Myle's Birthday Video!

Untitled from Rebecca on Vimeo.

Fudgy the Elf - Day Two!

He shows up in the coolest places some times!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Myles Glen,

You came into this world 3 years ago and I fell in love with your instantly. You were the perfect addition to our family. Broedy and Raelyn were so excited to have a baby brother and Raelyn became your "second" mother instantly. To this day she still tries to mother you around and you get very irritated with her.

You are a very strong willed little guy that knows what you want out of life. Although you are a little boy of few words, you can communicate in ways that get your point across. Just last week you brought Dad a loaf of bread, peanut butter, jelly a plate and a knife and we laughed! We got the point, you wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

You adore your little sister. You protect her like no other. If someone tries to take a toy from her or gets in her way you are quick to come to her rescue. You two play well together and can make our house look like a tornado went though it in a matter of seconds.

You look up to Broedy and try hard to keep up with him. You want to be involved in everything he is and you often get upset when he has friends over and will not let you play with them. You usually end up playing with Raelyn and her friends and you usually get along with them. You love cars and planes and blocks and trucks. You are all boy and love to rough and tumble with Daddy on the floor. You make me smile daily and I am so blessed that I have had you at home with me for the past three years.

Today you started preschool. I was not ready to send you. I know you need to go so you can get the speech services you need and I know you will learn to love it. You looked so cute this morning in your little school uniform with your new backpack. You were excited to be going to school until you realized that I was going to leave you there. You started screaming. I gave you a hug and a kiss, turned my back and walked to the car with tears streaming down my face. Never before have I sent one of my children to preschool so young.

When I came to pick you up you were all smiles and your teacher said you ended up having a great first day. Tomorrow I will drop you off again and I know each day will get easier. I know that you will make new friends, learn new things and come home with stories of all your adventures at school and for that I am glad. I am happy that we have these services available to us and that you can get help with learning to talk. I know you have so much to say and I can't wait to hear all your sweet words! I have a feeling that once you start talking you will talk our ears off.

I love you so much little man!
Happy 3rd Birthday!

Love,
Mommy

Myle's Birthday Party!

We celebrated Myle's Birthday on Saturday with some friends.

Myles opening presents!

He got a back pack for school from Grandpa & Grandma Tillema.

(Grandpa and Grandma Bedford had sent a really cute back pack a few weeks ago but when I asked about it at school, I was told he had to have a back pack that was big enough to fit a folder and notebook so he keeps his other treasures in that backpack!)

Digging in the bag.


Airplanes from the Dubois!


Opening the BIG box!


Getting Help!


Getting rid of all the newspapers inside the box.


A town rug for his cars and planes!


His Dirt Cake!

Happy Birthday Myles!

Guess who's back!!!!!

Fudgy!
Yes, Fudgy made his 1st appearance at our house this morning.
The kids have been asking if we thought our elf, Fudgy would be back and were very excited to see him this morning!

If you have no idea who Fudgy is or what the heck I'm talking about, here is the post that I put up last year explaining the Family Tradition we started last year!

A New Family Traditon: posted on December 1, 2008:

I've always wanted to do an advent calendar with the kids and every year it just seems like life got busy and I would forget about it until it was too late. I have to admit, when we lived in Michigan Christmas time was always a bit crazy. Between planning a daycare party (I used to run a home daycare) and attending all the holiday and Christmas parties for family, friends, church and what not, we never really had time to just enjoy our kids and the true meaning of Christmas. It seemed like the month of December was always a blurr of one party after another.

Last year I was going to do a Advent Calendar but with our trip to Michigan over the holiday I wasn't sure how to pull it off so I just gave up.

This year I decided I was going to take the plunge and do an advent calendar one way or another. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on something and I wanted the focus of our calendar to be Christ's birth, along with spending time together as a family. I just feel like the kids are growing up so fast and I really want to take the time to really enjoy the Christmas season, my family and I really want to start some of our own Christmas traditions as a family.

With all this in mind, I started looking for an advent calendar I could make myself, but one I could resuse every year. After digging around on the internet, I came across this post. It was perfect, I was thrilled and got to work making my very own advent calendar. She has some great ideas for things to put in each envelope and so I used some of her ideas and then searched some more and found this post. Between those two posts and some ideas of my own that I wanted to start with the kids, I came up with 25 things to put in my advent calendar.

I worked on it all weekend and on Saturday, Chris & I put up our advent calendar!

Each Envelope has a # on it leading up to Christmas Day!

Below our advent calendar is a basket. Every night I will get the items we need for our advent activity the next day and either wrap it up or just place it in the basket. So when the kids get up, everything is ready to go. The kids were excited and all day long Raelyn kept asking me when we could open up our envelope and the gift inside the basket (I had wrapped up the book)!

