Story Time

Joshua Stephen just loves to read. So it was such a fun treat to have Kay-Kay and Paw-Paw Kenny here to read him lots of stories.

He is such an attentive little listener.

Doing bed time Bible stories with Paw-Paw Kenny.

Loving every minute of it!

School Picnic

Joshua Stephen's fall school picnic just happened to fall on the weekend that Paw-Paw Kenny and Kay-Kay came to visit. So they got to join us in all of the picnic fun. Here they are helping Joshua Stephen decorate his pumpkin for the pumpkin decorating contest.

Here's our sweet Kay-Kay helping Joshua Stephen and his favorite gal pal Maya with the glue.

Joshua Stephen proudly displaying his finished pumpkin. Thanks to a little help from his favorite helpers.

Joshua Stephen also got to take Paw-Paw Kenny and Kay-Kay on a fun little hay ride.

Later on the whole family got to join in on the hay ride fun.

And one of our favorite parts of the evening was getting to make smores. What little boy wouldn't love getting to play with sticks and fire to make a delicious chocolatey treat.

Fun at the Mall

While Kay-Kay was here we decided to make a little trip to the mall. She treated each of the boys to a new pair of winter shoes. Joshua Stephen likes to call his new shoes his hunting boots, and he thinks they make him a big just like Daddy. Caleb has decided that he likes to go with the one shoe look, so we constantly find him taking off his right shoe (and only his right shoe for some strange reason). Good thing his cute little toes can always make me smile.

Since the boys were such troopers during our shopping adventures we just couldn't resist letting them ride the carousel. They were both so excited to have Kay-Kay riding beside them.

Missouri Baking Company

Well, The Missouri Baking Company has become a tradition in the Bean family, at least when Paw-Paw Kenny comes to visit. Every time he arrives in St. Louis we know that we will making a trip to "The Hill" (St. Louis' Italian area) to visit our favorite bakery. They make the best cream puffs, fruit pies and cannolis.

Joshua Stephen wanted to try one of everything.

But he settled on a yummy frosted pumpkin cookie, and he was even sweet enough to share it with his little brother.

The Magic House

We just love the Magic House. It is a wonderful interactive children's museum that the boys just love visiting. And Paw-Paw Kenny and Kay-Kay have been so sweet to treat us to an annual membership to the Magic House twice. The boys had so much fun getting to show their Paw-Paw Kenny and Kay-Kay all of their favorite things at the Magic House.

Joshua Stephen and his Kay-Kay going on a canoe adventure.

Our little fisherman.

Caleb can work wonders with a slab of meat.

Kay-Kay giving Caleb a boost so he can do a little engine work.

Paw-Paw Kenny teaching him all the parts.

The boys working together to make a "Speedy Delivery".

Our all time favorite thing at the Magic House has to be this little fishing hole. The boys could spend hours fishing here.

Caleb's favorite part is taking the little magnetic fish off of the line. And Joshua Stephen loves to take the fish upstream and watch them find their way back to this pond.

Caleb preparing a feast for his Kay-Kay.

He decided everything tastes best if you bake it.

Joshua Stephen doing a little grocery shopping.

Two boys playing in the dirt- they just couldn't resist.

Belly Up

We're sad to report that BOB our beloved fish is no longer with us. Joshua Stephen handled the disappointment pretty well. Last night just before bedtime, we realized BOB probably wouldn't make it. Joshua Stephen was so sweet to pray for BOB and he was confident that God could heal him (I am so encouraged by his faith in our God). And today when Dad broke the news to him that BOB didn't make it, Joshua Stephen was quick to comfort Daddy and say "It'll be ok, we can get another fish". (I love how resilient three year olds are.)

Introducing Bob and Larry

Meet Bob and Larry- the newest members of the Bean Family.

Well, it all started at the school carnival we visited last weekend. Just before leaving I decided we just had to try our hand at the fish in the bowl game. (You know the game where you try and throw a ping bong ball into a little fish bowl and if you succeed you win a live goldfish.) It is a game that I grew up playing every year at our State Fair with my Dad, and almost every year I came home with a new goldfish (much to my mother's dismay). And I must say that in my experience, fish you win at fairs and carnivals have unusually long life spans- I guess they have to be tough to survive all that action.

Well, you guessed it- we were lucky enough to land one of our little balls into a fish bowl and just moments later we were picking out which goldfish we wanted to take home with us. Joshua Stephen was so excited! As we were walking to the car with the newest member of the Bean family, we asked Joshua Stephen what he wanted to name his fish and he instantly said "BOB" (which I must say is a very fitting name for a fish). Before leaving the carnival parking lot Dawson informed me that we had to go to the pet store immediately (no waiting until tomorrow) to purchase a fish tank and all of the fish necessities.

So off to the pet store we go. After looking in depth at over twenty different aquariums we finally select a home suitable for our new little friend. But before leaving we decide to adopt another little goldfish so that both Joshua Stephen and Caleb can each have their own fish. And what do we decide to name Caleb's fish? We could think of nothing more fitting than "LARRY" (I guess you could say we're heavily influenced by Veggie Tales and our Poppa Larry).

We decided that the fish would live in Joshua Stephen's room, but only after he agreed to a few ground rules. One of them being that we only feed the fish with the help of Mommy or Daddy. Which reminded us of one of Daddy's favorite books when he was growing up called "A Fish Out of Water". It's a fun little book that teaches "You only feed a fish so much and no more". It is also one of Joshua Stephen's favorite tales.

This picture gives you an idea of how Joshua Stephen is doing with sharing his fish.
"Please step away from the fish. "(Just kidding.)

Joshua Stephen and Daddy feeding Bob and Larry "only so much and no more".