
Welcome to The Beauchamp Family website. This is our home away from home on the web. This site is for our family and friends who live near and far to be able to keep up with us. We will try to keep you guys up to date on our goings-on. For anything prior to January 2006, please Click Here.
- Tom, Candy, Jamie & Cassie Beauchamp, Austin, TX
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Jamies Mothers Day Letter 2008
I found this in Jamie's bookbag this morning. I can only guess that this is something they made for Mother's Day. I feel all gushy that it does look like he spent a good deal of time coloring it in.
BUT... read the first line. Ummm... yeah... I came back in from dropping him at school and proclaimed to Tom that he needed to lick my hand and tell me what I tasted like. He looked at me like I had 2 heads. *laugh*
In case you don't read First Grade, "Moms taste like milk. Oh mommy you are the best. Mom let's go to Sea World. Mom, let's go swimming. You are the very very best. From Jamie."
Other than the random milk thing, I think he's sucking up for a Sea World and/or pool trip, eh? ;)
Monday, March 24, 2008
Easter Day Photos
In a rush, so I just threw these up and cheated by doing a slideshow ;) The celery thing is a big mystery in our house. I am pretty sure the kids had a snack and left it on the table. We have a clean up after yourself rule. They say they didn't do it, and the bunny must have... hmmm... what do YOU think?
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Egg Dye is so 2007... this year, it's EGG Painting
Tom and I were trying to skip out of the whole egg dye thing. I hate it. They splash it everywhere, stick their fingers in there, get it on their clothes, me, Tom and no one eats the stupid eggs. Then I started to feel guilty and like the anti-mom, so I remembered we bought these kits a couple of years ago and never used them. So, we dyed some eggs... well, we painted them. This kit was AWESOME. I have no idea why I thought it was going to suck - well, plus we did it outside, much easier than inside crammed at a small table in an apartment with two little little kids that think the yellow one is lemonade - oh, those were the days!
This was cool though, they got to be artistic (and I don't mind doing like REAL craft stuff with them so this worked out great) and I didn't have to deal with the tablets that won't dissolve. Cool! We had 2 packs, but they decided to share the paint (which is basically dye with eyeshadow applicators) and use it next year too. The little holder thing I thought would suck, but we didn't break or lose a single egg.
Coolness!
So, the pics...
Jamie told me to take this... he is such a little ham sometimes.

So serious....


Cassie was much more freestyle artistic :)

See? Cool, eh?

Why, yes. Yes, I am easily entertained.
Edit: They are called Dudley's DecorEGGer (get it? LOL) and I think I've seen them at Target and WalMart for like $4
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Thursday, February 14, 2008
Mr. Overachiever Daddy and the Errupting Volcano Cake
My house is a complete disaster, but everyone at the elementary school is fully in a sugar coma :) Make sure you scroll down to see the erupting volcano cake.... seriously, people. He needs a hobby.
For V-Day Tom made the teacher's a double heart cake - can we all say "awwww..." now? *laugh*

Suck Up!
And now the eruption. The lady who had the camera didn't know it was recording so I spliced it together as best as I could... Do you hear those kid's screaming? OMG... it was so loud. I'm almost glad I had to stay here and work on those never-ending stream of tax forms.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Happy New Year's Eve - we're all sick and it sucks!
Yeah, so we have been passing this virus around for the past week. It sucks and it kind of ticks me off. We are sick because someone didn't keep their sick kid home. Ugh.
That also means that we didn't get to go a friend's house like we were supposed to. I'm so bummed out. We had so many plans that have just gotten destroyed this week.
Ugh. So 2007 is ending with a whimper over here.
We got some fireworks for the kids to do in the backyard. Here they are:

Yeah, they looked just thrilled, don't they? We stopped after just a few minutes because they wanted to go in and finish the fireworks another day. How sad is that? They are too sick to watch fireworks.
Ugh.
Anyway, I got some pictures because well, it's what I do now, take pictures of everything and make my husband crazy (I almost asked him to move the trash around them, but he already thinks I'm completely crazy).

