Lincoln is 19 months!

I'm always a week late on these posts, but I want to get it in here so we can remember what Lincoln has been up to this month.

**The biggest thing this month was that we successfully got rid of his pacy--due to doctor's orders. He has done so awesome! I was truly surprised at this. He doesn't even miss it!

**He can point and tell us who he is (dink dink or something like that), Hannah is, Momma is, and Dadda is when we ask him. He is very proud of himself when he does this. He also can say Jack and Benson (Ba Ba). So cute! He gets excited when we say that Jack or Benson is coming over.

**He has really started liking Sesame Street and Curious George. He will actually sit and watch them and laughs.

**Yesterday we were out in the garage cleaning and I could tell he was going to the bathroom. He looked over at me while doing it and said, "Poo Poo" and pulled at his pants. He'll wave his hand in the air and say, "Shooooweee."

**His bedtime routine is a little different these days. He has decided he doesn't want to sit around and be rocked and sung to anymore. Makes mommy kind of sad. He just reaches for his bed and says, "bed." So, I just put him down and usually he'll go right to sleep.

**It is not unusual for Lincoln to wake up several times during the night and cry out. Sometimes I just try to let him cry it out a little, but others he'll get quite worked up and so I have to go in and pat him for a minute. I think that his eczsema is bothering him at night. I am trying to make it better. I'm not sure what's causing it though.

**When he gets really sleepy, especially in the car, he'll get this glassy stare going on. It's like he's asleep with his eyes open.

**Lincoln is mostly down to 1 nap a day around 1:30. Usually it will only last about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

**Still a climber. Will climb on anything that he can. Lately he is into ladders.

**Likes to get into his daddy's tools. Maybe he's going to take after his daddy and be a handy man one day.

**Gets lots of boo boos. Likes to point at them, make a sad face, and says "boo boo." Seems like he constantly has a bruise or bump on his forehead--seriously, look at the one in the picture above!

He is quite the boy--okay, except for those moments when he likes to push Hannah's baby dolls in their strollers. I did catch him throwing one of her little babies in the trash today though. He is so much fun and so much work at the same time!

Fun with our friends!

Friday we had some friends over to play. The original plan was to meet at the park, have a picnic lunch, and then come back to our house and play in the water outside. However, the weather didn't cooperate with us. The park was too muddy because of all the rain we've been getting lately, so we just played here at the house in the playroom. I am REALLY enjoying this room! We got our Click-clack sofa in on Thursday (minus the legs for some reason), so there was actually somewhere to sit. The kids seemed to enjoy climbing all over it and jumping off it.

We had a crowd! The kids that came were Benson, Ethan S, Wyatt, Ethan G, Eric, Emma, Carter, Kenzie, and Karly. The adults were Jennifer, Sarah, Dixie, Shelly, Amanda, Kelly, Ms Kathy, and Stacey.

Karly
Ethan G shootin some hoops!
The 2 Ethans!


Benson and Carter taking a ride!

Wyatt was the youngest one here, but he was in the floor having a good ole time!

Ethan started chasing the girls! They were running all over the house!

Saturday morning after watching a little Rachael Raye's 30 Minute Meals on TV, Hannah decided she wanted to play with Play-Doh.

Pretty soon I heard her say, "Ummm! That smells good!" She was making hamburgers she said. That's what she watched Rachael Raye make on the show.

I'd never seen Linc play with Play-Doh before. I noticed that some of the doh was slimey looking. He had a little orange around his mouth. I think he thought he'd have a taste of Hannah's hamburger.

Hannah's 1st Day of Preschool!

Today was Hannah's 1st day of preschool! I think Mommy and Hannah were both ready for this day. :) She is going just 2 mornings a week from 8:30 to 11:30. I think this will be perfect!

All smiles walking out the door.

She brought her baby along for the ride over. When we got to the school, I saw her talking to her baby. I heard her say, "Baby, I'm going to preschool. I'll be back in a little while." PRECIOUS!

I think she was ready to go!!!

When we got into the building, she was so funny. She kept going over to Lincoln and patting his head. He was like "Get away from me and kept saying "Noooo"." She was a little timid at first going in, but once it was her turn to put on her name tag, she barely looked back at me.

Looking at her name tag. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Hannah. She thinks that is pretty cool.

Mrs. Hannah immediately sat them down and started reading a story. Like I said, Hannah never looked back. Sniff, sniff.

Actually I did fine too. Lincoln and I hung out at home for a while and played. Then, we went to the library for a little while. Daddy came to help pick Hannah up and then we all went to Taco Bell. When we asked her what she did at school, she said, "I don't know. I don't remember." She did tell us that there was an Emma, Carly, and Kayley in her class. She couldn't remember any of the boys names, but I bet it won't be long!

