Cowboy Room

It has taken us nearly 10 months, but we finally have one of the boys' rooms decorated!  (We still have my old saddle and a couple of other things to add, but this is a big improvement over the white walls.)  Davis got a brand new cowboy-themed room!  I have been collecting this decor for several years now and finally have the perfect time/place to bring it all together.  Since the boys shared a room at our old house, this is the first time we've decorated for one of them since we did Carter's nursery when I was pregnant in 2007.

Actually, the only things we bought specifically for this room were: paint (Lowe's) the duvet cover and sham (Land of Nod), duvet (Ikea), curtains and rod (Target) and wall decal (Uppercase Living).  The other decor items came from my mom, Hobby Lobby & Target over the years.  The day bed & trundle were donated to me by my boss (love it!) and the remaining furniture belonged to my grandma when she was little.  It is the same furniture I had in my bedroom growing up & seems to fit perfectly in a little boy's room.  

I love how this room turned out and I know that my grandparents are smiling down on Davis in this room. They would have been so proud of my little cowpoke.  A big THANK YOU goes to Sean, who put all the elbow grease into the room to make it look like this.  Let's just say the tools got a good workout today.  He even had the idea to put the iron stars above the closet doors--it looks great!  Thanks, Honey!  

 Cowboy pillow from Mimi--the inspiration for the room.

 Not sure if the horse shoe is facing the right way...

 Couldn't have asked for a nicer free bed!

the Lone Ranger Christmas ornament, re-purposed  

He approves!

The cowpokes are ready for bed!

Peace, Love & Crabs

I earned myself a two-week break from work after separating the cartilage between a couple of ribs on my left side.  Can you say: painful?!  Anyway, the positive news is that I get to stay home with my family while it heals.  

So--Night #1 of my "stay-cation" was spent having dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.  The boys weren't too sure about going to a new place. (Carter made it very clear that he would rather be at Olive Garden.)  But, after the loud music, dancing waitstaff and sea creature toys, they were sold!  On the way home, Carter told me that "the new place with the giant shark" was "way better" than Olive Garden.  That, my friends, is saying a lot coming from this four-year-old!

 The boys loved dancing & clapping at dinner. 

I love this photo of Sean!  For once, he was the messiest one at the table. :-)  

Breakfast Art

I have been using frosting to make letters on top of the Toaster Strudel at breakfast & the boys love it.  This week, Sean took it to a new level:  Carter asked for a frosting Lightning McQueen and, wouldn't you know, Daddy made it happen.  Davis wanted Mater so Sean did his best, but I still think Lightning is his specialty.  Pretty cool breakfast!

 The artist at work...

Mater!

Fun with Boxes

The boys' new car seats arrived yesterday and the boxes were a big hit! They should start listing the "box fun factor" along with the crash safety ratings on these things--double bonus. 

 Is this safe, Mom?

 Surprise!  It's a Boy-In-a-Box!

Nap time!

Construction Central

We have a house going in right behind our back yard and another one across the street, not to mention five more on our block!  It is a bustle of construction activity over here and the boys are loving all the "mighty machines" in the neighborhood.  Since it was 68 degrees today (yep, you read that right!), we played outside and the boys got out their own construction vehicles.  We also got to see the huge crane truck in action!  

      This rock area is the site of our future deck.  Until then, it serves as an awesome digging area!

                

                                   

Even Macey got in on the fun!

Lego Tower

Check out the cool Lego tower that Carter and Sean built.  Carter looks so proud!

Antibiotics, Anyone?

Yep, everyone at the Beilman household is now on antibiotics and a few other things.  Over the past two weeks we've had two clinic visits and three pediatrician visits.  Sean had a sinus infection, Carter had Strep & a bilateral ear infection, I am on antibiotics to prevent another Psoriasis flare due to Strep exposure, and Davis has such a severe bilateral ear infection that he still has a fever, despite being on Omnicef and taking Ibuprofen.  They said the only thing worse would be if his eardrum(s) ruptured.  Let's hope not!  Oh, and see that teeny tiny bottle on the far right?  That little bottle of eye drops for Davis cost $124--yowza!  (Thankfully, our pediatrician gave me a coupon.)

So, if you see us out and about sneezing, coughing, crusty and looking a little fatigued, I suggest you turn around and get as far away from our germy gang as possible!  Run, don't walk.

This is Cozy!

Davis loves to say "This is tozy (cozy)!" when you cover him up with a blanket or wrap him up after a bath.  So, here's a couple of shots of the boys being "cozy".  Something we could all use on this snowy day in Colorado!

 Snuggled up watching "Thomas" with the new Spider Man blanket from Taylor.

 Davis passed out on Tigger while watching "Winnie the Pooh".  He slept here all afternoon!

You Can Take the Girl Out of the Night Shift...

...but you can't take the Night Shift out of the girl.  

This weekend was my last on nights, something I never thought I would say.  I have worked night shift almost my entire nursing career and have loved it.  However, the lack of sleep was starting to get the best of me and it was time to make a change for my family.  Hopefully, I can now be a better mommy and wife and not feel like a zombie all the time.  Fingers crossed!

We partied all weekend long!  The awesome girls that I work with threw me a little going-away party on Sunday night and then a few of us went to Snooze, the greatest breakfast place ever, after work for one final hurrah.

My BFF & favorite charge nurse, Dez.

The "Top 10 Reasons to Stay on Nights" list that Dez & the other girls made for me.  WARNING: Some OB nursing humor here...read at your own risk.

Snooze did not disappoint!

