Merry Christmas!

The pictures were taken by one of my favorite and super talented friends Sarah, and my wonderful husband created the card. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!!

*more posts to come later:)

Marbles and Holiday Treats

My parents gave me a Marbles membership for my birthday, the kids and I love going. Marbles is such a fun kids museum, there is so much to do and explore. Blake can actually crawl around and play as well. This time we went with our friend Delainey and her wonderful mommy Sarah, it was a blast!

Blake having fun with all the cool stuff!

Kaleb and Karly just playing around

Last night we made our holiday treats for FHE. I wish I could take credit for these, but I got this idea from my friend Jessica. It is just pretzels, chocolate chips, and M&M's. These are so yummy and easy to make. The kids love making them and then we give them to teachers and friends for Christmas. Oh and we love eating them:) It is beginning to be a fun tradition for our us.

fun stuff


yummy treats!

Tis the Season!

Ahh, I love Christmas time!!! We had a fun time decorating the tree this weekend.
Now, I can't wait till Santa comes:)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I love Thanksgiving, it really is one of my favorite holidays. I love having my family all together and remembering all that we have to be thankful for. Oh, and the food is out of this world. My mom can seriously cook! Yesterday was such a good day and it put a smile on my face. I actually spent the majority of the day in the kitchen. Which, I haven't ever really done. My mom had her knee surgery and needed a lot more help this year and I was happy to do it. I loved being with her and having her show me all ropes to cooking the delicious dinner. It made me really want to host my own Thanksgiving(when we get our own place again). My mom is amazing and I am truly thankful that she is my mother. I loved watching the kids play with their cousins and have so much fun. I love that Stephen gets to go out and play football and then comes home and plays with the kids. I loved hearing Kaleb say the prayer and remember (all by himself) to bless Uncle Kyle that his back will get better ( I cried). And again, most of all... I love my family! I am so thankful to have an eternal family, and I look forward to many fabulous Thanksgivings with them.

Almost

Blake is so close to crawling!! He starts out trying to crawl and then just decides he can roll faster. It is so cute to watch him roll all over the place. I took this video a couple weeks ago, enjoy:)

FAIR!!!

This is a little behind schedule since the fair was a few weeks ago, but oh well:) I LOVE the FAIR!!! I always have, it is so fun and the food is the best! It has been so great to take the kids and see them enjoy it as well. Every year we spend the whole day out there. We get there between 10am and 11am, and stay till about 10:30pm when the fireworks are done. The kids ride the rides, we look at exhibits, hold the baby chicks and ducks, eat a ton of delicious food, and lastly watch the AMAZING fireworks(that is my favorite part)! I cannot wait to go next year!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Soccer Star

Kaleb finished up his soccer season a couple weeks ago, and he did really good. He was funny though, he did not like to practice, he just wanted to play. Stephen was the coach and I don't know if we will do that again unless they have smaller teams. But, overall Kaleb did have fun and he was happy to get a trophy. I was very proud of Kaleb, and I loved watching him play.

Happy Halloween!!

We had such a fun Halloween!! We had 2 kittens, Ben 10, and a pumpkin. Oh, and we were lucky to have Indiana Jones with us as well. Indiana also won best adult costume for our ward:) The kids loved the ward party and trick or treating, double the candy. Now, we just have to eat it all:)

