The Wright Side of LifeThe family is one of nature’s masterpieces.

I used to roll my eyes to myself when older people would constantly lament at how fast time goes and how it seemed like their kids were babies “just yesterday.”  Well, I officially no longer roll my eyes!  In fact, I am squarely in the “just yesterday” camp.  When Lincoln turned One Year Old on June 9th, I felt like I could not grasp that my precious new baby boy was not really such a baby anymore.  He’s been walking for 2 months, and as his pediatrician told me recently, “Once they are both walking and turn a year old, they’re officially a Toddler.”

To celebrate Lincoln’s momentous day, we had a fun, simple playdate with the Phillips at one of our favorites, Little Bear Indoor Playground.  The kids all had a wonderful time playing, and it was stunning to see how my little guy has gone from this:

To this:

At what seems like an impossible speed!

Judd and Linc are such buddies  They give each other hugs and kisses when they see each other and play so great together – I love it!

Giving Lincoln a birthday smooch:

Lincoln returning the favor with a hug, which makes Judd guffaw and Sissy laugh too:

Happy Birthday song:

I had made cupcakes and brought them for the group in honor of his birthday, but Lincoln sure was not liking all that sticky frosting:

This picture was taken mid-fling as he tried to hurl the offending cupcake against the wall.  See the determined look??

Olivia helping Lincoln open his gift:

At home that evening after dinner, it was time to have our family’s little celebration for Lincoln.  This time I went with a vanilla-frosted cupcake in the hopes he would actually eat some of it!

“Mmmmm!”  He liked this one MUCH better:

Scarlett giving Lincoln some birthday loving:

The girls hovered around him in hopes of snagging extra cupcake bites:

Simultaneous cupcake shoveling:

The following week on Wednesday, it was time for Jim and Scarlett’s rescheduled date.  Grammie was going to take Sissy out on a special date too, and I was trying in vain to get a picture of the two of them.  First Victoria wouldn’t look, and then just when I thought I’d gotten one with *both* of them looking…

Grammie was distracted and looked down at Lincoln :-p  He is pretty hard to look away from though because whenever I am taking pictures now he stops whatever he’s doing and tries to run into the frame, all the while giving the BIGGEST “cheese!” grin he can muster:

The kids are so lucky to have such a wonderful great-grandmother in their day-to-day lives!

Daddy and Scarlett, ready to head out on their dinner-train-dessert date:

Thanks Mikayla for being willing to curl Scarlett’s hair for her special evening!

Scarlett and Lincoln

During a playdate at the Phillips’ house, Amanda served up some chocolate pudding and Lincoln was in l-o-v-e.  Yuummm!

All of our kiddos eating lunch – a far cry from when it was just Scarlett and Olivia in the beginning!!

We also had our end of the year party with our homeschool group – it was a great first year with them and we look forward to many more.  The girls were VERY proud of their accomplishment certificates  I love Scarlett’s outfit in the picture below – she picked everything, from dress, shoes, necklace (that she bought with her own money from her birthday – she negotiated the cost down from $1 to $0.50 at a yard sale!) to bow.  She looks like a member of the Young Republicans:

Grammie Wright was down to visit for a couple of days, and the girls were anxious to have a tea party with her – complete with the new Beauty & the Beast tea pot set:

Grammie Wright also got to sit and watch a Bulls’ game with us and see the girls all decked out in their team paraphernalia!  Jim ordered all new team gear for all of us gals and Victoria and Mik got there’s first, while Scarlett and I were left on the back-ordered list.  Sissy sure did love her personalized “Victoria” shirt

Jim came home early from work mid-week one day, which is super unusual for him and stayed pretty much in bed for the next couple of days with what we thought was a bad cold or flu.  He rallied late Friday afternoon to go along for Linc’s first haircut.  We arrived and Linc didn’t seem nervous at all – super smiley and acting like his normal charming self:

But when the hairdresser tried to strap him into the chair, no amount of trying to talk him through it would make him settle down, so he ended up getting a really awesome cut… from the comfort of daddy’s lap and with a sucker to keep him otherwise distracted.  He looked so much older and very handsome!

Speaking of Lincoln, he has some pretty awesome dance moves.  We have a bootleg version of the movie “Rio” that the girls love, and whenever the opening sequence begins, he puts on his Dancing Face…

…and starts busting a move:

It also won’t be long until he is opening all the doors – eek!  He’s just so tall, and is always trying to “help” me out like his sister do by opening the back door so that the cats can go in or out:

A couple of pictures of Lincoln with his hair before it was cut….

