Number, Shapes, Colors AND Letters!

I know this will make two posts in one day but we took this video tonight and I couldn't wait to put it up.

Chill dancing by Autumn

Our backyard

So, these videos were taken a few weeks ago when we were all healthy, it was a little warmer outside and it was still light outside when Andrew would come home from work.

Ebby loves the little slope in our backyard. At first he was content just running up and down but he's since expanded his repertoire with running backward and crawling. Here he's added two more varieties.

Autumn on the other hand is happy with a few leaves on a bush.

Crawl/Walking

We're so sorry for not posting anything recently. At first everyone in the house was sick at the same time and then Andrew got sick. He was sick for over two weeks! Not fun times. But he seems to be getting better and besides the constant runny noses the kids have we're pretty much back to normal. 

Onto the actual post.

Autumn is on the brink of walking. She'll take a few steps here and there but she's still unsure and prefers to crawl. She's always had this weird sort of crawl/walk thing and we wanted to make sure we got it on camera before she starts to really walk. Here she is in all her glory.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to ya'll! I've been looking forward to Halloween since August. Probably because that's when we got our costumes. I just couldn't pass up on the Cowboys and Indians theme. I wish they had something for Autumn but she does make a really cute pink bunny. 

Since Andrew was sick this year we decided a quick walk around the mall would be just about all he could take. (Our mall did a Halloween Trick-or-Treat where certain stores gave out candy to the kids. Sometimes I love our little town.)

All of us Trick-or-Treating at the Mall.

Ebby was scared at first but he got the hang of it really fast when he realized he got to keep the candy.

   

Autumn had a good time too. We let her chew on an Oreo candy and when we got home we realized she had actually opened it with her mouth. She was covered in cookie crumbs and loving every minute of it.

Monkey Drama

We've had a little drama at our house today. Well to be honest, we have drama at our house everyday but today it was centered around Ebby's monkey. Ebby's has been sleeping with his monkey friend for over a year now and he's grown quiet attached to it - when it's time to sleep. Otherwise he couldn't care less about it. That was until Autumn decided she liked him too. Whenever Autumn happens upon monkey she goes crazy. Hugging and kissing him like there's no tomorrow. I think it's really cute. Ebby doesn't agree with me. The evidence of this is in the first two videos.

But don't feel too bad for Autumn. She always manages to find monkey again.

All the same, maybe Santa should give a sweet little girl a monkey for Christmas.

Our new desk

So, it's finally done! For the past month or so we've been using a folding table as a computer desk for our computers. It's been awkward, uncomfortable and not to mention very ugly. (Our old desks were too big for the space.) I didn't really realize how expensive desks were until we moved. A new desk was definitely not an option let alone two. So, I decided to make one. Please keep in mind that before this project the most I worked with wood was to hammer a nail into a wall to hang a picture. It's definitely not perfect but it'll do. And it's way better than the folding table.

Oh, what a beautiful day!

We have a fence! I can't believe we have our very own backyard. It needs a lot of work but it's ours. Ever since Andrew and I got married we've been living in apartments, so this is a really big deal for us. It feels so nice to really have a home. Ebby already agrees.

Autumn's Hair

So, Autumn's hair has been getting a little weird lately. A tuft on top of her head never fell out like the rest of her hair. It was also curly, unlike her new hair. It was also really dark, unlike her new hair. I tried getting around this problem by pulling her hair up. It was cute while it lasted but eventually her cute bows would always end up on the floor. I just figured Ebby was pulling them out but yesterday I realized that it was Autumn who was tearing them out of her hair. I guess she really didn't like them and was too polite to tell me so. Typical Autumn.

Anyway, while I was cutting Ebby's hair this morning I decided to give Autumn a trim. That was the plan anyway. I think I cut too much off.

I'm actually really depressed about it. I miss the curls (what little curl she had). 

Now, be honest! Does my little girl look like a boy?

Before

 

After

Loving Books

I can't decide what I like about this video the most. Ebby "reading" to Autumn. Autumn's patience and attentiveness. Ebby pretending to talk to an imaginary friend to his right. Or Autumn giving up and finding her own book to "read".
I hope the sound quality is good enough for y'all to hear. It's adorable.

Welcome to Our New House!

