatter, some were running, others were walking along like nothing happend and others still had fire coming out of their ears (and mouths) The kid with the loudest mouth got put in cuffs right away and the rest calmed down a little and continued on their way to who knows where-their next fight location? What a world we live in. Grant asked Cam why the brown guys with their shirts off were bad and Cam said that is just how some people are, Satan want's them to be bad. Grant was pretty concerend they knew where we lived but we reassured him they didn't. Remind me to have a b-day party in my own backyard next time!

Tae Bo and a trike

2008-03-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

I decided to take up Tae Bo again since my 3rd child belly isn't what it used to be. Man if you need a work out give it a try!! I hope I can get out of bed tomorrow morning! Anyway, Grant and Claire enjoy the show (me making a fool of myself). The head guy Billy Blanks is an African American- today Grant told me he wishes he could look like him. I told him, get up off the couch and start working out and you will look like him. He responded that he wouldn't be the same color! After a minute he said "you could paint me!" There we go! We now have a African American painted 5 year old that is a personal trainer-wahoo!!!!!

Claire has been in desperate need of a trike or something with wheels to take on a walk besides her doll stroller. Most of our walks consist of me and the kids with our neighbor Jen and her 2 boys. The only problem is Claire is the only one without a bike or trike. She had done pretty good and been very patient but now that the weather is warming up she is getting anxious to have her own wheels. We really wanted to wait until her birthday at the end of May but decided it might be too far away. We broke down and went trike shopping today. After trying EVERY trike and then some at Toys R Us we headed to Target to look for someting a little bigger that she could still ride at the end of the summer without her knees hitting her chin! We ended up getting a "Dora" trike that is for 3-5 year olds. She is pretty excited-we will get it set up tomorrow and give it a spin around the block.

Grape Nuts-yum

2008-03-27T17:34:00.000-07:00

So I woke up today and had my bowl of cereal with the fam. Today I chose to have Grape Nuts!! I love them. Today I didn't let them soak as long as I usually do so they were extra crunchy (my sister Jackie said it's like eating popcorn kernels!) I finished up a few minutes after Cam left for school. For some reason I felt around in my mouth with my tongue and realized I had a HOLE in my top right tooth (#2 for those Dental Students out there) So lucky for me our duplex neighbor is a dental student too. I called him and he came over and verified my hole. I gave Cam a call and once again lucky for me (or not) he had an opening at 10, so I went it and got drilled on for a few hours. Long story short-my mouth is sore and I need a crown . Moral of the story is don't eat Grape Nuts if you don't want to visit the Dentist! Grape Nuts anyone!?:)

Will winter ever end?

2008-03-21T19:16:00.001-07:00

Here we are-Easter weekend in Cleveland and it is turning out to be a carbon copy of last Easter weekend (where church was canceled because of too much SNOW) Cam and I have decided that winter comes to Cleveland in January and stays through May!! Bummer! Church won't be canceled this year but there will be no outside egg hunts either :(

2008-03-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

We are finally getting around to doing something on this here blog. Stay tuned for updates soon!