Cape Cod!

Ok, so here's a post about how much I can't wait to head to the Cape this summer! Nothing deep, life changing, just an aching in my heart to hear the ocean waves and smell the salt air. I love living in the south, but besides my family I miss seeing the ocean on a daily basis! I'm lucky enough to spend a few weeks each summer heading to the beach with my mom, just like we did as kids, and I look forward to giving my girls the same memories. I love roaming the tides searching for shells, having that salty skin at the end of a long day, and of course building sand castles! Pools are great down here, but you either have to be in the pool or out. The beach lets you relax while the kids play in the sand make friends and wait for the long anticipated ring of the ice cream truck. So here's to three more weeks till the Beane girls hit the Cape Cod beaches :)

Below are pictures randomly from the last four years of the girls on Cape Cod:)

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Zoo with the Bell Boys

We headed out to the Zoo today since we had re-upped our memberships. It was the most crowded we had ever seen it, we did not take into account the school field trips that were there yet we made the best of it. We met our friends Roth and Hutton there and had lots of fun visiting all of the animals and chasing after the kids! Liv and Roth are friends from preschool and loved catching up. Hutton is still a pretty young but Maddie is getting really well at being gentle with him and even giving him a wink or two:)

Maddie and Liv ready for the Zoo

this is a rare picture...both girls being nice..to each other...

checking out an exhibit

Liv loved feeding the birds and had no fear!

and another one of  Liv with Birds

checking out the elephant hoping it would  take a dip!

Maddie and Hutton...both in LOVE :)

checking out some fish

and more reptiles...yuck!

Roth and Liv  HAD to sit next to each other....

petting the goats

favorite part of the zoo, petting goats!

Roth and Liv checking out the Flamingos

Flamingos

and both asleep before we were out of the parking lot :)

Sounds Game!

This weekend we headed out to the local AA sounds baseball game. Steve is convinced to turn our girls into baseball fans whether they like it or not!  We went with our close friends Keith and Ali  It was supposed to be only a high of 65 but easily got over 85 degrees in the sun.  We had great front row seats and the girls were into the game for all of about 10 minutes. . They made friends with a couple girls who were sitting around us and it was enjoyable for all of us! Maddie is OBSESSED with any kind of large mascot and literally harasses them till she gets a hug.  The mascot for the Sounds is Ozzy which is some kind of large cat/tiger. Maddie would see him on the field and start screaming at the top of her lungs his name and wave, it was pretty comical to watch her and she provided the people sitting around us with a few laughs. At the end of the game we were finally able to get a picture with him :) Another great family day and some great memories of our little girls who are growing up way to fast!

The girls sitting at the beginning of the game with snacks :)

Picture in front of the stadium

Aunty Ali and Liv

The girls waiting in line for the jumpy

Maddie Ali Liv and some cotton candy

Maddie concentrating on the pitcher..

she had a bit of  a hard time sharing the popcorn!

Liv hanging out with her new friends ( yes they are front row!)

Liv guarding the popcorn with her life..

Maddie and Me

Steve and Keith :)

Yes that is the gross popcorn hat that Liv made Keith wear on his head lol

Daddy and Maddie

Maddie Ozzy and Liv

Maddie chasing Ozzy

whats a baseball game without a cookout in the backyard after!

Mother's Day....

