All three across the finish line!!

We are excited to tell everyone that we all made it across the finish line!! Presten and my sister Katie finished in awesome time! I had an equipment issue that held me up at the start of the race. About 1/4 of mile in a I felt like something was wrong with my right blade and sure enough I look down and my front wheel had lost the nut to keep the wheel in place. If I would not of realized it my wheel would of just flown off. I found someone that was able to fix my wheel however, at this point I was probably a good 1/2 mile behind all 4,000 skaters! It took me a mile or two to catch up and start passing some skaters so I wasn't the absolute last person across the finish line. Presten finished in 2.5 hours and I was somewhere around 3 hours...which beat my time in 2004 so we are making progress! We skated from Two Harbors to Duluth right along the North Shore. We are excited that we finished...but we are sooo SORE today!

We drove up to Duluth on Friday and went took the kids to the Zoo. Jaxson loves animals so he had a really good time...minus this crazy monkey that we were watching through the glass. He decided to lunge straight at us..I thought I was going to have a heart attack! We then went and checked in at the hotel. We stayed at Black Bear Casino just a few miles outside of Duluth. We were really impressed with the hotel. They had a really nice heated pool and two hot tubs and a big buffet that we indulged ourselves in after the race!

Jaxson and Vada had fun hanging out with grandma and grandpa....there are always lots of treats!

Jaxson had two good days at preschool. He was a little bit of a stinker on Tuesday, but on Thursday he was a bit better..we'll get there. He just has these little meltdowns when I drop him off and pick him up, but is good in class.

Vada is starting to get her top two teeth in, so she been a little more fussy these last few days. Other than that she is into everything...all the time! One more month until she is ONE!!

Have a great week! The Bean's

it's all a blur.....

Jaxson's first day of preschool

This past week was pretty crazy for all of us. We are all transitioning onto our new schedules....we have only encountered some minor bumps in the road so we say praise for that!

Jaxson had a great first week at preschool. Tuesday I almost forgot to say good bye to him because he was already off playing! Thursday he was a little more clingy and had a pretty big melt down when I picked him up..but we made it through and learned some lessons so this week hopefully will be a little smoother.

This was also Jaxson first week of Sunshine choir practice at church and Sunday school. Apparently being three is a pretty BIG deal! Jaxson met a little boy named Nicholas at choir practice on Wednesday-they hit it off right away! Nicholas is such a hoot! This morning at Sunday school there was a little girl that came into the class and Nicholas said, "Hi Sara-this is my friend Jaxson." Jaxson was being a little shy and Nicholas said to him, "Jaxson, don't be shy it is just Sara." It was pretty cute. I asked Jaxson how Sunday School went- and I asked him what they did with these spoons that I saw in the classroom-Jaxson said, "oh me and Nicholas didn't do those because we were being monkeys instead!" I can just imagine what they were doing! There were 12 three and four year olds this morning and 2 teachers! Jaxson also received his preschool bible on Thursday night from Paster Phil. He has been carrying it all over the house and he looks through it and asks us to read him the stories. It is not going to take long to get through it!

We had Heidi and Keith over on Saturday. We spent a lot of the afternoon with them and then we made dinner and played some games-with Jaxson:) and then they left around the time that we put the kids to bed. We hadn't seen them in a long time so it was nice to be able to spend that much time with them!

Vada is still our little monster! She is starting to take some more steps. She can do about 5 in a row..so it won't be long before she is running!

Well I think that we are all exhausted this today so we will be going to bed early!

Wish us luck we have the marathon on Saturday and we haven't rollerbladed for a couple weeks now...so at this point I really am not sure what we got ourselves into!

Have a great week! The Bean's

Here is a little video of Vada working on taking some steps!

State Fair and Summer Projects!

Happy Labor Day! We hope that everyone had a chance to relax and celebrate all the hard work you do all year long. Or you could do what we did and try and pack in an entire summers worth of projects in 3 days!

We decided to paint the basement this weekend among other things...we have been talking about doing it all summer so finally we did it and it looks so good. We had to work in shifts around when the kids schedule so it took us the whole three days. Jaxson was quite the foreman...as I was painting I asked him how it was looking and he told me that it didn't look good yet because he could still see white on the wall. He is so funny.

Jaxson has a big day coming up tomorrow..It is his first day of preschool!! He is super excited. After his 3 year check-up on Friday we went to meet his teacher and some of the of the other kids that are going to be in his class. He will be going St. David's now on Tuesdays and Thursdays. By the way..the check-up went great. He was a little stinker about the eye check-maybe next year.

