More sunshine...

Anyone up for more gratuitous cute photos of my kids?
Yeah?

Okay!
(These are all by Amber...except the ones she's in.)















Things are really good for us right now. I think that I sometimes take that for granted. It's not sunshine for everyone out there right now, and I think about you, hope for you, pray for you. It can't rain forever.

Welcome home, springtime.

Oh, I know it's wishful thinking...but I couldn't help but pretend today. It was a beautiful, sunny 70 degrees. Adam had to work, but the rest of us spent the day with my family. Dad grilled the most amazing burgers, once again confirming that I could only ever be an ISH vegetarian. Mom and Dad were so excited to see the kids. We played and wished the cold would stay away for good. I even had to celebrate with a fruity cocktail in the sun. I did take pictures, but I gotta apologize for the quality. All I have to work with right now is my little Nikon Coolpix, which is driving me crazy. If I don't get to adjust my ISO like a normal person soon, I'm gonna go Christian Bale on someone. (The D90 will be mine....within days.) Anyway, we all look angelic, so that's a plus.











Thanks for a great day, guys!
Oh, do you want to see my latest purchase for the house? First, the story. My friend April and I were in our local Goody's a couple of weeks ago, and learned they would be closing down soon. Everything in the store was on sale, so said the huge sign on the door. Including furniture and fixtures. On the way out, the chandelier over in the Ashley Judd section caught my eye and I remembered always thinking that it was way to cool for Goody's. I ran back over to the service desk and asked about buying it. The lady kinda sighed, and said something like, yeah, everyone wants it. Sign up in this book. So I did, and forgot about it. Yesterday, Marlena calls me and the thing is still there. Apparently no one wanted it that badly. It was 100 bucks, and I screamed when she told me she could get it and bring it over. Adam took convincing, but agreed. Later that night, when the chandelier was about to make it's grand entrance, Adam mentioned how good it would be to have a light there over the stairs. Um, there's no light. He was like...what is this thing? To which I answered...art! It's not functional, but it's really freakin' cool looking. And here it is:

Hopefully we will have that bad boy hanging up soon. I own a little piece of the cheap clothing legacy that is Goody's department stores.

Thursday was Miss Mal's 6 month birthday. She turned the big .5. And I think she knows it, as she pretty much started sitting up that day. She is really close to holding her own bottle, too. And she is scarfing down the veggies. No crawling yet, but she gets around all right. Here are a couple more shots of her from the last few days:



Here's a good Charlie-ism for you, too. One that he may be upset with me one day for sharing...but hey, it's too hilarious and I can't resist.
Charlie (On the swing, being pushed my mom): "PattyPoo, you gotta stop pushing me so high! My balls tickle!"
C'mon, you know you just spit out your coffee a little.

Speaking of Charlie. Tomorrow is February the 9th. On that day, Charlie Fekadu will have lived in the US exactly as long as he lived in Ethiopia. All the days after that, he will have been here longer. I don't know why it's such a weird thing for me, but it is, and I have been thinking about it for days. I'm sure I will post more later on all those incredibly sappy and monotonous feelings.

Speaking of feelings. I felt amazing when I realized today that I have lost 12 pounds.

Posting this blog was like a breath of fresh air. Take that, Facebook!

Photo Tag!

Finally, a blog I don't have to put THAT much thought into. I'm so totally out of things to say! Well, okay, I'm not...I'm just saying them on Facebook. It's a disgrace, I know.
I've actually wanted to get this tag for a while. What a fun idea!
Here it is.
The 4th photo in the 4th folder of my pictures.

This is my handsome, handsome brother. It's one of the photos I took for his graduation announcement last summer. How cute is he? He looks just like my dad when he was younger. (Not that my dad is old AT ALL ;). This kid is a crazy talented musician, and just a blast to be around. We used to go to horror movies together when he was too young to get in, and I would insist I was his guardian.
Love ya lil bro.

I'm tagging my hometown gals this time:

Jess

Cat

April

Kelly

Family expansion!

Oh, no, ya don't. It's not that kind of expansion. But it is great news that I am really, really excited about.

