Weekend Warriors

Weekend Recap!
Friday was swimming at the Ryan Y, and we can't wait to go back. On Saturday it was Craig's morning to sleep in so Linc and I just hung around until Daddy woke up at 9. Craig then mowed our huge yard. We say huge because the backyard is probably twice the size of our old yard and Craig dreads mowing it each week. He hates it so bad that sometimes it will go a few weeks before it gets done and then it looks like a jungle in the backyard, but I digress. So he finished mowing the back when my mom called to invite Craig to play golf with my brother and Dad (so the front did not get done, haha). Since we had no real plans, Linc and I just hung around while Dad went off to play golf. Linc took a nap, I picked up the house, finished my book "Blue Moon" (which was really good and I can't wait for the next one to come out in the "Immortals" Series), showered and headed off to Babies R Us. We got all this stuff to set up Craig's parents with a pack'n'play, a booster seat, toys and all the extras. It was a lot of fun buying new stuff for him! You will see soon why we are setting up their house. We finished up the night with pizza at Paulios (sp?) and movies when Linc went to bed. It was pretty relaxing I would say.

So then comes Sunday! It was my day to sleep in, but Linc was determined not to let that happen. He kept screaming really loud for no reason and banging on stuff, so I didn't get much sleep. Linc got in a good nap and then it was off to Craig's parents house.

I forgot how much you can get done when you have two people working on a task. For the past 16 months or longer really (including the last part of my pregnancy) I was not able to help much. First I couldn't help much while preggers and then once Linc was born one of us had to watch him while the other worked. But Sunday, the rules changed and I was ordered to help, haha! Well I was not order, I was actually excited. With Linc being at Grandma and Grandpa's I was free to help Craig do a task we had been avoiding since we moved it, clean the garage.

We moved in 7 months ago and still had not unpacked all the boxes in our garage. Then more junk and trash started to accumulate and it just got out of control. We had never even been able to park our car in the garage and this was a brand new house. So we decided to put on some tunes and get to work (that is after we battled out what we wanted to listen too because we both have very different tastes in music).

I am one of those people that has an easy time just throwing stuff away while Craig is the opposite. So normally I just take charge of the unpacking (in case there is trash) and put Craig in charge of putting stuff away that we are keeping. So after 5 hours of hard work, this was our reward!!!

We were able to put our big car in the garage! Craig mentioned that he doesn't even think we could get both our cars in this garage even if the whole thing was cleaned out and I think he is right. They just don't make garages as big as they use to. We could have fit both in our old house (or Craig's parents house) if it was ever cleaned out.

This is all the trash we have to throw away tomorrow, it is a lot. After that is gone this whole part of our garage will be empty!


These are all Craig's toys (mostly paintball stuff). He will be getting a shelf or cabinet to put it away and we are giving the freezer back to his parents.

More of Craig's toys (he has a lot of hobbies)!

And here is my baby very happy to see me after a long day at school.

Have you ever seen such a big smile?

Kiss Kiss, I love my boys!

Oh and Linc seems to be doing a little better at school. This is surprising to me because I have to stop nursing him in the morning because I started a new shift at work. He was a little extra fussy last night, but tonight he did pretty good. So maybe in a few weeks we will have a happy baby again and we can all enjoy our extra hour together.

Oh and lastly, the reason we set up Craig parents house with all the baby gear is because Linc is having his first over night this Saturday! I think I am excited, and a little nervous. I have never had a night without him so I think for me it will be hard. Also, Linc will be spending time with Craig parents 1 day during the weekend. It will give him time to get to know his parents again and give us some much needed together time and time to do some things around the house. We are excited!

Waterpark Fun, Toddler Style

We have been so super busy this week! Between me being in a real estate law class, Linc starting his new school and starting new hours at work I have not had time to post this week. The good news is that we made it through the first week at the new school with just a few tears. Linc continued to be fussy when we got home, but he was apparently an angel at school. I guess he just wanted to save it for us, don't let him fool you new teachers! I think he is just testing the water, or really he is just not comfortable with them enough yet to be his wild and crazy self.

I also did good in my class and am glad it is over with! I start my new hours for good next week, 6:30 to 4pm! It will be so nice to get off early and pick up Lincoln when I need to. I will be able to make dinner too sometimes and that will help Craig out. It is still hard for me not to be the one taking and picking him up, but I know I will get use to it soon.

