18 months

Lincoln is 18 months today! I can't even begin to explain how much he has changed in the last couple of months. He is saying SO many things, he copies everything that anyone around him says or does, and he is STILL SO ACTIVE (not that I expected that to change or anything). In other words, I can hardly keep up with the kid. He is just such a blast!

I took him to his 18-month check up today, and here are his stats:

Weight: 31 pounds 8 ounces (99%)

Height: 34.25 inches (96%)

Head: 51.1 cm (99%)

Obviously he hasn't slowed down in the physical growth department either. He tops the charts in every area. My back can sure feel it at the end of each day, too! We just love our little man!

I love this picture of Lincoln taken during a bubble bath one night. He is now obsessed with having bubbles in his bath and asks for them as soon as we turn on the water. Once he is in, he takes the bubbles and "washes" his own hair. It's too cute.

Out of Africa

There was a Groupon deal for Out of Africa a couple of months ago. We bought it, and so did Richie and Krystal, so before they had to head back to Pittsburgh, we went together. It was a hot day, but it was still so fun.

The first thing we did when we got there was watch the Tiger Splash show. Here are Derick and Lincoln right before the show with one of the tigers.

It was a fun show and it was cool to watch the tigers jump in the water and chase the trainers to get their silly toys.

After the show.

We then walked around to look at some of the animals. 

I loved the white tigers! This picture shows one of the white tigers, with a lioness. I guess these two are best buddies. How funny is that!?!

Bears.

This rhino weighs like 5,000 pounds! He was HUGE.

Our last event of the day (and my personal favorite) was the safari ride. We all hopped on a bus, and got to get up close to a bunch of the animals! As we got on the bus, they handed us each a carrot stick and we got to feed them to the giraffe! It was SO fun to watch Lincoln do that.

 We also got to see a camel, zebras, several types of antelope, cattle and the ostrich.

quiet book!

I have been working on this project all summer. Yes, it has taken months. But, I haven't worked on it every day, and have had to take many frustration breaks from it. I have wanted to rip my hair out many, many times. After a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears, I am happy to say that it is {almost} done. I only have to do the cover for it now. I had it almost done the other night, but then kept on screwing it up and so I just had to take a break. Anyway, I wanted to make a quiet book for Lincoln to have at church and I am so happy that he will now have one, and that I will be able to use it for all of our kids. Here are the pages:

1. Tie a shoe.

2. Noah's Ark. The ark unzips and has little animal finger puppets {from IKEA} inside.

3. Telephone.

4. Clock.

5. Apple Tree. The apples have snaps on them, so you can take them off and put them in the basket, and then snap them back on.

6. Road Pages. The light blue garage is a pocket to store a little car.

7. Shapes and Colors. They have velcro to stick, and the pocket is nice to store the shapes.

8. Counting. I wanted a creative way to display the beads. My super creative husband came up with the idea of making them into a train track. Love it.

9. Laundry Day. 

10. Garden. I love this page. You pull the veggies out of the ground. Derick also came up with the idea of putting a hose so that we could "water" them.

11. Button the flowers.

Like I said, I just have to do the cover now. It is going to be made out of this fabric.

 I decided to do the book like a 3-ring binder, so that pages could be taken out and passed among kids, or interchanged with others in the future. That's why the pages have the eyelet holes in them. Despite the frustration, I am super proud of this book and am excited to use it! Oh, and I am not very good at coming up with ideas. I am just good at copying them. I got ideas (and copied some) from these sites:

http://servingpinklemonade.blogspot.com/2011/01/quiet-book.html

http://seanandjennyricks.blogspot.com/2010/09/ricks-family-quiet-book.html

http://www.kleighfordblog.com/2011/01/quiet-book.html

http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/09/quiet-book-makes-its-debut.html

the great outdoors

We have been spending lots of time out in the forest lately. We take a long drive to enjoy the scenery, and then find a good place to stop and let Lincoln play. Picnics are a favorite of ours too.

On one occasion, Derick's parents came with us. Here we are out playing.

Derick's mom packed a delicious picnic lunch of fried chicken and potato salad. Yum. We decided to go to the lake and eat it there. My camera on my phone took a horrible picture under the ramada, but please notice where Lincoln is...

...while we were eating, it started to POUR rain. He just wanted to stand out in it. He was soaked.

On another day, we were trying to find a waterhole. After a while of searching with no luck, we found a big puddle in the middle of the road. We decided that Lincoln wouldn't know the difference and we went for it. Lincoln loves playing in/with water and he walked right in.

When we were walking back to our car, Derick and Lincoln found a big, fun rock to climb. Derick helped Lincoln climb the first time.

Lincoln was so proud of himself.

A couple of minutes later, we looked over and Lincoln went back to climb it himself. He did it, too!

Greg and Karla

My brother, Greg, got married on Saturday. He and Karla make a cute couple and we are so excited for them.
All of my siblings with Karla. She wore her mom's dress at first and changed into her own later. It was pretty cool.

Derick with cutie pie, Graham.

Greg and Karla with Lincoln and Graham.

 

Krystal was taking some pictures and offered to take one of me and Lincoln since I am never in any pics. Thanks, Krystal.

Unfortunately, I didn't get one of Derick, Lincoln and me that night. Dang it.

Here is Lincoln loving the wide open space that would later become the dance floor.

We had a yummy dinner of Mexican food, which is one of Lincoln's favorites. This was where he sat. Lovely.

Derick and Lincoln had to leave a little while after dinner. Lincoln was super tired and was getting ornery so he had to go to bed. I was pretty bummed b/c I wanted to be able to dance with them. So I was solo the rest of the reception. Oh, well.

Here are Greg and Karla during their first dance. Isn't her dress pretty?

 

Here they are during the "dollar dance."

 

Greg after the dollar dance.

 

Greg getting tossed in the air.

It was a fun reception. Congrats, you guys!

Earlier that day, while out running errands, we decided to stop at the San Tan Mall and let Lincoln play on the splash pad. This first pic is hilarious! He was sticking his bum in the jet.

 

the canopy that they had covering the area wasn't quite big enough. Lincoln kept wanting to go to the sunny areas that weren't covered and he kept burning his feet. Poor kid. We tried to explain it to him but he didn't get it. Thank goodness he was able to have some fun before burning his feet and having to leave.

Oh, and one other story...lately Lincoln LOVES to give kisses. And he loves to give them on the mouth. It's also the way that he says sorry for something. While at the splash pad, he accidentally bumped into a little girl and so in order to say sorry, he tried to kiss her. Her mom was totally freaking out, and her grandparents in the background were like, "What is that kid doing????" I'm thinking, "Come on, people...he's 17 months old! Chill out!" It was pretty funny, if you ask me.