This is Amber. Amber was my only employee at Ever After. She was my organizer, my second shooter, my receptionist, my friend, and my sounding board.I have known her, through her parents, since she was about 12. She is creative, funny, sensitive, and oh so helpful. After I closed the studio, Amber moved around a bit, looking for something she could fall in love with, like she had photography. On Thursday I remembered that I had not talked to her in awhile, so I gave her a little text. She was in town, and within an hour was at my house, catching me up. Turns out her current situation had led her back home to her parents house. I suggested she stay the night with us, and within a few hours, I knew we would ask her to stay. She's amazing with children. It's part of what made her so special to photograph them with. She's also a cleaning fool. Adam and I discussed it this morning, and decided that we would invite Amber to live with us, as a guest/part-time nanny/light housekeeper/friend/family member. Adam is finishing the basement right now, and will be putting her a nice bedroom there. One of the stipulations...We are going to make sure she gets enrolled at college this fall.She is young, and has so much potential. I never, ever thought I would feel comfortable with someone living with us, but it's so much fun, and such a huge help. I also told her that this is not a Cinderella arrangement, and we will of course, still take care of our children. But yes folks, she will be on laundry detail, and NO, I don't feel bad about it. We are ALL totally stoked! Welcome to our home, Ambrosia. <3

Is it summer yet?

Not that it's even that cold here, but bleh, is winter boooooring. I'm ready to go to the pool! Play volleyball! Eat a big fat grilled burger! Soon, enough, summer.
Things are relatively well here at the Beauchamp home. Business as usual...Adam off to work, the kids and I hanging out and playing and preschool, then all of us cramming as much fun and as many errands into the weekend as possible.
Charlie bowled for the first time on Saturday. We all went for my brother in law's THIRTIETH birthday. Everyone had fun...well, okay chasing Charlie around did get a little tiring. He loved the bowling, and actually scored better than my mother. (Sorry, Mom!) :) Adam almost died when Charlie casually walked by one of the pool tables and...PLOP!...knocked a guy's cue ball onto the floor without a second glance. Luckily, the guy wasn't playing for cash.
Charlie and the Nintendo DS broke up. We had to do it. He wasn't taking very good care of it. (He bit off some little plastic piece). Plus there is something disturbing about your 2 year old being that engrossed in something as often as he can. So, bye, bye, Mario, we shall see thee in the future, I am sure. Thanks for that one night at the airport.
Mallory is steadily earning herself a new nickname, Grunt. She doesn't usually cry when she's tired, she makes this God-awful, loud, moaning, grunty...thing. It's loud. Like you can't hear the person next to you speaking. But the louder it gets, the closer she is to nodding off. It's pretty funny. She will be 6 big months in a few days. She's starting to laugh more, be more comfy on her tummy, and is almost ready to sit up. She's a big squishy love ball.
Today I went with my sister to the doctor and heard the heartbeat of my tiny niece or nephew. It was awesome, and she is doing so great. (I think it's a boy...) ;)
Charlie has had quite a few zingers lately:

Me..."Charlie, can I have some of your lemonade?"
Charlie..."No, Mom, lemonade is too sour for girdles" (how he says 'girls')

Me..."Charlie, get over here and eat NOW"
Charlie...(shaking head) "Mom...I can't take this anymore."

Me..."Woah, I almost totally ran off the road".
Charlie..."Mom, you a really bad driver!"

Charlie..."Can I watch Ghostbusters again?"
Me..."Um, okay."
Charlie..."Mom, whass that green guy doin'?"
Me..."That's Slimer...he slimes people."
Charlie..."'Cause why?"
Me..."'Cause that's what he does.
Charlie..."Where'd that 'nother Ghostbuster go?"
Me..."Venkman? He got slimed and fell down."
Charlie..."Cause why?"
Me..."sigh"
Charlie..."Why dat ghost in the liberry for?"
Me..."I don't know babe, but it's just a movie. There aren't really ghosts that are scary, okay?"
Charlie..."I'm brave, Mom."
Me..."I know."
Charlie..."Mom? Whass dat big marshmallow doin'?"
Me..."Okay, enough Ghostbusters."

Me..."Hey babe! Did you have a good day at school?"
Charlie..."Yeah, Mom. I didn't bite anybodyyyyyy, I didn't spit anybody's faaaaaaace, I didn't push anybodyyyyyyy. I didn't get in nooooo twouble!"
Me..."Well...that's good?"


What else is new? Oh, I know. I've lost 10 pounds!! Wooootwooooot!
More later, but for now, a couple of old photos.
Repeat...I will not cut my hair, I will not cut my hair, I will not cut my hair....


And can someone please tell me where this baby boy went??


I miss my blog, as usual. See you again, soon.

Where were you when...?

It's a New Day!!!