Last Blog for at least 3 days or so...

Because we will be moving!! Closer to all our friends, so THAT is what I'm so excited about. Expect to see alot more of us, woot woot! LOL.

Here are some pics to tide you over until I'm back online..from Christmas morning. Isabel and Alana were happy as clams. Isabel loved all the gifts from her Nana and Aunt Tanya (thank you! :)) and of course mommy and daddy, gramma and poopa, and her Great Pappy (He got them 2008 MATCHING Christmas Barbies!-I don't know who loved them more, me or the kiddos-haha). Isabel had an especially joyful time ripping off paper than trying to chew on it. I didn't let her do this longer than 2 seconds, for which she got VERY mad at me. The toys were a nice distraction.

Till I write again...Happy New Year! And here is to a great 2009!

Merry Christmas!!!

What a great day. I can't write much but all I can say is that I am THANKFUL. Thankful for my family, friends, that we still have a roof over our heads...but mostly I am just thankful that my debt has been paid. And when I say debt, I'm not talking about the balance on our Visa card. I'm talking about how incredibly indebted we would be to God if it weren't for the birth of our Savior. As the popular song goes..Jesus Paid it All. 'Nuff Said. Going to celebrate this Victory with my family and open the presents that are graciously under our tree. Love to all!

And we pull off another year!

Whew. Wrapping presents IS NOT MY THING. I would much rather just give them the present, in all their unwrapped glory. I am just thankful that I have presents to actually wrap, so I won't be complaining about that one for too long.

This year really worried me, as I'm sure it worried alot of people. Financial Crisis's (that's alot of 'isses') and all these bailouts have people going crazy. I really thought we weren't going to be able to get anyone gifts this year. And that was SO ok with us, we planned on doing a great brunch at the house, say what we were thankful for, and go see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (which we still might see!). We had explained to Alana that that was our plan, and even she was ok with it. No questions why or anything. Great! No pressure. Well, the Lord provided (in such wonderful, amazing ways) and now our kids will have TONS of presents to open on Christmas day. I was even able to buy some gifts for friends and siblings, which I wasn't thinking I would be able to. Me and Alana had a great time (well, she had a great time, I just hap-hazardly fumbled with wrapping paper, and I apologize now for all the tape and tears!) and now I can just sit in awe of our Provider, as I look under our tree. Not to sound like Carrie Underwood or anything, but everything else seems so small, when compared to the real gift that was given. I am just so thankful, and word cannot really express just how thankful I am.

YEAH-WEEK 3 IS DONE!

Well officially after I do StretchX tomorrow, but that's not a high impact workout so I'm not too worried about it!

I'm SUPER excited to go into week 4 Recovery week (Lord knows I need it!!), and get into working my core area and burning off some even more fat! So close to showing you those week 30 pics (pressure!) so I know I better work hard on my diet and everything else.

On another note, we are SO doing some more last minute Christmas shopping, and I love it, because that's how the Bean house rolls. It won't be much, but it's the thought that counts! :-)

Love to all this Christmas. Remember why we celebrate this wonderful holiday and the gift that was given to us, so that we may live. It's a wonderful thing. Thank you Jesus.

Rock Climbing-Alana style

It was her first time! She was so brave. She got up about 6 feet, with ALOT of encouragement from the peanut gallery (us!). Good times.

Festival of Lights, combined with Cheating

Ah yes, you read right..a wonderful spirit filled evening with my family..and I cheated. With 2 HOTDOGS. Granted, they were organic, turkey on wheat, but STILL. Doubles again tomorrow!

Here are some great photos from the night. We went to the Festival of Lights where they have TONS of lights EVERYWHERE, and a bunch of fire pits where you can roast marsh mellows. These pics seriously crack me up. Alana, the glorious one that she is, with her lips all bugged out so attractive and lady like, LOST HER FIRST TOOTH TODAY!! And that's what she is trying so hard to show you in that pic. She's pretty awesome.

Isabel was just in awe of all the lights. It was pretty amazing I must say. James Island county park does it bigger and bigger every year, and the traffic jam gets a bit longer. We were fancy though and thought instead of being like everyone else and just bring marshmallows, we'd bring hot dogs. That's right Mt. P yuppies, I brought hotdogs. And all your kids were j-e-a-l-o-u-s. Isabel even had a couple bites and loved it! She did so good, didn't cry once, and enjoyed every minute of it all.

My parents of course joined along and they had a great time. I swear though, Alana is still attached at the hip of my father just like when she was a baby. So cute.

Have a wonderful night..off to bed..so tired, and I go to bed with a sense of complete fulfillment. There are just some days when you sit down..look around, and think that things are exactly the way they should be. And they are.

Gotta love videos.

These make me giggle, and give me warm fuzzies on the insides. Enjoy.


fiiiiive candles briiiight, LOL!
Go tell it on the mountain!!

So much to share

TOP NEWS....

-Isabel is on the healing road! She still has a UTI but nothing shows that it has spread. She still has to get some nasty testing done, but we are faithful that nothing new will show up. Just some (a little!) discomfort.

-Plyometrics totally kicked my ass today. I got up super early at 545 to get the workout done before my daughters' christmas program at her school..well I felt super energetic and I put ALOT of effort into it. I felt good. Then came 2 hours later. I feel so flipping sore..it's very comparible to when I ran the marathon. UUUGH.

-Alana had her 1st Grade Christmas Program today!! It was AWESOME! She did so good, she was wearing her little crown, and she sang her heart out. There is a video (a couple actually) that I am posting. In the one video there is a brief, HALARIOUS solo done by one of Alana's friends. Not knocking on her or anything, but it was funny!

The above photos are from this morning at the show. Poopah came along for the ride too. We had a great time!

I give you...the funniest thing I've seen in a long time-pee in your pants kinda thing

MAKE SURE YOUR SOUND IS ON..LOUD! :)

And give it a minute to give you the play button, trust me, it will come on and it's so worth your wait!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Because the day after Thanksgiving means CHRISTMAS!

Here's Isa in her santa hat, of course, in the spirit of Christmas! Isn't she absolutely adorable! We thought the green rocking chair would be a good contrast to her red outfit. I LOVE IT.

"Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake,"

That's the new headline and new campaign from the American Humanist Association. They are running this Christmas ad, and it just started appearing on the sides of buses in Washington, D.C..

It makes me a little sad, but I honestly don't think this will have any impact whatsoever. Maybe not the impact this organization wants. You can't change the way Christmas is done, people. This "new" way of viewing Christmas is just going to make the majority roll their eyes. But hey, it costs them a whole bunch of money-$40,000 bucks-so that makes me smile a bit. *wink* to you American Humanist Association.

The holidays are simply fantastic

We had our Christmas small group last night, and let me just say, I had a blast! I am so blessed to know these group of yound married's..it's amazing how God has put the most perfect group of people together. We played "battle of the sexes" until midnight, laughed till we cried, and ate some great food. Does it get any better than that? Nope!

Before that, we had also went to Alana's annual Christmas show. This is one of the best parts of being a parent; to watch your children on a stage singing Christmas songs is simply heart melting! I look forward to it every year and it's really the best show in town. I'm not biased or anything.

I'll be posting videos of this amazing talent that is Alana later this afternoon.

Stay tuned...