Like Father Like Son

Logan always has to be in the middle (even to the point of being very in the way - he has even pushed Robert aside so he could get a better look) of anything Robert is doing: tools, tractor, sanding. He even gets rid of the dust when he sands.

Putt Putt

We have been enjoying a mini-golf game on-line (at miniclip.com) and Jake kept asking to go for real. Friday was rainy and with all the projects we had been doing we needed to get out of the house, so we went to the only miniature golf place in the area. It was a wacky course inside the mall called "Groovy Golf" - glow in the dark with disco music going. The holes where put together with 2X4's and felt and glow-in-the-dark paint and tape lined the way. We had a lot of fun.
Robert's mind started going as to how easy it would be to set up a hole in the basement. We got a couple of kid putters, some no fly plastic golf balls and went to Lowe's to picked up other needed items. Robert rigged together an adjustable putt putt set-up, cutting a hole in one of the mats for the hole. You can move the edging into different patterns and add a block or other item to go around. The kids even put down carpet pieces to act as sand traps and made up rules like: if your ball stops on a red mat you are in "hot lava" and have to go back to the beginning.
Saturday chores have never been done so quickly and the house has never been as quiet as it was this morning while the kids played putt putt in the basement. They finally came up for lunch, went bike riding with the neighbor across the street, then brought her over to play some putt putt as well.

Cook-out

The day after Christmas we invited our friends, the Ritz's, over to cook hot dogs and roast marshmallows in the fire pit. The dogs taste so much better that way. Jake asked if we could have a fire and roast hot dogs every night! (ok, so we also roasted hot dogs over the fire for our Christmas dinner the night before - you've got to love the variety in our dinner menu! but Robert and I had been working all afternoon in the yard)
Alyssa is trying to perfect the marshmallow over the fire. She said that by the time she's in college she'll have it down. At the rate we are going it won't take that long! Maybe it is that the girls are out of school and you can take the evening to make a fire and cook dinner and dessert and not mind smelling like smoke in the morning, we'll take it. Lazy winter nights!

Twas the week after Christmas. . .

Robert usually gets bored by noon Christmas day. This year, with many projects lined up and having mild weather we have been hopping all week. There is (was) a huge pile of tree cuttings (picture on right), starting at about 10 feet long (to the tree at the right edge of the picture) and 6 feet high. We had been piling all of the trees we have been cutting down in the woods waiting for them to decompose or maybe we would chip it all, but then we got a burn day.

Christmas day we worked on clearing the trees Robert had cut down in the woods right off the back yard. We are expanding our back yard into to woods a bit by clearing out all but the larger trees.
The day after Christmas was a burn day. We began bringing up the pile in the woods and keep the loads coming. It took as long to bring a new load up in the trailer (of the riding lawn mower) as it did for a load to burn down. It was quite a fire! We got through a bit more than half of the pile. We were both sore and smoky when we were through. After two days of working we were going to take a day off, but Thursday was another burn day and we were suppose to get rain the two days after that. So, we started another fire and burned the rest of the pile, plus some of what was in the clearing we made.

After making Christmas gifts for the kids, Robert is now working on a mirror project and walking sticks. He stayed busy enough at home that he, only once, almost said he was bored. He did have to go into work a couple of times to check on his flies, but it has been great having him home. The University is "officially" closed until Jan. 3rd. Now that he works for UGA it is good to be told "your on vacation".

Our Nativity Story

Each year, as Beckstead tradition dictates, the nativity story is reenacted on Christmas Eve. There are usually plenty of cousins around, but being in Georgia by ourselves this Christmas we had to bring in some help. We invited our friends, who have the same number and practically same age children as ours, over for a pizza dinner (you've got to rope them in somehow) and to help with our reenactment. Alyssa set the stage, I wrote a short script, the parts were given out (Robert taking his favorite, as donkey) and the story read. It was just as fun and crazy as is we had been with cousins (thank you Campbell family!). It was a great evening, everyone had fun.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas breakfast has been eaten (Robert's family tradition - eat first, open gifts later), the gifts have been open, crazy glue used, a run to the store for batteries has been made, I have napped (getting up at 5:55a with Logan for the day, I got dibs on the Christmas nap!), the children are still playing and a late lunch is being made (Robert is doing that - I'm obviously at the computer, my Christmas gifts keep coming!). Our Christmas morning is over and everyone is happy.
We were not able to send out a family picture to everyone this year with our cards. To those who got our Christmas e-mail, you've seen this one already. But, this is our official family photo for the year (after only 4 shots - that all Robert and I could handle). We have enjoyed adding photos and cards of family and friends to our kitchen window and in reading and looking at pictures sent in email messages. We hope your morning/day has been full of joy and smiles. Keep in touch. You are all thought of throughout the year. May the one beginning next week strengthen you and your family.

