Exciting December!

We're still 7 days away from Christmas Eve, but the excitement of the season has been in full force already this month....

First up, Ethan got some much needed church clothes as an early Christmas gift from Grandma.


What a stud!



We're blessed with beautiful kids

Then of course comes the family tradition of getting our Christmas tree for family home evening after Thanksgiving Day.  The kids were right on top of me making sure we picked out the best one, and that I got it home safe.  Here's some shots of us getting it decorated.
 

Let's be honest...sometimes the best help from the boys is no help at all! :)

The two ladies who really make it all happen for our family

Kate making sure the final touch is just right

Then, just when we thought Christmas was coming too quickly, our present from my brother Benjamin came early....chickens!!  Yep, you read that right, 9 healthy laying hens are now a part of our family.  We had been talking about it for some time, and apparently the time for talk to end and action begin arrived.  We've had them a week now, so they're settling in to their new home.  We get 5-6 eggs a day, so we certainly can't complain.  Ginger loves to try and escape, but what's life without some fun and excitement, right?! :)

Getting the fence up Fri night...Kate was right there with us

Introducing them to their new home for the first time.  They were surprisingly mild after being boxed up for 5-6 hours

Amazingly enough one of them actually laid an egg while in transport even...Kate was more than excited!

Kate and Riley were in there with us the next morning building the coop.  Kate's was the comment of the day when she said, "We are builders!"  It was an awesome moment for her to feel such pride.

Needless to say I didn't think everything through on the final lift, and after all our work to rebuild the coop I actually ended up breaking some of it again with this stellar inside hold decision.

Even still the happy crew afterwards

And one with mama...she rules the roost!

These shots were taken today, so as you can see they're healthy, happy and enjoying Kate taking care of them...

Ginger...if you haven't seen Chicken Run then you need to, and you'll understand :)

They really are good looking birds...3 brown, 2 white and 4 black like these two

Kate loving on her ladies...she was even out there cleaning up their poop with me this morning!  She's really been great to take care of them...she really is our animal lover.

 Merry Christmas everyone!!

African Christmas

Every year the kids' school does a fundraiser for a school in Africa by performing a play entitled the First African Christmas.  Ethan was in it for the first time last year, and both he and Kate were in it this year.  They peformed at the Vista Charter School, and was exciting given that their stage is actually a stage in round.  Brought us much closer to the action, and it was awesome seeing the kids do their thing.  Here's some pictures and video for your enjoyment.

Riley actually did really well, and watched intently most of the night.  Think he's really just practicing in his head for his turn in a few years :)

Today's Adventures

Nothing like having your 3 kids out in the backyard exploring and enjoying themselves on a Saturday morning. Riley got in the mud trying to get his stick, Ethan's bouncing and playing catch and Kate is just roaming around making sure she's a part of everything that's happening. There were rides on the bikes, a visit from our old pal Rupert (remember that's our backyard frog who's really an adopted member of the family) and of course let's not forget about Riley getting so tuckered out that he feel asleep before we could even feed him lunch. Here's a few shots and movies of all the fun, enjoy!

Maria and Credence Visit

My cousin Maria and her son Credence came to visit for a few minutes when she came down last weekend. Haven't seen her in many years, and this was the first time to see her son in person. He and Riley had a blast together...

Riley turns One!

Can't believe our lil' lion turned one this past week! For those of you who live close enough to come, thank you for coming and celebrating with us. For those of you who weren't able to be there, please enjoy some of the highlights...

And the next morning as we're getting ready for the day and the kids off to school, here's Ethan and Riley enjoying the balloons!

School Pictures

Crazy to think that we have 2 kids old enough to have "school pictures", but ladies and gentlemen I'm hear to tell you that is the case. Believe it or not the pictures they take these days are quite high tech. Megan and I were given 8 or so different options for backgrounds if we wanted to be picky, various poses we could request, etc. If I remember my shots correctly it was a one snap deal, and if you happened to be picking your nose...oh well. Here are 3 different shots of both Ethan and Kate, and they are all amazing. Enjoy!

October 14th Silliness

It was a Thursday night, and the kids were done with school for the week, so we decided to have some "fun" while we all got ready for bed. The video of Ethan and Kate is one of about four that we did that night; they were having so much fun just dancing around and being silly to the music. (And yes, they are their own dj's.) Riley didn't want to be left out of the fun of course, so he was getting his walk on. Still a couple week's away from his first birthday, and he's showing everyone his skills! :) We have the best kids!!

