Merry Christmas 2009

NOTE: To those of you who got this as a printed card, I'm so sorry about the tiny font. Obviously I was too wordy and didn't catch that I was looking at it too zoomed in! Yikes! Embarrassing!

Hello for the first time in a couple of years! As you probably know by now, we moved the day after Christmas last year, so I just didn't manage to work in a Christmas card. Last year the holiday season kind of went by in a whirlwind of packing, loans and renting out our old house! So I have two years of catching you up to do this year. We are now just 5 minutes from our church in a beautiful new home that backs up to Glen Creek. We have room for both of us to have  offices, and space underneath to add another level as Sean's business grows if needed! Our numbers and email remain the same, email me at Amy@DentBeebe.com if you want our new address (and I thought when we moved we'd get something easier to spell than "Arithmetic" - yeah, not so much).

We have been overwhelmingly blessed the last two years, but of course birth of our little Willow Ruby on April 26 of 2008 was the biggest of all. Yes, I am the crazy home-birther that you can say you know. Willow smiled the day she was born and her happy personality has continued to blossom.

In February of 2008 (yup, right before Willow was born!), Sean quit GE and is now programming for financial traders full-time through his business, DB Trader. Despite a few sleepless nights debating if this was a good idea with a baby on the way, in just a couple of months, this turned out to be a great decision - his business is going so well that he had to turn away new clients after a very short time! He hired a long-time friend and GE co-worker to work with him to begin taking on new projects again and both are doing well. He has also started to get back into running.

I've managed to keep busy taking on occasional freelance projects, working at the church some, and - oh yes - taking care of two extremely busy little girls! They are keeping me running and I love it! I'm working on losing the baby weight I've packed on over the last two years by doing CrossFit - it's varied, short, high-intensity workouts with weight training, running and gymnastics - I've lost two pant sizes so far! My Christmas list this year is filled with things like kettlebells, weight gloves, resistance bands and a squat rack. I also unfortunately won the "Most Injured" award at the CrossFit Salem gym and am currently nursing a severely sprained right wrist. The doctor would put me in a full arm cast if I didn't have small children, and my left arm is getting very buff from working only that side out. I'm currently looking at at least another 4 weeks of healing.

I also have a side project going at WhiteDogBlackDog.com where I sell some of my designs on t-shirts. I just created a new line of "Scripture to Inspire Your Workout" to add to my previous "She is Fierce" and "Land of the Free, Because of the Brave" lines.

Anya still thinks Darth Vader is pretty cool, but is now also into Tinkerbell, Thomas the Train and Nacho Libre. She has been going to preschool, but we are excited to begin our homeschooling adventures with her starting next spring! Anya is quite a bundle of emotions and can go from joyful over learning that "God loves us and He sent His Son!" one moment to crying that Rudolph can't play any reindeer games the next. I have no idea where she gets it from (seriously, stop laughing right now). Both girls enjoy a music class, and we are hoping to get Anya started in ballet next year as well. To no one's surprise, she also keeps up a constant stream of words while doing pretty much anything. At her three year checkup, our doctor was pleased that she could put together a 4 word sentence. At which point I asked Anya a follow-up question, to which she responded with a complex, two sentence statement using past and future tenses correctly while the doctor's jaw hung open!

Willow is our little climber and explorer, with a penchant for hats of all kinds. She actually climbed before she walked! She learned early on exactly how to push her drama queen of a big sister's buttons, which seems to be her favorite hobby. Willow takes care of her "babies" (a pack of stuffed animals) and is learning to sing the ABC song. No problems with food for her - this kid loves mealtime! Willow is already extremely polite, and says "Bless You" whenever anyone sneezes or coughs. She seems to have a more steady temperament than Anya, and puts up with the natural tendency of a big sister to be bossy with good humor most of the time (although she does have an absolutely blood-curdling scream to let you know when she is upset or excited). She will be starting preschool one day a week this next year.

Beagles Sorka and Belle are aging well and even finally warming up to the kids. Belle adores Willow as she drops food all the time. In a related note, Belle now weighs more than Anya.