Logan and the Wooden Shoes

Since our holidays start with Sinterklaas coming at the beginning of December, wooden Dutch shoes are a part of our decorations for the month.

One day I heard banging and thought it was Logan with the blocks and wood hammer. When the sounds became too rhythmic and clopping, I went to see what it REALLY was.
One at a time, Logan had taken each pair of shoes off the bench in the front room, put them on, walked them into the living room and put them in a pile.
Our little Dutch boy!

Brothers

Logan loves Jake and is now getting old enough to really play. Jake loves it. One day, Logan took the Star Wars light sabers out of the toy box and brought one to Jake. They had a good fight, ending with both laughing.
Logan loves to read and will bring you books. I was doing dishes and Logan wanted to read "Go Dogs, Go" - his favorite. I asked Jake if he would read to Logan while I finished the dishes. Jake can't read yet, but we have read "Go Dogs, Go" so often he knows what to say for each page. Logan loved Jake reading to him. It is so cute to see them together. My boys!

School's Out!!

The girls' last day of school was Thursday. They get a full two weeks off for the holidays, going back on January 7th! They had a Sock Hop the Wednesday of their last week. We had to force Alyssa to go (she didn't think it would be any fun). Both girls had a blast!
Alyssa also got to sing a solo in the school's Christmas program for the students. She sang the verses for "Go Tell It On The Mountain" and the choir joined in the refrains.
The choir hadn't had time to learn the verses and Alyssa asked, that if she learned them, if she could sing them. When she came home we looked it up on-line and she practiced. The next day she sang for the music teacher, who stopped her after the first verse, and told her she'd gotten the solo. She was really nervous, but people told her and Natalie she had done really well.
I'm hoping Jake, who loves having his sisters home to play with, will be OK with them being a part of his daily space, when he is use to them being at school. It is always an adjustment.

50 Hours

My brother Charles got married, last Saturday, to a wonderful girl, Suzie. I had the opportunity to attend the wedding and have a 50 hour solo trip to Utah, while Robert watched the children at home. I enjoyed every minute. I slept like a log (although I woke up at 4am, 6am Georgia time, but quickly got back to sleep). I showered without hearing Logan waking and crying through the wall. I visited with family and friends without keeping one eye on a child. I could go to bed late because it was only me who I had to get ready in the morning. I wasn't anxious at the airport or on the flights because there were no children to keep entertained or contained. I even switched seats with a guy (so he could sit by his girlfriend, who was sitting next to me) and he had a middle seat! As you could probably guess, I haven't been without at least one child for, I really don't know when - probably a couple of years ago when I went to the Books for Young Readers Symposium at BYU with my sister. Robert and I looked for homes in Georgia without any children, but that wasn't really a relaxing vacation trip.
My parents and all my nine siblings were at the wedding. It was so fun to get together and laugh and tease and remember. I stayed one night at my in-laws house and loved having a bit of an evening and a bit of a morning with them, in between wedding events. Nysje (my sister-in-law) and James (my nephew) came over Saturday morning as well and it was great to see them. I'll beat James next time at air-hockey! I wish I had more time so I could have seen others, but I Robert could only take off so much work.
I'm so happy to have Suzie in the family. My cheeks were hurting almost as much as theirs from smiling so much. I'm glad I was there for their special day. I'm glad Robert took care of the children for 50 hours so I could be there, especially since he had an eventful weekend while I was gone (see "Deer in the Headlights" entry).

There is no picture posted with this entry since I left the camera at home so Robert could take pictures at the ward Christmas party I missed . . . there aren't any pictures of that either :)

DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS!

