Our Illinois Trip

We went up to IL for my dad being released from his Stake President calling November 11th.  He gave great service in his calling and is a good example to me.

Here's Hannah waking my dad up from a nap. (Picture courtesy of Lincoln)

This is my Grandpa Lunt and my niece Ellie.  I was glad my kids got to see their great grand parents.  I think it's notable that both Lincoln and Hannah won the "Don't laugh while Grandpa plays the Grandkid guitar" game.  Normally you can't look at Lincoln without him laughing.  There was some disputing afterwards because Rachel got a dime and Lincoln got two pennies...who really got more?

It was beautiful weather while we were there and I was able to show Joe Lincoln Log cabin.  Abraham Lincoln never lived there but he visited his parents there a lot.  We also got to spend time with my grandpa and meet his new wife Jill.

   

 They had fun games in the visitor center.

 Outside they had a lot of animals.  I think one boar was pretty frustrated he couldn't get through the fence and eat Lincoln.

Visitors

My friend Sarah and her kids came to visit from North Carolina at the beginning of November.  We raided the Wal-Mart clearance costumes and added some of our own to make this fun dress up session.  We always love when they come to visit.

Halloween 2012

 Rachel and Lincoln with the pumpkin they made with Dad.

 Rachel, Lincoln, and Joe left earlier with this group of friends.  

 This is Hannah later.  We were surprised Hannah used the stroller.  Usually Lincoln winds up in it.

Our kids and some minions.  We have a nice route around our neighborhood that we've been taking each year with our friends.  It's a lot of fun.  The only part that the kids could have done without is the scary sasquatch that stayed right behind us the whole night.

Things I don't want to forget

There are some things my kids do that I don't want to forget, and since this is my journal of sorts I want to record them.

1.  One Sunday I was having a weird pregnancy emotional break down and Rachel and Lincoln were concerned for me.  Rachel decided to make me this nice card.  Lincoln decided to make me feel better with a song. He said, "Mom I made you a song!"  Then he marched around the couch singing "March....march..."

2.  Rachel is a good second mother to Lincoln.  One day I overheard a conversation that made me laugh.  Rachel was getting down gold fish and Lincoln asked for some.

Rachel: You need to put your plate away first Lincoln.
Lincoln:  Yes (in a sad voice)
Rachel:  Yes mam (with the tone and the look)
Lincoln:  Yes mam.

Rachel will even punish Lincoln and I listen to see if he'll obey.  He does!  I need to take tips from her.  If Rachel wasn't so nice to him he might not be as compliant.

Rachel lost her first tooth!

In September Rachel lost her first tooth.  She just wiggled it out herself.  I asked her how much she thought the tooth fairy would bring her and she said $10.  The tooth fairy didn't end up being that generous.  As a side not Rachel asked me a couple of weeks before if Santa and the tooth fairy were real.  I gave her an honest answer but she decided to believe in them anyway.  It's hard to not believe in someone who gives you stuff.

Soccer Season

Rachel and Lincoln played on the same soccer team this year.  Rachel really took off and especially did well on defense.  For a while we had trouble getting Lincoln to not lay down on the field, but he definitely improved and seemed to enjoy the snack part especially.

I turned thirty!

It was a month ago but what can you do.  For my present Joe and I are combining presents from birthday and Christmas to get a laptop, but the kids gave me some pretty awesome presents.  Who could want more then several pictures, a coupon book, and a button.

Joe and the kids did a good job making my birthday special.  The Friday before Joe also threw a surprise party for me.  My friend helped him a lot putting it together.  I was very impressed and totally surprised.

The Code of the Ninjas

Lincoln spends a lot of the day telling me about ninjas.  He has no idea about what ninjas look like or do, but he will tell me fact upon fact that he makes up.  Joe and I were excited to find a ninja outfit at Goodwill on Friday.  We surprised Lincoln this morning after washing it.  He loves it.

Code of the Ninjas(as dictated by Lincoln):

Ninjas are naked

Only nice ninjas have moms

There are blue, red, and green ninjas

Ninjas don't wear shoes

Ninjas don't drink green smoothies

...