We got to go down to Southern California again in September. We visited my brother Jake, Natalie, Isaac, Noah, Eli and Joey at Camp Pendleton and stayed in a cottage right on the beach there. Anya loved the sand, but Willow wasn't so sure about it. We had a couple of bonfires on the beach and got to listen to the boys tells us jokes and stories - so much fun! Then we headed up to Anaheim where we spent a week at Disneyland. Anya was just tall enough to ride the Matterhorn and is still talking about it. She was bummed to be just a bit too little for the Jedi Academy. Willow explored Tom Sawyer's Island like a pro, and did NOT enjoy any of the characters she met. Both were completely entranced by the dragon at the Fantasmic show, so they were both cute little dragons for Halloween. You can see lots of pics of our life and times at www.DentBeebe.com - just click on the "Our Photos" link from the top menu.

I hope that you all have a great holiday season and we look forward to connecting with you in the coming year! May 2010 be filled with blessing and a deeper relationship with Jesus! Amen!

I've been slacking on the blog

Sorry about that, I'll try to be better about updating it! Note that there are tons of new photos here.

In the meantime, while I think of something interesting to write, here are some recent pics and videos:

 

 

Cafepress Features One of My Designs!

My "Land of the Free, Because of the Brave" design is featured on CafePress as one of their $9 Special Tees! Whoo hoo!

Click here for the link, then scroll down to the last row of men's shirts - it's in the middle.

You can always visit my store for more designs at www.WhiteDogBlackDog.com - I've just designed a whole new series of fitness-related design using motivational Scripture. I've also added a new "She is Fierce" design.

Parental Rights Under Attack - Please take the time to read this!

Hello All -

I hope you all know that I very rarely forward emails or send out anything political. However, there is an urgent issue that crosses party lines that I am called to send out this email about. I think many people are completely unaware of the issue, and I passionately consider it to be one of the biggest in our lifetimes.

After I make my personal plea, I'm cutting and pasting "TWENTY THINGS You Need to Know
About the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child" from ParentalRights.org.

Loads more (terrifying) information available at www.parentalrights.org, and I've attached a couple of pdfs if you want to know more right now. I'm not asking you to donate money, I'm asking you to make yourself aware of this vitally important issue and contact your representatives.

Why We Need An Amendment

The Fight of Our Lifetime

I know it's easy to shuffle this off, but we are reaching a breaking point here. Read about the government intrusion into parents responsibilities (because the UN thinks that the government has a duty to raise good members of society and make sure the parents are parenting correctly). There is story after story of how this treaty is being enforced around the world. Proponents of ratification say that the things we are concerned about won't happen here, but THIS IS ALREADY HAPPENING in other countries that have ratified the treaty, and some US lawyers are already citing the UNRotC in case law.

Most believe this issue will be decided in the next couple of months, and then it's over. We aren't coming back from here.

Monday in a Harlem middle school, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told a group of 120 students that administration officials are actively discussing “when and how it might be possible to join” (that is, ratify) the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

To discourage them from doing so, we need to make sure that our voices are heard with unmistakable clarity. We must let the administration know that we oppose this anti-family, anti-American treaty.

Here’s what we need you all to do:

1. Call the White House comments line at 202-456-1111. Tell them you heard the administration wants to ratify the CRC, and you strongly oppose this giving away of U.S. sovereignty to the UN. Also keep in mind that this treaty gives the government jurisdiction to override any decision made by any parent if the government thinks that a better decision can be made—even if there is no proof of any harm.

2. Call Ambassador Susan Rice’s office at the United Nations. Tell her that you want her to represent the United States to the world rather than trying to get the United States to go along with international law initiated by the UN. There are three ways to get ahold of her. Please dial ONE of them, and deliver the message that you oppose the CRC, and that she should represent Americans to the United Nations rather than push a UN agenda on our country.

