biased

I know that I am 100% biased, but I think all of my kids have the most beautiful eyes. Although, these pictures are way over exposed I just love how sparkly my little Lily's eye look in them. She is one beautiful baby!

sleepy head

The other day Lincoln woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He was grumpy all morning and cried about every little insignificant thing. Well, I got out of the shower only to realize Lincoln was no where to be found. I asked Lily where Lincoln was and all she would say was "Lincoln sleep." Needless to say I searched high and low until I finally found him asleep under my bed. I don't know why, but when Lincoln is tired he sometimes falls asleep in the most random places.

"Arrr" let's play matey

The other day we were hanging out at home with the sniffles, and Lincoln and Lily were playing so cute together. First, they took the Tupperware tubs that we store our toys in out of the cupboard and dumped out all of the toys (which was not so great) but they ended up playing so nicely that I didn't even mind. Lincoln as the oldest directed all of the play. First they made Jets and they would look at each other through there little windows. Then Lincoln decided the Tupperware should be boats and got all of his pirate gear on. He then decided his boat was inadequate and needed a sail which he figured could be made out of a dowel he found in my craft stuff and toilet paper (I helped him a little with this part). It was fun to see them play so nicely together. I am hoping that Lily is reaching a stage where she can be a better companion for Lincoln and that they will play together more in the future.

Snow!

We got 4-5 inches of snow this week! The kids LOVE the snow. I felt kind of bad for Carson, because he had to go to school and it doesn't snow that much here. Lincoln and Lily went out in the snow with me during the day, and Lincoln loved it and tried to show Lily the ropes of how to play in the snow. He kept telling Lily to lie down in the snow, to make a snow ball, and to eat the snow. Despite the fact that he gave her a snowball to throw and demonstrated several times how to make a snow angel, the only activity she would join him in was eating the snow. She LOVED to eat the snow. I had to stop her several times from lapping up the snow like a dog. Overall, I think she enjoyed herself, so much so that she didn't want to come in. Lincoln went back out in the snow with Carson when he got home from school. By this time it was raining rather than snowing outside, but that did not stop the boys. They played outside until it was dark. They had a great time just goofing off in the white stuff. I am not a huge lover of snow, but I sure love to watch my kids have a good time in it.

A little late

I know this is a little late, but I wanted to post about what Lily was doing at 18 months. However, it has taken me a few months to get around to it so here is Lily at 20 months. Lily is a sweet, exasperating, spunky, fun little girl. She is our kid that had the hardest time going into nursery and virtually cried herself to sleep the first few times, but is now attached to her nursery leaders and is doing great. Lily is saying more and more all the time and has some unusual names for things. She calls her pacifier 'bite", her blankie "baby", and constantly uses the word "no" for both no and yes. She loves her blankie "baby" and it is one of her permanent accessories. She also loves books. She especially likes looking at our family calendar with pictures of all of our extended family. She loves to go outside and if the boys are outside will watch them longingly from the slider door. She loves to try and play with her brothers who don't always appreciate her interest in their things, but are pretty good sports about it. She also is a dancer. If she sees the touchpad she will come up to me and say 'dance, dance" that is her way of saying she wants to get her groove on to Pandora. In the past she has been totally a mamas girl, but things are definitely changing and I would say lately she definitely has been preferring Nate. She is definitely my sneakiest child. If the house gets really quite I can almost always find Lily doing things she is not supposed like: sneaking chocolate, getting into her brothers "collections," clogging the toilet, and coloring on furniture. Despite her mischievous side she is very sweet. If either of her brothers are upset or crying she will always ask "happen, happen?" wondering what happened and if they are going to be okay. We love this little girl to pieces and can't imagine our family without her.

Goodbye 2011

We spent New Years Eve enjoying fun times with our family. We continued our yearly tradition of going bowling on New Years Eve. Our boys love bowling and they had a great time bowling with their cousins. They enjoyed themselves even more this year, because they both won one of their bowling games. Nate and I had fun, but were exhausted by the end of bowling. Watching a one year old at the bowling ally, helping a four year old bowl, and bowling ourselves made a busy, but it was a fun hour and a half. Latter we went to my Uncles for games and food. It was a great way to bring in the New Year! I hope 2012 is a great one!

Lincolns Birthday

Am I the only one who is shocked by how fast these birthdays come around? I can't believe that Lincoln is 4! He is growing up so fast. He is the sweetest boy. I love that he is still a mamas boy. The other day when I was putting him to bed he said to me "mom I love you more than anyone" (so sweet.) Also the other day my sister was visiting and I asked him who would win in a game of basketball, and of course he said I would win. Latter that night he was saying the family prayer and he prayed that I would beat Heather at basketball, it totally made me crack up, but that is how loyal he is too me and what a funny boy he is. He is a very funny kid and has a deep contagious laugh, that he has had sense he was an infant. Lincoln loves to build things, color, do anything with his brother and tease/play with his sister. Although, Lincoln has his own interests he is always trying to be just like his big brother Carson. My boys are very close and although they do fight they also look out for each other. I hope they never out grow that. We love our Lincoln!

Christmas with kids

These kids make Christmas so fun! Their enthusiasm is contagious and it filled our home this Christmas season. I am so blessed to have such great little people in my life. They are an amazing gift.

Christmas activities

This Christmas Season was busy, busy, busy! We did all of our normal Christmas activities. The kids of course enjoyed decorating cookies and gingerbread houses, and as usual stuffed their faces with candy and frosting in the process. Seriously, I literally caught both Lincoln and Lily sucking on a pastry bag full of frosting. Luckily the frosting was for the gingerbread houses, which we don't really eat. On Christmas Eve we went to my aunt and uncles house and ate delicious food, sang Christmas songs, and watched the kids act out the Nativity. This year Carson was an angel and Lincoln was a shepherd for our little Christmas play. Stubborn little Lily refused to participate, but she was there being her cute self too. Adding to the craziness this year, were the school activities that Carson was involved in. Carson was one of very few first graders who got a speaking part in the first and second grade Christmas program. He was so excited to say his 2 little lines, and he did a great job! However, the night before the performance he was so nervous that he would get confused that he was up late in tears. I felt so bad for him! But he was a trooper and overcame his nervousness and performed like a champ. I was very proud of him! Also Carson worked very hard on his teddy bear float. He worked meticulously on coloring and cutting out the reindeer which were the main decoration on his little float. He got a lot of positive feedback on his throat and was very proud of his float. We had a great Christmas season! I love all the activities and family time it really is a special time of year.