"Adventure Day"

My friend Allison and I planned an "adventure day" for our boys one day during the beginning of this month. We decided that they would have fun with a train ride. So, we took them for a ride on the train and then packed lunches to the park and played. So, here are a few pictures from our adventure:

Noah showing me his ticket before crossing the bridge to board the train.

Stopping on the bridge to watch a train go underneath us.

Noah & Isaac aboard the train!

Lincoln got right to exploring and ran across the aisle, climbed up onto a seat, and looked out the window.

Noah & Isaac decided that was a good idea too, so here they are looking out the window.

Isaac, Lincoln & Noah.


My boys after our train ride. Noah is copying Isaac and covering his ears when a train passes by.

Allison and Isaac.

How cute are Noah & Isaac?...and Linc doing his own thing in the background.

I had to document this...every time we get in an elevator Lincoln goes straight for the call button that rings an alarm. Turkey. I can't tell you the number of times that we've had to tell an operator that everything is fine - our kid just pushed the alarm.

After lunch at the castle park, the boys played and had a good time. I didn't get many pictures at the park, but here's a quick one that I took before all three of them did a "train" down the slide (no pun intended - ha!). They had a great time.
Thanks, Allison & Isaac for a fun "adventure day"! Let's do it again soon!

Happy Birthday, Lincoln!

Our little guy turned two today!
We had a great day today...much better than yesterday (especially for poor Linc). I'll post about it later, but for now I just couldn't go to bed without posting something really quick about my baby turning two! We love you so much, little monkey!

It was a matter of time, I guess...

We (and other people) have made comments about being surprised that Linc hasn't ever needed a trip to the E.R. or stitches. We almost made it two years (his b-day is tomorrow). I was at a house of a girl that I just met today (visiting teaching) this morning. Us ladies were chatting in the family room right at the top of the stairs, and the boys were playing downstairs. Apparently Lincoln made claim on 5-year-old Jax's Buzz Lightyear toy, and then he made a break for it up the stairs. There was a little-kid struggle for possession of the toy and Jax pushed Lincoln to get it away. Unfortunately the section of the stairs (which I had even checked to make sure were carpeted) that they were on didn't have a wall on one side of them, so Lincoln fell about 5 feet to the cement below. Right when I heard the thud (before the screaming came) I knew what had happened and I went running. Within the 3 seconds it took me to get to him he was covered in blood. Those head wounds sure do spurt. It was all over his face and matting his hair. Luckily the two ladies that I was with were calm and helped me get him quickly cleaned up. I'm ashamed to say that I was kind of freaking out inside (I am quite proud of how calm I've stayed in other emergent situations). Luckily Jen (whose house I was at) was very reassuring to both Linc and I, and she took a good look at the source of the wound and calmly told me to take him in to get some stitches. Luckily I know a great surgeon (finally, a perk to having a medical resident spouse) - and I was able to get a hold of Mark. I took the boys right down to the hospital where Mark was working and Mark was able to stitch him up. And I didn't even have to feel dumb about asking if the doctor could try to shave as little hair as possible (with his birthday being tomorrow & stuff).

Anyway, Lincoln was surprisingly calm by the time we got to the hospital. Here he is sitting in the chair waiting for Mark to get his supplies together.

A quick shot of the wound which, unfortunately, does it no justice. The wound was a whole flap - so you could see the skull.

This is Mark irrigating the wound. I obviously have no pictures of Mark numbing Linc's head or doing the stitches since I had to hold Lincoln down the whole time (that sucked). At least I knew that the physician taking care of my baby really does love him as much as I do and was taking good care of him...he even gave Linc the latex glove balloon that he's holding :)

Five stitches (and sucker, rice krispie treat and two matchbox cars) later...
Well, Linc - your first "real" injury is documented. I'm glad that it wasn't worse, but we're so sorry that it happened, little guy. We love you so much.

October Wrap-Up

Time for the mish-mash of pics & clips that I like which didn't make it into another post in October...starting with this one from a beautiful bouquet of flowers that Mark brought home for me. Pretty, huh? I love Gerber daisies and Sunflowers, so these colored sunflowers kind of captured the both of best worlds!

Noah had been anticipating Toy Story & Toy Story 2 being re-released in theaters (in 3D) for months. So, attending that double feature kicked off our month oh, so appropriately (referencing our Halloween costumes). We had planned on wearing our costumes to the movie, but decided to go for this toned-down version of shirts & wings (this picture is from right after the movies ended).

Everyone that knows Lincoln knows that he's a very active little guy. However, not everyone sees his sweet, sensitive side. He often comes up (unsolicited) to hug me, give me slobbery kisses, and tell me that he loves me...or because he wants to cuddle with me. So, even though this clip is staged...I just had to capture the cute little way that he says "I wuv woo!" (I love you):


A huge thanks to my friend Shauna that mailed this Incredibles costume to Noah to play dress up in! He loves it, and yes - he struck this pose all on his own for the camera.

Just because I want to include the way Lincoln says new words that he's learning during this vocabulary explosion at this age, here's a 9 second clip showing: "cocoa" and "pumpkin"


I'm loving that the boys are starting to play and wrestle more together. I don't remember exactly what the game was during this picture, but I still like the picture.