(I thought I could give the girls juice boxes and Lincoln wouldn’t mind… um, I was wrong. He hollered himself right into his very own capri sun-)

(but while those are tasty and all, nothing beats drinking straight from the hose until he you can hear the water sloshing around in his belly as he walks!)

And AFTER his haircut!  He went from looking like a baby to looking like a little boy.  I love it!!!

All of the kids love this inflatable pool that Grammie bought for them – Scarlett and Lincoln playing:

If one of the girls decide they are just NOT going to smile/look up for the camera, there is no getting them to cooperate.  Victoria was not wanting to pause – even for a moment! – to bother with getting her picture taken.  First she looked away to her right…

… then away to her left

Then there’s this clown, who not only will literally stop mid-tears when a camera is pointed his way and give a full-blown smile, but also thinks it’s pure comedic gold to stick his finger up his nose:

Scarlett had held firm to her desire for a “Belle Birthday” for months and months, and although definitely more conventional than last year’s cow birthday request, it was virtually impossible to find JUST Belle merchandise.  Every Belle-related item also had at least two other Disney princesses accompanying her, so we had to settle for a “Belle + princess friends” theme.  I was shocked that Scarlett managed to take a nap that day, since she had woken up SOOO excited for her party!  Awaking with just enough time to put on her dress, fix her hair and fasten her party hat on, my 4-year-old girl was ready to greet her guests:

Party hats are a MUST in our household.  Scarlett is very adamant about that – I truly don’t know why – but most other kids I’ve ever met loathe wearing birthday hats, while she insists everyone wear them!

We kept the scale of her party small this year – parring down Scarlett’s extensive invitation list to only a few people.  With almost everyone in our house’s birthdays all bunched up together during May – August, moderation is the key for celebrations… now if only I could get my darling husband on board with that (“How about a jump house??” and “Let’s have it at the Botanical Gardens!” and many other terrific <and expensive!> ideas were submitted by Jim and summarily tossed aside~) we’d be all set

I did do one silly, fun thing for the kids however: a Spaghetti Pool.  Buy a cheapo plastic or blow-up pool, cook up about 10 boxes of spaghetti and throw into said pool once cooled off, and let the kids stomp, fling, swim and frolic in those noodles.  A cheap, entertaining and memorable activity!

Olivia and Scarlett squealing as they investigated the Spaghetti Pool:

Collin and Victoria running laps up and down the driveway:

IN the Spaghetti Pool with a big smile:

Elizabeth, trying to wait patiently as the adults and kids gathered for prayer before diving into the food:

I made sure my party hat was on at all times, just for my birthday girl:

The dinner/cake spread.  A create-your-own taco dinner (with seasoned chicken and beef options), fresh guacamole, cheese quesadillas, spanish rice, all the fixings AND of course, the princess castle cake (back left of the table):

Happy Birthday Scarlett!

The Phillips’ Family annual Easter Egg Hunt was held on Sunday, April 17th and I was so relieved that we were going to be in town for this favorite event of ours!  We had been camping, then at the beach, and were in town just for a few days before heading out for a longer family camping trip… but nothing was going to deter us from attending.  This was our third year and so of course I had to dig up some comparison shots from the other two in addition to this year’s photos

Scarlett and Oliva – I can’t believe how big, pretty and grown up these two girls are looking!

Two years ago, when Olivia was 2 and Scarlett was just shy of turning 2 years old – at the time, I thought they looked SO big.  Funny!

Lincoln was happy as always – thrilled to be with daddy, and to watch all of the activity:

I am *trying* so hard to be mindful of taking a family photo at such events.  It can be difficult, because the kids never want to stop and cooperate, but I always feel disappointed when I fail to take the time.  Love my family!

Last year we did not get a family shot, but we did take a picture of the girls together before leaving the house:

Linc also had a fun time crawling around in the grass, tasting rocks and picking up and then tossing down bugs:

Cousins:

I really wanted a non-sunglass-wearing photo of me and Jim, however it was BRIGHT outside and we were squinting so hardcore when we tried that we opted to just wear our shades:

Babies + Cupcakes = delightful mess!

