BecksBlog

Tagged

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:32:00 +0000

I was tagged by my friend, Kirsten and since this was my first time ever being tagged through a blog I just had to respond. So here you go!

Q. five names you go by:

1. Leanne
2. Lee
3. Mommy
4. Mom
5. Chica (by my sister)

Q. three things you are wearing right now:

1. royal blue v-neck Old Navy shirt
2. ultra comfy (a few sizes too big) Paige jeans
3. Columbia light hiking socks

Q. two things you want very badly at the moment:

1. a hot shower
2. cup of coffee

Q. two things you did last night:

1. had dinner with the family
2. went to Beth's apartment to watch a movie

Q. two things you ate today:

1. tortilla chips and nacho cheese dip
2. carrots

Q. two people you last talked to on the phone:

1. my husband
2. Beth

Q. two things you are going to do tomorrow:

1. wake up
2. enjoy my day with Ezra

Q. two longest car rides:

1. Cleveland, OH to Portland, OR
2. Akron, OH to Williamsburg, VA

Q. two of your favorite beverages:

1. iced tea
2. hazelnut latte

Q. the people you’d like to respond

1. Kellie
2. Sara
3. Angie

Arctic Blast 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:32:00 +0000

That's what they've been calling it anyways. All I know is that it resulted in a lot more snow and ice than has been seen in Portland since maybe the '50s. We were basically stuck at home for days on end. Becks managed to get to work last week by walking a mile to a transit center and taking a bus into downtown and then coming home by walking a mile after getting off the bus. Luckily this week was a scheduled week off for him, so he didn't have to work!

So Arctic Blast 2008 = No church for a couple of weeks, no driving without chains, no leaving the house for us as we don't own chains, no trips to the grocery store, no frantic shopping trips for Christmas, no visiting of friends, no real hustle and bustle that the holiday season usually brings, no mail. But it also = lots of time spent with family, playing games, reading, creating, organizing, baking, plotting an escape and a very white Christmas. It has been an interesting couple of weeks.

Our house buried in about a foot of snow.

Ezra out for a walk around the block. Making sure to stay in the tire ruts.

Ezra doing his part to help with snow removal in the driveway.

The near empty shelves we found at the grocery store when we finally made our escape yesterday.

Too be specific.

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Ezra one night made it clear that when he got home he would like to put on his old pj's. And not just any old pj's, but his dinosaur pj's. Then he said he wanted to pop popcorn and eat it on the couch while reading his stories before bed.

The great tree hunt of 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 16:30:00 +0000

Chilling on the way there.

Hiding.

This one looks nice, but is way too tall.

Beginning to cut our tree down.

Ezra and I next to our tree after it is laying on the ground.

Becks carrying the tree up the steep hill to our car.

Ezra on top of the car with our tree!

The skill of raising your eyebrows

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:58:00 +0000

This skill takes a lot of time and practice to master when you are young. Ezra feels that he has this skill down although he is only really blinking his eyes. I had to post this because there will come a day when he really will know how to raise his eyebrows and we will want to remember when he thought he knew.

And the months go flying by.

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:57:00 +0000

Where to begin? I haven't the slightest idea. How about with a few pictures? Yeah, that sounds like a good place to start! Even though I am only sure of one person out there that is still looking at this. Let's start with some from October...from the beautiful Autumn colors that surrounded us this year, fun at a park and finally Ezra as a lion for this years Harvest Fest at our church. You can tell from the last picture that Ezra was hot, tired and ready to go home :o)

All by himself

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:24:00 +0000

Ezra was wearing undies today and taking himself to the bathroom when he needed to go. He does everything by himself and insists that the door remain closed and me outside of the bathroom. This is a picture from after one of his trips to the bathroom. The white bunch around his waist is his underwear. He got both legs through one leg hole and then put his shorts on over his bare bum. And of course the shorts were backwards, but he was so proud of himself! As was I. It is progress!

Grooming 101

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:13:00 +0000

Ezra disappeared into the bathroom the other day while I was on the phone. When I came to check on him a couple minutes later this is what I saw. And yes, our drain is REALLY slow.

