Love You Forever, Like You For Always

Lincoln's T & A...it's not what you think.

2011-12-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

Lincoln had his tonsils and adenoids removed today at the Texan Surgery Center by Dr. Steven Fyfe. We had to be there very early this morning at 6:30 am, but that meant we had to leave our house at 5:15 am in order to get there on time. So leaving at 5:15 am meant waking up at 4:45 am. Josh and I are exhausted.

We did all of the above and got to the surgery center on time. They brought us back, got him dressed for the O.R. and took his vitals, weight (39 lbs) and talked to us about the post-op things we should do for him, how would feel and what he could eat afterward. Not long after the Anesthesiologist and Doctor came to talk with us and come get him. While we were waiting, we found a play room with one of those little tyke red cars. He was driving around the room when it was time to go, so they let him drive the car into the O.R. He took Leonard, his leopard, with him and gave me kisses bye.

About 30 minutes later, he was done. The Dr. said he was great and that both his tonsils and adenoids were extremely large. He cleared out his sinuses and told us he should sleep MUCH better now. The nurses came back in to get us when he was waking up from surgery. I climbed in bed with him and he just snuggled and fell back asleep. As I was laying with him, Josh and I noticed how quiet his breathing was compared to his breathing before the surgery. We were amazed.

It took him quite awhile to wake up fully. He was in and out the whole time and we tried to get him up to drink some juice or cough. Finally after a full 2 hrs he woke up enough for the nurse to discharge him.
He's home now and has been sleeping most of the day. We're going to try for bed a little later than usual, since he sleep until about 2:00 pm. We'll see how tonight goes. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully a new life for this kiddo. Breathe a little easier tonight baby!

Then and Now Photo Shoot

2011-11-15T18:19:00.000-08:00

The year Lincoln was born, we were living in Waxahachie, TX. In Spring 2008, I took Lincoln out to the playground to take pictures for Father's Day to surprise Josh. Ironically enough, Josh found the photos and framed them for me for Mother's Day the month before.

Not long ago, I found a shirt that was made of the same material as the shirt Lincoln wore in that 2008 photo shoot. So yesterday he wanted to wear his green shirt, so I thought it was a great opportunity to do another photo shoot. Our little boy is no longer little. He's growing up so fast. It's fun to watch him grow. Love you Linc!

Here is kiddo in April 2008...

Here is November 2011...

Head Staples

2011-11-14T12:35:00.000-08:00

Lincoln fell down about two weeks ago and cracked the back of his head open. It was bleeding quite a bit but slowed when I put him in the shower, but he still needed stitches or something to close the wound. We took him to a Minor Emergency Clinic in Marble Falls to see the Doctor, since it was a Saturday.

They looked at him and said he needed one staple to keep it shut. So I hugged him hard and wrapped him in a sheet then we laid down on the table. It took all of 10 seconds for the Doctor to clean and staple his head. No problem.

We were on our way to check out and were told it would be almost $400!!! FOR ONE STAPLE!! Our country's medical system is SO messed up. Then we were told that we would have to pay to have it removed too. After talking with one of the nurses, I convinced her to take it out at no charge. When she did so, she told me it was difficult to remove because it was in there crooked! Ah, the frustrations of the medical system!!

My First Bout with Strep Throat

2011-11-14T12:22:00.000-08:00

Early last week, I had a really sore throat and couldn't sleep because it hurt so much. It burned to swallow or even breathe. So, after a quick doctor's visit, I tested positive for Strep. I spent the next two days in bed, on antibiotics, sipping soup that Josh so lovingly ordered for me. He took a couple days off work to take care of me and keep Lincoln away from me. I didn't want to get either of them sick.

I'm feeling much better now, but still have a few days worth of antibiotics to take. Hopefully no one else catches this.

Poor kiddo...

2011-10-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

Lincoln woke up yesterday morning with red, puss-filled bumps all over his chin and cheeks. I took him to the school nurse to get her opinion. She thought it looked like a staph infection or impetigo. His pediatrican concurred and gave us a topical anti-biotic cream that seems to be helping, thus far.

However, today was picture day at school. Ugggggh. I called his teacher to make sure he could do a "make up" picture another day. I don't want him to miss school pictures. His pics last year were so cute!

He looks so much younger in this photo. He's getting so grown up!

Sea World Trip

2011-09-27T18:48:00.001-07:00

We took a trip to Sea World at the end of the summer. We usually go in October when it cools down, but we decided to go while the water park was still open. It was hot, but really fun. Lincoln's favorite part was definitely seeing Elmo and the whole Sesame Street gang perform. After the show, the characters came down to take pictures with the kids and Lincoln was literally running after Ernie and Bert screaming, "Ernie, wait! Wait for me Ernie!"

He was SO happy to see Ernie and Bert!

"Wait for me Ernie!"

Ice Cream and swimming. Doesn't get much better!

He wasn't very keen on the whales. It was too loud for him and he spent most of the time covering his ears with his hands. But what really sent him over the edge was when the whales splashed us. That over-stimulated him and he was not happy until the show was over. As we were walking out, he saw a stuffed whale. I'm a sucker and bought it for him, and it is now a favorite. He pretends the whale is splashing with his tale and jumping around.

Baby and Mommy Whale

The trainers are not allowed in the water with the whales anymore and they all had their hair in buns. The whale that was involved in last year's accident killing his trainer was shipped to the San Antonio Sea World. He was performing on the other side of the tank. It was amazing to see them perform, but also scary to think of something THAT size swimming at you at break-neck speeds. Just amazing though.

Makes me want to be a trainer, but with dolphins.

Happy 4th Birthday Lincoln!!

2011-09-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

Enjoying his birthday cake!

Our little boy turned 4 years old today. As they say, time flies. We are amazed at how fast the time has flown. He is as tall, as fast, and as fearless as any older boy. We had a school evaluation today and were told that he is above his age range academically but still needs to work on his speech. We are SO proud of him and all the progress he has made. This year in class with his wonderful teachers should be a great one.

Saturday we had a birthday swim party for Lincoln and his friends at the City pool. Last year, we had his party at the pumpkin patch and it was too hot. This year, at the pool, the weather was perfect for a swim. The water was VERY cold at first, but still felt nice.

He had lots of friends there and received lots of cool gifts, including a Toy Story Sherriff Woody and Bullseye Josh and I got him. Everyone had a good time.

Angelene, two weeks away from kiddo #5 and Finley looking on.

Nice ears hon!

Samuel and Mom, Amy

Curtis and Jane Hale

Lincoln and Nana, enjoying a Mickey Mouse cupcake.

Samuel and Lincoln

Our playdate friends, Amy and Samuel

Every birthday, I've made Lincoln a Birthday hat and shirt. This year's theme was Mickey Mouse. Happy Birthday my big boy!!!

Back to School

2011-09-26T18:18:00.000-07:00

Lincoln started school again and he is in the same class as last year, the Pre-school Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD). He has been making lots of progress verbally and academically. His teachers have said that he still is a little behind in his speech, but he is ahead of his age group academically. Right now, he has three teachers and about 6 or 7 kids in his class. He is attending the Pre-K class every day for about 30 minutes, but his teacher, Ms. Tina, wants to increase his time in Pre-K to an hour. We'll see how his does in a class with two teachers and 18 or 19 kids. Either he will flourish or he won't. We'll see...

His teachers are amazing!! Ms. Tina and Ms. Hollie were with him last year and now he also has Ms. Carmen helping too. They really CARE about the kids in their class. I can tell because I've seen them talking to and dealing with the kids, and they are tremendous!! They really care about Lincoln and how he is progressing. We feel so blessed to have them working with Lincoln. I can see a huge difference in his behavior and speech. WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

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We also just had Lincoln tested for food allergies. We knew he was allergic to peanuts, which was confirmed, but we also found out that he is slightly allergic to milk, soy, and egg whites, which basically excluded all dairy products. He is already on a Gluten-free diet but now we have to remove all dairy, egg, and codfish too. He is slightly more allergic to codfish (fish sticks, etc) than milk and eggs. I really need to do my homework to research in order to provide dinner for a month with all these restrictions. We take it away for a month, then introduce each one back into his diet to see how he reacts to it. Wish us luck!!!

Fun in the Sun!

2011-07-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot of fun this summer so far, filled with swim lessons, trips to Nana's house, swimming at the pool, bowling, playdates, dinosaur bones, more swimming and even more swimming (especially since we've had over 30 consecutive days of 100 degrees or more)! It's gone by very quickly and we can't believe it's almost time for school again.
Here is a little peak at our summer so far....

Playing Wii baseball and giving mommy "scary eyes"

Horseshoe Bay Resort

He wasn't quite sure of the turtle at first, but his friend helped him feel better.

Swimming with his "gobbles" on.

Underwater looking at each other. Always funny.

Miss Martha helping me to dive.

"Kick those legs!"

At a friends birthday party..."Happy BIRTHDAY!!" squeeze!

Our favorite past time...being naked!

Last day of School

2011-06-02T08:07:00.001-07:00

Lincoln's teachers: Angie, Hollie, and Christina

During the last few weeks of school for Lincoln his class was learning about the ocean and summer. Since both the morning and the afternoon classes would be meeting together on the final day to watch "Finding Nemo", I told his teachers that I would bring a cake for everyone.

Then, Miss Tina approached me about possibly doing a baby shower cake for Miss Hollie (another teacher who is expecting her first boy). Two cakes in two days was a fun and I think they turned out great. I didn't want to make the kids cake too crazy, so a plain sheet cake did the trick. The last day of school arrived and I was sad because Lincoln wouldn't have his teachers to help him over the summer (and I'm worried about my own teaching abilities) and that he wouldn't see his class mates until August!

They had a fun day though. Everyone watched the movie and had snacks, then the Pre-K class (who had also joined the PPCD class) left and the rest of us had cake. It was lots of fun.

As a "Thank You" to his teachers, I photoshopped Lincoln's head into a book that is about a little boy who is always in trouble. I thought it was appropriate. At the end of the book, Lincoln gets a gold star and a "Good Job, Lincoln" from his teacher and skips home. Everyone really liked it and Miss Tina said another teacher saw it and cried. These teachers REALLY love their kids!! Here a few of my favorite pages.

Here are some of his crafts from the last few weeks of school...

I'm SO grateful to Christina, Hollie, and Angie for all their hard work and support this year! They were instrumental to the progress Lincoln made since last October. They will forever be in our hearts and loved by us all!

So we've got a handwriting ciriculum to work on over the summer, lots of swimming planned, a trip or two to San Antonio Sea World and the zoo, and lots of sunscreen ahead of us. It's going to be a great summer!!

We grow 'em bigger in Texas...

2011-05-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

Almost every time I take Lincoln to the store or somewhere out in public, someone asks me how old he is. When I tell them he is 3 1/2 yrs old, they always say, "Oh my! I thought he was 4 or 5! He is a big boy!"

Today at the park, a friend of ours pointed out that Lincoln is half my size. He is as tall as my belly button already and I guess I never think about how big he is until I see him next to some of his friends at school and the park that are his age. He usually stands head and shoulders above them. Maybe he'll be a star basketball player, or possibly the next Michael Phelps. He does have a very long torso, somewhat stumpy legs, and big feet! ha ha
Here's hoping...

Port Aransas Beach Trip

2011-05-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

We finally made it back to Port Aransas this year. We hadn't been in two years and I was getting anxious to go. Our friends ended up joining us and we had a great time! We stayed at a condo with a kitchen, living room and one bedroom. It was so much better than a hotel room. We grabbed some groceries to fill the fridge with breakfast and lunch stuff then went out to eat for dinner.

We didn't get down to the coast until early evening on Friday and went straight to the beach! Lincoln loved it even more than last time we were there. He especially loved jumping in the waves. Digging in the sand, running through the seaweed, chasing Allie and Sam, and hugging Noah took up the rest of Lincoln's time at the beach....but Lincoln's favorite activity of the weekend has been peeing outside! Ever since Josh had to pull over on the way to school to let Lincoln pee, Linc has gone out of his way to pee outside. And since we were outside almost all weekend, he took advantage of it. Everywhere we went, I would turn around to find he had pulled down his drawers and was relieving himself. He never had to pee this much before.

This tree is over 1,000 years old!! Amazing. Lincoln peed here too.

Yet again...

Linc at the pier. He's got a good stream going!

Sam, Linc, and Allie on the pier at Rockport.

Welcome to the Boys Club

2011-04-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

Lincoln has never really had the urge or want to pee outside or on a tree. But this morning, we were in a hurry to get to school and I forgot to ask him to go potty before we left. Josh was driving him to school when he started to whine. Josh asked him what was the matter and Linc said, "Pee Pee, Pee Pee."

Josh called me to ask if Lincoln's Froggy potty was in the car, which it wasn't. So he had to pull over the side of the road to make Lincoln pee. I guess he really needed to go, because he went for a really long time.

