I found some pictures

I found some pictures of Lincoln between 9 and 10 months on my phone.  Thank goodness for cameras on your phone.  Otherwise the pickings would have been thin and the poor guy might have thought we didn’t love him for that month :)  And since I’m not getting much scrapbooking done these days….this is it.  So here are more pictures of Lincoln (and Tracen too)

One super nice day we decided to go get us a drink and sit out on the porch in the sun.  It was so nice outside and the boys and I both really enjoyed the sun

The boy likes himself some pop.  I drink Dr. Pepper so Tracen thinks all sodas are “Peppers” 

Last week we went to the park for a little while as well.  It’s been so nice to finally be able to go back outside.  It’s snowed twice since then and I get so irritated every time the weather goes back cold.  Come on Spring and Summer…let’s get going!

  Last Sunday I forgot to take our tithing to church again and it was getting a little built up.  So I decided to run it back to the church.  I ran out the door and got clear down the steps before I realized there was a little boy on my porch.  None of us knew Tracen had snuck outside and was sitting out in the sun, still in his church clothes, enjoying a big bucket of popcorn all by himself! LOL

 

Pinewood derby

The boys had their pinewood derby last week.  They actually ended up using their cars from last year because we were so busy.  Jesse technically wasn't a scout last year so his car hadn't been in the derby for real last year.  We weren't sure how their cars would do because Tracen spent all year driving them around the house.  But Ty ended up getting first place and Jesse got 3rd!  Jesse seemed way happier than Tyler about the whole thing!  Josh does extensive research on these cars and him and the boys spend lots of time (more than we should probably admit sanding axles and stuff.  I think the boys get bored running the drill to get the axles sanded down.  But they sure like it when they win.  Josh told all his secrets to his brother so maybe Wyatt will win his as well :)  This was Tyler's last pinewood derby and Jesse's first. By the time Lincoln builds his last pinewood derby car we should be near to experts on this whole deal!

video of Lincoln

This one is so funny.  Lincoln was trying to stay awake and watch a movie.  We were so mean and video taped it instead of putting him to bed.

Lincoln at 10 months

Here he is in all his red-eye glory.  So my camera lens is still broken and unreplaced.  SO, this is the ONLY picture I have of Lincoln between 9 and 10 months that isn’t already on the blog.  Sad sad stuff I know.

But…Lincoln is 10 months old!  I can’t believe he’s almost a year!  This past month has been a lot better for Link, no sicknesses. 

Here’s what he’s been up to….

• He was finally well enough to have a “well” baby check.  So his 9 month (almost 10 month) appointment yielded the following height and weight 19 lbs 4 oz (20%) and 29.2 inches (68%)
• He can stand up in the middle of the floor without hanging onto anything.  He gets his arms out there for balance.  It’s pretty cute.
• He walks along the furniture.
• He has a running crawl.  If he needs to get somewhere fast, his knees aren’t quite fast enough so he gets up on his toes and away he goes.
• He growls.  All the time.  It’s funny.  Sometime he just growls on his own, but if you growl at him he’ll growl back.  Or if you burp at him, he’ll growl too.  Don’t ask how I know…
• He’s starting to enjoy his toys.  He really loves balloons.
• He pretty much only sleeps in his bed.  Sometimes in his crib.
• He says “dadadada” all day long.  Sometimes he’ll imitate other sounds but it’s mostly all about his dad.
• He occasionally waves.
• He still takes a good nap.  Which on days when I’m watching him and Tracen after working all night, is a blessing for sure!
• He’s seriously the happiest kid ever.
• We got some baby chicks and he is fascinated with them.

I have some videos of him too so I’m going to try to post those as well.  We just love our little Linky to death.  We’re so grateful he came to our family!

What’s important

I usually don’t post stuff like this on my blog because I usually just hide it away in a journal somewhere.  But I guess today I’m being brave.  That and I have at least two more posts to bury this one under, so maybe most of you won’t even see it :)

I really like listening to Christian rock music.  I was getting ready for church this morning and listening to Casting Crowns on Pandora this morning when Slow Fade came on.  Because of a few things that happened this weekend this song really got me thinking this morning about what’s really important in life. 

