Not Even a Thief

We just got back from our fun little get-away with our friends! We had a blast and our six children were beautifully behaved and had a ball. They too have two big boys and a little girl, so it works perfectly for playtime.

The kids swam, rode the slides, and just enjoyed burning off some energy in that water park. We left our town during a snow storm to get there and the Smoky Mountains in Pigeon Forge were gorgeous with all the snow. It was magical to be swimming in a warm waterpark while snow flakes fell outside. We even snuck outside in the hot tub and caught snow flakes on our tongues while staying toasty warm in the hot tub. Seriously fun times were had by all.

Then, the unimagineable thing happened. I so wish that I had the pictures that I took from our fun overnighter, but unfortunately some pitiful soul saw how much I was enjoying my Nikon nice camera and decided to swipe it. I know as christians we are not suppose to love our stuff, but I LOVED that camera. Mike bought it for me about five years ago and I used that thing all the time. I am devastated. I still have a huge lump in my throat thinking about it and have cried buckets over it. The security cameras showed that this woman dug through my bag where I had hidden it and then walked out with it. I could still bawl thinking about it.

So, Tonya took some great pictures with her camera, so I will eventually get to share some pictures of our time away in the magical, snowy mountains of Pigeon Forge but for now just trust me that even a pitiful, awful thief could not damper our time together. Family friendships are precious and make fun family time even better.

Tomorrow Mike returns to work and the kids are still off for the rest of the week. We need to catch up around the house but we still have fun plans for the rest of the week and upcoming New Years Eve. I just need to borrow my Mom's camera so I can keep on taking pictures and blogging:) I will not let even a desperate and pitiful thief ruin my time with my family.

Christmas 2010

What a wonderful magical Christmas we have had this year. Christmas with three kids is certainly an exhausting thing, but I love every minute of the craziness!

Christmas Eve the kids spread out the reindeer food on the snow!

Christmas Eve we started out at my Mom's house for a family lunch, games, presents, and fun. There are a total of five grandchildren-four boys and then little Hope. It is loud, wild, and fun!!

Thankfully because of Xbox they were able to all play together for a bit while we cleaned up the kitchen. Hope is so shy, but she really loves Hunter.

FOUR generations of Beamer women. This picture means a lot to me and I am so thankful that we finally took the time to take it. Pictures like this are truly priceless!

Then, we headed to my Uncle George's house for an even bigger extended family gathering for Christmas eve. Here is David with his new best friend, Abram. Abram plays baseball for RU. I have been going to George's house since I was Hope's age for our annual family gathering of more good food, a short children's program, family worship time, and then we play a wild game of dirty bingo. Fun times!

Then we come home and get ready for Santa! As you can see, Santa was indeed good to my three babes this year:)

Hope got a little vanity set, and here is David fixing her hair! Ha! I love it!

Christmas Day was awesome because we actually had a WHITE Christmas! It snowed all day Christmas day, but my parents were still able to come and see what Santa brought the kids. My Mom and Hope snuggled for an afternoon nap:)

After Hope's nap we opened Oma's gifts, and Hope was so tickled with her new tea set!

Our White Christmas:)

Then we opened gifts from Daniel and Pam and here is Hope modeling her new monogrammed shirt with matching hairbow from Shreveport! So cute:) There is also a pink and green one:)

A christmas eve shot of my boys. This picture melts my heart.

A rare picture of me with my three babes:) I had a wonderful Christmas with my three children-ages 9, 6, and 1. I pray that despite the family events, presents, and fun that they will always remember that it is all about Jesus in that manger:) I am so thankful for the blessings of this season and I pray that 2011 will be wonderful!:)

Happy Birthday Jesus

After the craziness of the last few days running christmas errands, it was so nice to head to church tonight for a Birthday party for Jesus!

Obviously these guys are having fun-I would love to know what is so funny!

Mike helping Hope get to her pizza and cheese puffs.

Ginger read the Christmas story to the children and they got to take a copy of the book home. Clearly David had already enjoyed his cupcake because it is all over his face.

Kelsey listening very hard to the story:) She is so grown up looking in this picture.

A little craft action!

We went into the sanctuary to sing christmas carols and David insisted on posing in front of all the poinsettias!

Jonathan and Doug posing for a picture! I think Jonathan was expecting Doug to pick him up! Ha!

The party wore these snuggle bunnies out! They are snuggling on the couch watching football.