This evening, after dinner, we were coming home from getting some frozen yogurt (yum) and we were in the front yard. Lincoln wanted to play on our front steps and the next thing I know I heard Josh telling Lincoln good job for peeing. I looked over and all I saw was a stream coming from around the corner into the lawn.

I guess he has figured out how much fun it is to pee in the yard (according to Josh). Lincoln, you have become a MAN!

A Dirty Story

2011-03-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

We've been working with Lincoln since Thanksgiving to get him potty trained. He had a hard time at first, then we got him a "froggy potty" and everything changed for the better! He did very well after that but still had a hard time learning how to go "No. 2" in the potty.

He's now since graduated from the "froggy potty" and won't go anywhere but a big-boy potty...not even on a tree. Isn't that a right of passage for boys?

We had months of wet pants and poo poo undies. Finally after having cleaned yet another pair of undies with poo, we decided to bribe him with a toy. He is SUPER into Toy Story, so our first thought was to get a "Sherriff Woody" doll. But there was a little Lotso figure with a truck Josh thought would work better. We bought it and showed it to him saying, "If you go poo poo in the potty, you get Lotso."

"Lotso!" he would say. "Not until you go poo poo in the potty."

I can't tell you how many times we said this. Finally, after about a month of trying to bribe him, I was about to give up, then I went to check on him during nap time. He was in the bathroom and had poo all over his hands and toilet paper in the pot, but no poo. He looked at me and said, "Poo poo in the potty! Yeah!" I asked him if he went in the potty and he said Yes. I was still skeptical but I wanted to reward him, so he got Lotso.

Two days later, the same thing happened. I didn't witness it, but again congratulated him and made a big deal of it. He has also taken to closing us out of the bathroom to do his business. So finally I made a point to sit down in the bathroom with him to witness the deed. And YES, he did it!

We've made huge strides in his potty training now. He lets us know when he has to go, or he'll just say, "I gotta go" and run to the potty himself. He washes he hands with soap, drys then off, and comes running out saying "I pee peed" or "I poo pooed". He still has accidents every now and then, but he's done wonderfully.

Now onto the next issue....His teachers sent home a note saying he told them he had to potty three times and then went, but they had to constantly tell him to take his hand out of his pants. That's a daddy conversation because I just don't get it.

Time Out

2011-03-21T19:43:00.000-07:00

Lincoln, Age 3 1/2

Lincoln has been doing so well at school and learning to string his words together, especially in song, that he is using sentences all the time...including when he is in Time Out.

Yesterday he was put in Time Out for throwing a huge fit over who-knows-what and was made to sit on his TO cushion. Instead of sitting, he sprawls himself down on the tile floor, either on his stomach or back, and fake cries. But after a minute or so of Josh and I ignoring him, I heard a song coming from the TO corner.

**Now let me preface this by telling you that Lincoln picks up songs, phrases, and sayings from movies, t.v. and just about anywhere. But he has a particular fascination with the Backyardigans, a cartoon show on Nick Jr. that has singing animals using their imaginations in different scenarios. His favorite episodes include a Kangaroo (Austin) racing around the world, a Moose (Tyrone) making Samuari Pies, and a Penguin (Pablo), Kangaroo, Moose, and a whatever thing Uniqua is. Maybe she's a bug. **

So, back to Lincoln. I stop to listen to his song as he is lying on his back... He is singing a song from the Racing Day episode where one of the characters is in last place.

Again, as he is sitting in Time Out... "I'm not happy about this...no sir. I'm not happyyyyyyyyy about this." It was just classic! Josh and I had to stifle our laughs.

He really has gotten lots better with his sentences, but I have to drag them out of him alot of the time. He will begin by saying one word of something he wants and I have to say, "I..." then he says, "I want banana please." This is a constant battle. Now that he's getting more vocal, he's also getting more independent. "Lincoln's turn, Lincoln's turn!!!" is a frequent phrase now a days.

I guess that's the price we pay for our kiddo growing up and progressing. And we LOVE it! He's a stinker, but well worth it. He has also adopted the phrase, "I'm a hugger" from Toy Story 3. And he is!!!

"First thing you got to know about me is...I'm a hugger!" Lotso Huggin' Bear

Dinosaur Crafts

2011-02-05T15:59:00.000-08:00

Lincoln has been working on all things dinosaurs at school...
He's doing really well at school. Now if I can just get him to go poo in the potty instead of his pants!!!

10th Anniversary

2011-01-20T20:53:00.001-08:00

Today Josh and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary!
It's been ten years filled with super highs, some not so great times, and lots of love! Here's a look back at the last ten years. Thank you, Josh, for the greatest adventure! I love you more and more every day!

Family Christmas/New Year with Friends

2011-01-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas/New Year was a crazy one, full of traveling, visitors, lots of presents for Lincoln, and lots of laughs.

New Year's Day at the Bond home.

Samantha, Lincoln, and Allie at Braum's.

And Noby too!

Christmas day at Nana's house.

Merry Christmas!

"I love my guitar AND my rain boots!"

Eat your heart out Sheldon...

Santa's Helper...

Three generations of Smiths.

Christmas

Christmas Past

2010-12-23T17:37:00.000-08:00

This Christmas season has been the best so far with Lincoln. He is old enough to enjoy the music, shows, and Santa. The last two years, even as an infant, he cried each time he saw Santa. And presents were just something we opened for him. I'm hoping that he will WANT to open presents this year. We'll see.

This year is always stressful for me because of the gift buying, figuring out where we are going and what family we will get to see. But the best part of year for me is seeing the smile on my kiddo's face when he really likes something. This year, that something has been "Elmo's Christmas Countdown." It's a video that we checked out from the local library and he has wanted to watch it over and over and over again. I credit Elmo for helping Lincoln feel more comfortable with Santa. Plus, his teachers at school have been talking about Santa.

My favorite moment thus far happened at our church Christmas party. Santa arrived, read a story, then the kids lined up to sit on Santa's lap. Lincoln stood in line, with a little help, then when it was his turn, he walked directly to Santa, sat on his lap and smiled!! As you look at our Santa pictures from the past years, you'll see what a big accomplishment this is.

I'm glad that Lincoln can recognize not only Santa, but his Savior as well. There was a picture of Santa and a picture of Jesus Christ on the same wall at a friend's house and he pointed to Santa and named him, then did the same with Jesus. I'm just happy that he is speaking so much more, but it was the icing on the cake to know he can recognize his Savior.

I feel very blessed this year, even with the tough trials and decisions that we've faced. I'm grateful to my Savior and Father in Heaven for all my blessings and for my wonderful and loving family. Merry Christmas!

2007

2008- Mele Kelikemaka

2009

2010

Thanksgiving crafts

2010-11-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

Lincoln came home with a backpack full of cute little crafts from school on Friday. They have been very busy this week working on scarecrows, leaf rubbings, sorting, coloring, and an adorable feathered indian headband. Here are some of his creations....

Last Pumpkins of the Season

2010-11-22T18:14:00.000-08:00

Last week, Lincoln and I went to the farm near our town that sells pumpkins in the Fall and Strawberries in the Spring. I knew the farm would be closing soon so we went out one more time this year to take some pictures.

We've taken a picture on this tractor at the farm for the last three years.

Lincoln has a little scratch on his forehead that he keeps picking at. It won't heal and keeps getting bigger, thus the band-aid.

We went out with a friend and her young son to let them run out their energy. We had lots of fun in the hay maze and climbing in the pumpkin boats. We were the only ones there and didn't think anything of it, until we asked when they closed and were told they "were already closed to the public." Ooops! They didn't care because we didn't buy anything anyway. But the boys had fun!!

Taking turns "driving" the boat!

The Miracle Worker

2010-11-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

This year, I've been introduced and have enjoyed performing in our local community theater productions. Earlier this year, I played "Miss Scarlet" in "Clue: The Musical." Then they called me to audition for "The Miracle Worker" as Annie Sullivan. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled about auditioning, but I thought I could give it a shot. I've never performed in a dramatic role and wasn't sure how good I would be.

Well, the play opened two weeks ago and we are in the final stretch and it's been getting GREAT reviews. I have been especially surprised by the wonderfully positive response to my performance. Countless people have told me that it was the "best play I've ever seen here in the 25 years the theater has been open." And how my performance moved them to tears.

It's amazing the positive feedback we've been getting. I never thought that I'd be any good at drama because I'm such a goof, but I guess I'm channeling my frustration with teaching Lincoln how to speak into my role as Annie teaching Helen Keller how to "speak."

Here are a few pictures of the cast and crew and some others of the performance. It's been a LOT of work and LOTS MORE memorization, but the wonderful comments have made it worthwhile.

Lacey with the "blind girls"

"The Miracle Worker" Cast

Cast and Crew

Josh, mom, and me...with Malik's arms...

This was taken from off stage by Denise (Viney) with her phone. It's the final scene of the play, where Annie tells Helen that she loves her. Get out the tissues!!! And a really cool picture!

This is a video of a portion of "the breakfast scene" where Annie is trying to get Helen to eat with a spoon. It's a funny scene, especially when the audience gets excited and involved.

It's been a lot of work, but overall, it's been fun and fulfilling. Now, I promise I won't do another one until next season. Oh, yeah, they also used my picture from "Clue" on the cover of this season's program guide. So, my picture will be on every program guide until Sept. 2011!! At least it's a decent picture.

Lincoln's School Picture & Crafts

2010-11-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Linc came home with a bag full of crafts that he has been doing at school and his FIRST SCHOOL PICTURE!!! I was a little worried about how the picture would turn out because he got sick the day they were taking pictures and I needed to pick him up. Before I got there, they ran him down to get his picture taken.
I can't tell you how much I love this kid!! With all the frustration I feel in helping him learn to "use his words", it's a great feeling to just look at his picture and tear up because I love him so much. He has blessed our lives with patience, love, hugs, kisses, laughter, and surprise. Whether it was a good picture or not, I was definitely looking forward to seeing them. Luckily, I have a very handsome kiddo (just like daddy) and his picture turned out GREAT...even though he was sick.

His teachers send home an info sheet that lets the parents know what skills the kids will be working on and what the theme for the next two weeks. His first week at school they were learning about bears. The last two weeks were pumpkins. Here are some of the Uber-cute crafts he brought home.
Coffee Bear (smells good)

Pretty!!!

How many did he eat before glueing them on?

Happy Halloween 2010!

2010-10-31T18:31:00.001-07:00

We had our "Trunk or Treat" at church yesterday and had a lot of fun. Josh dressed up as a Chilean Miner, just out of the mine, Lincoln was a version of Count von Count from Sesame Street, and I was the "Black Sheep of the family." Everyone's costumes were fairly easy to put together, except mine. I decided to hand dye 400 cotton balls black, then wash and dry them, then I had to pull them apart to regain their fluffiness (individually) and then hot glue them to my black sweatshirt. A very labor-intensive costume that made me look like (according to many at the party) a poodle and a wolf. Oh well.

The Romrell family (Super cute!)

Austin, Alex, and Jannie Medley

My friend/partner in crime, Jessica, made this amazing pumpkin cake for the party. It's become a tradition for one of us or both to make a cake for our ward parties. This one was great!! Good job Jess!

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

2010 Sea World Trip

2010-10-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 16th, we went to Sea World San Antonio with my older sister and one of her boys, Aidan. We've taken Lincoln there before but he was only 1 year old and we thought he might be old enough to enjoy all the animals this time around.

First stop, as always, was to see the Dolphins (My favorite!) Lincoln tried to feed them some fish, but when they came remotely close, he would pull back and say "No, No, NO." Overall he did great and really enjoyed watching them swim and splash. He kept telling me they were "Wimming" as they swam by.

We tried a couple kiddie rides, like this mini ferris wheel and the Shamu roller coaster. Earlier this year at the theme park on our trip to Branson, he screamed when he had to sit down on the ride and then again when it was time to get off. This time he was great. No crying or screaming to speak of. I think he actually enjoyed them.

Lacey and Aidan (age 8)

Josh and Linc on Shamu rollercoaster

Although it was a LOT of walking, we were smart enough to bring his stroller and he rode most of the time. We had a great time. We got to see a little of everything...Penguins, walrus, seals, Shamu, owls, alligators, flamingos, and lots of dolphins! Lots of fun for everyone!!!

First Day of School

2010-10-11T12:04:00.001-07:00

Monday, October 4th, 2010 was Lincoln's first day of school at Colt Elementary's PPCD class. I was a bit worried about how he would do, but as we walked toward the classroom door and knocked, he seemed ok. Then his teacher opened the door and tried to take him inside. That's when he started crying buckets and going "wet noodle."

I was expecting a phone call, telling me to come get him, but I didn't get one so I assumed everything was okay. At 11:00 am I went to pick him up and he came running at the door holding Ms. Tina's hand, happy as a clam.

She said he cried for about 45 minutes, then the Assistant Principal took Linc to his office to feed the pet frogs. After that, he was great.

