Family, food and fireless-poppers...

We had a great 4th of July! We grilled out with Sedo to celebrate. Aamo Iymon and Amto Samia made dinner for all of us (which was yummy). Amto Seema was off work and got to join us as well! Ammo Abu Sultan is still in town so he was also there to enjoy the night. We had a great time!

(Yes, that is me barely making it into the picture ...my timer is broken on my camera, so it only allows me 2 seconds and it was quite a leap to my spot ...ha)

After dinner, Lincoln and Ash went outside to throw poppers and shoot confetti poppers! We decided firecrackers might not have been a good idea so we opted for the fireless ones! They were perfect because Lincoln could partake in the fun without getting hurt! He had a blast! He loved throwing the snap-pops at Sedo and Abu Sultan's feet. They would die laughing and that tickled Lincoln. He also got a kick out of laying out a hand full in front of the door and then calling me to come outside ...and of course I would step on them and cause them to pop! I didn't fall for it once, or twice ...but three times! He thought it was hilarious!




It was really nice to relax and enjoy the evening with family! Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday!

Memorial Day in Carriere...

Lincoln and I went to see Nana & Poppy this weekend while Ash went to a wedding in Ohio. We had a great time. We joked that we hardly left the house the whole weekend except to go to dinner Friday night and once to the store ...but those to me are the best kinds of weekends with family. They live on several acres so there was much room to run, so Lincoln was in heaven. Friday night we went out for catfish and it was so yummy. It was so rainy this weekend, so we spent most of our time inside or on the porch playing. We did get in the pool for a few minutes on Saturday afternoon. Lincoln didn't like it much because it was still pretty cold, so he stood on the side and played catch with Poppy and the beach ball!

In between rain showers Lincoln took the opportunity to run as much as he could. This kid ...ran, ran, and ran some more! I have the pictures to prove it! ha






Lincoln helped Poppy with the yard work, too! Nana cut the grass with the riding mower, Poppy weedeated, Lincoln helped carry off the grass and I ...well, I watched and took pictures! :) I had the most important job, I supervised! haha!



Lincoln and I played hide & go seek. All the trees everywhere made for great hiding spots for Lincoln!


The trees were great for peeling bark too!


Poppy and Lincoln fed the birds and blew lots of bubbles, too!



And Lincoln even enjoyed a little time in the rain ...catching rain drops on his tongue and jumping in puddles!



And if all of that didn't sound like great enough, I saved the best for last! JANET's RED BEANS AND RICE!!! Oh my! It was by far my favorite part of the trip! She makes the best ones and even shared her secrets and gave me a little cooking class! :)

We had a great time and are looking forward to our next trip down to visit!

Weekend full of celebrating...

This past weekend was not only Mother's Day, but Monday was our 4th wedding anniversary! We had a busy weekend! Friday night Ash and I ended up going out on a date to celebrate our anniversary. We had a great time. We had dinner at Bhan Thai and then headed to our hookah lounge for a few hours to have coffee and just relax! It was a great night!

Saturday we had a family, lazy day at the house ... a much needed one! It was nice to all just be together for the day. On Sunday, we went to Sitty & Sedo's for a Mother's Day cookout. We had a great time. Everyone was there, except Iymon, he had to work, but we did get to visit with his new bride, Samia! Lincoln and Layah spent most of their time running around in the backyard in the wet grass ....yuck! They didn't seem bothered by it one bit, they were having a blast!








Layah and Lincoln even helped Ash and Sedo with the grilling! :)



And after our yummy dinner, Sedo, Lincoln and Layah sure did enjoy their cupcakes! :)




I had a wonderful Mother's Day & Anniversary weekend!

Our Cinco de Mayo...

