"R" Queen

So Rylin is fascinated with letters. She always asks me, "How you write 'Mom'?" "How you write 'Kacia'?" And until recently, she was always content to just scribble something as I would say "M", then she'd say "what's next?" "O" and she would scribble something else. And so on. And then I realized that at her age, Kacia knew how to write her name, and maybe it was time to start working with her. She is quite independent and quite motivated. We bought her own book that has two lines to practice each letter, and then you just wipe it off, and practice again and again and again. Rylin wants to practice her letters constantly! She is starting to branch out from the letter "R" now but, the first day it was all about "R"! She has now perfected the letter "L" and "I" but "Y" is a little tricky. She'll practice it briefly and then move on to an easier one like "O". But I'm thrilled that she's so excited. She is also quite good at "reading" Kacia's home readers. Kacia will read the book through a couple of times and then Rylin will want to try. Most books she's quite good at, but as Kacia is advancing through the books, they are getting a little more challenging and little harder to quickly memorize. It is so much fun to watch your kids learn and love it! (Aunt Sabrina, you'd be proud! Maybe next time you come to visit, not only will Rylin sit through a book you read, but will also "read" one to you!)

What's New with Kacia

So what's going on with Kacia these days? We took her training wheels off of her bike this weekend. This was something that was long overdue. She was so excited, and then quite hesitant. She wouldn't pedal fast enough to even make Kevin jog, but after some "pep talk" (telling her everyone we know who can do it) she is quite anxious to get out there and try it again. Too bad the rain is keeping her and her competitive spirit indoors.

In other news, I think she might be a democrat. They watched the swearing in of our new president at school and she now seems to have an overwhelming amount of respect for him. Everytime she sees a magazine cover with him, she thinks we need to buy it and everytime we flip the tv channels and he's on, she thinks we "have" to watch it. It has brought about some interesting discussions and we are reminded by our 5 year old that God does command us to respect and pray for our leaders. It is also a good tool as I can continue to attempt to tame her tongue and attitude- "Would you talk to President Obama like that?" (I should clarify that I do use other examples and Scripture as well :) .)

She is also a big fan of country music. We primarily listen to the "Seeds" cd's in our car, but every once in awhile I need a break and will put on one of my cd's. I now get requests for "hey son, what's your problem" (Carrie Underwood- All American Girl) and "Juliet" (Taylor Swift- Love Story). When I hear how quickly my 3 and 5 year old can learn a song and sing along, it makes me think twice about what we listen to!

She is also loving her Bible. She loves to find our memory verse of the week in her Bible and then she will challenge herself to find it over and over again. She also loves to sit next to either Kevin or I when we are reading and open up her Bible to the same passage. Sometimes she looks for words on the page she can read and other times she is just content to have it open and will flip to different books to keep up with wherever we are reading. I think it is quite cute!

There's your update on our eldest!

Things I Love

Before haircut #4

After 1st big boy haircut with the clippers. Oh, he looks too old!

So Lincoln is now nearly 8 months old. I was thinking today about all of the things I really love about this age. I love:

-that he loves me so much.

Last week when I took Kacia to girl scouts, Kevin said Lincoln walked (in his walker) over to the front door, stuck his thumb in his mouth and just waited for me. Then on Sunday, when Kevin was trying to let me get an extra hour of sleep, he had to keep chasing Lincoln down the hallway because he kept crawling to my room.

-that Kacia and Rylin still ask to hold him everyday just like when he was a newborn.

He no longer just lays in their arms, but rather does everything he can to crawl out of their arms, but still they ask everyday.

-that sometimes in the middle of the night, after he eats, he stretches like a tiny newborn, and I'm reminded that yes he's growing fast, but he's still my baby.

You know that stretch, when they arch their back and stick out their little butt, and stretch their arms even though they're sleeping.

-that when he's ready for a nap, I lay him down, he tucks his knees, sticks up his butt, thumb goes in and he's out!

-that when he wakes up from a good nap, I can hear him cooing, and when he sees me come in, his legs start kicking, he smiles so big and he balances himself with one arm and reaches for me with the other.

-that it just takes one silly look to get a huge grin and little cackle .

-that I can practically see the wheels turn as he figures something out.

Things that I don't so much love:

-it seems he has a constant runny nose.

-having to always sweep the floors, and having my heart skip a beat when he starts choking on something I missed.

Yesterday it was an entire leaf from an oak tree that must have been tracked in on someone's shoe.

-that he loves to crawl into bathrooms.

I do wash our floors, but still it has to be one of the grossest places for his little hands to be!

-that whenever he follows me into the kitchen, he goes straight for the garbage can.

Another gross thing for his little hands, that will later be in his mouth, to touch.

-that sometimes when I put him in his bed he refuses to lay down and just wants to crawl.

Have you ever watched a tiger at the zoo that just circles their cage, that is what it reminds me of. Lincoln gets up on all fours and just paces around in his crib circling it.

-changing his diaper is practically a 2 person job.

On a couple of occasions we have come home to his pajamas completely unsnapped because babysitters couldn't keep him still enough to snap them up and eventually just gave up (which is totally understandable.)

So that is a small glimpse of our life right now with Lincoln. It is all going by way too fast but this kid is determined to grow up and there seems to be nothing I can do about it but enjoy every minute! Even the frustrating, gross ones! :)

Happy 30th Birthday Kevin!

My silly water bottles, party favors, and golf ball decorations, simply because I had a little too much fun being creative. (The little bucket (golfing) consisted of seeds, chocolate covered espresso beans and goldfish, just a few things to imitate Kevin's love for baseball, coffee, and fishing. Did I tell you a got a little carried away?).

Kevin's parents, the 2 people I fail to thank enough for shaping my husband into the man he is.

Breanna was gracious enough to not only help me with the dinner party, but also host it. Thanks Bre!

Not the most flattering pic of either of us, but unfortunately the only one I have!

Kevin turned 30 on Saturday. We celebrated by having a dinner party with family and some of our closest friends. It was a truly fun night celebrating my incredible husband. Since we did the dinner with just adults for a change, the kids helped us celebrate earlier in the day. We went to Starbucks for breakfast (surprise!) and then Kevin took the girls bowling with Zach and Sawyer. They had a blast playing "rolly pully" as the girls call it. All in all a very fun day!