I feel like this week just flew by~yet last Sunday seemed so long ago! Jaxson's recital went really well. We were a little unsure because right before his performance he started to have a little tantrum and would not go up there with me. Then Presten said "hey I'll go up their with you." --and he thought that was really cool--of course I went to every practice with him and he would not perform with me, but at least he did it. Presten does a pretty cute chicken dance too:)

I did a little more planting this week. I was very excited about it until the wonderful storm that we had today stomped on all our landscaping. There are more holes in the siding and everything that I planted has seen it's better days to say the least. Presten's windshield is now also spidered in two places from the hail. Our insurance company is going to love us!

Thursday night Jaxson went to watch Briac play baseball. Presten said the whole time he just wanted to get up there and play. Soccer starts in one week so we'll see how that goes. Presten and I are putting together the outlines for practice-considering we have never played or coached before-we are not too sure how it is going to go!

Saturday night we went over to one of the neighbors for a BBQ! We had a really good time. Jaxson played with two other boys from the neighborhood that are about his same age and are going to play soccer with him. Tyler he sees every week at our Wednesday morning play group, but he has not seen AJ all winter.

Today as I stated we had quite the storm. Huge hail, pouring rain, and lot of damage. Now that it is sunny Presten and Jake are working on our fire pit, hopefully they will be able to finish it up tonight.

Vada has been VERY fussy the last couple of days. She is showing all the signs of teething, but nothing has popped through yet. It better happen fast because she is stressing me out! :) When she is not screaming she has been moving, moving, moving-which also usually ends in her screaming her head off because she will either run into something or bang her head on a chair, a toy, the window..really whatever is in her way! She is just getting a banged up and with no hair it is hard to hide! She is also starting to try and stand which has ended in a couple of big collisions--she needs to slow down!

We are looking forward to having tomorrow off. I am hoping to get a lot of my garage sale items priced and ready to go! Have a Happy Memorial Day! The Bean's

Summer Grillin and Dandelions!

What a gorgeous week! We spent the whole week outside cleaning up the yard -(or should I say picking the dandelions!) , getting our garden's ready and planning our next projects. I can't even count how many times we have been at home depot in the past week! I think Jaxson thinks it is his second home! We finally got a grill today!! We had one picked out and then when we went to buy it they were out--or course. Then we went to another one and they were out!--finally today we tracked it down and two hours later Presten had it put together. We had burgers, potatoes and corn on the grill -we have been waiting to enjoy summer grillin food!! I started some of my planting, but I still have more to do. We planted our apple tree tonight too!

On Saturday Presten had Paul's Bachelor party. They went golfing and then had a BBQ at Paul's and then went out for some drinks after. He had a really good time. Jaxson, Vada and I went to Breanna's birthday party. She is the granddaughter of our new next door neighbors. Jaxson had a really good time-he did not want to leave!

Jaxson has his dance recital tomorrow night. His class is performing the chicken dance--we are going to tape it so I will try and post a clip of it next week. I think that it is going to be pretty funny.

Vada is completely on the move now! She LOVES Lexi's water dish and as soon as she sees it there is no stopping her-she is on a mission. She is sooo quick-I have changed her clothes so many times because she ends up getting soaked. Vada has also decided that she needs to be attached to me at all times! If I walk away from her she screams, if I lay her down she screams, if she hears my voice and I am not coming to get her she screams! I am hoping this is a short phase! Other than that she is doing really well.

We are suppose to have another really nice week! We can't wait! The Bean's

This is a really short clip--I have so many pictures on my camera that I did not have a lot of memory-- again, but I thought I would still add it!

Happy Mother's Day!

I can't believe that it has already been a week since our last post. We had a pretty typical week. Jaxson had dance on Monday which is coming to an end. They have their recital in two weeks--that will be pretty interesting/entertaining -I am sure. We are gearing up for soccer which starts the first Monday in June. Jaxson missed the age cut off for ECFE sports so Presten and I decided to start our own class. We have about eight 2-4 years olds who have signed up from our neighborhood and we are going to hold it at the park. Presten and I have never played soccer so it is going to be pretty interesting! We are hoping that we are not in over our heads-however, it is parent child participation so that should help.

