I can't believe it is December!!

After five days of vacation and lack of routine, I completely spaced my Sunday Blog update!

We had a really nice Thanksgiving at our house. My family was up and Presten's mom came over for dinner. We made all the Thanksgiving classics and everything turned out delicious!

Presten was off Wednesday and Friday!! He was so excited-this was the first time in 15 years that he didn't have to work one of those two days. We spent the majority of our time off shopping, relaxing, and tiling our bathroom (which is almost done)! YAY!

We put all up all our Christmas decorations on Thursday. Jaxson was such a big helper! He continues to redecorate the tree! Vada has only had one ornament casualty --I am hoping that is the only one...we'll see:)

Presten went tailgating yesterday for the Vikings game. He got down there around 12pm -so he had a full day down at the lot! Needless to say, he had a really good time.

Jaxson, Vada and I had a really nice day at home. I made homemade Challah bread-soo good!!

Well lots to do tonight! Have a great week! The Bean's

LiFe Is GoOd!

The Bean's had a crazy week it was full of friends and projects! Actual it was more me seeing friends and Presten working on the projects:)

I went out for my monthly dinner with Amy to TGI Fridays. It was so nice to have some "me" time and to catch up. Friday night I got together with two girlfriends from the neighborhood for our "Wine Party". A couple months back we went to a wine party together and each bought a bottle of wine and saved it to have a little get together. We finally found a night that worked. We did an Italian theme dinner full of bruschetta, salad, chicken cacciatore and a wonderful dessert! Wine and girl talk....it can't get better than that!

Then Saturday morning, Jaxson, Vada and I headed down to Rosedale to meet up with Erin and Kendall. The kids played in the little play land for over an hour and then we had lunch at the food court. Jaxson and Kendall are only 5 months apart so it so always fun to see them together. Vada loved the play land. She thought that she was such a big girl-of course the slide was her favorite!

Chris came over all day Saturday to start getting the bathroom put together. He got the shower in and the floor laid. He is such a great friend to come over and help us with this project that we would not be able to do without his help. Presten is working on his homework today and then Chris is coming back this week to help us get it finished up. A working bathroom by Thanksgiving....so exciting!

This week Presten also found out that he was elected to the board of directors for the Caring Rivers United Way. This is the chapter that serves Elk River and Otsego area. He is really excited!

Vada is becoming more destructive by the day. :) Yesterday in a matter of an hour, she had all my Tupperware spread around the house and then I found her in the bathroom scooping all water out of the toilet with one of the bowls she was carrying around. Oh and you know how much she likes Lexi's food dish- well she decided to throw it and it shattered all over the floor. She thinks that telling her"no" is hilarious and just thinks that it is hysterical when we say it to her. If she wasn't so darn sweet, I think that we would have more issues. :) I think that we have more fun just laughing at her. She has taken some pretty good spills this week. She got a little cut by her eye and on her cheek. She just keep truckin!

Vada is working on mastering her silverware. She always has to be holding them, but she may use her other hand to actually put food in her mouth. She also is getting very good at giving kisses- she loves to give them with her mouth wide open.

Jaxson had a good week. School is going great and he has been busy playing cars, reading books and probably his favorite playing with his sister.

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving! If you are traveling this week we wish you safe travels! We are so thankful to have such wonderful friends and family.

The Bean's

Construction Time!

This past week seemed to just fly by! We had a pretty typical week. I had a park and rec meeting on Wednesday night and those meetings are never short! There is always a lot to be discussed. We are at a point as I am sure many cities are where there is not as much money coming in as years past. This means that the construction of new parks has slowed, and we are trying to determine what makes the most sense for the current system. We are also in the midst of planning our next event which will take place in December. It's all very exciting!

Jaxson has been a little out sorts this weekend. He has been running a low fever-and just hasn't been acting like himself. He slept most of the day on Friday. Saturday, he woke up and seemed to be feeling a little better. We went to the Children's Museum in St. Paul and he had a really good time, but he just came home and crashed. Saturday night we went over the neighbors for a Mexican Fiesta! We always have so much fun with them! Vada was her usual self- into everything. Jaxson was a trooper. We ended up calling it an early night because he started to look pretty peeked. He seems to be doing a better tonight....we are crossing our fingers that he is on the way to 100%.

