Look How Fast We Are Growing

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers
Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Parties, Parties Everywhere

The birthday parties have begun!!  We started in February with Matthew's 1st birthday and haven't stopped since.  Although we were out of town for Owen Darby (Matthew's friend) and Will Walker's (Lauren's friend) parties (BTW- LG and Elicia I have the boys presents I just keep forgetting to bring them to church).  We are now moving on to Ryan (Lauren's cousin who is 4) whose party is this Saturday.  He is only 6 weeks older than Lauren and they have the best time playing together.  This year Matthew will get to join in the mix and hopefully they will leave Brayden (3 months) alone :)    Next is Harper Crowder.  Lauren LOVES Harper!!   We even had to name our Elf on the Shelf after Harper (I think Lauren gets tired of all the boys) Ha!  I hear Harper is having a Tea Party for her 1st birthday.  Lauren will be thrilled!!  After Harper comes Lauren's 4th birthday - a Butterfly Birthday to be exact!!  Thankfully I was able to find butterfly party supplies at the dollar store!  That was such a God thing.  Steve and I were wondering where in the world we would find some that wouldn't cost a fortune and decided to wander into the dollar store one night and JACKPOT!!  Planning parties on a budget isn't easy especially when you start seeing other kids parties!  I already have some cute ideas and hope they work out.  I will do another post with pictures after her birthday in May.  At the rate I'm going it will be a long while after her birthday since Matthew's was in February and I still don't have pictures or anything up.  Be watching for Matthew's birthday (John Deere) blog post some time soon.  Until then Happy Birthday to all the kiddos!!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Recipe Follow Up

Ok, so the Potato Soup Recipe was great!!  I did the same as LG for the diced onions, but I added garlic salt and shredded cheese!  YUMMY!!  My family loved it too!  I'm thinking about adding some chicken next time kinda a spin off of chicken and dumplins'.  I'll let you know if I try it! 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Catching Up

Well it looks as if I am blogging about every 6 months or so. :) I will try to get better, but it's really difficult with 2 children and a husband at home plus working full time. Also I read so many great blogs that I feel like no one would want to read what I have to write about. Lately I have been reading some blogs with some great sounding recipes and fun ideas for the kids. I am trying LG's Potato Soup recipe tonight. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Since the last time I blogged so many things have changed. The kids have grown so much and Matthew will be 1 on the 15th of this month (where has the time gone?). I have decided to do a John Deere theme and believe me it has not been easy to find him an outfit to wear (I got started on my planning a little late). I finally found a onesie at Cracker Barrel of all places! I can't wait to see how everything turns out. Since I am on the Matthew I will just continue with him. He had several double ear infections over the last few months (starting in Sept. '10) and finally had tubes put in on December 14th. He has responded so well to the tubes and has not had any more ear trouble, congestion is another story!! He has crawled and even started walking already!! He walked all the way across the living room last night. I can't believe he is growing up so fast. He definitely knows what he wants and can throw a major fit if he doesn't get it (I'm trying to break him of this). He is all boy for sure. He is so destructive compared to Lauren. He is into everything. Lauren never bothered the things on tables and Matthew has pulled all the picture frames off and reached for anything he can grab!! He is going to be the one that really tests me! He is eating table food now and drinking whole milk (which he loves). I am still trying to get him to switch to hard spout sippy cups, but not having much luck so far. He hates when we go out to eat because he can't get down on the floor to play (YUCK!!) He loves his big sister and anything she does is hilarious to him. He is moving out of the infant room at daycare and into the toddler room. They are sad to see him go and so am I (He had Lauren's teacher from last year).

Lauren is growing up way too fast!! She will be 4 in May and can't wait. She is my independent one and loves to do things on her own. She loves to play with her baby dolls and take care of her babies "just like you do for Matthew". She is such a big helper with Matthew and can entertain him like no one else. She knows how to climb into his crib with him and I find her in there often just talking and playing with "Mafhew" in the mornings. She started AWANA this year and loves it. She is a Cubbie and had memorized so many verses. I love to see her so excited about going to church and learning about Jesus. When I pick her up from daycare every night she gets in the car and asks to listen to Jesus music and of course the Cubbies song. She is still very clingy to me when I have to drop her off at her class, and asks on a regular basis if I can stay home with her (that is my goal). Lauren is growing up to be such a polite little lady. She has started saying "yes ma'am", "no sir" etc on her own now (thanks to a lot of coaching from us). There are days that she says something and I am just amazed at how grown up she sounds! She has just discovered the old Tom and Jerry cartoons and has to watch at least one every night before bed. She still loves her chocolate milk and oreos and of course still takes bunny everywhere with her.

Steve and I have just started new Bible studies at church (mine on Sunday afternoons and his on Thursday mornings). I have to say I am learning so much through this study of a Godly wife and mother. I look forward to this time with other moms and wives every week. We are growing so much in and with our church. Steve is still working from home for U.S. NetworX. I am still at Trinity and have started a home business with the help of a good friend. I can honestly say I love these products and feel that my family has benefited from my switching cleaning products. If anyone is interested let me know and I'll be glad to tell you about it.

Over the New Year holiday Steve and I went with a group of the college students from church to the Passion Conference in Atlanta. It was an amazing 4 days!! 22,000 college students worshipping the Lord together and raising money to make a difference in the lives of others through different ministries. These "poor college kids" raised over $1,000,000 to support different groups around the world. WOW!! was all I could say! These students are our future and we need to support and encourage them to continue their walk with Christ. We have a great group of college students at Trinity!!

Well that has just about got us caught up with the happenings of the Beitz household recently. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post next time from Matthew's birthday!