Halloween 2010

Here's the crew ready to celebrate Halloween this year. Ethan's a spider, Kate is a cute little witch and Riley is our Frankenstein. Trick or Treat!

Kate wanted to have a shot taken with her other witch friends.

Ethan, our scary spooky spider.

Not Pictured: Frankenstein Riley was of course too busy plundering with Pirate Garfield to get all the "candy" to be bothered with a picture. :)

Riley...

Last but not least is our Riley Roo. His personality seems to shine through more and more each day. He's really starting to jibber-jabber, and the best is when he tries to emulate Grandpa Beecher by playing his mouth trumpet. (We got a great video of it as well.)

Like his big brother and sister, Riley can't get enough of being outside, and always seems most content hanging out on his blanket exploring the world around him. You can tell he's just about there on being ready to crawl, and again like his brother and sister has already master the art of going backwards (now if we can just get him to go forward!)

Hard to watch him grow up so fast; can you believe he'll be 7 months old in two days? Watch him take hold of his cup, and drink on his own. He's our biggest boy.

Uncle Doug came out and played with us during his visit. Thanks for playing with me El Tio!

Kate...

Next up is our little Wahine. She never ceases to amaze, and this week is certainly no different. We've reached the stage where we have magical monsters scaring us in our room now, but fear not we came up with a perfect way to combat them. For the dragons under the bed, we take a pot from our kitchen, mix in some water (the right knob on the sink) and then add in some magic pixie dust (the left knob on the sink). Kate mixes it all together, and then we throw the potent potion under the bed putting the dragons (yes I said it plural, there's a big one and small one) to sleep.

Now, another visitor in the room is a little harder to handle. He's the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, and he likes to hang out in the corner by the closet. Fortunately for us though we have Sheriff Woody around, and with Kate helping him man his gun we take care of the wolf as well. Oh dear...where will her imagination take us next!

Here's a video of her and Josh enjoying a little "tramp" time.

Ethan...

Well, it's been a fun week at our house, so you get updates on all three kids. First up, Ethan. As you can see from the picture he is becoming one tough dude. We had our neighbors and Doug over for a little bbq Saturday, and he wanted to show off his muscles. Watch out or he'll get you!

You also get to see him in action celebrating. He took out some fruit snacks, and did a little dance. Unfortunately, this isn't the original shake, but a reenactment. It's still pretty good though.

Toughest thing for him this week is figuring out the concept of school ending. He's not a big fan, and doesn't understand why there's a week break between school ending and summer school beginning. Here's to hoping that he always has such a deep love of learning!

6 months in the making....

Getting Riley's side of the room ready (his crib is on one side and my craft table is on the other hence the one picture) has been 6 months in the making. I had purchased the wooden frames and painted them right before he was born, but didn't get them hung 'til a few months later.

I was so excited the night i had hung them up thinking i was finally done; I was in my room with Riley when i heard a loud crash! I went to see what it was and found that the orange frame had fallen, hit the crib and broke (lame M3 command velcro picture holders). After 4 months of waiting I finally got another one, only to paint it wrong. I had painted the frame dark orange and the dots in the light orange, so with lots of elbow grease (and my dad's belt sander) I sanded and repainted the frame and hung them today. So 6 months (almost 7) after he was born Riley's room is finally done! And as you can see in the picture he is excited.....Now where to hang his calendar?

More Saturday Fun...

And just when you think Rupert the Frog will be the highlight of the morning, an impromptu magic show/outside lunch proves you wrong. In addition, Riley sings along to his puppy dog Scout singing him a few songs before bedtime. Just another day in paradise here at the Beecher home. Here's a few photos and videos of all the excitement.

Rupert the Frog

Bright sunny Saturday morning in Saint George, so the kids head out to the backyard for some fun. Who should be there waiting for them...? None other than Rupert the frog, our unofficial pet that has become a part of our family. Kate instantly went into an excited blur of action, and with her and I heading into the house to get a jar to capture our little green friend, Ethan was left in charge of keeping an eye on him.

Now, as you can imagine, a 4 year old isn't exactly the person you want in charge of keeping an eye on things, so inevitably he failed at his assigned task. When asked where Rupert had hopped off to, we were immediately directed in at least a half dozen different directions. The pursuit began, and with Ethan barking out orders as to who is looking where, Kate was calling out, "Rupert, where are you?" The moment was too cute not to capture on film, so here is a video of us hot on the trail, enjoy!

And sadly (at least for Kate) Rupert was never found...