Go Cougars!

All geared up to watch yesterday's bowl game...

Dublin

Sean hates to shop. I love to travel. So when my birthday was coming up and we had a few free days after Sean finished finals and before we left England to come home for the holidays, he asked if I wanted to go to Dublin for my birthday. A win-win situation for both of us (plus he gets to benefit from my birthday present too, haha :). We flew into Dublin on Sunday morning and left Monday night, so it was a quick trip, but it was lots of fun!

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Dublin War Memorial

Ha'Penny Bridge

Spire of Dublin

I think this was everyone's favorite part of the trip...relaxing in the hotel

Thankful

This year I have so much to be thankful for. For a roof over our head, food to eat, our health, the opportunity to be in England for Sean's schooling...I could go on and on and probably make all of you bored. But what I am most thankful for this year is for the people in my life...

For friends back home who you can go months or even years without seeing, but who make it seem like no time has passed when you finally do see them...

For friends we've made here in England who have opened their homes to us and have helped us in ways too numerous to number...

For parents who have always been there for me and who I've never appreciated enough. For my dad who would do anything for anybody, no questions asked. For my mom who is my ultimate example of unconditional motherly love. I love you both so much!

For siblings who are some of my very best friends...

For in-laws who've welcomed me into their family and have always made me feel at home...

But mostly this year, I am thankful for these two...

LOVE these boys!!!

For Sean who works so hard everyday at school to achieve a dream he's had for years; who always makes time in his busy days to spend with Beckham and I; who can always make me laugh; who is my best friend and the love of my life. Sean--you are a wonderful husband and an amazing daddy!

For Beckham who is the other love of my life; who can melt my heart with a simple smile; who gets so excited when he sees his daddy (he's daddy's little dude); who makes our family complete and who I'd do anything for. Beckham--I am so lucky to be your mommy!

If you're reading this, chances are you are one of those people I am thankful to have in my life. I love you all and hope you can all find as much to be thankful for this holiday season as I have.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Beckham's 6 Month Photo Shoot

As promised, here are more pictures from Beckham's 6 month photos. Many thanks again to Alta for taking such amazing pictures!!!

These are just a few of our favorites. Here's a link if you want to see more...

Beckham's 6 Month

Happy Halloween!

It's become a tradition in Sean's family to do a little "pumpkin photo shoot" for each baby's first Halloween. Last Saturday, our amazing photographer friend Alta took some 6 month pictures of Beckham (pics to come later), so we took our pumpkin with us and she got some cute pics of our little buddy! I'll post more later, but here's a preview...

After a couple of weeks of looking, and stops at several stores/stands, we finally found a pumpkin big enough for Beckham to fit in! (According to the guy I bought it from, it was "massive"--I've decided that the English perception of big is VERY different from the American idea, haha.)

Happy Half-Birthday to Beckham!

Beckham turned 6 months old today! This morning Sean grabbed Beckham when he woke up and when I walked into the room, Sean was singing "Happy Half-Birthday to You" to him. It was really cute! I can't believe how quickly these last 6 months have gone by. We are so glad that Beckham is part of our family. He is such a happy little boy and we just love him more and more each day!

Not sure about the carrots...

All ready for church!

Squeaky clean!!!

A Taste of the Good Stuff...Sort of...

The last couple of weeks, Beckham has been staring at and salivating over anything Sean or I put in our mouths to eat. (Okay, so the slobber is probably from teething more than it is from his taste buds revving up, but whatever...). In any case, seeing as he's going to be 6 months in just a week and a half, we decided it was time to start feeding him some solids (can you really call it solids when it is so diluted with milk???), so tonight we gave him his first taste of rice cereal...

Politely waiting for his first bite...

Beckham would get mad when I didn't get the spoon there fast enough...

...So he decided to grab on and help me out...

All done!

A Walk in the Park

One of the things I love the most about Newcastle (and England in general...) are all of the beautiful parks. We're lucky to live within walking distance of  several, and when the weather is nice, there's nothing better than a nice walk in the park. One of our favorite (and closest...) parks to go to is Jesmond Dene. Sean took the camera on one of our walks and got some good pics...

I love how green everything is!!!

Beckham's favorite way to spend his time at the park...

Mad at mom when the camera woke him up from his nap...so sad :)

Bupa Great North Run

When we first found out that we would be moving to Newcastle, England, one of the first things Sean did was google the city to read up about where we would be living. One of the things he read about was the Bupa Great North Run--the world's largest half marathon, which starts right in Newcastle. As soon as he read this, he knew he wanted to do it. Back in February he applied for the lottery to get into the race (last year there were over 100,000 applicants and only half were accepted). Luckily, he got in!

This past Sunday was race day and Beckham and I went down with Sean to see him off at the start. It was CRAZY with all of the people!

The start line

Before the race

Right before the race started some of the Royal Air Force fighter jets flew overhead.

The wheelchair racers were the first to start, then the elite women, and finally the elite men followed by the masses of 54,000 people! Even though Sean was in the 3rd of 11 start groups (and I wasn't very far down from the start line), it took TEN MINUTES for him to pass me after the gun went off for the main group!

Here come the masses!!!

Hangin' out waiting for daddy to pass

As soon as Sean passed us, Beckham and I hurried home to grab some lunch, then got right back on the metro to meet Sean at the finish line in South Shields on the coast. Luckily we got a seat, because the train was PACKED for the entire 40 minutes it took us to get there.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to the finish quick enough to see Sean cross the line, but we met up with him shortly after to congratulate him on a great run! (He took 5768th place--not bad considering there were 54,000 runners!)

After the race

While we were hanging out at the finish, more fighter jets put on a little air show, which was fun to watch!

It ended up being a long, crazy day, but it was definitely a fun one!!! Good job Sean!!!

These last 2 are just because Beckham is cute :)