It was so fun to get together with church friends tonight and remember why we are celebrating this week. The christmas story from the bible really blows me away when I stop and think about it. How young and trusting Mary was when she learned that she was chosen to carry the Savior of the World. It also stresses me that they had to leave their home due to the census so close to her due date:) We had a great night with great friends celebrating the true reason for the season:)

My Shadow

This Christmas I have been super busy around the house baking, cleaning, wrapping, and I have had a little shadow beside me every step of the way.

Hope loves to be wherever Mommy is! Here she is licking the beaters after we made some Neiman Marcus brownies.

She even is obsessed with my oven mitts!

Are they done yet?

It is so baffling to me how different little girls are than boys. The boys will get in the kitchen and help me do fun baking, but they have no interest in shadowing me around the house like Hope does.

I so enjoy my little shadow under my feet:) She helps me with laundry, cleaning up toys, and she loves to help me cook. My shadow definitely slows me down, but I am going to treasure these moments together because I know sometime very soon she may not be as interested in being Mommy's little helper.

Mike and I have talked so much lately about what Hope will need from us to be a strong, confident, and kind soul. We can already tell that she is going to be much more senitive than the boys but maybe much more of a firecracker!

The other day I was listening to our country station for some reason, and this old song came on the radio and I just cried. When this song came out years ago I never dreamed that we would have a daughter:) I pray that in Hope's eyes I will always be a hero:) Enjoy this oldie but goodie song!

Holy Ice Storm!

Thankfully we have power now but our county still looks like a war zone from the recent ice storm.

Trees down in our yard...

limbs down everywhere!

Despite the agony it caused with bad roads and no power, the ice was beautiful in the trees.

I had fun walking outside and getting these shots!

The ice is still lingering, but our roads are clear now and power has finally been restored to most of our county. The kids were gone during the storm but Mike and I stayed here and roughed it! Ha:)

When it warms up Mike has already warned me that we have lots of work to do outside to clear up the mess.

Gorgeous!

I think I would rather stay inside and enjoy the festive decorations and wonderful candles burning on the mantle than clean up that mess! I think Mike is just excited at the thought of pullin out his chain saw!!

We are officially on Christmas break now-the last two weeks that we have been out due to weather were just warm-ups for the real thing! The kids are so excited that Mike will be home with us this week and we really have nothing major on the agenda!!! Precious family unstructured time is such a blessing.

The kids want to see Yogi Bear at the movies and we have one more run to the mall to finish off our Christmas list. Kyle has a few AAU practices and scrimmages but other than that we are just going to be together and enjoy the week. Enjoy this week with your family and lets all try to remember that it is all about the babe in the manger who came to save us all from our sins! There is no gift out there in a mall or superstore that can ever top that.

Winter has definitely hit us very hard. Wednesday night ice and snow hit our county and we have been without power since Thursday morning. Luckily the kids are happy and warm with my parents in Radford. We are so blessed that they are happy and well taken care of there. I keep asking Mom if they miss us and she kindly says no.

Mike and I have been surviving. In some ways it is frustrating and annoying to be without power because I could get so much done without our sweet babes underfoot. I would love to run the vaccuum all over the house and do a good pre-Christmas cleaning on the house. I would love to cook and get everything ready for Christmas during this time but that cannot happen without power.

Mike and I went out to dinner last night and then we came home and snuggled on the couch and read with our flashlights. I miss my kids and I miss electricity, but it has been fun to be "away" at home. Our lives stay so busy and hectic that when life comes to a sudden halt due to weather it is kind of a gift. I will definitely celebrate when the lights come back on but I will always remember these few days that we have "roughed" it together in our cold house.

Mike drove me to the gym this morning because our roads are still a mess. I got a good workout in and then a hot shower! We are praying that the electricity comes back on soon so we can get the kids, but in the meantime I am enjoying Beverly Lewis' lastest book via flashlight:)

Our Angel

Last Night we dug out from the snow to attend the children's play at church. David was an angel and actually had a part! He had to escort Mary at one point and he nailed it! The trouble and silliness came during the down time waiting on his part:)

I could not stop smiling and giggling at our "angel without a halo" He refused to wear the halo which was fine with the director of the program:) I am so thankful for the wonderful people that work with the children at church.

The funny part of the story (or maybe not so funny) is that all the angels were suppose to sit on a bench right in front of the communion table. Well, dear ole Dave did not want to sit with the other angels and share his bench, so he had a chair with his name on it.

