Zippo..

This year my Mom sent us "The Elf on the Shelf" which is a tradition in which an elf comes and visits during the holiday season. Each night the Elf returns to Santa to tell if the children in your house have been good or bad.  You get to name your elf and a book comes along with it describing how it watches you! We named our Elf Zippo ( after our friend Caroline's dog).  Zippo tends to get into trouble at night, as you can see by the pictures :) Olivia totally loves it and now on a regualr basis wakes up around 3:30 screaming ,"time to wake up I need to go find Zippo!!!"

Liv loved that he was pointing at her picture

Zippo got into the fish food...

Lola was not fazed by Zippo in her food...

And he got into the toilet paper!!!

Turkey Day!

This was our first thanksgiving in Nashville so of course Steve was very excited to cook! We had a few friends over, which of course Olivia made them play poll-pockets immediatley....and then after dinner we had a wii tournament:)  We did a thanksgiving craft which we had to BUY pinecones and make turkeys out of them....anyways we are so thankful that we have healthy girls and great family and friends (who are like our family!) Hope your thanksgiving was a fun as ours!!

the master chef

our turkey craft's we made

the girls ready to play

this is what I made......hahahah just kidding!!!

We put Miss Ali right to work!

Brody and Shannon playing the dradle game with Liv, and no they are not of the Jewish faith!

scary mountain man Keith (just kidding he is growing a beard to raise money for cancer during the month of November)

Santa~!!!

This weekend we headed over to Bass Pro-Shop's to go visit the Santa land they have! We always tag along when Steve heads there because Liv loves to see the fishes and turtles so we were pretty excited!When we first walked in there was a carousel with reindeer, polar bears, and moose which Liv got a big kick out of! They had ton's of different activities from writing a letter to Santa and putting it in his mailbox to trying out a few toys (which Steve had more fun than Olivia doing!) We had a bet going to see if Liv was going to be afraid or not of Santa..... After waiting in line for about 20 minutes she walked right up to Santa holding Steve's hands.  She sat on his lap and started chatting away, her first line was, "Hi Santa I am Olivia Ruby Beane and this is my sister Madelyn Rose Beane) all of the "elves" were laughing because she just started chatting away. Maddie on the other hand was trying to eat Santa's beard (which was real) and he was politely trying to get the girls to smile for a picture!!

Our cutie pie!

it is still weird to wear flip-flops during the holiday season~

Liv chose the moose!

hmmmm....

seriously had to talk Steve out of buyng this for her!!!

anyone see a pattern here?...

Liv putting in her mail for Santa

checking out the fish while we wait for Santa

Love!

Liv did not want to stop talking to take the picture...

A typical Friday Night...

So I decided to document what a typical Friday night is like for the Beane Fam:) Of course what we would like would be a babysitter, nice candlelit dinner and movie.... and what we actually get is much different.... So we headed out about 4:15 the time in order to get to dinner at 5:30. It takes about 20 minutes to get loaded in the car and everyone settled (Maddie with a bottle and Liv with her DVD player). So we get to the restaurant and Liv spills her chocolate milk all over me withing Minutes of sitting down. Not a big deal since I have already been peed and spit up on! We get out meals and Liv needs bathroom visit number 2 with Steve. Both of these visits have really been more like a field trip! So after about 10 minutes of eating our dinner we start to smell something not so great.... Now it is my turn and I take both girls.... About 20 minutes later we are headed out the door with our dinners that we will finish at home, and by at home I mean 2 hours later once kids are asleep! Once we get home Liv is insistent on trying to get Maddie to crawl. Mad is just about ready to crawl, once she gets in that position she doesn't know what to do!!!]

Liv tring to show Maddie how to crawl

Mad grabbing Liv as she shows her how to crawl...

Mad posing pretending she can crawl!

Quick game of tag after dinner!

trying so hard to crawl!

tag your it!

Ice-Cream!

Since the Beane's love their ice-cream we were very excited to try the new "Menchies" which is technically frozen yogurt but we do not discriminate!  We went with our friend Caroline and the girls got to go right after a long week at preschool (it's tough being a kid...) We love the young staff that works there and talks endlessly about princess's and their favorite ice-cream topping :) How it works is you pick your own ice-cream, then go to the topping station where there is about 40 different toppings to choose from.  You also get a little toy and tattoo at check-out!

the girls are ready for ice-cream!

of course this cost about 5 bucks!!!

Maddie's first taste of ice-cream :)

quick coloring break

the girls were very excited to hang up there drawings!

What I love....

So this post is all about things that I love, no recent stories about the playground, or latest milestone....this blog post is strictly about things I love!
I love......how my husband takes our daughter's on special daddy daughter dates,and plans to for the next 5o years, whether it be chuckie cheese or a sports game
I love......how taking a 10 minute shower can make me feel like a new person, even if it's my first shower at 11...pm
I love how hearing Olivia say, "momma" really does make my heart melt into a thousand pieces
I love how a glass of wine and a girlfriend can make me feel like I am still a woman, not just a mother....
I love how Olivia is trying to teach Maddie how to crawl, it makes me remember all the great memories my sister and I grew up with...
I love how seeing the Johnson and john sons commercials for nurses makes me get geared up and call my mom to say thanks....
I love how the cotton fields look first thing in the morning in the fall in Tennessee
I love how a few close friends help our family feel like we are not 1500 miles away from home during the holidays....
I love how I have taught kindness and charity to my 2 year old, she sees a homeless person and wants to give money, and has already picked out numerous gifts to give a child in need this Christmas...
I love how I got talked into a minivan and say I hate it, but secretly love how easy it is with kids....
I love that my husband skypes with us every single night he is away each week....
I love how 10 years ago I would have never imagined living in the south, being a stay at home mom to 2 kids under 2, married to a guy from Bourne, yet could not be more thankful and grateful for this life....as Oprah would say.....
"Be thankful for what you have, you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never ever have enough."

New Gymnastics class!

We recently went to try out a new gymnastic's class that our friend Brynn takes. The girls had a blast, although Liv did get asked to stop talking a few time, (shocker I know).  Liv loved doing cartwheels, playing with hool-a-hoops and even some yoga moves!

running as a warm up!

working on cart-wheels

Liv is trying to stand on top of Brynn (girl to right)

yoga

not sure what move this is :)

I put my friends to work!

Liv took it upon herself to stand and clean up the cones after kid's knocked them down!

jumps and rolls

Brynn and Liv

2 sick kiddos :(

Well it seems we know that the weather is getting colder since we have all had a nast cold and Maddie has croup and Liv has double ear infections.  We have been staying in watching lot's of disney movies, reading a TON of books and just trying to keep 2 kids relaxed!  I feel like we see the pediatrician more than any of my friends :) Today Liv headed to school and since it was so beautiful out we headed to the playground afterwards.  I have to admit the fresh air was good for all of us!!

everyone cuddled on the couch while Steve tries to do homework! Notice Manny...

watching Tangled (Disney's Rupunzel)

Deer in headlights look

Olivia always ready to strike a pose

still not sure about that flash...

playtime before bed

Olivia keeping a close grip on the cookies at the playground

Maddie watching her big sister

Caroline and Liv pushing there dolls on the swings

Both girls would spend entire time on the swings!

swinging together:)

Caroline and Olivia chasing down an adorable dog....poor dog..

building princess castles...yes out of mulch...