1. Dial the main line at 1-212-415-4000, and dial 6 to leave your message; OR
2. Dial the Public Diplomacy Office at 1-212-415-4050 and leave a message; OR
3. Dial her office directly at 1-212-415-4404. Again, you will need to leave a message.

3. Contact your Senators and urge them to oppose ratification of this treaty. (Find your Senators’ contact information by typing your zip code into the box here.) Ask them also to defeat it once and for all by cosponsoring SJRes 16 – the Parental Rights Amendment.

If you are an Oregonian, here are our Senators and their contact information:

Sen. Ron Wyden
Website: wyden.senate.gov

Washington, D.C. Office:
223 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
District of Columbia 20510-3703
Phone: (202) 224-5244
Fax: (202) 228-2717

Portland Office:
1220 SW 3rd Avenue, Suite 585
Portland, Oregon 97204
Phone: (503) 326-7525
Fax: (503) 326-7528

Sen. Jeff Merkley
Website: merkley.senate.gov

Washington, D.C. Office:
107 Russell Senate Office Building,
District of Columbia 20510-3704
Phone: (202) 224-3753
Fax: (202) 228-3997

Portland Office:
121 SW Salmon Street, #1250
Portland, Oregon 97204
Phone: (503) 326-3386
Fax: (503) 326-2900

It is very important that we speak up right now. Please call before you close this email! Some of the phone lines are busy, but I did get through to Senators Wyden and Merkley. It was easy and only took a few moments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

TWENTY THINGS You Need to Know
About the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

TEN THINGS to know about the STRUCTURE of the CRC:

1. It is a treaty which creates binding rules of law. It is no mere statement of altruism.
2. Its effect would be binding on American families, courts, and policy-makers.
3. Children of other nations would not be impacted or helped in any direct way by our ratification.
4. The CRC would automatically override almost all American laws on children and families because of the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause in Article VI.
5. The CRC has some elements that are self-executing, others would require implementing legislation. Federal courts would have the power to determine which provisions were selfexecuting.
6. The courts would have the power to directly enforce the provisions that are self-executing.
7. Congress would have the power to directly legislate on all subjects necessary to comply with the treaty. This would be the most massive shift of power from the states to the federal government in American history.
8. A committee of 18 experts from other nations sitting in Geneva has the authority to issue official interpretations of the treaty which are entitled to binding weight in American courts and legislatures. This effectively transfers ultimate policy authority for all policies in this area to this foreign committee.
9. Under international law, the treaty overrides even our Constitution.
10. Reservations, declarations, or understandings intended to modify our duty to comply with this treaty will be void if they are determined to be inconsistent with the object and purpose of the treaty.

TEN THINGS to know about the SUBSTANCE of the CRC:

1. Parents would no longer be able to administer reasonable spankings to their children.
2. A murderer aged 17 years and 11 months and 29 days at the time of his crime could no longer be sentenced to life in prison.
3. Children would have the ability to choose their own religion while parents would only have the authority to give their children advice about religion.
4. The best interest of the child principle would give the government the ability to override every decision made by every parent if a government worker disagreed with the parent’s decision.
5. A child’s “right to be heard” would allow them to seek governmental review of every parental decision with which the child disagreed.
6. This treaty has been interpreted to make it illegal for a nation to spend more on national defense than it does on children’s welfare.
7. Children would acquire a legally enforceable right to leisure.
8. Christian schools that refuse to teach "alternative worldviews" and teach that Christianity is the only true religion "fly in the face of article 29" of the treaty.
9. Allowing parents to opt their children out of sex education has been held to be out of compliance with the CRC.
10. Children would have the right to reproductive health information and services without parental knowledge or consent.

The SOLUTION: A constitutional amendment to codify parental rights.
The proposed PARENTAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT
HJRes 42
Section 1.
The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their
children is a fundamental right.
Section 2.
Neither the United States nor any State shall infringe upon this right without
demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of
the highest order and not otherwise served.
Section 3.
No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of international law be employed to
upersede, modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article.

New April Photos

Click here for new photos from April, including Willow's first birthday. I'll be adding some posts someday soon, really.

