2011 New Years Resolutions...How'd we do?

It has been a full year since we started some new resolutions for 2011. Let's review the old resolutions and see how we did.

Resolution #1: Visit someplace new with the children. (We have a family goal of visiting all 50 states together.) This one we did great! We visited Disney World twice in 2011 (in May it was our first time...which made it our someplace new). We also knocked Ohio off of our state list by going to the Dayton Air Force Museum with John. Job well done!

Resolution #2: Continue to work on getting out of debt. (I can't wait to get this house paid off!) While we still owe on our house, we did make a good effort in paying more of it off than our regular monthly payment. Resolution success!

Resolution #3: Save xxxx amount of money in savings. We had a set amount of money that we were hoping to save and we were able to save it. Good Job saving your pennies Beeson Family.

Resolution #4: Lose 15 pounds. (Ok, so this is really for me. I figure it took me 4 years to gain the baby weight so I will take 2 years to take it off.) This one was a personal goal of mine and I succeeded (barely!). I still have a ways to go to get back to where I was when we started having kids but I am on my way!

Resolution #5: Invite more people over for supper. We half-way completed this one. We started off having more people over for supper but we ended up just inviting the same two people over so I don't know if that really counts. Also, we started off the year great and then gradually tapered off.

Resolution #6: Workout at least 3 times a week. While we didn't get to do 3 times a week every week (illness and schedules have a lot to do with that) but we did definitely increase our workout routine and joined a gym and some classes which have made a huge difference!

Resolution #7: Go out on date night at least once a month. Since we lost our babysitter in the fall to college, we definitely had a hard time keeping this one. Too bad more family doesn't live near by because we really need some help sometimes. We were able though to squeeze in an average of one date night a month and probably did more than that if we counted it out. Since we didn't have any dates from Sept. to mid Dec., I made two dates last week and another one for next week. Can't wait!

Resolution #8: Do not get a speeding ticket. ( I have had this resolution for 6 years and so far it has kept me at the speed limit.) Complete success for me! Not necessarily for Jim but this resolution was really mine anyway.

So overall, I think we did a pretty good job of keeping our resolutions. At lunch yesterday we started to discuss our new resolutions and I can't wait to post them. It seems when I write them down, I am held more accountable for our decisions. Happy New Year everyone!!

Forgetting Fall

I think that perhaps I am the worst at losing track of time. I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted anything AGAIN! Sorry everyone! I know that most of it has to do with the fact that I like to include pictures but I usually only get around to putting pictures on my computer anymore to about 3 times a year. Having three little ones under the age of four might have something to do with that! So before I catch everyone up on our Disney Vacation, I will put a few pictures up of our Fall.

This is perhaps one of my favorite pictures that I took of Jacob. Adorable!

When I picked this picture, I didn't realize Sophia's eyes were closed and that James was making a goofy face but anyway. Sorry kids.

Up close and personal with the tigers at the zoo.

Here we are at Halloween. Sophia and I were Fortune Tellers. James was Woody. Jacob was Spiderbaby. Jim was Batman.

So this Fall (in quick review), we went to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch, visited the zoo, and went to the Children's Museum and Conner Prairie a few times. Jim went on a guys house boating trip. I had an emergency appendectomy. Jim turned 55. I started teaching Sunday School at church (4 year olds!). We celebrated Mom Beeson's 90th Birthday. David Beeson got married. We had a great time Trick or Treating. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house again. James played football. Sophia did cheerleading. Jacob continues Gymboree. Sophia and James continue swim. Sophia does tap/ballet. James completed a basketball clinic.

That catches us up quickly to December...which will be included in the next post!

Quick Summer Recap

So I really don't know where the summer went to and now it is fall. Where has the time gone? Maybe running after my three little ones has something to do with it. We were so busy this summer we didn't even take time to take a vacation! Crazy, right?!

Sports activities filled the summer. We spent a lot of time playing tennis. Sophia took lessons twice a week, I took a lesson once a week, and Jim and I took a private lesson once a week. It was so much fun! James still did soccer with Coach Andrew. James and Jacob had Gymboree class once a week. Sophia and James finished the t-ball season. Sophia had ballet once a week. Sophia and James continued to take swim lessons once a week. In addition, the kids did Vacation Bible School. Thank goodness we had Kara with us again this summer. She came twice a week and she has really become a part of our family. We all love her so much!

