Cars, Trucks, Trains and especially Airplanes

Just like most little boys, Lincoln loves any moving thing with a motor. I never paid attention to train whistles outside or airplanes in the sky before I had Lincoln: I just drowned the noises out. It is amazing to me that his little ears perk up for any kind of moving vehicle.

For the past couple weeks, Lincoln has been really fascinated by helicopters ("copder") and planes. Lucky for him, his Papa has a private pilot licence and has his own airplane. We decided to fly to Portland when Dave came in from Charlotte last week. I was worried about how Lincoln would handle the noise and turbulence of a small plane, but he loved every second! He looked out the window, watched some movies, ate snacks, and even got to fly the plane for a little bit.

Besides flying in the plane, he got to see his Daddy, so I'm thinking it was a fantastic day for the little guy!

Small Things

This is just a reminder for me of all the small things that make me happy. We have received all "no thanks" for a couple jobs we thought might really happen, and Lincoln has now climbed out of his crib twice tonight, so really this is just for me, but you can read if you want.

It makes me happy when Lincoln crowds around his cousins. He adores the Huntsman boys, and I so appreciate the attention they give him.

Lincoln loves to help me bake. He does a great job with cupcake liners. (Sydney helped too.)

Lincoln likes to show affection by giving pats. He held on to Dave's arm and patted it most of the way back from picking him up from the airport. He missed his dad! I don't have a picture of the pats, but I also have to say that I missed Dave so much: we had never been apart for a week before. The sweet "love" email he sent me when he was gone was a small thing that definitely made my happy!

I think it is so cute when Link says "Cheese" for the camera. He doesn't do it often, because I can rarely get him to look at the camera. I got him this day though, and the picture caught the space between his front teeth, another small thing that makes me happy.

How do little boys make such great sound effects? It makes me happy when he throws rocks into the water and makes a "spasht" sound.

Dave held Lincoln until he fell asleep just now. That really makes me happy, and with that I will try to have sweet dreams and not think about all the "no's" from this past week.

The Craft Bug

I have never really been interested in crafty stuff. Actually, this post is going to make my mom flip: She is so crafty and would beg me to do projects with her, and I would always refuse. So, I don't know when I got it, but the Craft Bug finally hit me. Maybe it was all the blogs I have been reading...Zandi and her amazing hats; Jen and her monthly craft nights; Donna and her decorating; Natalie and her quilting; Rachel and her little bit of everything...

It started with a tutu. My SIL Amy and I decided to make some tutus together. I know I don't have a daughter, but I do have nieces. These were so easy to make, and I am happy with how they turned out. I can't wait to see pictures of Penny and Baby Girl Shinsel in their tutus. Dave will be upset that I am sharing this info, but Link LOVED the tutus. He honestly would put them on and dance around. Yikes, we need to get this kid some more dirt to play in!

Mama Shinsel also contributed to this craft bug. She handed me a bag of old jeans and said, "You could make a nice picnic blanket with these." I was laughing in my head, because tutus are one thing, but sewing machines are totally different. I had lots of help, and ended up with this great blanket. The sewing machine didn't even make me throw up like I thought it would! The front is denim squares in a random pattern, and the back and edges are a funky red cotton material. (Don't you love my model...he's giving you his profile shot.)

When we went to pick up material for the blanket, I found some Cars material. I need to explain that Lincoln LOVES the movie Cars. It makes sense that he likes it: it's just like Thomas but with cars and not with British accents. Anyway, Grandma already had most of the Cars characters, she bought him Cars dining ware, and now he has a Cars blanket. He carries it around everywhere!

I found a cute dress that was super on sale, but when I tried it on at home, it was too short. For the first time in my life, I thought, I can fix it. I am planning on sewing some material on the bottom, just to make it longer.

I realize kindegardners could do these projects, but I'm still excited about all of them. Now I just need some more ideas, so keep craft blogging my creative friends!

Stories from the Crib

Last week, I put Lincoln to bed in his pack-in-play at Grandma's house. Usually Link does really well falling asleep on his own. It is rare for him to cry. I was surprised when I heard him screaming on the monitor a couple minutes after I put him down. This cry wasn't a "I'm sad that I have to go to sleep cry." It was a scared/hurt cry. I walked down the stairs, and I will never forget this image...the door to Lincoln's bedroom opened slowly and out walks the little guy so upset. I should have known he would climb out one day: I started climbing out of my crib at this age and it is only fair that he do the same. I think he got so dang scared from the fall, because he hasn't done it since that night!