Rachel's Room is Finished!

Here's Rachel's room that I've been working on decorating for a long time.  It's fun for me to try to decorate cheaply and customize the decor just how I want it.  This might be less exciting to some readers but you'll have to humor my obsession...

The drawers and night stand were both originally different shades of brown and the night stand didn't have matching pulls.  Joe was very nice to do the painting and I found pulls that were similar.  We got oil based paint not realizing the clean-up that would take so Joe gets extra bonus points for painting.

I made matching picture boards for Rachel and Hannah.  I just covered a cheap bulletin board with batting and fabric and then stapled the ribbon and material down.  I made covered buttons where the ribbons intersect and appliqued on their initials.

I found the lamp at a garage sale and made the doily underneath it.

The butterflies on the wall I bought off of ebay from our good neighbors in Hong Kong.  No hand craft there but I really like them.  They were a good deal too.

My friends

Hannah is finally old enough to play with the big kids.  I let them all go outside and play in the sprinkler and it was so fun to watch them play together.  I had to take pictures.

Happy Second Birthday Hannah!

For Hannah's birthday we had friends over and ate her favorite dinner-pizza.  She eats as much pizza as a grown man.

We had the usual 2nd birthday dog cake.  It works out that Hannah likes dogs too.  This is as close as she'll ever get to having her own dog.

Hannah figured out opening presents and loved it.

She got two baby dolls and a art easel.  We're very grateful that people gave her baby dolls because she only had one she would sleep with and if we couldn't find it, putting her to bed was rough.

This was the first year where Hannah really understood her birthday so it was a lot of fun.  Hannah is such a sweet girl and brings joy to our family.

It's a...

girl!

We were surprised.  We were guessing a boy and in the past we've been 3 for 3 on guessing. The kids were a little disappointed but they're excited about a girl now.  They went to the ultra sound with us and when we asked Rachel what girl name she liked she said, "Louie."  Somehow that evolved to Lily so I think that's what we're going to go with.

Undocumented Traditions 5/12-Stop!

This picture is from the end of the school year last year. Lincoln's been watching the crossing guard and now anytime we cross the road he looks straight into the eyes of drivers and tells them to stop.  It makes me laugh.  I don't know what the drivers think.

Lincoln's Undocumented Real Birthday 6/19

It turns out I didn't post a lot of things I wanted to when I was sick so I'm trying to make up for it.

 Rachel talked up breakfast in bed but I think we woke him up to early.

 He really was anticipating it and excited:)

After several pictures we got a smile:).

For some reason that was the end of the pictures I took, but we did things that Lincoln loved all day(which I can't remember, but I did remember the effort:). At dinner time we went out to eat at Applebee's-that didn't work so well behavior wise but they liked it.  Lincoln covered his ears when they sang the Happy Brithday song.  Afterwards we had cake even though we had cake at his party.  He didn't think he would turn four until he had cake.  Last he got his present that we found out later spit water.  That was pretty funny when we let the kids accidentally figure that out.

Lincoln provides a lot of laughs for our family.  He's so happy and loving.  We're glad you're in our family!

Undocumented Summer Fun-Friend Visit and Solato 6/12

Ward Party

Our ward had a fun get together at Solato wildlife center in June.  We couldn't resist the new picture opportunity with the new random oversized eggs and chicks.

Friend Visit

A week later my best friend from North Carolina came with her kids.  I was still really sick from pregnancy so I wasn't the best hostess but I still think we had a lot of fun.  

We couldn't resist going to Solato again.  It's fun and free.

 Rachel and Emmalynne at Dragonfly Marsh

 The irresistible egg picture.

Observing the fish.

Emmalynne turned four while they were visiting so we threw a little party. 

Rachel's Real Birthday

 Rachel loves having breakfast in bed for her birthday.  She requests cereal every year:)

 Present time.  I'm not so sure about the pose in this picture:)

 The presents

 After going to dinner at Zaxby's we did a little cake.

Rachel practicing with her present. She always has these skates on now and is getting a little better.