Happy Freaking New Year.
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Labels: Holidays, Photography Blabber
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Christmas Night & The Day After
We had dinner at home on Christmas. Tom made a honey spiraled ham that was absolutely to die for. We also had twice baked potatoes casserole and broccoli puff. And we had some "red" and "white" sparkling grape juice (Jamie's idea) so we let the kids drink out of wine glasses. They thought they were so big. We even set the table all nice:

The kids played some more, I took a nap and Tom let me sleep (thank goodness, I was dead) and then Tom and I got to play the Wii. I'm not very good at the point and click games (not on the PC either), but in the sports, I can kick his butt! We played boxing (KO baby!) and bowling and baseball. :) I beat him in all 3. *laugh*
I got up this morning and Cassie looked HORRIBLE and was running around a 102 degree fever. So I dosed her with Tylenol and got her an appointment this afternoon at the doctor. She took a 3 hour nap (those that know Cassie are as freaked out as I am, Cassie does NOT nap) and woke up burning up again so I dosed her with Motrin. She stayed in her room in bed all day. Tom took her to the doctor at 2:30 and she came home all happy. What? How does THAT work? She still sounds kind of yucky, but she looks a lot better.
The doctor didn't give her anything, it's viral, like I thought (but that fever scared me!). She did say there's some bug going around. It's not the flu, thank goodness, but it's a 3-5 day deal.
Anyway, so she's doing a little better. She asked for McDonald's for dinner so we sucked it up and got McDonald's (I don't really like Mickey Ds). Let's hope she keeps it down and has a good day tomorrow. Ugh. I hate it when they are sick. Especially her. Jamie will tell us what hurts and what will make him feel better. Cassie just wants to be left alone.
Poor baby.
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Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Christmas Morning...
I think I mentioned in my last post that Cassie was sick. Okay, let me post this general rule to family members, friends, and the public as a whole... do NOT bring your sick children to gatherings. Keep them home. Give them medicine. Get them well. Someone brought their sick kid to a family gathering. I didn't realize the kid was sick otherwise I would have asked her mother to quarantine her. Seriously. Everytime someone comes sick to a family gathering, someone in my family gets sick. Ugh. So while their child is probably fine now, mine is sick on Christmas Day and that's not fair to her. I would have rather my kids missed a family gathering than be sick on Santa Day!
So, last night, we are at Tom's mother's house and Cassie's nose gets a little runny - no biggie because we've all been suffering with allergies lately, but I notice her eyes are a little glassy and she feels warm. My SIL has a thermometer in her purse (of course *laugh*) and Cassie is running a nearly 100 degree fever. Crap, so we book it out of there and stop on the way to get her a cold Sprite. Get home, do the reindeer food thing, drug her up and she starts coughing up a storm. We ended up moving her into our bed, but she was awake when Santa came and basically just threw stuff in piles - he didn't get to open as many things as he would have liked to, but she was coughing and I needed to get to bed with her.
She woke up a few times in the night coughing and I had to prop her up on my shoulder so she was half sitting up. She sounded horrible. Ugh. She got up this morning at 8:30 and was kind of dragging - she did insist I get up so we could go see what Santa brought (we are mean and make them wait until we get up too... LOL). She then woke up Daddy and Jamie, but you could tell she was still sick. Anyway...
Last night, Santa nearly got busted so many times. Jamie was tossing and turning because Cassie was awake and coughing up a lung. The funniest was the bird though. Everytime we moved it it screeched "Hello" or started singing "Hot Hot Hot". Tom finally grabbed it and was out in the garage for about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to turn the thing off. Every now and then I'd hear it say "Hello" or "Hot Hot Hot" or whatever faintly through the door. I just knew he was going to take a hacksaw to the thing and fix it for good. *laugh*
Busted:

The loot. The Wii pile (and gaming chairs) is the family gift, Jamie's pile is next, the next is a "to share pile" and the next is Cassie's pile - what you cannot see is Julie's little pile. She got a new bed, toys and treats:

Here's the kiddos walking in...

