Meadow's graduation

Meadow had her last day of preschool for the year and had a little graduation ceremony in the evening. The kids worked so hard at practicing the songs and they all were really into it. Meadow went to preschool twice a week this year and always looked forward to going every day. She made a lot of great friends and we will be seeing many of them over the summer and will be attending the three day a week class next year. Her fine motor skills have grown so much. She can trace, color, and use scissors like a pro. And of course learned a lot about letters and numbers.

She has also learned so many valuable social and friendship skills, including keeping sticky fingers to yourself, and saying sorry even if it was an accident. I love this one too, do not touch other kids snacks as you are passing them out, and that includes licking. When I was volunteering one day I spotted one of Meadow's classmates licking each cup of applesauce as he was putting it on the table. Meadow's teacher handled this one with the grace of a preschool teacher. Luckily, no one had started eating yet. I wish I had been a better blogger this year because there has been so many fun moments and experiences at preschool. But, one of the mom's in the older class did an amazing job of putting together a yearbook so all of their field trips and fun events are documented in the book.

Here are some fun pictures of the graduation.....Starting to line up for the graduation show.
Some great dance moves

I was really impressed with how all the kids participated. They were definitely even more animated from the holiday show.

Meadow receiving her diploma and flower

Her teacher Ms. Kristen

Getting to sit with the parents

We went out to dinner at the local brewery after the show. The kids did great!

Ghanny and B Pom!

It is so hard to believe this school year is already over. I am so blessed to have such a talented and smart little girl in my life. She is turning 4 on Sunday.

Little Noise Makers

IT has been tooo long

Now that the Portland Marathon is over, I am hoping to be able to do a little better job of sharing things on the blog. I do really love it as a vehicle to share things with family and friends. It feels a little more personal than facebook. Although, facebook is a quick way to get information out. We have been having fun doing various things this fall. Thankfully, we have had a pretty nice fall with only a few bouts of rain. Unfortunately, the rain was pretty previlant when my parents were here and during the marathon. But, as an Oregonian I just grin and run through the puddles. Both the kids are doing great. Beckett is walking about 9 or 10 steps in a row, but still likes to crawl most of the time. He is a very speedy little guy. Meadow is loving preschool and seems so much more mature these days. Here are just a few pics from recent weeks.

Beckett loves to pull all the books off the shelf. After letting him do this a few times, we have since encouraged him to do other activities that are a little less messy. I love his his cheesy smile for the camera. He did crawl up there all on his own with supervision.
This was a messy spaghetti dinner

Posing in one of her preschool outfits

Beckett chatting

Beckett Crawling and Meadow singing

A little background on the video of Meadow. We have been setting up this stage with my yoga mat and taking turns with performances. Even Todd has sung on the stage. Would love to post that one. But, don't know if he will let me yet. I love the bowing at the end. The movie of Beckett was taken last weekend so he has become even faster.

Meadow turns 3 and Beckett is 9 months old

Life has been very busy at the Van Hee household. I just can't believe how time has been flying by. Meadow had an awesome third year birthday party and has been thoroughly enjoying all her gifts. She has been especially busy riding her new bike. Beckett just turned nine months old this past week. He is loving crawling everywhere and getting into everything. Even though he still does not have any teeth yet, he is eating any small mushy food he can get his hands on. He has been one of the easiest babies to feed. He pretty much likes anything you give him in any form. He is already enjoying drinking out of a sippy cup. He is still breastfeeding, but we will see how long he continues, because for some reason he just loves drinking out of a cup, or water bottle, or bottle. I will be sad to see this phase go, so I am hoping he will hang on for a little longer. But, it has been nice knowing that he will still eat even when I am away from him. He is such a happy smiley little guy.
I have been busy being a mom as well as starting to train for the Portland Marathon, which is in October. Todd has been doing his usual fun activities when he gets the chance, kayaking and mt. biking. Just wanted to do a quick recap, just in case I don't get a chance to post again any time soon. The kids and I are headed to California next week to see some friends and family. Should be a fun trip and hopefully, I will survive the airport part with the two kids by myself.

Here are a few fun pictures taken recently.
This is Meadow with the monkey she made at Build a Bear -we got a gc from the Wubbena crew for Meadow's birthday.
Meadow actually took this picture of me. I just had to post it because she did such a great job.

