Catch Up

I so want to catch up, but only making time for a little bit. We are in our house, and loving it! It is so nice for Dave to be only 20 minutes from work: this means we get to see more of him/put him to work at home. Lincoln has been having fun playing with all the toys that were in storage for 5 months, and Drake is loving the freedom of crawling all over the place!

There aren't any appropriate words to describe how wonderful my Mother-in-law is! She kept me sane, while we were painfully waiting for our loan to come through. Lincoln and she got so much great play time together. When we finally did move it, she and my just as great Father-in-law worked their buns off. I'm just glad we live in this time, where airplanes, skype, and telephones can keep us in touch with them all the way in Oregon.

It is strange, all of the sudden Lincoln seems like such a big boy. He is so smart: he has a crazy good memory. We were at the library and I briefly showed him a book and told him the title, which was pretty long. A couple days later when I took out the book, he told me the title. Since the piano has it's own room, he has been really interested in playing. He cracks me up when he hits a low note and sings, "BIG, BIG;" then he will hit a high note and sing "small, small." Bedtime is still a problem. Dave took Lincoln to the hardware store, and they enjoyed a getting some things for the house: they didn't get home until after 10pm! Lincoln also loved it when the 4 of us all played flashlight hide-and-seek in his room.

Drake is one sassy, strong-willed 11 month old! He is so vocal about what he wants/doesn't want. We have to basically have a wrestling match to get his diaper changed. He has been doing better during the night, only waking up once to eat. I have a feeling it will be harder to wean him than it was with Lincoln. After eating, the first thing he wants to do is crawl to Lincoln's room. He has 2 teeth now, wants nothing to do with books, and loves his teddy bears.

Dave prepared a yummy Mother's day dinner and blue cake (blue, for my boys). As the 4 of us sat outside eating, I felt so extremely blessed. I love being a momma to Lincoln and Drake!

Little Things

I know this will be the lamest post ever, but I don't want to forget these little things.

Drake shakes his head when we say, "No."

He is jabbering all the time.

He waves when we say hi and bye to him. Mom caught him waving to his reflection in the window.

Ok, sorry again for the lameness. This will mean so much to me in a few years!

Picture Day

So, today was picture day at St. Luke's preschool. Bless that poor soul who was assigned to take pictures of the squirmy 3-4 year olds! I tried to have Lincoln practice his smile this morning, and this is what I got.





Lincoln continues to become more extroverted. He LOVES it when anyone (delivery men, missionaries, plumbers) come over to the house. Earlier this week a friend came over to borrow my parent's truck. As soon as she came to the door, Lincoln grabbed her hand, pulled her inside and said, "You gotta see this. It's my trains." I need to add he has only seen her a couple times.

On Sunday, Lincoln was assigned to do the scripture and prayer in Primary (children's Sunday school). He was thrilled to use the microphone again! I guess the prayer wasn't fun enough, because halfway through he said, "I want to say something different." Thankfully, he ended it quickly after that, but I do kinda want to know what he was planning on saying.

When Mom took Lincoln to the science center, he tripped on the way inside the door. A lady at the door asked, "Are you ok?" Lincoln replied, "Nope, I'm Lincoln." I just love my outgoing little buddy!

It would be so rude of me if I didn't mention Drakie. He turned 10 months old on Sunday. We were a little late getting to his 9 month appointment, but he is in 50% for both height and weight. I feel like he weighs a ton at 21 pounds. The stinker is still waking up 1-2 times a night to eat.

Ever since he got his tooth last week, Drake is pretty much done with baby food. He likes all kinds of solid food, but really prefers meat. He doesn't like it when Lincoln is in trouble or when he is taking a nap: he will crawl down the hall to try and find him. Drake says mama and dada; he squeals when he sees his stuffed animals and gives them the best snuggles!

Happy Easter!

We had a beautiful Easter Sunday yesterday. We did all the fun things:

We made a bunny cake.

We had an Easter egg hunt.

We dyed eggs. This year we used men's ties instead of food coloring.