I popped into the Montessori today to drop off Craig's key. I saw Ms. Sandra and talked with her a bit. She really misses Lincoln and I know he misses her. I am sad to say that someone has already taken his bed at school, tear :( The funny thing is that she is one day older than Lincoln and Sandra says the mom is just like me. But the girl favors Ms. Debra, so Ms. Sandra feels left out. It was nice visiting with her.

So after a semi stressful new week, I decided that I would take Linc to the Ryan Family YMCA to swim after school on Friday. It was a perfect day for the pool. They have this nice outdoor pool that has a water slide for big kids and a little one for kids like Lincoln. Lincoln could not wait for me to take his shoes off and lather him up, he was so excited to get in the water. It was just me today because Craig was still at work and then had planned to hit golf balls. So I did not get all the pictures that I wanted, the place is really neat.

Linc and I had a great time together and enjoyed our alone time, well with all the other crazy kids at the pool that is! He went down the water slide a bunch, even climbed up the steps himself. I wish I could have got a picture, he had such a huge grin everytime. Again, since it was just me most of my shots are of his back because I was chasing after him, haha. Anyway, it was a nice finish to our week and now we are ready for the weekend!

Linc enjoying some snacks after a big swim.

Once we started playing in the water, I could not get him to look at me. Here he is playing in the big water sprays.

Here is the bottom of the big kid slide. He kept running towards it wanting to go down. Soon buddy you will be able to, but not too soon I hope!

And that was our fun day. Random thought, what is the purpose of a swim diaper? I mean, the pee goes right through the thing. I understand it will catch the poo and won't blow up like a normal diaper. But it does not absorb the pee. I was holding Linc on my hip and felt something warm so I suspected. I didn't know for sure until I put him in a clean dry one (b/c I did not have a normal diaper) for the ride home and when I picked him up his whole seat was wet. So can someone tell me why not just let them go fee, except for the whole possible poo mess. Anyway, that's just my thought for the day.

Back at Square One

This past Thursday was the hardest day I have had in a long time. That was Lincoln's last day at the Montessori school. The whole week I would sort of hyperventilate before I went to drop him off. Then on the way to work I would weep a bit.

Well Thursday topped it all. As soon I walked in the door and turned in my key, I started tearing up. Thursdays Ms. Debra opens the room, so I gave her the gift I made and a hug. I got close to all out crying. Good thing she did not open it right then, I would have started balling. I framed the picture I took of her and Linc and gave her a candle and a card to tell her how much I will miss her and what she meant to us. I could not stay as long as normal that morning because I just could not handle being there. On the way out I started balling and cried for about 5 mins, so I would say that was not so bad.

All day at work I kept thinking about how I was going to be picking him up for the last time and it made me sad. Before I even opened the door to the school, tears where running down my face. I clocked him out for the last time and went on to his room which I found was dark. I guess this was a good thing, because then I had time to process what was happening before I saw his teacher or him.

I walked into his room and began to ball. Memories of his first day came back to me, and I was so much worse off this day than his first day. I got a bag and started to collect all his things from his cubby. I got the first shoes we bought him, his old clothes he couldn't wear anymore and all his extra diapers and wipes. The final thing I got was his blanket off his cot, that was the worst. I just got on my knees and balled for 5 mins, I was a mess.


These pictures are from Linc's old school. I wanted to take some so I could remember what his room looked like. This was his cubby door, it had a picture of him on it when he first started walking.

This is the chair I nursed him in when he was just a little baby.

He ate at these tables everyday when he stared solid foods.

This is the activity part of his room, he loved the slide and the fun windows.

The crib he slept in until he could walk.

His cot he sleeps on now.

I thought I had myself back together and was ready to get Lincoln, but as soon as I saw people I started to cry again. I think I scared some of the other moms, but I told them I was just sad it was his last day. Man, having a baby sure does make you emotional. I would have never thought I would have been so sad about something like this. I think really what is getting me is that he has grown up so much here. He did so many firsts here and it all just went by so fast. You can't blink or you might miss something.

I finally saw Linc and Ms. Sandra and lost it again. She almost lost it too. She said she just could not be in his room today, it was just too sad. She updated me on his day and how he seemed to know something was going on because he was extra lovey that day. When I finally calmed down we talked for a bit and I told her how much I was going to miss her and how I know he would miss her too. We were so blessed to have such wonderful teachers and a great first experience at school.