Beckett on his nine month birthday

Meadow playing dress up with all of her new fairy wings and tutus

Doing some pretend flying in the rosetta tinkerbell outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Dubach

Another 9 month photo

Hopefully, I can post some more pics soon and some video of Beckett crawling.

Cute Videos

Early Birthday Presents

Todd took this picture of Meadow the other day while I was out on a shopping trip with Beckett. Some beavers have been using some of our trees by the river for chewing practice. This one fell during a hail storm last week. B

Beckett and I had a fun time doing some shopping for Meadow's birthday. I just couldn't wait to give her some of her gifts. We are heading to San Diego this week so I wanted her to be able to wear some of these cute new things. And Meadow really isn't at the point where clothes are all that exciting to her. It will be interesting to see if that changes over the years.

I love this look!

I could not leave this in the store. Meadow loves giraffes and there is a shirt to match.

I had ordered this from gymboree.

Just hanging out on the deck on a beautiful day. We had some crazy weather in the beginning of May. But, this past week has been amazing.

Mother's Day!

Last weekend, Rita and Steve invited the Wubbs and ourselves over for a bbq. As always Rita put together a delicious feast and Tonia and I brought along some sidedishes. Next year, we will have to come up with a plan where the Mom's don't cook. Todd did have to work so we didn't get to hang out with him for most of the day. But, it was a pretty nice day here so Meadow and I got some gardening done while Beckett was napping. It was a pretty low key day. Here are some pics from our fun evening at Todd's parents.

Xavier and Meadow love each other. They always have a great time together. Tonia took some great one's of Hope and Meadow. wish I had time to post those.

The Mom's.

Beckett performing his balancing act with Tyler. He was doing great until we started clapping and surprised him. Poor guy.

Meadow Skiing in May!

We took advantage of the big snowpack on the mountain to go skiing with Meadow again last weekend. We also decided to have Beckett go to daycare so that we could spend some one on one time just with her. It was a fun afternoon and a beautiful day on the mountain.

Heading to the slopes
She opted for the sunglasses over the goggles.

Doing a great job skiing out in front of daddy. I was practicing my little hops on my snowboard so Meadow started to do it on her skis too.

Having lunch in the camper

Run Girlfriend Run!

This morning I just completed my first 5k race since having my children. The race was called Run Girlfriend Run and it was a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. It was a female only race, which was kind of fun to be able to run just with women. No offense to men, but it was nice having our supportive husbands, fathers and friends on the sidelines cheering us on. My friend Liz ran with me who is one of my best gal pals up on the mountain and actually lives in our neighborhood now down the street. The course was really fun and wound through nature trails and by the local high school. There was a lot of up and down, but I definitely did not get bored.

I ran a little bit faster of a pace than I thought I would, so i was pretty proud of myself. I finished in 23rd place out of 123. I guess I have set myself a new standard to work towards. So, I am hoping to run a 10k at the end of June. I am on a little bit of a high today because it was definitely an adrenalin rush being able to catch up to people and pass them and see my family cheering me on at different points. Todd did a great job getting to the race with both kids and finding places to cheer. Thanks so much Todd, love you!!!!

This picture kind of cracks me up because the women I am running next to are pretty tall.
Nearing the finsh and I still have energy.

The tired but happy 5k finishers!!

Meadow helping me eat the snacks at the end. She did some running herself to get to all the cheering spots.

Special Outings

This past weekend we had a chance to go to Sesame Street Live with the family. Both kids had a great time. Beckett kept us both busy with jumping on our laps and needing to do everything that babies do during the show. Meadow was very into the show and would take a break here and there from watching intently to put a few pieces of popcorn in her mouth. She didn't want to miss a thing.

Meadow chose to get an elmo balloon for her souvenier. She is showing off her balancing skills in this picture too.

Just yesterday we met up with our friend's, Jen, Maddie and James at OMSI. Maddie and Meadow had a great time at all the exhibits. It if fun how they can enjoy some of the bigger kid exhibits now too. They are growing up so fast.

Checking out one of the first space capsules.

Getting ready to take off!

The boys hanging out while the sisters play. Beckett also got to play in the discovery gym area. They have a wonderful baby area with lots of interactive toys. Meadow did a great job playing gently in this area so her brother could have some play time too.

James is four months younger, but has definitely caught up in size to Beckett.

We have had a busy past week. But, it has been fun to get out and enjoy some activities.