BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

We have BIG news at the Bean house……drum roll please……. Little Miss Vada peed in the potty THREE times this weekend pooped ONCE! I seriously did not think that we were even close to this happening. Apparently I turned over a new leaf this weekend, it is called EXTREME PATIENCE. After many deep breaths, and saying- I CAN DO THIS, I CAN DO THIS, I CAN DO THIS….(you would think that I was training myself:)) Vada finally peed in her potty! After doing it once she really started to catch on and of course I bribed her with a piece of a Hershey chocolate bar:) We are no where close to being fully potty trained, but it feels good that we finally made it to step one!

Last weekend we had our first camping adventure of the summer! The Bean and Vanderhorst families set up camp at Baker Park (I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love the Three Rivers Park District) on Lake Independence. We camp every summer, but MAN- it is a lot of work! There was probably a couple things that added to this, one- Vada is VERY mobile and two- we brought Lexi for the first time in a couple years. Despite a few more hectic moments, we had a fun-filled time. I am actually surprised that we have not camped there before, we will definitely be going back. It is a big campground with really nice paved trails.



Thank goodness we brought our bikes! Jaxson biked up and down the road by our campsite all day long! He was trying to be cool and do some tricks, which ended with a few band aids, but he was having so much fun! I think he would say the best part of the weekend was when he got to go biking with dad at 10:00 at night and they saw a whole field of fireflies. He has been talking about how AWESOME that was:)


Jaxson caught his FIRST FISH!!! He was so proud!! I think this picture is really funny because Jaxson is all bundled up on the pier because it was pretty windy and chilly, but below we have Vada swimming in her boat. She had been looking forward to swimming in her boat for weeks. I am pretty sure that she was the ONLY person in the whole lake because it was defiantly not a water day. She didn't care, she was going swimming!! She was having so much fun playing in Vadaland- bouncing up and down in the water, wind blowing- oh it makes me laugh!

Two little Monsters snuggled up by the fire!

On our way home from Baker Park on Sunday we stopped off to grab some lunch at the Peppermint Twist (drive-in) in Delano. They have AMAZING burgers! They were even featured on the Food Network for their food. If you are ever in that area, I would definitely check them out! They have great shakes and malts too!

Peppermint Twist in Delano, MN

Well a Summer would not be complete without going strawberry picking! I took Jaxson and Vada picking with me this year. I have to say I was extremely worried that Vada was going to have a huge melt down and start running through the strawberry fields. Luckily, there were just a few moments of fussiness, the rest was filled with juicy strawberries and red mustaches. Typically I avoid any situation that could possibly create unneeded stress to my life. Unfortunately, Vada has the tendency to do this a lot…. But apparently, I am finding my mom skills which include- bravery, endurance and a place of tranquility. I have to equip myself with these before taking Vada out on any adventures. These skills have to be intentional or else we all end-up having huge meltdowns. ….I think we are making progress!

Jaxson was my all-star strawberry picker! He was finding strawberry jackpots all over the place!:)

"These strawberries are good, mom!"

All our hard work!

This afternoon we attended the Bean Family Reunion. It was really good to see Presten’s grandma Jo and Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Greg. Presten really enjoys seeing them so we hoping to stay in closer contact with them over the next year.

Presten's Aunt Sheryl, Grandma Jo and Uncle Greg at the Bean Family Reunion

Well- off to enjoy this gorgeous sunshine today!! WOW, what a great Sunday!

The Bean's

Playin Catch-up!

Picture time!

Mr. Harry Potter!

Mommy and Vada!

Vada's first pig tails!

Jaxson and Daddy at the Jaxson Preschool performance!

Proud Vada in her NEW BIG GIRL BED!

Trying it out!

Well, we may not have a potty trained girl, BUT we do have a little girl that is sleeping in a BIG GIRL bed! Wooohooo! Vada moved into her big girl bed the Friday before Memorial day and we have not had one incident with her getting out of her bed (maybe I should say her room) in the morning or at nap. Actually, she yells for me when she wakes up to come and get her. Presten has been roped into sleeping with her in the middle of the night a couple times. Vada doesn’t always sleep very well, so he used to bring her out to the couch to lay with him, but now he can lay with her in her bed. However, I think the best part about her having a bed is that we can now read her stories with her in her bed. This transition has been incredibly smooth and we are so proud of her!

This weekend Vada also sported her very first set of pigtails! She loves them! She now lets me do her hair EVERY day! She has been completely okay with sitting still long enough for me to get them in- which if you know Vada…is not normal:) We are loving Vada’s complete innocence and her very humorous personality! She talks about candy all the time. :::side story: This morning Vada brought out a small plastic tub to Presten and told him that she needed to go to Halloween to get more candy. Presten said “you do..you need more candy?” Vada said, “Yeah you want to come to Halloween too?” All we could do was laugh at her and say “sure we’ll come:)”

On Saturday we celebrated our close friend Chris’s birthday. While we were there Chris made Jaxson a Harry Potter wand. Jaxson turned on his magic through saying his magic Harry Potter spells to open and close the garage door:) He ABSOLUTELY thinks this wand is not a toy and that it is REAL magic! He is even able to open and close our garage door at home with his spells. It is AMAZING. He has been showing the neighbors and his cousins and everyone is in complete awe. He now needs to study his magic so that he can do more things!

Other than that we are just loving summer! Jaxson has his last day of preschool on Thursday and now he will be at Sarah’s for the summer and then will be back at St. David’s in the Fall. We have been doing a lot of gardening, we made our first trip to the beach, having campfires and now getting ready to prepare our camping gear for a couple camping trips.

Have a great week!! The Bean’s