Vada is doing great! She LOVES to eat!! We went to the State Fair on Wednesday and all she wanted to do was eat...it didn't matter if it was our food or not..if she saw food she wanted it! She did really well at the fair, she even got in a little nap which she needed! We had been looking forward to the fair all winter/spring/summer! Of course it had to rain, but it didn't slow us down a bit! We ate a lot--but next year I think that we are going to be a bit more daring!

Vada is also our little dancer now-she hears music and shakes her butt!

We are looking forward to a short week..it is going to busy, busy for us..so I am already looking forward to the weekend!

Have a great week! The Bean's

not a minute to spare...!

This week started out a bit on the rocky side....Vada was still battling her flu and her little body took a turn downward on Monday night. We were able to make it through the night, but took her into the doctor on Tuesday. Of course our pediatrician was out so we went to the Champlain office..and saw Dr. Weird-o! He kept calling her a he..which was just the start of it. However, he told us that she had developed reflux from the flu. He prescribed her Zantex and told us to continue having her sleep in her swing because 90% of the time that she was throwing up it was when we were laying her down. After 5 days of the medication she is back our sweet little Vada. We decided to try and lay her in her bed and she slept for 3 hours! I think that she was so happy to not have to sleep sitting up anymore! --and she didn't throw up! Jaxson was so cute..whenever she would wake up he would run into her room and check if she threw up and I would hear him saying to her, "Good Job Vada--mama she didn't throw up!" He was very understanding with her and us over the past week while she was sick.

Tuesday was also Jaxson "real" birthday..which we also knew was VERY important to celebrate. We decided that Dairy Queen was a much needed treat for everyone. Of course, Vada threw up all over herself in the car on the way there, but being the master puke cleaner uppers that we are we pulled over and cleaned her up, changed her and cleaned out the car and headed back on our way. We ate there and then had an ice cream treat! YUM! Jaxson was a little upset when we left because he found out that we were not going to Elm Creek Park-he loves that place and thought that he should get to go there for his birthday!

Thursday after work we headed down to Rochester. We stopped at Kali's parents house..they were having a little family get together and we thought we would join them! It was their first time meeting Vada and she had fun showing them all her little tricks!

Friday we had pictures taken at Oxbow park (near Rochester). They turned out so great! We struggled to get a good family one, but I think that we can make one of them work. We got some great shots of the kids separately. We BBQ at my parents in the evening. Jaxson loves playing with Katie and Bill (Katie's boyfriend) so he didn't really give them a choice of not playing with him!

We drove back up on Saturday and Presten and Jaxson got in their Vikings gear and headed down to the metrodome for the game. I think that Jaxson's favorite part was riding the train to and from the game. Jaxson cheered and told everyone around their seats to say "Go VIKES!" Presten also said that he LOVED the cheerleaders! He kept asking about them! oh boy! He lasted about two quarters and then he was ready to come home.

After church today we headed down to the Bean Family Reunion in Brooklyn Park. This was our second time attending. We had a really good time visiting with family that we do not get to see very often. I was pregnant last year at the reunion so it was fun to have everyone be able to meet Vada. She was a bit on the fussy side today with no nap, but we managed and Jaxson had a good time playing with Kylie, Briac and Trenton.

So tonight we are going to enjoy this gorgeous night and get ready for a hopefully little slower week! Have a great week! The Bean's

Happy Birthday Jaxson!!!

We had quite the week! Vada got a little flu bug this past week. She was throwing up for 4 days straight....She is now keeping some food down, but we are going to completely stop the formula for right now because that is really upsetting her stomach. She is drinking water and she is in good spirits, but still acting a little peeked. We are hoping that tomorrow is a good day! Vada has probably had more bathes this past week than she has in the past month!

Vada is starting say mama now! She has been saying dada for a long time so we have been working on it..she is getting it!

After cleaning up Vada's projectile vomit for thee days I finally needed a break! Friday I went scrapbooking with some friends from our neighborhood. I have not worked on Jaxson's book since I was on maternity leave with him. It was so fun to get back into it! We did a scrap mania class from 4-11pm so I got a lot done! Of course Vada did not throw up once for Presten! Plus I laid the 5 things that I told him that she could eat. I told him no milk only water and vitamin water. I knew that was what she was keeping down. I call at 8pm and he told me that he had given her french fries (those were not on the list) and MILK! He is so funny and LUCKY that he did not have one big mess to clean up!

