Coming Soon: Master Bedroom Makeover!

We I am finally getting around to decorating in the master bed/bath room.  This space has been bothering us me since we moved in, mostly because 1) it is a so freaking white and 2) there is no bathroom door, which means the two rooms have to tie in together somehow.  I found the inspiration pillow (grey chevron with coral flower) from Home Goods several months ago, and have been slowly finding things to go in the room since then.  Well, it is finally time to paint!  Enter Sean's role: painter extraordinaire.  He can hopefully start tackling that project this weekend.  I am so excited to see the finished results and will post pics when it all comes together! 

Outnumbered

Megan & I had planned to take the kids to the zoo last week but found out at the last minute that it was a "Free Day" (free days = crazy busy crowds).  Since we both have zoo memberships, we decided to go to Plan B which was: take our picnic lunches to the mall and let the kids run around the mall play area for free.  Megan had to run a quick shopping errand, so I took the four big kids to the outdoor playground.  They all were such good listeners and played very nicely together.  (Well, Davis smashed someone's sandcastle, but other than that we were incident-free.)

 Action shot of all four!

 Building castles (before the smashing started).

He looks so sweet & innocent, doesn't he?

Big Day for the Beilmans

Let me just start off by saying, this may not be interesting to anyone but our family (mostly the grandparents) so I apologize for the length of this post.  Feel free to skip it.  I won't be offended.

We had two highlights today.  #1) We closed on our refinancing for the house, saving us several hundred dollars/month.  I know, I was a little speechless when I found out too.  (Sean did all the work to make this happen.) We were thrilled that the appraisal came back at almost 50K above what we paid for this house 19 months ago.  We knew we had gotten a good deal, but we weren't sure how it would hold up against all the new construction to the West of us.  Our old house didn't appreciate at all over the five years we owned it (As in: we fenced the yard, finished the basement & landscaped the back yard and sold it for exactly what we had paid for it.), so this was a welcome surprise for both of us.  

#2) Sean & I were finally able to meet with Carter's Preschool teachers & director, as well as the Instructional Coach for the elementary school to discuss Carter's test results. (To back up a bit, the Instructional Coach (IC) met with Carter over a period of days before Winter Break to get to know him and observe him in the classroom.  She then gave him a standardized reading and comprehension test to see what his reading level was.)  The meeting was good and we were able to get some insight into Carter's strengths and how we should move forward with him for Kindergarten.

The tests showed that Carter's reading level is that of a child at the END of their 1st Grade school year.  He is able to comprehend 100% of the reading of fiction material at that level, but scored lower when the reading material was non-fiction.  He was able to read it, just not able to comprehend the material as well.  Because of that, they really want us to focus on non-fiction and foreign language reading material.  Carter has already taken an interest in Spanish, so we are excited to expand on that.  We have recently started reading the "Magic Tree House" series with Carter as a means to transition him to higher-level reading as they are simple chapter books with exciting story lines.  We weren't sure if he would like them because there are very few pictures.  However, he has once again surprised us by making connections and visualizing the characters and story in his mind, even with the lack of pictures.  His teachers said this was a very important concept for him to grasp. 

Moving forward, we are having Carter tested for "Early Access" through the school district.  What this means is that they will give Carter a standardized testing of sorts, to see if he scores above the 98th percentile for kids his age.  Basically, you need to be two grade levels ahead in order to qualify for this program.  IF he qualifies, that would enable us to skip Kindergarten and move straight to 1st grade.  This is not something we are interested in.  So, the second option would be for the school district to make an "Advanced Learning Plan" (ALP) for Carter, pulling him out of his regular Kindergarten class and putting him with 2nd graders for reading, or whatever they deem to be appropriate to keep him challenged.  The school explained it much better and emphasized that they treat every student as an individual, so Carter would not be singled out as being "different" from his peers.  This made all the difference for me.  Plus, if we get through Kindergarten and feel like things are not working out, Carter could then be transferred to a different school in the district that specializes in meeting the needs of kids who perform above grade level.  Basically, a gifted school.  Seems strange to use that word, but that's what they are telling us.  

Let me just say, we are SO proud of Carter and the person he is.  We have been handed a big responsibility to make sure our son is getting the education he needs while also keeping his social and emotional needs in mind.  I'm not complaining, just hoping we are up to the challenge and are able to do it well.  He deserves it. We are excited by his love of learning and hope it continues for many years to come. We love you, buddy! 

To celebrate our big day, we went to Olive Garden for dinner! (Where else?)  

Daddy read stories to the boys after we got home & then everyone crashed.  It was quite a day!

In-House Entertainment

I'm not sure if this video is actually funny to anyone besides me, but the boys were cracking me up the other day putting on a "show" with the robot puppets they made.  Davis has been making up voices for inanimate objects almost since he started talking.  It is one of my many favorite things about him and always makes me laugh.  Carter played his natural-born role of being "the boss of Davis" and Davis played his usual role of going with the flow.  A perfect pair, these two.  

Having Fun Staying Warm

January has proven to be VERY cold so far...too cold to play outside most days, so we have been trying to stay busy inside.  One of our favorite indoor activities is craft time!  We made a trip to our local Hobby Lobby and loaded up on some fun new projects.  First up: painting plaster vehicles-what could be better?!

 Davis put so much paint on his that I thought it would never dry. But, we learned a valuable lesson...if you put all the colors together, you get black.  Carter was very bothered by the fact that Davis kept mixing the colors.  To each his own...

 We also bought a bunch of these biodegradable foam pieces that you can stick together.  The boys had fun constructing letters, butterflies and even flowers for Mom!  They honestly can be very sweet sometimes.  I love those moments.  It makes me feel like I'm not totally failing them in the charm department.  

This week, we had our favorite girls over for lunch & the boys had fun entertaining baby Alina.  She is a sweet girl & I could just snuggle her all day.  

 Crafting with the girls!

Megan getting big smiles from Alina.  So precious!

 After a big day of crafting, it was time to chillax on the couch for some Leap Pad game time.  Carter has enjoyed helping Davis figure out the games and Davis loves getting to play on his very own Leap Pad!

Child's Play

Today was the last day of our school break, so we decided to make the most of it & spent the morning at the Children's Museum.  The boys loved exploring the new Kinetics area.  Next time, we'll have to take Sean--this is right up his alley!

 Turning the knobs and wheels to get the plastic balls into the cage overhead.  They then dumped into a large plastic tub that poured balls over the kids every few minutes.  That never gets old!

 The bubbles are always a hit!  I loved that the kids all wore safety goggles, so as not to get soap in their eyes.  The boys looked like mini-engineers.  Adorable.

 Surrounded by four bubble walls.  Cool!

 Just doing a little shopping & pizza-making.  Who's hungry?

 We ended our day fighting fires and saving the day.  (PS: Doesn't that dog look real?!)

 Fire fighters in action!

Looks like a future hero to me!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2013 to all of our family and friends!!!  May this year bring us continued good health, happiness and fun times with all of you!  Hope you enjoy the goofy hat photos from NYE. *Davis was napping and missed out!