trying to get it all together

so, normally, i would've posted this on lincoln's 5th birthday (august 24) but since we were without a computer from august 22 til sept 1, that was kind of impossible. and normally, i would post a picture of lincoln as a newborn (and possibly one from every bday party he's had), but my old pics are all on my old, broken computer. FEAR NOT- we will be able to get MOST of our old files off of our old computer (which needs a new hard drive), but it's going to cost a pretty penny to have done so we're in no huge hurry.
instead, i will post pictures from lincoln's super-fun birthday party. i made the cake, cupcakes, and the pinata. we rented a 15'x24' waterslide and the kids had a great time!

i don't know if you can tell that it's raining in this pic. it was a random, beautiful rain shower in the middle of the party. no thunder or lightning- and the sun was shining the entire time! the kids were wet anyway so it didn't bother anyone.

lincoln's blowing out his FIVE candles. on top of the cupcakes are whoppers that i "carved" to look like death stars. yes, i made it all (icing and all) from scratch. ok, i lied, i used a box cake mix on the cupcakes but made them differently than the instructions say- so i oughta get at least 1/2 credit for them being "from scratch".

he was SOOO excited about this card!

i decorated a painting extension pole to look like a lightsaber to hit the pinata. the pinata looked good, but wasn't quite strong enough. lincoln was the only one who got to hit it. in my crafty-pinata-making defense, he has a great swing and hit it REALLY HARD twice before it broke :)

scott and i played on the slide with lincoln and julia after all the guests had gone. there is NO evidence of that, however.

Sugar (Scott's mom) and my silly Lexi.

Lincoln enjoyed playing with some of his new toys after the party was over.

here's my boy on his first day of KINDERGARTEN. it also happened to be his actual birthday. we took a giant decorated cookie for him to share with his class and he really enjoyed that. (this girl was trying to hide under the table while i was taking pics but it looks like she's leaning on lincoln's shoulder.)

sooo sad

I have new posts for lincoln's bday party, pictures of him from birth till age 5, and his first day of kindergarten. Here's where I disappoint: I cannot post anything! Our computer is on the fritz and we're trying to make a decision about what we're going to do. We could likely loe EVERYTHING that's on it, o we have been stuck when it comes to deciding what to do. Anyway, I'm posting this from my BlackBerry and it's annoying.
Just so ya know, I have not forgotten about my blog, but my comp is just plain screwed.

a little bit at a time

that's my motto. that's how i'm going to get back into blogging.
those of you who know me closely know what a crappy summer this has been for our extended family. blogging has definitely taken a backseat to everything else.
here are a few fun new facts.
Lincoln facts:
Lincoln read an entire book by himself tonight. it's called "Catch Me, Catch Me!" and it's about Thomas the Tank Engine. the only word that he really had trouble with was "bridge", and that's a dang confusing word!
he starts kindergarten next monday!!!! it's not like a huge deal oh-my-gosh-my-boy-is-starting-school type of thing though. this will be his first year in kindergarten. since he has a late summer birthday, he will go to private K this yr and will start public school next yr. this WILL be the first time he will be doing something full-time. i'm sure at first i will love all the quality time with miss Lexi, but after a while i know i will miss my boy. he will love it though.
he had his 5 yr checkup today (6 days early) and is in the 80th percentile for height and the 90th for weight. it's the way he's been since he was a baby! he weighs 50 lbs and is 44 inches tall! where did my baby boy go!!??
Lexi facts:
Lex has FINALLY cut two more teeth. aftet being one-toothed for almost two whole months, she will (finally) obviously have three teeth within a couple of weeks. they just broke the gum today, so it's not obvious that they're coming in unless you really look closely.
her new favorite word is "kitty" (sometimes it sounds like "kitty" but more often it's "ditty") accompanied by her quite cute "meow" (nya!).
she called me mama for the first time two days ago! i've always been able to get her to say the word "mama", but she never responded when asked where mommy was or who mommy was. when scott and i got back into town from a weekend away, i picked her up, she looked at me and said, "mama". i was a pretty happy mommy.
she has realized that screaming when she doesn't get what she wants gets some kind of reaction, so she does it ALL THE TIME! in the car, when she's not getting attention, she just SCREEEAMS. when i put her down in her high chair just long enough to go to the kitchen and get her food, screaming begins. ohhhhh my girl has got some 'tude.
she is not in ANY hurry to walk and that's just fine with me.

Lincoln's 5th bday party is this weekend. i can't wait to post pics from it because i have really gone all-out. i made a pinata, am making cake, cupcakes, and frosting from scratch with cute decorations to boot; and have a pretty fun-filled afternoon planned. i still can't believe i'll have a 5-yr-old. seriously- 5 is the age when there is no longer any question if a child is still a baby or actually a "kid". i have a "kid".

enough is enough... and this is enough... for tonight at least. i know i need to post a bunch of pictures but cut me a little slack- at least i posted something!

tsk, tsk... bad blogger.

so it's been almost a month since i've blogged. forgive me, friends. i will try to update with pictures of the kids and their latest antics soon. today, i'm blogging about my husband. tomorrow is his 30th birthday.

this is his birthday car from me. click on the image for full view.

One year ALREADY???

(i posted this on july 16 so i don't know why it says july 15)

July 16, 2008
looking just like her brother!

July 16, 2009
(ok so technically i took the picture on the 15th)
looking quite girly and beautiful :)

can it be true??? has it been a whole year since we welcomed our beautiful baby girl into our lives? has it been a year since we experienced the stress and worry of her suddenly turning breech, having a version done to try and turn her, and then an unplanned c-section followed by the unbelievable joy of seeing her for the first time (especially after the scares she had given us during the pregnancy)??
our amazing little Lexi is one year old today. she has forever changed our lives. her gummy little one-toothed smile can light up a whole room. her little voice absolutely warms my heart. i love to hear her try to say new words (she's up to about 16 words now!) and watch her face as she's trying her hardest to understand something.
happy birthday, beautiful girl! thank you for filling a part of our hearts we didn't even realize was empty until you came along. we love you!

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! :)