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.