Happy Thanksgiving

Conversations With Lincoln

This conversation took place in the car on our way home after a long day of errands.  Oh how children can humble you.

Ricky: "There are too many freakin' birds in our neighborhood."  (He was referring to what we feel like is a pigeon infestation.)
Lincoln: "Don't say that word."
Ricky: "There are so many dumb birds."
Lincoln (in a stern and defensive voice): "Don't say that word.  Those are Heavenly Father's birds - don't call them dumb."
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We were running errands, in fact Christmas shopping for Lincoln when this conversation took place.

Ricky: "I'm going to take Logan and you take Lincoln."
Me: Okay, Lincoln let's go."
Lincoln: "I don't want to go with you. I want to go with Dad was (his substitution for because) I love him."
Ricky: "You love mommy too.  Be nice to mommy."
Lincoln: "Well I love Logan, and mommy and me and daddy but I love daddy the most."

Lincoln Turned 4

I'm a little behind with this post but it's been a little busy around here.  Lincoln turned 4 a couple weeks ago. As mentioned in an earlier post we had a Lego birthday party for him.  I'm glad he's finally four because he's so tall that he's look like a four year old for a while.
I could talk about Lincoln all day.  He is so incredibly bright, he has the cutest voice, he says the funniest things and I just love him. Lincoln is definitely an independent kid...that could also be interchanged with stubborn.  smile.  Sometimes it feels like he's a teenager already by the things that interest him, what he says and by his attitude. It is fun though that he likes the same kind of music and movies as us . Lincoln is also very sweet.  He wears his emotions on his sleeve so there's no mistaken what he's feeling. He is a social butterfly.  He will talk to anyone and play with any kid, no matter their size. Lincoln has great taste in music and loves movies.  School is something that Lincoln enjoys and he picks up on things very quickly. He can now count to 20 by himself.  More importantly, he can name most any Star Wars character and ship!
Here are a few more stats:

• Height: 41.7 inches (80%)
• Weight: 34 pounds (32%)
• BMI: 13.75 (2%)
• Favorite Food: depends on the day, he is VERY picky.  Some of his favorites include turkey sandwich, nachos, chicken and BBQ sauce, grilled cheese, chips and cheeze its.
• Favorite TV Show: Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Team Umizoomi
• Favorite Movies: Star Wars, Up, and Shrek 2
• Favorite Music:  Pop
• Favorite Singers: Black Eyed Peas, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and Sugarland
• Favorite Church Song: Praise to the Man (he knows all of the words to both verses and he sings it constantly)
• Favorite Color: switches between red, blue and green
• Favorite Toys: Legos, Legos and Legos
• Favorite Places to Go:  the mall play area, the Lego store,  Chuck E Cheese, and the movie theater for a special date
• Favorite activities: playing his iphone, watching star wars youtube videos, coloring, dancing and racing Logan around the island in our kitchen.
• Best Friend: still his teddy from when he was a baby
• Favorite MotoGP Rider: Ben Spies Jorenzo (that's a combination of Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo)
• What he says he wants to be when he grows up: a poop doctor, a medicine doctor and a fireman.
• Favorite Brother:  Obviously Logan! He definitely starting to play better with Logan.  He watches out for him and tells us when there's an "emergency" which consists of things like Logan getting something he's not supposed to have, or if Logan climbed up somewhere that he wasn't supposed to, etc. He's more protective of him then he's been before which I think comes with age. 
• Number of times he's had stitches: just once, but he's had several black eyes and a ton of bruises.  He's a very, very active little boy. 

We are so blessed to have Lincoln in our family.  He makes sure to tell me every time I leave the house (for any reason) that he loves me and then we do all of our special "I love you" signs.  Happy 4th birthday sweet boy!  We love you!

November 2007 - 1 day old

 

May 2008 - Six months old

 June 2009 - 1 1/2 years old

May 2009 - 1 1/2 years old

May 2010 - 2 1/2 years old

Sept 2011 - 3 years old

Sept 2011 - 3 years old

November 2011 - 4 years old

FIVE Guys

You know when your city gets a Five Guys that you're movin' up in the world.  We've been wanting a good hamburger joint to come to our town since we moved here.  We said all along that we'd be happy with either a Five Guys or In-N-Out.  On Tuesday of this week a Five Guys opened up about five minutes from our house. Ricky made sure we were there on opening day and he even scored a free lunch for us!  It turned out to be a fun lunch date for the two of us. As always, it was delish!

