So we saw some school buses this morning, and as usual Beck got way excited. I told him that when he is 5, he'll be able to ride on one himself when he goes to school, thinking he was going to be super excited at the thought. Instead he looked terrified and asked if I could come with him on the bus (tender!). I told him no but that he didn't have to go on the bus for a few years. So like every 30 seconds today he has been reminding me, "Don't have to go on the school bus, Mama! I get to stay with you!" I've always known I will be the kind of mom who's bawling as she drops her kid off for kindergarten--looks like my kid will be too! Such a tender little boy! Had to share the cute moment before I forgot! ;)
Beck and I are in Boise for my cousin's wedding and to visit and help my parents, so we took Beck to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time! And it was awesome! All of us had so much fun, and were there for at least 2 hours. This pic is one of my favorite parts of our experience! Makes me laugh every time. :)
Our little almost 2-1/2-year-old Beckster is such a smart boy! What I love most is that he loves learning. At least once a day he comes up and asks me to "draw letters." He's known his ABC's and most of his letters for months. But the last few weeks I've focused on it with him more, and he knows every letter and its sound perfectly now.
The last few days he's been starting to draw letters on his own. A couple of them are legible (like his O's & M's), and he is definitely at least grasping the concept!
Don't you just love the tender little moments of motherhood? The last week or so when putting Beck down for bed, before we leave, he will ask for me or Adam to "come say bye," whichever of us is not already putting him down.
So I go in to say bye tonight, as per B's request :) , and lean down and give him a big hug and say goodnight. But he says, "No, need to cuddle with Mama." So I lean down and squeeze him and was like, "Yay, cuddle cuddle!" But he said, "No, cuddle up there!" I asked him what he meant a couple of times and then finally he explained, "Hold me like a baby, Mama?" My heart immediately melted and I scooped up my almost 2-1/2-year old boy and held him like a baby. It is always so tender to have these little moments, and to discover that they are just as special to your toddler as they are to you. Love, lOvE, LOVE this little boy. :)
So many things to update on! It's been a crazy month or two, but a whole lot of fun! I was able to go to my mom's side of the family's annual Girls Trip weekend, which was awesome as usual--well, besides landing wrong when jumping off a 25-foot high diving platform which bruised my tailbone horribly... :( I will unfortunately still be re-cooperating from that for a long time to come, but the weekend was great besides that! Then my mom came back to Rexburg with me for a few days just for fun, and then a couple days later, Adam's mom and step-dad, as well as brother and sister-and-law came to visit (from AZ and Washington D.C.)! I'll have to do some other posts on everything, but I'll at least post the pics from my purse camera now, and try to catch up on the other ones later. So here we go! The air show was great! We were going to just watch it from our house but decided to walk on over, and I'm so glad we did! Along with the awesome flight museum displays, the BYU-Idaho jazz band was playing. Big band/jazz music is one of my favorite things ever! I was in jazz band (sax and clarinet) and jazz choir throughout high school, and I absolutely love and miss it! So Angela (mother-in-law) and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it! After staying for hours, we walked home and had a yummy bbq. What a good day! Oh, and Cody was trying to teach Beck what a biplane was, and caught on! He's been talking about them ever since. :)
So I was pondering for a second today about how horrible I am in keeping up with blogging, and had an inspired thought of the possibility of a Blogger app. And guess what? It exists! I am pretty optimistic about this!
And here is a cute pic of our cute little boy while I'm at it!
Here's to blogging from here on out!
Just wanted to let you all know about an awesome deal! You can get a $20 Old Navy Groupon/gift certificate for just $10! Such a sweet deal! I love Groupon, and have bought and used a handful of their deals. They are legit and amazing! Go here to get in on the deal:
Yes, I have a million other more important things to post about, but who knows when I'll have/make time for those! But we are good and happy! And Lindsay is here visiting! And I'm on a flag football team! And we're getting a new sofa/love seat set! And all of our family is coming to visit this summer! And Beck is adorable and smart and sweet! So life is good! More posts to come sometime in the future! Until then, go get this sweet deal!
