this has no title. oh- i guess it does!

my cousin, julia (christi's daughter) has been in town visiting for a few days. she and lincoln have had lots of fun playing and she's really enjoyed helping out with little miss lexi. she's only 10, but i can already tell she'll be a great mommy one of these days. she is such a huge help with lexi. also, lincoln adores her, and she's great with him. they have had a very fun week.
lexi is now saying several words: dada, nana, mama (she's finally looking at me when someone says my name, too!), yay (sounds like "aaay" or "aaaah"), hi (sounds like "haa" or sometimes "eye"), and she just learned to moo like a cow, but she keeps her lips closed so it sounds like "buuuu". she's also waving bye-bye (though she doesn't ever do it when she's on the spot- go figure!), waving when she says "hi", claps for herself after EVERYTHING she says or does (i think this is hilarious!), and plays the "how big is lexi? ...SOOOO BIG!" game. sometimes i think she understands what i mean when i ask for a kiss or tell her to kiss her baby doll, but other times i think maybe it was just a fluke when she actually DID do it for me. who knows! i can't believe she will be a year old in less than a month. i am planning a small party with just family and probably our life group friends. definitely not as over-the-top as lincoln's first bday. i'm able to control myself a little more these days!
lincoln is almost through with swimming lessons but isn't really swimming yet. he's still reeeeally scared of the water, but he'll at least get in the shallow end and walk. he'll also put his face in the water and blow bubbles, but he won't put his whole head underwater. he has no interest in actually swimming or getting anywhere close to the deep end. oh well- at least he'll get in the pool now! before lessons, he would only put his feet in the water! he will definitely be taking lessons again next summer. hopefully by then, he will be used to the water (i'm planning on taking him at least two or three times a week for the rest of the summer!) and will be up for really learning how to swim.
if you haven't read the blog about my aunt christi's battle with acute myeloid leukemia, please do so. she is currently undergoing what the family is calling "plan b". "plan a" didn't work because of the aggressiveness of her cancer, but "plan b" seems to be showing us a bit of hope! we know God is ultimately in control, so we're all praying hard!

an update in pictures...

I have been slacking, so the easiest way to update is by putting captions under pictures i've taken during the past couple of weeks... here we go.

scott built a storage building right outside of our house since we have NO storage space inside the house. he let lincoln get on the roof with him and link thought that was quite possibly the greatest thing ever.

here is my boy on top of the roof. i promise he's not as close to the edge as it looks!

lincoln is playing tee-ball this year. here he is at bat during his first game.

this is the reaction we got after we told him to "keep his eyes on the ball".

lexi has started making a funny little face. she scrunches her nose, furrows her brow, puckers her lips, and inhales and exhales loudly through her nose. it's hilarious!
i haven't been able to get a picture of her doing it whole-heartedly, but this pic is pretty close.

here's another pic of the silly face.

i love this pic of lexi trying to eat the coffee table.

this is a great picture of her! click on it for full-view. her eyes are just gorgeous!

both of the kids got sick within a couple of days of each other. first lexi got sick with a double ear infection and a throat infection. about 36 hours later, lincoln had a sore throat and a fever. then, later that night, he ended up vomiting a few times. this is how pathetic he looked on monday morning. he's awake, just sad looking.

on monday afternoon, he started swimming lessons. i know, i shouldn't have taken him since he was sick- but they were expensive, we couldn't get our money back, he couldn't make up the missed lesson, and he really did feel better in time to go to lessons (even though it was thanks to ibuprofen and not really being well yet).

it rained a LOT at our house the past several days. my boy had lots of fun running through the puddles right after some severe storms had blown through. the next few pictures are from that evening.

we have been crazy busy this week! i've been covering for the owner of Hickory Street Cafe while she's been on vacation in hawaii. i've worked there all this week and will work next week to cover for a waitress who is going on vacation. between being a mom, dealing with sick babies, working, taking lincoln to swimming lessons, and running the normal errands, we have had NO free time. i will be glad when this two week period is over! ...of course, as soon as it's over, it will be time to start fireworks. COME ONNNN, MIDDLE OF JULY! :)