The rest of the week got progressively better...Tuesday he cried for 15 min. Wednesday he cried for 2 minutes 11 seconds. Thursday and Friday were tear-free! I'm so glad that he is enjoying school. His teachers are just wonderful! We get a daily report of everything he did that day and how his behavior was. Then at the end of the week, we get a weekly report of how he did concerning his developmental goals. I'm so excited he gets this opportunity and I pray that it will serve him well.

Colorado visit

2010-10-11T08:19:00.001-07:00

A few months ago, we found cheap tickets to fly to Colorado to visit Josh's brother and his family. We haven't seen them in almost a year and they have a new baby boy whom I had not met. Since Josh and his brother, Austin, are such HUGE Texas Longhorn fans, we decided to visit during the Texas/Oklahoma football game.

Going to the airport is never a fun experience with Josh. He is usually very anxious and can be a little short on patience, but this time, he was really good and so was Lincoln. I kept telling Linc that we were about to take off and what kind of noise the airplane was going to make. Then the time came and we started down the runway and up into the air. Once Linc saw how high we were, he got a little scared and repeated, "All done, All done...." and "Up? Up? Up?" Finally we were able to turn on his portable DVD player to watch his new favorite movie...The Great Muppet Caper. But the DVD ran out of batteries about 20 min. before we landed and he was NOT happy. I felt sorry for the woman in front of him because he kept kicking her seat.

We finally got there and had a wonderful time reuniting with our niece and our family and getting to know our newest nephew. We played at the park, ate great food and some "not so great" food at a creepy, haunted house restaurant with a scary gorilla man, and had a really fun time just relaxing at home with Austin and Meredith.

We had a great time and look forward to seeing them again soon!

Charlotte (age 4) and Lincoln (age 3). Hook 'em Horns!

Graham (age 5 mos.)

Happy 3rd Birthday Lincoln!

2010-10-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

For Lincoln's 3rd birthday, we invited lots of friends, family and their kids to our local pumpkin patch. Sweetberry Farm has strawberries and such in the spring and pumpkins in the fall, plus a hayride, hay maze, horses and goats to feed, and lots of fun activities. It was the perfect spot to let the kids run wild. And they did!

We decided to go with a construction theme, similiar to Bob the Builder, but without all the stuff. That meant black plastic table cloths, construction hats, work aprons, caution tape, and we had an orange traffic cone pinata. The kids pulled the caution tape out of the bottom of the traffic cone, but only one was attached, sending all the candy flying. (It didn't work that way, but it was fun anyway.)

I made a half gluten-free/half brownie cake and used one of Lincoln's trucks to complete the construction theme, along with some orange fondant traffic cones.

I also made his t-shirt using some old fabric and new yellow tee. It was filthy within 30 minutes! I guess that's the price you pay when you go to a farm with gaggle of three year olds and older friends and family.

Austin (11 yrs) and Lincoln (3 yrs)

The day of his actual birthday, we went out to eat at his favorite Italian restaurant where he stuffed his face with spaghetti and again got super messy! Happy Birthday to our kiddo!! Time sure flies when you are having fun.

Smith Family Funniest Home Videos

2010-09-09T12:04:00.000-07:00

I was going through some of the videos I have taken over the last couple years of Lincoln and some of them are hilarious (at least to me). So I thought I'd share a few...

August 2010- Asleep Standing Up

July 2010- 5 more minutes Mom.

December 2009- Crib Climbing

December 2009- "Yet, we're still here."

July 2009- Oatmeal head

Winter 2008- The "Blair Witch" Camera thief

Fall 2008- Hat trick

Family Weekend

2010-09-09T06:28:00.001-07:00

This last weekend was filled with lots of fun and family blessings. My second to oldest nephew was baptized as a member of our church (Mormon) and my newest and only niece on my side of the family was given a baby blessing on Sunday.

Before we left town, Friday night we went to the Marble Falls High School football game, since the weather was BEAUTIFUL and a co-worker gave Josh her tickets. I was afraid Lincoln wouldn't like the noise, but he loved it. Especially the half-time show. By the end of the 3rd quarter, I could tell he was getting restless and we needed to get him to bed, so we left with the score 42-14 Marble Falls in the lead. I'm pretty sure they won the game, unless they pulled an MTSU stunt and lost in the last 2 minutes!

We started our trip to see family by stopping at a new deli in Spicewood called the "Down Under Deli." It's owned and operated by an Australian guy and they serve a few "Aussie" foods, so I surprised Josh by taking him there. He had a meat pie, although the Aussie Burger caught his eye too. Ever since he has been back from Australia, he talks about meat pies and the fish & chips. Well, after seeing and tasting a meat pie, I wouldn't fly all the way to the outback to have one. Although my roast beef sandwich was great!

We got to my mom's house in time to change clothes and get to the baptism, only to find out that the Bishop thought it started at 4:30 pm, not 4:00. So no one was there to open the building or fill up the baptismal faunt. Luckily, my brother-in-law had the keys to the building and they were able to fill the faunt in time for a 4:30 pm baptism.

(Left to Right)
Austin, Emily (Niece from Vine's family tree) Knox, Aidan, Braddock
Rosson and Lincoln

Then it was off to the Vine's house for a "Congratulations Aidan" and "Happy Birthday Rosson" combined party. It was nice to just hang out and see the improvements my older sister has made to her house.

The next morning at church, my younger sister's first girl was blessed. Her husband has LOTS of siblings and most of them were there with their families. I think there were 13 family members in the blessing circle. After church, we went to the Gallini house for lunch with all the family members and some out-of-town friends.

Baby Finley, Ang, and Mom

After the "blessing after-party" Josh, Linc and I went back to Nana and Papa's house to go swimming and shower. Lincoln rode Papa's tractor around the yard, then had a blast on the new schlitterbahn-water-park, 11 ft tall slide my mom had built for the pool. He absolutely LOVED it! Crazy kid. For those of you who are not familiar with Schlitterbahn water park, you should check it out and come visit Texas just to go there! Very fun!!

All in all, it was a busy but very blessed weekend. I'm proud of my nephew for choosing to be baptized and am grateful I was able to see both my nephew and niece involved in such important ordinances.

Water skiing on the lake

2010-08-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

We went out on the lake for the first time as a family with another family in the Ward. They invited us out on their boat to go water skiing and ride on their towable. We grabbed our suits and lifejackets and some rootbeer and headed out on the lake.

It was my first time on a speed/ski boat since I was very young. Josh has been water skiing before and wanted to give it another shot. At first, we set anchor and jumped in the water to cool off. After a little while, Lincoln and I got in the towable raft and were pulled behind the boat. Lincoln liked it as first, but once we went a little faster and started to hit the bumps, he said, "All done. All done." We switched the towable for the water skis and Josh started first.

Although he said he hasn't skied in 10-15 yrs, he did great! His face was so cute when he got up on those skis but the best face he made was when he fell down. I wish I had my camera.
Then it was my turn. I've never water skied in my life and I was really excited, but scared of face-planting in the water.

Our friend fired up the boat and started to pull me and I got up on the skis the FIRST TIME! Not only that, but I kept going for a long time! It was so fun.

Our friend's son showed us how great he could ski (he was really great) and then we swam a little longer, listened to music, told jokes, and just had fun. It was a late night, for us and Lincoln, but it was lots of fun!

Sunday afternoon swimming

2010-08-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

It's still pretty hot here. Hopefully we will get some relief from the heat soon, but in the mean time, we improvised a quick swimming tub for Lincoln in the garage. I put him in his "big boy" underoos and away he went.

He played in his sand box, then jumped in his "pool." He was having a great time.

Early School for Linc

2010-08-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

Lincoln had an assessment at our local elementary school to be qualified for an early intervention program. We had a play-based assessment at the school where Lincoln played with the teacher for a little while as the rest of the panel of teachers asked me questions regarding his development. He can start immediately after his 3rd birthday and as soon as his vaccinations are up to date.

Because of his language delay, he will be able to work with three teachers, including a speech therapist, daily from 8:00 am to 11:00 or 12:00 to 3:00 pm. We are not sure which session he will be admitted to, but all of us feel very blessed to be in our area at this time to give our kiddo the best opportunity to learn as possible.

Thank you for all your words of advice and support!!

Today's nap...sort of.

2010-08-24T17:06:00.000-07:00

I put Lincoln in his room and on his bed for his "nap/quiet time" around 1:00 pm. After the kicking and screaming stopped (after about 5 minutes) I thought he may have fallen asleep. I leaned my ear close to the door to listen in around 2:00 pm. Still awake and it sounded like he was reading books. So I thought I'd give him another hour. This is what I found when I went in his room at 3:00 pm...

(I tried downloading the video, but it's not working. I'll try again tomorrow.)
He basically tore a shelf off of his bookshelf, dumped a tub of out-grown clothes on the floor in his closet, tore apart yet another book, and then fell asleep slumped over his toy chest. All in the name of "NOT TAKING A NAP!"

When he woke up, I found that he had a stinky diaper, which may be one reason he didn't want to lay down. Poor guy. You may now continue to laugh at my crazy child.

I picked him up and layed him is his bed while I cleaned up the mess and he acted like his legs were cramped up in the same position he was standing in. There is never a dull day around here....

Our Sunday Best!

2010-08-24T17:02:00.001-07:00

Lincoln is now in the phase of wanting to make his own choices. So, for the most part, we let him. Here is what he chose to wear to church this Sunday...swim goggles. I feel like I'm Adam Sandler in Big Daddy, because I let him wear it. Thankfully, he took them off in the car on the way.

Watch what you say...

2010-08-20T12:08:00.001-07:00

Josh's response, as of late, to Lincoln spilling something or making a mess has been "Aw, Come on man!" Guess what Lincoln now says when he spills or makes a mess is?

Too hot

2010-08-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

It's been so hot lately that even our kitties are finding innovative ways to keep cool... Check out Chopper inside the empty pot! I didn't even notice him at first.

Laundry Room Makeover

2010-08-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

We've been working hard on finishing our laundry room makeover. We originally had one long shelf above the washer and dryer but it looked very cluttered and didn't provide very much storage. I needed more storage for my Food Storage and to hide all the the junk that we had on the shelf.

So we bought pre-made cabinets and white-washed them. After dismantling the shelf and fixing the wall, we painted the wall a color called "Silver Fox", then hung the cabinets and added shelving. We still need to add molding at the top and bottom, but we're almost finished.

Now on to the landscaping....

Dreams

2010-07-28T07:09:00.001-07:00

Since I freak Josh out almost every morning describing my dreams to him, I thought it might be fun to write them down for everyone else to make fun of too. So I'm starting a Dream Blog to keep track of all the crazy (and I do mean CRAZY) things that I dream up.

Check out the craziness that is my brain at www.techni-crazy.blogspot.com

Trip to Dallas

2010-07-26T07:28:00.001-07:00

We had a great time with our friends in Cleburne a few weeks ago. We decided to make a last minute trip up to see them and some other friends from our old ward in Waxahachie. It was a very short, but very fun trip. We miss everyone up in Hachie Country and Cleburne!!!

Playing at the Splash Pad

Lincoln didn't like the fireworks...

Night at the Roxbury

2010-07-26T07:11:00.000-07:00

Our dancing fool...

Branson Vacation

2010-07-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

In mid June, we went on a short vacation to Branson, Missouri. I have two friends that were in the "Clue" Musical with me that work during the summer in Branson as Duck Boat Captains. They were instrumental in allowing us to go up there and visit more of the sites with complimentary tickets!

We were able to get free tickets to ride the Ducks, which is an aquatic vehicle used in WWII, now being used as a tourist attraction, and free tickets to Silverdollar City, the local theme park. THANK YOU TO GARRY AND MICHELE!! We saved a lot of money because of them! It was great. We also were able to get a discount on a hotel thanks to another friend and co-worker of Josh's. We got a hotel room with a full kitchen and separate sleeping areas for $55 a night!!

We figured out that it would be easier for us to drive to Tulsa and stay at Josh's dad's house for the night, then drive to Branson (a mere 3 1/2 hr drive from Tulsa) in the morning. Josh also wanted to eat at one or more of the Diners, Drive-ins and Dives restaurants that were on our way. We found a couple in Oklahoma City, but they were too far out of the way.

As we started out, Lincoln showed he was going to be a trooper in the car. He was great, as long as we has lots of books, food, and a few movies. We stopped in Cleburne on our way up to eat and let Linc run around a bit. Then we headed off to OKC and planned to stop there for dinner but ended up stopping in Norman and ate at the best pizza place, called Hide-away pizza!! I would recommend the "Paradise Pie" pizza. VERY good.

We walked around the Oklahoma University campus for a little while and then headed off to Tulsa. Dave (Josh's dad) was on his own vacation in Spain and graciously allowed us to stay at his house anyway. We packed enough non perishable food to last for days but still were able to get a small pint of milk for breakfast cereal.

