An Update...Just Because

I keep meaning to write a High Five for Friday each week, then Friday passes me by.  So, I'll just write a random update of what each of us has been up to....

Luke

Our not-so-little man is approaching nine years old and has entered the world of orthodontia.  We learned, during a routine dental visit, that he has an adult tooth that is impacted.  I guess the adult teeth around it took over the space needed for the now-impacted tooth to come in.  The plan is to do "early intervention" on Luke's lower front teeth so the unruly teeth get moved back to their appropriate spaces.  By Christmas, he'll have braces on his four front, lower teeth and will have another tooth pulled to help center everything.  Luke's being a trooper about the process and we're trying to keep him informed about what to expect because he likes a predictable world:)  The hope is that the braces will only need to be on for a year at most, then we'll let the rest of his baby teeth and adult teeth finish their processes of falling out and coming in before determining any additional orthodontic needs when he's older.

Our handsome boy

Nora

Nora's been busy honing her toddler skills like: thinking outside the box, oblivion to the world around her, lack of subtlety, and initiating a chasing game anytime she's called.

Thinking Outside the Box: Tonight she had shells and cheese and carrot sticks with veggie dip for dinner.  She kept herself busy using her carrot sticks as paint brushes for her veggie dip and nicely decorated her bowl. She also discovered that the pasta shells were the perfect size to fit on the tips of her fingers (she really likes things that fit her little fingers these days...think waffle holes:)).  Suffice it to say, she had an entertaining meal.

Toddler Oblivion and Lack of Subtlety: Tonight at the grocery store, she stood at the end of the check out lane, thumb in mouth, watching people.  She received many smiles and sweet comments and told me nice and loud that she was "watching the people".  Last weekend, we all went to the Penguins of Madagascar movie in the theater.  (Nora does great in the theater as long as we're watching an animated show.)  After the movie, there was some upbeat music playing during the credits.  Naturally, she felt the need to go to the front of the theater and bust a move.  She literally danced until the credits were through and the theater employee came in to clean up the trash.  All the while she said "I'm dancing, I'm dancing!"

She is always good for a laugh and her giggles of joy make the frustrations of chasing her for every diaper change well worth it:)

Our precious girl

Brent

This fall Brent decided to grow a beard.  I have known him for 19 years and have never seen him with a beard.  I really liked the end product, even though it tested Brent's patience waiting for it to fully "come in".  Last week, he decided to give it up.  After only six weeks with a beard, it was strange to see him without it again.

My man

I think you can see his beard better here

Jen

I'm mostly keeping busy with my holiday season goals and thoroughly enjoying the season.  We're DVRing Christmas shows to watch together, filling in our advent wreath from Gma Ruth, and enjoying Christmas treats I made last week at a Community Ed class.   We had a great Thanksgiving hosting my grandparents, uncle and aunt, my parents, and my sister and family and got to spend the rest of the weekend with more family and friends.  It's truly been a joyous season already and we're only half way through:)

Thanksgiving snuggles with mine and Piper (who was sleeping)

Oh, and I nearly forgot...after nine and a half years working at Mayo, I have downtown-ish parking! (I say downtown-ish because it's still considered a shuttle lot, but I take advantage of the walk.) I got my new parking tag and used the lot I now have access to today for the first time.  I only walk about a half mile from the lot to work and I can take the skyways/subways to stay inside in the winter.  Woohoo!  I'm telling you people...this is big news in the world of Mayo employees:)

Many blessings to you all!  (I'll be sure to share pics of Luke's brace face soon;))

Luke and Nora are Thankful

Luke

This week at school, Luke wrote three things he was thankful for:

In case you can't read the crayon writing: family, Xbox 360, and bacon.  He's a lucky boy too, because I bought bacon this week and we had it for brinner (breakfast for dinner) just last night;)

Nora

While shopping for Thanksgiving, I bought Nora a pair of black shoes that I figured would match anything.  Little did I know the delight they would bring her.  Luke proudly showed her the shoes (that he helped pick out) when we got home and she immediately put them on.  She also wanted to sleep in them that night, but I convinced her she could wear them the next day.  In the morning, she was excited to wear them again and show them to Papa and Gma when she saw them.

I'm glad it's the little things that bring them joy this Thanksgiving:)

A Full Thanksgiving Week

It has been a very busy week already and it's only Thursday morning.  In addition to preparations to host Thanksgiving, we've had a lot happening and a lot to be thankful for:)

Terrific Kid

On Monday, Brent and I went to the Terrific Kid Assembly at school where Luke was awarded a Terrific Kid award for safety.  We are proud to know that he is conscientious at school and with his peers:)

Close up of the comments his teacher added

Treadmill

On Tuesday, we got a call from the shipping company to tell us that the treadmill we ordered would be delivered the next morning.  We were happy to know it was coming, but we weren't expecting it until next week.  SO...Tuesday night was filled with a lot of rearranging and reorganizing to make room.

The treadmill was delivered on Wednesday and, thanks to Troy's help with the heavy lifting, Brent was able to get it downstairs and assembled in the same night!

