Love, Sick

The boys were so excited for Valentine's Day this year; both had parties at school to look forward to and were busy signing all the cards for their classmates.  We even made Valentine's cupcakes to get ready for the big day!  

 Yummy!

 This was taken later that day, just a random pic of the boys. :-)

On the morning of our school parties, I noticed Carter had a raised, dry, pink rash that was spreading all over his body.  After talking to the triage nurse at our Pediatrician's office, she felt it was best if I bring Carter in.  So, we rushed to drop Davis off at school so he could still participate in his class party (which I was supposed to be helping with) and I kept Carter home with me. Davis was disappointed that I wasn't going to be there, but it couldn't be helped.  After Preschool, the three of us headed to Carter's appointment. By that point the rash had spread onto his face.  They diagnosed it as Strep, even though his rapid Strep culture came back negative.  Because the rash was textbook for Strep, they gave us an Rx for antibiotics and off we went.  I had never seen Strep present this way, but both the NP and the doc agreed that's what it was & that it was contagious. Good thing we had a four-day weekend!  Well, that was Thursday & here it is Tuesday...he still has a fever, the rash is improved but now his face is swollen, more so on the right side.  They think he must have a virus on top of Strep so if it's not better by tomorrow we will go back for a follow-up appointment. Poor guy!

 Waiting to see the Nurse Practitioner.  He doesn't look sick, does he?

 One of our neighbors was kind enough to bring Carter's Valentine's home from school after the party.  He was SO excited and looked at each & every one. (Incidentally, I was co-room mom for the Kindergarten party.  Oh well!  I dropped off all the supplies that morning & it sounds like the party was a success.)

 Davis wanted to look at all of his Valentine's again, too!

Later that night, Carter woke up puking all over the place.  Awesome.

 The boys opened their Valentine's gifts from us on Friday morning.  It was a nice distraction from the fevers and puking.  :-)

Thank you so much for the wonderful V-Day cards everyone sent!  We had a lot of fun opening and playing with them all!  We are feeling the love, even if it wasn't the great day we were hoping for.  Next year will be better, right?!  XOXO...The Beilmans

Cancer Sucks

A friend from my childhood, who later became a sorority sister of mine, was recently diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer.  She has three little boys and a husband, so she's got no time for all this cancer nonsense.  Her candid sense of humor and no-nonsense personality are just remarkable and will be such an asset to her in this fight.  She will have 4 1/2 months of Chemo and then a bilateral mastectomy.  

Our sorority has started a fundraiser for Moya and it has been very successful so far.  We have pledge sisters from New York City to Napa, CA and scattered everywhere in between.  They have all been rallying to support our dear friend.  I am also donating 100% of the money I make from Thirty-One sales this month to Moya...it's not much, but I wanted to do something! If you have a moment, please share this link to encourage others to shop for a good cause: https://www.mythirtyone.com/shop/catalog.aspx?eventId=E4210365&from=DIRECTLINK  Thank you so much!!!  I am hoping to raise $200 (at 25% commission, I'm not selling Thirty-One to get rich), so every little bit helps!  You can track my progress towards that goal on the ticker at the top of the blog.  

Life has a funny way of reminding us of all we have to be grateful for and showing us inspiration in the most bittersweet ways.  Please say a quick prayer for this young mom and her sweet family.  I cannot imagine what she must be going through right now.

Love,

Marigny

Taekwondo

We have been thinking of putting the boys into some type of martial arts class for a while now.  Today was our first lesson in Taekwondo and both boys loved it!  I literally had to drag them there & bribe them to go in and show enthusiasm.  Once they got started, it was awesome...  Carter was intrigued by working to earn the different colored belts and Davis liked the kicking and yelling.  It was great to see them get serious and really want to learn.  I hope that they will continue to like it because now we are the proud owners of two tiny white costumes! 

 Hi-Yah! 

(Sorry, I couldn't resist adding my own sound effects.) 

Can't wait to go back!

Fresh Start

I have mentioned many times how January is my least favorite time of year. I've been trying to keep busy by focusing on small projects around the house in an effort to stay away from the Winter blahs.  Here's a recap of what's been going on at the Beilman household:

As frightening as this is, you're about to see our laundry room "before":

 I know.  I really should have edited that to make me look less like a hoarder. Just keepin' it real, people.

Thanks to a little motivation (& some clearance storage containers from Target) here's "after":

It actually makes me kind of want to do laundry. (Update: That feeling went away about three days ago.)

Next up, a much-neglected linen closet, complete with a full box of unused Pull-Ups and swim diapers on the floor which we (Thankfully!!!) haven't needed for months.

  I threw away a bunch of old meds, found a whole bag of stuff to donate and moved the unused diapers over to my neighbor's house.  Win-Win!  

Carter wanted to model the "after":

Finally, we have a sneak peek of our upcoming project & by far my favorite of the three!  Let me back up a little...we are soon going to be a family of FIVE!  No, I'm not pregnant.  Aunt Christy is going to be moving to Colorado in a couple of months & living with us while she gets settled.  We are SO excited to have her out here and hope that she loves this state as much as we do!  With that news, it means the guest room has been bumped to Priority One and will be getting a face lift just in time for her arrival.  Stay tuned for updates as we get this space pulled together.  Here it is now:

Davis helped me pull out some of the new bedding so we can start thinking about paint colors.

