Duck, duck, goose...

Nope, we didn't play the game, but we did see lots of ducks and geese at the park today! The weather felt great, a bit overcast and a slight breeze, but it was perfect for the park! I guess county schools are out for Spring Break because the park was full of kids in the middle of the day! Lincoln played for about an hour and then we headed over to see the ducks!

He did really great with them. It's been awhile since he had been that close to any so I wasn't quite sure how he would react, but he really enjoyed it. He watched them come in and out of the water and he didn't move, just sat there in awwww! He tried to talk to a few, but thankfully they didn't talk back! It was so peaceful sitting there just watching them swim, couldn't even hear the chaos of the playground across the way! We will have to go back before the weather gets too hot to enjoy!

Ok, I'm excited...

So, I'm watching DWTS, yes literally, it's a commercial! AND I'm excited! The two surprise dancers have changed the whole show this season for me! I was and still am team Melissa Rycroft from the Bachelor and love Holly on The Girls Next Door, so now I'm watching it! Go Melissa and Holly! And the little gymnast, Shawn Johnson, is adorable and did a great job, so I'm rooting her on as well!

So, I can't decide if I'm excited...

Normally at this time I would be jumping up and down with anticipation of the show, but I'm just not crazy with this seasons Dancing with the Stars line-up! I guess I will give it a watch and see if my excitement changes. I haven't heard of more than half of the stars, the professional dancers are all more of stars to me! I guess one good thing of me not liking it and not watching it ...Ash will be thrilled that it's one less "boring, waste-of-a-time, girlie" show I will be worried with this season! :) ha!

Will let you know how it goes tonight!

More snow pictures...

I don't get any credit for these great pictures, they were taken by my neighbor, Michael, who was so generous to take them and send to me! He took these pictures of our house this morning, while the snow was still on the ground, but the sun had come out! They are such wonderful pictures! And the funny thing was I had just told myself this morning that I wish I had gotten up and done this first thing before it started melting and it still looked like a blanket outside! And when I checked my email my neighbor had done it for me! Guess he read my mind! And I doubt mine would have turned out this great had I taken them myself! Thanks, Michael!

Snow filled weekend...

Snow ...again! But it's the day before March. Isn't March supposed to be Spring time??? When I hear March I think sunny skies and pretty flowers ....NOT 8 INCHES OF SNOW!





(Mine and Lincoln's first snowman together! Mini-Frosty!)

How do you wake up and within a few short hours you have 8 inches of SNOW! To some you may be thinking ...that's easy! BUT we live in MEMPHIS! This was not possible in Memphis ...that is until today! The crazy part of it all is that once the snow started falling (and falling hard and fast) I'm thinking to myself, how are Jessica and I going to pull off a bachlorette party for our friend, Lori! For it to be so cold, I was sweating!

But I am happy to say ...we did it! We had a great night and I think Lori had a fabulous time! We started at Sekisui for some yummy sushi before heading out to party! We had to sort of plan as we went with the weather like it was ...but it all worked out! We went to Blue Monkey Midtown and had a great time. After Midtown we decided to brave the roads and headed downtown. I had already decided I would be the driver for the evening, so we just took the roads slow and headed down. We went to Silky's and 152 and I must say the partying world is so much more amusing through sober eyes! :) You might not think it's possible to enjoy a night of bachloretting without cocktails ...but man for the people watcher enthusiast (that I am) it is hilarious! I had a fabulous time & I know the all the girls did too ...most importantly, Lori did!

And I can't believe I'm blogging on 3 1/2 hours of sleep! I think I'm functioning quite well for no sleep! Ash said that Lincoln was a partying kid last night, too! He said that he didn't fall asleep until almost 1:30am himself! He was begging him to go to sleep, but Lincoln wanted to pull an all-nighter too! Ash says he just wanted to play, but I like to think he was waiting up for his Mama!
So, when naptime comes around, you can bet this Mama is napping, too!

Girls & kids weekend...

Lincoln and I met Crystal and the kids this weekend at Ganny & Papa's house! It was a girls & kids weekend! We had a great weekend. The weather was so great this weekend with the exception of one windy day, but the windy ones just get spent inside ...and there is always something fun to get into at Ganny's house inside or out!

Saturday, Crystal and I took the kids to lunch at McDonald's so they could play on the play ground. They have one of those great big ones that is inside, its the first one that Lincoln has been tall enough to climb all the way through. I only had to climb in there once (yikes) to help clear the way of some not-so-polite little kids trapping him, Ethan and Evan from being able to get down. I hate a bully kid!!