Good Times

It seems like time will go by and I have nothing to post, and then everything happens at once and I can't find time to post! So, a couple of weeks ago was pretty busy for us, we celebrated my birthday... the big 2-6! It was so fun! Stephen really spoils me. We had a little family party Thursday night with my favorite pizza (papa johns) and then Stephen took me out to dinner on Friday night. The kids all made me really sweet cards and each got me a box of Junior Mints (yum)! I got some other really great stuff from Stephen and my parents. Thanks all for a wonderful birthday. Then on Friday I took all the kids to the NC Zoo with my friend Stephanie and her kids. It was so much fun!! The kids had a blast and I loved it too! We really enjoyed seeing all the animals. You will see in the slide show a picture of an elephant. Well, the elephant started out far away, so we told the girls (Hailey and Rachel) to make elephant sounds. They started doing it and the elephant came running towards us!! It was AWESOME!! All the kids were thrilled. After the zoo we got home and I rushed to get ready for my date with Stephen. We had a great dinner and enjoyed our evening out. Then on Saturday we went fishing and shooting for my nephew Sean's birthday. All the kids caught fish and just enjoyed playing with each other. After the fishing we went shooting. The kids are good shooters and Stephen and I aren't half bad either:) I have to say I was most impressed with Karly. She is so little, but got right up there and shot really well. She listened to to Jim (Sean's pop pop) and did great! I am so proud of my little shooters. After we went shooting we came home rested for a bit and then went to Sean's house for his party. On Sunday we had a big family party for my mom (her birthday was also on Saturday) and me. It is so fun to have everyone together. I love my family tons!! OH, I can't leave out Kyle (Elder Garrison), on my birthday he hit the 1 yr. mark!! Only 1 more to go. Way to go Elder Garrison we love you, miss you, and are so proud that you are serving the Lord. I think that about wraps it up for now. I do have a lot more to post, but I didn't want to have like 100 pictures, so I am just going to divide them up:)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Smart Girl

The other night we were sitting eating dinner and someone brought up getting married. Hailey thinks she has to pick someone out now. She was telling us about some boys, and says...

"Well, I like Nate he is cute, but he sometimes doesn't listen to Mrs. Nance (the teacher), so if I married him he might not listen to me." Ahh, what a smart girl:)

Stephen and I just laughed and then reminded her that she just needs to be friends with the boys right now and not worry about getting married till she is older.

Blake

This is one cute kid!! He really does smile all the time!

A Blue Card

Friday when I picked Hailey up from school, she jumped in the car and said... "Mommy, I got a blue card today!!". I was so proud of her!! Oh, you don't know what a blue card is?? In her class they have a flip card system to follow their behavior. They have different colors (blue green, orange,yellow, and red) that go with how the student was acting that day. If the student wasn't making good choices they have to flip their card down. Hailey has wanted so bad to earn a blue card, b/c that card is the best. Here is a little excerpt from the newsletter I got at the beginning of the year explaining about the blue card.



-Each day the students will start on their green card, because each day is a brand new chance to make good choices. The blue card will be awarded sparingly, on a day that a student is ‘going above and beyond’ to make great choices in our classroom. Those choices not only benefit themselves but others too.



She always has a green card, which I am so proud, but Friday she did it, she earned a blue card!!! She was proud of herself and that makes me even more happy! love ya Hales!

Life

** WARNING: Due to lack of blogging this is a long post**

Finally! I am blogging again. Our computer got a virus right before we moved and we just now got everything back and running, YEA! So, now I get to sit down and catch up with all that has been happening in the Beckstrand household:) Hmmm, let's start with the youngest...

Blake: He will be 4mo. on the 20th and this kid is growing fast. He is rolling all over the place and has been for about 3wks. He loves to get into the walker and push himself around (yes, he really can get around) I am going to take video of this soon and post it. He is such a talker and drooler! He rarely spits up, but boy can he drool. I love going to get him from naps b/c he will just look at you and smile. He really likes his brother and sisters and laughs when they play with him. He is a great sleeper, I lay him down at nap time or bed time, and he talks for a few minutes, rolls over and goes to sleep. We are going to start rice cereal this week, so more to come with that endeavor. Blake is so fun, I love this kid!

Karly: She is a little pistol! This girl can drive me crazy one minute and then melt my heart the next. About 2 wks ago I had had enough of double diaper duty, so I told Karly she was not going to wear diapers anymore and put her in panties. It took 3 days and a lot of candy, but she doesn't wear diapers anymore, and I couldn't be happier! I was so proud of her and she was proud of herself. Karly is so funny, really she is! If you tell her she is pretty, she says "No, I handsome", it just cracks me up. She has been taking speech classes for about 3mo, and she is talking so much better, and she talks a lot more. She really wants to be in school like Hailey and Kaleb, but we are enjoying the time together. She is still my little peanut and she is wonderful.

