Lincoln - Puppet Show

(November 8, 2013)

Lincoln helped make a cow puppet in preschool. He came home really excited about it and wanted to put on a puppet show for me. He got together a few pillows and stood them up between two couches. That was his stage. Then, he put a blanket over his head to help bring the puppet to life... or something. So cute. I got a movie of it, hopefully it's not too quiet and muffled because of the blanket. But it's awesome. And that cow is not an ordinary cow!

"Was that one good, Mom?"

Follow the Leader

(November 7, 2013)

Poor Griffin. Oliver is constantly watching him. When Griffin gets a toy, Oliver is seconds away from stealing it. When Griffin unsteadily comes to standing against a couch, Oliver is right there - and weasels his way in between the couch and Griffin... which knocks him down. When sitting side-by-side in the stroller, sometimes Oliver steals Griffin's food out of his hands and even out of his mouth! Griffin is either going to learn how to deal with it, or get even (one day... when he's faster and more steady).

Oliver (orange) trying to push Griffin out of the way.

All 4 in the Shower

(November 3, 2013)

I thought I'd give it a try...

Lincoln (left), Parker (back), Griffin (front), & Oliver (middle)

Oliver LOVED it, and Griffin wanted out after about 2 minutes. Why a shower vs. a bath? They can't splash and make a huge mess.

Lincoln - First Talk in Primary

(November 3, 2013)

Lincoln has been in Primary all year and somehow managed to avoid giving a talk (that I know of, anyway) until November!  Jesse sat down with a piece of paper and pencil, and we started talking about his topic, "We should thank God in all things." So here is his talk he wrote all by himself!

We are to thank Heavenly Father in all things. We thank Heavenly Father for blessings. We thank Heavenly Father for church things. Everything is totally a blessing: toys, churches, food, and beds. If we are sick, we get a Priesthood blessing. We are thankful for the Priesthood. Ambulances can bring people to the doctors and hospitals. We are thankful for ambulances and doctors, and ambulances that bring us to those places. I'm thankful my cousin, Amelia, is an angel. We are thankful for God. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

He didn't seem nervous at all to give his talk. He was pretty excited. He kind of mumbled through the ambulance part, but said the last 3 lines very clearly. Cute boy!

Amelia Remembrance Birthday

(November 2, 2013)

We went to Ashley & Kurt's with family to celebrate Amelia. It was her 3rd birthday. We wrote messages on balloons, and sent those up along with some lanterns (like on Tangled). It was good to get together with family and be with each other and remember our sweet little angel.

Kurt & Jet watching the lanterns

We miss you and love you, Amelia!

Halloween!

(October 31, 2013)

These two boys were pretty excited to go out and get some candy! It was a warm night, so we dressed up the babies, too and took them for a walk with us.

I didn't get another picture with the babies' costumes - they wouldn't keep the hats on, plus they were a size too big.

Griffin

Oliver (left) & Griffin (right)

Lincoln - Preschool Halloween Party

(October 30, 2013)

I volunteered at Lincoln's Halloween Party. I brought Parker along with me - otherwise he was one sad kid. Plus they didn't mind (there were a few other siblings there as well). First, they did some games, then some spooky science, then we went outside for the program and trunk-or-treat. It was really cute watching them sing their Halloween songs. :)

"5 Little Pumpkins sitting on a gate" (Lincoln/Batman is holding the orange pumpkin)

"I'm a mean old witch with a hat!"

The whole class

Trunk-or-Treat!

I helped with the eyeball toss game. I dressed up for the party, too! (Parker is sitting by me - I didn't know if they were going to let him come, so I didn't dress him up.)

The mad scientist explaining what she was going to do - make a potion!

All the teachers/helpers

Carving Pumpkins

(October 22, 2013)

Jesse's favorite part of Halloween is carving pumpkins. He was really upset we did it without him this year. (Ha.)

I used a pattern for Parkers, but he wanted me to add something to make the ghosts "happy ghosts". So they both got giant grins.

Then Lincoln wanted me to carve the same pattern. Um... no. Not doing that again. You wouldn't even help pull the guts out! So instead, I free-handed a ghost, a "mean ghost". They were both pretty happy with the results. :)

Halloween Neighborhood Party

(October 18, 2013)

We went to Nathan & Audrey's Annual Halloween Party this October. Bounce house, pinata, potluck, homemade rootbeer.. it was really fun!

This year, we dressed up around Lincoln's chosen costume - Batman.