The Christmas Letter that Never Got Sent (figured I may as well post it here at this point)

Well, this has been a pretty phenomenal year for us.

Of course, the biggest news was the birth of our little Willow Ruby on April 26. Yes, I am the crazy home birther that you can say you know. Willow smiled the day she was born and her happy personality has continued to blossom. Anya was a little jealous for a day or two, but now loves her mey-mey (little sister) - as long as she keeps away from her toys. "No, Willow, dat's Anya toy!"

In February, Sean quit GE and is now programming for day traders full-time through his business, DB Trader. Despite a few sleepless nights debating if this was a good idea with a baby on the way, in just a couple of months, this turned out to be a great decision - his business is going so well he's turning away new clients for now! He recently hired a long-time friend and GE co-worker to work with him so he can begin taking on new projects again.

I've managed to keep busy taking on occasional freelance projects, working at the church some, and - oh yes - taking care of two little girls under 30 months. They are keeping me running and I love it! I'm working on losing the baby weight I've packed on over the last two years by doing CrossFit - it's varied, short, high-intensity workouts with weight training, running and gymnastics. I also have a side project going at WhiteDogBlackDog.com where I sell some of my designs.

Anya's hobbies include imitating Darth Vader (including humming the Imperial March), blowing her second birthday candles out with her nose, gut-bombing Daddy and Grandpa, and professing a disbelief in eating. Soccer and gymnastics have been a big hit, although she prefers to carry the ball more than kick it, and does somersaults by standing on her head and then falling over. To no one's surprise, she also keeps up a constant stream of words while doing pretty much anything.

Willow's talents include crawling like a caterpillar, bouncing in the jumperoo, chewing on Anya's hair and is currently perfecting a wide range of odd screeching noises. I'm very proud of the fact that I taught her to growl this weekend. She also is testing everything to see if it is food, including Sorka if she strays too close. No problems with food for her - just watch your fingers if you're handling the spoon feeding her!

A very wise frog once said that "life is made up of meetings and partings." We parted with our good friend Macavity the Mystery Cat in June after a thankfully short battle with a lung tumor. We knew it was time to say goodbye when he didn't even enjoy his favorite past time - eating. Beagles Sorka and Belle are aging well and even finally warming up to the kids.

My brother Jake is a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps and is currently deployed in Iraq as a Communications Officer. Natalie and Isaac, Noah, Eli and Joey miss him a lot - we all can't wait for him to get home in January! Our family and my mom & dad went down to Camp Pendleton to visit them in October, and on the way back we spent a few days at Disneyland. Anya is still taking about Sleeping Beauty's castle, the Dumbo ride and meeting Mickey. Willow also enjoyed Dumbo - throwing out her arms and yelling "ohhh!" with a big smile.

One more big piece of news - we moved to West Salem the day after Christmas! See, I have a good excuse for being so late with the Christmas card this year. We are now just 5 minutes from our church in a beautiful new home that backs up to Glen Creek. We have room for both of us to have offices, and space underneath to add another level as Sean's business grows if needed! Our numbers and email remain the same, email me if you want our new address. Come visit anytime - we'd love to have you join us for the small group we host on Sunday nights sometime!

I hope that you all had a great holiday season and we look forward to connecting with you in the coming year! May 2009 be filled with blessing and a deeper relationship with Jesus! Amen!

Once again - the amaaaazzzing Willow!

I managed to catch this little act last night...and she was standing up in her crib this morning. We'd better start getting ready for a walking Willow!

