Faith is 12!!!

Faith turned 12 on Feb. 27th. I have probably seen the most change in Faith this year. She is really growing up and maturing. She is way more concerned with how she looks and is more responsible. She is now babysitting for us for short amounts of time as well. However...she still loves to hang out with mom and dad and the rest of the family. I hope that never ends. She is still a straight "A" student and loves school. Her social life is to be envied. Faith is a "joiner." She loves being involved in whatever is available to her. Currently she is taking piano (like always), hip-hop dance and sewing (hopefully I will get around to posting some of the cute stuff she has made). Today will be her first day of track. Track is open to everyone and although she might never compete she still wanted to join anyways....to be with her friends. She doesn't particularly enjoy playing clarinet in the band but stays in to socialize. I am pretty sure I was exactly like her in 6th grade although I didn't get straight "A's." Faith also joins "Young Women's" now that she is 12. This is the youth group at our church. She will now go every Wed. night for activities and will join the older kids during church on Sunday's. Young Women's is a great program for girls 12-18. Faith is very excited to be a part of it.

Faith wanted to invite lots of girls to her b-day party so we decided on bowling. You don't have to pay per person and they could be loud and obnoxious. The girls had lots of fun and Faith got a lot of great gifts. She received 6 t-shirts, jewelry and food. She also got gift cards and cash among other things. From us she received a dwarf hamster. This is what she really, really wanted. We had a guinea pig several years ago and I wasn't a fan.... it stunk and did not like to be held at all. We did more research this time and received lots of help and advice at the pet store before deciding on the dwarf. I think we made a good choice this time. We have had her for almost 2 weeks now and she doesn't smell and is VERY friendly (photos coming soon). Faith gets her out every night to run in her ball and in our Zhu Zhu pet house. Faith named her "Baby Gaga." Beckett calls her "GooGoo Gaga." Faith loves animals! Faith's siblings got her a "CTR" ring. "CTR" stands for "Choose the Right." Happy Birthday to Faith! She is becoming a wonderful young lady!! We LOVE YOU!

Sawyer is 10!!!

Sawyer turned 10 on Feb. 27th. It just doesn't even register that Sawyer will be heading into jr. high in a year and a half! Where has the time gone! Sawyer has already started planning his 11th birthday. He does this every year. I guess we will call him a "planner." However, he will change his mind about a million times before the actual day. This year he decided on a Chuck e Cheese party. Watching Beckett in the "Ticket Blaster" a month before was the clincher. In the "Ticket Blaster" one has 30 seconds to get as many tickets as possible. This is why his shirt is tucked in (so he can stuff tickets down it) and why he is wearing the crown (so that tickets will land in it). We had 9 or 10 boys including Sawyer and they all had a lot of fun. They all went through tokens like water but that is to be expected. Sawyer chose a cookie cake this year since he doesn't like frosting. Sawyer received very nice gifts from his friends. From us her received a jersey, Madden '11 for xbox and a lego set from his siblings.

Sawyer is a great kid. Over the last couple of months I have had several people tell me what a nice kid he is. That is great to hear as a parent especially since I mostly see him picking on Eden. Sawyer is a very hard worker in school and really in all he does. He is a "stat machine" when it comes to football and loves to try new things. The kid has a heart of gold. He often tries to come up with ways to cure the world of its problems. We were watching that secret millionaire show last night and Sawyer was very moved by this soup kitchen that gave and delivered food to the needy. For about an hour...or more...after the show ended he talked about how we should buy "Ruby Tuesdays" (that has closed down) and serve food to hungry people. When I make him get rid of some of his old toys he is insistent they go to Good Will and will ask me over and over again if I have taken them there. On the flip side...the kids LOVES money. My parents bought him a lock box for his b-day and he loves to organize and count it. I am hoping he will find a balance with his desire to help people and his love of money as he gets older. Happy Birthday to Sawyer .... WE LOVE YOU!

I'm a Big Boy Now!!

Beckett is potty trained!! He has actually been potty trained for about 6 weeks now and hasn't had an accident in probably 3 weeks. I really despise this chore and I dread for a good year before even starting. However, Beckett did great. He was very easy and I was VERY relaxed about it. He was immediately "night trained." He hasn't had even one nighttime accident. My first two wore pull-ups to bed until they were 4 so it has been really nice. The #2 training took a week or two but as soon as I started offering him candy for every time he pooped on the potty he got it really quickly. I have to admit that I am a little sad that I never have to buy diapers again and that I now have no reason to hit the baby aisle at Walmart.

SAWYER!!!!!!!!

So...Sawyer had an awesome week last week! His car came in 1st place in the Pinewood Derby. Last year he came in 2nd. Kyle was convinced before the race that his car wasn't as fast as last years. We prepped him that there was a very good chance that he wouldn't place. Well...we were wrong and he got FIRST!! He received a medal, ribbon and certificate. He painted his car royal blue and white...it was an Indianapolis Colts car. It was decorated with a #18 after his favorite player...Peyton Manning... and had the team logo on it. He even wore his Colts jersey under his scouts shirt. It was an exciting evening and I am thankful that he is having positive experiences in scouting.