So today I witnessed something I never had before--a really bad car wreck. Thankfully I was just a witness, but even that in some ways was an overwhelming experience. So here's what happened. I was driving to Utah with Beck, and was on the phone with my mom when I noticed the car in front of me slightly swerving to the left. I blinked a few times to make sure I was seeing things correctly, and the next second, the car had completely swerved and went full-speed into the grassy median, flying up then slamming into the ground, completely and violently rolling hard 2 or 3 times. I immediately pulled over and called 911. A trucker guy had pulled over and ran directly to the scene. I didn't want B to witness anything horriffic if he didn't have to, so since the trucker was tending to them we stayed in the car on the phone with 911. Two more cars had also pulled off and went over to assist. After a few minutes the 911 lady asked if I could go up to the scene and get reports from the victims on their injuries. So, phone and toddler in-tow (and also while raining) I ran across the highway. Thank goodness, both people were safe with only minor injuries. If they both hadn't been wearing their seatbelts, it would definitely be another story. While I reported back to the 911 lady, I witnessed humanity at its purest. Complete strangers helping complete strangers, with no motivation besides duty and love. Cleaning up blood, bandaging wounds, and comforting hearts. The authorities arrived, the victims were treated, we filled out police reports--I love in our country that even amidst complete chaos, there is still order and help and compassion. Once our duties were done, it was weird saying goodbye to everyone. Even though we were only together for an hour, and through complete happenstance, we all felt closely connected. As I was thanking the paramedics for all they do, one of them asked Beck if he wanted to see the back of the ambulance. (This guy had probably seen him doing his crazy-excited faces the entire time over all of the different ermergency vehicles that were there.) So we go around back, and another paramedic pops up and surprises Beck with a teddy bear! Yes, a teddy bear. And yes, just to be sweet. I wanted to cry. The car's driver who had come-to and was in the back of the ambulance gave us a sincere thank you. I think it was just as refreshing and humbling to her that complete strangers would care so much about their well-being. We got back in the car and talked about what happened, and said a prayer of gratitude that those people's lives were spared, and that we were able to be a part of it. I am grateful to have had this experience. I am thankful for a Heavenly Father who watches over us; for law enforcement and rescue workers who are heroes every day; for loving strangers who care. Overall I have been reminded that life is fragile, and people are good.
(I took one picture to remember this all by right before we pulled out but didn't want to be intrusive.)
We were able to spend Easter weekend in Boise this year, and it was wonderful! We blessed my cute, sweet little niece Avalon while there, too, so that made the weekend that much more special! We left Friday morning @ 5, hoping Beck would sleep at least half of the 5-hour drive. BUT, being Beck, he didn't sleep AT ALL! So that was a fun ride. For anyone who cares, here is a run-down of our fun festivities! Friday we went to lunch at Papa Joe's (and accidentally tipped the world's worst waitress way too much *sigh*), then my mom and I went and got an amazing massage and chiropractic adjustment (thanks to our insurance, it only costs $25 combined!), and Adam and B went and crashed at our hotel. Then my mom, sis and I did a little shopping and then went and saw Tangled (with Bree, too!), then went to Merritt's where we also met up with my other cousin Karissa, and my dad, and Bree's special someone. :) Saturday we hung out then had Avalon's blessing, which was wonderful! Or so I hear... I was stuck out in the hall with Beck! We had given him his paci right before the blessing to keep him quiet during it, but then Avalon started fussing and we didn't have her paci with us, so we gave Beck's to her, which he flipped out about! Then I "deserted him" to accompany the opening hymn, and then he slammed his ear on the wall edge. Anyway, just an unfortunate string of events. ;) Thankfully my amazing mother knows Shorthand (yeah, like real shorthand, that looks like hyroglyphics or something), so I'll still be able to read it. :) After Avalon's blessing we went out to Casa Mexico--yum! Then we crashed at the hotel for a few hours. And that night we had a family game night with everyone, which was really fun. We also watched a home video of a fam Easter-egg hunt in 1988 or something--such good times! Sunday we had a wonderful Easter! We dyed Easter eggs and enjoyed spending time as a fam! We also decided to do a little Easter-egg hunt for Beck. He wasn't crazy for the little one we had here in Rexburg. As soon as the first egg he put in his basket busted open with candy, he sat on the ground and was satisfied. But to my surprise, he looooooved the hunt we had for him! It was so fun. Holidays with kids are so much more fun, they have true joy and excitement, and I love it.