Presten is getting a little practice with teaching because he is working with a long term sub from the Rogers Elementary School doing what is called Jr. Achievers with a second grade class. He talks with them about the community and jobs and how they work together. He is really enjoying it and he said that he is very impressed about how smart they are.

We spent many hours at the park this week. I think that Jaxson would live there if he could! He also spent a lot of time playing with Dianna (our little neighbor girl who is in kindergarten). On Thursday they played house outside for an hour. They were on a boat and Dianna was the dad and Jaxson was the son. It was pretty entertaining. This is also when Jaxson apparently thought that he was having too much fun or he was really taking the "pretend house" thing too seriously because he decided to pee outside in the grass. He thought he was pretty funny! I said "next time please come inside and go in the bathroom!:)"

Saturday night Jaxson went with Presten and then TJ, Kylie, Briac and Trenton to the Twins game. Presten said that Jaxson had so much fun watching the game and being goofy with his cousins.

Today we went over to Presten's parents to celebrate Mother's Day. Jim and Ella came home this week. To give an update on them-Ella was continually tested for the infection and everything now came back negative and she went home on Friday with a clean bill of health! Praise God! Jim-had a little more excitement than he probably would of liked. They still were not able to inflate his lung. There were two holes in it so his right lung so it was completely flat. On Monday they did surgery and took out the top piece of his right lung. He came home from the hospital on Wednesday, but he is still pretty sore. They came over to Vickie and Steve's today so it was really good to see him. Ella was wide awake and alert and is as cute as ever!

Vada is on the MOVE! She actually just started crawling forward today! When she wants something she goes after it. She is just getting the hang of it -but it won't be long before she is all over the place!

We are getting ready to get in the garden! This week looks like it should be an okay week weather wise. We hope everyone has a great week! The Bean's

Here is a little video of Vada she is laughing all the time--we hope it makes you smile!

Welcome Baby Ella!!

This was a bit of an eventful week. Monday, Presten and I volunteered at Project Homelessness Connect at the Minneapolis Convention Center. This event is held two times a year and provides a place for people that are homeless in the Twin Cities to have all the resources that they would need all in one place. We as volunteers, met with the guests and determined what the biggest needs were and stayed with them as they tried to access these services. The resources that were there included Housing, Employment, Benefits (SSI)--but they also provided nurses and doctors to address Medical, Dental and Eye Care needs. Hair cuts was also popular area. There were over 1300 volunteers and there was an anticipated 2500 guests-however, it really felt like there were a lot more individuals than that. The lines were very long which made it difficult to accomplish everything. It was a very eye opening experience to see thousands of homeless individuals, youth and families all in one place. The next one will be held December 8th and we plan on attending.

Wednesday was finally a beautiful day. We played at the park with 4 other families from the neighborhood for two hours! Jaxson took a good nap after that!

Thursday Amber went in to be induced and with no baby by Friday afternoon they decided to take her Cesarean. Ella had a little bit of a set back-during delivery she contracted some type of infection. Originally, they thought that it may be meningitis. They put her on medication right away and they are still awaiting the blood results. However, she looks like she is doing well-she has really good color and she passed her hearing test and she is eating well too. She still cannot come out of the nursery, but at least Amber and Jim can go in and see her.

Not that there wasn't already enough excitement-when we got up to the hospital this afternoon there was not anyone in the room. The nurse came in and said that they were in the emergency room-within minutes Amber and Presten's mom came into the room. Jim was in the emergency with a collapsed lung. They have tried to inflate it a couple times now and it will not inflate. He has now been admitted to the hospital until Tuesday. Presten talked with him tonight and he is so upset that he cannot see Ella. He is on the same floor as Amber so she can walk down to see him. Hopefully we will know more about Jim and Ella very soon. I am going to see him tomorrow-he wants me to bring him a mountain dew!:)

Saturday night we had Chris and Kristen over for dinner. It was so nice to see them-it has been a little while. Normally in May we would be able to eat and chat outside, but it was still a little chilly-hopefully next time!!

We spent today working on the getting the gardens cleaned out and just enjoying the fresh air. We'll keep you posted on Ella and Jim's progress~take care, The Bean's