His sweet friend, Lakken was in charge of the star and at one point when the star was NOT suppose to be raised, David tried to "help" her and raise it. Thankfully Ashley was on the front row and redirected him. :)

Instead of singing Joy to the World with the other angels, he decided to turn around and make sure all the angels were singing:)

He had a blast doing the play but I was very nervous sitting there watching it. He waved to us and did his silly reindeer ears, but other than that he did his part well and he had fun with his church friends. He is just so silly. During the finale, all the children were suppose to stand up and sing the final song. Well, the bigger kids were in front of David and he could not be seen. He moved from his spot so that we could see him.

I am so thankful for opportunities like this for David to shine. Kyle chose not to participate this year and that is fine with us. David definitely loves being in the spotlight and he loves music-maybe we should take him to Nashville! Ha:)

The kids are at my parents today so I can get Christmas together. I have had kids home for vitually two weeks with all this crazy snow, so I have had a hard time shopping and getting Christmas together. Last night Mike and I attempted to put together one of Hope's toys-we still have work on it tonight.

I have really tried to simplify Christmas this year and let it be FUN! I feel that so far we have had way more fun memories than stressful ones. I did very little decorating this year since we are leaving the day after Christmas for a little getaway with some friends. Last night's program at church was such a wonderful way to stop and just enjoy a reminder about the TRUE meaning of Christmas-that sweet babe lying in a manger:)

MORE snow days

The winter storm is STILL lingering so we are enjoying an extended Christmas break around here!

Forts have been built

Basketball games have been played inside

Yesterday we braved the cold and snow to head out to the library and McDonalds! Hope was so proud of her little tiny snow boots and her first ever ponytail!

I finished making the goodie baskets for the awesome ladies that work in Mike's office.

Sunday school inspired Kyle to try to make this peppermint bark that they enjoyed at church on Sunday. He opened all these candy canes,

Melted some white chocolate candy coating...

Poured the broken candy cane pieces into the melted chocolate...

and spread it out in a pan to cool. It is really the first thing he has ever been interested in cooking all by himself and he did it! It is pretty yummy stuff! He knows that I have shared recipes on the blog in the past and he insisted that I share this one!

On a sad note, our sweet girl is super sick today. The boys are being so quiet and sweet to her. She woke up around 4 and has thrown up twice. I may take her into the doctor later if she does not feel better after this big nap. Bless her little heart:)

I hope and pray that she feels better this afternoon. David has his debut as an angel tonight at the church Christmas play!! I was trying to practice some of his songs with him this morning and he is insisting that as the angel he is suppose to sing "Big Green Tractor" instead of Joy to the World. This could quite possibly be a very interesting spin on the Christmas story tonight at church! I will hopefully post pictures and video of the production!

Silent Night

Silent Night has always been one of my favorite Christmas carols and this picture brings that song to mind. Somehow amongst the craziness of having her brothers home for a snow day Hope fell asleep in the floor playing. Of course I scooted her up under the tree and grabbed my camera.

Snow Day #4

Sunday night we were hit with yet another winter storm. This one has been pretty brutal. It started Sunday night after Mike got home from basketball and I went to my church circle Christmas party.

Mike and the kids sat on the couch and watched the snow fall-it was really unbelievable how much snow came down in such a short time.

Of course the kids have been out of school today.

Can you guess what mischief my little girl got into today whileI was unloading the dishwasher??

Cheeeeese with MY lipstick all over her sweet little face. Seriously this girl has a thing for my makeup which is really bizarre to me. I am the kind of person that puts my makeup on first thing in the morning and rarely thinks about it again. I cannot keep this girl out of my cosmetic bag.

While I dealt with Hope, David worked very hard on his magna doodle and wrote out all of our names with NO HELP! WE were so excited for him!

While Hope already was messy from her lipstick episode I then gave her spaghetti for lunch with a cupcake! Might as well get all the messy stuff over with at once!

Here is a view from our front porch. Mike took the Pilot today because the roads were so bad for him to get to work. The kids are definitely out again tomorrow from school.

After I cleaned this girl up from her spaghetti, lipstick, and cupcake she is all smiles! On days like today I just keep her in her footie jammies so her feet will stay warm. She is terrible about keeping socks and shoes on right now:)

Tonight the weather forecasters are saying another 3-7 inches. Oh dear-there goes our spring break I guess, but we are definitely enjoying an early Christmas break around here. Tonight when Mike comes home I am doing some baking for the wonderful ladies at his work. I love this time of year:)

Hope has now learned how to climb up in the chair in front of the computer and she tries with everything she has to find Itunes on the computer and play music. She knew she was in trouble when I found her like this so she turned on the charm and said "cheeeese!" God bless her:)
She is such a funny little girl. Now when you say "I love you" she replies back "I love me!" Gotta love a girl with confidence:)