Boxheads & Scootin'

Meet The Boxheads! Here are a few pictures of us having fun with something simple like a box. hehe
Here's LincBox:



Then here's Mrs. Box:



And Mr. Box (who looks naked, but he's not I assure you):



Then here's ShinyBox:



The box just wouldn't fit on Levi's head, so we didn't capture that magic. But here's some magic for you. He has started getting on all fours & rocking back & forth, & scooting a bit. Yay! Or should I say Oh No. We need the gates. And so it begins.
Here's the little monkey:



Brother Time:



And here's Smiley Joe in his highchair:




Happy Labor Day weekend everybody.
See ya peeps.

texas

We are here in McKinney, TX with my parents. Within the past 5 days, my parents have used their swimming pool more than their time living in this house (which is coming up on 6 years). True story. My mom spent about 5 hours in the pool yesterday with Linc-Man, & my dad pent about 5 hours today with him. Linc loves making slides out of the mats, loves to have my dad throw the ball & hit his face, & loves to jump in with full-force & speed. To say that nap-times have been easy would be the understatement of the world here. He is ready & willing to go down for his nap & bedtime, happy to sleep in the BIG-boy bed...a huge white sleigh bed in my mom's upstairs room! I'm honestly surprised he hasn't fallen out of it yet. He thinks he's awesome for getting to sleep in that bed.
Anyhoo, we're planning on flying home to Frank-town tomorrow morning EARLY...as in before the sun comes up early. As in 4am early. Oh brother. It's going to be a loooong day.

I'll post pictures soon, once I get home. Hope y'all are having a good week.
word.

please pray

I know I just posted earlier tonight, but I want to ask you all, my friends, to pray for this family. They are in the process of saying good-bye to their 4-year old son, who is battling a brain tumor. Please pray that they will feel Jesus' peace & strength in the midst of this nightmare. Kiss your children tonight & be thankful that you have them. God, be with this family.

A visit to the dentist, among other things

I am happy to report that Lincoln had his first dentist appointment yesterday at Snodgrass Dental. We loved that place! I've never seen such an amazing dentist office. It has cool toys for Lincoln to play on, video games, a huge Lego table, & much more. He was upset when they called him back to the room because he didn't want to leave the waiting room! We walked back to the separate room where he met his dental hygeinist, Elizabeth ("Wizabef"). He jumped into the chair & exclaimed, "Hi Wizabef! Where'd you get this cool chair?" Elizabeth laughed out loud, looked at me & said, "Oh, this is gonna be fun!" He was very vocal the entire time, which made cleaning & flossing his teeth go a little longer than planned. But he was able to watch movies, ask Elizabeth about 100 more questions, & when she looked at his teeth, she said, "He sucks his thumb, doesn't he?" I guiltily replied "yes" because there is just no hiding it. She even knew what thumb he sucked, due to how his teeth were coming in. When she left to go get Dr. Snodgrass, I told him that when he came into the room, he should say hello to him. The dentist walked in & Lincoln cried out, "Hi Dr. Snotgrass! How are you doing today? Can I stay at your work today?" The dentist looked at me, laughed & said, "What a ham you have on your hands." A quick look at his teeth (upon him saying damage had in fact been done to his bite because of the thumb-sucking) & we were pretty much done. It was a great experience & went muuuuch better than I thought it would go. Whew.

On another note, we are leaving on Saturday to fly to Texas. Ben is staying here because he has to work, so I will be braving the friendly skies by myself with the boys. The long list in my mind of all the crap I have to pack for them both for the airplane ride is already starting. Have I told y'all that I hate to travel? I don't mind the actual airplane ride; it's the arriving, checking bags, standing in line for security, going through the pure hell of the security check-point, only to wait at my gate for another hour before boarding. My dad was a pilot for 26 years; you'd think I'd be totally used to this. I am used to it when it's just me traveling! But it's an entirely different animal with kiddos. I hope all goes well on Saturday, & that Lincoln can be a big boy. I'm already prepping him to be "Momma's Big Helper" while we're at the airport & on the airplane. Sometimes he's keen to the idea; sometimes he isn't. We'll see what his mood is on Saturday.

I'll be posting pictures soon of the cutie pies soon.
until next time,

Happy Birthday Ben!

Happy Birthday Yesterday Ben! I'm a day late in posting this celebration, but hey, it's better late than never. Yesterday, Lincoln, Levi & I ordered Ben his favorite cookie cake from Great American Cookie Company. We had spent a lot of our craft time the past few days making cards for Daddy. This involved glueing googly eyes, drawing letters & numbers, & all-around scribbling furiously over every piece of the card. It was a fun activity for all of us.

We picked up the cake yesterday afternoon, & drove to Rocketown so we could surprise Ben. I had been in contact with Ben's co-worker, Mary Virginia, & the plan was that we would come into RCKTWN at the tail-end of their staff meeting while all the staffers were there, so we could all celebrate & sing Happy Birthday to him. On the way there, Lincoln had been practicing what he was going to say. It went a little something like this: "Surprise! Happy Birthday Daddy! Now blow out all your candles!" He was literally sprinting into the building while Levi & I tried to keep up (me actually lugging that horrendous infant carrier which by now he's totally grown out of). Everyone was still in the meeting, all seated around each other, going about the daily business of having a staff meeting. In bursts Lincoln---full speed, full volume, & full enthusiasm. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! HERE'S YOUR CARD! HERE'S YOUR PRESENT! SURPRISE! HI EVERYBODY!" It was a sweet time of Ben introducing us to all the part-time staff, seeing some of the kids there, & having cake together. Lincoln enjoyed every minute of it, & it was torture getting him to leave.

