Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A Snapshot (Or Several) Of The Past Few Weeks

I haven't really BLOGGED much lately. I spent so much time writing about our great experience with Mathiang that I am a little behind. Here are just a few - yeah, right - photos from the past two weeks in the Beebe home. Here are some of the happenings:
1.) Reid got hold of the clippers again. He gave the boys nice hair-cuts! Notice the reflection!?2.) The boys have a room "swaparoo" every four months. The boys change-up who they are sharing a room with every few months. We've found that this helps them to build strong relationships with all of their brothers instead of paring the same two all the time. Right now, Mason and Franklin are sharing a room and Weston and Braden are sharing a room.

We haven't done anything to their rooms since we moved in, so we decided to let them paint their room the way they wanted - orange and white! The two teams that will be represented are the Tennessee Volunteers (Franklin) and the Baltimore Orioles (Mason). The color is bright orange - like my voice, right Tracie? - and it looks very fun and cheerful! I'll post a finished photo once everything is on the walls! Rob E. gave the boys some, in their words, "AWESOME" Tennessee posters! They had a great time doing it! However, my hubby's the true hero b/c he scraped the ceiling and did most of the painting! And, I painted my own decorations on the wall as well - even the power T!







3.) We enjoyed a nice day at the park recently after a field trip. It was a great day to be outside and hang out with some friends! That's Cindy and Anna on the bench! Colby Grace was with us too! Avery and Aidan were with us b/c Tracie wasn't feeling well. Our van was LOADED!













4.) I've had a teeny-tiny bit of time with Baby Abel! I've posted about him before. Our friends Ted and Tracie adopted him from Ethiopia. Isn't he simply ADORABEL (wasn't that a cute spelling - AdorABEL!!) Anyway, he's doing great and loves being in with his family now.
Don't freak out when you see the picture of Mason holding Able. Reid did cut ALL of Mason's hair off. And, NO, I didn't let him walk around for a day with his head half-shaved. Unlike a few years ago when we brought the Beebe boys to church with "Mohawks." Hair is not one of the battles I choose to fight. It always grows back!



















5.) We enjoyed a field trip to the Oak Ridge Museum of Science and Energy and saw the mad-scientist Mr. Beakman. Evidently, he's quite a "big deal." Since I do not watch much television, I really didn't know who this guy was. anyway, he did a great science show for the kids - with lots of experiments. When he asked for volunteers from the audience...who do you think went on stage? Of course!



6.) While we were at the Museum, the boys figured out how they make most of the pictures for Ripley's Believe It Or Not?!? It's all with a mirror, my friends! (However, it still weirds me out to see the boys looking like this!!)













7.) We ended our day at the Museum with a class about the Human Body. Most of the kids in the Human Body Class that I teach at Co-op were there. They enjoyed pulling the organs out of Mr. Stuffy! Too cool!



Well, this has only been a snapshot of about one week - more to come later. Lots happening at the Beebe house! Hope all is well with you!! Please don't have nightmares about Mason's haircut or about the strange faces of the boys in front of the mirror! Ha-ha!!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Celebrating Citizenship!

So, what do you do to celebrate someone special becoming an American citizen? Most people would probably have a nice handwritten sentiment to give, others would give a nice gift...the real question is...What would the Beebe Boys want to do to celebrate someone obtaining citizenship?

They would wait patiently outside, and when the unsuspecting citizen approached...all four boys (and Grandmama!) would...AMBUSH HIM WITH SILLY STRING! LOTS OF IT! ALL RED-WHITE-AND-BLUE!








He knows we are crazy! If the truth be told...Mathiang loved it! We sent him home with two cans of Silly String. I told him he could run into his apartment shooting Silly String everywhere, screaming, "I'm an American Citizen! Whahoo! And Yippee!" (Yes, those are my words - not his!) Mathing will probably tell them in Dinka -his native language. Dinka sounds like "HLKDIPuyeqjtbfhlkjaysdbfl vuy4qkthiqlen als;dkj vfaniu!!" to me. Ha-ha! (Whahoo! And Yippee! are nice descriptive words!) Anyway, the Silly String was a HIT! :-)

After the Silly String War, we headed out to Chili's to celebrate! Mathiang told us all the answers to the Questions we didn't know on the citizenship test. He bragged a little and told us he got 100% correct! Smarty-pants! Ha-ha!
Seriously, we enjoyed a nice meal together and enjoyed visiting for a few hours before getting back on the road to come home. We gave Mathiang a "Certificate of Excellence" signed by all of us - he loved it! Franklin also entertained Mathiang with some magic tricks!
What a blessing to have some time together to reflect on the day! It was a joyful occasion!



Mathiang, we love you! We will see you in June! We are always praying for you! Your pictures will arrive soon!