No Dreads, No Tats, No Doobies, No Rum

My husband made it home early Thursday morning with none of the above in tow. I know, the dreads were stretching it a little bit. I am very thankful to have him home. He said the island was beautiful, and he was swamped with work. I guess that means he was too busy to go looking for Stella. We are working on getting back to normal. David won the Sub-District championship with his All-Star team. Josh is back from camp, all is right with the world. I am almost 6 months pregnant and I AM NOT READY! We don't have a name and she will be naked. Oh well, I'll get ready in time.

How Matt Got His Groove Back

My hot husband is alone on a tropical island. He is surrounded by sand and clear blue water. I'm sure there are plenty of girls in bikinis walking around. Does this sound like the makings for a guy movie paradise along the lines of "How Stella Got Her Groove Back"? Well, believe it or not, he is on a business trip. He left today for the island of Antigua and will not be home until Thursday morning. I am not jealous, I am not bitter, if I repeat this often enough maybe it will be true. I really am not upset, I just miss him. As for the groove thing, he never lost it...

What's In A Name

There are two issues going on in the Beam household currently. The most noticeable would be the absence of our jock, David. He left for camp Sunday and won't be home until Friday. For those of you who have 1 or 2 children or your children go to school, I'm sure you are thinking that 1 down with 3 left is no big deal. Well, I am a mother who is used to being with her children 24/7. Way back when I only had one, I couldn't seem to get anything done because I was always holding my baby. Now that there are four I am lonely without 1! I know, lonely in a crowd? Friday can't come soon enough. The other big deal is probably only a big deal to me. I know that Matt isn't loosing sleep over it anyway. We are trying to come up with a name for this baby. We picked beautiful names for all the boys and I want this one to be lovely as well. I get one shot at naming a girl and it had better be perfect! We thought we had at least one of her names picked out but I think we may be willing to scrap it and start over. I am looking for suggestions. We have some criteria. I have to be able to imagine a 90 year old with the name. The meaning has to be relevant (no moon child) I like really old-fashioned and Matt is picky. Oh, alright, I am too. HELP!!

Going, Going, Gone!!!!

Thursday night was the last game of David's rec ball season. It was really a make-up game that we had to finish. I was really kind of dreading it because the weather was so hot. We only had about 40 minutes left to play and were doing very well. David came up to bat and took two swings at nothing pitches. As I watched, he swung easily at an inside fast ball and made contact. The ball soared over the fence and into the adjacent field. I started crying and watched my boy round the bases. He had the biggest grin on his face, I don't even know how he could see where he was going. His team came out of the dugout to congratulate him. The pitcher (who is a friend of his) and the opposing coach came to the plate to congratulate him as well. The umpire even smacked his bottom and told him "Way to go David!" He made the All-Star team for this summer. I guess we'll be playing ball a while longer. I don't mean for this to be a side note or anything, but I have some more bragging to do. My oldest son Josh completed his 9th grade school year a full week early. He could have finished almost a month early but decided to take it easy and work for an hour or two every day. He of course made all A's with little or no effort. I am so proud of him and his performance. He has been looking to the future and is setting some high and also realistic goals for himself. Not only is he thinking about college and his major, he is also considering how to pay for it. Tell me, what 14 year-old boy thinks that far ahead? My cup runneth over and I am truly blessed!!!

Summer Lovin'

My honey and I just had a lovely weekend alone together at the beach. My mother-in-law came down Thursday to stay with the boys, and we left Friday morning. We checked into the hotel early Friday and went out to look at pink baby clothes. I had a hard time choosing because I wanted it all. I told Matt that my goal was for her to never wear the same thing twice. I know, that won't really happen but buying dresses was a lot of fun. We spent the day Saturday out on the beach just reading and soaking up the sun. We went out to a movie that night. I had a great time. We try really hard to take the time every year to spend some time alone to reconnect. We decided early on in our marriage that we didn't want to look at one another when the kids were grown and realize they were all we had in common. It used to be easier to have a twice monthly date night when there were only 1 or 2 children. Now that there are almost 5 it seems a little simpler to condense it all into a weekend once or twice a year. Summer lovin', happened so fast... But oh, those summer nights.....