Lincoln's Birthday Weekend!

Lincoln's 6th birthday was Sunday, but we kind of started out the celebrating on Friday.  Layton and I took him lunch--McDonald's, which was his choice.  However, when I got there, he had gotten a lunch tray!  They were having pizza and his buddy, Jack, only gets a tray on pizza day.  I think Lincoln just wanted to eat the pizza with his friend.  Little stinker!  Anyway, we enjoyed eating lunch with him.  I forgot to take a picture though!

Friday night Mimi and Pappaw came up for the long weekend.  We had chicken tacos and Mom's apple pie to celebrate Jeff's birthday that night.  His birthday was on the 14th.

Saturday morning Lincoln had a basketball game.  Mimi, Pappaw, and Uncle Jeff got to come watch him.  He didn't play till the second quarter, so this is how he decided to spend his time on the bench.  He is a MESS!!!

When he got in the game, he ended up playing most of the rest of the game (mostly because there were a couple of kids on the team that refused to go in).  He scored 3 goals this time!  He was really tired at the end, but I know he had fun!  I think he enjoyed that Mimi, Pappaw, and Uncle Jeff got to see him score!

 Dribbling in to shoot!

After Linc's game, we went home and ate lunch.  Then, Mom and I took Jeff shopping to help him decorate his guest bathroom.  He bought towels, mats, and pictures.  I can't wait to see it!  That afternoon, we all went to watch Hannah cheer.  She was really nervous because she didn't think she remembered her cheer that they were going to do at half-time.  Once she got out there, she did fine though!

After that we went home and let Lincoln open his presents!  He could hardly wait!

Another Lego game!

Angry Birds Jenga!  He played this at Life Group and loved it!

Hot Wheels race track.  It is really cool.  Layton loves it too!

Mimi and Pappaw and Uncle Jeff pitched in to help us get a basketball goal for him.  He was really surprised!!  I loved his reaction!

Giving thank-you hugs!

I had originally planned on getting a much smaller one, but Kris worked his magic at Target and got 30% off this big one because the box was beat up!  It was kind of hilarious!

Lincoln helped his daddy put the goal together.  They started it Saturday night and finished it Sunday afternoon.

Saturday night we had smoked pork shoulder for supper.  I made Lincoln a basketball cake.  I thought it turned out pretty cute.

He was so funny blowing out his candles.  He blew...

and blew...

and blew!!!

Sunday afternoon after they finished putting up the goal, the kids had a blast playing on it.  They enjoyed it on Monday too (even in the cold!).

Monday afternoon he got one last present from Jack.  He has really enjoyed the sticker book and I know he will love building the Nuts & Bolts Crocodile!  Thanks Carrie and Jack!

Lincoln, I hope you had a great 6th birthday.  More importantly, I hope you know how much we love you and how proud of you we are!  While you can be quite a handful at times, your creativity, imagination, humor, silliness, enthusiasm, energy, and sweetness are what make you YOU--and I wouldn't have you any other way!!!  Happy Birthday, Buddy!!!

Upward Basketball & Cheerleading

The kids are doing Upward Basketball and Cheerleading for the first time.  We have actually never done Upward before and have been very impressed with it.  It is such a neat program designed to provide a "fun sports experience based on healthy competition."  It also helps teach self-confidence and values as well as skills of the game.  Another thing I like about it is there are not excessive practices throughout the week.  Lincoln doesn't even have practice.  They practice 30 minutes before their games on Saturdays and Hannah just has 1 hour on Monday nights.

Practicing his bounce pass before the game.

They have had 2 games now and have both really enjoyed it.  They really do it up right.  They have a big blow up thing for the kids to run through when their name is announced--just like in the NBA or college games.  It was so cool!

Here is Lincoln running out for the first game.   

That first game was definitely a learning experience for Lincoln.  They give each kid a colored wrist band and they are supposed to guard the player from the other team that has the same color band as them.  He never quite got it during that first game, but the second one he did much better.

I love this picture of him dribbling the ball.  He looks like a real player!  Ha!  He did pretty well dribbling and shot the ball several times during the first game, but never made a basket.

He is definitely a hustler, which makes me proud!

He was all smiles after his first game.  Yay!

Hannah got to watch Lincoln's first game as well as watch another cheer squad cheer during it.  They just have one squad cheer at each game.  They have 2 games going on at one time and they cheer for one game for half the time and the other the other half.  They do a cheer or dance during half-time.

I really thought after watching that group cheer during Lincoln's game that she would be super shy and possibly not even want to do it.  Boy, was I wrong!  She was excited and loved every minute!

The cheerleaders run out of the blow up thing too when their name is called.  Here is Hannah!

I think she got the best possible coach.  She is really good and has pushed the girls to learn a lot of stuff.  It has been amazing to me what all they have learned!  Hannah is a great listener!

She was so cute when she'd look over at us and smile really big!  She just loved it.

At half-time the first week, they just did a chant.

LOVE!!!

I know she was so proud of herself!

During last weekend's game, Lincoln actually scored once!  He tried several times and did much better at defense.  I can't wait to watch him the rest of the season!

Hannah did a little dance during half-time this past week.  It was the cutest thing.  She did awesome!  I missed the first few counts, but here it is.

They learned a real cheer (instead of a chant) last night and even learned how to do a couple of jumps.  I wasn't really sure about the whole cheerleading thing, but seeing Hannah enjoy it so much has been a lot of fun!