 

So, I feel like I've won the jackpot or something. Check out our new house! Yes, that's right, I said house. It's so cute. 

A couple of months ago Andrew and I had a talk about what we wanted to do after our apartment contract ran out. It was a really short discussion. We decided we needed more space. (And if you've ever visited us in that apartment you'd probably agree 100%) Our contract is up on Halloween, but about a week and a half ago Ebby decided that the only way he was going to sleep at night was to be spralled out on top of Autumn's head. Seriously, he'd climb out of his crib and if he didn't hurt himself on the way out he'd climb into her crib and play/lay on her. Needless to say it freaked us out. So, Autumn went into the bathroom (a VERY tight squeeze) and we changed Ebby's bed into a toddler bed. Well, we weren't that comfortable with Autumn in the bathroom and since our contract was almost up we went looking for a new place.

I'm really surprised we found a place so fast but with some help from loving family members everything came together. We started moving last Saturday. It's been a LONG week and both Andrew and I are so tired but we're in our new place and are loving it. Everything made it over without breaking except for our shower head faucet and unfortunately the fish that my brother Micheal gave us a couple of months ago.  (Sorry Mikey) Maybe we'll get some more later but for right now all Andrew and I are going to do is sit back and try to recover from the last week.

The kids are learning

Ebby rezones the front room

So, if you know Ebby you know two things for sure. 1) He LOVES trains. 2) He loves attention. If Andrew or I are anywhere near a computer he HAS to be noticed. Today he enlisted Andrew in combining his two favorite loves. I particularly like the bridge over the computer.

Ebby's Veggies Part 2

So, it was day 12 of veggie watch (see Ebby's Veggies) when Ebby finally decided to try a vegetable. In case you were wondering it was broccoli, with cheese sauce, in the living room. I was SO excited! He did decide that it HAD to be off my plate but I didn't care. He was finally eating. And eat he did. He ate all of my broccoli. It was a great birthday present. Thanks little guy.

Our Friends

Canada

Utah

Aspen Grove

California

Ebby's Birthday

Because blogspot will only upload videos that are less than 100 MB I'm dividing our summer videos into 6 parts. (I told you there were a lot). So, for the next six days I'll one of the videos. Here's the first.

Autumn's a Smart One

Ok, so Autumn might just be the smartest 8 month old in the world. If you thought her balloon skills rocked check this out.

As a side note: I really do plan on posting about our vacation but it's taking a lot longer than I thought. I have over 100 pictures and about 20 videos I really want to share with everyone. Please be patient with me. I promise it'll be worth it.

Ebby's Veggies

So, Ebby had a routine doctor's visit last Friday. It was there that I was told I HAD to make Ebby eat his vegetables. The doctor told me to give Ebby two servings of vegetables and a serving of meat at lunch and dinner. That's it. Veggies and meat. Poor guy. At least he can still have whole wheat cereal for breakfast. Anyway, he said that kids will go as long as a week without really eating and to "hang in there" because he'll get really grumpy and moody until he decides he's hungry enough to eat his vegetables.

I really love our pediatrician but I think he's underestimating our son. It's been two days now of, "Ebby you really need to eat!" and "No, you can't be done yet you need to eat!" and "No Ebby! Don't spit that out!" Well tonight topped all. After dinner Ebby ran up to me in the kitchen and said, "Mommy, please eat." So I let him pick out any vegetable in the fridge. He picked olives. I'm thinking, "Ok, whatever, as long as he eats." And he did! He put two handfuls in his mouth and commenced chewing. Now, I don't know if it's because he was SO hungry or if it's because we've finally taught him not to spit his food out but an hour later he was still chewing - the same two handfuls of olives. It was so gross.

Usually we give him a cup of milk before bed and yep, you guessed it, he was still chewing his olives. We finally made him spit out the olives.

Our son ... THE MOST STUBBORN LITTLE BOY ON THE PLANET.


P.S. I thought about taking a picture but it was just too disgusting. You're welcome.

Autumn and her Balloon

I do plan on posting about our wonderful two month vacation but I shot this today and I HAD to post it first.

Ebby's Such a Helper!

Random

Ever since Autumn was born and Gramme Sharon introduced Ebby to the "Do Your Ears Hang Low" song we've been trying to get him to do the actions we made up with the song. This is as good as it's ever been.

