Tyler's Birthday

Tyler's much anticipated 3rd birthday arrived and it was so fun. Brian made him a really cute No. 3 cake with his favorite Octonauts on top and all of his Beus cousins came for a party. He loved being the center of attention and even showed off the costumes Grandma & Grandpa gave him. Tyler is such a fun little boy. He is the life of the party and always makes us laugh. Some cute things he is doing right now - 

plays his air guitar

activates "cheetah power" to run and kiss dad goodbye

tells me I'm "his girl" and that he's going to marry me

loves his baby brother A LOT

wants to say every prayer

is conveniently hungry for bread and milk right before bed

and one not so cute thing - he is still an extremely pick eater

8 months

A few things about William

- he is crawling and standing up

- wants to eat what everyone else is eating

- drinks a TON of water

- wants to be where the action is

- he can clap

- loves his big brothers

- he unloaded his first shelf in the kitchen

- has two bottom teeth

- has lots of nick names including, willy bo billy, willy wonka, william billiam skilliam, etc. you get the point

- he's sooooooo heavy

- he's a big ball of squishyness and we love his so much

california

We took a quick trip to California to visit Grandma Shirley last weekend. We spent the whole first day in the airport because another lunatic decided to pull out a gun at LAX. We passed the time taking the tram back and forth at the Las Vegas airport, playing on the iPad and drinking smoothies. My boys are so resilient and awesome. I love them. After we finally made it to L.A. we spent another 2 hours waiting for our luggage. The Red Cross saved the day when they brought us a box full of snacks and bottled water. We were (read - I was) totally spent by that point.

Once we made it to Grandma's house the fun began. She held William every chance she could get. She looooves babies. I have really enjoyed watching her love on my little ones over the years. Its something I really miss now that we are gone. I know she misses it too.

We spent most of our time with Grandma, but we did see many of our dear friends in Santa Monica which was so, so nice. We also took a trip to the zoo and went to dinner with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Rob.

I especially enjoyed seeing these 3 together - Ella, Johnny & Eleanor

William & Rose - has a nice ring to it wouldn't you say? :) These two were born just days apart. She was actually bigger than him at birth. Hard to believe that now.

The whole Santa Monica crew.

Traveling with kids is so much work, but we did have some great moments, like this one - William actually sitting still on my lap!

And that's all I've got. Just a few phone pictures. It was a great trip though. The end.

beus road - our new home!

This looks familiar. A Penske truck in front of our 1st home. Only this time we were moving out just 5 months after we moved in. We really enjoyed this home and didn't expect to leave so soon. 

Packing is the pits, but there's no way around it. You just have to do it. Johnny helped me label boxes one night. He loves to help and did a pretty good job! I love how he rounded the corner when he ran out of room.

My brother Dan and his family moved and we bought their home on the farm. It's beautiful! We are really excited to raise our boys on the farm where I grew up. This means we have amazing neighbors including Grandma & Grandpa, Aunt Beth, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Joanna + kids, Great Grandma & Grandpa Beus, and my cousin Terri and her family. It also means Brian's office is just one minute down the lane. Living and working on the farm is a luxury we didn't think we would get to experience. Our boys are going to love it!

Our first morning in our new house all the boys joined us in bed. The sun was shining through our big window and we could hear the cows mooing down below. It was perfect.

The view from our patio. This picture doesn't do it justice. I could look out my window all day.

The house from the back side.

A gorgeous farm sunrise. See what I mean about staring out my window all day? So beautiful! We are so excited for all the great times we'll have here. Feeling so blessed!

Our Preschooler

Johnny started preschool this fall and loves it. He goes two mornings a week for a couple of hours. For as shy as he is, Johnny surprisingly didn't have a hard time saying goodbye and walking into class on the first day. He's very independent, smart, and observant. He loves to learn and teach his little brothers. He spends hours coloring and drawing. He often asks to make cards for his grandmas and has become a whiz on the computer.

A couple of months ago one of our moving boxes turned into the Octopod (from the boys favorite show, The Octonauts). We've gotten a lot of mileage out of this box. The boys have spent a lot of time playing in it and Brian patiently added all the buttons Johnny asked for like the octo-alert, rocket boosters, emergency stop button, a laser gun, water gun, claws, wind shield wipers, drinking fountain, radio, computer screen and dashboard. Then he asked for a sausage gun. Brian asked him if he was going to shoot the bad guys with sausage. Johnny said, "No, I'm gonna shoot the sausages into a big pile and eat them." He then asked for a banana gun. I guess sausage and banana are his favorite foods.

Its so fun to watch Johnny grow up. We are so proud of him and love him so much. He is the perfect first boy for our family.

mr. personality

There is never a dull moment with this one. He talks non-stop and is always in character. I don't think he even calls me "mom" anymore. I'm either Alicia (Go, Diego, Go!), Dashy (The Octonauts), Izzy (Jake and the Neverland Pirates), Sariah (The Book of Mormon), or my personal favorite Hippo Bus (Jungle Junction). There are more, too. I just can't think of them right now. I wish I could record all the silly, cute, funny things he says all day, and even more, I wish that I could bottle-up his high-pitched squeaky voice and save it forever. I know I'll miss it someday. Another thing I like about this boy is how much he likes me. I'm so glad that he wants me to be around and wants my help with everything.  He can be really demanding. Like when he runs past me toward the bathroom shrieking, "MOM!!! I have to pee standing up!! Heeeeeelp me!!!!!" (It's really important to clarify exactly how you plan to use the toilet) But he can also be incredibly sweet and loving, (like when he says, "goochi, goochi, goo" to his baby brother.) I'm so happy to have this boy in my home. He is pure happiness.