Our Favorite Clown

Meet our favorite clown, Spunky Beans (no relation- we just like her last name). Spunky makes the coolest balloon shapes this side of the Mississippi. We think she is so fun and she just happens to be at one of our favorite burger restaurants, Culver's, every Wednesday night. So, sometimes to escape the monotony of another home cooked meal, we head out to Culver's to visit our fun friend and enjoy some of her unique balloon creations. Spunky just loves Joshua Stephen and his Little Brother too!

Caleb takes me on a date!

What a treat to get to go on a Mother-Son date with my precious Baby Caleb! This is something that Joshua Stephen and I got to do often the first two years of his life. But with Caleb being our second little one, I don't get to do as many outings with just the two of us. Well, this Wednesday while Joshua Stephen was at his Mom's Morning Out (which he just loves), Caleb escorted me to St. Louis Bread Co. where we had a lovely breakfast while we flirted and oohh and ahhed at each other. Then I got a chance to study my Bible and be refreshed before coming to pick up Big Brother. Times like these are such a treat! And Caleb is always the perfect date. He is so fun to be around and I just love the way he smiles and flirts with me. I can't wait for our upcoming date this next Wednesday morning- who knows what fun we'll have!!!!

Here's a picture of my little flirt. How can anyone resist such an adorable smile?

Joshua Stephen loves to share with Baby Brother

It is not uncommon troughout the day to find Joshua Stephen trying to share his toys with his Baby Brother. He just loves to include Caleb in whatever he is doing. He thinks that if he enjoys something then surely Baby Brother will enjoy it too. My favorite is when Joshua Stephen offers Caleb some of his favorite snack, and then just moments later he smiles and says "No, no, no, you only drink Momma's milk". I have such a kind hearted little boy! And no one can make Caleb smile the way Big Brother Joshua Stephen can.

Impromptu Picnic

One of the fun things about living on campus here at the Seminary is that Dad often gets to come home and join us for lunch- which is such a treat! Well, today was especially fun because we got to have a little impromptu picnic with some of our favorite friends. Us adults had fun catching up on our week, while the kiddos had fun playing with the water table and chasing each other around the great outdoors. I am so thankful to get to live in such a great community during this season of our lives. God is so good to provide us with such great friends to share our life with!

Kay-Kay and Paw-Paw Kenny's visit

Our Sweet Kay-Kay has a policy that she can't go too long without seeing her boys. So this weekend they made a special trip to St. Louis just to visit us. We had such a fun filled weekend! Friday night Paw-Paw Kenny got us great tickets to the Cardinals game. We had so much fun cheering for Paw-Paw Kenny's favorite baseball team (the Cardinals are the team he grew up watching).

On Saturday we visited the Cardinal's Hall of Fame, and as a fun bonus we also got free admission into the International Bowling Museum when we bought our tickets for the Cardinals Hall of Fame. We just couldn't resist exploring the little known sites and treasures found in the Bowling Museum. Joshua Stephen had a blast taking his shot at bowling for the first time. His favorite part was the ball return that magically brought his ball back to him.

A fun trip to the toy store and Cabella's was also made. Kay-Kay had a fun time driving the shopping cart around Cabella's so that Joshua Stephen could shoot at all of their mounted animals with his pop gun. Caleb had a fun time getting lots of love and squeezes and he even dressed up as a little pumpkin head for us. I didn't have to cook a single meal, and we enjoyed lots of yummie meals out thanks to our Sweet Paw-Paw Kenny and Kay-Kay.

Joshua Stephen was so sad to see them leave on Sunday, and he hasn't stopped talking about all of the fun things he got to do with them. We all miss our Paw-Paw Kenny and Kay-Kay and can't wait to see them again soon!

Meet Poppa Rar-rry

This is our Poppa Rar-rry, also known as Larry for those who can say their L's well. We just love our Poppa Larry! Joshua Stephen likes to talk about how Poppa Larry lives in New Mexico and how he takes him to see the dinosaurs (at the museum).

Introducing MiMi Cherie

Here's some fun pictures of my Mom, also known as MiMi, with her two favorite boys! All of these pictures were taken on our last trip home to Albuquerque.

Baseball with our Buddies

Our fun friends the Charette's got some last minute tickets to the Cardinals baseball game. We joined them and had fun taking in the sites of baseball at Busch stadium. Take me out to the ball game!