     I fell in love with basketball when I was very young, it was a way for me to process growing up in a healthy athletic way.  I looked forward to the games, scoring points, getting the game ball, and most of all looking into the stands and seeing my mother there EVERY SINGLE GAME.   She was my cheerleader, constant positive enforcer  and always was there for everything no matter how minor.  I'll never forget I had a track meet with the hurdles for a state qualification meet in high-school. Long-story short I fell on the last hurdle, and my mother came running out on the field as I was sobbing knowing I had lost my chance at qualify that year.  Instead of going to the side-line and getting bandaged up, she whispered in my ear, "finish the race," and as I did ( sobbing,) I'll never forget how proud my mother looked as I crossed the finish line. She taught me to never give up no matter what, and yes I made it to states the following year. She taught me life lessons without even trying...her actions spoke much louder than her words. Her continued presence at band concerts, plays, father-daughter teas at school, and all the other rolls my mother had to play.  Bringing home a C on a report card was not good enough to get into college she would tell me, and at nights at the dinner table we would learn the work together to improve my grades, and yes I graduated with honors from college due to my mother! I remember her waking me up early every morning with cereal on the table ready for school, as she studied herself because she was going back to school herself.
        To a fatherless daughter who promised for  years he would come to birthdays, important games, awards ceremonies, graduations (the list goes on, and yet never came to any) I always had a constant in my life....my mother. She taught me the importance of charity and no matter how little we had, we were to be grateful.  We volunteered at food banks, invited aquatint's  who had no where to go on holidays to our home, and along the way we were taught how lucky we really were no matter how little was in our bank account, because we had each other and our health above all.  I never knew how hard she had it, food stamps, borrowing family members cars because we didn't have one, nursing during the day, cooking for wealthy families in the summer, and cleaning houses every Saturday.  She did this to not only pay the bills, but to pay so we could go to camp, take lessons, and save for our college.   I typed on a type-writer through high-school and brought it to college, as soon as my mom saved up enough money she bought me a computer.  My mother was forced to be the mother and father  She grilled our first dates and if you ask them, scared the life out of them. She held us as we sobbed when we were left crying from a boy at school who, or  as our father had promised us he would pick us up for Christmas and just never came. Promise after promise was broken, another tear fell down our cheeks, and yet another soft whisper to tell us it would be ok from a man who was not a father to his three children   My mother worked her butt of to raise great kids, who may have given her a bit of trouble along the way, but was the definition of unconditional love.
       I look back now and wonder how the hell she did it. I have a caring husband who works hard to pay our bills and have a savings, who stays up late feeding a newborn, who tell me to just get out for a break from the kids; and I wonder how she did it all those years alone.... So here is a happy wonderful mother's day, which no card, gift, or message will ever show how much she has done for her children.....and yet will never ask for anything more than an "I Love You" phone call. To woman who did it all alone, I look up to you. My mother, my protector, my children's grandmother, my best friend, and most of all the woman who I will always LOVE, like the way I love my girls. Happy Mother's Day to all you who deserve it, especially mine. I hope I can make you proud as a mother, and daughter.

My mom holding her first grandchild Olivia

My Mom and her Oldest Justin

Maggie, Myself, My Mom and Justin

My sister and I at the beach with our Mom

the love of  a grandmother to her grandchild...

My Mom as a child ( I believe far left)

Pretty sure my Mom is far right

My Grandmother and her FIVE daughters :)

Strawberry Picking

The Beane Family has been pretty busy lately! We are building our first house in Tennessee and never realized how time consuming it can be! On top of that we are getting ready for Aunty's Wedding and all the fun stuff that goes along with that :)  The local strawberry patch opened up and we thought it would be great to take the girls and pick some strawberries since they LOVE to eat them. At $3 a pound I thought it would be a great inexpensive outing.....well $30 later we left the strawberry patch. It's pretty safe to say the girls will never excel in any type of hard physical labor. After about 3 minutes Olivia started asking if we were done yet, if her sister could pick strawberries for her and on and on. Maddie on the other hand ate more than her far share of strawberries and was not a happy camper with an upset belly from the pounds of berries she was eating! Needless to say we may just head to the grocery store instead of trying to pick them ourselves!

Lina, Liv, and Maddie ready to pick some Berries!

attempt at a picture of both of them....

Liv Lin and Gabby!

not sure what Maddie is doing here...

the girls ready to start picking!

Maddie picked the strawberry, ate the strawberry, then put the remains in the basket

Liv on the hunt for some strawberries!

examining the goods

hard at work looking for berries

Maddie ready to eat some more!

The Beane girls...

Liv picking some berries

Maddie showing off her goods

yep thats her basket...

Liv convincing Maddie to carry her basket

the final product!

.....and ready for bed!!