 

Autumn usually wakes up for 'dinner' around four in the afternoon. On this day it was after five and she was still asleep. I guess she found a really comfortable position.

Ebby wasn't interested in the TV until he was 18 months old, so we figured Autumn wouldn't be either. Oh boy, were we wrong.

Oh Poopie

Autumn has a pretty bad rash, so I'm trying to give her some "airing out" time each day. We laid her on a towel to catch any 'accidents'. After cleaning up another one of those accidents I'll just say I'm REALLY glad we use disposable diapers.

Ebby and the Pool

Getting to know the water:

 

Playing in the water (mostly splashing):

It was so hot today ...

So, have you ever had a really bad stuffed up nose and taken a long hot shower and been able to breathe again?
Yes? No?
Well I'll tell you, I had a stuffed up nose and I got that exact same relief when I walked outside today. Gotta love that Texas humidity.

Crawling Already!?!

So as I was doing my chores the other day I noticed that Autumn wasn't where I left her. She was across the room. Could she have crawled over there? Ebby started crawling at six months and Autumn's not even five months yet. So, I put her back and stuck around to video her crawling. This is what really happened.

Pistachio Jell-O Salad

So, I miss being around family and friends - a lot. I miss everyone, but every now and then I'll start to miss one person in particular. When this happens I usually do something or wear something that reminds me of that person.
When I miss my mother, I usually wear some jewelry she gave me or watch a Shakespearean movie. When I miss Tona I put on pajamas, curl up on the couch and watch a "girlie movie" while painting my toenails. Etc.
Well today I'm missing my big sister, Amy.
Let's see, how long ago was it? ... Never mind, I don't want to write down how many years ago this happened. Suffice it to say, Amy was attending BYU and I was still in high school. She stayed over the summer to take some classes and I came up to stay with her for a couple weeks. I remember having a lot of fun and a lot of pistachio jell-o salad. There was always a big bowl of it in the refrigerator. I view that summer as the start of our real friendship. That summer (for me at least) Amy became my friend as well as sister. So, now Amy and pistachio jell-o salad are kinda linked together. Both are incredibly awesome! Today I made a double batch.

Dancing Ebby

Thanks to music makers and our occasional dance party at home Ebby is starting to really enjoy dancing. I love seeing him just let go and I thought ya'll might like it too. Enjoy.

P.S. Gold star to all of you who know the song we're dancing to.

Ebby's First Easter Egg Hunt

A Beautiful Autumn

Ebby had a great spring break in Utah too

On the carousel at the mall.

Little Ebby the Flamenco dancer at the Children's Museum. I couldn't get him to actually dance. Sadly.

We could get him to "drive" the stationary car though.

Ebby was SO happy he got to play in the snow with Daddy at the outlet mall.

Apparently he was really tired too. This was taken not even a minute later.

Andrew and I were really excited to eat at Tucanos and everything was great until Ebby started acting up during dinner. I was so embarrassed and frustrated until mild mannered Grandpa Rulon came over, swooped Ebby up and became Super Grandpa! Thanks. You are my hero, Rulon.

Four generations of wonderful Beesley men! (I love that Ebby HAD to eat his cookie for the shot.)

Autumn with Friends and Family

Grandma Beesley

Grandpa Beesley

Grandma Jessie

Grandpa Bud

Pops

Grandpa Rulon

GG

Mommy, Gramme Sharon and Grandma Beesley

Mommy, Granny and GG

Mommy, Sare (my twin) and Jack (her son)

Jared and Daddy

Crazy and Wonderful

So Fridays are some of my craziest days. Oh let's face it, everyday is a crazy day but Fridays are particularly crazy. There's the usual morning of getting ready, eating and what-not. Then we go to music makers for an hour or so. Then home for laundry and house cleaning (I do token cleaning throughout the week but save the massive cleaning for Fridays.) Then, if I've been particularly lazy during the week I do the grocery shopping.

Well today as I was sweeping the main room floor Ebby decided he wanted to help me. He took some of the laundry, dipped it in the toilet, and then started wiping up the bathroom floor with it. Dirty toilet water all over the floor - SO gross. I took him out of the room and began to sanitize when he ran back in with the broom and headed for the wet floor. Argh.

