Boys School Work

There are always painting, drawings, completed homework packets, spelling test and other work coming home from school with the boys.  I want them to be able to look back one day and see all that they got to do to learn and grow so I try to capture most of it on the blog so they can at least see a picture of it.  I don't keep everything but some of it is so cute that we want to remember it and I save it in their files.

 Lincolns Fall hand print wreath.

 Lincoln drew a house and on the left is good morning time and the right shows good night time.

 Lincoln's practice spelling words. 

 More practice spelling word homework. 

Lincoln's pumpkin face.

 Lincoln's cat in the pumpkin card.

 Logan's grocery collage. 

 Logan's hand prints. 

 Logan's collage house. 

 Logan's butterfly that he painted with his feet. 

 Logan's finger painting. 

 Logan at school. 

 At school applying glue (with his left hand).

 Snack time at school. 

 The Halloween card he made us with his foot...

 and this adorable picture was on the inside.

Visit to Mom's Place

I went to Southern CA last month for a work trip in October.  I pushed my flight out to the last one of the night so that I could go to mom's place in Fullerton to have dinner and see Calee, Talicee, Tevye, Dana and the kids.  I hadn't seen Danica for so long I was amazed at how much she had grown and how different she looked.  She had just turned one, Caden had turned nine and that day was Vance's birthday and he was six.  It was also Dana's birthday that week (I won't tell you how old she is) but I was glad that I could be there to celebrate with them all.

 Danica and me.

This was the skirt that I got her for her birthday.  Pretty dang cute if you ask me. 

Girls Night Out

My friend Lisa invited me to go hang out with the girls since her sister was in town from WA.  They decided to go play darts and do karaoke. It was nice to meet Lisa's sister and as always, we had a good time!

Me and Lisa

 Lisa was brave and sang a few songs. 

Christine, Lisa and me.

Happy Birthday Lincoln!

Lincoln turned 5 last week!  I can't believe it. He's so tall that everyone expects that he's already five so now the age matches his height.  He's definitely becoming a big kid.  He likes to wear "cool clothes" and sunglasses, play his Nintendo DS, watch Star Wars and play Legos. All things big kids like to do.

Everyday he amazes me with how bright and smart he is.  Lincoln is incredibly social and is doing very well academically and socially in kindergarten.  He makes new friends easily and is often the one taking charge of the group.  He's a natural leader that way.  He can also be very stubborn so we're trying to learn to channel that in a positive way. He is a good helper around the house and loves to play Legos with daddy.  Lincoln is sweet and fairly in tune to others feelings.

Here are a few more favorites/facts about Lincoln.

• Sleep: Lincoln has always been a good sleeper.  The problem is having to get him up in the morning.  He, like his parents, is not a morning person. Having to make it to school by 8:20 has proven to be a challenge some days and means most days, we have to wake him up to get him there on time.  I can't complain too much because it's nice on the weekends.
• Brother: Although he and Logan play rough most of the time, it's nice to see Lincoln start to play with Logan nicely.  Logan will often try and do whatever Lincoln is doing, and if they can get a laugh out of each other then they do well together. 
• Interests: Lincoln still loves Legos.  He mostly likes to build ships and play with the guys.  He also enjoys playing his new DS, the ipad and playing with his Power Ranger guys.  He also likes to cook or help with anything in the kitchen. 
• Feet:  Lincoln will be having foot surgery next month to correct TaloTarsal Dislocation Sydrome that he has. It requires a screw like implant in each of his feet (one foot first and the other next year) that will allow the arch of his foot to be correct.  This will allow him to go without orthodics.  We found this by coincidence in an x-ray for a foot that we though he broke.  It wasn't broken but instead the doctor found this.  Lincoln is really brave and is going to be a trooper through surgery. 
• Favorites Include:
• TV Show: Phineas and Ferb, NinjaGo, and Clone Wars
• Music: Maroon 5, Taylor Swift and all hit pop music
• Food: Sugar.  Anything related to sugar.  Lincoln is still allergic to strawberries and ranch. He loves honey butter toast, corn, roast beef sandwiches, chicken nuggets and bean soup. Lincoln isn't much for a fruit eater but he loves apples.  
• Activities:  Lincoln likes to play outside on the jungle gyms but mostly he's happy playing inside doing Legos, coloring, reading, drawing (he's a great little artist) or listening to music and dancing.
• Fears: I don't think Lincoln has any fears outside the normal kid fear of being lost and the dark.
• Clothes: Lincoln grows like a weed and therefore grows right out of his clothes.  The problem is he's so tall and skinny that it makes shopping for pants hard. He's in a 5T adjustable waist pant (if they don't have adjustable waist we can't get them because he has to have the length but they will fall off if they don't adjust) and a 6T shirt.  His shoe size is 11.5 - 12 depending on the style of the shoe.  
• Primary: Lincoln loves to go to primary and has enjoyed being a CTR4. He is so excited each week to show us the picture he colored in class. 