David, Dez and Cathy kicking off our Mardi Gras party on Saturday!  Cathy is from Louisiana and made us yummy gumbo.  We also had fried catfish, corn bread, fried chicken, and even a king cake!  I'm not going to lie, it was one of our best pot-lucks ever.  

I love you girls & couldn't ask for a better group of coworkers.  It's just not going to be the same rockin' it on Days without you all.  Thanks for such a great send off!  Miss you already...

Happy Valentine's Day!

First things first: Thank you so much to our Grandparents, who sent such nice Valentine cards, gifts and $$...the boys loved ALL of it!  XOXO from Carter & Davis.  :-)

We had a fun Valentine's Day, starting with Carter's school party!  I was a parent-helper which meant Davis got to go, too!  He was thrilled about that.  We supervised the fruit kabob table and the kids all had a blast.  I remember Valentine's parties when I was little as some of my favorite school memories.  Carter came home today with tons of cards and treats, what a lucky guy!

 Ms Glo (in the pink hair), explaining the fruit kabobs right before the party started.

 Davis exploring the centers.  He had a whole conversation with himself on this phone.

 Fruit Kabobs!

 Carter making his Valentine Man--he cut out the heart himself!

 Davis in the "vet" center

 Checking out all of his loot!

 My boys!

 Carter showing off some of his Valentines

 Beautiful flowers from MY Valentine--thanks, honey!  

Davis says "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Friday Funnies

This week has been fun with first Sean, then me, then Carter getting sick.  I really wish God had a rule that prevented moms from ever getting sick.  It is so tough to be the mommy and feel bad enough that you don't feel like you are able to be a good mom when your kids need you.  It really stinks.  Anyway, that's not our Friday Funny.  Due to my decreased energy level, we have been watching a lot of TV lately!  Carter's new favorite show is "Mighty Machines".  He loves to sing & dance to the theme song and would watch it all day long if you let him! (I couldn't get the second video to load, which is the one that shows more singing.)  Even Davis got in on this one:

We have also been doing a lot of arts and crafts, which leads me to our next "Friday Funny".  Davis colored (his version of) whiskers on his face and said "I a kitty, mom!  Meow, Meow."  For whatever reason, this kid loves to color on his face.  Thank goodness for washable markers!  

Hope you are all having a good Friday!  We hope to be all feeling 100% by Monday, as we have a BIG Valentine's Party at school on Tuesday that is not to be missed!

Snow Day Sanity Saver

School was canceled on Friday because of a big snow storm, so we were stuck inside trying to stay entertained.  We did puzzles, watched movies, played with lots of toys and had fun learning with abcmouse.com!  We canceled our cable TV about a month ago and I saw this website advertised on PBS--how could you go wrong with PBS?  Carter loves it!  There are tons of educational activities for ages 2+ and incentives to keep the kids motivated.  This is really the first website for kids that I like & will let Carter play.  (I'm sure there are other good ones out there, but I like that this one has no ads and no pop-ups.)  Perfect for our snow day!

The snowfall at around 11:00am!

Puzzles, puzzles and more puzzles!

If These Walls Could Talk...

Just wanted to share some of the silly and endearing things that the boys have been saying lately.  I always think I am going to write these things down, then time gets away from me and the moment passes with no record of it.

----Carter----
Today, we had a salesman from a local dairy stop by to ask us about switching our delivery service.  The man was very kind (not the pushy salesperson type) and genuine, so I let him come in to give us some "samples".  He let Carter try the ice cold chocolate milk.  Carter took the cup and thanked him, then took it into another room to drink it.  He came back a few minutes later and said "Sir, this chocolate milk is delicious!".  I was so proud!  And our new salesman friend was so touched.  He used good manners, completely unprompted.  Way to go, buddy!

Last night at bedtime, Carter said to me "Mommy, I love you so much.  And I really like it when you give me hugs and kisses.  That makes me so happy."  What a sweet boy we have!

Yesterday at a play date Carter offered Blankie, his most prized possession, to our little friend Reece, who Davis had just hit (that's a whole other story).  I was surprised and very happy to hear that he was trying to comfort our friend with something so dear to his own heart.  Now if he could just teach some compassion to his brother...

--Davis--

We have been experiencing a lot of the "Terrible Twos" lately, aka: "Davis's Dark Side".  When he is in a bad mood, Carter and I tease him that he has the "Grumpy Grouchies".  It is usually followed with him going down for nap or eating a snack, or both!  Anyway, now he plays a game out of it saying "NO!  I not dumpy, YOU dumpy!"  It always makes us laugh, and usually improves his mood, even if it is temporary.

Sometimes Carter will just blurt out a line from a movie, chuckle, and move on.  The other night, he blurted out a line from the movie Toy Story, and Davis ran with it.  Davis kept repeating over and over again "Mrs. Uh-tato (Potato) Head, Mrs. Uh-tato Head, Mrs. Uh-tato Head..."  Then he would stop to laugh and continue to repeat it.  Like 50 more times.  I was having a hard time not cracking up, myself!

Davis loves to say "NO!" throughout the day.  Every day.  Just to exert his independence.  I'll ask him if he wants milk to drink.  NO!  Do you want juice? NO!  Do you want to have water?  NO!  Do you want to play Play-Doh?  NO! (Then, in a quiet voice.) Ummmm, dess (yes).  I love how he answers without really even stopping to hear the question.  What a stinker!!

We have our crazy, hectic, frustrated, "I Can't Take It Anymore!" parenting moments, just like everyone else.  But when Davis surprises me by saying "I dove you, Mom." or Carter wakes me up in the morning with a sweet little boy kiss, it makes me feel like I am the luckiest person in the world.  I love you too, boys.