Lincoln and I had a good Cinco de Mayo. We were both tired of the rain and excited to get out of the house. We even got several visits from our little squirrel friends this morning when we put out the bird seed! We haven't had many visits in the last few days! (Lincoln loves getting to feed the birds and squirrels ....thank you Ganny again for the bird feeder! :)

With the rain gone today, we knew we should make a run for the park! So we did! We had a great time running around and are now just waiting for a few weeks when we can enjoy the sprinkler park.

After the park, we picked up Molly and headed to eat an early dinner at On The Border. Molly was feeling margarita's and Lincoln and I were really feeling chips and cheese dip! I wasn't planning on doing anything festive for dinner, but Molly called and invited us! I'm glad she did, we really enjoyed ourselves! Thanks, Mo!

Lincoln took a really late nap because we were gone most of the day. He slept for almost 4 hours and then woke up wanting a late night snack! We had some popcorn! He figured out a new way to eat and enjoy it ...it's so funny how imaginative kids can be! Nothing like eating popcorn with a shovel:) Silly kid!



Well, it's been a long and busy day and I'm drained, so good night! Hope everyone had a safe and happy Cinco de Mayo!

It's 2009 and I'm SO BEHIND...

Let's see, where did I leave off...

Oh, wow, before Christmas! Well, let me catch everyone up! We went to Texas this year for Christmas! It was great! We celebrated at Crystal's this year. We are going to try to alternate it each year, so no one has to do all the traveling. We left Memphis on Christmas Eve and got there in time for dinner and gifts! :) My mom had been busy for two days cooking and had made such a great spread for everyone, I don't think I'd ever seen so much food! It was YUMMY ...thanks Ganny!

The kids had a blast opening gifts as usual! It was more exciting than last year for Lincoln, he actually knows what presents are now, so he was thrilled with it all and so fun for us to watch him!



Ethan and Evan got Nintendo DS's and that was absolutely their favorite part of their Christmas gifts, ha! We could barely get them off those things! Lincoln got so many things, I don't know if he had a favorite, he just seemed excited about everything!


Christmas morning was MORE PRESENTS! We woke up and got ready and headed to Crystal's for Santa.

We were so surprised when we got there ...Santa had left Ethan & Evan a horse! They got Shiloh The Horse! She is beautiful and so gentle! The kids were so excited!

Lincoln was not a big fan of the horse, I think it was a little too big for him, so he was more excited about his new Diego Train for now and will love Shiloh in time!

After playing with Santa's gifts and eating some yummy leftovers for lunch we took the kids to see The Tale of Despereaux. It was such a cute movie and it was Lincoln's first movie to sit through. I'm sure that it helped that he slept through half of it.

Outside the Hilton after seeing the movie...


Friday after the festivities we took the kids to get their pictures taken together! Let's just say that taking pictures of my child at this age is EXHAUSTING! He is great when it comes to candid shots, but getting him to sit and pose for the camera ...close to impossible! Ethan & Evan were such good sports. Evan was really good at trying to get him to sit down with her. Finally they played a little game with him where they would all run around and then plop down on the ground, they knew that when he sat down they were supposed sit down as close as possible to him and SMILE BIG! It worked! We captured ONE picture of them all three smiling and facing forward. It might not be the most common pose for the photographer, but I was thrilled with it and I know Crystal was too! The other kicker ...the vest! Crystal bought these adorable vests for them to all wear. I forgot to mention when she got them that Lincoln hates anything that comes up high on his neck, so of course that is why my child doesn't have on his cute vest! HA! But hey, the picture turned out cute so that's all that matters! And of course, I'm sure you'd all like to see the picture ...but my scanner is giving me fits so I can't scan it! :( But as soon as its working, I'll post it!

After the crazy photo session, we headed to Chick-fil-a for lunch. I did manage to get an adorable picture ...candid shot of course ...of all three of them together! The picture just shows off their wonderful smiles and the wonderful closeness of them, which just melts my heart!


Well, the holidays are over and the new year has begun and I know I'm looking forward to a wonderful 2009!
Happy New Year everyone!