Booming

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:43:00 +0000

Reading for today...

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:21:00 +0000

It all starts with me reading from _Streams in the Desert_ by Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman this afternoon. The verse being written about is John 19:11a "Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above."

In the reading from today comes this: "Nothing that is not God's will can come into the life of one who trusts and obeys God. (...) We live charmed lives if we are living in the center of God's will. All the attacks that Satan, through others' sin, can hurl against us are not only powerless to harm us, but are turned into blessings on the way." -H.W.S.

I felt this to be so true of my own life!

In the center of the circle
Of the Will of God I stand:
There can come no second causes,
All must come from His dear hand.
All is well! for 'tis my Father
Who my life hath planned.

Shall I pass through waves of sorrow?
Then I know it will be best;
Though I cannot tell the reason,
I can trust, and so am blest.
God is Love, and God is faithful,
So in perfect Peace I rest.

With the shade and with the sunshine,
With the joy and with the pain,
Lord, I trust Thee! both are needed,
Each Thy wayward child to train,
Earthy loss, did we but know it,
Often means our heavenly gain.
-I.G.W.

Conversation with a waking child

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:59:00 +0000

Ezra was napping on his floor today. After sleeping for an hour and a half he woke up crying and jumped up in bed with Becks. I entered the room and then laid beside them. Then Ezra spoke.

Ezra: It hurts!

Me: What hurts?

Ezra: The chickens.

Me: The chickens?

Ezra: Yeah.

Go by trike

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:01:00 +0000

Ezra received his trike for his birthday and it didn't take him long to figure out the pedals. Now he can go just about on any hard surface. Grass is a little bit more difficult to ride on. Here is a video of him riding his trike.

A swinging good time

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:43:00 +0000

A year after receiving this swing for his birthday from his Grandpa and Grandma it has finally been hung! Ezra is loving it!

Tea Time

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:06:00 +0000

Well, we all know Ezra enjoys the smell of coffee. We don't know about the taste yet. But Ez has had his own tea and really enjoyed it.

What a tongue! What a face!

Pics from birthday get-away

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:23:00 +0000

The house we rented for two nights.

The view from the corner of the property. Don't you just love photos taken when you are looking into the sun?

On Ez's birthday we had a picnic in Drake Park by Mirror Pond in Bend, OR. Watching the ducks.

Enjoying his birthday cake. We picked up two 4in square pieces of cake from the grocery store to celebrate :o) One was chocolate and the other carrot cake. It was all they had to offer. I was really looking for some cupcakes. Oh, well. We had plenty :o)

Happy 2nd Birthday Ezra!

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:20:00 +0000

Ezra celebrated his second birthday with a few of his friends on Saturday the 29th of March. He really enjoyed the whole day and for days leading up to his birthday and still now he is requesting to sing the happy birthday song! He loved everything about the party...the sign, the balloons, the presents, the friends. He did request to lay down half way through, so I put him in his crib and his friends kept peeking in at him and continued to play in his room :o) He made it through to the end and then took a real nap. I have included the video of us singing to him and him attempting to blow out the candles. He was unsuccessful. Too much pressure. He ended up not wanting to eat any of his birthday donut and requested a blueberry scone instead. Go figure! For his official birthday (the 31st) we took a trip to the Bend/Redmond area in Central Oregon. Becks' parents were here so they got to take a vacation within a vacation :o) We had a wonderful time in the house we rented and enjoyed our time as a family and relaxing. Oh, and watching t.v. which we don't own! The house had a wonderful view of the Cascade Mountains and also included a hot tub that we enjoyed in the evenings looking up at the stars. Yesterday, Ezra had his two year appointment at the doctor. He is now tipping the scales at 23 pounds and is 34 3/4 in long. For those who like percentiles...that puts him just over the 3rd percentile for weight and in the 50-75% for height. He is our lean, mean boy! The doctor was impressed with how he is developing and growing. And so are we :o)

Enjoy the video. I will post more pics from the birthday weekend later!