Jamie checks his stuff out:

Here's Cassie with Pinkie Pie (that's name of an annoying My Little Pony - this particular dances and sings and must die immediately):

We were starting to wonder when Jamie was going to notice the Wii. He had originally asked for a Wii, but then changed his mind to Battleground. The Wii was our family gift this year. Anyway, he had walked by it and even glanced that way, but he was so into the Battleground thing, he didn't even really notice it... and then he did:

Cassie noticed the gaming chairs and they decided to open their stockings (which had movies and junk in them) while on the chairs:

We had breakfast (Tom made breakfast tacos!), Cassie puked (just how I wanted to spend my Christmas morning, thanks again for bringing your sick kid - not that I'm bitter or anything) *laugh*, so Jamie set up his Battleground game while Tom went to the store to get some more meds for Cassie:

Cassie laid down and watched some movies and got a little rest:

And then got up so they could both zone in front of the Wii for a while:

Tom and I are both exhausted. He's making a ham, potato casserole and brocolli puff... and the new oven just went on the fritz saying to call the service center and won't heat anything up.
Hey, at least I didn't bust the sink again! *laugh*
(Don't Ask)
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Christmas Eve stuff...
So, for the past nine years, I keep saying I'm going to take Spam Musubi (Click to see recipe) to one of the family gatherings, but honestly I've been worried that no one would eat it. I mean, it's spam sushi basically *laugh*. But this year, Tom convinced me to make it and take it. Everyone seemed to really like it! Yay! They ate all of it! I took 15 little ones and they ate 'em!

Yummmm...
A slideshow from Christmas Eve at Tom's Mother's house...
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Cassie started running a fever. One of the cousins brought a sick kid to the grandmother's celebration on Saturday. So, now Cassie is sick. Poor thing, sick on Christmas Day :( I was up a few times in the night with her coughing. She's pretty miserable. Tom and I aren't feeling well, but I don't know if that's from the lack of sleep or what.
I have Christmas pics, which I'll post later tonight or tomorrow... I gotta go check on Cassie girl.
I'll leave you with some pics from last night - they left reindeer food out for the reindeer (oatmeal with green/red sprinkles) :-)


And a quick pic of the moon last night, just cuz :)

Labels: Holidays
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Xmas Gifts From Each Other...
In the never-ending days of gifts, they opened their gifts from each other this afternoon (after I made them clean their rooms and help with the rest of the house).
Cassie got Jamie snakes. She was determined that is what she wanted to give him snakes, so she bought this little bag of snakes from the dollar store and then we ordered a big stuffed from Amazon. He was so cute and she was so proud of herself!
Jamie got Cassie a Diego backpack full of games they can play. Cassie was more excited about putting the backpack on because, well, that's what Cassie does - wears stuff. But they went in her room and played a few games and I think the snakes had a fight with the Barbie dolls or something. ;)



Oh, and since Heather doesn't read the comments... my camera is a Canon Rebel xti and my flash is the Canon Speedlite 430ex :) I've been using the kit lens as my everyday lens. I also have a 70-300mm and a 50mm fixed.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Xmas at Great Granny's House
We had Christmas at Tom's grandmother's house today... it was actually kind of nice. Sometimes it's so chaotic that I feel so overwhelmed that I am not able to relax, but either I'm getting used to it (lol - finally) or everyone was calmer, not sure which one ;)
We had shrimp and so many side dishes and pies I lost count and Tom and I brought the chocolate fountain. We bought it a year ago on sale and never used it. Let me tell you that if you want to have one of those whisper fights with your spouse at a family function, decide to set up a chocolate fountain together for the first time. *laugh*. First, the chocolate wasn't melted enough, then he cooked it, then we didn't add enough oil, then I had globs of it all over the table. Oh man, it was CRAZY. Luckily we quickly realized we were arguing over a stupid chocolate thing, read the directions again and realized we didn't put enough oil in the stupid thing and we didn't turn it off to let the bubbles settle so it would "sheet" down in a fountain-like way.
Eureka. We have also decided this thing will only come out on special occasions ;)

Here's Jamie playing with the tinker toys he got...