We had a few medical procedures done this summer. Jacob had tubes put in and his communication is starting to improve now that he can actually hear. Sophia was on her 9th ear infection of the year but the otolaryngologist said she didn't need them yet and so far she hasn't had another infection (yay!). I had a colonoscopy done. The polyps found were non-cancerous so again - yippee!

We also got in the habit of going to the weekly Fishers Farmers Market. We LOVE the Farmer's Market. The got to know some of the patrons and we looked forward to seeing them every week. There was even one booth that looked forward to Sophia visiting them every week. Very nice people!

We did take three days out to visit Grandma and Grandpa Tempel. It is getting slightly easier to go there now that the kids are getting older. We also took a day trip to Dayton, OH to the Airforce Museum. John met us there and we had a great day. Did you know Apollo 15 is there? It was very cool.

Financially, this summer was expensive. Every appliance in our kitchen has broke since March. So now we have a new refridgerator, microwave oven, warming drawer, double oven, induction cooktop, and dishwasher. I can't believe they all broke within 5 months of each other! Before most of the appliances broke, we had signed a contract to redo the deck. We painted it a different color and then replaced all of the wooden spindles with wrought iron spindles and then put black caps on all of the posts. The results are great! The deck looks fantastic.

As far as work goes, I have picked up a new client for speech therapy which I am excited about. It has been almost 2 1/2 years since I have worked as a pathologist. I have also started a business called Lolly's Cake Pops. It's like cake balls on a stick. So far the reviews are spectacular! I am just so happy people like them. Jim has used the ER as my testing ground for new flavors and my neighbors have helped get the business going. Jim's work has been crazy busy. They had to let someone go and therefore have had to pick up extra shifts. In addition, the ER has been packed every shift. Jim is looking more and more forward to retiring. I am looking forward to that too!! Let's hope he can retire at 62.

Well that is our summer in brief. Hopefully I will be better at posting on here. Part of my delay is that I like to add pictures but I didn't download any of my summer pictures until yesterday. I need to do better at that too!

Best Laugh Ever!!

I know it has been a long time since I have posted anything and at some point I will update everyone on our summer. In the meantime, I have some video of Jacob laughing. He has the best laugh ever!! The first is the first time he could hear things after his tubes were placed. The next video is when Sophia was making Jacob laugh really loud. I have never posted a video before so I hope this works. Enjoy!

Last Day of School

The kids are now out of school. Today Jim and I went to their classes and had class picnics with them. It was fun. I was glad that it was relaxed and everyone could visit and play with each other. There were also lots of popsicles and cupcakes to go around! Class awards were presented. James' teacher cried, which made all of the other mothers cry as well. His whole class got an award for accomplishing the 2's Preschool. I got a class made award for being Room Mom. In Sophia's class, everyone got awards as well but for specific accomplishments. Sophia got the Math Award. I was so proud of her! James also took the last day of school to have NO potty accidents. It seems that it just took turning 3 for him to realized that he is a big boy and that he can just go to the potty now. SOOO proud of him and THANKFUL for no more diapers for James! Already 3 is fitting him better than 2 - Praise the Lord!

Anyway, now it is official summer break and we have lots of activities planned. Sophia is taking tennis, swim, and ballet. James is taking a summer school class at Gymboree, swim, and soccer. Jacob is taking Gymboree. I am taking a group tennis class and then Jim and I are taking a weekly private tennis lesson. In addition, we are planning a trip to Holiday World, Chicago, and Grandma's. There is also Vacation Bible School squeezed in there. WOW! This summer is going to be fun!

James' Birthday

Here are some pictures of James' birthday. I can't believe that he is 3!!! It is funny how things change when you are 3. For instance, now that James is 3, he is not afraid to walk up the stairs by himself. He is also much much more accurate about going to the potty and not having any accidents. I have also noticed that his articulation is worse. This is partially due to the fact that he is saying much more now. Stories are being told, demands are being made with a nicer tone, and wrestling is desired...no matter how big or small. Ahhh, life is so much bigger and better once you are three.

This last picture was not actually taken on his birthday (notice the pink bathtub...it must be Grandma's!!). I just couldn't resist that sweet cute face!

First Trip to Disney!

Jim and I finally decided to take the kids to Disney. One of the reasons why we went while they were still young was that James and Jacob were free. They even ate for free. I like things that are free so we scheduled the trip and went. Plus, I really needed to get out of Indiana for a while and have some sunshine! We had a FANTASTIC time! We even booked another trip for Disney before we left to come home. The wonderful thing is that everyone is used to children being around and therefore were more understanding than say a vacation to DC or a quiet resort in SC.