Kaleb: My 4yr old boy started preschool last week and loves it!! He is happy to be in the older class and playing on the big playground. After his first day he was so happy, he got in the car and told me,"mommy, it was fun. I made a new friend!" Except when I asked what his friends name was he said, "I don't know", ah little boys:) Kaleb has also started soccer and is really getting into that. He had a game yesterday and scored a goal!!! Stephen is coaching his team, and that was a little hard at first, but now he is doing really well. Kaleb is really into every super hero and pretends to be a different one everyday. He has such a good imagination. Kaleb is such a boy and I love that....most of the time;)

Hailey: Oh, my sweet Hailey, she is growing up to fast! She stared 1st grade this year and is doing awesome. Since we moved, she is going to a new school, but she already made a lot of new friends and just enjoys going. We decided not to have her in soccer this year, but she will start gymnastics soon and is really excited. Hailey is really helpful, if I need to her to feed Blake a bottle so I can cook dinner, she is right there with a smile. She helps Karly at night and in the morning get ready. She can be very sassy at times, but she will just go and chill out by her self and then she is good to go. Last Sunday she had a really bad scooter accident. She and Stephen were riding her scooter and going really fast. Stephen was trying to stop when the were going down the curb and lost control. The scooter went out from under them and Hailey hit face first on the street. I ran up to her and all I saw was blood. She has bleeding from somewhere on her face, but I couldn't see b/c it was just all red. I have never been so scared in my life. We got her over to the ER and saw that it was her chin and it had split all the way to the bone. She received 8 stitches and has a cast on her wrist (they thought it was a small hairline fracture, but ended up being just a bad sprain). Hailey was a trooper the whole time and is back to her normal self. I don't ever want to go through anything like that again!!! Hailey is such an awesome girl and I love her.

Katie and Stephen: We are doing really great! Stephen is working hard with his job cleaning carpets and I am working hard being a mom. Stephen is still umpiring and refereeing, and he also coaches Kaleb's team. His church bball season is starting soon and I am looking forward to watching him play. I am just doing the whole mom thing, and my basketball season starts tomorrow and I can't wait!!! I still play every week at church and go walking when I can. Living with my parents has been good. I enjoy going grocery shopping with my mom and cooking dinners each night for the family. I know I have said this before, but I am so grateful for all that my parents have done for us, it is such a blessing to be living here.

Well, this last little bit is about our beach trip we took back in August. We went down to Myrtle Beach for a long weekend and loved it. I was so surprised at how Hailey and Kaleb just jumped right into the ocean and stared riding in waves. It was great! Karly played in the water, just not as far out as the other two. And, Blake just slept:) I love the beach!!!

Enjoy the slideshow!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

M.I.A

OK, so I have been off the computer for a while, but I wanted to get a quick post out. The last few weeks have been busy with painting, building, cleaning, and packing! I am telling you, if you ever have to move and have 4 small children, send them away for at least a week:) You then might actually get things done. Actually, the kids were pretty good, but it was difficult to keep them entertained (and not just watching TV) while trying to accomplish anything. Thankfully, I have a super fantastic sis-in-law who took the 3 older kids for the weekend so I could finish packing and we could move without any problems. She seriously is a saint, she had her 2boys, and my 3 big ones, plus she is 8mo. pregnant!!! I know, she is superwomen! OK, I better give a big thanks to my brother as well, he did help with the kids and then came and helped with the move. I really have the best family, I am so blessed!! I guess you might have figured out that we moved and are getting settled in with my parents. I really cannot stand being unorganized, but I know I will get everything unpacked. I really appreciate my parents for allowing us to live here, it is so comforting to know how wonderful my parents are. Well, I think that wraps it up for now, I will hopefully get pictures up as soon as we are out of boxes:)

Oh, I also need to thank the R4 priesthood, they were AMAZING at getting everything out of our old house and into our new one. Seriously it only took about an hour and a half!!

Girl Party!

Last Saturday we had Hailey's friend party. We painted fingernails, decorated cupcakes and then went to see "The Hannah Montana Movie". The girls had a lot of fun,especially Hailey.

Beach, Pool, and Blake!