Cute Things Willow Says and Does #1

• She signs the word "milk" over and over again while nursing
• The other day she yelled "Aya!" with a big grin when she first saw Anya in the morning
• She growls a lot. As her Uncle Jake did this too, it must be genetic.
• She is obsessed with the water dish. She heads straight for it as soon as I set her down.
• She got a new tooth 2/11 - upper right front
• She pulled herself to standing on the windowsill 2/13
• She climbed up two stairs 2/14 (scared the crap outta me!)
• Update: New tooth today February 15 - upper left incisor. It snuck up on me because I was watching the right front tooth come in!
• Grandpa's hook is her favorite chew toy (listen for the clinking of her teeth against the steel in the video)

 

Cute Things Anya Says and Does #6

• I was cleaning unknown sticky stuff from the dining chairs today and Anya said "clean chairs?" quizzically. I said "yes, they are sticky from your messy hands". With clear remorse, she said "I gotta do somefing bout dat. I sorry."
• Later, she decided to help clean by taking a dirty napkin, dipping it in the pets' water dish and washing the baseboards.
• She woke up from a nap a couple of days ago screaming "mama! mama! ladybug! ladybug". Evidently, she is scared of them.
• We came outside this morning and some fog had settled in, she exclaimed "foggy! ribbit! ribbit!"
• She is now sleeping in a toddler bed, and when we say it's time for nap or nighttime, says proudly "I big girl bed"
• She sat down between us and said "I love you. The whole family!"
• When SkippyJon gets sprayed with a water bottle for getting up somewhere he shouldn't, she says "uh oh, he's in trouble!"
• She shook Willow's hand out of the blue and said "Hi Willow, nice ta meetcha"
• She has to imitate everything Willow does - see the video under "Willow's Getting Close to Walking" for an example
• They smashed cones at Soccer Tots last week and now she likes to run around yelling "Smash!! Smash!!"
• She LOVES to go over a whole bunch of people's names, and name the street we live on

 

 

Willow's Getting Close to Walking!

A couple of days ago she faced this conundrum unsuccessfully:

 

But then just Friday this is what she was doing!

Welcome Home Uncle Jake & Happy Birthday Eli

 

Presenting the Singing & Dancing Talents of Anya

So we got a spiffy new little video camera that is much easier to take along, so you'll be seeing more video here. Let's get started with these little gems:

 

 

 

Sunny Day at the Beach...in January

So Mom & Dad called to tell me that they were on their way to the beach last Tuesday because it was supposed to be great weather and invited the girls and I along. It was amazing! I can't believe how warm it was, with hardly any wind. I can think of maybe one other time I've been to the Oregon Coast with weather like this - and so odd for it to be in January. The sunset was spectacular.

Since Anya's only other experience with the beach was in California, she was very distressed that we wouldn't let her go in the ocean. She is still talking about "no go ocean, toooooo cold."

Mom and Dad were nice enough to indulge me and hold the girls in various positions while I got some nice pictures of them. The light was gorgeous and so were the girls. Sean and I are going to try to go as a family more often when he can break away from work - from West Salem it seems like the beach is practically next door now! :) ha ha.

 

     

Yeah, yeah, I'll lighten these up in Photoshop eventually, but some people (cough*mom*cough*sean*cough) were complaining that I haven't posted anything for awhile. Happy now?

Lots more new pics on Flickr - click here.

Hey, Pickle Pants!

So as soon as we signed the papers for the house, I headed out to Dallas to pick up our new Siamese kitten. SkippyJon Jones was born November 1, 2008 and is the spitting image of his namesake from the series of books of the same name.

Anya is so excited about him she can hardly contain herself. She throws herself at him while talking in an almost inaudible high pitched voice. We have to watch her carefully so she doesn't overwhelm him. He is already dominating the dogs (if he sits at the top of the stairs, Sorka just runs back to her pen rather than come up), and Belle even allows him to snuggle up with her for an occasional nap.

He adores Willow (I think she smells like milk) and wants to be near her whenever she's awake. He's only 2.6 lbs, when I first put him in the cat basket I almost threw it when I picked it up because I was so used to heaving it up with Macavity in it.

So far he seems to be a really great cat - playful and fun, not timid, but quite happy to be a lap cat while I'm on the computer. Other than being a loudmouth and accidentally turning off my computer once, I think we picked a good one!

Oh I'm SkippyJon Jones
and I bounce on my bed
'cuz I like to eat pickles
that tickle my head!