From two years ago, Scarlett also inhaling her cupcake:

Each year there is a big group shot of all the children – I zoomed in on this year’s one because I just thought it was so funny how much of a ham Lincoln was being.  When all of the kids started getting into position, he was yelling and trying to throw himself out of my arms to join in, but I was hesitant to let him sit on the stairs by himself with all of the other “big kids.”  I didn’t know if he would try to take a header down the steps or what.  No need to worry there… nope!  Instead he sat there preening and smiling at all of the people taking pictures for about 3 minutes straight.  Notice how he’s the only baby (or kid, for that matter) sitting still, posed and smiling at the camera?

Finally, it was time to start finding those eggs!  Scarlett ran right off, and managed to completely fill her bucket in just a few minutes:

Victoria moved a little more slowly, trying hard to locate the sneaky eggs that were a little more tricky to find:

So proud of his two litte eggs!

Jim always seems to end up with baby egg-hunting duty each year.  Here is a favorite picture of mine from two years ago, as he and Victoria worked to fill up her tiny basket:

Victory!  Time to settle in and start the opening, swapping, and best of all – eating the candy.

Thanks to James and Marcina Phillips and Amanda and Jason, too!

When Jim recently offered me the chance to go on a “work widow” beach vacation, I jumped at the opportunity.  I cannot emphasize the insanity of Jim’s schedule of late… well, actually for the last 4 months!  If we see Jim for a total of 5 hours during the work week, that’s a lot, and maybe another 5 total on the weekends – sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less.  It has been difficult on everyone.  However, the last big phase of the madness was slated for the week of April 9th – 17th or so, and Jim knew he would be literally living at the office during that timeframe, and offered to send the kids and I to the beach for the week.  I was excited for the chance to take the kids, and even better we would be able to invite Amanda, Olivia and Judd; they were able to join us for a portion of the trip, which was great!

I should note that I have a gap in pictures during the beginning of the trip, during which time Amanda was taking the bulk of the photos.  She is going to be forwarding those along to me, so I fully expect to have a Part 2 of this blog with additional pictures!

The drive down was long (about 8.5 hours), but all the kids did SO well.  I was truly impressed.  We caravanned with Amanda and her kids, and all took a long lunch break at a ChickFilA with a playground, which helped the restlessness quite a bit.  After arriving and getting relatively unpacked, doing the grocery store run and sleeping to the sound of the waves that first night, we awoke anxious to hit the beach!

However, in the mad rush of preparation for the trip as I had tried to think of any and everything I might need, and thought through all the different scenarios I had not considered one possibility: that Lincoln would HATE the sand.  That first morning we got all set up at the beach, the girls ran off giggling, jumping and splashing with glee and Lincoln had this expression:

That look quickly spiraled further downward into a refusal to be set down.  I was stumped!  Both of my girls had been SUCH beach babies, and I was mystified and a little lost on how to proceed.  Fortunately, both Mikayla and I worked with him over the course of the entire morning there, and by lunchtime when we headed back to the house he was at least willing to sit by himself for stretches of time.  Not looking exactly pleased about it, but it was progress:

After lunch and naptime, Lincoln was much more interested to actually play in the sand.  Being the redhead that I am, I had to rock out the afternoon in my long sleeves and under the shaded protection of the beach umbrella :-p  I should mention at this point that Linc decided sand was amazingly delightful to eat.  At first I tried to keep him from it, and finally I just figured “Oh well” and after several handfuls he mostly got over it.

(and in the picture above, that little girl is not one of ours – she was a friend the girls made and even when the girls left her she still played with me and Lincoln; she was super sweet)

Victoria, with her “sand blanket:”

See?  More thumbs up!  Scarlett did nothing but run-run-run the first two days on the beach:

Post-nap relaxing time of playdough for the girls, and staring at each other for the boys:

Wednesday morning, Amanda and crew had to leave for other family commitments later in the week and we were all disappointed.  We had so much fun – the kids loved having their friends along and so did I!!  Thanks for being crazy and adventurous with me, Amanda, and doing this epic trip on super short notice – love ya!