Cassie was in one of her moods about pictures today, so we didn't get many of her, but here's one of her playing with her Daddy :)

And one of "baby" Jack, playing with a ball, with a little editing help from Auntie Candy...

Labels: Cassie, Holidays, Jamie, Photography Blabber, Tom
Friday, December 21, 2007
First Xmas Gifts Opened!
Tom and I took pity on ourselves and let the kids open their gifts from us tonight - they are already bored and we needed a break. And Santa came a little early and gave me an external flash for my camera... so I got to play... I'm proud of quite a few of them! And it's like having a whole new camera... that flash makes a HUGE difference in indoor photography!
Anyway... here's some of my faves from tonight - see my flikr for more (that annoying thing to the right) ;)
I love this one of Cassie... it's kind of backlit... and yes, I actually did this on purpose!

Can you say bounce flash? Yeah, baby, yeah! Aside from that, Jamie has the most soulful eyes... I love taking pictures of him like this.

Here they are showing us what they got. Cassie got some new BearyTales stories and a few gameboy movies/games. Jamie got some new gameboy games. (Thank you, GameSpy, sorry you went out of business, but we SCORED!)

Labels: Cassie, Holidays, Jamie, Photography Blabber
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Austin Trail of Lights 2007
We ventured down to Zilker and walked the Trail of Lights last night. We hadn't done it since 2004, so it was a lot of fun. The kids behaved and I got to practice taking photos. ;)
Our friend and her kid went with us. She had a scarf and each kid grabbed a section. It worked great. We didn't have to hold their hands the whole way but we couldn't lose them, they were grouped together. They did really well considering they don't open it until 7pm and bedtime is 7:15 here!
Here's a slideshow... it was SO neat this year.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
My favorite was Where The Wild Things Are - and I think my photo turned out pretty good on that one. The dinosaur around the tree was REALLY neat as well. It was a great time. We hope to try to do this every year :)
Oh, and yes, we twirled under the tree. I think you have to. :-)
Labels: Cassie, Holidays, Jamie, Photography Blabber
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
We saw Santa!!!
For the first year ever, both kids agreed to visit with Santa. Even Cassie! I wasn't too sure because she and I went to the mall earlier and passed by Santa and she was dragging me away screaming (yes, quite the scene, and we didn't even go NEAR him). But Jamie must have given her some courage, because she walked right up. She was VERY nervous, but told him she wanted a "Peppy the Birdie" and Jamie told him he wanted Battleground. They were so cute!
Here they are at home getting ready for the big event:

Jamie is waiting his turn (I love love love this photo of him, he looks so big!):

Cassie walking up:

Jamie telling him IN DETAIL what Battleground is (he was a little nervous too):

... and eureka! We got 'em both this year! Yay!
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Decking The Halls -- and the Tree Topper saga...
---> I've been blogging like crazy this week, so keep going, there's lots here! <---
So, today was the day we promised the kids we would decorate the tree and house. We also said we'd do outside, but it's bitterly cold and raining, so they had to get disappointed there - we only have a few things for outside anyway.
So, I (even though I'm sick) take the kids to Target while Tom unpacks the stuff in peace - oh trust me here, if they had been here they would've driven him crazy - plus I think I got the better end of that deal. We were on a mission for a tree topper... the kids found one. I thought it was going to be WAY too big. It was. We get home and we were all dying laughing at this thing bending over and swaying back and forth. We don't have a tiny tree, but that thing was made for a Texas-Sized tree for sure!
So, we decide to ALL go back to the store and the only one we could find is this hideous silver thing, but whatever... it fits. Well... more on that story below with pictures to guide you. *laugh*
So, here's the pictures to share...
While Tom fussed around with getting the big tree set up, we got the kids busy decorating the little tree..