Today, Presten had to go to church early because he had to talk in all three services. We are doing something in December called Project Homeless and now that he is the Chair of Missions committee he working at recruiting some of our congregation members. He did a great job!

This afternoon Chris came over to help Presten get going on the bathroom. We may have a working toilet by Thanksgiving! Kristin and I spent the afternoon at the outlet mall-and we found some pretty exciting deals!

Vada continues to keep us on our toes! She is our little brute and she has no fears! She has learned how to bring to stool from the bathroom and get up onto the couch. She thinks that she is so funny that she can get up there. If she is not watching she will roll right off the couch....Jaxson would be a sobbing mess if that happened to him. Vada does this over and over and gets right up! She is one tough girl! We pretty much just laugh at her all day everyday!

This week we will be getting ready for Thanksgiving and hopefully making some progress on the bathroom! Thank goodness for Chris!!

Have a great week!! The Bean's

buuurrrr....it's cold outside!

Vada playing with her favorite toy!

We hope that everyone is staying warm-what a change from even last weekend. The winter coats are officially out!


We had a very low key week...also because it was cold and snowy and I really did not want to go out in it. We did however, go out for Jaxson's first dentist appointment! He did better than I ever could of expected. He did not seem scared at all and they were very nice to him. They took x-rays, polished and flossed his teeth and he got a fluoride treatment. Of course, he got to pick out a new toothbrush which he was thought was soooo cool!


Jaxson is doing great at school. He has a hard time letting me leave in the morning, but he has been having great days with no tears. He is making a lot of new friends and he is learning about chipmunks, bears, letters and numbers. I can really tell a difference in him since he has started school-he is really maturing.


Vada has turned into one goofy girl over the past couple of weeks. She has such a personality-which we knew:) but she is so funny! Besides her new game of chase she is now into wrestling. She is tackling Jaxson constantly and if he is not around to play with, she will pull the cushions off the couch and belly flop onto them. She knows where the pantry is now so she likes to go in there and try and see food she can find. If she can't reach she will point and say uh..uh..uh. She loves to sit at her little picnic table and play toys, but most of all she likes to play or wreck anything that Jaxson is using. Let me tell you...he LOVES that!:)


Presten had a great time at the game today-as you can imagine! What a game! Jaxson sang in church today, he was pretty cute. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home...I am not sure I am ready for this winter thing! Especially now having to bundle up 2 kids!


Thanks for checking in on us! Have a great week! The Bean's

We hope that everyone had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Last week was pretty busy with work and meetings. Lately- Mondays seem to be my marathon day, leaving at 5:15a and getting home anywhere between 7 and 11p. It is a long day, but usually goes by fast. This past Friday I had to go into work for a few hours so Presten took a half day. It actually worked out okay because then he was able to carve the pumpkins and help me get a few things done around the house.

Jaxson dressed up as Harry Potter for Halloween! He LOVED his costume! Presten took Jaxson out for about 45 minutes. Vada and I stayed at the house and handed out candy. Actually she stood at the door --banging trying to get out. Whenever anyone would come to the door she would try and slip out. I should of sent her with Presten because she really just wanted to be outside. Jaxson got so much candy! --which now he wants to eat all the time! After going out in the neighborhood we went over to Vicky and Steve's so they could see the kids. We only stayed for a short time because it was well past Vada's 7pm bedtime- and she knew it!

Saturday morning we got up early and headed down to Maple Grove to do some shopping. It was a gorgeous day and it was really nice to not have any real plans. We got a lot done around the house and even had time to sneak in the movie Maid of Honor while the kids were napping. Presten went to the game today and Jaxson, Vada and I went to church this morning and then minus nap time we spent the rest of the day outside raking and cleaning up the flower beds. Presten came home and mowed so now it looks really nice. Vada LOVES being outside and sitting in the cozy coupe. I tried to take her out to show her something and boy was she mad at me!!

She has been so funny lately...she loves it when we chase her. So anytime that I have her bottle for her, or clothes etc.. she sees me coming and does this little U turn and runs into her bedroom. She thinks that it is soooo funny!