The next day, we left for Branson. We decided to take our time getting there and stopped outside of town to eat and stretch. After finally getting to Branson and checking in to the hotel, we booked tickets to go see the Chinese Acrobats and met up with Garry to get the free tickets and figure out our schedule for the next few days.

Branson is much more family friendly than I anticipated. They have a lot of family museums and attractions, as well as shopping nooks and niches. Driving down the main road is like driving down the Vegas strip, except instead of show girls, it's covered with Country Singers, magic acts and the Osmonds! Yes, they are STILL there!! One museum looked like the Titanic rushing through the water with a huge iceberg hitting the side; another was a replica of the Hollywood sign with a giant King Kong atop swatting away airplanes. They definitely get your attention.

The first night we saw the Chinese Acrobat show (sorry no pictures allowed), thinking that Lincoln would enjoy it and hopefully sit still. Everyone LOVED it! Lincoln was mesmorized by everything EXCEPT the paper dragons. We told him they were "puppies" to make him feel a little better. It didn't work. Luckily, the dragons opened the show and then disappeared. I was amazed at how strong and coordinated those performers were. It was just amazing. And beautiful!

("Captain Foghorn" aka Garry and the Smith Family)

The next day we rode the Ducks with my friend "Captain Foghorn". We drove around town, listening to his town tour and jokes, and then plunged into the lake for a nice float. Lincoln became an honorary Captain by taking the wheel on the lake. He was really upset about being on the water, but driving on land was fun. After the ride, we ate at the hotel and took a quick nap, then headed out to a dinosaur museum to see some dino replicas. It was really cool and Linc liked it, mostly. He got a little bored, since they didn't move.

Josh and I took turns running around with him so the other could read about the dinos. While I was watching Linc, I stopped to take a picture of a dino and by the time I turned around, Lincoln crossed under the barrier and was riding a little dinosaur like a horse!! It was so funny, I couldn't make him move without taking a picture first.

The food we ate during the whole trip was great! Great BBQ, pizza, salads, even bread tasted great!! So another night at the hotel and we were set to leave the next afternoon. First we planned on visiting Silverdollar City to weat Lincoln out.

I wasn't sure how Lincoln would react to the rides and crowds, and he initially did really well. But then we tried the kiddo rollercoaster. Josh tried to go on the ride with him and he waited in line like an angel until it was time to get on the ride. He freaked out and refused to sit down, so Josh picked him up and left. I wasn't going to give in that easily. I took him on the teacups and the same thing happened. He was fine in line, but then screamed as if I was beating him when we sat down. But I made him sit with me and once the ride started, he was fine. It was only once the ride STOPPED that he started screaming again...but this time because he didn't want to get off!!

BEFORE THE RIDE.... You can hear my tell someone that Lincoln will probably cry getting off the ride, which is exactly what happened. After the ride was over, a lady came up to me laughing because she heard me predict what would happen. She thought it was hilarious.

Josh decided to try again with the Flying Elephant ride and again the same thing happened. Josh felt bad making him stay there, but I reassured him that he would be fine and probably cry on the way out too. Lo and behold, that is exactly what happened. The rest of the day was great. We got Lincoln a baseball bat with his name, saw a few musical acts, rode some water rides and ate some good (not good-for-you) food.

Time to head home... We stopped off at the greasiest restaurant with the greasiest food, but it was SOOOOO good. They threw rolls at you and dumped lots of fried food on your plate every 5 minutes. So if you are in Ozark, MO, check out Lambert's. But try to go on a weekend day outside of peak lunch or dinner time. Our first attempt to eat there landed us with a 1 1/2 hr wait. No thanks...

We followed the same route back and ended up stopping in Norman again to eat at "The Diner" a Triple D joint with great food, including an omlette the size of my head. We probably could have used one more day to break up all the driving, but we had a great time!

Now we are looking forward to our next trip to the beach for 2010!

Assessments and Gluten-Free Menus

2010-06-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

The last several weeks have been very stressful around our house. Starting after Easter weekend, we discussed the need for some speech and developmental therapy for Lincoln due to his developmental delays. As his parents, it was difficult to see outside of our little "bubble" and admit that he needed some guidance and needed to be assessed for any developmental delays.
My family was instrumental in getting us in touch with the right people and to our advantage, we just happen to have a great set of Early Childhood Intervention services in our county.

So, Lincoln has had an initial and a more thorough Autism assessment and qualifies for the ECI Speech Therapy and Developmental Therapy. They said that he is very intelligent and active, but they saw a few red flags in his communication skills and social interaction. We have scheduled his therapy sessions and are looking forward to getting started. He has not been diagnosed with anything, but still shows enough signs to be admitted to the program. They will be holding the sessions in our home one to two times a week (roughly). If he still needs help after his third birthday, he will be referred to the local school ISD, which has a great program too.

Next on our agenda was to continue to investigate his frequent vommiting problem. So, we changed his diet to an all Gluten-Free one, and it has made a HUGE difference. He has only vommited once since making the change (outside of a 24 hr stomach bug). However, he was also on an antibiotic to clear up a sinus infection. He is now off of the meds and we need to wait and see how he does on just the GF diet.

Hopefully we'll get it all figured out and help Lincoln live the best life possible!! We've also started with swim lessons this week. It's going to be a busy summer!!

April Bluebonnets

2010-04-08T13:03:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine offered to take some family photos of us. I asked her to come to the house, since our entire yard was covered with bluebonnets. They are just beautiful. These are the first family photos we've done. I love them! Here are some of our favorites.

Can you see the bluebonnets lining the street!?!

Beautiful!!

Camping at Inks State Park

2010-03-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

We decided about a month ago to go camping with our friends, the Bonds and the other Smiths (Dan and Tannie). The Bonds live about 2 1/2 hours away and the Smiths live in Cedar Park, about an hour away. Since we all wanted to go camping together, we decided to camp at Inks State Park, which is about 30 minutes from us.

Adam and Rachael love to camp and usually stay for at least a couple days. On the other hand, Josh thinks that camping is "pretending to be homeless." So the Bonds got there Friday and stayed at the camp site both Friday and Saturday nights, while Josh, Linc and I got there on Saturday. Dan and his two boys stayed both nights, but Tannie joined us Saturday afternoon after finishing her half marathon.

We had such a great time with everyone. Even though we haven't all been together as a group in awhile, we just fell right back into that "old friend" feeling; joking with each other, keeping each other's kids from falling in the fire, and eating each other's food.

The weather was absolutely beautiful during the day, but it got REALLY cold at night. We went hking during the day and had fun just catching up, while the kids jumped in the tiny little stream that ran through the two camp sites. They all were soaking wet and were grateful for the dry clean clothes we all brought.

Tin foil dinners were great and smores and popcorn finished us off. Bedtime was a different story. Now, Lincoln is not the type of kid that will play his way to bed. He won't play, play, play, then get sleepy and lay down. He will play, play, play, and then have a melt down because he is so tired! So, my solution was to take him for a drive around the park at the point of his melt down. It worked! He fell asleep in the car then I transfered him to the sleeping bag in our tent.

That gave Josh and I lots of time to just sit and talk with everyone. Finally we decided to go to bed (who knows what time we went to bed) and Josh cozied into his sleeping bag and I tried to snuggle in next to Lincoln. He and I were sharing a sleeping bag, which was a bad idea. I never realized how squirmy Lincoln is when he sleeps. Right as I found a comfortable, warm spot, Lincoln woke up.

At first he just wanted to sit up, then hug, then talk, and finally he started singing. Then he tried to crawl over me to get to Daddy snoring away next to us. So I let him. Lincoln started patting Daddy on the shoulder and Josh woke up thinking it was me. He turned over saying "WHAT?" then realized it was Lincoln. "Hi buddy" was his very sleepy response. I figured one of us needed to sleep so I brought Lincoln back to my side of the tent and Josh rolled back over to sleep some more.

After singing one of Linc's favorite Sesame Street songs to him about a million times, we both fell asleep. But it wasn't very good sleep because it was so cold and I gave Linc most of the sleeping bag. When we woke up, Lincoln came over and gave me a big hug and said, "HI!" It was all worth it.

The next morning, we ate breakfast tacos, cleaned up, and packed everything away. The park has a big playground, so we stopped to let the kids run around before heading out. We were at the park longer then we thought, so we just pulled out all the left over food and had a big picnic before heading home. We really had a great time with everyone!!! We will definitely go camping again with Lincoln...but he gets his own sleeping bag next time.

Elvis is IN the building!!

2010-03-12T20:14:00.000-08:00

Our church congregation held a Sock Hop and invited an Elvis impersonator. I was in charge of decorations. I had an idea to put the gates of "Graceland" on the wall behind Elvis as he was performing. I was going to use a computer to project the image on the wall, then use electrical tape to make the gates.

Well, the projector that we thought would work wasn't meant to be used for something as big as the wall. So, after painting the grassy background for the lawn, I had to FREE-HAND both the gates with the tape, which includes two Elvis figures, and Graceland Mansion..all within about an hour!! I think it turned out pretty good. We were all working up until the last minute to get it all finished, but it all looked great! Here are some pictures.

I also made a Record Cake for the party. It turned out pretty good too.

Blowing kisses...

Elvis was GREAT!!! He sang directly to several of the older ladies, who just loved it. Look at the kids...they are mesmorized.

No one wanted to tear down the Graceland Gates, so I had to do it. Two days of work crumpled up in 5 seconds. Oh well.

Newly added Video

2010-03-10T18:50:00.001-08:00

Go check out the Anniversary video that Josh made for our First Date Anniversary. I edited the post from 12/30/09 and added a really bad video I had to make by taping the power point presentation. It's not a great version, but you get the idea.
I was very impressed with how much work and effort Josh put into this!! I love him so much!!
So check it out...

YeeHaw

2010-03-10T18:37:00.000-08:00

This last week, Lincoln and I went to a friends ranch to see the baby goats (kids). They were SO cute! While we were there, some of the family wanted to go horse back riding. My friend Will brought the horses, all saddled up, over the house and Lincoln saw them. He went running out the door to see them. I had to grab him to put some shoes on him before he ran out in the mud. I took him to see them and Will suggested he sit on the saddle. Linc has never really wanted to get THAT close to a horse, but I tried to sit him on top of one of the horses.

Emily and Lincoln with baby Kids

"Ride 'em Cowboy!"

He LOVED it! He grabbed the saddle horn and just started laughing and having a blast. When it was time to get down, he threw a fit. We will definitely have to go back and ride on a nicer day, when it's not raining or super windy.

Growth Spurt?

2010-02-25T07:24:00.000-08:00

Ususally, Lincoln eats his fair share of food in the house but yesterday he was a human garbage disposal. Here is a list of the meals (yes I said MEALS) this kid ate...not in any order.

Bowl of Cheerios (two refills) with milk

2 Whole Graham Crackers

Bowl of Spaghetti and meatballs with noodles

Whole apple

Bowl of applesauce

8-10 club crackers (multi-grain)

Another 2 Whole Graham Crackers

Whole Nectarine

Lots of Animal Crackers

Half a banana

Every time he was hungry, I could hear the couch side table being pushed over to the pantry. He stands on top of the table to reach everything but the top shelf. I have to move everything up there or put it in another cabinet. He is SO tall!!

Funny Things He Does

*He came to find me in the bedroom while I was putting laundry away to show me he was "helping" put his blanket away.

*He likes to carry both of his water bottles around.

*Dad taught him how to "body slam" which means running into you at full speed, hoping you will fall backwards and hug him. But Linc only says, "baa-eee" and then runs into you. Pretty funny.

*Dad took him the to park to play on the tire swing and he loved it!

Elmo Live in Austin

2010-02-24T07:08:00.000-08:00

Last Satruday, Josh and I took Lincoln to the Frank Erwin Center in Austin to see Sesame Street Live: 1-2-3 Imagine. It was a really fun show with all our favorite characters. I was a little worried that Lincoln might not sit still for the whole thing, but he was REALLY good. I'm just glad I brought enough snacks to keep his little hands and mouth busy.

We had decent seats and the event staff allowed us to walk up to the stage before the performance and during intermission. Once the show started and all the characters came running out from behind the curtain, Lincoln started yelling, "HI" over and over trying to get their attention. Then about half way through the first act, he randomly started yelling, "Abby, Abby, Abby." He wanted to get her attention so badly. Everyone around us just started laughing. It was really fun. We will definitely go again!

Miss Scarlet in the ballroom with the ROPE!

2010-02-23T13:38:00.000-08:00

Ever since the start of the New Year, I've been busy with my play practice for CLUE: The Musical. It's a challenging play because the audience plays the game along with the actors. Volunteers from the audience pick the cards for the suspect, weapon, and room, therefore everything changes on a nightly basis...along with the script! I auditioned thinking it might to fun to try out, not expecting to get a big role. Well, they cast me at Miss Scarlet, which thankfully is NOT a big role, but I have found the whole thing to be extremely time consuming. We practiced four nights a week from 6:30-9:30 pm for a total of 6 weeks. I felt like I never got to spend any time with Josh when he got home from work before I had to rush out the door to practice.