Since normally when I pull out the camera I tell the boys to say "cheese" - Lincoln does it on his own now. Of course he doesn't understand the difference between a snapshot and a video clip, but I thought it was cute. I like his "aaah" after taking a drink too.

Halloween Night

Finally the long awaited Halloween night arrived. Time to trick-or-treat! Claire invited a bunch of our friends to meet at her house to go together in our neighborhood (we live across the street from each other). So, the kids played in the backyard together until everyone was there and ready.

Here is Noah (Zurg) with Zoey (Sleeping Beauty).

I had to get one of just Zoey in her princess costume that Claire made. She looked so pretty!

Ezra.

Most of the kids together before leaving to trick-or-treat.

The first door. Lincoln, Noah & Michael were the first three kiddos to the door, but the others were right behind them. Soon the porch was full, and when they answered their door Lincoln made a break for it and ran into the house and down the hall! (He's not exactly shy) It took a bit for Mark to get past all the trick-or-treaters to chase after Linc - I'm glad that we knew who the people were that live there at least!

Just a trick-or-treating clip. I got a kick out of watching Noah try to pick up candy with those gloves on though...and when Lincoln would say "day-doo" (thank you) after getting his candy.


*sorry for the crummy video quality* In this clip: Mark took Linc up to this door and the gentleman held out his treat basket and asked what he wanted. Lincoln paused and pointed at the candy basket (like, "uh...the candy"). The man asked if Linc wanted a Butterfinger to which Lincoln enthusiastically shouted "Yeahh!" (not that he knows what they are, but I think he caught onto that pretty much everything he was getting that night would be yummy).


After catching on to the routine of things, the boys weren't too keen with having Mark hold their hands for a picture...they loved having the freedom to run from house to house with us (the parents) in tow.

After trick-or-treating.

Then it was back to Claire's house for a yummy curry dish and some dessert - thanks, Ann (Claire's mom)!
We had a great Halloween season. And, no, I haven't planned out what we'll dress up for next year yet :)

Pumpkin Carving

Hurray! It's time to carve our pumpkins! While we got things together to carve pumpkins Lincoln ran around and crunched in the leaves (and threw them in the air obviously). It was a gorgeous warm autumn day with the sun shining, but still that enjoyable fall-crispness in the air. Perfection.


Noah loves wearing his fall hat.

Lincoln hanging out in the swing with some hot cocoa.

Lincoln helping carve "his" pumpkin.

Takin' a peek.

Mark's dad grew this white pumpkin...isn't it cool?

Noah helping carve "his" pumpkin.

And, of course, Lincoln had to snatch some pumpkin from the scraps and take a taste. Blech.

My boys being boys. Eeeew.

Noah and Daddy after finishing Noah's pumpkin.
And, I should mention, Noah was very specific about the way that his pumpkin should be carved...triangle eyes, round nose, and where his teeth should be.

Halloween Playgroup

Just a few pictures from our playgroup's Halloween party. Noah & Linc exploring new toys.

Anna (who came with us since I was babysitting) as a cute little monkey.

Zoey.

Jess with Lucy (the ducky) and Dominic (the monkey).

Linc giving a good "cheeeese"!

Raggedy Andy & Raggedy Ann.

Anna & Noah (wearing what is currently his plastered on "picture smile"...gotta love it).
Thanks for hosting, Caroline!

Halloween Costumes

As I've mentioned before - the Toy Story movies are huge (understatement) at our house! Noah loves the shows, the characters, the toys...everything affiliated with Toy Story or Toy Story 2. Naturally, Lincoln has picked up on the frenzy and loves Buzz Lightyear too. So, it was only fitting that our family all dressed up as characters from Toy Story 2 this year! For those of you who have managed to remain unfamiliar with this show, this is a picture of Jessie, Buzz, and Woody (for a frame of reference). I'll include a picture of the villan in a moment.

First of all...our family's Halloween photo! I love it. Lyndsey from Seenbox Photography ran a killer deal and did these (as well as regular family pics for Christmas cards) for just $20 including the edited digital images (which is a must when you print 180 of them). Can't beat that price & she was great to work with too. Also, since lots of people asked...we got Noah's costume from ksl.com classifieds last year, Linc's was a hand-me-down from Noah, and Mark's & mine are handmade. I picked up my wig and hat on clearance after Halloween last year, and I bought my white shirt second hand and sewed everything on to it. I found Mark's hat online, and we had the bandanna leftover from Noah's 2nd birthday party (cowboy theme). A hu-uge thanks to my friend Claire for her help making Woody's vest, and for making my sweet chaps! We got a lot of use out of these costumes this year, and it was fun to wear them altogether...

Since the other picture didn't include our villan...here is a picture of the Evil Emperor Zurg. Noah has been really into "bad guys" lately, so this worked out nicely. And, as a side-note, Lincoln and Noah love to act out the scene from Toy Story 2 (spin off of Star Wars, of course) where Buzz says, "You killed my father"...Zurg says, "...I am your father"...and Buzz says "Noooooo!"

Noah as Zurg.

I love the way Lincoln is looking up at me in this picture. I'm guessing that he was likely more intrigued with my hat & wig than whatever it was that I had to say at that moment though...

Time to pull out the laser guns.


Woody and Buzz.

Even as a bad guy...I think he's pretty darn cute.

"Well aren't you the sweetest space toy I've ever met?" (Jessie, Toy Story 2)