After there we went to the park for a few minutes, this was the one windy day that we were there, but the kids wanted to run wild a little longer, so we braved the winds! The kids had a great time showing us all their playground tricks on the monkey bars ...and Lincoln and his slide tricks, too! :)


Before leaving we made our way onto the old bridge to look at the ducks!


The kids played hard so we settled in for the night and the kids were busying playing their video games and I was able to capture the sweetest little moment. Lincoln was mesmerized at Evan playing a hotwheels game. He just nestled into her and watched her play. The moment sure melted our hearts for sure and reminds me how happy it makes me that the kids are so close!
The next morning they were back where they left off ...the video games!



Sunday the weather was perfect! The kids spent some time outside running around and helping Ganny feed the birds and water the grass! And helping water the grass turned into ..."hey, let's run through the sprinkler with our clothes on!" Ahhhh!





The town just got an inflatable jump place kind of like Pump It Up, it's just much smaller. The kids had a great time ...with the exception of a few bigger, out of control kids that were there running around! It was a great ending to a great weekend! We hated to see Crystal and the kids leave on Sunday, but they had to get back. Lincoln and I drove back on Tuesday. We were going to come home Monday, but my shoulder was hurting and Lincoln ended up with a tummy bug, so we waited and came back yesterday. He is still feeling a little under the weather, but we saw the doctor today and its just a bug that's going around!

Check out the giveaway, while you follow Wife In Training as she becomes ...My Life as Mrs. M...

Yay, giveaways!!!

My friend Lori, Wife in Training, is hosting another Giveaway! You should check it out!

It is for a chic wine bottle holder filled with goodies, a cute little scrapbook, a Shopping platter, a ribbon candle holder, and a surprise piece of jewelry!
GOOD LUCK!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone...

Back in town...

We went to Ohio this weekend! Ash had a meeting Monday morning in Dayton, so we decided to make a weekend trip out of it! We are wanting to get new furniture for our den and we both love the stores West Elm and Crate & Barrel and since we don't have either here ...we decided to take a look! We found several sofa's and chairs that we like, but haven't decided on one just yet, probably going to be one of the choices that we found though. We have to measure the den, find a coffee table and end tables that we like before we make our final decision. Which is your favorite??? (We will be getting dark grey)

The Cameron

The Delaney

The Hennesy

The Troy

We got to Columbus late Friday night, but still got to see Nadeen & Amir for dinner! It was so great to see them (meet him)! We were all really starting to have "Dean" withdrawals! Ash was so nice and watched Lincoln after dinner and the three of us went out! We had a blast and we shut down Columbus! Saturday we drug them shopping with us which was alot of fun! I mean from shopping to listening Lincoln serenade all of Crate & Barrel with his new harmonica ...how can you beat that! It was hilarious ...he was so good & so cute that we should have put a can in front of him and he might have been able to pay for the furniture for us! We spent most of the day hanging out, shopping and eating lunch before having to say good bye to them, they had to be back in Cleveland that night! :( We missed them before they left the parking lot, that is for sure!

Saturday night and Sunday night we ate dinner at some of Ash's other cousins houses and had such a great time! Lincoln loved playing with all his cousins and one even nick-named him Linky! It was adorable coming from a 3 year old, but a nick-name I feel sure he isn't going to want to keep! :) It was so nice to see everyone and I couldn't believe how much all the kids had grown since the last time we were all together about 6 months ago. After dinner Saturday night, Ash was excited to get to go out with a group of his cousins for some much needed guy time! I believe they closed down Columbus that night! :)

Sunday we did some more shopping in Cincinnati at IKEA! That place is an adults playground! We bought some things for the house and Ash bought some stuff for the coffee shop! I could have spent a week in there just walking around and probably then wouldn't have seen everything!

Ash had his meeting on Monday, so by the time we got back to Memphis it was so late and we were all exhausted! I swear the time went by so fast on the trip there, but it DRUG along coming home, it felt like we had been in the car for 20 hours straight. And the crazy part is that we didn't even have as far to go coming back on Monday because we were already in Cinci!