For the love of coffee

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:42:00 +0000

Ezra has a love of coffee! Well, at least the smell of coffee. Last night he actually helped me prepare the coffee. From grinding the beans to filling up the coffee maker with water and turning it on. Only thing is...he wants to make coffee all the time. He is definitely native to Portland. He may even be a barista at Starbucks or one of the other fine coffee establishments here when he is looking for a job.

Had to share

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:29:00 +0000

Several short movie clips of fun moments with Ezra from the past. Enjoy!

Buzzing lips in the car. (July 2007)

Hiding out. (October 2007)

Contagious laugh. (October 2007)

Now that is dancing

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:23:00 +0000

Our Kitchen as it looks tonight

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:13:00 +0000

Here are very current pics of our kitchen...as I took them just a minute ago. The latest projects we have done are as follows...Becks cut remaining tile from the floor project to use as our back splash, he also has cut and sealed the wood for our baseboards (they still need to be nailed, but we need a finishing nail gun) and I took off the sheet of stainless steel from above the stove and after patching the wall it is now painted the brown that the rest of the room is. Ah, almost done...for now. Upper cabinets are down the road as well as new appliances. But here are the pics.

Kitchen Remodel Continued Again...

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:43:00 +0000

Before laying the wonder board we removed the tile back splash from under the window.

Then the wonder board.

Notice no stove/oven at this point and the refrigerator was in our dining room. So we were cooking things in our toaster oven for a couple of weeks. You really have to start getting creative with meals.

Becks put down plywood where the cabinets would go and then began the process of cutting and laying the slate tiles. Along with grouting. Everything from the wonder board to the tiles were graphed out well before any cutting/placing took place.

Finally new cabinets were installed by Becks and a new sink. And beautiful dark gray Silestone counter tops.

Kitchen Remodel Continued

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:25:00 +0000

So the lower cabinets were on their way out on the last post. Here are some pictures from the demolition.

It was interesting to see how these cabinets that were hand constructed were in fact constructed. This was actually a 'part' of the cabinet!

More demolition...

Yes, we were without a sink at this point. And I was washing dishes in our small bathroom sink for the next couple weeks ;o)

Flooring all the way down to the floor boards. Wow!

Next came laying down the wonder board, but that will have to be continued on another post.

Kitchen Project

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:53:00 +0000

Well it has been awhile since we did much to our kitchen, but I still haven't posted pictures of what it looked like once we got the new lower cabinets and floor in. So to catch you all up on where we came from to where we are now with this room.

When we moved in...

Then I took out the harvest gold laminate back splash (which was concealed by wallpaper) and painted the walls (after puttying and smoothing), and also painted the cabinets a dark blue/gray to offset the harvest gold counters.

Next came the floors. We were hoping to find hardwood floor under the off white laminate tile, but no such luck. It was laminate roll flooring straight from the '70s on top of plywood.

After getting to a certain point, Becks realized that he wasn't going to be able to properly finish the floor unless the bottom cabinets came out. But that is for another post.

Demolition

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:39:00 +0000

Becks has successfully demolished our den. Soon he will be working on rebuilding the walls and also shelves for in the laundry room and for in the den. It is quite the project and has been going on for some time now. It is a good thing that we are able to live with not much space. Here is a picture of what it looked like when we bought the house...

Well, now looking over the pictures I have... I don't know if I have any from after Becks took down the wood paneling. Well it doesn't really much matter now as all the drywall is gone. Here are some recent pictures...

So as you can see a lot has been removed. Including the wall between the den and the laundry (where all of our shelves were). So now all of our stuff is placed around the room and on the stand alone shelving unit we have. Quite a mess. But hopefully soon we will be able to post pictures of more progress as the walls start to go up. The carpet will come up as well as we are looking to eventually tile this room.

Preparing for Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Becks & Lee) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:07:00 +0000

Ezra has begun preparing for Christmas yesterday as he decorated his first gingerbread house. Here are a several pictures from the decorating fun!

Placing the candies on roof.

Adding sprinkles to the sidewalk.

Making sure the candy is stuck.

One pleased decorator.