I was fortunate that we had plans for Wednesday afternoon and evening that softened the blow of their playmates leaving.  First, Grammie drove over from her place in Florida where she was staying for a few weeks and the girls were geeked to give her the grand tour, and she was also the recipient of an unfair amount of kisses by Lincoln.  Secondly, my Aunt Susie, cousin Corey and her boys were able to come over since they live just a few minutes away in Palm Coast, FL!  We had dinner out at Red Lobster (my girls’ and Gram’s favorite) and during the long wait time to be seated the kids all had the chance to play and get to know each other a little.  After dinner we returned to the beach house and the kids (okay, and me too) ran races on the beach for a good 30 minutes before we ended our fun evening with root beer floats.  I *almost* forgot to take a picture of the kids all together, but I managed to snag one before they left:  Scarlett, Victoria, Trevor and Nathan.  Corey, your boys are SO cute, sweet and smart.  The girls have talked about them several times since we left and hopefully we’ll see you guys soon!

Friday was our last full day at the beach, and we took the chance to walk around the downtown area a little, visit the pier, check out the weekly farmer’s market in the square and dine at the Flagler Fish Company.  I had chatted with my friend Erica during the week and she had mentioned that while visiting Flagler Beach just a week before (weird, I know) they had eaten at the Flagler Fish Company and she highly encouraged me to give it a shot and I was sooo glad I listened.  The food was simply amazing!  I couldn’t endorse it enough, and the prices were super reasonable – at least for lunch when we were there.  In our group we had shrimp, fish and fresh steamed mussels and everything was divine.  Grammie and the girls give it a big thumbs up!

Lincoln and Mikayla each ate a shocking amount:

And my mussels and salad were so good that I refused to stop eating when Mikayla wanted to take my picture:

We finished out our afternoon “downtown” (it’s very small and quaint) by walking along the public beach near the pier and trying valiantly to feed the birds, which refused to be fed.  Mikayla volunteered to wear Lincoln and they spent a good amount of time running around the beach, much to Linc’s utter delight:

Victoria really, really tried to lure the birds in with her special bird dance, to no avail:

Splashing around in a tide pool with deliciously warm water:

They wanted to play in this warm water forever!

The girls started to protest when I insisted it was time to leave the public beach and their little pool behind.  Am I the only mom out there who loves saying (in a super stern voice) things like, “No!  We are NOT going to have just ‘five more minutes’ girls.  We HAVE to leave and go get ice cream now!!” and watching their “uh-oh, mom’s mad” expressions dissolve into huge grins when they actually register the content of what I’ve just said…?  ;-)

At this point we’d been walking around for hours and everyone was feeling pretty tired.  I was carrying Sissy and Mik was lugging Linc around, but she managed to hoist Scarlett up and carry her for a block or two also.  I can’t say enough about what a fun traveling buddy Mik was, not to mention a big help.  Thanks girl, I love ya!

During naptime, Grammie hit the road and Mik and I did a fantastic job of procrastinating the clean-up/packing-up job awaiting us and instead napped as well.  When we all woke up, it was time for one last beach romp at our own little private patch of sand.  We even busted out the kite since we had gusting winds:

Scarlett actually staged this photo – “Mommy, take a picture of me and Sissy standing like this!”  :-)

“Now let me hold Lincoln.  Mommy, is this one gonna be good for the blog??” Love it!

Now at this point, we were having a super high tide – higher than it had been at any point during the week.  Linc was having fun and crawling all around, splashing and whatnot but when the waves started crashing almost to the rocks, he stood up and tried to climb up me.  Higher ground!

I’m going to print out the picture below, Grammie, and every time you wonder where Lincoln gets his curly hair I’m just going to point at this:

Last moments on the beach – what a great trip!  Can’t wait to go back to Flagler Beach, hopefully next time with daddy in tow:

Our family was really excited about the first camping adventure of the year, and even more so that our friends the Phillips were going to brave the weather and go along!  Both families left on Friday afternoon and arrived up at Fort Mountain State Park, ready to set up camp.

Jason and Judd, ready to wrestle any mountain lions they may encounter:

Lincoln was very enthused that our two sites had a small set of stairs – less happy at the mention of the mountain lions

Our joint sites were perfect for all of our monkey-girls, who love trying to climb up anything and everything.  Olivia, using a small tree and roots to clamber up the little hill at our site:

Oh, did I mention that we arrived and it was shockingly COLD?  As in cold-cold.  48 degrees with gusting 15 mph winds kind of cold.  At the bottom of the mountain it was probably 15 degrees warmer, but by the time we drove the winding road up the mountain it was majorly chilly. Everyone had to bundle up really well, but were still able to keep smiling:

Essentially, I have discovered that if the weather could possible get below 60 degrees then I need to bring winter apparel for my kids, because the weather forecast fails to take into account the wind sheer on the tops of the mountain.  As such, I was ill prepared for the extreme cold and had to resort to using socks as mittens.  Mom FAIL.  Oh well, Lincoln didn’t mind, and instead used his sock-mittens as boxing gloves to hit daddy:

We were C-O-L-D!

