Kallen's First Haircut

So Kallen's hair was getting a bit crazy and I knew it needed some trimming up.

Kallen just before her haircut...


















I was pretty nervous about getting her hair cut as I was afraid all her little curls would never come back and I was hesitant to cut away the baby look. Luckily, the haircut was perfect. Just enough to clean it all up and not too much of a difference to her look. I will have to accept that she is a toddler and not my baby anymore but that's for another day...

Kallen after her haircut...

Braces are Gone!

Just barely over a year after she started, Katherine was able to get her braces off! They were taken off the beginning of October which was earlier than the Orthodontist had expected. Her teeth ended up being incredibly cooperative and Katherine couldn't have been more thrilled! Now we are having retainer fun--she's only nearly lost them once (throwing them away with her lunch at school and then getting to dig through the trash to retrieve them)! I have to say that I feel pretty good about the orthodontic investment. I think she has a beautiful smile! She wasn't excited about indulging me for photos, though.

September Birthdays!

Nearly one month later, I am finally getting around to posting a few photos from Eric and Kora's birthday.



Kora had a great birthday. She was most excited about getting her own e-mail account--naturally the one thing we spent nothing on--but was also pretty pleased to get her own iPod (she likes to take video and watch TV shows on it, funny that I only listen to music on mine)! Happy, happy 9th birthday, Kora!







Eric also had a good birthday! Since I knew 40 deserved a bit bigger of a production, I enlisted my friend, Lish to help me decorate and fully furnish our loft. Her husband had provided his incredible talents by building some gorgeous bookshelves, a banquette, a and desk. Unkown to Eric, I had spent a few weeks collecting and hiding all sorts of tchotchkes and furniture to finish the area with our new built-ins. He was completely surprised--a first for me--and loves his new space. I had tons of fun!

First Day of School Fall 2009!

So, I am going to post these "first day of school photos" now and kind of ignore the fact that I haven't blogged a bit all summer long. I hope to eventually go back and add some of our summer goings-on, but for now, I am being a realist. I will at least get back into the routine...


Katherine started 8th grade!! She was anxious just to get that first day over with so she could get on with her year. I can't believe she is turning 14 in a couple of months.

Kora is starting 4th grade, her first year at the Mason Intermediate building. She was very nervous about being able to get her locker opened by herself. She says she still hasn't gotten it... Kora will be turning 9 next month!

We forced the girls to stand and pretend to love each other for at least one photo for the first day of school!! I'm sure many of you all know that I am so not kidding when I say that...


Kallen spent the day wondering where everyone had gone. Good thing Grandma finished her monkey blankie so she could snuggle up with it. And the little stinker found one of those dang hats that have made their rounds on each of the girl's heads...

Let her eat WHEAT!!

Kallen had her official Wheat Challenge down at Children's Hospital.  It's a painfully tedious process that involves feeding her one minuscule crumb of a cracker, then ten minutes later two crumbs and so forth until she has eaten two whole saltines!  We hung out at the hospital for 5 hours straight.  I thought I might lose my mind.  However, the payoff was indeed worth it as Kallen is now free to eat wheat.  We have happily added several cereals, pasta, and crackers to her diet but are still far from overcoming the egg, milk and nut allergies.  After this challenge, it's going to be a while before they will be able to convince me to attend another challenge.  I do know it will be at least a few months away as they won't be testing her again until late summer.  Congratulations, Kallen!  Enjoy those graham crackers at last!

Easter Sunday 2009

Though Easter Sunday has come and gone a few Sundays ago, I am just now getting the photos up on the blog. We had a very nice day. The weather was slightly chilly but the sun was out all day so the Easter Bunny decided an outside egg hunt would be possible. Katherine, Kora, and Kallen all got into the fun. Kallen's Easter basket was even full of egg, milk, and nut-free goodies!




Everyone from 13 years to 15 months old enjoys an overindulgent egg hunt--well over 100 eggs in all!

The girls had a nice Easter Sunday overall. Lots of candy to be eaten and new toys to entertain...

Cruising with Girlfriends!

As indulgent as it may sound, I went on a cruise with some girlfriends and left my children and husband home to fend for themselves! It was a fantastic weekend getaway! We left town on a Thursday morning and returned very late on Monday night. The ship left from Miami and visited Nassau, Bahamas. It was scheduled to visit another private island in the Bahamas, but due to high winds, we ended up sitting in the middle of the ocean that day. No problem for me as the captain made sure we were in the sun! My friends Alicia, Karyn, and Rachael and myself all decided to just do this, kind of on a whim. I am glad we did. We all had a good time even though Karyn got a bit sick. Both Rach and Karyn had gotten the motion sickness patch and were crossing their fingers as neither of them had been on a cruise before. Rach seemed to do pretty well and Karyn was much better after the first day, at least that what she would have us believe...

