Sweet Charley B's

"Mandy... you Goonie!!"

Ok... The real line is "Andy... you Goonie!!"  It's what Troy yelled when Andy sent the bucket back up the well with his letterman sweater on it instead of riding it up herself... So if you are not a Goonie's fan you have NO idea what I am talking about.  It is one of my all time favorite movies... AND this past week, during Spring Break, we went down the Oregon Coast through Astoria where Goonies was filmed.  We stayed in Cannon Beach... parts of the movie were filmed there also.  Haystack Rock is a big focal point of the movie and we stayed right down the beach from it!!

Ok... off the movie track... We really did have a beautiful time.  It was amazing for Zach not to be tied to work, for me not to get up at 6:30 and pack lunches, and hustle out the door like a crazy woman!!  We roasted marshmellows and hotdogs, watched salt water taffy being pulled, had the BEST hamburgers on the way down and back at a place called Mrs. Beasley's (it's the Vadar exit on I-5 if you're interested!) and spent time with some of our friends that were down there also. I guess you can tell I really enjoyed myself. 

A picture montage below!!

My little peeps exploring the beach...

All of my loves really enjoying themselves

Georgie Lou feeling the breeze!

Haystack Rock in the background...

 
Brother and Sister at the campfire... Mesmerized...

My sweet friends and me at the campfire... 

Sam and Charley posing on our way out of town...

What a wonderful 4 days!!  (Side note, Sam got a haircut as soon as we got home! It was out of control!!)  

If you ever have a chance to go down the Oregon Coast, do it!  You'll love it...  

Art and a Fieldtrip

I made a couple of cards last week and had a really good time doing it!  I make simple cards... When I try to get fancy, they just don't look good! 

The images and paper are from A Muse.  The ribbon came from Impress and I used Copic markers.  You can't really tell, but the belly's of the owls have flock by Doodlebug Designs on them. 

Again the images and paper are from A Muse.  The sparkly paper is scrap from who knows where? And of Course Copic markers!

Felt good to make a little craft... Trying to do more of this!!

Friday was a no school day- teaching-in-service.  The kids asked me for and adventure and wanted to go to Sonic.  Now, we live in the Pacific Northwest not in the sound, and to my knowledge there are only two Sonics around here.  The closest one to us is 40 minutes away. 

Sam and Georgie are waiting patiently for their food...

Avery and Sam... still waiting...

This is Charley with her head in my lap because she was SO hungry she was weak... She hadn't eaten anything for almost 40 minutes!!

AWWW... The Cherry Limeaid.  The whole reason I was willing to make the trip!  I didn't take a picture of all of our food.  I was too busy shoving onion rings in my face!  We had an awesome time, though.  Totally worth the drive!

Have a good weekend!  See you soon!!    

Did you know that Cheeseburgers are my favorite food?

They really are, but that is not the kind of cheeseburger I'm going to talk about today.  Have you ever looked at Bakerella's blog?  It is AMAZING!  She bakes the most awesome things!! Anyhow, a while ago she made some cupcakes that look like cheeseburgers.  I have been thinking about those little confections ever since I saw them.  I've wanted to make them, but I just haven't had time!

So, Friday at the kids school they had Family Fun Night with a cake walk, and I was asked to bring a cake... Guess what I made? Nope, not cupcakes, but a WHOLE CHEESEBURGER CAKE!!

 

I made  homemade butter cake for the "bun" and then a brownie for the "patty".  The "cheese" is orange fondant and the resting is colored frosting.  The "sesame seeds" are sliced almonds.  I was going to use jordan almonds, but those suckers were $8 for a bag!

Of course my little people tried and tried to win that cake and bring it back home!  Alas, it was won by some other wide eyed-little sweety, for it alone stood out amoung all the store bought goodies!   

It was really easy to make... Try it!!

In other Beers' family news, we have been on a steady diet of mashed potatoes, ice cream and yogurt because of these...

My dude got braces... Here's to years and years of nagging about brushing! 

The D40x is home, so I am ready to get back to blogging!!  Enjoy the beautiful weather!!  
  

Charlotte Marie

My sweet little Charley B...  We try so hard not to let her get over shadowed.  She's got a really cool older brother, and a cute baby sister & to top it all off her dang birthday is December 23rd.  Who does that to their kid?  Who makes them a middle child AND gives them a crappy birthday?  In all honesty, we didn't mean for her to be a middle child, Georgiana was a little surprise.

