Halloween 2009

This year at Halloween, Lincoln cried a little less when he wore his costume. He was Curious George (yes, that's right - the little monkey that is supposedly always happy. No so much.)

We actually had 3 chances to wear the Halloween costume, and went 1 for 3.

The first was his parade and carnival at school. It did not go well. As his class rounded the corner in the parade we could tell that Lincoln was on the verge of tears....as soon as he saw us, he broke rank and ran straight for Andrew sobbing.

The second was trick or treating in our neighborhood. Linc actually got really into this - as soon as the first trick or treaters came to our door, he decided that maybe going to get his own candy was a good idea :) Andrew took him down one side of our block, and then I did the other. He was precious. When he would go to the door sometimes he would remember to say "Trick or Treat" - but other times he would say "Candy, please?" At least he always said "Thank you." It was fun.

The third "costume opportunity" occurred the next night at our church's Family Fest. It, too, did not go well. Linc was totally over Halloweedn - he refused to wear his monkey mask (so he looked like a monk in a brown jumpsuit) and refused to smile or play games, and instead just held out his candy bucket and frowning until people gave him candy. He kept asking to "go home now" and informed everyone at the carnival that "he was sad." So he and I left early. Maybe next year!

Thanksgiving 2009

Western Carribean Cruise

Ports of Call: Ft. Lauderdale, Grand Caymen, Cozumel, Roatan, Bahamas

For Thanksgiving we took a Carribean cruise with my parents and Barrett and Tiffany. We had a great time! The ship left out of Ft. Lauderdale, and stopped in Roatan, Cozumel, Grand Caymen, and the Bahamas. We had a great time at dinner every night with the whole family together. (Lincoln actually did very well, sitting through a formal dinner most nights. My mom brought a whole bag of toys and "surprises" that he always looked forward to.)

We went on Princess Lines, and the ship was wonderful. There were several restaurants (the steakhouse restaurant was great, and Lincoln especially enjoyed the pizza and ice cream parlor--I think he had pizza at least once everyday). Another fun feature was "movies under the stars" which they showed on a huge TV screen up on the top deck. (Sports and movies were also on during the day, but the ambience was better at night!) Linc enjoyed swimming and playing in the kids' club. I went to the spa one day for a wonderful pregnancy massage, and Andrew enjoyed some training programs offered at the fitness center.

Linc thought sitting out on the balcony was "very very cool" because "maybe we could see whales or fish" (his words)...to my knowledge he saw no whales, but he did see some dolphins one afternoon.


Some pictures from dinner:

I mean, seriously, who doesn't love a little boy in a tie?! It was a struggle getting him to wear it, but he looked so darn cute.

Linc really loved his bunk in our cabin. We thought he'd never go to sleep!

Thankfully, we wore him out most days :)

Grand Caymen was probably our favorite stop because of the gorgeous water. (Although I keep asking myself-WHY do we seem to take beach vacations when I'm pregnant?? Must be because maternity swim suits are so awesome....)

Anyway, our family joined a sailboat charter and went snorkeling and swam with the stingrays. (We were all a little surprised by the size of the stingrays! I know I was expecting small stingrays - maybe the size of a dinner plate...not stingrays that were 4 or 5 feet across.) Lincoln loved the boat ride, and liked the stingrays (as long as he didn't actually have to touch them :) Once we got back to the island Barrett and Tiffany bought him a stuffed stingray ("Stingy") which he loved and carried around for the rest of the trip. (Stingy also made several trips to "show and tell" once we got back from the cruise and is, as I type this, sitting on Linc's bed along with all his other stuffed animals.)

snorkeling

In Cozumel, the weather started off nice, but turned into a torential downpour. My parents, Linc and I had visited a museum, and were headed to go shopping when the storm hit; we ended up just heading back to the dock and having lunch. We were luckier than Barrett, Tiffany, and Andrew, who were on a dune buggy / snorkeling excursion. They FROZE and spent much of the day taking shelter in a little beach bar.

In Roatan, Honduras we hired a private driver and guide who took us around the island. We stopped and did a little (forced) souvenir shopping and then went to a farm that had monkeys you could pet, parrots that would sit on your arm, etc. It was entertaining. (To everyone's amazement, my mom actually let a parrot land on her arm--if you know her, you know she absolutely detests birds.)