The Girls who keep me sane

I just love these girls- Katie (left) and Maggie (right)! It is my opinion that you could go crazy as a Mom of little ones if you don't surround yourself with fun friends. Not that I don't love being a stay at home Mom- there is absolutley nothing else I would rather do than have a front row seat for watching my little boys grow up. It is such a joy and privilege to get to spend my days loving on my boys and helping them grow into the godly men I hope they will be one day. But being surrounded by little ones all day can wear on you if you don't have fun friends that you can rejoice with about the daily joys and pains of being a Mommy. These two girls continually encourage me and point me to Christ. We do many a family outing together and it works out well that all of our kids love and enjoy each other. Our husbands also have fun together from time to time.

A day at the Zoo

One of our favorite things to do is to visit the St. Louis zoo. Last week we made a trip to the zoo with several of our fun friends- we had an all boy crew (with the exception of us Moms). We had a blast exploring the sites and sounds of all of our favorite animals! The boys had an especially fun time making animal noises at one another. I think Joshua Stephen won the contest for the loudest Lion Roar.

Baby, Best Friend and Me Bonding Trip

 
My Best Friend, Sweet Amanda, is getting married in just a few short weeks. So, Caleb and I decided to go for a quick visit so that I could get in some last minute girl time before her big day arrives. (Dawson was sweet enough to have a father son bonding weekend with big brother Joshua Stephen). Our weekend togher was so much fun and Caleb thouroughly enjoyed being loved on by his "Aunt Amanda".

Sleeping in a Drawer

 
We have always said that if a crib wasn't available our babies could sleep in a drawer. (We've been told many a story about how that is how it was done in the old days.) Well, we are happy to report that Caleb is the first of our little ones to get to sleep in a drawer- and he loved it! On my recent trip to visit my best friend, Caleb had the privillege of putting her fine furniture to the test. We surrounded him with cozy blankets and his favorite swaddle wrap and he thouroughly enjoyed sleeping through the night in his very first dresser dreawer.

I Love Baby Brother!!!

 

Joshua Stephen just loves his baby brother. They are such a cute pair!

3 Month Birthday!!!!!!

 
Don't you just love that smile?!?!

 

Today is Caleb's 3 month Birthday!!!! It's hard to believe that our little Caleb Drue is already 3 months old. He gets cuter and happier with each day. Right now my favorite thing is his precious smile- it is just adorable! I love that Caleb smiles every time he sees us after a short absence- like when I come back from the other room and say hello his face just lights up (and melts my heart). He has really started moving his hands and arms lots, and he loves to wiggle and scoot himself all around. I just love him and I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed us with such a precious little guy!!!

The Butterfly House

 

 
 
 
 

This morning we enjoyed a morning at The Butterfly House with some of our friends. This was our first trip to The Butterfly House and we really enjoyed it. They have a big greenhouse filled with thousands of beautiful butterflies. It was lots of fun to walk around and enjoy God's beautiful creation and see just how creative our God is.
After The Butterfly House we had some fun playing on the playground just outside the Butterfly House.

After a snack with friends, we ventured to the indoor carousel to take a ride and cool down. We had so much fun riding on the carousel with our friends! Baby brother Caleb some how managed to sleep through all of the mornings fun events (as he usually does), but we were glad to have him along for the ride.

 
 
 


 

How to feed a family of four for $.65

Praise God for Chick-fil-a!!!! Thanks to Chick-fil-a our family can feast on chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, french fries, soft drinks, chocolate milk and even ice cream for the low, low price of just $.65. Yep, that's right just 65 cents. It is pretty incredible, but every Monday Chick-fil-a will give you a free chicken sandwich (or a $2.55 discount) for each family member who brings in a church bulletin. Now that we are a family of four, we collect four church bulletins every Sunday and take them to Chick-fil-a on Monday to receive our $10.20 worth of free food. Our secrect to getting the most bang for our bulletins is to get two kids meals which cost $.30 extra each, and then get two yummie Chick- fil-a sandwiches completely free. This brings our bill to a whopping total of $.65 (with tax). We even get ice cream for dessert by trading in one of the kid's meal toys for a free ice cream cone. How great is that! One thing is for sure, visiting Chick-fil-a every Monday has become a Bean family tradition.