We often hear that you can stand in one place, you are either moving forward or sliding backward, nothing is ever static.  This past weekend I’ve been even more grateful for the choices I’ve made up till now that have made my life, well, ordinary and boring (as in not exciting in bad ways)  Also the past few days I’ve been realizing that even though I’m not making bad choices some of my choices aren’t the best ones.  I’ve been realizing I need to learn to say no more often and that my kids and being a mom is the very most important thing in my life. 

I have this quote from David O McKay that says “No success in life can compensate for failure in the home”  My most important job is to raise my kids to know what’s right and wrong, to love Heavenly Father and Jesus, and all that other good mom stuff.  Anyway, that’s what I’ve been thinking of this week and then this song just kind of summed it all up for me this morning and made me think about it again.  I was going to highlight the parts I liked the best, but then I realized most of it would be highlighted.

Slow Fade

Be careful little eyes what you see
It's the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings
Be careful little feet where you go
For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow
It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It's a slow fade, it's a slow fade
Be careful little ears what you hear
When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near
Be careful little lips what you say
For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray
It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
The journey from your mind to your hands
Is shorter than you're thinking
Be careful if you think you stand
You just might be sinking
It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day
Oh be careful little eyes what see
Oh be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in love
Oh be careful little eyes what you see

Tyler’s art!

Last summer Tyler took an oil painting class with his brother, cousins and grandma.  He loved oil painting.  He and his grandma spent quite a bit of time painting.  He entered a few of his paintings in the county fair and won several prizes. 

He was reading the Friend one day and saw that you could create some kind of art project and send it in to possibly be in the exhibit that will be on display all this year.  The theme was “the gospel blesses my life.”  His grandma does temple paintings in watercolor so he wanted to do a temple, but he really likes oil painting.  He searched all the pictures of the temples until he decided he wanted to paint the Calgary temple, which isn’t even finished yet.  He painted it with his grandma giving him pointers here and there.  Then we carefully packaged it up and sent it to Salt Lake. 

We hadn’t heard anything about the painting, and didn’t know if we would or not.  We’ve been watching the Friend as they’ve put some of the pictures in there as well.   Today I decided to look through some past issues that we missed to see if it had been in there and we missed it.  I found a slide show on the Friend website called Children’s Art Exhibit Slide show.  So I started looking through it and I found Tyler’s painting!  So I guess we’re going to have to take a trip to Salt Lake this year and see if it’s on display at the Church history museum.

The sad thing about it is, I’m sure that I took a picture of it but I can’t find it anywhere.  So hopefully it’s in the exhibit and we can get a picture of him with it since we won’t get it back.  If you want to see it click the link below, go to age 9 (he was 9 when he submitted it) and then start.  It’s on page 5, top row, third one in.  We’re so proud of him!

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&sourceId=bf75746fb7b5d210VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=21bc9fbee98db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Family WOD

During the basketball season we told the boys that as soon as basketball was over we wanted them to try crossfit kids.  We love crossfit and wanted them to try it out.  Jesse was excited and Tyler was NOT.  But I told him he would be trying it for 1 month at least.  We've tried and tried to find something athletic or fitness related that Ty likes for years with little luck.  He's liked karate pretty well but that's it.

The boys showed up for their first day of crossfit a few weeks ago.  Can I just tell you Tyler LOVES it!  Jesse loves it too.  I'm so excited that they like it.  We even had to start going to karate on Saturday in Cedar because they didn't want to miss crossfit on Mondays.  I can even use it as a threat.  "If you don't get _____ done by this time, we won't be going to crossfit today" and they jump into gear.  It's awesome!

Josh and Jesse were sick last night and I worked last night and went to a meeting today.  So Ty's the only one that made it to crossfit.  He must have felt bad for the rest of us not being able to go to crossfit today because after dinner he asked if we could do a "little" WOD (workout of the day) for FHE and then have a little lesson on keeping our bodies healthy.  We said sure.  He planned the whole thing.  We had to have him tone it down a little!

Here is the WOD:

Relay/obstacle course in teams of two Josh/Tyler and Mom/Jesse
10 bar jumps, 10 box jumps, 10 dumbell or medicine ball cleans
There is some debate over which team won.  Jesse got done first, Ty and Josh next, me last (yep I'm slow) So me and Jesse called it a tie, Ty says they won.

AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 10 minutes
this is the one we had to tone down a bit! he had cleans and wall climbs too and 15 minutes.
10 deadlifts
10 pushups
10 sit ups
25 squats

I have no idea how many rounds I did, but I know everyone lapped me!  About halfway through Link was crying so josh and I ditched the deadlifts for 20# weighted squats.....Linky was the weight.  I would do squats while Josh did push up and sit ups then we'd switch.  Pretty sure I got the better end of that deal too because I'm slower at push ups and sit ups than Josh.  We definitely got a workout!

It was a pretty fun family activity down in the basement.  I wish I had pictures.  Tracen followed along and yelled out orders like a little drill sargeant.  He was sure we weren't doing burpees right (because we weren't doing them!)  Our push ups didn't have a little jump in the air at the end.  He also joined in a few push ups and squats as well.  Funny kid.

I love it that the boys love crossfit so much!

Dirty (but cute) little boy

  Lincoln is already living up to his boyness.  He can get so dirty! But he’s so dang cute!  Josh and Tracen made up a song about Lincoln the other day.  It’s hilarious to hear Tracen sing it.  Link loves it and smiles and dances right along.  It’s to the tune Oh my darling Clementine. 

It goes like this “Stinky Linky, Stinky Linky, Stinky Linky”  Pretty easy to learn.

However if Tracen’s singing it it goes like this: “Tinkee Winkee Tinkee Winkee”  The best part really is to listen to Josh laugh as Tracen sings it.

But really there’s no denying he is cute:

Kurt and Crystal

We had a great weekend.  On Friday Crystal went through the temple and then on Saturday her and Kurt were sealed.  I hadn’t been to the temple since I was ginormously pregnant with Lincoln so I was so excited to go back.  It was a great weekend!  On Friday the boys stayed with the Guymons and Saturday my cousin Courtney watched them for us so that they could come to lunch afterward.  Thanks guys!

Ann put me in charge of making sure I brought my camera and took pictures.  Unfortunately I haven’t replaced my broken lens yet so all I had was a zoom lens.  So most of the pictures are good and up close!

I love these pictures of Crystal and Josh.  They’re always teasing each other and stuff.  I love it that they’re such good friends :)

 

The lady who took this picture for us was hilarious.  She kept having to back up because of the zoom lens.  She was kind of prancing around.  There were a whole bunch of other people there with other weddings too so the more she backed up the more people kept walking into the picture.

Congratulations Kurt and Crystal.  We love you!!

More ramblings from your favorite 2 year old

Tracen says "I not pway wif wincoln, mom I only pway wif you.  Sorry Wincoln."

I’m worried about Tracen’s multiple personalities:
“Can I go Addi’s house?”  maybe
“I don’t want to go to Addi’s” ok
Can I go play with Addi? do you want to?
Ya can I? probably
Can I go play at Addi’s house? sure
I don’t want to play at Addi’s. 
Mom, can I play with Addi?

Tracen twirled around today while lifting up his shirt “I’m a princess!”

Tracen says to me "Thanks mom, thanks for wipin' my butt"

Tracen crawled in bed with us, snuggled up to Josh and said "ssage (massage) me daddy

Me:Tracen where are you going to sleep tonight?
Tracen: In You's bed.
Me: You're not sleeping in my bed
Tracen: I AM sleeping in you's bed!

And my favorite for the day spoken while typing this post....
grrr  (grumbling huffing and puffing)
Tracen: MOM!!
Me: What?
Tracen: MOM....'mere (come here)
Me: Just a second
Tracen: MOM! Get yours butt in here!

potty training

There is little I like less on the planet than potty training.  None of my boys have yet to be easy potty trainers.  We are in the middle of potty training Tracen now.  This is not a 3 day, 2 week or even 1 month process, we have been going at it for a good 2 months now.  He does pretty well with #1 in the potty probably 90% of the time, but still not reliable enough to really take far from the house pull-up free.  #2….ugh!  He’s gone like 4-5 times in the potty total, in 2 months….that’s not great stats.  So yesterday he runs in the bathroom and goes #2 without asking for help and then comes and tells us.  We were so excited!  So today I take him to get a treat because he pooped in the toilet. yea!  He hadn’t even finished his treat yet when he announces “mom, I pooped in mys unnerwear”  For the love….