After visiting the "wildlife" we went to a beach club. The water was absolutely gorgeous! (Unfortunately we spent most of our time there sitting in the restaurant waiting on our lunch order, but we did get a chance to swim for about half an hour.) Linc enjoyed playing in the sand, and it was actually the only "beach" time we got on the cruise since our stop in the Bahamas was canceled due to weather.


This photo was worth the whole trip!




At the beach club

Some of my favorite memories of the trip:

--Linc dancing along to a calypso band by the pool, to the delight of the band members (who came and danced with him) and the hundreds of people on the pool deck below, watching.

--Andrew and I got some time to just relax together, thanks to my parents who watched Lincoln for a few nights on the trip!

--Nightly dinners with my wonderful family!

--Lots of time to just relax and read!

It was a wonderful trip.

Lincoln's 2nd birthday (September 20, 2009)

It is hard to believe that Lincoln turned two on September 20th! The past two years have been such a blessing. He is a precious, funny, witty, sweet, and adorable little boy. We just love him more than we ever imagined possible.

Lincoln did not have a 1st birthday party, thanks to Hurricane Ike, but he celebrated his 2nd birthday multiple times!

Amarillo Birthday Celebration: First, we celebrated in Amarillo with my parents and Uncle Barrett and Aunt Tiffany. Lincoln got a radio flyer tricycle from my parents, and a teeball set (tee, bat, balls) from Barrett and Tiff. He loved them all! (Although he is still working at peddling the tricycle; right now he just scoots his feet on the floor. I'm sure he'll get the hang of it soon.)

School "party" Then, we celebrated with cookies with his class at Cathedral House:

Home party: Finally, we decided to have a pretty laid-back 2nd birthday party at our house with lots of friends from church, work, and Lincoln's school. We were a little nervous whether Lincoln would like the bouncer and slide (it was a little .... larger and steeper than the picture on the rental website showed) but from the second that the bouncer was set up in our driveway the night before, Linc was an addict! He wouldn't get off of it (he asked if he could sleep in it) and, was pretty devastated when the company came and picked it up after the party was over! Linc wanted a "Cars" movie cupcake cake, and he seemed to have a good time with all of his little friends. Some kids that attended included: Bryce Borden, Payton and Parker Carlisle, Kyleigh Brigham, Grace Brannum, Emory Carrol, Trey Edwards, Miles Mitchell, Walker Byrd, Carson Tichenor, Adelaide Ervin, Ivy Frankel, Austin Harris, Avery and Livvy Crider, and Jack and Kate Gowens. Even though it was about 90 degrees, we had a good time visiting with friends and watching the kids play. (Though next year, I'll skip any cupcakes with black or red icing - talk about a mess!)

Linc loved his "Cars" balloons that decorated the table. (He asked to sleep with his Lightening McQueen balloon the night that the party was over.)

Linc, about to blow out his candles.

A family picture (though Linc had already gotten into the icing!)
The cake!

Some of Linc's friends - Bryce and Payton

Grace, Adelaide, Avery, Olivia The bouncer had a huge slide, that was a bit...steeper...than we expected, but the kids had a blast. (I was worried that they might shoot off the end, onto our driveway, though, and get hurt. We had all sorts of blankets and mats down at the end, to try and soften up the cement, but thankfully it turned out fine :)

We busted out lots of riding toys, and "baby" toys in the driveway, plus chalk and bubbles, since we had such a range of ages. The 2 year olds seemed to be the ones playing in the baby ball pit the most, though!

Andrew made sure that college football was showing on the patio (a way to get the husbands to attend a 2 year old birthday party!)

Again...I am WAY behind on posting!

WOW - I am embarassed at how long it has been since I have posted! We've had a few things happening in our lives since Labor Day :) And, since I am now convinced I'll never actually complete the type of scrapbooking that I once envisioned, perhaps I can revive the blog (and then let one of those companies turn it into a scrapbook for me :) So, here goes - I am committed to at least blogging more than once every 4 months!