In Lincoln's World

Lincoln enjoying his first sandwich with Nutella.

I think it must be so weird to take a bite and not know what to anticipate- sweet, salty, hot, cold. And every time Lincoln tries something new, he is stepping out and trusting me. This time he was delightfully surprised to find out that rather than a typical peanut butter sandwich, he got something a little sweeter.

And the sweet tooth is here to stay, after all he is a mix of Hetland/Burns. This was his first beater, and he loved it! For the rest of the day, along with the next, every time I opened the fridge and he saw the bowl of cookie dough, he smacked his lips together accompanied with his outstretched arm and grunts that symbolize- "I want that!"

I have a couple "beater pictures" of myself as a kid too. A bad habit to start so young :).

And this is what happens when you have 2 sisters and a house full of girl toys...

Sometimes he puts his ball in the stroller to push around which is a little more manly, but I'm sure this is just the beginning of many pictures that I will be able to use later for bribery.

As you can see, Lincoln just keeps growing and growing. He is a busy little monkey and keeps us quite entertained. His vocabulary is not growing as quickly as the girls' but I know in time the grunts will be traded in for words. Sometimes he comes storming into a room, rambles off a bunch of chatter, then just runs out. And despite the vocab, he comprehends a ton! I can hand him something and tell him to put it in his room and he does. When anyone mentions the words "going bye-bye" he runs and grabs his shoes from the basket and so on. He has also been busy getting more teeth lately. He had 8, than 4 more broke through the gums and 2 more will be popping through any day. There you have it, that's what has been happening lately in Lincoln's world.

San Francisco with My Love

A little late is better than never, right? Here's some pictures from our weekend in San Francisco. We had a wonderful and quiet time together with beautiful weather in a truly fun city. We are so very thankful to Debby for once again taking on the task of watching our kids, it is a wonderful gift to have a grandma that lives in the same town and honestly loves spending time with our crazy munchkins. We would be a little more insane if it were not for the "breaks" she so generously gives us!

Here we are in Ghiradelli Square, an absolute must for us when we come to the city. I'm quite certain that the individual who took our picture did not speak any English because he totally missed getting the huge Ghiradelli sign, but atleast he got us in the photo!

We were so excited to go see this show, and we were so happy it worked out to meet up with Paul and Bethany to all go together. We went to an A's game earlier in the day, so we weren't sure how the timing would all work out, but I'm so glad we were able to enjoy dinner together first so we could actually visit with one another.

It was intermission and the guys were in the bathroom, so I asked the lady behind us to take our picture. She was not thrilled at all, but reluctantly did. Then when the guys returned, they reminded us of the whole "no flash" rule and I realized why she was a little upset, but it was an honest mistake, and its kinda cool to be able to see the stage and dragon behind us.

The newlyweds, married one week, hanging out with the old boring couple:).

We finally stood in line to ride the trolley car. I don't know why we have never done this together before because it's such a classic San Francisco tourist thing, but now we've done it and have learned the best ways to avoid the long lines in the future.

Another San Francisco first for me- driving across the Golden Gate Bridge. I've seen it before, gone to the park and stuff, but never actually crossed it. Kevin couldn't remember doing it before either, although he's pretty sure he must have at some point when he was younger. We had fun in the cute town of Sausalito on the other side, and then had to drive just a little further to Mill Valley so I could go to the Tyler Florence Kitchen Store.

This was the view of Union Square from our hotel room, 11 stories up. It was quite cooler in person, but most scenery pictures are. We had a great time and look forward to our next escape together whenever that might be. I'm so thankful for a husband who makes such an effort to continually grow our marriage when it would be so easy to get lost in the business of rearing 3 kids. He helps me to remember that our kids benefit from our investing in one another as well, as they are learning from us what marriage is, and the importance of making one another a priority is a huge part of a healthy marriage. What a truly blessed wife I am!

Going to the Chapel

On August 29th we were able to celebrate the marriage of our friends Paul and Bethany Slagle. It was a beautiful and truly fun day! My girls had the honor of being 2 of the 9 kids in their wedding party! And these are the only 2 pictures I have. It's a good thing I wasn't the photographer! :) (I think Bre ended up with nearly 2000 more than me to sort through.)

"Flow-er Pow-er!"

So pretty in their white dresses and beautiful pearls!

Birthday Girl

Last Friday was Kacia's 6th Birthday! Honestly where does the time go?

We had a very fun day, and it was so fun watching her the week before do her countdown every night and put a big X on the calendar.

Our first visit with Uncle James in a year and it happened to fall on the birthday weekend.

So fun!

Our baby is 6!

Lincoln had to try out the new rollerblades before big sister could even open them, I'm telling you anything to get him a few inches off the ground!

The shoes she has been wanting for 2 months. Man this girl is scary in a shoe store already!

Kacia and her giant Birthday card

Enjoying their gelato and getting sillier by the second!

Brooklyn and Rylin decorating and shaping their cookie dough.

Sawyer didn't look too miserable at this very girlie party, afterall their was plenty of sugar to enjoy, he just stayed away from the pink and purple cookie dough and frosting. So fun how my "all-girl" daughter and our very "all-boy" friend can be the best of buddies!

We had her friend party at a super cute shop called sweetspot. They sell cute cupcakes, gelato and other yummy treats. Anyhow, they set up a little table for the kids and 9 little girls and 1 little boy (Sawyer was such a trooper!) decorated cookies and cupcakes and ate ice cream and colored and had fun together. It was so much fun to not have too much set up or clean up, and to be able to really enjoy the party with her!

After that we did pizza with the Goldens, Bonnins, and James & Samantha. Kacia loved being the center of attention for the day, and just beamed the whole day through! And although it really seems like a lifetime ago that I used to rock and sing her to sleep, it also somehow feels like just yesterday we were in that hospital room staring in utter amazement at this beautiful, tiny and precious gift God had entrusted to us!

Our Monkey

So this is my beautiful, fun, and totally crazy 14 month old Lincoln who has decided that he is no longer content with just walking and running, but needs to climb. And he climbs on everything, and he is super fast! His speed and skill make keeping a constant eye on him a must, but this is nothing new really, just the reasons have changed. He is no longer attracted to toilets like a magnet (still attracted to, but more to climb on top of so that he can get on the counter instead of eating the toilet paper that is floating in it) and he also doesn't seem to find every tiny thing on the floor and put it in his mouth, thus making choking a constant scare. Now, the fear has been switched to a major head injury from our wood floor or brick hearth. Seriously, come to my house for 10 minutes and I guarantee you will see him climb on at least 5 different things, the couch, coffee table, recliner, dining room chair & table, dollhouse, etc. The list just keeps going...

It doesn't seem like enough to climb on the couch and run from one end to the other, he also has to scale the back so he can get higher- always higher!

Here it wasn't enough to be on the table, he had to attempt to stand on the coloring box on top of the table, after all 4 more inches is 4 inches higher!

He has this routine down perfectly. He climbs on to the toychest at the end of Rylin's bed and then does a somersault/handstand onto her bed.

Then he runs to the head of her bed to get onto the dresser.

So I couldn't justify letting him stand on top of the dresser just so I could get a photo, but I'm guessing you get the point- this boy has me on my toes- from the minute he wakes up until he's snug in bed. Oh how I love bedtime!