He also found a random set of baby rings that he decided would be perfect for Aunt Christy's cat, "Gweniss" (Gwenyth).  Such a thoughtful boy--love him!

Keeping Life Interesting

Let me tell you, raising two boys means there's never a dull moment...

Jedi-fighting before breakfast

*Meet Don Hicklin: Last week in the car, I said something to Davis and he replied: "Davis isn't here anymore.  I'm Don Hicklin."  I dug a little deeper to see what he was talking about.  He told me that Don Hicklin looks just like Davis, they're twins.  I asked him what I should know about Don (I was getting a little worried at this point.) and he told me "Don Hicklin speaks Spanish & he loves trampolines."  I mean, the kid did not skip a beat.  He just launched into these characteristics and as if it really were Don in the car.  Crazy. Then, I stopped to get the mail & when I got back in the car Don was gone and Davis was back.  I asked where Don had left and Davis told me "He ran away because he had to blast off in his spaceship."  When I asked him about Don with Carter in the car later that afternoon, he repeated everything about Don just like he had earlier...I thought maybe he would have forgotten about Don. (Carter was not impressed with Don or his bilingual abilities.)

On Monday, while we were out to lunch, I decided to ask Davis if he had seen Don lately or (horror) if he were at the table with us! Davis immediately replied "No, he's not here.  He hates ice cream and whiffed cream, so he would never come here."  (The boys were having ice cream sundaes after lunch as a treat for good behavior.)  I have to admit, Don kind of creeps me out.  I hope he stays in outer space where he belongs!

*Rocks?
Yesterday after Preschool, Davis was playing with his buddies outside.  I spotted him holding a small green plastic bag and went over to investigate.  He said "Look Mom, I found some cool rocks!" Actually, it was a bag of rock-like doggie poo that fell out of the trash can nearby.  Now, try to wipe that image out of your brain...I'm still working on it.  That was our cue to high-tail it back to the car and bathe with some antibacterial wipes.  We now know to stay away from little green bags.  GROSS!!!!!

Too Cool for Ski School

It was actually beyond "cool", as in freezing with snow falling, but the boys had fun anyway!  Grampy and Sean took Carter & Davis to Loveland on New Year's Day.  The little boys did ski school while the big boys went a little farther up the mountain.  Davis came in a little early because he was cold, but Carter made it all day! *Special thank you to Mimi & Grampy for this wonderful Christmas gift to the boys.  What a fun day!

 Carter in the middle with blue coat and black pants. 

 Carter skiing!

 Carter again.

 Carter in the red coat with a new girl "friend" he met there.

 Davis getting ready to go down (third from left).

 ...and, he's off!

 

Davis learning to "pizza". Just looking at this makes me cold!

 Davis finishing up his run.

 The ski school area. 

Good Times in Georgetown

I'm getting a little behind here...let's go back to December for a moment, shall we?  We had so much fun on the Georgetown Loop Railroad last year that we decided to go again and take Grampy this time! This is probably one of my favorite things to do at Christmas because it really makes you feel like you're in Colorado.  I mean, I know we live here but sometimes we forget how beautiful and amazing our state really is.  

 Getting ready to board!

 Christmas carols, anyone?

 Chugging through the mountains--so festive!

 Grampy and one of Santa's helpers. 

 Checking out the lights with Grampy.

 Carter acting as photographer, then practicing his Selfie skills. 

 This crew is ready for PIZZA!

 I had to post this one because of Sean's infamous ability to fall asleep anywhere. He is taking a little cat nap while the rest of us finish eating dinner.  Gotta love it.

 Now Mimi & I with a Selfie shot.  (Sorry about that.)

The whole gang leaving the Alpine at the end of a great day.

Happy New Year 2014!

How do you celebrate New Year's when you're old & married and have two small children?  Stay home and have a Mexican fiesta, of course!  We invited our friends, the Buyrns, over to help us ring in the New Year! The kids had so much fun with the horns and party hat attire and the adults had fun experimenting with margarita making (some of us were more successful than others).  Mimi & Grampy were here to help us keep the kids in line celebrate!

Our eight-year anniversary!

Partying with Mimi.

Carter with two of his favorite girls! (Davis had a party horn injury and went to bed early...poor guy!)

One nice thing about having kids who can't tell time is that we did a countdown to the London NYE celebration that we found online...it was about 8:45 our time & the kids had no idea.  Love it!  I stayed up the latest of everyone in this house & went to bed around 10:15.  Don't judge.

 On New Year's day Sean & Grampy took the boys to Loveland to ski so mom & I could have a little "girl time" with Debbie.  We went to lunch, shopping and almost saw a movie! (Long story...apparently NY day is a popular time at the movie theaters. You should buy your tickets in advance.)  

Showing our festive side by modeling New Year's hats!  :-)