Lincoln's Easter lookback

7 months

18 months

2 1/2

2 1/2

Love this sweet boy. Even though he loves to play outside, getting dirty and sweaty, he still loves to dress up and "look handsome". Can't wait to see both my boys in their Easter Sunday best

St. Patrick's Day Blake Style

In keeping with my "we don't wear character/screen tees" stance, I opted for creativity this St. Patrick's Day. Suspenders for Lincoln and a green, sequin bow tie for Sutton. They looked great and thanks to the $1 bins at Target, only cost me $2.00!

Dinner is served!

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

Lincoln spent the night with my parents today, but when he comes home, his dinner will be magically delicious!

Father's Day

Here are Ryan and Lincoln before church on Father's Day. Lincoln and I went and got Ryan breakfast from McDonalds and let him sleep in a bit. Lincoln made him a card and I made him a small Shutterfly book of just Lincoln and Daddy pictures. Of course the main hit was Ryan's new driver:)

Lincoln's new pose

It's Easter!

Easter was eventful and busy this year. Here are a few pictures.

Opening his Easter basket

(Yes, Lincoln is wearing cartoon pj's. The only time you get to see him in screen tees/cartoons is when he is sleeping and tee teeing. He gets to pick his pj's and underwear).

Putting a flower on the cross at church.

After church, we headed over to my parents house for lunch and an egg hunt. Uncle John and Cason came and so did our favorite friends, the Wedemeyers. Since my Dad was a music minister when I was growing up, we never traveled over Easter weekend, so we usually celebrated Easter with friends. It was fun to continue that tradition with Lincoln and his friends Ella and Audrey.

Ready for the egg hunt!

These confetti eggs were a huge hit. Cracking one on Cason's head!

The girls

The boys

I couldn't get one good picture of all of them, so I cropped it!

After we got home and after nap, we took some more pictures of our boy in front of our house.

Happy Easter 2010

SS Egg Hunt

We enjoyed an Easter egg hunt and brunch at a local park with our SS class the Saturday before Easter. Lincoln scored some loot and practice before the hunt the next day.

My little Valentine

We enjoyed celebrating Valentine's Day after church and nap on Sunday. We sent Lincoln on a Valentine's Day treasure hunt, something my parents did for Holly and I growing up. Here he is with his new Pez dispenser. He also got a new Nalgene water bottle for all our future trips to the park this spring. My parents stopped by with some treats too and Cason hand delivered us our Valentine's Day cards. We had a great day!

Celebrating President's Day

We had a really fun 4 day weekend. Ryan worked from home on the 12th, due to the snow, so we played outside quite a bit. The 12th is his birthday, so we celebrated with dinner and a movie that night. One of the benefits of working for a bank is the holiday schedule. The bank was closed for President's Day, so Ryan was off. We enjoyed an IHOP breakfast and then took Lincoln bowling for the first time. He really seemed to enjoy himself. One of the things I like about Lincoln is that he is happy and content to play at home with the toys he sees everyday or he's happy trying something new. I never feel like he has to be constantly entertained or that we have to "one up" the day before. I think this generation of kids are used to constant excitement, stimulation, immediate gratification and entertainment. I am making a conscious effort not to go, go, go with Lincoln. That being said, he still had a ball.

Strike!

Good form, Lincoln.

Decking the Halls

We love getting the house decorated for Christmas. We are the type who likes something Christmasy in every room of the house. Here are a few pictures of our house at Christmas. There will be plenty in the coming weeks of our big tree, so here are the other rooms.

This 7ft tree was our first tree as a married couple. Now is serves as our second tree and it is decorated in all red and white.

Our new side table. This year we have Christmas pictures from the last two years on display. It's fun to see how much Lincoln has changed!

Our mantle. The Santa picture makes me smile every time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow is Lincoln's third Thanksgiving feast. Here is a peak at his first two.

He was about 10 weeks old here.

Last year at Thanksgiving. He actually got to eat the food!

I made them wear the hats I made.

Looking forward to spending the day with family and watching the Aggies play basketball and football in one day! Woohoo! Two years ago Ryan, my parents and I went to watch the Aggies play t.u. in College Station. Lincoln spent those few hours with Ryan's parents, it was my first time leaving him. We both survived, the Ags won, and we hope tomorrow will be a repeat!

More Halloween Pictures

Here are a few more pictures of Lincoln gearing up for Halloween. At least I know he'll sit still and pose on the mantle!

A Heck of a Halloween!

We had a fantastic Halloween. We had homemade blueberry waffles for breakfast and then carved our Jack-O-Lantern. After lunch, we listened to the Aggie whoop up on Iowa State and then headed to Cason's soccer game. Lincoln loved cheering for Cason and wanted to play so badly! Then, we swung by our friends Heath and Carla's to wish Garrett a happy Halloween and drop off some bubbles. We finally made our way to the church carnival and Lincoln and Brenden had a ball playing in the bounce house and playing the games. After the carnival we stopped at my parents house and Lincoln learned to trick or treat from cousin Cason. We hit about 8 houses on their block. Lincoln wanted to walk inside every single home. Again, no fear! Lincoln finally made it to bed around 930.

Brenden and Lincoln

A more serious Buzz and Yell Leader

My Little Aggie Yell Leader

Joining in on the Halloween Fun.

Ring Toss

Train Ride with Mom. This was a tight fit!

Cason and Lincoln

Lincoln adores Cason. He is a great big cousin!

A Look Back at Halloween Last Year!

While somethings change....something always stay the same. Lincoln still LOVES Halloween candy! Yummy!