A Surprise Visit From Tutus

We got a call last Saturday from Grandma Tutu saying they were on their way to our house. We were so excited! Lincoln LOVES when they come to visit. It was a nice treat for me because Ricky had gone on a motorcycle ride with his friend Marc so I was home with the boys. He left early Saturday morning and wouldn't be back home until Sunday evening. Grandma and Papa Tutu stayed with us from Sunday through Wednesday morning. They took the boys on walks, played in the backyard, ran some errands with Lincoln and just hung out. They also watched the boys Monday night and Tuesday night for us so that Ricky and I could go out. It was SO nice to be able to go to a peaceful dinner and a movie. We always enjoy their company and look forward to seeing them again this summer.

While Logan was sleeping they walked Lincoln to the park to go play.

Fun with the water sprinkler.

When they weren't playing with the water table they played soccer, ate a picnic and Papa Tutu took his nap outside on the grass.

Logan, like his brother likes to be outside so he was happy sitting with Grandma Tutu on the back porch.

I love this little guy and his adorable cheeks!

Thanks Uncle Roo!

Uncle Roo sent Lincoln some Star Wars toys that Lincoln absolutely loves! He was so excited to open a box of Star Wars stuff...it was like a gold mine for him. He got some walkers, a battle droid, some guys (not sure what their specific names are), a snow speeder and a few other things. Later, Tutu brought down a huge walker that shoots and makes noises! Surprisingly of all the toys Lincoln has really taken to the snow speeder and the two tiny little orange guys that go in it. Some walkers have already had to be super-glued back together because they've gone through battles and didn't survive. They are for sure his new favorite toys for now. Thanks Uncle Roo!

He immediately lined all the toys up and created a little battle scene.

The battle droid has been a favorite too.

He quickly found (with Papa Tutu's help) the buttons that make shooting noises.

Nothing like a toy that's almost your size.

Something I've Never Wanted to Do

What happens when the nursery leaders at church can't (and or don't want to) handle your two year old?? You get asked to work in the nursery. Yep. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I actually don't know yet why I've been asked to work in the nursery. It's definitely something I've never wanted to do. I'm sure it's exactly why I've been called. I jinxed myself. There must be something that I need to learn from it. There are three nursery classes in our ward and I got asked to work in Lincoln's class. I'm not sure how well that will go over with Lincoln but we'll wait and see. His class has about 15 kids on average. Looking on the bright side...at least I will get to know the people working in the primary and the parents of the kids in my class.

Happy Easter!

We've had a great Easter weekend. I feel like we were all able to enjoy the holiday even more now that Lincoln is old enough to participate in the festivities. I look forward with when Logan will be able to join him.

I got off work early on Friday and we had a family night. We picked up Ricky's favorite Dominoes thin crust pizza and decorated Easter eggs! It was really fun. Of course, Logan just sat and watched, Daddy took pictures and I helped Lincoln color the eggs.

Lincoln's job was to drop the eggs in the colors and then when they were done I would get them out and he would put them in the carton.

He liked that this last egg had his name on it.

Our city does a huge Egg-stravaganza event every year for Easter. They hold it on the Spring Training Baseball Fields. It includes egg hunts (done by age group) that total 50,000 eggs. I took Lincoln and Rick stayed on the side with Logan. I forgot the camera so I don't have any pictures of the egg hunt itself but Lincoln had a ton of fun running all over the field collecting treat filled eggs and candy. After it was done he wanted to examine everything he had collected in his basket.

As always, Logan was a trooper. I look forward to next year when they will both be able to collect eggs.

The city had set up another field that had a dozen bounce houses, food booths, face painting, clowns, balloons, and local businesses giving out information and goodies. Lincoln loves bounce houses. He got to go on a couple of slides and a tot obstacle course.

This morning when Lincoln woke up he immediately realized that the Easter Bunny had been to our home and left him some treats. I continued a tradition that my mom used to do by leaving a trail of eggs from our rooms to our Easter baskets. Lincoln decided that he wanted to eat the jelly beans in the eggs before he went to the next one. After a little convincing he finally followed the trail to his basket. Logan and daddy followed him. We can't ever get Lincoln to eat breakfast but he was just fine having jelly beans and Easter candy first thing in the morning. I guess that's just part of Easter.