Of course that was the perfect time to feed Autumn, or so she thought. I must have been really neglecting her because she cried a lot during and after the feeding. I thought maybe it was her diaper so I placed her down in front of me and started to change her diaper. As I was taking off her diaper she reached down and grabbed my index finger. I stopped to look at her and the moment I did she smiled. One of her whole body smiles with a gasp. So cute. The whole day was worth it. All the craziness. All the work and rough days are totally worth it when I can sit back for one moment and see my beautiful children.

Some days I need a couple (a lot) of moments.

Saying Goodbye to the Adult World

In the video of my last post there was a little section about how much Ebby likes watching me from the bar in our kitchen/dining room. I must add that I absolutely love it too. Unfortunately to do this Ebby's either had to balance on the edge of the couch or pull up one of our tall bar stool chairs. This has led to a lot of falls and we have always felt a little hesitant about it. It's probably too dangerous for him to do but it's SO cute when he does.
Well, last night tipped the scales towards the "this is way too dangerous for us to allow" side. I was making dinner after a long day without Andrew. Andrew was calming down an unusually fuzzy Autumn and Ebby was watching me from the bar. Over the sound of the blender and Autumn's whining we heard Ebby's head hit the counter and then hit the floor.
So scary!
He seems to be ok. He has a nasty and deep cut in his mouth. (On his gums between two of his teeth.) But he doesn't have any bumps on his head. Andrew kept checking his eyes (all good) and we had no problems waking him periodically throughout the night. We are so lucky it wasn’t worse.
Like I said before, so scary. I felt so bad about it I put our table and chairs in storage right after dinner. As you can imagine, that made our dining room look really bare. So I decided to move the kid’s toys into the room and create a toy room instead. With Autumn getting older I figured she's going to need to move to her crib and be able to have a nap time without Ebby trying to hug and kiss her all the time. The only bad part is that we don't have a table anymore.
It seems like I'm slowly saying goodbye to having adult things and that the kids are quickly taking control of the house. It's a good thing I love them so much.

Things the Kids Love

Our felt-thingy has arrived! For those of you who may not know, my sister (this is Andrew posting. The blue moon is out) has taken a turn for the crafty, following in Dad's footsteps. She's recently taken to making works of art in felt. I don't know if there's an official name for this craft, the creation of which (alongside sketching, painting, and any other visual art form) seems like some form of sorcery to me. But in a more aesthetically pleasing, less "burn the witch!" kind of way. I believe each of these felt-majigs has a story behind it (Julia is also a gifted writer), as well. I think ours is supposed to be heaven, because there are lots of animals and dessert. Here's a better-because-its-in-Julia's-own-words example of her felt-enhanced storytelling. I'd also like to point out to our vast readership that they are for sale, if you'd like one (and the story that goes with it).

Ebby was ecstatic when we first showed it to him. So naturally capturing that enthusiasm on camera proved more difficult that we'd expected. It was definitely a hit, though, and now decorates his bedroom door.

Hide and Seek

Sometimes, when I'm lucky, when Ebby's SO cute you just have to play with him, and when Andrew's home and not too tired, I get to watch Andrew and Ebby play hide and seek. I know the video clip is a bit long but I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Loves, Kisses and Under the Door

A day of decisions

After 20 minutes of looking I decided Walmart didn't have any shoes that would really fit Ebby. (he has 'the curse of his father's feet')

After 15 more minutes I decided that Walmart also doesn't have any newborn or 0-3 month dresses. None!

After another 15 minutes I decided Walmart had way too many movies I wanted to buy.

After over an hour of shopping I decided I didn't like Walmart today, so I'd go grocery shopping at HEB. (because supposedly everything is better there - HEB's slogan is "Here Everything is Better.")

And things were better. But ...

After again spending over an hour shopping I decided it was past time to check out. That's when the teller's machine decided to be quirky. After everything was run up and my WIC card charged it decided to finalize my order with out me paying. (I was ok with that - the store was not.)

After 20 additional minutes I finally got in my car to go home to my wonderful husband and my 2 month old daughter who was an hour past feeding.

At least Ebby got a free HEB balloon out of it.

Of course that decided to pop on a bush on the way into the house.

Weird

As I was looking through the recent pictures I took of Autumn one seemed really familiar. So, I decided to look through our old pictures of Ebby and this is what I found. Weird, crazy weird.