February in Pictures

We have had another one of those busy weeks, months, years...

I often think I need to blog about this or post pics to facebook or scrapbook,
but life happens & then I collapse into bed...

So I thought I'd just post a few pics of what we've been up to the last few weeks...and maybe, just maybe, someday I'll have time to get back into blogging. :)

Missions Fair for our area churches...

 We met missionaries from all over the world!  Amazing!

Did you know Ethan is holding an African-crested porcupine quill?

(I didn't know that it was called that either...Ethan informed us!  He had seen this on Wild Kratts (his favorite PBS show), so he wanted to keep visiting this missionary's booth!  At the end of the Missions Fair, he said, "Mom, I just HAVE to touch that African-crested porcupine quill one more time!

 Miss Ruth posing for a picture with Ethan.  

She is Eric's Music Ministry Assistant (and what a blessing she is!),

 and she's a retired missionary to Swaziland.  

 After seeing all of her "loot," I informed her that we could just come to her 

house when we get to the continent of Africa in our World Geography studies. :)

 A missionary from China is teaching Ethan how to use chopsticks!

 This missionary from Niger is showing the children a log that they use for the water well.

 An impromptu birthday dinner with friends.

 100th day celebration just so happened to fall the day before Valentine's, the day before I flew off to Amarillo to visit my college roommate. (Could life get any busier???)  But I was determined for Ethan to have as much fun as Mrs. Kelly made it for Evan's kindergarten year!  

 And fun we had...

 We did crafty, mathy activities all day long!

 A snacky lunch of 100 items (10 of each)

(He really didn't eat half of it...he was too busy playing.)

All decked out in his 100th Day gear!

So...the next day was Valentine's Day...Eric & the boys drove me to

Dallas to fly to Amarillo to visit my college roommate for a Scrapbook Retreat!

What a wonderfully strange Valentine's Day...

We stopped at Panera Bread for lunch...

And here's my lovely husband!

Ok, here's a better picture. :)

Here is where we spent nearly 3 days scrapbooking...

so much fun!

Look at all of these ladies & all of their scrapbooking treasures!

I had to plan & pack only what could fit in two 50-lb. bags!

Me, my college roommie, Deena, & her friend, Velvet

(I look really tired in these pictures...I wonder why...)

 And on the way home from Amarillo, 

we had to make a little stop to visit the Lorick's...

(can you guess who the oldest is here?)

 to meet this sweet little cutie pie!  

Kenzi is a precious blessing from God!

So...that's a little recap of our last few weeks of busy Beechem life.  

We had a wonderful Women's Conference at church today, so this week we were busy getting that ready.  We had a great time...Tammy Whitehurst did an awesome job teaching us about keeping 

Joy in our Journey!

Christmas Around the World - Day 1

In our World Geography studies this year, we are going to "travel the world" 

to see how people in other countries celebrate Christmas.  

We are going to attempt to make a treat from each country and 

make some type of ornament or craft to represent the countries as well.

Today we began with South America. 

We made these delicious 

Alfajores de Dulce de Leche Cookies.

Ethan had a fabulous time helping me make the cookies.

And we all enjoyed eating them as well!

Where is Ethan?

Every night when we go to bed, I always check on the boys &

 give them a kiss goodnight. (Shhh...don't tell Evan!) 

When I checked on Ethan last night, this is what I saw...

Do you even see a body part anywhere? 

  

It took me a minute to find his hand.

And then, I uncovered his precious face!

And when I showed him these pictures this morning, 

my boy with such an imagination giggled so much!  

He couldn't believe I took a picture of him!  

He said he was trying to keep the light out! 

Thanksgiving Craft

I got this idea from my dear friend, Kim.  She has a handprint turkey that she hangs up every fall that her daughter made when she was little.  I decided I could paint a canvas and put the turkey on it.  Now I have a permanent fall decoration made with Ethan's sweet kindergarten hands.  

8th Grade & Kindergarten

It's hard to believe my baby is in Kindergarten & my other baby is in 8th grade already!  We had a great first day of school!  It's definitely a lot more work with both boys doing full-blown school but they both had fantastic attitudes & worked hard all day!  Time went by way too fast!

My friend, Kim, gave me the idea of making pancakes in the shape of their grades. Wow!  That was NOT easy!  But it was yummy!  And the boys were tired...not used to getting up before 7 am anymore!

Evan's physical science looks fascinating.  He's building a race car on the first day!

Ethan did a great job with his handwriting, reading, spelling, & math.  He said this was going to be way more fun than Pre-K!  

Here's he's watching Mr. Demme's video on Math U See.  He thinks he's big stuff!

While I'm preparing lunch, they are working on learning the books of the Bible.  Today, they just sorted them into Old & New Testament piles.  Evan's helping teach Ethan, and I guess Eli wanted to help too. :) It surprised us both how many books that Ethan already knew that belonged in the Old Testament!

After lunch, we are all "Exploring the Earth."  We started out by watching an old Anamaniacs video that goes through every country of the world...so cute!

We also made a John 3:16 collage to show that God loves all the people around the world!

                                    

And...we ended the day taking "First Day" pictures next to our World Map...they were PRETTY cooperative...

All in all, God blessed us with a wonderful day.  Now we have to do it all again tomorrow! :)  

How was your first day of school?

This Week at the Beechem's

 We have had a very busy month...traveling to Illinois & Indiana to visit relatives & for Evan's Community Problem Solving Competition...then coming back & getting Eric ready to go to the Philippines for 11 days (he's in the air as we speak) and getting Evan ready to go to his first Youth Camp in Orange Beach, Alabama!  I think it will be nice to get to July & have a pretty empty schedule! :)

Here are a few pictures from our week...

For Father's Day, we made a cool candy poster.  We got the idea on Pinterest but had to make a few changes to go along with the candy we could find.  I thought it turned out really cute!  The boys loved making it for Daddy!

Here are the boys with the candy poster.

Eric wanted to go to Auntie Pasta's in Nacogdoches for his Father's Day meal, so we decided to pick blueberries while we were there in town.  Boy, was it HOT in the middle of the afternoon, but we managed to picked 13.5 lbs in just an hour!  Ethan & Evan didn't contribute too much, & Eric & Ethan ate more than they picked, I do believe!  But I'm so glad to have a bunch of fresh blueberries in our freezer now!

And here is a product of the yummy blueberries!  This is a recipe that Glenda gave me a few years ago!  Thank you, Glenda!  It's the best pie recipe!

And this is a little treat that God gave us last night when we were finishing up packing for Eric's trip.  It was a complete rainbow right behind our house!  So cool!

And here is Eric & Flat Ethan getting ready to leave at 4:00 AM this morning!  We can't wait to see what adventures they have!  We pray that God will work through Eric as he travels on his first foreign mission trip!  I know it will be quite life-changing!

I couldn't resist posting this adorable picture from our recent trip to Indiana...

And this adorable picture of my silly teenager!  

(That is so weird to say I have a teenager...makes me feel old!!)