Tonight was our 1st night and our envelope had a card inside it that said:

"Read the book The Elf on the Shelf" If you haven't heard about this book, here is the information from the website:

"This charming tradition began for our family when my children were very small. Plagued by their desire to know how Santa really knew who had been naughty or nice, I searched through the Christmas decorations for a plausible explanation. Nestled among them was the answer; a small elf doll from my own childhood. With that discovery, the idea for the elf tradition was born.At our home the elf would arrive around the holidays, usually at Thanksgiving. His sole responsibility was to watch my children's behavior and report it to "Santa" each night. The next morning after the children awoke, they discovered the elf had returned from the "North Pole" and was hiding in a different place. My children would race each other out of bed to try and be the first to spy him in his new position.Over the years the tradition was perfected and rules were even introduced. For example, to better preserve his mystique the children were not allowed to touch him; however, they were allowed to talk to him. For obvious reasons, he was not allowed to reply. Eventually, my children even gave him a name - officially adopting him into the family.Unwittingly, the tradition provided an added benefit: it helped the children to better control themselves. All it took was a gentle reminder that the "elf was watching" for errant behavior to be modified.I never dreamed this simple tradition would lead to so many Christmas memories for our entire family. It is my earnest desire that The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition will bring as much joy to your family as it has to mine. "

I had heard about this from another blogger and was really excited to read the story and start this new tradition in our family.

Reading "The elf on the shelf" to the kids!

At the back of the book, there is a spot that you fill out. Our says " This tradition began for the Bedford family on December 1st, 2008. We welcomed our elf by naming him Fudgy."

The kids with our filled out book page! They named our elf, Fudgy.

And here is our elf, Fudgy watching over us so he can report back to Santa at the North Pole tonight! When the kids wake up in the morning, Fudgy will be in a new spot and they will have to look for him! Raelyn asked me a million questions tonight about this little elf and I can already tell this is going to be a really fun tradition in our family:-)

On the Eve of Thanksgiving!

This afternoon Broedy's class did a reading of "On the Eve of Thanksgiving" at school. I went and watched. It was really cute and his class did a great job!

Seth, Zack, Caleb and Broedy!


Our Cute Pilgrim!


Broedy

Love these kids!

18 Months...

Adalyn Grace,

18 months old? How is possible that you are 18 months already? Life seems to be just flying by faster than the speed of light.

You are such a doll. You make me smile daily, you love your older siblings and can hold your own among them. You are still a climber and although you aren't climbing out of your crib (Mom is very thankful for that) you climb on everything else. You are still on our kitchen table every day and you favorite activity is to climb on the end tables and then jump on the couch.

You love to play peak-a-boo and you are staring to try and repeat words. You have become very attached to your blanket and carry it around everywhere.

I love being home with you and although you and Myles can destroy a room in the blink of an eye, I can't imagine you being anywhere else during the day. Mom started watching a baby about a month ago and you love to hold the baby and play with him. You make silly faces at him and laugh when he smiles at you.

You are my independent, feisty little thing. You know what you want and you let everyone around you know if someone gets in the way of what it is that you are after.

You love food! I swear people don't think that we feed you because you eat non-stop. You are always after food and when you finish your plate you will help yourself to the plate of whom ever is sitting next to you.

I love you so much little one. I am still in awe that God blessed my life with you. Never did I imagine that I would have not one, but two beautiful little girls to love.

Happy 18th month Birthday Sweet Baby Girl!

Love,
Mommy

Closing Ceremony

Today they had a closing ceremony for the baseball players. Each player got a trophy and it was just a fun way to put an end to the season.

Broedy and his best buds!
Zack, Broedy, Seth and Caleb


Broedy and his Dad who coached his team this year.


Broedy with his trophy!


Broedy's team!

Boy Scout Raingutter Regatta!

This morning Broedy participated in his 1st Raingutter Regatta!

The Raingutter Regatta is similar to the Pinewood Derby or the Space Derby except that the models are miniature sail boats. Although the seas are only 10-foot lengths of raingutter filled with water, and the ships a mere 6 inches long, the race is a very exciting event. Each boy builds his own boat with supervision and help from parents or other family members. He also provides the wind for the sail with his own lung power.


Broedy racing against another boy scout!


Broedy's friend Zack and another boy scout.


Broedy against his friend, Lance


Racing


Broedy's friend, Zack took 1st place. Broedy took 2nd place and Broedy's friend, Lance took 3rd place!

Student of the week!

Raelyn was student of the week at school this week. One of the things they asked us to do was to send in a video for her class to watch. This was the video I put together for her to take to school and share with her class.

Field Trip to the zoo!

Today Raelyn had a field trip to the zoo! Chris took the day off so he could go with her. They had a great time together!

Raelyn on the bus! Do you see anything missing? She just lost her very 1st tooth:-)


Raelyn's teacher, Ms. Brown


Raelyn and her friend


Raelyn's class at the zoo!


Petting a hen


Checking out a lizard


The whole class again.


Raelyn and her friend again


Checking out the elephant


The monkeys


More monkeys


In front of the Rhino


Ms. Black (known to us as Alissa)!!