For more cute pics, you can view my Facebook album (you don't have to have an account). Blogger takes too long to load them all here. :) http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.712857637354.2220793.193302310&l=c3c90d3a65
Beck has been quite the little singer lately! It is so adorable. And he's pretty quick, too. We can teach him a song (a simple one) in a day or so, and he'll fill in the blanks back to us. But I've been trying to stretch his skills more and make him do more than just filling in the blanks. And it's worked! Thanks to me and Lindsay's efforts the last couple of days, he now has memorized his first little song! Sure, it's a little run together and not on pitch yet (although he will sing on pitch when just filling in the blank), but it sure is adorable! And still pretty good for his age, I think! Now I just need to be a better mom and do this more often. :)
Oh, and the translation/lyrics of the first song: I am like a star shining brightly, shining for the whole world to see. I can do and say happy things each day, for I know Heavenly Father loves me. :)
So Beck and Lindsay have been playing hide and seek ever since Beck could walk, and I realized I didn't have it on video! So I set out to capture a typical little round of it but it turned out pretty funny, you just have to watch. ;)
Like most boys, Beck is fascinated, obsessed and easily excited with all things cars, trucks, airplanes and tractors. Here are a few videos for proof!
This is a Christmas present he got from Mamma and Pappa, and this is his favorite thing to do with it... Yes, it gets very annoying after awhile, especially if it's on a loud surface. ;)
Watching the grader go by our house a few months ago. He's more in awe than excited in this video. :)
This is us/him reading one of his favorite books. As you can see, it's been a little destroyed. I had it put away for months, and he found it the other day. And to my surprise, he knew like almost every single vehicle in there!
I forgot to include Beck's 2-year stats with his birthday post, but wanted to throw them on here while I'm thinking about it!
Weight: 30 pounds, 70% Height: 35 inches, 68% BMI: 17 (The doctor called him "quite trim" at his last appointment, I thought it was funny.) So he's a healthy, happy little guy!
Oh, and one funny (well, not so much, actually) story from his doctor's appointment: So, in the rooms at the office they have different themes, with big vinyl decorations. There is a tractor room and an airplane room that I knew of, so when we were getting ready for the appointment and Beck didn't really want to go bye-bye, I told him that there would be tractors or airplanes in his room. He fell for it, and we were out the door. Well, of course the nurse happens to put us in the fish-themed room (even though the other two were empty... wouldn't you put little toddler boys in tractor or airplane rooms?). Beck literally loses it, and starts flipping out that he's in the fish room. Up to this point, I had never seen him throw a tantrum like this before. It was like he was transforming into a "terrible 2"-year-old in the middle of his 2-year appointment. It was pretty ridiculous. The nurse finally offered to switch him to one of the other rooms, so she led us into the tractor room. He was ecstatic for about two minutes, then he started flipping out that he wasn't in the airplane room. While we were waiting for the doctor, I decided I'd let him peek into the airplane room, but right when we opened our door (which was across the hallway from it), the door to the airplane room slammed close, which made this crazy toddler lose it even more. Then he had to get three shots. We were beyond ready to go home! Thankfully, that was still his worst tantrum thus far. :)
Yes, our little boy is 2!!! Well, he's been 2 for almost a month now, but you know how keeping up on blogging goes... ;) Here is a little rundown of our favorite little 2-year-old's big day:
The last pictures ever of him as a 1-year-old! (He was tired and just wanted to go to sleep...)
We let Beck open a couple presents right when he woke up, and then apparently we let him eat a cupcake for breakfast... I don't remember this, haha.
Then Lindsay took him on a little date and made him a real breakfast at her place!
Adam is officially the best Dad ever--he made Beck's tractor cake! We just baked two loaf pans of cake, and Adam took off from there. (I made the frosting and actual cake--does that count for something?)
Overall it was a fun party! It was a tractor theme, with green and yellow everywhere. We played Pin the Tail on the Tractor, had cake and ice cream, opened presents and then played with little farm bins (containers filled with rice and fun farm animals and tractors). I think everybody's favorite was the bins! The kids went absolutely crazy with the rice, it was really fun. Thank goodness, because it took me like 45 minutes to vacuum afterward, haha. I only wish our house was big enough to fit ALL of the people we wanted to invite! Here are a ton of pictures with all of that. :)
Take a peek into the everyday lives of Adam, Kathryn and Beck Ririe! We are just a little happy family with a pretty normal life. :) Adam works full time as the Career and Academic Advisor for the College of Business and Communication, and I am able to stay home and take care of our cute little boy. We enjoy spending time together as a family and experiencing life's little moments together. Life is good. :)