None of the kids seemed to mind the cold a bit though.  They were running all around, in and out of the tents, just playing so great together!  Mostly I think they were just so excited that the cold didn’t bother them at all.  And if it finally did start to seep in, they would sit and warm up by the fire for a few minutes:

“Behold, my marshmallow stick!” says Scarlett:

Scarlett, giving Olivia a few pointers about hot dog roasting:

I’m not sure why I look so painfully tired in the photo below, but I still love it  We were about to head out for a chilly walk to explore the campground:

There is a terrific, sandy beach area at Fort Mountain State Park – I am excited to go back and hike/camp there again when the weather warms up.  I believe this is an extension of Carter’s Lake (we have camped at another part of Carter’s Lake before and loved it as well) and it is just so beautiful.  Jim and Lincoln surveying the very still, calm cove:

Linc loves being in the hiking backpack carrier!  He will stay content in there for super long stretches of time:

My two goofballs, totally unphased by the cold and just thrilled to dig their hands in the sand:

Olivia and Scarlett, humoring my request for a quick photo before they resumed building a sandcastle:

The next morning we were all relieved when the weather started warming right up, and after breakfast and playing, we loaded up to go on our hike.  The girls all found good hiking sticks and posed at the beginning of the trail with their finds (love Scarlett’s thumbs up! this is her new thing she does for pictures and I have NO IDEA where she learned to do that):

Our family on the hike – we had such pretty scenery the entire trek:

We were all plenty warm as we walked – the trail we took was moderately strenuous – but when we stopped, Victoria wanted to huddle with daddy and Linc for warmth!  And eat her cookie, of course

Mik was able to cross a stream and sit on this rock outcropping, and when Scarlett and Olivia wanted to join her was happy to help them across.  Three lovelies:

The trip was so much fun – eventful and memorable.  Hopefully we’ll have a few more camping trips with the Phillips over the course of the year – thanks Amanda and Jason for being so much fun to go with!!

Valentine’s Day arrived, and we celebrated with… a trail walk.  Not exactly your typical VD festivities, but we had such a great time.  The Chattahoochee River offers so many terrific entry points for trail walks, full-on hikes, great places to splash in the creeks that feed the river (when it’s warm!), and the opportunity to fully, thoroughly delight AND wear out your kids  Who am I kidding?  It wears out the mom, too!

Victoria spotted a tree with a “cave” as she stated, and was able to convince Grammie that they needed a closer look.  I was thankful that I had the excuse of carrying Linc in the hiking backpack as a good reason not to go exploring in there – have you ever seen Pan’s Labyrinth?  I have and I still feel vaguely unsettled about it, let alone crawling into any tree holes.

In she goes!  She is such a brave explorer.  Thanks Grammie, for being willing to get down there with her while Scarlett and I stayed a safe distance away

Lincoln is the loudest of all of my kids thus far… those of you who personally know my kids understand how impressive that accolade really is.  However, he is also hands-down the sneakiest.  I have pictures similar to the one below of each child at about this age, but both Scarlett and Victoria would get excited, noisy and start squawking when getting into something they shouldn’t be – almost as though they wanted me to know what they were up to.  Not the case with my boy – he goes into stealth mode, and even digs around in the pantry quietly:

Now that Lincoln is eight-whole-months-old, he is pretty sure he is a Big Kid – he gets monumentally frustrated when he can’t keep up with his sisters and is pretty vocal in demanding equal treatment on all fronts.  For instance, when we went to the circus for Olivia’s birthday (and as a part of our homeschool group), Linc did *not* want to sit with me… he wanted his own seat and his own popcorn

Along those lines, when I took the kiddos to Moe’s recently after church (week 3 and 4 of “Work Widow” status), Lincoln DIVED for Mik’s burrito and refused to eat anything else:

The weather was so gorgeous that we made it a habit to take a post-nap walk most days.  The girls always end up a bit whiny on our return trek home and so we worked out some double-decker seating for them in the stroller while I carried Linc.  Goofballs

Yummm… Ribs!  What else is there to say for this picture??