Now that the play has opened, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Monday was my first day off from the play in a week. Last week's schedule: Mon. & Tues.-Dress Rehearsal, Wed.-Sneek Peek (Free show to work out the kinks), Thurs.- Opening Night with a sold out (plus a few more) house, Fri.-Performance with a slightly less than full house, Sat.-Another night performance with even fewer people, Sun.-Afternoon performance (home by 4:30 pm, only to have our Home Teachers come by. It was a nice lesson though.)

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off this week, then back to Thur.-Sat. night performances and one afternoon Sunday show. This goes on for yet another week, and then hopefully my life will slow down. Maybe.

(My mom, Miss Scarlet, and my dad after a performance)

I've thoroughly enjoyed learning the music and interacting with the cast, but I'm ready for a break. Josh asked if I was planning to do any more plays in the near future (with a look of dread on his face), to which I replied, "Not anytime in the next year!" Every one who has seen the play has said they enjoyed it, including my parents, Josh, and a co-worker of Josh's...along with all the theater regulars who have given me high praise on my voice and performance. It's been nice to receive such appreciation and compliments from strangers. Very sweet (and obviously drunk) people.

Here are some videos and pictures that Josh took with his phone. Not the best quality, but you get the idea. Our community is so small, I was recognized as Miss Scarlet today at my eye exam. It's a kind of faux-small town celebrity. Ha ha.

Gulit Suspects so far: Mr. Green, Miss Scarlet, Col. Mustard, and Professor Plum. We'll see how many times each of us is picked.

My Little Acrobat

2010-01-29T07:30:00.000-08:00

We have decided that Lincoln is destined to be an acrobat or stunt man of some kind. Every time we turn around, he is doing flips or head stands. His newest word is "bau-ee", which is the first part of "Body Slam", then he runs directly into you forcing you to fall down. Maybe he will be a wrestler. His wrestler name could be "THE MISSING LINC".

We are still working on putting more than one word together at a time. He is getting better, but refuses to respond. He is very stubborn too. He understands EVERYTHING we say, but just won't reply with his words. He can recognize all of his letters and numbers up to 20!! It's crazy. I think he is just waiting for Josh to let a swear word slip to impress us with how well he can speak! That should be fun.

2009 Year in Review

2009-12-31T10:34:00.001-08:00

Everyone seems to be doing a review of the last year on the news, talk shows, and radio so I thought I'd do my own 2009 Year in Review with pictures. I hope the New Year brings both my family and yours many blessings and lots of love!!!

We bought our first house in February!!

A month later, a hail storm came through and totaled roof. Good thing for home owners insurance.

Lincoln kept growing more teeth to BITE us with.

Easter in Marble Falls...not intersted in the bunnies.

Bluebonnets in April on Hwy 281 N.

Monster Ice Cream in May

Dog Days of Summer at the Weiner Dog Races

Playing in our backyard.

Swimming in our backyard "pool".

Josh's car accident and having to buying a new one. (And Linc burning his leg with the iron.)

July 4th Pancake Breakfast

Lincoln's first trip to the beach (Port Aransas)!!

Lankford Grocery and HUGE hamburgers in Houston.

Paddle Boats on Lake Marble Falls.

Lincoln's 2nd birthday (Sept. 27th).

Texas-OU weekend at the Pumpkin Patch

Halloween: Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Snoopy

Lincoln's ear plug obsession continues.

Trimming our first REAL tree. Coat Rack Tree broke and couldn't be mended in time.

Hating seeing Santa!

Spending time together as a family!

BRING ON 2010!!! Happy New Year!

Best First Date Anniversary Gift!!

2009-12-30T08:38:00.000-08:00

Last night, I tried to sneek a peek at something Josh was planning for me on his computer. Luckily I waited until this morning and woke up to find the laptop next to me in bed with headphones and a "Play Me" note.

It was a video he made to celebrate our first date 10 years ago TODAY!! He added one of my new favorite songs and spliced lots of pictures together perfectly with the song. We are going to take a ballroom dance class (because I want to learn) and then go to dinner at the same restaurant as our first date. Josh even got a babysitter without me knowing. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful, thoughtful, romantic hubby!

I had to video the computer to put it on here. It's not the best, but you get the idea!
I LOVE YOU HONEY!!!!

Crib Solution

2009-12-17T10:30:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, Lincoln learned how to climb INTO his crib, which only meant he was pretty sure how to climb OUT and crack his little noggin. Not yet ready to deal with the headache of keeping a running (nevers walks, always runs) 27 month old in his "big boy bed", or with the hassle of buying a big boy bed, Josh and I came up with a temporary solution that we think is pretty darn brilliant!

We cut a wooden dowel rod used for our closet (to hang clothes on) and added the two plastic end caps to his crib a few inches above the crib railing. The bar can spin, if he tries to escape, and it's high enough that, for the time being, he can't swing his leg over it. I'm sure there are mother's out there who are appalled at our attempt to "stifle his development" and "keep him from progressing", but they obviously haven't met my very ACTIVE (trouble-making) son. Spend a day/night with him and you'll see things from my perspective.

So far, it's worked and it has let everyone in the family sleep peacefully...for the most part.

Never say never...

2009-12-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

I always thought that parents who let their children fall asleep while eating or playing were bad parents for keeping them up and not making them take a nap. I would never do that! Well....

Lincoln skipped his nap, although he was in his crib for 2 1/2 hrs, and this was the result at 5:15 pm during dinner.

I'll never say never again....until next time.
P.S: Josh found my journal for me sandwiched between the headboard and the box spring while he was fixing the mattress. Yeah!

Lost Journal

2009-11-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

Somehow between mid October and now, I've managed to lose my journal. I don't know how it got lost or where it is now, but I have a feeling it is due to the little hands of Lincoln. I had my journal on a shelf behind our bed (that is another of my brilliant ideas not fully realized). I remember showing it to my brother-in-law Austin when he was here for the Texas/Oklahoma Football game. I haven't seen it since. I have a feeling that "chunky" (Lincoln) stole it and hid it someplace so well, that now HE can't even find it.

So now is the chance for me to begin a new journal on my computer. It would be easier if I had a laptop so I could type while laying in bed, but I think this will work just as well. We'll see. Just hoping I can find it sooner than later. By later, I mean the day we finally move out of this house 5 to 10 yrs from now.

So long far journal. May we meet again some day soon and laugh about all the really trivial yet "important crisis'", cry at the sad times, and be uplifted by the spiritual experiences I experienced. Adieu, Adieu. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Halloween 2009- The Peanut Gallery

2009-11-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

Lincoln enjoying his FIRST sucker!

This year for Halloween, I decided to make us all Peanuts characters. Josh was to be Charlie Brown, I would be Lucy Van Pelt, and Lincoln would be either Linus or Snoopy. We settled on Snoopy, since Linus and Lucy are brother and sister. That would just be weird.

I couldn't find a yellow shirt for Josh so I dyed a white one then sewed on the stripes. I made Linc's hat and sewed on the ears and a black spot on his back, and had to again dye a shirt for me then added some elastic for the sleeves and ruffles around the neck. I've got a sign that says "Psychiatric Help 5 cents. The Doctor is IN." I also painted a box to look like Snoopy's dog house, but none of the pictures show it very well.

So there are the home made costumes that didn't turn out NEAR as good as they looked in my head!!(They never do.) But it was fun. Everyone loved Josh's and Lincoln's but couldn't figure out who I was, if I was standing by myself.

We had lots of fun at the Trunk or Treat at church. I was in charge of decorations and games for everyone, so I spent most of the night running around making sure things were running smoothly. Next year, I'm taking a break from event planning so I can actually ENJOY Halloween. Who am I kidding? I will NEVER be released from the Activity Planning Committee now that they know I was a Special Event planner!!!

Here are some pics of us and our friends at the Trunk or Treat. LOTS OF FUN!!

Quinn and Jessica (Dorothy) and one of their children as a Munchkin.

The Hinson family...UT fan, 50's girl, Jedi, and Slaughter Samuari!!

Tennessee Trip

2009-10-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

(Mike, Lila holding Evan, Lacey holding Lincoln, and Josh)

We had a great time with our friends the Stuteville's in Tennessee last week. Josh and Mike are brother's from another mother, and his wife, Lila, is one of my best friends. We met them when we lived in Tennessee while Josh was attending Graduate School at Middle Tenn. State Univ.

One reason we flew out there was for Josh and pal to attend the latest U2 concert in Atlanta together. Another reason was to meet the Stute's new adpoted son, Evan, who was turning 1 yr old. So the boys left Tuesday morning for the concert, leaving Lincoln, me, Lila and Evan to play at home for a couple days.

We had a great time, although I'm not sure that Lila appreciated Lincoln encouraging (or increasing) Evan's screeching. We played on the playground, bought Halloween costumes, and got ready for Evan's early b-day party the following Saturday.

When the boys came home and the kids went to bed, it was just like old times; playing dominos, laughing at/with each other, and having fun. It was like we hadn't been gone for 4 years. That's the sign of a true friendship.

The last night we were there, we got together with another family of friends, the West's, and the same comfortable feeling came over me. I missed seeing them and it was wonderful to just hang out and let the kids run around while we chatted. I know we will probably move back to Tennessee one day. Who knows when, but it was great getting to spend time with GREAT friends!!!

New Use for Veggies

2009-10-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

We had our first experience with shoving food up our nose yesterday. Lincoln started crying during dinner while Josh and I were cleaning the kitchen. I saw he was rubbing and sticking his finger up his nose. I said, "I wonder if he stuck something up there." So I left to get a flashlight. While I was gone, Josh said that he sneezed out an entire lima bean! I saw it on the table and couldn't believe how BIG it was. I thought maybe a piece of corn or something.

(Who can guess which nostril was stuffed from this picture?)

But he was still picking his nose. I started rubbing in a downward motion and out popped a pea! His nose was really runny and irritated for a little while, but he is fine.

I couldn't stop laughing at the situation and Josh was just the opposite. He was worried about going to the doctor at 6:00 pm the night before our trip to Tennessee. Oh the joys of having a two-year old!!! You MUST laugh or you'd go crazy!!! (Ignore the dates on the pics.)

Three Birthday Parties?

2009-10-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

Lincoln got spoiled this year with birthday parties. We had his first party here at our house the weekend before his actual birthday because we would out of town on his birthday. We invited lots of kids from church and friends so our small dining room felt even smaller.

I made an Elmo/drum cake for him. The only Elmo topper I could find was of several Sesame Street characters (including Elmo) playing musical instruments. Thus the drum cake. It was cute, but if I ever make another drum cake I'll do it differently.

Lincoln did a great job with all the kids around and with the cake. He tried to blow out his candles but they were kind of stubborn, so mom helped. Then cake and ice cream for all.

The next party was actually ON his birthday, Sept. 27th at a friend's house outside the Dallas area. Our hostess made cupcakes with a different Elmo topper (way cutier than mine) and we celebrated with her family and us. It was very nice to keep it smaller. Linc succeeded at blowing out the candle this time and was absolutely delighted when we cheered. I think he finally was understanding that he was doing something fun. It was lots of fun!

The final stop on the birthday train took us to Nana and Papa's house in San Marcos the Monday following Linc's b-day. My mom (Nana) made a Turkey and had everyone bring a side, then we ate an octopus shaped pound cake that is always a crowd pleaser. Nana didn't have any candles, so we used fire starter matches. He is the 6th grandson...give her a break. She can't get candles for ALL of them! hee hee

We made our way home the next day, totally exhausted and ready for a good night sleep in our own beds. Thank you to everyone who made Lincoln's birthday special for us. Lots of Love!!!

Year Two

Year One

My baby boy!

2009 Summer in Review

2009-09-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

Although we still have the Texas heat, the end of summer is rapidly approaching and I thought it was a good time to look back at how fast this summer went by and the fun things we did. Here are just a few of the cool things we did and the great people we saw.

We went swimming with our Johnson City friends at the lakeside pool in Marble Falls. The jetski's had everyone's attention;

Celebrated Independence Day with a pancake breakfast;

Spent fun time with Daddy around town (Waterfall at the golf course in Horseshoe Bay). You can see the golf carts go over a water crossing right in front of the falls. Very fancy...;

Took our first trip to the beach (Port Aransas). Got to see my "little brother" Keith Banks before he leaves for Costa Rica again for fishing (he's a boat captain);

Learned Lincoln likes to "cook" with mom;

Graduated to our "big boy" chair from the highchair;

Visited several Texas Hill Country swimming holes, including Hamilton Pool with Dan and Tannie Smith and family;

(can't remember why he's fussy. It happens so often these days.)

Road Trip: Tagged along with Daddy to a couple out-of-town conferences, including San Antonio and Galveston. This is of our hotel window in Galveston overlooking Schlitterbahn on the right side;

Floated Lake Marble Falls in a paddle boat;

We did so many fun things this summer it's tough to list them all. It's great that Linc is getting big enough to do alot more with us. Now if we can only get him to sleep in the car when he is supposed to. Then we can take more road trips!!! hee hee.