 
Charley 2004

Charley stands out on her own.  She is amazingly athletic, kind-hearted, smart & full of life.  There is not a word for me to properly express how she amazes me. 

Charley Spring 2009  

Charley & I had a REALLY hard week this week.  We bickered, she cried & whined.  I responded without patience, but tried to redeem myself by having a snuggle with her.  She has the same January/February affliction that I do... cabin fever/vitamin D deficiency.  When the two of us butt heads, it's NO GOOD! I felt like a bad mom this week.

Summer 2009 our front yard (hillarious!) 

This coming week (with God's help) I will be a better, more patient mama!  I will help Charley B expend her energy & I will work hard on my own mopey attitude so it doesn't rub off on her!

Here's to a new week!

Christmas Goodness...

I am sometimes very guilty of getting caught up in the materialistic aspect of Christmas.  I want my kids to have these AWESOME memories of cool gifts & AMAZING Christmas mornings.  Every year I want so much to do a better job of celebrating Christ's birth; of teaching my kids the joy of giving!  While we still got them some sweet presents (Barbie camper, DSi, Green Machine) we did not go overboard gift wise & we did do some giving!  In fact, I think some of our giving was the very best part of our holiday season & all of my family would agree!

I spent Monday morning baking 6 different types of cookies (no-bake oatmeal, fudgy oat bars, candy cane swirls, cherry almond shortbread, cranberry-orange-coconut cookies & butterscotch cheesecake bars).  We plated them up & delivered them to the police & fire station.  One of Zach's best friends growing up is a detective for our local police department & one of my friends from high school is a fire fighter.  They were so gracious.  The kids got to sit in the cars & on the engines.  They got to see where these men & women who put their lives on the line everyday for us work!  It was so awesome!!

 

Charley & Sam behind the police car...

Georgie & Charley checking out the sweet motorcycle!

All three of the kids in an OLD engine!  Super cool!

Georgie & me in the backseat of the engine...(I was more excited than they were!)

 
Sam workin' the headphones!

Charley LOVED our trip!  Can ya tell?

 
The whole fam.. We had an incredible day... It was a big highlight for me & I hope it was for my little stinkers too! God Bless you & your family.  May your New Year be amazing!
  
 
 
 
 

Teacher-in-Service day

Today there was no school= Teacher-in-Service day.  Sam is very atonomous.  Georgie loves to play alone & check in with me from time to time... but Charley, she wants to know what activities we are doing from the minute we get up until the minute she goes to bed.  She likes a plan.  She likes structure.  A day off from school does NOT equal down time for Charley.  So today I whipped up a batch of Sugar Cookie Playdough. 

I actually doubled the recipe which I found here.  The Cookie Shop is an awesome blog, make sure you stop by & check it out!

This is Charley's cherry that she made...

Here is my little Frankenstine.  Of course you know that I had to get in on the fun... Although, I have a small case of OCD & can't stand it when they mix the colors together!!  I really have to prepare myself when I make the choice to get the regular playdough out!!

The next picture I feel like I have to prepare you for...  Sam made it, & it's supposed to be an apple tree.  I did a double take & had to ask what it was. 

See what I mean... I warned ya.  Boys are so dirty!

 We sure did have a lot of fun!  If you have a rainy day, you should try these...
 
  
 
 
  

pride

Do you ever feel a surge of pride when your kids are good at something, they make a good decision, or all the lessons in manners and kindness show up unexpectedly?  I get a special surge when they display interest in something that I like!  It makes me feel good when Sam is interested in cooking, when Charley wants to play baseball, or when Georgie wants to be artsy with me!  I love it!

Today however I had completely different swell in my heart!  I am a complete and total chicken!  There is not a dare devil bone in my body.  I don't even like to ride bikes down hill!!  I don't know why I feel like that, I've gotten hurt or anything... I'm just a weiner.   Anyway, my kids were at my moms house last night and Naynay and Papa Tom (my mom and stepdad) took them to the Grey's Harbor County Fair.  They came home with all kinds of stories of elephant ears, corn dogs, magic shows and rides!  I noticed that Charley was busting at the seems to tell me about her adventure, so I asked the other kids to let her have a chance.  She rode the Gravitron with her brother!  She's 5!!!  The Gravitron is the ride where the floor drops out and you stick to the sides of the ride because of centrifugal force!