And finally, a video excerpt that shows what a smart little guy we have:

The beginning of our second “Daddy has an insanely complicated work project to be completed in an impossible timeframe” week started with a playdate at the Cook’s house.  The kids loved having the opportunity to dig through someone else’s playroom, and Lincoln discovered that he would make a very dashing pirate:

You cannot keep this kid away from food.  He can smell you making/eating it from another room and will come crawling as fast as his little legs and arms can bring him!

“Muffins??  Did I hear something about muffins?!  I’m sure it was a simple oversight that I do not have one in my mouth this very moment – don’t worry, Mom, I will just snag one of the girls’…”

For the next couple of days, everyone had snotty noses which I have to assume was allergy related as no one ever got really sick.  We kept ourselves entertained by playing the piano in our jammies…

…or in Scarlett’s case, playing the piano in her standard issue uniform (princess costume + hijab):

We did some cooking and baking which resulted in a good amount of oats on the floor (shocking), and I volunteered Sissy to clean them up.  Although initially reluctant, she really got into it since she was able to use our new little handy kitchen sweeper.  Jim bought this for me when our Dyson had to be sent in for repair (seriously, I must be the only person who can break a Dyson within 2 months of owning one – eesh!) and it has come in very handy.  The girls love using it, and Lincoln really likes trying to catch it!

One of the things I love about being homebound for a few days is being able to notice all of the funny little things that happen when we’re otherwise rushing around or out and about.  For instance, being able to snag a picture of Benito-cat locked in a 3-minute-long staring contest with a squirrel out on the deck – see him outside, right above the door handle?

Both of our cats our indoor-outdoor and pester me all day long with their cries to be let in or out.  I probably open that back door 40 times a day without even thinking about what I’m doing… which is why I literally screeched to a halt when I realized that Sparky was escorting a kitten into the kitchen!  I was baffled, but couldn’t help noticing that 1) the cat was a mini-Sparky in color and they shared incredibly similar markings, and 2) the cat was clearly following Sparky around.  My assumption is that the kitten is Sparky’s and maybe the mama cat needed a day off??  I don’t know, but it was truly bizarre and I was glad that both Gram and Mikayla were there to witness the proceedings.  I was able to get a picture of them downstairs, enjoying a mid-afternoon snack break.  They hung out for a while, but then the kitten wanted out and hasn’t been back since.  I’m sure we’ll see him around more as the weather gets warmer.

Papa came by one afternoon, and nothing made Sissy happier than to have a good snuggle buddy:

One night for dinner, I tried a new, easy Chicken Fettucini Alfredo and by all accounts it was really good!  (I still can’t eat very much “normal” food yet without it upsetting my system~)  Mikayla was trying to teach Linc how to eat pasta “Lady and the Tramp” style, but neither of the girls would partner with her, so the task fell to Grammie

Let’s see, here’s the original inspiration:

Yep, I’d say they pretty much recreated the scene

I know what you’re thinking, and no, we never were able to establish who was the Lady and who was the Tramp.

We also spent a LOT of time coloring, painting, stamp-padding (yep, just invented that verb-), and dressing up dolls with our favorite Melissa & Doug stickers:

(the above picture is awkward, but Mik snuck in and snapped it while I was mid-conversation with Scarlett; however, since I am hardly ever in the day-to-day pictures because I am the one taking them, I thought it was nice to show us together)

One of the highlights of the girls’ week was receiving a Valentine’s Day package from Aunt Jen filled with story books, activity workbooks, games, special cards and money!  Thank you so much Aunt Jen, you have no idea how much they relished opening up the stuffed envelope and going through each item one by one

By the end of the week everyone was feeling great and we were ready to get out of the house.  Fortunately, we had a fun homeschool group Valentine’s Day party to attend!  Everyone brought their decorated boxes, cards and candy were exchanged, pizza was eaten and best of all – cookies were decorated and consumed en masse

Scarlett showing off her monstrously over-decorated (and virtually inedible) heart cookie:

I giggle every time I see this picture.  This is SUCH a perfect Olivia-being-silly picture – we sure do love her!  She was so excited to show me her cookie:

The kids all loved the create-your-own-Valentine-magnet station!  Great job to Brandee and Brandi Lee and any of the other lovely SASCH ladies who were involved in organizing the event.