Then last night I made Ben's favorite dinner & we watched the Olympics. What a great night that was for the USA. Woosh.
Happy Birthday Baby.
xo

some random things

It's been almost a week since I've posted anything, sorry about that. Levi has been fighting a nasty cold, & this morning I woke up feeling crummy too. Lovely & fun. I'm sure Lincoln will get it in the next few days, so it will be an all-skate.
We've been watching the Olympics, going to the JumpZone, & having craft time at our house lately. This afternoon Lincoln told me I was driving him insane. OMG, seriously. True story. I really need to start editing.

I watched the new episode of Intervention last night & nearly threw up all over my couch. It was about a girl named Allison who was addicted to inhalants. This chick would inhale 10-12 dusters per day. Yes, per day, I said. Dusters are those sprays that get out all of the dust in your computer keyboard. She would literally sit in her apartment & inhale all day long. I'm not kidding when I say my stomach started tumbling & the nausea set in. It was almost like as she was inhaling the chemical, my mind would play tricks on me & think the chemicals were going into my lungs. I had to hold my breath while watching her inhale. You think I'm kidding, but if you saw this episode, you would be right there with me in my imagination. Thank goodness she got sober, or else that would've been even more unsettling.

In other news, we were shopping at Publix this afternoon & Keith, the cashier, checked us out. Lincoln has to ask for a balloon nearly every time we check out, and today was no different. As Keith was checking out our items, Lincoln said, "Hi Keith. How's your day? How you doin'?" It was like Lincoln was BFF with Keith. Keith replied, "Doing good, Lincoln." Lincoln says, "Keith, can I have a blue balloon please?" Keith says, "Sure, no problem....here you go." Lincoln: "Oh Keith! Thank you so much, see ya later. Have a good day!" What a trip. I tell ya, every day he seems to learn something brand new that cracks me up. He's way into pretend play these days & having conversations with inanimate objects, but that's an entirely different post altogether. Be looking forward to that gem in the near future.

Oh, and here's one last random thing. It is officially Fall in our house. What I mean is, I have already decorated for the fall season. Crazy, you say? Perhaps. Do I care? Not one bit. The past 2 mornings have been somewhat crisp outside, feeling somewhat fall-ish, so it totally moved me into the season. It looks really pretty in the house & it smells like autumn, which always puts me in a good mood. My friend Lindsay said to me, "You know that August is considered the dog-days of summer, right? You are insane in the membrane." So so true.
Ben walked in from work last night, looked around, & said, "Oh no. You did it. It's so early." He's a trooper. But really, how can someone not like fall? It's near impossible if you ask me. So if you're tired of the humid heat & going to the pool almost every day (I'm over it), then feel free to come over to the Fall Frenzy on Wolverton Drive. We can sit on the couch, look at the fall colors, smell the harvest candles, & sip a cup of harvest brew.

August Be Gone,

Responsibility Chart

We have been working on responsibility in our home recently. I found this great Responsibility Chart at Train Up A Child last week, & it has been working wonders with Lincoln. If he does a certain chore or responsibility, he gets a "sticker" (as he calls it, but it's really a magnet) that goes on "Lincoln's Chart". The first thing we did that pertained to the chart was getting himself dressed. Lincoln has never wanted to try dressing himself. He has always said, "I can't do it, I just can't do it." He would get so frustrated with himself if he put both feet in the same pant hole, or if he put his arm through the neck hole of the shirt. I sat down with him & explained the whole magnet/sticker chart concept. While I sat down, I gave him his big boy pants, his shorts, & a pair of socks. I took the same items & pretended to put them on myself, simply to show him how to step into the shorts, how to put the socks on correctly, etc. He stared at me while I did it, focusing intently on how I did it, & I could tell he was concentrating very hard. I said, "OK, your turn." He immediately said, "I'm gonna try, Momma. I'll try." He took his big boy pants, & slipped each foot into the correct hole, stood up & pulled them up! What a victory! The same thing happened with his shorts & then with his socks. The socks took a little extra time for obvious reasons, but nevertheless, they went on successfully! I about let the whole neighborhood know by the volume of my hollering & whooping from my excitement. He immediately jumped up & said, "A sticker! On my chart!" We ran down the stairs, both so happy about what had just transpired. He chose a magnet, & we put it on the correct day & that was that. He was triumphant, so proud of himself. It was a very sweet & important moment where I thought, "This will work. This created positive results. He truly understands this concept." As a mom, I'm constantly in a trial-and-error frame of mind. With this chart, I felt a huge sense of relief, like "Ok, this trial was not an error; it was a success." It was a barrier that was crossed by Lincoln with understanding & excitement.

The past several days, Lincoln has earned 14 other magnets for doing things such as clearing his plate from the table, putting his clothes in the laundry, apologizing for something he did wrong, or showing respect for others' belongings. This morning he got his 15th magnet. 15 is our magic number. Once he gets 15 magnets, he gets to choose a toy he wants to buy. He told me he wants to go back to Train Up A Child & choose a new train for his train set. We're both excited for this.

Here's a couple more pictures of the chart & the proud boy:




That's all for now!
Go be responsible people,

I was gone for just four little days...

And here are some pictures while I was in Florida. What's that saying? Oh right. "When Mom's away, the mice will play."


This is a Bumbo, for those of you who are wondering. A Bumbo is a seat that Levi should be sitting in. Yep...it's on Lincoln's head.



And what the?!? I came home to find this in our garage. Ben still hasn't told me exactly what this is, but the words 'soapbox derby' come to mind:




Here's a shot of our kitchen after Ben claimed he "cleaned for like 3 hours but just couldn't get it picked up..." Gimme a break. Notice the baby on top of the table:



But hey, let's be honest. The important thing is that the boys were still alive & the house was still standing. Thank you sweet Ben for taking care of the curtain climbers.
Have a good weekend everybody!