The weather has been warmer lately, so I put Link down for a nap in just his tee-shirt. When he woke up, I walked into his very dark room. I couldn't see much yet, but Lincoln was holding out something for me. He said, "This??" in a question form, and I was handed his diaper. It could have been much worse, he hadn't used the bathroom in his crib yet and it wasn't a number 2.

Non-related crib news, Dave is in Charlotte for a job interview with Bank of America. It is weird that we have flip-flopped hometowns for the week. Keep fingers and toes crossed for us!

A lot of "Firsts"

Lincoln turned 21 months the past week, and he has experienced a lot of "firsts."

*He went to his first play. Four of my nephews were in "Princess and the Pea," and they put on a great performance. Lincoln actually enjoyed it: we only missed 5 minutes because Link just had to climb the stairs at the theater.

*Lincoln has enjoyed ice-cream before, but last week he got his own ice-cream cone. Why are little kids so cute when they have food all over their face? It never looks good on me! He felt like such a big boy holding his own cone. He did so well the first time, that he got another one the next night!

*The best "first" was going to the beach for the Shinsel family reunion. I was worried about how Link was going to like the beach, because Dave and I both LOVE it. My worries disappeared when we walked down to the ocean for the first time. Link seriously spazzed out! He thought it was the coolest thing to be in a huge sandbox with waves.

We had a great vacation. Lincoln had a blast flying kites, playing with cousins, running from the waves, playing pool, and eating lots of junk food. It was great to see family members we haven't seen for a while.

* I also had a first. I tried real, fresh crab meat. It was super tasty, and I even got to re-taste it as I got food poisoning that night. I don't want to blame the crab, because it was so yummy. I'm just thankful my stomach waited until we were done driving home from the coast.

A really crazy first is that my sweet niece Penny, who was born in March, is the first person in our family (that we know of) to have albinism. She was just diagnosed at her 3 month check-up, because she can't focus her eyes: they are always shifting. The good news is that there are surgeons who can operate as early as 6 months, and the exercises that her mom is doing with her are helping her. She was able to reach out and grab her brother's finger.

Road Trip

This past week, Dave, Lincoln, Mama Shinsel, Tyler and Devin (two of our nephews) went on a little road trip. Tyler is a rising senior and is a fantastic football player. Some college scouts invited him to a couple football camps, and his mom with 7 other kids to care for at home, asked Mama Shinsel to escort him to Idaho State and Weber State.

The 3 Shinsels tagged along, because Dave just really likes football, PLUS, we got to pick up Elder Williams from the Ogden Utah Mission Home. I hadn't seen Reed in 2 years, so Lincoln has never met his Uncle Reed. It was so great to see him and catch up on what he has been doing. I have been warned that missionaries can be a little weird after 2 years, but Reed surprised me: he still had a great sense of humor and was fun to talk to. He did however, throw in a scripture reference once. I am really proud of my lil brother for serving the Lord with full obedience and charity for the people of the Ogden mission.

When we got back from our road trip, Lincoln and his cousin Sydney had their reunion. She is only 6 months younger than Lincoln and they interact really well together. Lincoln is already attached and talks about "Syd" when she isn't around. I keep forgetting to write that Lincoln says his whole name..."Ikies Arder Shinshaw" Time really can just stop right now: I know I have said it before, but this is such a fun age!

We have another road trip planned in a couple weeks, and I hope it goes as well as this past one.

It is grand in LaGrande

I'm sorry about the title, but I couldn't resist. We made it out West, and we are enjoying a beautiful sunny Saturday. Who knows, we might even hit up Hog Wild Days later tonight! Lincoln was a fantastic traveler, but is still adjusting to the time change. He is up and ready to go at 5 am. I remember when I used to wake up at 5 am for early seminary in high-school, and it didn't seem as hard as it does now. Anyway, Dave has already put in a full day of work with Vic and he has had another phone interview, his 4th. I am thinking/hoping he will get a job before the end of July.

We packed in a ton before we left NC including Tweetsie Railroad, Hiddenite Mining, Science center, and Hickory Dickory Dock, but without my computer I just feel so lost to post pictures.