Lincoln was so good and patient while I helped the girls distribute our valentine’s cards, then made sure they had lunch…he noshed on a pizza crust while I supervised some cookie decorating and craft-creating, and again waited patiently to be fed his sweet potatoes.  But then he’d had enough and wanted OUT; here’s his pitiful look of “I’ve been soooo good, Mom! Please-oh-please let me out!”

…”so that I can dig through all of the cards and candy while the girls are distracted!”

The Saturday following my surgery was the end of our Recovery Week, and we celebrated by having our friends the Sahli’s over.  We had to postpone our original dinner plans from the previous weekend due to a rather ill-timed hospital trip, but in the end it all worked out to my benefit since they brought over dinner and all the fixings!  A minor organ being removed is well worth having Elizabeth’s home-made enchiladas and cornbread.

Scarlett and Victoria both love having Sam over to play, but Sissy *really* loves Sam;  Lincoln is so funny when another boy is in the house.  How can a little baby recognize gender distinction, and then realize “hey! it’s a boy, I want to follow HIM around!” at 7 months old??

Buddies:

I’ve been working on organizing our enormous cache of digital pictures from the last 11 years of our life together, and in doing so it has made it hard not to stop, go digging, and pull photos that remind me of any current ones I am editing.  For instance, when I look at the picture above of Scarlett, Sam and Victoria I think, “Aw, they’ll love having that picture to look back on in a few years when they’re bigger.”  Then I pulled this photo of Scarlett and Sam on the same sofa circa 2007 and realized Wow, they ARE older:

I am constantly amazed by how much alike and yet how different the kids look then as opposed to now.

The following morning, Mikayla was kind enough to get up with Lincoln when he decided to wake for the day at 6:30 so I could get a final solid night’s sleep before church.  I came downstairs and found them lying on a pallet in the living room enjoying some quality cousin-snuggle-time:

Although I know that all sibling relationships are not created equal, I have been a little troubled with Scarlett’s continuing lack of interest in Lincoln.  She’s not unkind toward him exactly, it’s more like he doesn’t exist… unless he’s bothering her.  It was such a radical shift from how she was toward Victoria (doting), and although she is sometimes sweet with him, I mostly feel as though she would vanish him from existence if she could :-/  And so I started praying about it – just really asking that God would work in her heart and help her love her brother more and more each day.  I also prayed for patience with her about this attitude, and I have to say there have been noticeable improvements.  She’ll now sometimes kiss Lincoln “good morning” and “good night,” and she’s started helping me change some of his diapers and whatnot.  Last week she even offered to feed him some baby food, and although it was somewhat short lived, I was still encouraged!

Lincoln absolutely LOVED having Scarlett feed him:

Me:  ”Okay, Scarlett, let’s not give him a tonsillectomy!”

Scarlett:  ”Well, I gotta get it IN THERE.”

Nana and Papa have started keeping DJ (Papa’s grandbaby) occasionally when Elishia needs help.  Once again, although the girls played really well with him, it was Lincoln who instantly gravitated toward the other boy in the house.

Lincoln is a total pacifier thief, which I find odd considering he HATES his.  He crawled over to DJ, who was playing so nicely and minding his own business and just popped it right out of DJ’s mouth and into his own!

DJ was very sweet about it and didn’t take advantage of his superior size to knock him into the wall like he could have

Jim is in a super busy phase at work right now, and although the kids miss him when he has to stay at the office late, everyone chips in to make a fun night with all us gals (well, and Linc!) at home.  One of our favorite things to do is to make a stage (read: spread a blanket) and put on ballerina skirts and dance.  Everyone gets involved:

We were so happy to get back to playdates!  During my recovery week, we basically holed up at home and we were ALL happy to visit with our friends.  The Phillips’ came over and we had a fun lunch and the girls played together while Lincoln and Judd spent equal amounts of time giving each other sweet kisses and trying to wrestle  I was also able to share with them the wonders of our new Teavana tea. Amanda really liked it, but Judd… well, he was a convert.

Loran brought over her crew and our combined total of 6 kids (!!) had fun running through the house and playing “jail” (read: we put a new gate on the lower portion of the stairs going up, and now everything north of the gate is “jail”).  Notice how Lincoln is all but sitting in Carter’s lap?  Yep, totally trying to get the ‘big boy’s’ attention:

Although not true 100% of the time, Victoria usually loves Lincoln to mess around on her and will lay down from time to time and just let him clamor up and over her.  Lincoln, of course, is all too happy to oblige

It’s good to be back to normal!