May 2014

In May of 2014, we buzzed Lincoln's hair. Well, Vance did. It was fun to do. When I went to Georgia for our nephew's baptism, Vance buzzed Lincoln's head for a fun summer cut. Lincoln loved it. We have this tradition of going to Culver's now.

This was our first camping trip of the summer season. We aren't hard core campers, so we set up the tent in our backyard. One night Vance slept with Lincoln, and the other night I did. Lincoln was in heaven!!! He loves to make it special by doing smores over the stove, and we watch a movie on the laptop  in the tent. Maybe this next summer we will do some REAL camping!

Lauren's shades we picked up. She loved them! It's nice to have kid sunglasses, especially for longer drives to WI.

We bought our home a year earlier, and this summer I wanted a vegetable garden! Vance found some great cedar wood and built this. I helped, but he did most of the work. We planted tomatoes, yellow and regular zucchini, carrots, onions, and peppers.  We loved checking on the garden each day and enjoying the fruit later in the season!

Our friends, the Cho's, invited us over for dinner. They are from South Korea. Hanho and Sungin are really fun to be with. They made such a gorgeous meal, and it tasted great too.

Lauren flew with me to Atlanta, Georgia for our nephew Sawyer's baptism. She did great on the planes. She was in heaven and loved the independence. It was nice to spend some one on one time with her on the trip.

We went hiking near my brother and sister in-law's home in Marietta. Lauren is fearless! She's tiny, but she will do things by herself. 

After Sawyer was baptized, the children at the baptism sang "I am a Child of God." It was beautiful. Lauren didn't sing, she just walked around:)

Lauren and cousin Sawyer. Sawyer is so sweet with her. Lauren was less than amused though!

We enjoyed some smores in Joe and Carrie's backyard.

Lauren and her cousin Rosalie

More April 2014

Lincoln and Lauren on Easter Sunday. Don't they look cute? Dress and dress shirt, courtesy of Grandma!

We bought some plastic cups. Lincoln opened the entire package, put many of them in a line, and filled most of them with water. Look closely. He was so proud of himself!!

So Lauren often has a problem with constipation. Too much information?  Anyway, Vance and I both gave Lauren some Miralax (laxative) at the same time of day. It was either the next morning, or that morning, that I decided to take the kids to the community center. They have lots of kids activities, but this day they both went to the day care so I could exercise alone. 

One of the workers came and got me. They usually do this if there is a #2 diaper change. However, this was a massive explosion!!! Lauren was playing in the ballpit, with LOTS of other kids, had an explosion. But they noticed after they saw the remnants all over her back, pants, balls, and on other children. Gross! Of course I didn't have extra clothes for my children. The daycare workers had to get several other parents who picked up their children, to get them changed. I was mortified!!! Lincoln was still in diapers then, and at least I had clean diapers for each of them. I took them both to the bathroom, went to grab for the wipes. NO wipes. Seriously. This was definitely the largest, grossest mess I have ever dealt with and I had no wipes. Luckily another mom came into the bathroom. I asked her for wipes. She was so sweet and got some from her van. I had to use about half of the package. 

The above picture shows how I brought the kids out of the community center and all the way home. I was mortified but knew I could laugh about it one day. It was April, so it was still chilly. I wrapped Lauren in my jacket. Lincoln would have to walk out of the building and into the car with his diaper only and shoes. I'm sure we looked crazy!!! I got a picture to remember that crazy morning. They hung out in the bath for the next hour....

Me and the kids. I need to find more pictures of Vance to post!!

Early April 2014 and Kelsey's visit

So the winter of 2013-2014 was apparently the coldest in 30 years. Our previous two Minnesota winters were not too bad, but this last winter was almost unbearable. There were 52 days that had temperatures below 0!!!! I remember Lincoln asking to go outside and play, but sometimes I had to tell him that we couldn't. We made the best of it and spent lots of time at indoor places! This church near our home always has those clever, pun filled sayings. I liked the one above. We had so much snow!!!I remember the last bit of snow didn't melt until mid April.

My sister Kelsey and her kids, Rosalie and Jared, came to visit us! We were so happy to have them here and we enjoyed showing them some fun things in the Minneapolis metro! We spent a day at the Mall of America. Lincoln, Lauren, Rosie, and Jared, above, enjoy playing with Lego's just outside the Lego store. 

Aww, the kids cuddling on the couch. Lincoln talks about his cousins a lot and says thanks for them in his prayers.

Here is our house in February or March of 2014. The snow was up to the mailbox, as you can see. We did not have a snowblower, so our piles of snow were steep and high right by the driveway. One pile was just about as tall as me, maybe taller. It was so cold, that the snow didn't melt throughout the winter. It was crazy!

Kelsey and I. Love this lady. 

Lincoln, Lauren, and Jared. Obviously, by the beginning of April, most of the snow had melted. Whew!!

March 2014, more!

Lincoln loves to write. He loves to tell you, show you, write to you all the ways he loves you. I love that he is such an affectionate little boy. I hope he is always that way.

Lincoln asked for his own umbrella, so one day we just decided to pick one up at Target. At first he wanted the green one, but once he spotted this black with multi-colored polka dot umbrella, he was sold.

Lauren here is walking on her little way to the park. We live a quarter mile away from a great park with a playground. In the summer we are there at least a couple, or maybe more times each week. We just love to get outside whenever it is not too cold.

March 2014

We made a couple of pies for Pi Day! 3.14. Vance brought a pie with the pie symbol on it to work. They ate it at 3:14 pm, naturally. I love my engineer hubby.

Lauren just looking cute on the bench from Grandma!

Lincoln is so funny. He loves routine and order. He took all the shoes that were in the closet in our mudroom, and lined them up. Impressive, huh? 

The above video is from February of 2014, we think, possibly January. This is when Lauren was walking for the first time, at least a few steps. I always get emotional inside when they first walk. It is such an exciting time in life.