Last week my mom and I took a long weekend and headed to the beach, without the husbands or kids!!! It was so much fun, like always:) Every year we take a mother/daughter trip and it seriously is awesome!! We spend all day on the beach, go to a movie, and play putt-putt(she won this year). I love it!!!! Thank you mom, and thanks a bunch Stephen for letting me go.

The kids and I spend a lot of time at the pool and it is great. Hailey swims great, Kaleb is swimming better w/out his floaties, Karly is fearless and tries to swim w/out her floaties too(gives me a scare), and Blake just sits chill in his float. We love the pool!

Lastly, here is a cute video of Blake. He is such a talker. Sorry, the video is a little dark.

July 4th and 5th

We had an awesome 4th of July!! We spent the whole day at my parents working around the house and yard, and Stephen helped build the new shed for my dad. After a long, hard working day we had the best hamburgers, courtesy of my father:) Followed by a yummy watermelon. Then we headed off to the fireworks!!! I love fireworks and these were awesome!! The kids had a blast playing football and doing sparklers while we waited. All the kids loved the fireworks, except for Karly. She had her eyes closed the whole time, and clapped as soon as they were over. It was so funny! Blake just slept through them. I really love July 4th and I am so proud to be an American!!!

July 5th was also a fantastic day, it was Hailey's 6th birthday!! I can't believe that she is 6yrs. old. She is such an amazing girl and I am so glad to be her mommy. Since her birthday was Sunday we just had her family party and she will be having her friend party in a couple of weeks. It was pretty neat to have it on Sunday, b/c she gave a talk in Primary and then they sang to her. She loved it. After church we always go over to my parents house and when we got there my wonderful mother went above and beyond decorating for her party. Hailey loved it and was so happy. She wanted mac and cheese for dinner and then pound cake with strawberries for her cake. She enjoyed all her presents, especially her new bike. She had been riding on her little 12in and now has a 20in. She loves it and does so well riding it. Hailey is such an awesome girl, she is very sweet and is always helpful around the house. I love her so much!!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Summer Fun

WOW! I love summer time! We have been kept pretty busy just enjoying the outdoors. For fathers day we took a trip to Asheville to see where my dad's ancestors were buried. It was so neat and fun to show the kids and tell them about their ancestors. We also have been busy at the park, the pool and spray park and just having fun around the house. I just put together a slide show of everything. Hope you like it:)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Fathers Day!

I am so lucky to know two fabulous fathers! My very own fantastic father and my wonderful husband Stephen.


I seriously have the best dad! I love him so much. I am such a daddy's girl and I wouldn't have it any other way. My dad has always worked hard for our family and always made time to be with us. He was always willing to help out with my sports team and still supports me today. I love watching him play with my kids and teach them new things. He is a wonderful example to me and I am extremely proud to be his daughter. I LOVE YOU DADDY!!!! Butterfly Kisses:)





Stephen is such an amazing father!! The kids adore him and love to play with him. He always comes up with neat games to play with them and never minds being the "bad guy" to battle against. I love watching the kids run up to him and give him hugs when he walks in the door from work. He works extremely hard so that our kids can have all that they need and I am so thankful for that. Stephen, thank you so much for all that you do for our family, we are so blessed to have you:) I LOVE YOU!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KALEB!!

Kaleb is 4yrs old!! I can't believe it. We had such a fun time celebrating his birthday. He had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then went to a friends house to play. For lunch I let him pick what he wanted to eat and he choose S'mores poptarts and MUG root beer:) Then we baked his cupcakes and decorated them. Then we just chilled until it was time to go to his party. We went to Jumpin Beans for his birthday and he and all the kids (even the adults) had such a blast playing. Kaleb is such a wonderful kid and I am so lucky to have him as my son!!! I love you Kaleb!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Quick Update

I just wanted to get out a quick update of the family:)

Hailey- she will finish Kindergarten on Wednesday!! I am so proud of her, and I can't believe my little girl will be a 1st grader! She has done outstanding in school, it amazes me how well she reads and writes. She has been such a big help with Blake and is always willing to help when we need her. She finished T-ball last Saturday, and really enjoyed it. It was really cute, b/c a couple of the boys really liked Hailey and cheered for her when she was batting and always wanted to be in the field by her. It made her feel good. Here is a video of her batting, and a picture of her wacky-tacky day at school (she did the whole outfit by herself).