Airplane ride to Disney. Other than a fight over who got the window seat, the flight was smooth. Jacob had his own seat too and he did fantastic. Thank goodness for Ipod touches and headphones!

This is a view of our hotel from Magic Kingdom. It was a nice hotel with a beach and two pools. There were movies on the lawn every evening. It was also on the Monorail so we were at Magic Kingdom is about 2 minutes. When we first got to our hotel, Sophia got hurt on the carriage they had out front. It was a close call but she was okay. For not causing a big fuss about it, Disney sent us a huge fruit, cheese and cracker basket. It was very nice and very good. We ate on it the whole week. The other great thing about our hotel was that we had a theme park view which meant that we could see Cinderella's castle from our hotel room balcony. Jim and I sat on the balcony every evening and watched the fireworks. The room was also on the lake so it was very quiet and every evening we got a front row seat to the electric boat parade show. It was nice for Jim and I because the kids could still go to bed early like normal and we could still be entertained.

James had been wanting to meet Buzz Lightyear and had been talking about meeting him for weeks. He finally got to 'meet' him (this is as close as you could get). Look at his smile. Total Happiness!!

At our hotel we had dining with Cinderella and the rest of the characters from Cinderella. Sophia was VERY excited to meet Cinderella. I liked meeting Belle only because her dress was GORGEOUS!! I want a dress like she had!

After a day at Magic Kingdom, we spent a day at the hotel resting, playing on the beach, swimming, and having more fun. The breakfast at the hotel was with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Alice, and the Mad Hatter. Jacob loved Pooh and Tigger. So Cute!! The next day we went to Animal Kingdom. This was Jim's favorite place. The animal safari was super cool. I would definitely recommend it to anyone. I actually felt like I was on a safari. There were no fences between you and the animals! I love hippos and got to see some hippos, which I really liked. I wish every zoo in America was like Animal Kingdom (minus the rides). I love how they make Asia look like Asia and then all the Asian animals are there. They did that throughout the park. It was great!

HIPPOS!!!!

Gorilla

We got to see Nemo the Musical. It was very good. We were in the second row. All the kids loved it.

The day after Animal Kingdom we had another day of relaxation. It happened to be Mother's Day too. The kids and Jim made me a card out of the hotel stationery. The fact that I didn't have to cook or clean up for the whole day made it all worthwhile. Below is a picture of the character brunch we had at the Contemporary Hotel. We got to see lots of characters and go lots of signatures. It was a great time by all!!

Sophia's Birthday

I am sorry I have not taken the time to blog lately but we have been very busy in the Beeson Household! First of all, in February my baby girl turned 4!! I can't believe it!! This year she asked for Barbie's and Bitty Babies which was a big change from what she asked for last year...a Mini Cooper! Although, after her birthday she did say she wanted a car like Marc's. That would be a Honda S2000. I think my girl has good taste!! Anyway, we had Sophia's birthday at another bounce place but this time we had our own room for the party. It made the party a lot nicer. Here are some pictures.

Sophia's Birthday cake that she designed.

At Sophia's yearly doctor's visit we found that she is 42 inches tall and weighs 42 pounds. I think it is funny that she weighs the same in pounds as she is tall in inches. She could be a square. ( At what point do you stop reporting weight? Can you imagine if I posted mine and Jim's weight every time I reported that we went to the doctor!? ) Sophia is constantly amazing us with all of her interesting questions. She wants to know everything. She continues to be most interested in anything medical and loves school. In school, she is the child that the teacher puts in charge when the teacher is not going to be there. She continues to be active in swim, ballet, art class, and Gymboree Sports class. This spring she is also going to try t-ball and tennis.

James is also staying busy. In addition to school, he is in soccer, swim, and Gymboree class. He is going to play t-ball with Sophia in May. He is really doing well in school and is the child that is everyone's friend. His teachers make all over him every time they see him. He is quite the charmer. Back in August when school started, it only took two weeks before he knew everyone's name. Not bad for a two year old. James recently started to ride a bike and it didn't take long before he learned that he can go fast. He needs to learn how to stop at the end of the driveway though! He is Mommy's little helper but if I don't give him enough attention in a day or two, he definitely lets me know (can we say terrible two's!)

This is a very quick video of James on his bike for the first time.

