The Many Faces of Drake

We had such a fun weekend out in Utah! I have to blog about it once I get all my pictures together. I had Dave's brother Barry take some pictures of Drake, and he captured all of his expressions!

Serious

Sly

Giddy

Slobbery

Worried

Rock the Mic

We have known for a while that Lincoln is NOT a shy kid. I didn't realize how much of a ham he is, until the lake trip. To say he LOVED the microphone is an understatement! When we did karaoke, it was hard for him to share the microphone. He kept on singing "Martha Speaks" and Thomas the train songs.

This past Sunday the Primary kids (ages 3-12) put on their presentation during church. It was a great presentation, and I was enjoying it when all of the sudden it hit me...

Lincoln will be in the presentation next year! This means he will get to use the microphone: this means he will have to share the microphone. Heaven help his teacher!!

I hate that only his backside is showing, but here's proof he hogged the mic.

Drakie

I have such a sweet baby. My Drakie boy is a very easy baby, and he is even getting better at sleeping! Lincoln loves him just as much as I do. Usually Lincoln asks me for milk first thing in the morning. Today, he asked to see his Drakie, even before he asked for milk. You know that is love!




Drake's neck is getting so strong, it doesn't wobble anymore. I figured since he can hold his head up, he can go in the exersaucer. It is funny to see him move around in it, since he is still just a little guy.




He hasn't been taking very long naps, but he is only waking up once during the night. I would much rather have more sleep at night! I swear he does smile a ton, I just can't get a picture of him smiling. In all of his pictures he looks so serious.

Drakie and I had lots of time together while Lincoln was at the airshow with my parents and Dave was at a Ju-Jitsu workshop.

No surprise, Lincoln loved the airshow. He came home jumping up and down, telling me about the helicopters.




Dave came home excited too...he got his blue belt. He told me that's kind of a big deal, because it usually takes 2 years to get one and it only took him 9 months. Yay Dave!

Mommy and Me Preschool

Yesterday I took Lincoln to our first Mommy and Me preschool. Four other mommies and kiddos joined us! We have a very creative and talented woman in our church who created lesson plans for the entire year; there are 5 different activities that each mom splits up and prepares. Yesterday our lesson plan was based around the book, "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?" Here is Danielle's blog if you are interested http://www.preschoolbookclub.blogspot.com/

We started out with our gathering activity: making necklaces with the different animals from the book. Emilie, Mason's mommy, was in charge of this activity. Here is Mason showing off his gorgeous necklace.




Next, we had circle time. Mikilani read the book, we sang songs and changed the words based on the book, and then we played a game based on the book. The kids had to sit on pillows on the floor and take turns. Most of them did well, can you guess who did have a difficult time staying in one place? Lincoln and Sean hadn't seen each other in a while, so they thought it would be more fun to wrestle.

Art time was next. Lyla's mom Lynsey was in charge, and we did the cutest craft! We made brown bears out of tissue paper and brown beans. The kids were just excited to use glue.




My favorite part was snack time. Buffy is a great baker, so of course she made rolls in the shape of bears. She also brought honey butter and fruit salad.




I was in charge in of the sensory activity. I dyed rice all different colors and put them in 2 gallon buckets with an animal in each bucket. The kids had to dig through the rice and find the animal. Once they found it and told their mommy what type of animal and the color of the animal, then they could move on to the other bucket.




We ended with a goodbye poem, and then the tears started. Lincoln did not want to leave, he had so much. It's going to be a great school year!

Lake Gaston

It had been planned for months and months...our family vacation. My poor mom had put so much time into finding a house and airline tickets for everyone. Cleve and Carson were flying in from Nebraska; Kristin and Penny from Ohio (after her eye appointment); Chelsea and Reed from Utah; even my grandma and uncle's family were coming down to join us at the Outer Banks. Then Irene happened. Thank goodness mom purchased hurricane insurance. We were able to find a house on Lake Gaston at the very last minute. My uncle's family didn't make it, because Irene knocked a hole in his roof and caused a flood in his basement. Thankfully, everyone else did make it, and we had a blast!

There was plenty of room for everyone at the house; even Kristin's dad came up and stayed with us.

We had fun jumping on the water trampoline,

kayaking,




swimming and jet skiing,

coloring,




singing karaoke,

and celebrating. We celebrated Kristin's birthday and had a mini bridal shower for Chelsea.

The only thing that would have made this trip better, was if Dave got to come. I hate to see my family go home. It really stinks we all live so far apart! Carson, who turns 5 this month, and I went out for a kayak ride together. He turned around in the chair and talked to me the whole time I was paddling. My heart melted when he said,"You know what I'm going to dream about tonight? That I went on a BIG, HUGE kayak." When I asked him if there would be seats for lots of people he said, "No, just 2 seats, one for you and me." Oh, how I love all my nieces and nephews! Oh, how they love each other!