Fun Videos

2009-07-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting lately, but I have been taking pictures and video over the past month. Here are just a few of my favorites. Our "little" boy is not so little any more. He will be two in a couple months! Wow! Although, he has acted two years old for 4 months now.

Eating Watermelon on the back porch----------Putting animal crackers in my ears! (July 12th)

I'm sad he's growing up so fast, frustrated when he won't listen, amazed at how much and how fast he learns, embarrassed when he throws a fit in public, amused at his great sense of humor, and so proud when he does something the right way or shows me what he is learning.

I know one thing for sure....I wouldn't trade these days for ANYTHING! Fun times...

Sorry this one is sideways.

The kid has rhythm!

Fun things this summer, thus far...

2009-06-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

So far this summer, we've done a few fun things and plan for many more.

San Antonio Zoo:
Lincoln and I went to the SA Zoo while waiting for Daddy to finish his conference sessions. They have a fun little kid's area with a "river" where the kids can splash around and get wet. Lincoln LOVED it! We went at the wrong time of day to see all the animals so the water area was a great way to spend some time there. It was way too hot by the time we got there and the animals were all either sleeping or hiding from the sun.

Linc loves older kids, especially girls! Every time I turn around he's kissing someone. Below is a picture of him trying to kiss the older girl in the water. Heart-breaker! I'm worried already!

Other activities include visiting the public library, swimming at the public pool, and playing in the back yard. Hopefully our trip to the beach will materialize soon and we are looking forward to our up coming trip to Nashville/Atlanta!!! We're trying to get a trip planned to go to Hamilton Pool Nature Preserve and some other swimming holes in the area! It's just too hot to do anything NOT water related!

Nine Days of Madness, but Many Blessings!

2009-06-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

The last nine days have been very trying but have also made me realize how blessed my family and I are. Although things got pretty bad, it could have been WAY worse. Here is a list of the problems and difficult situations we faced the past nine days and the blessings hidden within all the chaos....

Thursday, May 28, 2009:

Josh called me on his way to work to tell me he got into a car accident. The road that leads from our house to his job is very curvy and he got distracted just long enough to miss one of the curves and careen off the road into a granite boulder. The car was totalled.

Blessing #1: He walked away from the crash without a scratch!

We JUST receieved the car as a gift from Josh's dad in Oklahoma who bought a new car two months ago. We got his old 2000 Pontiac Bonneville with airbags and comfortable seats and we happy we got a new car without a car payment (yet another blessing). So we sold my little "card-board" truck, that did not have airbags.

Blessing #2: He could have been SERIOUSLY injured (or worse) if he had been in the truck. It probably would have crumbled upon hitting the boulder.

Saturday, May 30:

My dad found a car he liked for us at his dealership in San Antonio. We drove down Friday night, then went to look at the car Saturday morning with my parents. We found a different car and decided it was the best option for us. Dad started to work on getting the car ready to purchase on Monday.

Blessing #3: My dad has a great job at a car dealership and got us his employee discount!

Monday, June 1:

Started preparing for a trip to San Antonio for a three day conference Josh was scheduled to attend. Linc and I tagged along for fun. While putting Linc to bed that night, he tripped and fell forehead first into the corner of his crib. He got a pretty good goose egg on his head, but was otherwise okay.

Blessing #4: He came really close to hitting the metal bracket that holds the crib together. Could have been worse.

Wednesday, June 3:

Drove to San Antonio, dropped off Josh and saw our friends Charly and Casey and their family. Also caught up with another friend Nicole Winmill for lunch. Very fun. When we tried to leave, our other car (Toyota Camry) wouldn't start. I let it sit for a little bit, then jumped the battery. It worked. I picked up Josh and went straight to my dad's dealership to have it looked at. They said it would need a new battery and alternator AT LEAST!

Blessing #5: We were given a free rental car to get us around the rest of the week. Also test drove another car, same model just cheaper, and made a decision about purchasing our

"new-to-us" used car.

Wednesday night at the hotel room, Linc was standing up on the bed, fell off backwards and bit a hole through his tongue. My shoulder was covering with blood as we tried to get him to eat some ice chips to slow/stop the bleeding, which worked.

Blessing #6: He could have bit all the way through and needed stiches.

Friday, June 5:

Josh finished his conference and we left to go pick up both cars. It was very disheartening to know we would have a car payment for a little while, but we got a great car that should last us for a very long time.

Blessing #7: We saved about $6,000 by using my dad's employee discount.

Saturday, June 6:

We were excited to sleep in and recover from our bery busy week. Josh went to clean the church building around 9 am, and I was planning a trip to the City Pool. At 11 am, Lincoln grabbed the cord to my iron and pulled it down on his leg, severely burning him. I rushed him first to the bath tub for some cool water, then to our closest emergency center. After 90 MINUTES of waiting, they surveyed his leg and assessed it as a second degree burn, which meant 3-4 weeks of burn cream treatments and lots of gauze.

Blessing #8: Lincoln was sitting down in a chair when he pulled the iron down. It could easily have burned his face, arms, chest, and more. But it didn't.

There is a country song on the radio right now that is called "You're going to miss this" by Trace Adkins. It talks about kids growing up, getting married, having screaming kids of their own, etc, and how even though it's tough now, you're going to miss this. I have to remind myself that these days go by so quickly and I ought to enjoy EVERY moment I have with my family. You never know when it could be gone.

Although we've had some very stressful situations come up this past nine days, we are grateful to have escaped serious injury in several instances. I'm so thankful to my Heavenly Father for reminding me to look for the positive in all things and to love my familiy each day!

GMA Cutest Baby Pics

2009-05-31T18:16:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures we considered submitting for the Good Morning America "Cutest Baby" Contest. I know we won't win against those frickin' super cute 8 month olds (they are REALLY cute), but it's fun to take a bunch of pictures of Linc anyway. Enjoy.

Our Colorado Trip!

2009-05-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

We recently went to visit Josh's brother and his family near Boulder, CO. Our flight left on a Thursday morning at 8:30 am, so getting up and out the door with plenty of time was going to be difficult, especially since I like to pack everything in advance and Josh likes to do things last minute. We got everything packed except our toothbrushes and the clothes we were going to wear on the plane. The last thing I wanted to do was get Linc up and in the car, which actually happened.

We got to the airport, which is a good hour away, and I needed to change Linc's diaper and out of his PJ's. I went to change Linc and Josh went back to the car to get the car seat we forgot. Can you believe that the Austin airport does NOT have a baby changing station? So that made things a little more difficult. We got checked in and were finally on the plane, so I started to give Linc something to eat to keep his ears from hurting and we were in the air. Not ten minutes later....KIDDO PUKE!!!!! Lots of puke!! I felt really bad for him because everything I had given him for breakfast came up. Funnily enough, one of Josh's co-workers had just given Linc a t-shirt that reads "BARF VADER". Nothing could be more true!

After the inital vomit, everyone was okay. Denver was almost 30 degrees colder than Austin. It felt GREAT!! It was a little wet from some slight drizzle, but beautiful. Just cool enough for a light jacket and long sleeve shirt.

Instead of going through the whole trip, I think I'll list the good and bad things that happened.

Good: We had a non-stop flight.

Bad: Lincoln puked on the way there. And I mean puked up EVERYTHING!

Good: The weather was cool and a little wet.

Bad: The weather got more wet and cold, plus it was windy on Friday.

Good: We hung out at the house and just relaxed. No set schedule.

Bad: The kids (and us) got a little stir-crazy.

Good: All four adults shared a "VERMONSTER" Ice Cream BUCKET with 20 scoops of 4 different kinds of ice cream, 3 brownies, 2 bananas, 2 cookies, 4 ladels of hot fudge, 1 scoop of m&m's, 1 scoop of chocolate sprinkles, and a whole lot of whipped cream.

Bad: We ALMOST ate it all (we estimate we left about 6 scoops of ice cream in the bucket). And the boys gave up BEFORE the girls!

Good: Linc and his girl cousin loved each other.

Bad: Linc and his girl cousin didn't love each other (but only when Linc stole a toy). They made up very quickly! They are entranced with the DVD, since neither of them watch much TV.

Good: We played lots of games after bed time, including Guitar Hero!! (My secret addiction)

Bad: We had sore fingers from playing so much.

Good: We ate at home mostly and made some REALLY great hamburgers, sandwiches, and kabobs.

Bad: Josh made Queso and Pretzels (which also could be considered a good thing) but we ate it ALL.

Good: We went to the Denver Zoo on Saturday. It was very quiet, due to the cool/wet weather. Bad: Nothing! We had a great time!

Good: We relaxed at home the night before leaving and played games.

Bad: Lincoln only got about 4 hours sleep because he woke up at midnight and barely slept after that.....which meant neither did I. Here he is surprising refreshed after almost NO SLEEP!! Crazy kid!

All in All:

We had a really GREAT time visiting our family and playing with our one and only niece. We were also VERY glad to get home and sleep in our own beds. But we LOVED Colorado!

Easter 2009 Recap

2009-04-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Our Easter this year was not at all what I expected, but I guess with an 18 month old son, nothing can be EXPECTED!

Our plan this year was to visit the local library to pet some real bunnies on Thursday, visit with some old friends on Saturday and do an egg hunt at the park, then go to church on Sunday in our new blue and white plaid pants and matching (yet bought at separate times) sweater vest and white collared shirt. Here is what really happened....

Thursday, April 9th: We went to the Library for the "Easter Bunny" petting time. I was excited, thinking Lincoln would love to sit and pet the bunnies. Mistake No. 1. We got there after delivering some handmade Hand-print Lillies to Josh's co-workers, and found that there were about 12-15 kids already there grouped around three separate bunnies. Instead of being excited about the bunnies, Lincoln started squeeling with joy at the sight of all the kids. He started running around talking to all the little girls first (he is his father's son) then to anyone that would pay attention to him. All he wanted to do was run around or lay on the floor. I finally got him to take a couple pictures with the bunny, but even that was a struggle. He didn't want anything to do with that bunny, cute as it was. We managed to get ONE good picture.

Friday, April 10th: Lincoln started acting really grumpy and running a slight fever, so we gave him some Tylenol, lots of water, and put him to bed early, hoping he would feel better in the morning.

Saturday, April 11th: Lincoln's temperature was still high so we decided to nip-it-in-the-bud and give him a cool bath. Josh gets teary when he hears his sweet boy scream and cry during the bath so I did the bath and Josh got him dressed. He felt a little better after that, but still not himself. Our friends Dan and Tannie Smith brought their two boys over for the local Easter Egg Hunt in Marble Falls, then we were going to go back to our house to catch up and hang out.

Josh dropped Linc and I off at the egg hunt and then went to park the car. As Linc and I were walking to the designated little kid spot, we walked past the loud speaker exactly at the moment the announcer yelled into the microphone "Are we all ready?" It scared Lincoln and hurt my ears, so I'm sure it hurt his. He grabbed my neck and wouldn't let go the rest of the time. We practiced finding eggs and putting them in his basket at the house all week. Now he wouldn't even get down to grab one egg. I couldn't help but feel bad for him, so I didn't subject him to the terror of visiting the Easter Bunny, whose costume was very shabby and not the bunny I remember being as a Parks and Rec intern!!!

You can tell he doesn't feel great. Poor guy. He went home and slept most of the day and had to endure another cold bath.

Sunday, April 12th: Easter morning, Lincoln's temperature was still high and he was vomitting, so Josh went to his meeting before church then came home and we spent Easter in our pajamas nursing a sick kiddo. It wasn't fun for anyone, but we later found out that a stomach virus was going around and Linc had picked it up some how.

Needless to say, our Easter was a bust but we were happy to be together as a family. Last year, I made Linc a matching vest and tie and thought I would avoid that this year, but I ended up making him at least a tie on Saturday night. I'll post a picture once he wears it. Ah, life's little speed bumps.....they make you slow down and count your blessings!!!!

Tip-toe through the Bluebonnets!!

2009-04-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

Lincoln and I went on a quick trip to Dallas last week. Our very good friend Rachael Bond is having her first baby boy and we were driving up to attend the baby shower. The fastest route from here to Dallas is up Hwy 281, which is west of IH-35 and has MUCH better scenery and traffic! So we got in the car and headed up on a slightly hazy day, which helped keep things a little darker and allowed Linc to sleep for a while.

On the way, I saw some patches of bluebonnets along the side of the road and since it was a very rural road, I pulled over and we ran through the bluebonnets to stretch.

Here are some of the better pictures we took. We had a GREAT time with Rach and can't wait for Lincoln to play with their little "baby boy bond".

I love that little laugh!

Crazy times...