An actual post with actual words and lots of rambling
Yeah, so apparently this is just a photo blog now, eh? *laugh*
I'll post pictures soon of the tree trimming and decorating we got done today, but thought I'd ramble a bit...
Kids are doing good. They have their moments, but as Tom and I were talking earlier this week, we are so lucky that they get along so well. I hear these sibling horror stories and we just don't have those. Maybe it's because they are pretty close in age. Maybe it's because I'm such a rockin' mom. Okay, it's probably pure luck and the fact that Jamie is basically scared of Cassie - she's mean! But seriously, they are great kids. And growing up... way way way too fast!
I'm working more than I should and not sleeping as much as I should, but that's pretty normal. 127 days and my volunteer commitment is over. As much as I've loved giving back to my industry, I'm ready to get back some of my life now. I'm really really enjoying the photography class I'm taking at LVS. It was cheap, but I really am learning what all those buttons do!
Tom is Tom. Reliable. Cute. Funny. Weird. Sexy. All that and a bag of chips - just ask him ;) He's really stepped up lately, which is good because I've been pretty much chained to my office trying to get everyone fixed up before January hits and the entire world collapses. I hate January.
We are settling in as homeowners again. I don't even know if I shared or not... we owned a home many years ago but it was like... well, do you remember that movie The Money Pit with Shelly Winters from the 90s? Yeah. Like that. So, we swore off homeownership. We lived in apartments, but the kids needed a yard, so we started renting this house. Well, the landlord was going to sell it and we were so sad. We love this house. We love our neighbors. We love the neighborhood. We LOVE it here. LOVE it. It's probably the only reason I haven't gone off the deep end and insisted that we move out of this state - no, I'm serious. Anyway, we signed off on it earlier this year, and it's ours (well, the bank owns it now I suppose). Nothing major has broken... yet. We lived here a year and a half before buying so I feel pretty confident that we know all the good and bad about it.
Thanksgiving was okay. We went to Tom's mother's house for Thanksgiving eve and spent the night with his grandmother so we didn't have to come back home because we had Thanksgiving with his grandma. Then went to his cousin's house for dessert. Talk about whirlwind!
The good: The kids behaved, the food was good, the company was good.
The bad: His aunt showed up sick and now I'm sick - as a dog. She said that she wasn't contagious but in the next breath said that she caught it from someone else. That should have been high alert for me. I get sick so easily. Anyway... so I'm sick and it sucks. I was going to get the flu shot this week too. Ugh.
The good: We had a really great time at his cousin's house. We don't get to see them often and I forget how much I really like them.
The bad: His family cannot seem to honor the one tradition that we keep to. Yes, we are the annoying people that stay home Christmas Day. I'll run all over the place otherwise, but that's our day. Everyone is welcome to come visit us and they know that, we will be in our PJs and playing with Santa stuff and just generally relaxing, but that is our day, as a family. It's been that way for 14 years now. It's not going to change, but every year they pressure us about coming to their houses. I always feel like everyone blames me because it's a tradition that started with my family, but it's one that Tom is ADAMANT about these days, probably moreso than I am. He loves that time with the kids and the kids love it too. Anyway, it just always make me feel uncomfortable. The only way this changes is if we visit family out of town (like last year - although we have vowed to not do that again - too stressful).
Friday, November 23, 2007
Play Play Play All The Day Day Day...
Ice Cream Conecakes for Turkey Day!
We felt like doing something fun for the kids this year so we made Ice Cream Conecakes. We baked them, realized we didn't have time to make the icing and figured we'd stop by CVS and grab a can. We did manage to pack several different kinds of sprinkles though... yeah, so the one CVS we passed on the way didn't have any. Thank goodness grandma came through!
The kids got to make them twice. Once at MiMi's house and another at Cousin Olivia's house. Fun was had by all... and really, it wasn't as mess as I feared!
Labels: Holidays
"Baby" Jack Photos....
This is my nephew, Jack... The blurred picture in the back is him as "Baby Jack"... I dunno, I thought this was a cute little mini-series. The thing on his head is a ball that popped and grandma cut open... now it's a funky hat :)
And yes, he will always be Baby Jack to us :) 'Sides since my sister-in-law hasn't updated her blog with new pics since FEBRUARY, I figured I'd show the world how cute he is :)
Labels: Holidays, Photography Blabber
Friday, November 02, 2007
Soccer & Halloween
Yeah, no pictures from Trick Or Treating. I gave Tom the camera. I *know* better than that. If they weren't blurry, they were solid black (there's this thing called the flash...)
Anyway, I took some of Julie in her playgirl jacket, the kids with a friend at a "fruit picnic party" (ummm... okay, it's better than the "candy party" I guess) and there's a pic of Cassie playing soccer... and... enjoy!