Second....Sawyer earned TWO trophies at a chess tournament last weekend. Sawyer really enjoys chess. At the end of December we started him in private chess lessons. He also attends chess club after school one day a week. Chess is huge here in town. Our town(s) have the largest amount of chess players in the state of Illinois. Since he enjoys chess and wasn't doing so well at the tournaments we decided to put him into the private lessons. I hated to do this but for him to be competitive and get him to the next level we needed to. So...back to the trophies. He earned the first one for "biggest upset." Sawyer is a 200 level player and he beat a 900 level. I almost cried when Kyle texted to tell me. He ended up winning 3 matches that day which earned him a 3rd place trophy for 4th graders. His school also got 2nd place overall. Chess meets last from about 8 am-3 pm. It is a long day and someone has to be at the meet with him the whole time. Kyle went this time and it was at a school out of town. When Kyle said he was pretty sure Sawyer would earn a trophy, the girls (and Bex) drove out to see it happen. One never knows if it will ever happen again :) Sawyer's chess ranking will go up now which is both good...and bad. He will continue to play higher ranked kids now.

Two things I never thought a son of mine would do....be a boyscout and a chess player. Both have been great experiences and something Sawyer really enjoys. I am thankful. I am thankful my kids go to great schools that offer activities for every type of kid. Sawyer is also playing basketball right now but that is for another post. We are very proud of him!!!

BECKETT IS 3!!!!!!

My baby is THREE! He is definitely the little "Prince" of our family. His brother and sisters all indulge him like crazy and he is spoiled rotten. If I even attempt to discipline him the other kids say I am being mean and run to his defense. Beckett has been a handful these last three years but we are seeing signs of improvement in that area. For instance...when I took him in for 2 year pictures we were barely able to get ONE shot of him that was pleasant. That has all changed...I just took him to Sear's last week and he posed for every picture and did every single thing the lady told him to. I sat in a chair and watched (that is the way I like it). Beckett is now able to make it through the first hour of church without being taken out and now enjoys going to nursery and pre-school. His vocabulary took off late in the summer and has not slowed down. He is a motor mouth...like his brother and mother. He is now able to ask questions and tattle on his siblings. He also now plays with his toys and even does some make-believe. He really has never played with toys...he has only been interested in climbing all over and on top of things. Beckett loves to play with Eden. He will do pretty much whatever she asks him to. He still REALLY enjoys his T.V. programs, which provides me with some peace during the day :) Beckett is going through a huge independent stage right now. He can count to 15 and sing some songs. He knows most of his shapes and all of his colors (thank you Blue's Clue's and Dora). He is still a big mamas boy. He follows me all over the house and is very affectionate. Eden and Sawyer are playing basketball right now and we can actually take him to the games and he will stay close to us...this wouldn't have happened a few months ago. The biggest news about Bex is that he is 95% potty trained. He has been such a big boy about going on the potty. We are still working on #2 but are getting closer. He has been dry at night for almost two weeks and hasn't had an accident during the day for over a week now. I am happy and sad all at the same time about him growing up. He is definitely a huge joy and blessing to our family. We would be so bored without him!
We celebrated his 3rd birthday at Chuck E Cheese!! We did the organized party with just us and the grandparents. He had so much fun and did every single thing he was supposed to. He loved it! He even went into the "Ticket Blaster" with Faith...this is where you go in and they blow tickets around and you have 30 seconds to collect all the tickets you can. For his 3rd birthday he received a big wheels, Bigfoot Robot, stuffed animals and Hexibugs. Someone said to me the other day that Beckett is so fun to watch because he has "so much personality"...that is an understatement. We LOVE YOU BECKETT!!!I had to add this random picture of Beckett when he was just a few months old.

Room Re-Do's

Within the last couple of months we have been doing some painting! The lovely FLAT paint that builders use just does not cut it. Our whole house (except the basement) actually needs repainting. We had promised the kids (almost 3 years ago) that they could pick their own room color and we would paint them ASAP. It took us a little longer than planned to get to them but they are finally done...well except for Beckett's...but his is next. We also painted and bought new furniture for our front room. I am really happy with how all the rooms turned out. My favorite color is BEIGE (and every shade of brown) so letting the kids pick bright colors for their rooms really freaked me out. All I can think of is RESALE, RESALE, RESALE...and if we ever do have to move then they will have to be repainted. Just for the record, in almost 14 years of marriage we have lived at eight different addresses. Here are the final products.

St. Louis Trip

We decided to do a little overnight getaway the week between Christmas and New Year. We went to St. Louis, visited some friends, stayed in a hotel and went to Magic House. Magic House is a HUGE children's museum. It has way too many cool things to try and mention all of them. I also took way too many photos so I am going to try and scale them back. It was PACKED but still very, very fun!! My kids really enjoyed sitting in the Oval Office, at the President's desk, and sitting as a judge in the Supreme Court room. Beckett was even a very good boy and loved it all. He and Eden most enjoyed the grocery store. The kids also enjoyed swimming at the hotel.