Lincoln - Batman
Parker - Commissioner Gordon
Griffin & Oliver - Jail Birds
Jesse - the Joker
Me - Robin

Griffin (left) & Oliver (right)

Robin (me), Police Officer (Parker), Batman (Lincoln), plus a cute little Tinkerbell (Lola)

the Joker. Too scary for the kids, so the mask was on for 10 seconds...

Climbing Trees

(October 22, 2013)

More beautiful weather. Love it!

Oliver (left) & Griffin (right)

Parker

Lincoln

Lincoln - Surgery!

(October 9, 2013)

We found out mid-September that Lincoln needed surgery. Not something fun to find out about your little boy... Luckily, it was a fairly minor surgery - inguinal hernia repair. I explained what they were going to do, and that his problem would be fixed, and it wouldn't hurt anymore. He was very worried about being "cut", and made sure to ask everyone at the hospital "Make sure it is a very small cut!" Such a brave boy!

I hardly slept that night - I was just nervous about how Lincoln was going to handle everything. 

He wasn't thrilled about the hospital gown (it has cool tigers on it!), but after finding out that he got the remote control and he was in charge of changing the channel? Hospitals were suddenly awesome. He wanted to find Star Wars, and found a sci-fi channel that sort of resembled Star Wars (okay, not at all resembled), he kept asking where the light sabers were. He didn't seem to care about anything else, until they told him it was time to go and they separated us. He seemed a little worried, but I didn't want to let him see that I was worried, too!

With the remote

Brave Lincoln! He looks so little!

Good luck!

They told me to expect a certain amount of time, and when that time came and went, I became a little nervous Nelly! I kept trying to read my book to distract me. But it didn't help. 25 minutes after the time they told me, the doctor came out to tell me that everything went well. He said it was a little more extensive than he originally thought, so he might be a little extra swollen, but overall it was over!

Lincoln was groggy after coming out of anesthesia, and he absolutely hated it. He kept trying to say something to me, and it wouldn't come out of his mouth right, so he tried yelling it. After a few times, I finally made out, "I want to go HOME!" No popsicles, no juice, no suckers, just HOME. So home we went.

We got home about 10am, I gave him some pain medication, and he fell asleep. Janet had the other 3 kids, so I figured I might as well take a nap right along with Lincoln. We both slept for a couple hours, and then Lincoln woke up and was back to himself. He was sore, but had lots of time watching shows and playing games on the iPad. After the battery died, he got up and started quietly playing with toys. By this time, everyone else was home. Then Lincoln and Parker started making a fort with the couch cushions... then they both started jumping off the couches and onto the cushions... um, no thank you. You are not ripping that incision open, Lincoln! So we went downstairs to watch a movie. Yes, kids bounce back amazingly fast!!!

Sandbox with Flora & Lola

(October 7, 2013)

If you are planning to visit St. George, October is the perfect time. It has such nice weather! The kids played outside in the sandbox for hours and hours...

One day, Flora & Lola came over for quiet time, and they were all going to sit down and watch a movie together. Instead... they played for more than two hours outside, mostly in the sandbox.

Flora (top left), Lincoln (top right), Lola (bottom left), and Parker (bottom right)

Trip to Idaho

(October 1, 2013)

I got a "free" trip to Idaho this past October, because I was subpoenaed to testify in court. Long story short... I made a poor investment that turned out to be corrupt. I'm over it, so that's that.

But I got to fly to Idaho to visit family for a couple days, which was a nice perk! I brought along Griffin, since he would be free on the plane. It was a long trip, but also nice to have Griffin's company. He got some special Mommy time.

There happened to be an empty seat on one of our flights... which Griffin loved! He promptly fell asleep before takeoff and kept sleeping until after we landed. That was awesome.

I didn't take many pictures, but Angela also came with Rose (from Wyoming).

Rose

Rose giving Griffin a kiss. She liked having a baby around.

Jeff was subpoenaed, too. It was good to see all of you!

Lincoln - Preschool Pictures 2013

(September 25, 2013)

Here is Lincoln's Preschool Class - The "Busy Bees". Can you find him? (He has a big frown...)

Preparing for the Primary Program

(September 15, 2013)

Lincoln & Flora are Sunbeams this year, and so this was their first Primary Program. The Sunday before the actual program, they did a run-through of the program to help the kids know where they should be and what they need to be doing when. Obviously, this is hard work!!