In other news, I was really naughty(it gets here today!!!)
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Yeah, we are THOSE freaks...
Every year, I swear our neighbors must think we are NUTS. You see, we are the Halloween freaks on the street. We have more Halloween decor than we do Christmas. We decorate, our house can be seen as the orange speck from outerspace.
I was going to wait to take pictures and post until tomorrow, but a dear friend of mine, Halloween Grinchy Barb over at So The Thing Is... posted, so of course, I have to do it sooner...
This is the front yard of our house and the walkway... enjoy and BOO!
I was going to put commentary, but you get the idea. One shot is really blurry, it's a Halloween tree with purple lights, a graveyard and a severed leg. The witches pot will have bubbling fog tomorrow night coming out of it too!









Labels: Holidays
First Trick Or Treat
We love Moonies Burger House in Cedar Park... they are so nice there and the food is great!
Labels: Cassie, Holidays, Jamie, Moblogging
Monday, October 29, 2007
Look! Quick! We're famous again!
We're famous again! We are major Recipe Zaar-a-holics and we get entirely too excited when we are featured in any way on the site. We have the photo of the day today! It's the Halloween bones that Tom worked so hard on last year for Jamie's party! How cool are we?
Check us out at RecipeZaar.com
The flickr badge you see on our sidebar is mostly our RZ photos :)
And if you missed it, of course, dork that I am, I took a screen shot!
Monday, September 03, 2007
Labor Day Weekend
First, I put up some pics Cassie took too, head over to If You Give A Kid A Camera... to see 'em!
Whew! What a weekend, Labor Day or no! Tom and I finally got sick of the garage. It was a mess. Stuff piled everywhere with no where to put it. So, off we go to Home Depot and Lowes to look at garage shelves and some sort of workshop station for Tom for all his tool crap.
We found 2 large shelving units to hold all the junk we have out there plus this awesome tool bench/work area for Tom and all his tools. Maybe we will be able to find everything now! I'll post pics of my garage when it's done :) *laugh* Yes, this is my life, people! We also gave away a lot of our unused junk on Freecycle.
It started raining (we spent almost all day out there) and the kids were trying to catch rain - hey, this is Texas Snow, Y'all! (groan)

Lookit how big they look! When did they grow? Where was I?

Here's Tom putting stuff together... Hehehehe... he was EXHAUSTED by the time we all came inside.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Happy 4th of July!
Happy 4th of July! We had a party over here that ended up being pretty fun! We had a nice break in the rain and the kids got to go in the pool and we had quite a few people show up in the end. It was nice to hang out with friends and have a good time. Tom and I both love to have people over so we are trying to do it more often :)
We grilled out burger and dogs, ate way too much, let the kids run wild and did some fireworks. I would have more pictures, but I forgot. I blame my friend, S, who must have doubled my drink while I wasn't looking :p

Monday, June 18, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Fathers Day, One Day Early
So Cassie woke up afraid of the storm last night. Somehow, I ended up sleeping in her bed. OUCH! Anyways, I get an awesome surprise when I wake up. They decided to give my me fathers day gift one day early!
A wallet you say? Nay, my friend! Take a closer look:
The wallet has a built in digital photo frame! Carries up to 65 photos! Pretty awesome!I have to give Candy props: she did an awesome job finding something that is both family oriented and satisfies my "Gadget Craving".
She also made me brunch! Simple and Easy Tunisian Scrambled Eggs With Veggies


