2009-04-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've been running crazy the last month; what with the new house, the hail storm that came through, now needing a new roof for the new house, Lincoln being sick, lots of friends visiting (which is GREAT) and lots of traveling. I think it's time for a much needed vacation from everything! Although I don't know when that will happen.
Josh and I are going to San Marcos this weekend to visit my parents and go to the Buda Weiner Dog Races!!! I've never been but Lincoln might like seeing all the doggies that are his size. Then we are staying with my parents overnight. They have agreed to watch Linc while we go to the movies.....an actual DATE!!!! YEAH!

We haven't had one of those in a long while! Not that we haven't wanted to, but that the opportunity hasn't presented itself. We finally got tired of "waiting" for the opportunity and scheduled a date night and a temple night every month. Let's see if it works. Wish us luck!

Cool new website

2009-04-02T17:28:00.000-07:00

I found a cool website at www.deliciousbaby.com. Very good articles and more helpful hints for traveling with kiddos. Check it out.

Back to "Normal"

2009-03-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

We have finally gotten most of the boxes unpacked and things in their places, for the most part. We're also getting back on our sleep/nap schedules, which helps EVERYONE!! Thank you to everyone for their scripture reading schedules and suggestions. Josh and I have decided that mid-March is our new "New Year" and have made a new list of goals for this year.
It includes less TV, more scripture reading, more reading in general, and more "us" time. Family time is separate and so is Lincoln/Daddy time. Generally, Josh gets to see Linc about an hour and a half a day before he goes to sleep and most of that is spent at dinner, bath, and bedtime.
So far it's worked wonderfully, but I had two meetings last night and another tonight. I'm missing out on our "us" time. But it's been really nice to get things back to as normal as they get around here!
Thanks again for all your suggestions and love!

Suggestions welcome...

2009-03-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been remiss in my nightly scripture reading. I always tell myself "don't forget tonight" then something comes up or a mess needs cleaning or I just want to relax. But one day turns quickly into a week, then into much longer.

I need some suggestions or helpful reminders to nudge me in the right direction. Any hints?

Welcome to our HOME!!

2009-02-19T11:16:00.000-08:00

Let me be the first to take you on a tour of our NEW HOUSE!!! Sit back and enjoy....
On our way to the house, we spotted a couple deer and then a good sized buck just around the corner.

Now that the drive way is finished, it looks completely different.

Lincoln loves to go in and out of ANY door!

That's it for now. So, who's going to be our first house guest?

New Hair Style

2009-02-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

And the winner is.... THE DUCK-BUTT! (Excuse the lack of make-up) Even Josh said I look more like myself. He said, "There's my girl!" Love that man!!!

Time for a Change!!

2009-02-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

For months now, my mother has been hounding me every time I talk with her about getting my hair cut. I've been trying to grow out my hair to do something different with it, but this Sunday's hair fiasco, involving me having 20 minutes to get ready and out the door, made me have an epiphany....

I'm not supposed to have long hair!!!

Here are the reasons why...
1. My hair is TOO thick and heavy.

2. I don't know how to do long hair.

3. Long hair makes me look 12 yrs old.

And the last one I'll mention is I'm too impatient to take the time to "DO" my hair. I tried too! I bought a straight iron for the first time in my life, and I have hair products that work okay. But I guess it comes down to the fact that I'm just lazy when it comes to my hair.

So, here are a few options that I am considering. Please let me know which ones you like.

* THINGS TO REMEMBER*

I have a VERY tiny forehead.

I have a slightly round face.

I have large ears that kind-of stick out a bit.

(Maybe writing this out isn't good for my self esteem)

I AM cutting my hair this weekend, regardless of which style I choose, so if you want to put in your 2 cents, better hurry!!!

Option 1: The duck butt

Option 2: Messy Short with sweeping bangs (Although my bangs will have to be shorter to the side. That would drive me crazy being in my face.)

Option 3: Something like Rhianna's or the second one here.

Option 4: Mandy Moore's (I can't go SUPER short. I'm too big and would get mistaken for a young boy. Don't laugh, it's happened.)

If you have a different suggestion, let me know!!! The clock is ticking!

Swiper, No Swiping!

2009-01-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

Lincoln is a little camera thief and LOVES to grab the camera (or anything he's not supposed to have for that matter) and RUN! He's gotten really good at it to. He'll run for the farthest corner of the house and hide with his prized, yet stolen, object. I can't help one laughing as I'm running after him.
This is a survalience video of his latest attempted theft! Enjoy his giggles.

Under Contract

2009-01-08T18:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of the house we are trying to buy in it's unfinished state. It now has tile floors with granite in-lays in the entry way and dining room, carpet in the bedrooms, stone from a historic bakery in Horseshoe Bay for the fireplace, and a nice finished kitchen. It still doesn't have a driveway, but that will be finished before we close. If all goes well, we should close Feb. 18th.

The fireplace is really nice but would require that we buy a new flat screen tv since ours won't fit above mantle. Oh darn!! hee hee. HALO on a big screen!!!

It's on a nice wooded lot with a HUGE tree on the next lot for Lincoln to climb. There are deer everywhere too. We are the only house on the street, but it's an older neighborhood that just hasn't been over-developed. We're pretty excited about it.

Hectic Holiday Season

2009-01-08T17:47:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been so long since my last blog. I could never make a committment to blog every day of the month like my other "blogeriffic" friends (Meredith "Robinson" Smith)! Love ya!

Like everyone else, we had a pretty crazy, hectic, chaotic holiday visiting family, after Christmas shopping (kuddos to Josh for spending 6 hours with the Moon girls), traveling, eating, baking, partying, hosting, game playing, and house hunting.

Our favorite things we did this year was having our first REAL Christmas morning as a family, visiting our town's little Trail of Lights, and remembering our 1st Christmas when Linc was 3 months. Lincoln is old enough now to rip into (gingerly at first, but he figured it out) his presents so we had our own Christmas morning.

Then we drove down to my parent's house in San Marcos. Fast forward through two days of eating, shopping, movie watching, and Wii playing, and we stopped off to visit Josh's mom on our way home.

My ever-growing family.....

Austin James Kaliei Vines- 9 yrs

Aidian Michael Haveka Vines- 6 yrs

Rosson Cole Gallini- 4 yrs

Knox Benjamin Gallini- 3 yrs (Jan. 2nd)

Braddock Lane Gallini- 17 months

Lincoln Michael Smith-15 months

Nana and Linc

The following Monday, my mom and my nephew's, Austin and Aidan, came to help us find a house....and we did! More about the house later. They spent the night and had to go home the next day. Then Wednesday, we hosted a New Year's Eve party with Rachael and Adam Bond and their two girls, Samantha (6 yrs) and Allie (3 yrs). The kids took our bed, Lincoln slept in his crib, and the adults crashed on the floor in the living room. It was really fun. I wish they lived closer.

We also got a really fun game from some new friends. It's called Wits and Wagers. The basic rules are everyone answers a numerical question (for example: What year did the show "Friends" first air?") then everyone shows their answers. Each player can then guess which player's answer is the closest without going over, even if it's not their own. There is never a clear winner until the final question and the chips and stakes can get pretty high. It's really fun.

Now, about the house...We found a newly constructed home (almost finished) in Horseshoe Bay, TX, which is 5.9 miles from our current residence. It's still in our same county and in the Marble Falls school district. It's within our price range, is on 1/3 of an acre (about all we could afford around here) and it really cute. It's smaller than what we were looking for originally, but beggers can't be choosers! I think our eyes were a little bigger than our wallets when we first started looking. This will be a great home for us....if everything goes through. Pray for us, please!

Mele Kalikimaka!

2008-12-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

Our local church group had a Christmas Luau this last Saturday. I am on the Activities Committee and volunteered to make a "Roasted Pig" cake. I've been inspired by friends (Charly mainly...see her blog for more cakes) and by watching Ace of Cakes, a show on the Food Network.

I think it turned out pretty good for my first attempt with fondant! I crushed some cinnamon graham crackers to make sand around the base. I used three cake boxes, two boxes of fondant, and one snack package rice crispy treat (for the nose and mouth). You can't really see it, but it also has a little curly tail!

It was a BIG hit at the party. Everyone wanted a "piece of the pig."

Now they want me to teach a class for the ladies on how to make a pig cake. What have I gotten myself into? Oh well. I had fun and will definitely do more some time but only for special occasions. hee hee

The story of the Coat Rack Christmas Tree

2008-12-12T09:17:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time...two young ladies, named April Ann and Lacey Lynn, met while at school. They became wonderful friends very quickly, even though they liked different things. April Ann was very smart, like to clean things, and hated seafood. Lacey Ly6nn was very goofy, kind of messy, and loved seafood.

April Ann had a extra room in her house and Lacey Lynn needed a place to live. So they agreed to be roommates and Lacey Lynn moved her clothes, her bed, her dresser, her toothbrush, and her coat rack into the extra room at April Ann's house.

They had fun listening to music, playing games with friends, and cooking together.

Christmas time was coming soon and April Ann and Lacey Lynn wanted to decorate a Christmas tree. Lots of trees were for sale in town, but April Ann did not want to get a real tree because the pine needles would make the floor messy. And Lacey Lynn did not want a real tree because the sticky sap would get all over her fingers. Besides, they had no extra money to buy a tree.

Now, you must know that although April Ann and Lacey Lynn were very different, they were both very creative and liked to use their imaginations. "We could MAKE a Christmas tree," said April Ann, "but what can we use?"

They looked around at the things in the house to see what they could use. "How about my coat rack?" said Lacey Lynn. "It can be the tree trunk."

"We can use my hula hoop for the bottom," April Ann replied.

They gathered some string, cut three equal pieces, and tied it to the top of the coat rack. They they tied it to the top of the coat rack. Finally, they tied the other end of each string to the hula hoop until the hoop and the coat rack were in the shape of a tree.
"It doesn't look much like a Christmas tree yet. What about ornaments?" said Lacey Lynn.

Being the smart young lady she was, April Ann ran to her bedroom and came back with her hands full of jingle bell earrings and some Christmas colored ribbon. "We can make our own ornaments!" April Ann said excitedly as she hung the items on the tree.

Lacey Lynn thought of some things she had that would make great decorations for the tree too. She ran to her room and returned with a plastic wreath pin and two candy canes to put on the tree.

They each grabbed any little thing that would hang and put it on the coat rack. It looked a little silly, but they were having fun decorating.

A friend named Charyl came by and saw the make-shift tree and said, "I have some Christmas lights you can use. That will really make it shine." So they wrapped the lights around the strings holding the hula hoop in place. Then another friend, named Darin, saw the tree and said, "I have some apples you can hang on your tree", so they tied the apples to the tree as well.

Slowly but surely, the coat rack began to look more and more like a real Christmas tree. Finally, they all stepped back and looked at the beautiful Coat Rack Christmas Tree they created and smiled.

April Ann and Lacey Lynn continued to add new ornaments to the tree each Christmas. Every year since then, the Coat Rack Christmas Tree has gotten bigger and better. It now has several hula hoop layers, beautiful green garland, hundreds of lights, and is topped with a beautiful star.

The years passed, and April Ann and Lacey Lynn grew up and had families of their own. But they still make ornaments with the children to put on their very own Coat Rack Christmas Tree. Even though it started as a simple coat rack, it became as bright and brilliant as any Christmas tree there ever was, because of two young ladies and their wonderful friends.

Written and Illustrated by: L.L. Smith

The last few weeks...

2008-12-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been CRAZY-busy around here. (Thus, the lack of blog entries.) Thanksgiving was good. We had Josh's dad, Dave, here from Oklahoma for a few days. We have done Thanksgiving with him for a few years now because Josh's favorite holiday is Thanksgiving...food and football!! Dave loves to watch football with us, especially if Texas is playing Oklahoma. (We're not talking about Oklahoma right now though.)

So, I made a turkey, three pies (pumpkin, apple, and a cherry one for the neighbors), candied yams, squash, Sister Schubert's rolls, and Josh and Dave made their two pans of stuffing. All of this for three people and Lincoln. Don't judge me... hee hee

Lincoln loved having turkey and all the fixin's. He really loves sweet potatoes, so the yams were a big hit, as well as the rolls. I tried to sneak some veggies in there too, which he liked.

By the time Dave had to leave, we were all stuffed and in need some stretchy pants. It was good to see him though and he had fun with Lincoln.

Now I'm working on our Church Christmas Luau this Saturday. I'm making a luau pig cake. I've been inspired by all those cake shows on t.v., so we'll see how mine turns out.

I hope EVERYONE had a wonderful Thanksgiving and will have a JOYOUS Christmas season.
Lots of Love!!!

"Twilight"- Schmilight!

2008-11-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

*For those of you who have read the Twilight books and loved them, you may disagree with me on this point and probably should stop reading this right now.*

I read the Twilight books and actually liked the first one, although I thought the content was MUCH too mature for its intended target audience of tweens and teenagers. But since it was entertaining, I read the second book which I thought was not as good as the first and lacked the amount of action of the first. Although I wasn't thrilled with the second, I still read the third.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I start a book (or movie) I have a very hard time NOT finishing it, no matter how bad it may be (except in cases of vulgar language). Half way through the third book, I actually WANTED the lead character, Bella, to die! I wanted her to get caught by the bad vampire and die. I was sick of her incessant whining and pining over her two "love interests." I guess it was indicitive of a 17 year old girl in "love", but it still was really annoying.