Thanksgiving

This morning, we wake to Thanksgiving, which has become my favorite holiday.  We are hosting for the third year in a row and I love having family at our house to celebrate together, enjoy a great meal, and simply enjoy each other's company.

It has been a very busy week already and it's only Thursday morning.  Now, it's time to enjoy and relax:)

Finishing Strong

2014 is nearly in the books and I have been thinking a lot on the idea of spending the last month...the Advent season...holiday season...(how ever best to define it) more focused on what's most important to me: my family, my faith, and my health.  Many things have convicted me lately including, but not limited to:

• The new sermon series at church: Forgotten Treasures where we were challenged to remember what our forgotten treasures are and to put them in a place of prominence in our life.
• A conversation with Brent about priorities and that when we are faced with a choice, we are always choosing one thing and "unchoosing" the remaining option(s).  I need to remember there is only so much time in a day, only so much of me to go around, etc.

So, I have decided to make some commitments for the remainder of 2014:

• Healthy Holidays 6 Week Challenge - Thanks to Mandy Avery for this timely challenge!  A group from church is setting three healthy goals to strive for each week for the six weeks between Thanksgiving and the New Year.  My goals are:
• Walk/run 12 miles/week
• Drink 48oz water/day
• At least 10 minutes of body weight exercises per day, five days/week
• Taking a break from Facebook (with the exception of a few things that require regular check in like the challenge above:)) to focus my time at home on my family and my other two goals.  (Another bonus is that we're nearly done Christmas shopping so we won't need to venture out shopping much.)
• Rereading Francine Rivers' Lineage of Grace book series about five unlikely women of the Bible who played important roles in the earthly lineage of Christ.  I loved these books the first time I read them many years ago and I am looking forward to exploring them and the accompanying study guides again.  

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Christmas planning to you all during this "most wonderful time of the year":)

(P.S. I'm not signing off the blog until 2015, I'm sure I'll want to share our holidays and other adventures.)

My Happy Place

I got to go to my happy place last weekend: The Container Store in Edina!

A few of my purchases in action...

Small, table top jewelry box
for my little, every day jewels

Organizer for Luke's school stuff
and coloring books/stickers
for the little lady

Bins for snacks
(I intended these for the fridge,
but they were too tall)

Magnet strips to display the ever changing artwork

Browsing The Container Store is oh so fun, especially when I only get there every couple years and when I get to go with my lovely cousin:)  

Big Week for the Beckmanns

This is a big week for the Beckmann family!  

Monday, November 10

My parents will be married for 35 years.

Tuesday, November 11

My mom will work her final day at Mayo after 38+ years of service.  

Mom's Retirement Receptoin

Both of these milestones are near to my heart as a daughter.  

My parent's anniversary because of their devotion and commitment to each other and our family for 35 years.  

My mom's retirement for many reasons.  First of all, what an incredible milestone to reach before she even turns 60!  Second, for her years of dedication to her full time job, which was really her second job.  For 33 of her 38 years, she was mother first and always gave us her all.  I'm sure there were days she would have rather stayed home and focused on one job, but she remained focused on all that her work outside the home provided for our family as well.  Lastly, I admire the work she did.  She was a medical secretary for the first 30ish years and was no doubt vital in the work of the surgeons she supported and the patient's lives she touched daily.  Her final 10ish years, she's been a patient appointment coordinator.  As I'm approaching my 10 year anniversary at Mayo, I have even more respect for the roles of support staff in the medical profession.  The work of the physicians and others in patient care are absolutely critical, but so too are those behind the scenes who keep operations running daily.  

This is a big week for my parents and family, but it's only the beginning of a new journey of retirement for both of my parents and many more anniversaries together, Lord willing.  

I saw this video online and thought it was very timely and captures my sentiments for my mom. Enjoy!

Putting the Shed to Bed

The last week of August, we had a shed kit delivered to our house and we began the journey of building a long-awaited shed for our backyard.  After a couple months of working evenings/ weekends that we had free with good weather, we are putting the shed to bed for winter.  (In other words, everything that is going to be done before winter is done for now.)

Our shed journey...

Shed parts filling our
two stall garage 

The foundation/deck Brent designed and built
(this was not part of the kit)

Four walls!

My guy

My guys

Entire kit assembled!

As you can see, the kit did not include roofing or a ramp

Roof, paint, and ramp added

Lattice under the shed, non-skid "stuff' added to the ramp,
and rocks replaced around

There she be, in all her glory to take on a MN winter

Our happy little shed

It was not our plan to build the shed ourselves, but in the end it went very well and we accomplished more than we thought this fall (thanks to a lot of beautiful weather:)).  Brent and I were reminded how well we work together on projects like this.  I'm the detail person and he's the visionary, so we complement each other well.  

We are also grateful for the other hands that helped us: Brent's and my parents.  They helped in various ways throughout the process: loaning tools, watching the kids while we worked, helping out on the shed, etc.  

Many hands make light work. ~ John Heywood

Next spring/summer, we'll add a couple windows and shelving inside, but this shed is filled and ready to provide us additional storage!