Kaleb- He is going to be 4 on Tuesday (more with that in another post)!! Kaleb is such a good brother and really loves Blake. He will get his action figures and tell Blake all about them, it is so sweet. He enjoyed his first year of preschool and is looking forward to going back. Kaleb has also started writing his name!! We are very proud of him. He is such a tough kid and loves being outside running around going crazy. He does great on his bike, scooter, and skateboard, it amazes us. These are just a couple pics of my growing boy.



Karly- My peanut is getting bigger everyday! She is doing well in her speech class, and looks forward to going each week. She is talking so much better. She is doing great with the Blake, and is always ready with the pacifier when he needs it:) She really is such a funny kid, and makes us laugh all the time.

Blake- He is such a good baby! He sleeps well and eats great. He has great head control and will turn when he hears someone talking to him. I know I am his mom, but he really is such a handsome boy! I love him like crazy!

Stephen and Katie- We are doing good, just keeping busy with the kids. We are getting the house ready and it will go on the market Monday. We hope it sells quickly, so please keep us in your prayers. We are still planning on moving in August. Sorry, the kids are way cuter than we are so I don't have any pictures of us:)

Blake's first photo shoot!

I am so lucky to have such talented friends!! Crickett took these photos of Blake on Friday and they are fantastic. Here is the link to her site.. www.crickettphotography.com just click on the site for the blog:) I can't wait to see the CD of the rest of the pictures, which I will post later.

Also, everything is going great with the Blake, he is such a good baby, and sleeps and eats great.

Labor and Delivery

Blake was born on Wednesday May 20th @ 6:36pm. I had a doctors appointment that morning and wasn't expecting much, so I was happy when she told me I was 4cm. dilated. I went home and got lunch for Karly and Kaleb, and was finishing some housework. The kids finished lunch and started to play. Kaleb, who sometimes doesn't like to stop playing and go potty, didn't quite make to the potty in time. So, I started to clean the bathroom floor and sent him up to take a quick bath. I finished the cleaning, took Karly upstairs to nap, and helped Kaleb get out of the bath. It was about 1pm by this time and I started having contractions. I didn't think much of it, but they were a pain and happening every 5min. I waited till 2pm and called Stephen, and told him to come home. I then called my mom and dad. Stephen, got there and told me to call the doctor. I did and they told me to come to the office. We waited just a moment for my dad to get there and to get things settled with the kids. We left for the doctor @ 3:15pm. I got to the doctor, they checked my and told me I was already 8cm and to head over to the hospital. I called my mom and told her to meet us at the hospital. We got there @ 4pm, checked in and got settled. The doctor came in and broke my water and told me I was only about 7cm. After they broke my water the contractions came on stronger. The doctors were actually changing shifts @ 5pm, so Dr. Henderson came in. He checked and said well, your only about 6cm!!! I said ok, if I am going backwards here give me the epidural:) He gave me the epidural, which only took on one side, so my right side felt fine, but the left was in pain. He redid the epidural and it took, but by that time I was 10cm and ready to push. I pushed for about 15min, and he slid right out:) So, 5 1/2hrs. of labor wasn't too bad.

Blake came into the world weighing 8lbs. 6oz. and was 21in. long.

Welcome Baby Blake!!!

I am just going to post a few pictures now, and then write about his entrance into the world later:) We are so blessed to have him in our family!

Best Friends EVER!!

I seriously have the best friends ever!! My 3 bestest friends Sarah, Stephanie and Anna are so much fun to hang out with and I always have the best time when we go out. So, it was no surprise that I had a fabulous night last Thursday. These 3 amazing girls surprised me at my house with cute baby gifts and then proceeded to take me out to dinner. I had no idea they had planned this and it actually was perfect because I wasn't having that great of a day Thursday. I was seriously holding back the tears when I opened the door and saw their beautiful faces. These girls are all so amazing and I love them to death. I am really thankful to know them and have them as my friends.

Thank you girls, I love ya!!