Party In the House

Literally.  Last weekend we threw both Lincoln and Logan a big Lego themed birthday party at our house.  I had been planning this party for months so we were excited that it had finally come.  We've decided that while the boys are young, we'll have a birthday party for them every other year and do something as a family on the off year.
Parties are a lot of work but I have to admit that I really love planning them. Since Lincoln is so into Legos right now, and Logan loves whatever Lincoln does, it made for an easy choice of theme. The problem with Lego parties is that there isn't a lot of pre-made Lego party things that you can buy so I ended up making a lot of it. We had about 40 people here and everyone seemed to have a good time.  It was a mix of friends from church, tennis, neighbors, work and family. We played Lego themed games, had lunch, sang Happy Birthday and opened presents.  Everything went according to plan and the boys had a ton of fun.  Lincoln said several times, "this is the best birthday party ever!"  That is what makes it all worth it.

The Save the date (I removed our last name for privacy)

The invitations (again, I removed some info for privacy)

The thank you cards

I made the gift bags to look like Lego bricks. 

I started making the crayons for the gift bags months ago.  I got the idea off of some blogs but most of them made mini-figure crayons so I thought this would be a fun twist - especially since most of the kids at the party were younger. I bought new crayons, sorted them out by color, took off the wrapper, melted them down in the microwave and used a Lego brick ice tray to form them.  

 

Inside each gift bag was a Lego Club Magazine, Lego brick crayons, Lego edible bricks that you can actually build with and a Lego mini gift set (the little kids got Playdough instead of the Lego set.)

  

To me it's the little details that count.  I saw this on a blog and used the idea. Lego soap.

 I made the boys their own cake and added a few cupcakes as well.  They were just white cake, with confetti frosting filling, buttercream icing and rolled fondant. Lincoln wanted a green brick and I picked blue for Logan. I thought it would be cute for them to have the corresponding brick for their age, i.e. Lincoln's has 4 dots and Logan's has 2. 

I loved how the subway art turned out. I blocked out their last name for blogging purposes but it really fit the theme well and was cute on the table next to their cakes. 

 

Yoda, the Lego head and a container of Duplos served as the center piece for our food table.

I made Lego bricks out of colored paper and hung them on the walls.  I know our boys love balloons and they always add life to a birthday party so we had about 50+ around the house.

Logan's goal for the entire day seemed to be to get as much cake, cupcakes and candy as possible.

Papa Tutu and cousin Sadie

 

Grandma Tutu played with the boys while we got things ready in the morning.

 Ricky and Aunt Carol

 Uncle Lee (and Carol) stayed most of the day with us to visit and have dinner with us. 

 Michaela, Jared and their niece Heidi came for the party. 

 Doug, Lisa, Dylan and Sadie

Ryan and Saige

The first game was a Lego relay. 

Lincoln and Dylan running their bricks in a spoon to the bucket.  

We played pin the dot on the brick. 

 

Abbie, Joey and Lincoln looking for the Lego brick with a black dot on the bottom so they could get a prize. 

 

The table was covered in Duplos and each child picked a brick to see if they had the winning Lego.

After lunch we sang "Happy Birthday" and it was time for cake!

Lincoln blew his candles out on his own and I got to help Logan with his.

 It was a fairly cold day but the kids all loved playing outside and eating together. 

Cousin Erica came from Tucson with her family. 

 Lincoln and Logan both got some really fun presents.   

 Lincoln was so excited and animated when opening his presents, unfortunately Logan was to the end of his rope. 

Logan was off for a nap and we decided it was best that he opened his presents after his nap - when he would be a little happier. 

 After the party and later that afternoon when Logan woke up we did round two of presents.  Logan was much more interested and happy this time. 

He played with the little Lego guy and tried to make him talk.

 

Logan got some fun Duplo sets...

and super cute clothes. 

 

I'm not sure if Ricky or Lincoln liked this movie better, either way it was fun to watch. 

That night Tutus took us to dinner at TGIF and then we came back to the house to hang out, visit some more and so the boys could play with all of their new toys.

Daddy helped Lincoln build this X-wing.

 

Thanks to everyone who called, sent cards and sent texts on their birthdays.  Lincoln got pretty good at talking on the phone.  At one point he was holding the phone with his ear and shoulder and using his hands to play with his Legos. 

Bottom line is that parties are always a lot of work, time and money but they are also a lot of fun!  We were so happy to share that day with those who came and missed those who couldn't be here.  Logan is a little young to remember but I think special memories were created for the boys (especially Lincoln) that they will have for years to come.  Happy Birthday to my sweet boys.  I love you!