And I know you are all reading this and thinking ...she is bound to have tons of pictures that she is saving for us at the end ...BUT NOPE! Lincoln (he didn't mean to) kicked my camera out of the back of my truck at the park before our trip. He didn't see it and I was dumb for putting it where I did and before I could grab it, IT HIT THE GROUND! It worked for a few pictures, but now it won't do anything but tell me to turn it off and back on! :( I'm going to take it in this week and see if they can fix it! I'm lost without it! Since Lincoln was born I think I've taken at least 10 pictures everyday ...and on most days more than that! The thought of buying a disposable one for the time being just makes me want to cry! And I'm hoping that they can fix it without costing me an arm and a leg!

Well, I'm going to run for now! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Flour on the floor, flour in my hair...

I finally did it! I baked bread! YAY! Jen Ken has been trying to get me into bread baking for probably the last year! I've fed starter, I've dumped starter, I've asked for more starter, gone out of town and not fed the starter and then asked for more (thanks Jen!). And now I have done all that for a reason ...I HAVE NOW BAKED MY FIRST 2 LOAVES!

So, I prepped it last night, getting it all mixed and ready to rise overnight!


And this morning I crawled out of bed EARLY ...beat it, rolled it in flour and got it ready to bake!  Unfortunately, I was so tired and half asleep when I was doing this part that I forgot to take pictures of the big doughy blob that was waiting on me when I woke up! Then I baked it for 30 minutes ....and wa-la I have bread (& a prond soul)! I DID IT!

The presentation outside of the bag can use a little practice, but I thought it tasted yummy and Ash said he liked it ...although he could love me that much that he didn't want to hurt my feelings! :) So, I sent a loaf to my mother-in-law to see what she thinks! We'll see what she says! I at least, packaged it pretty for her!

If anyone is wanting to take part in the bread making frenzy, let me know! I'll give you a cup of starter to get yourself STARTED!

Cheese! Now, stop with the pictures...

So, as you can see (incase you missed it) I changed the heading!  I figured since IT IS mostly about Lincoln I should add that! :)  

We decided to make it another park day, it's a little cold still and definitely nothing but clouds in the sky, but we needed the fresh air!  Lincoln asked for the slides today, so we decided to take a few minutes and get out!  We had a great time running around and he loves to watch me go down the biggest, winding slide!  He laughs so hard when I come down it, I wish someone would have been there to take a picture ...because whatever he sees is HILARIOUS!  No one else was there today until right as we were leaving.  But we didn't care, just more slides for us and room to run!

I also used the opportunity to take some pictures and play around with some of the things I'm learning in my photography workshop!  We learned in our second week about taking pictures of something or someone moving, but where the object or person looks still!   Running at the park is a great place to practice that for sure!

Definitely not the pictures of a professional, but hey practice makes perfect, so I'll keep practicing! He was so funny, trying to dodge the camera and finally I asked him to just say CHEESE and I'd stop with the pictures! So, he said cheese and I stopped...



But not without taking one last picture! He looked so big walking off like this!


Have a great weekend...

"Teamwork Mama"...

This has to be my new favorite phrase! I hear it from Lincoln everyday and every time he says it I think I get as excited as the first time! I of course can't take full credit for it because I'm sure he got it from watching Nick Jr's, Wonder Pets! I guess I owe all or most of the credit to Linny, Tuck & Ming Ming!

It is so sweet and he knows when he is using teamwork, but he always makes sure to point it out to me! HA! We were making his bed (no you can't even tell at the moment that we did make it today) and I was getting the pillows and he was pulling the blanket and he says it without skipping a beat ..."Teamwork Mama!" It makes me so proud and always makes me smile!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

And it did! We got snow! Not enough to shut the city down ...well it did shut down the schools, but its really just a little blanket of snow out there! The roads look fine as of right now! Lincoln and I got out in it for a little bit! He'd finally not coughing anymore, so I didn't want to stay out long, but I know he wanted to get out in it, so we did! We ran around in it for a little bit and he found a nice puddle and jumped right in! ha!

We both slept late this morning so we missed it actually falling. I'm not sure if it stopped during the night or the early morning. Last year we got to see it fall, but this year we just got to enjoy it on the ground! We heard the ice falling last night while we were laying in bed and I was worried that the roads were going to be really bad, but it must not have been cold enough!

Here are a few pictures of what we got...



I was looking at the pictures and realized that Lincoln is still wearing the same hat from last year! Made me want to go through the snow pictures from last year, so I did! I found this one and wanted to compare ...the difference one year makes!

Snow 2008

Snow 2009