Today at the park...

Lincoln had a great time at the park today and I had a great time playing around with the black/white photography!

Little Rock for the night...

We had a great weekend. We spent the beginning of the weekend around the house and running errands. Sunday we went to Little Rock with Ash. He had to go to for a late meeting and an early morning surgery on Monday. I decided to take Lincoln in our own car, so we could be with Ash that night for dinner, but be able to get out and play on Monday ourselves. Plus Lincoln LOVES hotel rooms! He gets so excited every time we check into one!

We stayed at the Embassy Suites, which was awesome because we had a den area and a bedroom ...which meant more room to RUN and play!

Plus the beds are great for jumping on ....while also eating popcorn at 9:30 ...why not, its vacation! :)

And then passing out in a bed of lots of white, fluffy pillows, makes for a great ending to a great evening!


We met up for lunch with Ash on Monday and then Lincoln and I headed to the Museum of Discovery. The museum was fun. There was more for older children, but Lincoln still had a great time. He of course found the TRUCKS, surprise, surprise! And enjoyed playing with them and digging in the "fake dirt"!

He also enjoyed the slides. The big slide he enjoyed sliding down, but the baby slide he realized quick was too little and not so much fun for himself, but the perfect size for the plastic grasshopper! So, down the grasshopper went ...over and over and over!

Lincoln also found the wacky mirror to be extremely entertaining! Maybe we should buy one for the house for him!

And we might have to get a few lizards too for the house because Lincoln loved the ones at the museum. He was not scared of them at all, I was the one who was a little freaked out by them!

It was a nice little get-away for us & we enjoyed it!

Wrestling with Daddy...

Lincoln loves to jump on Ash. It's the funniest thing to watch ...but I will tell you, being the one getting jumped on is rough, I've been there. You realize quick how heavy his little 30lbs really is ...ha! I think his giggle is what helps suffer through the pain! Lincoln and Ash were busy wrestling on Monday night. Ash even gave him a wrestling hair-do! My silly boys!

My Happy Birthday...

My 31st birthday was wonderful! It was like a birthday weekend ...from lunch with friends, dinner with friends and family day Sunday! I enjoyed every minute of it! I really appreciate all my gifts & birthday wishes! I am blessed with the greatest family and most amazing friends!
Make a wish!

Flat Stanley...

Ethan & Evan are in the first grade now and just read a book called Flat Stanley.

It's about a little boy who becomes flat when a bulletin board falls on him. At first he is really sad, but then realizes that since he is flat he can do all sorts of new things. One thing is that he could be folded into an envelope and mailed to family and friends ...where he can go on new adventures!

So you guessed it ...Flat Stanley has arrived in Memphis. In fact, one arrived today and the other should be arriving on Saturday. Turns out they both have the same assignment in both of their classes! Today arrived Flat Stanley #1 as I'm calling him and he belongs to Ethan! Crystal and I have decided that we are going to enjoy this assignment far more than any of the children in their classes. She knew I would get into the project just as much as she would. In fact, I have so much planned for the Stanley's ...trips to the zoo, Graceland, down to the river, Sun Studios and much, much more! In fact, Stanley #1 had his first car ride in Memphis and his first hair cut with Fred, today! :)

The assignment only asks that we send a souvenir and a picture next to a landmark for the kids to take to class and share their stories. I've decided to take lots of pictures and do a little photo album for each of them to take to school and then keep. I thought it really make them excited about the assignment! They were both really excited when Crystal told them they were going to send the Flat Stanley's to Memphis. They will get to come visit them when they are in town next month for Lincoln's birthday!

Here is Flat Stanley #1's first evening in Memphis...

The BIG BOY Bed...

Well, we decided that the toddler bed Lincoln had been sleeping in was just not doing the trick. He would go to sleep in it, but he never would stay the whole night in it. Every morning around 1 or 2am he would make his way into our room wanting to get in bed with us. Of course, I won't lie and say I hated that because it actually is wonderful having him there, but no one was really getting a good nights sleep. We thought maybe he would sleep better in his bed if we got him a bigger one. He had one of those converter cribs that becomes a toddler bed and then a full size bed. We went ahead and made it a full! We were all excited ...Ash was going to get more sleep, I was going to get to go shopping and pick out bedding and Lincoln was going to have something even bigger to jump on ...we all win, right! ha!

The bed looks so great! We went with the car & truck theme because of course Lincoln is addicted to them! Everything he talks about revolves around cars and trucks somehow! He loves it! We put the bed together and rearranged his room. For the first time, he went to bed in his bed and didn't get out of it until 7:30 this morning! It was great! Everyone got a great nights rest!

Lincoln is loving the bed because like I mentioned before ....he gets something bigger to jump on!!! He is great about not jumping on it unless we are in there! He is however a jumping machine!!!! He does hate the pillows on there, that's the first thing he takes off the bed when he goes into his room! Crazy kid!