When he got to the bottom of the stairs he yelled, "look mom, a second blue egg!" He was so excited that he didn't pick up the eggs. He ran straight to his basket and retrieved the eggs later.

The plastic eggs turned to the little chocolate eggs as he got closer to his basket.

This happy little guy was excited to play with the bath toys Grammy sent him and to pull everything else out of his basket.

When the boys woke up from their nap, we went to the backyard for an egg hunt. I had taken all the eggs that we colored and hid them in the backyard for Lincoln to find. I was so surprised how excited he was to find the eggs. He ran around the yard as fast as he could. When the basket got too heavy to carry he put it on his water table and brought the eggs back to the basket as he found them.

He thought it was cool that there was an egg in the tunnel.

After they collected all of the eggs we counted them to sure we didn't miss any. Notice Logan...this is the first time that he's ever sat up on his own. It only lasted for about 10 seconds but he did it!

Happy Easter!

On a side note...I'm sitting her writing this blog and I just felt a huge earthquake. Our house shook pretty good for about 45 seconds. The news is saying it was a 6.9 out of Baja California. Thought we were done with earthquakes when we moved out of California but I guess not.

Precious...

In a world of busy days and chaos all around, I've been reflecting on what's precious to me.

My Husband and the love that he has for me. Aren't these flowers that he got me just beautiful!?! I love tulips!

This boy and his sweet personality...

his smile...

This silly boy and how he makes me laugh...

his innocence...his sense of style...

how a younger brother admires an older brother....

and the opportunity to be a wife mother.

These are the people I love most and just a few of the moments and memories I cherish.

Practice Makes Perfect...

...and I'm definitely not there yet. I just completed the last of my cake decorating classes that I've been doing over the last four months. It's been a lot of fun and I've learned so much. The boys were all very supportive which made it a lot easier. Rick watched the boys while I made the cakes, icings, and went to class. Lincoln loves to eat the cake....well actually just the frosting. Logan loves to watch what I do and was good at testing the cakes durability. I had a great teacher who even invited me to join her cake club. I don't think I will ever make & decorate cakes as a business but it's definitely something I enjoy doing. I look forward to being able to make the boys birthday cakes and cakes for friends and family.

This was my final cake for class. It's fondant covering, fondant border with gum paste daisies and carnations.

My first fondant cake.

My main cake tester.

Logan and Daddy watching what I'm doing.

He couldn't resist any longer. He finally was able to get close enough to grab it and he didn't waste anytime. Poor guy had to watch his brother eat some and he couldn't have any. He was pretty determined to pick off the dots!

The Truth and Mind of a Child

One of today's conversations:

Mom: "Lincoln, do you know who loves you?"

Lincoln: "Daddy, and Mommy and brother."

Mom: "That's right. We all love you. Who do you love?"

Lincoln: "Imperial Walkers and Battle Droids!"

Yesterday I took Lincoln with me to Michael's. As we approached the intersection to turn into the shopping center, Lincoln yells, "Mom, turn left." My jaw about hit the floor. Michael's can't be seen from where we were and I had not yet pulled into the left turn lane. I couldn't believe it so I asked him to repeat what he said. His response was, "Mom, turn, turn" as he was pointing to the shopping center to our left.

I'm going to try and make it a point to write more of these conversations down. He says funny, insightful, surprising stuff like this all the time.

Mississippi

+

Sippy Cup

= MississippiCup

I was helping Lincoln complete his United States puzzle (which he is REALLY GOOD at) and the funniest thing happened. He found the Mississippi piece, picked it up, dropped it and then ran out of the room intensely yelling something that I couldn't understand. I was confused and was telling him to come back - we were in the middle of the puzzle. He came running back holding a sippy cup in his hand and yells out "look, Mississipicup!" I busted up laughing. I couldn't believe that he put that together. It was pretty dang funny.

After we had put in all of the pieces to the puzzle we realized we were actually missing one. I told Lincoln that we needed to look for it so that we could finish the puzzle. Next thing I know he has his binoculars to his eyes and he's searching the room. I asked him what he was doing he said, "I'm looking for North Dakota." He's so cute! I love how he makes me laugh.