One word to describe Lincoln at 2--BUSY!

I wanted to put Linc's little stats on here and a few of the other things about him that I want to remember at this age. At his 2 year appointment on Friday, he weighed 30 lbs (75%), was 33 1/4 inches tall (50%), and his big ole head was 19 7/8 inches (90%)!

Some things about him:
**He is wearing 24 months shirts and pants.
**He wears a size 7-8 shoe, depends on the shoe.
**He wears size 5 diapers.
**We're still spiking his hair up cause it just looks like him, but it has gotten so long lately that it will lay down and I'm really starting to like this look as well.
**He's got all but 1 of his 2 year molars, I think.
**He is really losing that baby fat and is really slimming up.

Some things he is saying:
**"Momma, eat." "Momma, eat." "Momma, eat."
**"Momma, lap." (Translation--Momma, I want to get in your lap.)
**Lots of other words, but not a lot of sentences quite yet.

Some things he is doing:
**He can now open some of the doors in the house. So, this means I will be an even busier momma!
**He can turn the bathroom faucet on by himself. At least this means he probably won't stick his toothbrush in the toilet anymore to get it wet.:) Again, I'm going to be a busier momma.
**He has gotten quite pushy lately. By this I mean, he thinks he can push other kids around if they are in his way. Busier momma...
**He loves to jump. He loves to jump off of things like couches and chairs. I am waiting for beds, tables, counters, etc. Busy, busy, busy--me!
**He loves to hit things. He bangs on his tool bench with his hammer so hard and loud I'm afraid he's going to break it. He bangs on the table with his sippy cup or fork leaving little dents in the table sometimes. He bangs on his daddy's Wii drum set whenever he can. He hits Hannah or Jack, anyone who gets in his way. YES, I AM SO BUSY!
**He is sitting in time out--ALOT!

I guess Lincoln is not the only one who can be described as busy right now, huh.

Now, at the end of our appointment Dr. Byrum said to me, "Now, Lincoln's two, so you're going to have to really watch him." I was like, "REALLY????"

Cooking Club--You should try it!

So, over the last few years I've been involved in a couple of cooking clubs. The one I'm in now is with some of my bestest girlfriends--Jennifer, Julie, and Carrie! I love it--even if we don't like every meal, it is great to try new things and be able to conveniently just pull something out of the freezer to cook for supper! AND it's especially good on the budget!

You should really try it! Here's how ours works (you can do it a lot of different ways):

We meet together every 4-6 weeks usually and pick 12 main dishes we'd like to have. We look through recipe books, use favorites from growing up/family, and use some that I've accumulated over several years of being in another cooking club (I have a notebook full of recipes). We try to make sure we have different kinds of meals i.e. not all beef or chicken, not too many Mexican, etc. We like a good variety!

After we get our list of 12, we each take 3 of them that we will be responsible for making for everyone. We give ourselves several days to get them all done. We go to Sams and one person buys all the meats (hamburger meat, chicken, etc) that we need for all the recipes. It seems to be cheapest that way. We just divide up the meats and take home how ever much we need for each of our meals. Then, we each go separately and buy all the ingredients we need to make our 3 meals. Each meal is doubled, tripled, or quadrupled based on the recipe. So, for a 9x13 casserole, we would double the recipe and each person would go home with an 8x8 dish. We just buy the cheapo foil pans and just use freezer bags for a lot of the meals, like the soups and stuff.

It typically will take each person about 3-5 hours of labor to make their 3 meals for everyone. Not too bad, I say, since you don't have to work for very long in the kitchen each night for the rest of the month! Most of us can get at least 2 meals out of most everything. When we're done fixing all the meals, we give each of the other 3 girls the 3 meals we made for each of them. So, we all go home with 12 different meals when it's all said and done.

We add up what everyone spent on all the food and divide by 4. Then we just pay back whoever bought all the meat at Sams cause they usually are the one who spent the most money. This last month, the average was about $85 per person for 12 dishes. We've done it cheaper and we've done it more expensive. It just depends on your meals.

Here are the meals we made this month (We made several soups this month due to the cold weather):

1. Cajun Chicken Pasta

2. Chicken & Stuffing

3. Chicken Chimichangas

4. Chicken Noodle Soup

5. Chicken Tortilla Soup

6. Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

7. Enchilada Pie

8. Huntington Chicken

9. Russian Chicken

10. Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

11. Southwestern Chili

12. Taco Soup

Just thought I'd put this on here for anyone out there that would be interested in doing something like this. It's a great way to feed your family!

Lincoln's Birthday Party!

We had Linc's birthday party on Saturday. I decided to do a big party this year with all his friends. We went with the Cars theme.

I made these car placemats with each of the kids pictures in them. We put their party favors and snacks in two black bowls that looked like wheels. Then we made the table into a road.

Carrie helped me make the checkered flag for the background. We wove black and white streamers together and covered my china cabinet. It took a while, but it looked so cool!! Thanks again, Carrie!

The Birthday Boy!

Benson and Hannah

All the kiddos at the table

When his cake came out, he looked interested, I guess.

But when it was time to blow out the candle, not so much!

I'm glad we caught the moment on video. I think it is funny!




Hannah was cracking Benson up blowing on her party favor!

All the kids seemed to enjoy all the goodies.

Ethan

Eric

Benson

Jack

Paul

Carter

Jackson

Time for presents! Linc just got a few things from family since he's still enjoying his Christmas loot! I just love the faces he makes. You can tell he was excited about his Handy Manny chair!

He also got a car rug, a t-ball set, a bubble lawn mower, and Thomas the train.

Linc with his Uncle Jeff

and with MiMi and Pappaw

Me and my buddy!

All the kids playing in the playroom after the party.

Thanks everyone for helping us celebrate!

Happy Birthday Lincoln!!!

Today is my baby's birthday!! I can't believe he is TWO! He is getting to be such a big boy and seems to really be growing. I can tell he is slimming up and getting so tall. I'm looking forward to seeing his growth stats at his two year appointment on Friday. I'll probably do a post on all he's been up to this month with his growth stats later this week.

As with Hannah, I have taken a picture of Lincoln on our bed every month on the 20th of the month since he was born. With her I put all of them in a slide show, but I've decided I don't want to do that with his because if I ever get this blog printed out, I'd really like to be able to see all the pictures.

So, Lincoln, I have thoroughly loved every minute of watching you grow these last 24 months. It is truly amazing to see how you have gone from being this helpless, look-just-like-your-daddy, sweet BABY, to a chubby, curious CRAWLER, to an extremely exhausting into-everything, messy, but so fun TODDLER!! Even though we have begun those dreaded terrible twos, I am looking forward to every moment with you and am so very thankful to God for allowing me and your dad to direct your paths and watch you grow! We love you Stinker!

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TWO!!!!!