It was a dark and stormy night . . . .

Yes, it really was a dark and, well rainy, night. Robert was taking the children to the ward Christmas Party (I was in Utah at my brother Charles' wedding) when a deer darted out and hit the car! Robert lived true to what he has always told me and just kept going (if ever a deer crosses in front of you car just keep going, don't swerve or slam on the brakes). It bounced off the front corner of the car, into the other lane and an oncoming car (we don't know what happened to that car). It did some damage to some paneling, bumper and headlight of the van.

When I got the call from Robert, I thought he was joking. Everyone was alright. Alyssa thought they had hit a big rock. Natalie thought the tire had popped. Jake, when I talked to him on the phone said "Mom, Dad killed one of Santa's reindeer!! A reindeer ran in front of the car and Dad hit it!" In the background I heard Robert correcting him and Jake said "oh, Dad said it was just a deer, not a reindeer."
We are grateful no one was hurt, not even any soreness.

Sinterklaas

We have continued the Dutch tradition (from Robert's side of the family) of setting out wooden shoes, on December 5th, for Sinterklaas to fill. We set out water, straw and an apple or carrots for his horse. Each of the children have their own pair of wooden shoes, except for Logan - he borrowed Robert's. Alyssa woke up three times during the night wanting to know if she could go down to see if he had come yet (this started at 1am)! When it was FINALLY a decent hour (and I won't even mention how early it still was), I let her go down.
Sinterklass came! leaving treats and toys and clothes. He even found Alyssa's favorite Christmas book - that we hadn't seen since before the move. The children had their cereal and hot chocolate, Sinterklaas had left them, for breakfast and still made the bus to school. It was an exciting morning and Alyssa couldn't figure out why she was so tired by the time she got home from school. Everyone was asleep early that night!

Logan Loves Books!

In the last month, Logan has found books and loves to be read to. I have once again memorized "Piggies", "Go Dogs, Go" and other favorites. I have a shelf, near the bottom of our bookshelf, for all his books so he can reach them whenever he wants. He decided he loves his books so much that he wanted to be where they were. He cleared all his books off the shelf and climbed up. A perfect fit.

THE TREE IS UP!

For Family Night last week we decorated the tree. A week later than planned, with Alyssa and Robert being in Utah the week before, but still in time for Sinterklaas to see it when he came to fill shoes (see Sinterklaas entry).
Once we were finished Jake excitedly told everyone that Santa Claus was coming that night. I had to tell him he had to wait a few more weeks and that we were only putting up the tree. He said he still wanted to sleep on the couch every night until Christmas in case Santa Claus came early!
The decorations started out all over the tree but have slowly been moving upward as we save the ornaments and candy canes from Logan.
A favorite Christmas decoration is a nativity set I got during a Secret Santa exchange in Houston. The pieces are small (as you can see from the picture below of Logan playing with the figures) and so far indestructible. We just have to count to make sure all the pieces are still around. They are always found when taking down the Christmas decorations after the holidays, ready for the next year.

CHRISTMAS PARADE

You've gotta love the south!
December 1st was the Oconee County Christmas Parade in downtown Watkinsville. We were in short sleeves and enjoyed the near seventy degree weather! The parade had fire engines, marching bands, baton twirlers, floats, old cars and the VW club, dancers, tumblers, even a 10 Commandments train, and everyone throwing out candy. Not just taffy (which Robert did miss) but candy as good as on Halloween. Downtown Main Street is only two lanes wide and a turning lane, so sitting on the curb we were close to the action.
There were favorites for everyone: Alyssa loved the whole parade. Logan was pointing and saying "wow" to everything. Then the tractors started, we could see no end in sight and Jake was loving each one. There were over 35! That took a while to pass by, with parades being slow moving to start with and tractors not having a very fast top speed. . .


Then the horses started coming - again a seemingly endless line - and Natalie was thrilled!


The parade ended with more emergency vehicles and SANTA! When we were walking back to the car we saw another man dressed in a red vest, cowboy hat and carrying a cane with white hair and a beard that looked more like Santa than the one on the fire engine that we thought for sure the real Santa was watching the parade! and his helper was throwing out candy.
We drove home with the windows down, the car had warmed up a bit sitting in the sun!