Sister Moves In

Aunt Christy is now a member of the Beilman household! She is moved into the guest room & even has a home office set up...in the basement.  We are so happy to have her here & I have decided that it is nice to have a second female around to help balance things out in this crazy male-dominated environment. She is a huge help with the boys and around the house.  Plus, we are having fun watching TV & having girl talk in the evenings after Sean falls asleep on the couch.  

Sister & Grampy came bearing gifts from Kansas City.  Thanks for the Easter treasures, Mimi!

Celebratory chocolate cake, of course! Not pictured is our celebratory trip to Black-Eyed Pea for lunch.

Grampy was a bouncing fool on that trampoline.  Good times!

Bye, Grampy!  We'll miss you!

 Sister showing off her new car!

Gwyneth looks like she is pretty well-adjusted.

Goin' to the Chapel...

On New Year's Day, we celebrated Josh and Natalie's wedding. It was a beautiful, simple ceremony with just family and couldn't have been more perfect. We were glad to be there to see them so happy & celebrate their special day. What a great way to start the new year!

The Happy Couple

Congratulations you two! We are so happy for you both and all the wonderful things life has in store for you.

Best friends

Mom and me with the beautiful bride

Josh with Grampy and Sean

Still celebrating!

Sister loves champagne! (Who can blame her?)

Neely is Aunt Natalie's niece and Carter's new BFF. She was so cute and set up this little table for the two of them to sit at during the party.

Maya is Neely's little sister and Davis's new buddy. They even had matching outfits!

Happy Halloween!

This was Carter's first year to Trick-or-Treat and he loved it! He got to be a caterpillar, just like he wanted. Davis was a robot, but people kept thinking he was an alien. We had fun going over to Aunt Natalie's sister's house so that her niece, Neeley, and Carter could collect candy together. It worked out perfectly and Carter had a blast going door-to-door with his new friend. A big thanks to Natalie's family for having us over and welcoming us into your Halloween festivities.

When we got home that night, Grampy answered the door to a big group of Trick-or-Treaters. Carter ran to the door to see the kids, too. He had already changed and loudly told them "Carter had a costume, too! Do you guys like caterpillars?!" It was hilarious. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff. The kids at the door were less-than-impressed and really just wanted to get their candy, but Carter didn't seem to notice. :-)

Davis just wanted to eat the antenna off of Carter's head.

Headed out to our first house!

Carter and Neeley. She was little orphan Annie and her baby sister was Sandy (the dog)--sooo cute!

Party On!

Carter got to re-celebrate his 3rd Birthday at Mimi & Grampy's house. We also celebrated Davis's 1st Birthday a little early, since they won't be with us for Davis's real birthday. Any excuse to eat cake is fine with us! The boys loved their own cakes and of course, more presents! We had a yummy dinner from Smokehouse and enjoyed the time with family.

Carter & his cool "Cars" cake

One big Mizzou family!

Hmmm...what does this cake taste like?

Yummy!! I love it! Thanks, Mimi!

Union Station

Day two in KC was spend at Union Station. They have a very cool Dinosaur exhibit right now that has life-sized animatronic (sp?) Dinos. Carter was a little freaked out by them at first, but once he figured out he could work the buttons to control their sounds and movement, he enjoyed it. After the Dinos, we went upstairs to Science City so the boys could run around and explore. It was a BIG hit!

Grampy, Carter & the T-Rex

(These photos are completely out-of-order.) Carter visited the "Build-A-Dino" shop (run by Build-A-Bear), courtesy of Mimi! He has never gotten to do this before, so it was quite a treat! Carter named his dinosaur "Greeny".

Davis got a baby Dino!

Putting a heart inside...

Fluffing him up with stuffing.

Getting shoved at the water table.

Getting ready for take-off...

Playing in the bus.

Flying the Space Shuttle

Mommy & Carter loving the Dinosaurs.

Mimi & her boys!

Carter running the controls.

Daddy & Carter

Are these real, Mommy?

We all wore Gold & Black for the Mizzou game later that afternoon. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help our Tigers.

Visit from Grampy

Grampy paid us a visit over the weekend on his way to Ft. Collins. The boys (especially Carter) were happy to see him & spend time playing with him, including showing off the fact that they can both ride in this one-seater. Thanks for all the yummy fruits & veggies from your garden, Grampy!

Carter & Grampy (Brother was sleeping.)

And, thanks for bringing all the tools for Sean. I'm sure he will come up with all kinds of new things he needs to make now!

Grampy & Uncle Josh

Uncle Josh & Grampy stopped by for a quick visit on their way to Ft. Collins a couple of weeks ago. We were happy to be able to spend a little time with them before they headed out!

(Carter was in school and missed out on the photo op.)

New clubhouse

This afternoon, Grampy drove Carter and me to pick up a new outdoor clubhouse! Well, it's new to us...I found it on Craig's List and everything worked out great for us to use Grampy's truck to go pick it up. Actually, it has taken me months to find one on CL, be the first to inquire about it (they are a popular item & seem to sell FAST), and have a means to pick it up. Plus, this one had always been kept inside & is in mint condition. It was Carter's lucky day! And baby brother will be able to enjoy this one day, too!

Carter was ready to go even before it was assembled.

Just after we unloaded it off the truck...

The finished product!

The left side is the "clubhouse" with a table & chairs, clock, phone & chalkboard.

There's a cool tunnel to crawl through...

And a slide off the clubhouse.

Thanks, Grampy, for helping us bring my new toy home! We couldn't have done it without you!