All of those things are fun and great to do with kids, but this year we were able to teach Lincoln the real reason we have Easter. I don't know how much he understands, but we taught him that 1. Jesus died, but came back to life after three days. 2. Jesus died so that we call all go back to heaven one day. Those are hard concepts to really grasp. I know for me, every year my conviction and testimony of Christ grows stronger. I feel so indebted to Him for all of my many blessings.

Home Sweet Home...in 20 days

Dave had Good Friday off, and we have been enjoying doing absolutely nothing! We did venture to Golden Corral for breakfast buffet. Lincoln loved picking out whatever he wanted. When we sat in our booth, he stood up on the seat and said, "HELLO EVERYBODY!" After picking out a donut, bacon, chocolate milk, and some eggs he said, "I LOVE going to estaurants [yes the "r" is missing]!" You can tell we don't go out much, if he thinks the Golden Corral is the bomb.

Honestly, I've been most excited that Dave really likes his job, and all the people there. He has already been on some trips, and might even get to go to Salt Lake soon (We'll keep you posted all our Utah peeps). But here is what we are looking forward to in 20 days. We were waiting to tell everyone until after inspections, but everything passed with flying colors.

Cute, huh? I feel incredibly blessed!

The living room...obviously

The kitchen has a huge eat-in-area, so we are going to make the dining room into a play room.

Our favorite part...The lot is almost 3/4 acre. There is a screened in deck, which over looks the woods. You Dave is going to have fun cutting down some trees!

There are 4 bedrooms, which means we have plenty of room for guests. You don't even have to ask if it's ok, just buy your plane tickets and come on down!! Oh, but not for 20 more days.

Short on Time

We have been pretty busy lately with the house buying process, so this will be short.

The 4 Shinsels managed to find a Saturday completely free to visit the Asheboro Zoo. The weather was a little rainy to start with, but the sun came out and we def enjoyed our visit! Drake had a blast just people watching. He smiled at everyone we past, and most everyone noticed. He got lots of compliments!

Lincoln had his first slumber party. He went to Dave and Rache's house after General Conference on Sunday. Rachel told me he did have 2 time outs and after the 2nd she told him he would have to go home if he had another. That did it, he was an angel after that. He loved sleeping on their pull-out bed and watching Monster's Inc. I picked him up and he was talking a mile a minute about how much fun he had.

We have less than a month until we are in our house, and I am so anxious. Drake is getting so fast, and this house is not baby proofed, which makes it really fun for Drake, but draining for this mama!

Boys Update

It seems like both boys have been growing and changing lately. Here is an update:

It took Lincoln a while to talk. He could repeat things, but he never really vocalized on his own. Lately, he has been talking up a storm. Before when I would pick him up from preschool, I would have to PRY anything out of him. Now, when I pick him up, I usually get some good information. Earlier this week he told me, "My teacher said Jack doesn't like that." I got worried, and replied, "What did you do to Jack?" He told me, "Ummm, I said Jackie Wacky a little bit." I bet he started that name calling because we call Drake, Drakie Waky!



Another morning he asked me if Storm (my parent's cat) and Maggie (my parent's dog) were married. One night he finished eating his treat, and then my dad made some ice cream. Lincoln shimmied up to him and said, "Can you taste me a bit." When my dad said yes, Lincoln looked at me and said, "You gotta see this, it's 2 oh my goodness treats!"

Lincoln climbs and jumps over everything. He freaks out if he gets the tiniest scratch or when any drop of water gets on him. His preschool teacher believes he has sensory issues. He loves reading Uncle Reed's huge Spiderman book, and he thinks that one of Spiderman's girlfriends is me. I am really enjoying him much more since I read the book 1-2-3 magic: I know how to handle his tantrums and how to correctly discipline him. One last thing, he is getting so tall. I haven't properly measured him, but he is up to my belly button.



Drake is 9 months old today! It is so strange how time just keeps going by faster. He is also growing so big: he wears 12 month clothes already. Drake is crawling everywhere and he gets where he wants quickly. His latest thing is pulling up on the couch, the fireplace, the chair, pretty much anything. He is so proud of this latest trick. We have tried the walker out a couple times, and I think he will have it mastered soon. He still has the cutest toothless grin! His personality is so mellow and sweet; however, he has shown a little attitude, especially when I take something away from him he shouldn't have.