But as I said before, I felt almost obligated to finish the series, so I read the fourth and final book and that somewhat redeemed the series for me. Overall I am not a fan of the books and even less of a fan of the upcoming movie(s).

What makes this "Twilight" craze harder for me to watch is that fact that young girls, 10, 11, & 12 years old have read these books over and over again; a book that I feel is much too mature for them. I guess this makes me an old fuddy-duddy, but I just can't believe that responsible parents are allowing their young daughters to read about a girl, with almost no parental supervision, whose boyfriend (although a vampire) stays over night in her room with her, unbeknownst to her clueless father.

And the other thing I completely don't understand is how a book, that is targeted to girls under the legal driving age, can be so popular with 40 year old women! Last Sunday at church, someone passed out a flyer to announce they were all meeting tonight to attend the opening of the Twilight movie.

By the way, here is a recent review of "Twilight" from Screenit.com.....
"TWILIGHT" (2008) (Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson)(PG-13)Drama/Horror: After relocating to a small town to live withher dad, a teenager meets and ends up falling for a teenage vampire who's torn between his love for her and his appetitefor her blood. Based on the novel of the same name, this is bad in a "Mystery Science Theater 3000" sort of way. There's purposefully overwrought teen angst, melodrama and soap opera trappings, a languid pace, mediocre to often bad direction, bland acting, really cheesy special effects, and a story that should have had a stake run through it due to being quite trite. All of which means the film is a chore to sit through, especially in its 120 or so minute incarnation. Rated PG-13, the film contains a little profanity, sexually related material (comments, brief fooling around, one girl showing a lot of cleavage),vampire-related violence, unsettling, suspenseful and/or scary moments, alcohol content, and a drug comment made as a metaphor."

It just strengthens my resolve that Hollywood is running out of good ideas and simply CAN NOT produce a movie that is free from sex, violence, drugs, and bad language, despite the non-R rating. I guess I'll just have to finish writing my movie I dreamed up a few years ago. I've had 110 pages written for years. Maybe I'll have time to finish it now that I'm home more....Nah. Who am I kidding?

Laughter is Contagious!!!

2008-11-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

Turn up your speakers and get ready for a giggle!
It's little things like this that MAKE MY DAY!

The first of many shiners!

2008-11-06T09:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Lincoln and I were beginning our daily walk to the apartment mail boxes when I stopped to lock the car door of my truck. I heard a loud THUD and looked down at my feet to see Lincoln face down on the pavement. I scooped him up and it took him a second to realize that he was hurt, then once the pain kicked in he screamed bloody murder! I figure he must have lost his footing on a small patch of grass that is sloped slightly. He got a pretty good-sized goose egg on his head but the "road rash" on his eye is what looks horrible.

I tried to put an ice pack on it to try to reduce the swelling, but he really won't sit still. So I ended up with a cold rag while we watched Elmo. That seemed to work. I've also put a little Homeopathic First Aid Ointment on it to help it heal.

Does anyone have any suggestions for an alternate method of cooling? This morning, his eyelid was so swollen, he looked like Rocky Balboa after the 5th Rocky movie!

My poor kiddo!

Leonard and Lincoln

2008-11-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

I think every kid has a comfort item or snugglie. Lincoln's snugglie is Leonard the Leopard. About 2 months ago, Lincoln exchanged his pacifier for Leonard's tail permanently. Now Leonard is dragged around our house upside down before every nap time and snuggled at night. His poor tail is soaking wet after every nap. If Lincoln is fighting sleep, we'll take Leonard's tail and gently run it along Linc's nose. It helps put him asleep. Usually in the morning, I walk in Lincoln's room to find poor Leonard has been thrown overboard and has a nasty, crusty tail. Ah, how we LOVE Leonard!

Belated Post of Halloween Costume

2008-11-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

I know I'm very late posting this, but our Halloween was mostly uneventful, but the days following seemed jam-packed!

This year I couldn't decide what to make Lincoln for Halloween. Last year he was Darth Vader and I was Princess Leia. Josh was supposed to be Yoda but didn't tell me what he wanted me to make him, so he ended up in half of a Dr.'s costume (minus the scrub cap, face mask, and stethoscope) that I pulled out of storage. Because he wouldn't wear the accessories, I demoted him to "Male Nurse." hee he

This year, my first thought was to make both Josh and Lincoln "Handsome Devils" with horns on their heads and red shirts with white hand prints on them to make them "hand-some." But Josh wasn't thrilled about that. So I thought I could get a monkey costume for Linc and make a barrel for him to wear and be a monkey in a barrel. But by the time I thought of this, the costumes were gone.

Finally I decided to go with something easy, since Linc wasn't feeling great any way. Lincoln was a Texas Longhorn Football player with arm bands, a football rattle, and a cheek tatoo, I was the "Blind Ref", and Josh was the annoucer (since he couldn't dress up at work). All in all, we had fun.

The Halloween Spirit...

2008-10-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

We're getting geared up for Halloween around here by putting up the last of our decorations (that are in boxes in the garage) and by carving our first pumpkin! Lincoln has been sick this last week and hasn't really felt up to doing much. But after a few days, I thought we both could use some fresh air so we went back to the pumpkin patch for a little photo shoot.

He LOVED this little tractor! He didn't want to see anything else!

Make sure you get my good side, Mom

Since we were there, we decided to buy another small pumpkin to carve for the front porch. The next day, I set down a garbage bag and cut the top off the pumpkin to get us started. He didn't really seem interested and I'll tell you why after you watch the video.

About 45 seconds AFTER this video, Lincoln threw up his breakfast all over me and luckily all over the garbage bag. Poor kid. No wonder he wasn't really interested in the pumpkin.

Just so you are not worried, I took him to the doctor yesterday after yet another vomitting session and he said it's just a virus that is going around. There's nothing I can do but make him comfortable and wait it out. So if you were planning on visiting in the next 7-10 days, you may want to reschedule!

I'll post Lincoln's Halloween costume tomorrow.

Barber Shop Boy

2008-10-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

I took Lincoln for his first "official" hair cut yesterday. Josh has been after me to cut his hair for awhile now and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I thought about "doing something for daddy" and thought about getting Lincoln's hair cut as a surprise.

I first took him to a place where I got mine cut, but the lady said she was too busy and to come back. Well, once I have an idea in my head about getting something done, I HAVE to do it. So I remembered an old-timey barber shop in downtown and decided to take him there.

I asked if they could cut a one year old's hair and they said yes, so we walked in and took a seat in one of the old chairs. They had me hold him on my lap instead of sit him in the chair. I no sooner sat down and positioned him properly, when the barber flipped on a pair of hair trimmers attached to a vaccuum. It startled me and scared Linc to death. He started screaming and grabbed onto me as tightly as he could. I felt really bad for him, but he was looking pretty shaggy.

The barber and the other lady who worked there said he was really good, inspite of the yelling, and that he didn't have the very high-pitched scream they were used to with other kids.

After it was all over, we took a picture with Mr. Len, our new barber, and they gave us a "First Haircut" Certificate with a piece of his hair taped on it for Lincoln that says...

"This is to certify that Lincoln Michael Smith has bravely met all the requirements of recieving their first haircut and has graduated from babyhood on the 22nd day of October in the year of 2008."

I'm so PROUD of my graduate! hee hee

Before...

And After...

(yes, I know there is a deer on the wall...we're in Texas after all!)

Sea World San Antonio

2008-10-23T13:34:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, we decided to take a family trip to Sea World San Antonio. We ended up going with my older sister, Natalie, her two boys, Austin (9 yrs) and Aidan (6 yrs), and my mom. It's been years since Josh and I have been and Lincoln is old enough to recognize animals and notice if something is interesting, so away we went.

It's about 1 1/2 hours from Marble Falls so we left around 8:30 am to get there by 10:00. My sister has season passes, which comes with a coupon booklet so she let us use a couple coupons to get in at a discounted rate and get a discount on the photo they take of you when you first arrive.

So, the closest attraction when you walk in is Dolphin Cove where you can feed the dolphins fish. This is MY favorite part and it seemed that it was Lincoln's too. He loved WATCHING the dolphins, but wanted nothing to do with TOUCHING them.

We saw the Budweiser Horses at the stables, which terrified Lincoln, and took a picture with them. We saw the Viva show with the dolphins and divers. However, in both the dolphin and the seal shows that we saw, the animals didn't want to do the routines, so the trainers had to improvise a little.

Josh and I rode some roller coasters while mom or Nat watched Lincoln. Austin got his face painted like a Gargoyle and Aidan got to play the games to win a prize. Overall it was a very fun, but exhausting day.

Halloween Decorations

2008-10-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

Although Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday, I don't seem to have many decorations. So, I put up what I did have and decorated our little front porch. We painted the pumpkins we picked at the Pumpkin Patch, hung up a yarn spiderweb, added a pipecleaner spider (which Lincoln loves to grab) and a few plastic ghosts in the flower beds. Here are a couple pics, but I just thought Linc looks so small in this picture compared to the porch. But he's growing so FAST! Just thought I share with you what the outside of our apt. looks like. Cute, huh?

More Pumpkin Pickin

2008-10-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

I've been so wrapped up in my friends adoption story, I've forgotten to blog myself. Here are a few more pictures of Lincoln at the Pumpkin patch, which was really fun but crowded. We didn't stay long, but we'll probably go back again soon. They have an area where you can pick your own flowers. Beautiful blossoms too!!!

The weather here has been relatively nice...no warmer than 88 degrees lately. So we've been out on the porch or walking around our apt. complex a lot. Lincoln has gotten the hang of walking in his shoes, so we walked over to check the mail yesterday and the day before. He's getting really good. Only one little scraped knee so far.

When Lincoln was born, Josh's old company (ASMO in Waxahachie) sent us a plant, which I was sure I would kill long before now. I have a black thumb. To my surprise it has survived not only my horrible agricultural "care", but also a 200+ mile move, being re-planted twice and a child tugging at its vines. I'm really impressed with this plant, whatever it is. We try to water it when we can and Linc LOVES to help.

A new baby brings ultimate blessings!

2008-10-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

Our friends Mike and Lila, who live in Tennessee, have been patiently waiting to adopt a child and FINALLY after 2 years on the adoption list and 11 years of marriage, may I introduce...

EVAN ROBERT STUTEVILLE : born Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 9:40 am

Congratulations Mike and Lila!!!!!! We love you ALL!!!

My First Blog Post

2008-10-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

Although I think of myself as "tech-savy," I know I am not. After several requests from blogging friends to get one for myself, I finally sat down and put one together. I worried that I would do more on the computer than in my actual journal. Hopefully I can combine the two and print out the most important posts to put in my journal.

So without further ado...The Smith family finally has a blog!!! Yeah!!

Here is an update on us...

Josh is the Director of Human Resources for the City of Marble Falls, TX, which is about 45 minutes west of Austin. He loves his job and feels challenged by it every day. We live about 30 seconds from his work. We are in a two bedroom apartment that is very nice, but we are SO ready to buy a home of our own. We've started looking, so if you know anyone who wants to sell us a million dollar home in Marble Falls, TX for $100,000, let me know. hee hee

I stay at home with Lincoln, our 1 year old son. I'm thinking of going to school to become an esthetician (sp?) so I can pick at other people's faces, instead of my own. Josh just hopes I'll stop picking on/grooming him too. Not a chance.

Lincoln started walking the week before his birthday and hasn't stopped since. He had to "re-learn" walking with shoes over the last week, but definitely has the hang of it. He has been the biggest blessing to Josh and me, in bringing our family closer to each other and to our Father in Heaven. He makes us smile every day, even when he's fussy or, as they say in Australia, being a "Sookie-bubba" (whiney mama's boy).

We have two cats, Bevo (7 yrs) and Chopper (3 1/2 yrs) who we love on the rare occasion when they are not scratching our couch, crying in the middle of the night, or chasing each other around and digging into the apt. carpet. We can not WAIT for them to be outside! Did I mention we need a HOUSE!?!?! I think it will be better for ALL of us.

As of this month, we are also trying for another kiddo. It took us two years to get pregnant with Lincoln, so we're going to start a little earlier, just in case. Hopefully we've solved the mystery of my "infertility", which wasn't anything more than something wasn't open when it should have been (I won't go into any more details, thankfully.) So keep your eyes and ears open for a Smith Family announcement, but not any time soon, I don't think.

Okay, well if you didn't know anything about us, now you do. And if you knew us already, now you wish you hadn't!! hee hee. We look forward to keeping in touch with as many of you as possible and hopefully rekindling those past friendships!!!

Lots of Love,

Lacey