Jacob is doing awesome. He turned 9 months old earlier in March. He is almost 25 pounds of LOVE! He is so cute! He has mastered crawling and is now getting into everything. Unfortunately he is very interested in electrical sockets and is always pulling the CO2 detectors out of the walls in the bedrooms. At the beginning of Feb. he started clapping (see video) and just two weeks ago he started to cruise around on furniture. He is also amazingly strong. Thankfully he is easy going and handles going to all of the older kids activities well...as long as he gets his naps in! I don't really know if he has any favorite foods right now but I do know that he does not like cottage cheese. Surprisingly he loves french fries and ice cream. :)

Jacob became a bubble magnet at Gymboree. Bubbles were ALL OVER his body!

Finally here is a picture of all three kids playing together on the playset.

Jim and I stay busy keeping up with the kids. Jim's work has gotten even busier so when he comes home from work he is really tired! Jim stayed home and took care of the kids while I went on a much needed girl's trip. Mom came to help out (Thanks Mom) and everything at home went smoothly while I was away. I even came home to a clean house with laundry done. For those of you who don't know, I have an awesome husband! My girl's trip this year was for Leann's 40th Birthday. We took a cruise through the Caribbean. Other than being able to sleep in and have meals at a leisurely pace (and have adult beverages!), the highlight was swimming with dolphins. It was SO much fun! The weather was great the whole trip and I was happy to come home to be with my family. Luckily I had international phone and texting so I talked/texted to Jim about 10-15 times a day. It was like being at home but without any responsibility! I would add a picture here of the trip but I don't have them uploaded yet. Maybe next time!

Disney on Ice

Jim and I took Sophia and James to Disney on Ice this year. I took Sophia last year to the Princess's show and this year it was Toy Story. I LOVED IT! The show this year was even better than last year. We had 11th row seats and saw all the action. Barbie and Ken were hilarious and I loved all the characters. Sophia wanted to meet Jessie. When she saw Jessie come out she started yelling, "Jessie! Jessie, Bullseye!" How cute is that! Both James and Sophia went dressed as Buzz Lightyear and Jessie. They got a lot of attention. Above are some of the pictures I took with my iPhone. The kids enjoyed Disney on Ice as much as I did and it was Jim's first time too.

The only down fall we had with Disney on Ice was that the kids were sick. James got sick last Saturday (day 6 of illness by the time Disney on Ice came) and Sophia got sick on Tuesday. We all had been looking forward to Disney on Ice for so long that we decided to give them Tylenol before we left, take ibuprofen with us as well as ear numbing drops. It worked out fine because we carried the kids in, they sat on our laps or in their chairs the whole time, and then we carried them back out to the car. They fell asleep on the way home and we put them in bed. That all worked out great but this virus is kicking our butts!! Saturday James was so sick he took 3 naps (he usually takes zero naps), had only one wet diaper all day, and wanted me to hold him the whole day. This was tricky because Jim was working and I still had to take care of Jacob and Sophia. James' temp was 103.8 most of the day. Poor guy! Today was Sophia's worse day with a fever of 103.1. They both have had fevers ever since they got sick and they are lethargic and are barely eating. It is really pathetic. Now Jacob is starting to get sick and with his laryngomalagia, he sounds like he has been smoking 3 packs of cigarette a day. Actually Jim and I have been joking that we think our house sounds like a TB quarantine! Below is a picture of Sophia this morning.

New Years Resolution

As most people, I have come up with some New Year's Resolutions. The only thing is that I have made them for the entire family. Some are more for Jim and I but they will impact the entire family. I wrote some of them down and the others I was keeping in my head, except that I keep forgetting the ones I was keeping in my head :) So, I am writing them down. It will be interesting to look back at these in a year and see how we did!

Ok...so here we go!

Resolution #1: Visit someplace new with the children. (We have a family goal of visiting all 50 states together.)

Resolution #2: Continue to work on getting out of debt. (I can't wait to get this house paid off!)

Resolution #3: Save xxxx amount of money in savings.

Resolution #4: Lose 15 pounds. (Ok, so this is really for me. I figure it took me 4 years to gain the baby weight so I will take 2 years to take it off.)

Resolution #5: Invite more people over for supper.

Resolution #6: Workout at least 3 times a week.

Resolution #7: Go out on date night at least once a month.

Resolution #8: Do not get a speeding ticket. ( I have had this resolution for 6 years and so far it has kept me at the speed limit.)