I think this was the hardest decision we have had to make for our son. I struggled with it the most since I dropped and picked him up there every day. I had such a connection with these ladies. So it was not just like Linc was losing his teachers, it was like I was losing some friends. Now I know I can email and call them, but it won't be the same as seeing them each day.

Today was Lincoln's first day at his new school. And I felt like we were back to the beginning. He has to get use to a new school, new teachers and make new friends. We have to learn to trust his new teachers and trust in the education, all which we already had established at the old school. But after today's experience I am hopeful that we can do this.

When we got to school, the teacher welcomed Linc and took his stuff. Right afterwards she took Linc and told him to tell us bye. We were there maybe 5 mins tops. I think this was also good because I didn't have time to process what was going on and so I didn't even cry. I felt at ease and had a pretty productive day at work. When I picked him up he was happy and had taken a 2 hour nap! The teacher said he did great. Hopefully he will continue to do good, because being home with him an extra hour at night is awesome. After this semi stressful day, I think some good wii fit is in order. Goodnight!

Watermelon Fun!!!

Man oh man is summer here. What better way to enjoy summer than to have a watermelon party. Saturday night The Brawley Family came over for a visit. Craig made pulled pork and afterwards cut up a water melon for us all to enjoy. It was super hot outside so we had the kids get on their suit (or in Linc's case, just a swim diaper) and have at the swim mat. We sure have gotten a lot of use out of it. Levi, Lincoln and Avery all enjoyed themselves and we had a pretty good time watching them. They all just did the funniest things. Linc was having a blast with Levi, he just kept following him around, wanting to do whatever Levi was doing. And of course we took tons of pictures, so enjoy!

The kids all inside the playhouse. It was so hard to get them all in there at the same time, guess it was just too crowded, even for them.

Linc riding around with Levi, having a blast!

Me and Miss Avery enjoying the sun or rather the shade.

Us girls and our babies.

And she is off.

Watermelon Time!

Look at that belly all full of watermelon.

The Brawley's got a new dog they named Jax, he is so cute. He even joined in on the watermelon party.

They all had a blast and were very warn out afterwards. All the kids went to bed and we played some games, ate some yummy brownies, watched the rangers game and then called it a night. It was a very fun Saturday Night!

The LOG and His Clogs

Check Out the Latest Two Posts!

Remember those pictures of Lincoln in my shoes. Well this morning Craig caught him with both of my shoes on walking around in them. Enjoy!

Spicy Pork Playdate

I have always been a picky eater. But Craig's mom got me to open my mind when she made spicy pork 8 years ago. I remember going to Craig's house for dinner and there always being tones of things that did not look appetizing to me like weeds and kimchi. So most of the time I would just eat the plain rice and the fruit she put on the table. Well one day she served spicy pork and Craig made me try it, and boy am I glad he did because I loved it. I have Craig to thank for me opening my mind further to eating all kinds of thing I did not before. I still won't eat onions and I hate mayonnaise, but now there is more than chicken on my menu.

Craig's parents returned home from Greece about a month ago and invited us over for dinner. What was on the menu? Spicy pork of course, she knows how to please me! I even ate a few weeds this time, but still no kimchi.

They invited our old neighbors which are now their neighbors again. See we use to live in Craig's parents house while they were in Greece for two years. David and Trina came over with little Marley. She is just two months younger than Lincoln and so cute. We moved to our new house when she was just 7 months old, so they did not get to have any play dates. So we took this opportunity for them to meet again and have fun while we ate.

Lincoln loves playing with girls. He always loves his playdates with Avery. They both played with a ball, took turns running after each other and just looked at eat other a lot. We think they had a good time.

I am going to take a detour for a minute. When he went to school on Monday, Ms. Deborah was there when I picked him up. Since I didn't get to post her picture in this post I wanted to post it here. She is such a great woman and teacher, very motherly and we are going to miss her.

Here are our old neighbors, David, Trina and Marley

Marley and Mommy

Linc and Marley checking each other out

See, lots of looking at each other.

The nicest thing was that during dinner Doug had Linc sit on his lap and I got to enjoy all the spicy pork I wanted without interruption. Doug even got him to eat pork and rice, go Lincoln. He is a picky eater just like me, so that is a great stride for him. This pork is so good, Craig's mom wouldn't give us the recipe because she wanted us to come over to have it. We finally got the recipe and there are like 20 ingredients in the sauce alone, I think we will just let her make it. Plus, she makes it way better than we ever had.