I am relieved that this day is past us. I knew she would do fine. It is kind of sad that she is growing up, but I am excited for her as well. She is going to have a lot of fun and learn so much!

Plum good and other pictures

Last night I gave the kids plums for dessert. We've been eating plums a lot this summer, but I'd never given them a whole one to eat themselves. I usually cut them up.

Hannah ate about half of hers. I think she was full because she had eaten a good supper.

Lincoln LOVED getting to eat his plum all by himself.

This is just a picture I took the other day of the kids together. They climbed in the rocking chair all by themselves. Hannah was reading Lincoln a book.

I've been keeping Jack on Mondays lately. He is such a good boy! I can't wait for he and Lincoln to really start to play together! The other day they were slapping each other five. They just laughed and laughed at each other. It was so cute.

On a side note, we got this little table to go in the kitchen so the kids and I can eat in there instead of the bigger table in the dining room. I am loving it! No more trying to clean sticky food off the hardwood floors! YES!

On Friday, we went to Dawn's parents house to swim with a few friends. These are Hannah's buddies, Emma and Sean.

They had a lot of fun! Here are Christopher, Emma, Sean, Lincoln, and Hannah.

Growing Up

Hannah is growing up. I am facing that reality more every day it seems. She will start Preschool two mornings a week on Tuesday. She will be four in October, but sometimes I think she is already acting like a teenager with her little backtalk, her getting upset and telling me she's "going to her room", and her own ways of doing things like dressing herself and fixing her own hair. This morning one of the first things she did after waking up was to go in the bathroom and fix her hair. I had to catch the moment.

Those that were at our Life Group on Wednesday night got to witness her "braids", as she will sometimes call them, for themselves. You don't understand how much self-control it takes me sometimes to just let her fix it like she wants to. Now, I haven't let her leave it her way in real public yet, but yes, I know that day is coming as well. :) I suppose I am preparing myself for it. She is such a character.

St. Louis

This weekend we went to St. Louis with some of our best friends, the Blands. We were so lucky to get to stay with Kris' brother, Les and his family. I took A LOT of pictures!!! It is hard to narrow them down, so I'm going to just post a lot of them.

We left Thursday morning and stopped in Sikeston, Missouri to eat at Lamberts, the only home of throwed rolls. It was yummy! Here's Nathan trying to catch a roll...

On Friday we went to the St. Louis Zoo. It was really hot! The kids did amazingly well though.

Lincoln had a monkey hanging out on his back the whole time. I highly recommend one of these monkey harnesses for anyone who is taking a toddler to a place like this. It gave him some freedom and eased mom and dad's minds about loosing him.

"Cheese"

Kris had the BEST idea for Hannah. He suggested buying her a disposable camera and letting her take her own pictures. She was ADORABLE to watch. She would get so excited when she'd snap one and say, "Mom, I did it!" This is something else I'd highly recommend. I can't wait to see what kind of pictures she took--and she can't either!

I thought this was a sweet picture. Jennifer is so good with Hannah.

There are three little monkeys in this picture!

Another exciting thing that happened on this trip was that Benson started walking. He can really go too! He was so much fun to watch!

Hannah and her cousin Lindsey.

Another great thing about the monkey harness, it wore him out!

The Men and the Boys

This picture was taken upon request from Kris and Nathan. You probably can't read the sign, but it was a sign for an animal more commonly known as a donkey. I don't know why they wanted their picture in front of it!

After the zoo, Kris and Nathan relaxed by playing a little air hockey and a lot of darts!

Hannah and Lincoln played dress up!

Thanks Les and Carol for letting us stay in your wonderful home and letting us bring our friends! They actually used to go to church with Nathan and his family in Memphis years ago. So, these are the first Keims that the Blands actually knew!

On Saturday night we went to a Cardinals game. Again, it was super hot! We still had a good time though. Had to get a picture of the Arch.

We stopped on the way up to St. Louis and got some Cardinals attire. The kids looked so cute!

Hannah and Logan. Hannah LOVES Logan! She talks about him all the time. She kind of has a crush.

Waiting to get in the game.

One of my favorite pictures! Aren't they sweet?

We got there early to try to get some pictures of the players. They were having some promotion where the players came out on the field before the game and you could get pictures of them. Hannah and Benson sat down and started playing in the outfield dirt.

I got a picture of Albert Pujols. If you know anything about baseball, you know who he is, if you don't, you can skip this picture.

Lincoln was a booger during the game, bless his heart. Of course, he couldn't be still and there was not much room to move around in the seats. Not having the pacy didn't help either. He's doing pretty well without it, by the way. We haven't looked back--and don't plan on it. After about the 7th inning, he passed out.

Benson was all smiles during the game--much like his daddy.

We made some great memories on this trip with some great friends! Hopefully, we can do it again next year!