Today's Project

This is the picture I saw at Target and loved. I wanted Target to give it to me for free so I could use it in Lincoln's space themed room.

 That didn't happen so I decided to be artsy and try to create my own.  I think it turned out ok.  It's nice that it's supposed to look like a 12 year old did it because that's about my level of skill. 

Best Baby Ever

We have been confused in the past why some people say they're sad to see their babies grow up because our babies are always happier as they grow older.  Hannah has helped us to understand.  She is such a sweet baby.  We're sad to see her grow up because it's impossible to get a fill of cuddling with her and appreciating how patient and nice she is to us.  Among many of her high points: she trained herself to sleep through the night at seven months, she lets Rachel and Lincoln play with her like a doll and my favorite is that she is so calming and just lets me cuddle with her while she rests calmly on me.  She is such a blessing. Rachel and Lincoln are blessings too:)

This is Hannah at a story time with Rachel and Lincoln.  She (9 months) sat completely by herself for 15 minutes.  Rachel and Lincoln can hardly do that now.

Solato Nature Center

Our friends invited us to go to the Solato Nature Center in Frankfurt.  We really enjoyed it and Rachel has already asked to go back.   There were shady outdoor paths with some of the local wildlife.  This picture was taken in the much appreciated air conditioned part of it.  They had cool displays where you could go fishing, etc.  It was really fun and well done...and free.  I think I love most things that are free.

 

 Rachel and Lincoln with their favorite friends Braelyn and Berkley.

I can't find my camera charger so this is again a blurry cell phone pic, but I thought it was funny because it captures Rachel's personality so well.  She cautiously and meticulously wraps her mind around situations before she delves in.  When she was a baby she hardly ever blinked.  I think it was because she wanted to figure out everything around her and blinking was a waste of time.  She hasn't changed much.  She did pet the snake eventually.

Begin with Sleep, End with Sleep

A few Friday's ago Lincoln and I headed off to stake Fathers and Sons campout. I was a little nervous about how he'd do, but I figured if I can handle 3 kids out home, there's a slight chance I'll be able to handle one on a campout. I've always enjoyed camping, so this was a great excuse to finally get to go camping in Kentucky. When we started out Lincoln quickly fell asleep in the car. It could have been because my car was so hot because the air conditioning wasn't working then.

The campsite was at a farm of someone in our ward, so luckily the drive wasn't very long. It turns out we were just in a big grassy field. Cars would pull up right to where they wanted to unpack and unload everything. Having a 2 year old with me, I really appreciated that. The field was nice and big and there was plenty of room to play games. There was even a little swing set that Lincoln enjoyed playing on.

When I opened my tent, I noticed all the polls were separated. For anyone who has set up a lot of tents they know that most tents have stretchy rope through the polls to hold them all together. Apparently somehow all that string had broken in my tent and now my polls had to string to keep them together. I tried to pull the string back through, but it was useless as the string was in about 30 different pieces. Finally, a member of the ward pointed out that the tension of the tent would keep the polls together as long as it didn't get really windy or anything. We tried it out and it worked like a charm. Lincoln loved being in a tent. In fact, he didn't want to leave it, so while he played in it, I went and played a football game with some of the youth.

We had a nice program and Lincoln was a true boy and loved seeing the fire and wanted to throw stuff in it a lot. When he was finally ready for bed I went and laid down next to him in the tent. Sadly, our tent was also near the capture the flag field, so it took him a while to fall asleep, but eventually did. (Joe forgot to include that Lincoln wanted to hold his hand while they laid there together and Lincoln fell asleep that way.  So cute!)  I then went out to talk to everyone. Lincoln was so tired that he slept through breakfast. When he finally woke up we packed up and got him home. I think we both had a great time.