The bed...

Lincoln removing his pillows...

So he can JUMP...

I guess we are getting too big...

Lincoln always wakes up from his nap in the afternoons and comes to find me or Ash. Everyday its the same thing. You hear the little thud as his feet hit the floor from the bed, the pitter patter of his feet as he comes down the hall, when he turns the corner to the den he comes around the corner hair standing up on his head with his arms out wanting me to hold him for a few minutes and then he's off to play! I love those few moments with him. He just hugs and holds on tight!

Well today, I heard the thud and few patters and then a slam of a door. It wasn't a scary slam of the door, I knew exactly where he went. He had gone and gotten into our shower to play! He's been going in there lately to play with all the sponge numbers and letters that are in there.

He was just a playing away... So I snuck in for a picture!


I guess he is growing up and doesn't need those few moments with his mommy anymore after his naps! It just breaks my heart that our boy is growing up!

Our day today...

Lincoln and I had a great day today. We went to Folk's Folly to see our friends. We had a great time visiting with them, I sure miss my girls. Donna, Heidi and I spent time chatting while Lincoln learned some tunes on the piano with Patrick. Patrick was so good with him and Lincoln had a blast! Guess we have a Rockstar on our hands after all and will be investing in a piano for the house!

After our trip to the Folly we headed off to our new favorite park. We went a few times over the last week and love it. They have a spray park, but I thought it was closed since it's after Labor Day ...I was wrong! Lincoln had a blast splashing around today. The weather was still hot so it wasn't too cold to get wet! I just wish I had known about this place this summer ...at least I know where we will be spending alot of time next summer.

HUGE Milestone...

Ok, so everyone knows that Lincoln will be TWO next month and you can easily say that both Ash and I have been complete push-overs when it comes to Lincoln's sleep schedule. He sleeps and naps as much as any other child, but his schedule is just different times than most! It hasn't been an issue because he doesn't go to daycare or Mother's day out, but its been something that we have really been trying to change ...but he has always won!

When we had the scare with him at 15 months old with his hemoglobin issues, he has been in a toddler bed. He began sleeping much lighter after that, possibly from all the hospital visits and being woken up to nurses & needles. It was easier to lay him down in the toddler bed than trying to put him over into his crib without waking him. He's always fallen asleep and then we move him to his room. He's never been one to fall asleep on his own in his bed, our fault completely, but tonight that all changed! He officially went to sleep in his bed tonight for the first time! He was such a big boy about it, never put up a fuss or anything. He just laid down and I knelt by his bed. He of course wanted to play with my hair for a few minutes (which he has always done), but he did and then off to sleep he fell! It felt so great! And on top of everything it was 8:30pm ...not 10:30!

I had to take a picture ...as I do everything else! :) Good night!

Day at the park...

Lincoln and I went to the park today. We had a great time. We really wanted to play in the Spray Park, but it was so windy and a little cool outside, so we will save that for a warmer day! The slides were great and he had a blast on them. He met a little friend and they played so well together. He was with his grandpa and neither spoke English, but that didn't matter for the boys, they seemed to understand each other anyway! It was cute to watch!

More from our weekend...

A few more pictures from our Labor Day Weekend. We hope you enjoy them!

Photographers really do earn their money...

Crystal, Aleica & I took the kids to Shelby Farms to try to get a good picture of all the grandkids together for Poppy & Nana. I don't think any of us realized how hard it was going to be to get 5 kids to all smile at the same time (and all look in the same direction)! We had originally decided that we would all get the kids together this weekend at Poppy & Nana's and get their pictures made, but Hurricane Gustav really put a damper on those plans. Instead we all met in Memphis at the last minute. We decided that I would just do the pictures since it was so last minute, but next time we will get a pro for sure! We fought off bugs and bees and finally got one shot with them all at least looking in the same direction ...you would never know it, but they were all looking at a puppy in the shot. A girl was there with her little puppy and we finally just asked if she minded if we used if for a moment! ha! It worked they all at least looked up for the picture!

Festival with the kids...

Today was such a blast with all the kids. Alecia, Caroline & Camille got to Memphis this afternoon. We decided we would all go to Delta Fest, so the kids could ride some rides and eat some yummy food! All accomplished ...rode lots of rides and they ate pizza and corn dogs for dinner, who could ask for a better night! All the kids played so well together, it was so great to watch! I managed to take tons of pictures from today, but not any luck really getting one with all the 5 grandkids together, that is our goal for tomorrow! Wish me luck! Here are a few pictures that I did get today and tonight!

Ethan, Lincoln & Evan


Camille, Evan, Ethan & Caroline


Ethan, Camille, Caroline & Evan


Camille & Evan


Ethan & Caroline


Ash & Lincoln