It makes me feel this strange excitement that not only did she NOT inherit my fears, but she is adventurous & not afraid to try things!  I'm so proud that she dives right in and tries different things!  Yea for  my girl!

Sam's trip

We had a very traumatic event in our house recently... My good friend, Sandy, and her family moved away.  Her middle child was Sam's best friend and her youngest was Charley's best friend.  It was so difficult...  They left Washingon on July 17th & it took them a week to drive to Missouri.  Three days afer they arrived, my Sam was flying into St. Louis to be with his 2nd family.

Sam had more fun in the week that he was there!  Missouri is totally different than the nothwest. 

The ate crawdads for dinner & Sam loved them!!

They swam in the creek...

They lit off MORE fireworks even though it's not the 4th of July anymore...

And of course they went to a St. Louis Cardinals game! 

They also road 4-wheelers all week, but I don't have any pictures of that.  Sam had a wonderful time and was so excited by to fly by himself (first class no less!) So thankful for my friends & that they are so good to my kids!

I'm back... this time I mean it!

I have been uninspired by my blog... Do you ever feel like that? It's summer time now, and I am trying to get things going again.  I LOVE reading other peoples blogs.  They are so inspiring.  I want to use my blog more wisely... I am in desperate need of a creative outlet.  I spend my days tending to the needs of my little people (and my big person, when he's home).  I need to reorganize and have fun & do something besides "mom" stuff!  We do fun things all the time & I want to write about them and take pictures of them... and I'll tell you what!  I'M GONNA!

Just so this post is not boring, I have a couple of summer pictures so you can see that we didn't fall off the face of te earth!

 Charley graduated from preschool & will be going to Kindegarten in the fall... I'm gonna ball like a baby!

Georgie Lou has become a water baby!! She has taught herself how to swim... She's awesome...

I put my little man on an airplane today...  He flew all by himself to St. Louis, Missouri!  He went to see his best friend who just moved away.  He landed safe & sound... again I balled like a baby.  (I did wait until he was on the plane before I got weepy!!)

Well my friends, I will be back soon... hopefully with something fun, or crafty, or insightful... Who knows?  The world is my oyster right now!

Peanut Butter Cups & Field Trips...

We have been trying to come up with activities to keep us busy inside when it rains... The kids have had a glimpse of the sun and all they can focus on is playing outside!  Alas, that leaves me to come up with SUPER exciting things to do inside to distract them when it rains!  So last week for one of our rainy day activities we made homemade peanut butter cups... Let me just say... YUM!  I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but I could live on peanut butter and mashed potatoes...

Finished product...

Here's a shot of the inside...

 You may never buy Reese's again...  I used this recipe.  Life in a Peanut Shell is such a cool blog!  She bakes the coolest stuff!  Totally inspiring!

We also had a field trip to the zoo for preschool last week.  It was CROWDED.  The zoo is in Tacoma, and it was "Free Tacoma" day.  Meaning if you live in the city you can go for free... Everyone and their uncle was there!!

The girls still had fun, and watching them encounter new things is priceless :)

  

Those are Gerogie's hands on the belly of a walrus... he swam right up against the glass and she wasn't scared (if you have ever encountered my little person you would know she's kind of a weiner, God love her anyway)

Here's a pic of the big sissy on the Merry-Go-Round... This might've been the highlight for her!  She didn't want to get off... She could've stayed on except for all the dang middle schoolers that were there! 

Sam went to the beach with his best friend & family this weekend...  They were there all weekend and I could tell they had so much fun...  He hasn't stopped telling about his adventures from the minute he walked in the door.

 Sam and Ben...

This one is a little hazy, but they look so happy... I love it!  It's a little bitter sweet for me, watching these two.  Ben"s mamma is also a good friend of mine and his little sister is close with the girls.  They are moving across the counrty at the end of July.  It breaks my heart to see them go... I'm trying to remind myself that with every door that closes, another opens. 

Alright... enough sappy!  It's supposed to be 81 degrees on Thursday!  Enjoy that my peeps!  Lover every minute of it!