Anyway, great trip regardless of the never-ending guilt that Eric is trying to give me and will continue to try indefinitely!! Thanks, ladies!

The Grandparents Beeman Visit

While I am certain I have neglected to include all sorts of events in between this visit and my last blog, I am also determined to just get back to blogging more often. I am sure my life is no busier than all of my loyal blogging friends. So...

My parents were able to come visit us here in Ohio. They arrived the 2nd of March and stayed until the 16th. It was a good visit. My dad was able to help me with some home improvements at both the new house and the old one (so that it was ready to sell). The help was greatly appreciated and much needed. The girls enjoyed the extra company. Kallen didn't know what to do with just me once they had left. Here's hoping they can return again soon. I'm already compiling my next "Dad List"!!



Lucky for us, the old house was finally officially under contract by the time my parents headed home (though the closing isn't scheduled until the 1st of May).  I guess Dad's hard work paid off for us!

And she walks too!!!

While she took her very first couple of steps back in the beginning of December, she quickly decided walking wasn't worth the effort just yet. So, two months later, she was ready to put forth the effort and is officially a walker. Here's some video some of her first steps:

Kallen Grace is One year old...

It's amazingly hard to believe that Kallen has already turned a year old. It's been a crazy fun year. I was determined to let her eat cake on her birthday so I did some research and found a way--egg replacer, soy milk, wheat-free cake mix. It certainly wasn't the prettiest cake since I just don't do cakes but she didn't mind.
Kallen ended up being the only one to really enjoy eating the cake. It's a good thing she doesn't know what a real cake tastes like. I thought the cake was pretty nasty. Kora didn't mind it. Eric and Katherine withheld comments but did eat a piece that day.At her one year check up at the doctor's office, Kallen officially became our largest one-year-old weighing in at 17 pounds, 8 ounces!

Kallen finally cuts a tooth!

While she didn't wait quite as long as Kora did, Kallen cut her first tooth right around New Year's Day (just a week and a half before her 1st Birthday) while her aunts were visiting. It has taken over a month for the tooth to really be visible but we can finally see it when she smiles. From the amount of drool and the cranky disposition lately, I believe she will be cutting a few more very soon. In fact, she may have already cut the second one but I can rarely get my finger in her mouth to really investigate.

Christmas 2008

Back to blogging...Christmas day 2008 brought lots of change for our family. While we had been looking for a new home for a couple of years, we finally found one. We scheduled our closing for December 17th and quickly decided that we would wait to tell the girls until Christmas morning. They knew we were looking and had even gone to see some homes with us, but they had never seen this house. We created an elaborate plan to surprise them. We had been planning to stay in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere for Christmas this year. As far as the girls knew, that was still the plan. We told them we wouldn't be able to leave until late on Christmas eve, but that we would be able to wake up Christmas morning in the "cabin." We packed sleeping bags and presents and headed out for what would be a couple hour drive. And we did drive for a couple hours. As we had hoped, the girls finally fell asleep and we crossed our fingers they would stay asleep as we returned into town. We pulled into our new garage, unloaded the van, and told the girls they would have to go immediately to bed. We "slept" on the floor of our new family room in front of the fireplace, next to the tree I had previously put up. Eric and I did little sleeping as Kallen wasn't keen on sleeping in a play yard and I was too worked up to sleep. Christmas morning, after we had opened gifts, we let the girls investigate this "cabin" with Kora's room being the final room to see. I had spent time between the 17th and Christmas day decorating Kora's room--painting, hanging photos of her, and having her room ready to move in to as we had feared that Kora might take the big change hardest. They walked into her room and quickly turned to Eric and I to ask, "wait, is this OUR house?" We later found out that Katherine had awaken briefly on the drive the night before and had done some puzzling in her head to conclude that we indeed had found a new house and we going to it. Luckily, she chose not to divulge her ideas as Kora remained perfectly surprised! The girls absolutely love their new home and their bedrooms. Kora has barely returned to the old house since--only to get her things. We moved completely into the new home over Christmas break and about a month later, finally put our old house on the market. It's been a crazy ride but we are slowly settling in and loving finally having a basement. The Aunts--Marlo and Melanie--have already come out to visit to help with all the moving. Grandpa and Grandma Beeman will be here next week to see their grandchildren and help with some minor home improvements that I can't tackle alone. Certainly, it was a Christmas to remember and to probably never be topped!!

Katherine Becomes a Teenager!!!

I am at least a couple weeks behind on my blogging, but I will attempt to keep events in chronological order. Katherine had her 13th birthday on Dec 22nd. We had a very quiet low-key celebration as she's just "too old" for big birthday productions anymore... Kora insisted on making her breakfast in bed and then opening the presents first thing in the morning. She did indulge us by actually blowing out a couple candles on her cake. She spent the evening at home hanging out with her good friend, Morgan. Incredibly hard to believe we are already here, in the teenage years, with Katherine. Happy Birthday, my dear!