Jaxson had a great week at school. He has a tough time when I drop him off, but does well the rest of the day. He had a Halloween Party on Thursday and he got to wear his costume to school. He loved seeing all the other kids dressed up too!

Fall Retreat

This week was pretty good. Jaxson had a better week at school... No Tears!!! Yea for mommy... Krista has been a huge mom of the year. Taking Jaxson to school, helping him relax, and getting him excited about going. This week was more of a relief for Krista than for Jaxson. Jaxson also has really taken on his Spanish class. Usually when I come home from work I ask him how Spanish was. He usually just shurgs it off and talks about spider-man. This time when I asked he counted 5 in Spanish and was really excited. I was thrilled that he actaully was excited too. This week Vada had her annual and she was in the 60th percentile for weight and height. She is off to a great start for her new little life. The best news was that the doctor says she doesn't need a heart check up for her murmor. What a relief. The week was pretty uneventfull for the most part, till Thursday. It seemed like everything was happening that day. Krista had an annual I had a Missions meeting and we needed to play a balancing act with getting dinner ready and the kids packed for our minnie vacation.
On Friday though, I had the day off and we headed up north to celebrate her parents 30th aniversery. We stayed at the Grand View Resort. It was a beautiful place. Krista again came through with a phenomenal cabin for us. It was right on Gull Lake. Jaxson and I took this oppurtunity to take Grandpa fishing. Jaxson caught his first fish with Grandpa. It was pretty funny. There were a couple of guys fishing there all afternoon. Jaxson dropped his line in and he caught his first fish with Grandpa's help. The other guys were pretty upset but told him nice work. Jaxson was brining them in one by one for an hour.
We had a good day Friday just relaxing after that. Katie, Krista's sister, brought up this new mind boggeling game called Blokus. It was addicting and we played for hours. Saturday we took Jaxson to make some crafts and hang with some other kids. Than we went to get Vada and swam for the rest of the afternoon. That night Krista and I made sweetish meatballs and a cake for desert. Vada and Jaxson were playing hide-n-seek and I think they both wore out Katie. Especially Jaxson.
It was a calming trip home. Jaxson, Vada, and Krista all slept on the way home. It was a great weekend.

and the Bean's take first place!

Well the Bean's had another busy week!

Thursday night Presten and I went to the Faith and Action Gala at Rockwoods in Otsego. They had a silent and live auction; along with dinner and presentation. We ended the night with a group called the Happiness Emporium. They put on a very entertaining show for us. My sister came up for the night to watch the kids. Jaxson and Vada had so much fun with her. She even got to come grocery shopping with us on Friday. I don't think that she will be doing that again anytime soon..it was quite the experience for her.

Saturday was a big day! We had our Otsego Park and Rec Pumpkin Day event. I had to be at the event early to get everything set up. Presten had to work so thank goodness Vicky was able to come for a bit to help with the kiddos. I was not able to stay for the whole event because Vada was getting a little fussy, but there were so many people that came that we needed to get another 400 pumpkins delivered! So it was a success!

Saturday night we headed to Chris and Kristen's for their "Fall Party". We had a pumpkin carving contest that we WON and by a landslide! We came as TEAM BEAN and were ready for the show down! It took a couple hours to finish our masterpiece, but in the end it was all worth it! We stayed the night at their house, because we had a birthday party in St. Paul this afternoon. We had so much fun at our first slumber party! They even made us a great breakfast this morning!

Then it was off to Como Zoo for Nishad and Arun's birthday party. It was really nice. They put on a little educational presentation and then we had pizza and cake. It was a such a great way to spend a beautiful afternoon and end the weekend.

My sister met us a Como today to give us a whole bunch of apples raspberries, potatoes, pumpkins and squash from Bill's parents garden. I already made up my first batch of raspberry jam! I will be busy making applesauce this week!

Jaxson had a pretty good week at preschool this week. He even sat for school pictures and went to Spanish with no tears. We are making progress!

Vada has a couple more teeth coming in so she had a runny nose, but that is not slowing her down!

We'll off to bed early tonight! Have a great week! The Bean's!