You can find out more about the books here, they are hilarious.

Our New Home - It's Official

Try not to move the day after Christmas if you can avoid it. And really try to close your loan before moving...

As most of you know, we got a great deal on a house in West Salem and decided to go forward with renting out our Arithmetic house and moving. We were able to get some renters very quickly, and were planning to close by the end of the year, but then our lender started flaking on us. We were able to arrange with the seller to lease until the new house closed because our renters needed to move in on the 29th.

So we made the decision to move the day after Christmas so we didn't lose our renters! Then the loan process kept dragging on...and on...finally we switched lenders and after a few more mishaps caused by the first lender were able to close January 15. Now I can finally finish unpacking, and hang up curtains and pictures!

We've been here almost a month and it very much feels like home. The view of the canyon is gorgeous and we love the sound of the creek running through our backyard. I thought I would miss Arithmetic since that's literally where our babies were born, but it hasn't been as hard as I expected. This house seems like a good fit for us.

What's ironic is that after looking at probably 30+ houses, this is the very first one I looked at and drug Sean to an open house. Back then it was out of our price range, but as prices continued to drop it fell back in!

We'd love to show you around sometime - just excuse the mess while we finish unpacking! Our phone numbers have stayed the same, if want our new address just call or email.

New Designs at WhiteDogBlackDog.com

I've uploaded a few new designs - another version of the always popular "She is Fierce" line, and the cowboy photo of Eli on a mini video camera.

Cute Things that Anya Says and Does #6

• When we were grocery shopping the other day, the bag boy pushed the cart and helped me unload the groceries. As he was walking away, Anya said "he's very nice!"
• She loves the shopping carts that are shaped like cars and have steering wheels. She steers and hums the Imperial March while we drive. Loudly. Sometimes people look at me funny.
• All meals are still "munch"
• This morning I shooed Skippyjon off the table and she said "Mama, you be gentle. Be gentle with Skippy." Of course a little later she attempted to pick him up and throw him off the stair railing, so we're not sure what she thinks gentle means.
• She loves to play "Xbox 'troller" with Daddy. She also recognizes the Xbox commericals and squeals "xbox 360!" Her favorite is "soccers."
• When Willow cries, she pats her on the back and says "dat's okay baby. Don't cry Willow."
• She plays the recorder to Barney's theme song. She says she's playing "musicks"
• She can sing her ABC's, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and Jesus Loves Me.
• She says "ooooo" instead of you. "Ooooo sing it too, Mama?"
• Grandpa is still pretty much her favorite person. The other day when just Nana came over, she looked up and said sadly "Grandpa's not here." However, she's usually very excited about Nana too.
• Daddy is very pleased that she says "meatballs?" very hopefully when getting up from her afternoon nap most days.
• She is starting to assert her own preferences. She has two polka dot Elmo dresses that she requests frequently.
• When we shut Skippyjon into the laundry room, she says "he go lillerbox. Bounce in big boy bed". The Skippyjon in the books bounces on his big boy bed when sent to his room, so we think she thinks he's the real Skippyjon Jones...
• She tries to blame stinky diapers on Willow. "Anya, do you have a stinky diaper?" "No, dat's Willow."
• She has a little desk in mama's office (thanks, Uncle Matt!) and she will pick up a toy and announce that she's going to "work in my office".
• TV is "FeeVee"
• She is posessive of her toys - if Willow has something of hers, she says "No baby, dat's Anya's." But then she'll hand her something else and say "that ooooo toy"
• Pronouns are still a bit confusing. She and Daddy play steamroller, where he rolls around on the floor and rolls over her - she runs screaming to me and says "save you! save you!". She also says "my" instead of "I" often. "My want dat?"
• She will look around the room and say "What's goin' on?"

Not So Cute Things:

• She has to wear full zippered jammies at nap time, because otherwise she'll take off everything including her diaper. Poop everywhere.
• She has learned "no"
• When she wants something she asks once and then immediately turns on the water works if it's not in her hand in the next instant.