So much to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! We have a lot to be thankful for including two healthy and mostly happy little boys, a great loving family & amazing friends. We love you all.

The boys and I are enjoying this holiday week and playing at home more than usual. They also have hair appointments scheduled for tomorrow evening - this is exciting on so many levels, first it is Lincoln's first haircut by anyone other than his daddy and Carter's cow-lick is out of control and he has Dennis the Menace hair that can't be tamed right now!

Yesterday we went to the pet store with some of our MOMS friends and Carter was not the least bit interested in touching any of the animals. He backed way from all of them unless they were in their cages (if any of my college roommates read this - they are thinking - just like his mom with the bunnies!) He liked the hamster but only because it had a little toy car to play with in it's cage. Lincoln on the other hand actually tried to grab the hamster which frightened me! I couldn't believe how brave some of the little kids were- touching the python and hooded dragon. Carter must have been traumatized because when I woke him up from his nap he started screaming that there was a snake in his bed and without really thinking it through I jumped up off his bed too! Guess he was dreaming but I wasn't taking any chances either.

Here are a few other things that Carter has said recently that have cracked me up - Grandma's store is no longer the Fickle Frog - he calls it the Pickle Frog, he often refers to Lincoln as "Lincoln Hogan" now when he is doing something he isn't allowed to do and he is starting to understand that he doesn't want to have anything girly- he told me - that is girly the other day. Always a laugh with him. Lincoln has been hearing "Lincoln Hogan" a lot lately as he has started crawling onto the train track. He isn't the kind of road block you would want on your train track.

Have a great Thanksgiving & enjoy your turkey as we enjoy our beef!

Linc's 1 year pictures

Well Lincoln was little Mr. Disagreeable today while we tried to take his 1 year pictures. I'd tried to time it too perfectly after nap, before lunch when he should have been ready to smile but I was wrong! After spending much of the day irritated with our photography session and Linc sleeping a lot I decided that maybe something was up, and I was right. His 1 year molar is flared back up which would explain why we had so much thumb sucking today and cuddling, he must feel rotten. Here are the two pictures we got.

Friends!

We had a great time playing with some of our friends yesterday afternoon at Gymboree. Lincoln even allowed a few of my friends in the last few days to hold him - like he reached for them! We are making progress around here. Here are some pictures of our Gymboree adventure.

Tee-hee's from today

These boys really are funny (and yes it is sad that I'm blogging for the 3rd time today.) Anyway currently Carter is running through the house saying "the customers are coming" - guess he watched too much Cars last week!

But the funniest part of our day was our little experience with the drum sticks. Lincoln has been playing with the band set all day and chose today to try out the sticks on Carter. I don't think that he meant to hurt him but he sure took some good wacks with them at Carter. Sometimes you just have to root for the little guy!

Tag - I'm it!

I've been tagged to tell you about the 4th picture in the 4th folder on my computer -
this should be interesting lets see what it is.

If you go through my computer - this is the 4th pictures from the 4th folder on my computer. It is Lincoln at about 5.5 months old (April) taking a sink bath. This was right before Sean and I went to Seattle and these bath pictures went with me on my camera in case I missed the boys. He loved taking sink baths -as did we because they were so much easier than saying sit down Lincoln like we do every night now!

This is the 4th picture if you attach through blogger - it is Carter on our back porch just after we got back from the Ozarks in August - I believe he's leaping like a frog, in the summer we like to play on the porch in the mornings before it gets too hot.

Hmmm, who should be tagged next - Kristi, Kaylyn - I think everyone else has been tagged that I know is reading. 2 will have to do!

Another crazy week.

Mr. Major Trouble!

This is Carter's photography

Linc now has a rocker from Grammy - we were testing it out (mommy put it together!)

Playing Peek-a-boo in the car on the ride back from Iowa

Lincoln & Cael

5 of 6 - Charlee, Marah, Carter, Samantha & Lincoln

I can't believe he let Samantha hold him!

Sean and Carter farming

Well I've been out of blogging because we've been in Iowa and there is far too much to do in Iowa other than blog! We enjoyed seeing all of our family and I even got in a little Katie time and shopping time in Des Moines (thanks Mimi and Papa for keeping the boys!) so it was a great journey for all of us.

Carter was particularly pleased with his tractor time with daddy - he has been watching a video from Michael, Lindsey & Cael that is all about John Deere which of course makes him a farming expert. He was a little upset that they weren't taking the corn from the field and feeding it to the cows like the video explains but Sean said he was just content for the 3 hours he rode along. He also had a great time with his cousins, we didn't manage to get all 6 of them in the room at the same time but we got 5 together 2 times! He loves playing with the girls - they even now will venture to Grandma's basement alone for hours without much parental assistance - it is AWESOME! I hope they play this good at Christmas. He's been talking about his cousins nonstop since we got home on Monday and has asked to go back soon.

Lincoln on the other hand really enjoyed the big kids playing downstairs so he got to run the show! He isn't used to not being told what to do by someone older so I think it is fun for him to be the only kid. He and Cael don't exactly know what to think of each other just yet but I'm certain they will have a blast as they grow up - I'm so glad they will get to experience having a cousin their age like I did growing up - I had 2 of course and many, many following but Becki, Gary & I always had a special bond (we were also the oldest 3 - so I guess you could say we ran the show too!)

We are getting back into our routine and excitedly getting ready for the holidays. Lincoln and I did a little bit of Christmas shopping yesterday while Carter was at school, and since he was gone I took advantage of being able to wrap gifts alone! I've added a link to Wear the Kiddos Play on our sidebar if anyone is looking for adorable monogrammed little kids stuff and precious belts - also I think that they may be offering free shipping on the Fickle Frog site if anyone else needs to do some shopping!

Here are pictures of our Iowa adventure (oh and Carter has learned that we live in Oklahoma which he says really well and that our family lives in Iowa) - it is pretty funny to hear him talk about geography!

A full family Halloween!

I was really excited this year to be able to have a real halloween. Carter's first Halloween was my first day back at work after having him :(, the next year Sean was here interviewing and last year Lincoln and I spent the evening in the hospital while everyone else trick-or-treated - so I was really excited to get to go as a family. The boys did great, Lincoln even walked up and got his own piece of candy at one of the houses. Carter and Bailey were so excited and did great saying Happy Halloween and thank you (and Bailey even gave some Love to some of the candy-givers - Love you, she said). It was a lot of fun and so great to have Mimi and the Kadlec family here for the big day. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

Lincoln is 1!

Well the baby is gone and the toddler has officially arrived! Carter was more excited about Lincoln's birthday than Lincoln, of course and he couldn't wait to have cake and open presents (he has since claimed all gifts as his own). We had a good birthday, Mimi arrived, we had some lunch at the lake, naps (and a long cake baking episode for me) & then a little party. Lincoln's cake turned out pretty well and as you see above ended with a crash onto the floor - he had his share of icing before it fell so it worked out just fine. How quickly the year has gone.