Lincoln is a special little guy and I'm grateful that he's in our family.  We love him so much!

Since we were back from our birthday before Lincoln's actual birthday, we took him to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch that day for something a little special. 

Mr. Competitive.

 Lincoln picked an ice cream cake this year.

 Happy birthday sweet pea.  I love you!

Random Trip Pictures

Here are just a couple of fun random pictures from the trip.

 One day Logan was being grumpy so Lincoln drew him this picture to remind him that we were all happy and Logan was grumpy.  It didn't really help the situation but I admit I thought it was pretty clever on Lincoln's part.

Lincoln LOVES playing with Brayden.  He is so excited to play with his older cousin and Brayden is really nice and takes good care of them.

 I'm sure our hotel neighbors didn't love us.  Logan drive his trash truck up and down the hall of the hotel every time we were coming or going. 

 By the end of the trip the wheels were squeeking from being pushed on so much with his weight.

Poor little guy tried so hard to stay up and watch his show but he was beat.  It was a very active, fun filled, nap free, busy trip and all in all the boys were troopers. 

Sea World

We had taken Lincoln to Sea World when he was a baby but Logan had never been.  As suspected Logan wasn't too into many of the exhibits.  They only held his attention for a minute.  Lincoln did much better and seemed to enjoy watching the animals more.  Lincoln's favorite was watching the penguins and touching the bat rays.  He could've done both for hours if we let him.  Logan's favorite part seemed to be feeding the sea lions.  He was quite entertained by watching them swim, bark, jump around and beg for food.  I really liked the dolphin show. It's new and has a little Cirque du Soleil feel to it. Overall it was a successful day in the park and hopefully was a good experience for the boys and created happy memories.

 Logan was not impressed that we had to sit and wait for shows to start.  He liked them once the show got going. 

 Shamu Show

 There were a few exhibits up close for the boys which made it easier for them to be engaged. 

We snuck in a couple rides - daddy was a good sport and went on a ride that went in circles.  He was sick for a little while after the ride but it sure made Logan happy that they went on it.

 Both boys were beat by the mid afternoon rolled around.  Lincoln picked out these cool sunglasses for himself. 

Logan sneeking in a rest, and shade, while waiting for the dolphin show. Look at his little red cheeks.

 The boys observing the bat rays. I think they were a little hesitant at first to touch them. 

 Lincoln was really brave and quickly got the hang of it. 

I love Lincoln's profile smile in this picture.  

Logan eventually got up the courage to touch them.

 This smile makes it all worth it. 

 Logan wasn't happy that he wasn't tall enough to go on the huge roller coaster.  In his dare devil mind he should've been able to go. The requirement is 48 inches and he was meeting the 37 inch mark. 

 Pretty cool kid. 

 Logan watching and explaining to daddy what the sea lions are doing. 

Shark Tank

 It was also refreshing to walk along the ocean water on the backside of sea world.  

 This picture along the water is always a tradition for us.  

 I love this little photo shoot of the boys. This is right before we left Sea World for the day so I'm surprised they had any energy left at all. 

 I love my boys!

 They were trying to be on their best behavior to earn some candy.  Funny the things they'll do for sugar. 

That evening we met Grammy at TGIF for dinner.  We celebrated both of the boys birthdays with a little ice cream Sunday for dessert. 

   Grammy came back to the hotel with us for a couple more hours of visiting and play time.

It was a nice visit and the boys loved playing with her.