Jaxson had his birthday party on Saturday at Elm Creek Park Reserve. We barbecued, opened gifts and had cake. He had sooo much fun! He is so animated and has the funniest expressions! He got so many nice gifts and has been playing with them non stop! He of course wanted to open the gifts at the park-so we opened his McQueen Car and the Mystery Machine. His friend Nishad and him drove those vehicles all over the park! He loves playing with Nishad-they play so well together.

This week we are going down to Rochester for a couple days and having the kids pictures taken. I think that the week is going to go fast! Have a great week! The Bean's

Girls, Girls, Girls

The Bean's had a very exciting week!

We started the week out with National Night Out. We had a really great turnout of families. The kids had a little bike parade followed by the baby crawl and races. Then we heard the sirens! The fire trucks were coming! There were two fire trucks that the kids were able to jump into. Jaxson got to sit in the drivers seat and even put on one of the helmets!

Thursday we went down to see Presten's grandpa at North Memorial. He had been in there for three weeks. He needs to have surgery done, but his body has not fully recovered from the last one so they are not ready to do it. We did hear that he is home now, so hopefully he will start to feel better and then he can go back in and have the surgery done.

Friday, my girlfriend Lacey came up and stayed the night before our girl's weekend. She got here around 8pm so of course we stayed up way to late talking and really regretted it the next morning!

Saturday morning, Lacey wanted to go over to the outlet mall to go to Motherhood Maternity. Sure enough about 5 minutes after we got there Kimmy walks in! We had our little reunion in Motherhood Maternity. They did a little fashion show and bought some really cute clothes. Being around them makes me want to be pregnant again~however, I am very HAPPY with TWO!

After shopping we headed down to Melissa's in Minneapolis. Erin was there when we arrived. We spent several hours chatting and LAUGHING! We went to Brit's Pub for dinner--horrible service so we left. We decided that dessert sounded way better than lawn bowling anyways. We went to Zeno's in uptown for dessert. They have awesome desserts! The raspberry cheesecake was to die for. After over indulging ourselves we went to comedy sportz. We laughed so hard at the show..it was really good.

Sunday morning we got up and Mel made us blueberry pancakes!~YUM! Then we went down to the Minneapolis Farmers Market. I bought corn for supper and this gorgeous bunch of flowers for $5.00! So another awesome Girl's Weekend for the books!

Presten had his hands full this weekend without me. Vada of course threw up three times! She never gets sick~we think it must of been just a little bug. Presten and Jaxson got chinese for supper and then watched a movie and had a popcorn party. Presten is such a great dad~he is so good to Jaxson and Vada.

Tonight we had Stacy and Darrin over for dinner for quesadillas, black bean soup and corn. We have not seen them for so long~we love spending time with them and we don't get to do it enough. Next time I think we are going to do a night on the town!

Now off to bed~ the weekend just flew by...I can't believe that it is over!

Have a great week! The Bean's

You can only imagine what was coming out of her mouth.......!

The Bean's had a pretty low key week...Wednesday Jaxson had his first movie date. Dianna asked him if he wanted to come over and watch and movie and of course he was so excited that there was no way that I could tell him "no". He had so much fun--we are not sure what movie they watch we couldn't understand what he was telling us:) On Friday we had a sprinkler date with Nishad. The kids love playing together..it took them a little while to get wet, but before long they were soaked!


On Thursday I went to a wine tasting party with one of our neighbors. Her sister was hosting it in Hudson, WI. It was a bit of a drive, but it was super fun and we really learned a lot about wine!


We stayed home this weekend-Presten had to work on Saturday. We did some random household stuff. We watched a movie both nights....P.S. I love you and The Bucket List. We recommend both.


Today we had Presten's work picnic at Elm Creek Park in Maple Grove. Jaxson LOVES this park so it was a little hard to get him to eat or do anything else for that matter...


Vada is continuing to try new foods every week. She had salmon this week-she just shoveled it into her mouth! She has started to make some pretty funny noises...she does this grunting one -it is so funny she sounds like a man. She loves wrestling with Jaxson and following him around the house. She is so close to taking a real step...she wants to and then changes her mind..crawling is so much easier.


Pretty slow week for us.....We have a lot planned for this week, so I guess we will make up for it!





Have a Great Week! The Bean's