Santa and Gingerbread Houses

!!!!BREAKING NEWS!!!!

We went to see Santa today and Riley DID NOT CRY!!! Shocking! I was so proud of her. They both did great, although I knew Lincoln would. Riley, that's a different story. She even cracked a smile...once. Many of you may recall last year's Santa disaster.

When asked what she wants for Christmas this year she sweetly replies "Milk". Ahhh...to be young again. If all we got her was milk, we'd have a lot more $$ in our bank account. Although, she probably would be happy with a big sippy of milk in her stocking. I'm so excited for this Christmas and for Riley to open all her gifts that we got her (which, is probably way too many). But, we love spoiling the kids as much as possible :). Although we love spoiling them, we also want to teach them the true meaning of Christmas...Christ's birth. Riley sings "Happy Birthday Day, Baby Jesus" all day long. I hope and pray that we don't let the festivities and presents get in the way of teaching our children about the real meaning of the celebration.

We've also continued the tradition that my mom started when we were little, making homemade gingerbread houses. Ty and I have done it since we've been married and have also done it since Riley was born. This year was Lincoln's first time, but he slept through most of it. Riley had a blast making the gingerbread houses, although I'm pretty sure that she enjoyed eating the candy more than anything. We use graham crackers and homemade frosting (a recipe given to me by my mom, who was given the same recipe from her great-grandmother) We also had licorice, m and m's, candy corn, etc. The only time she normally gets candy is when she goes potty on her potty seat, so tonight was a treat!!

Here I am, making the homemade frosting.

Riley and Daddy working on the sides of the house.

Helping her frost the house...

Stop for a family picture...


I love this picture of Lincoln, none of us were paying attention, except for him :).


Riley was concentrating so hard!!


She didn't like it when the frosting got on her hands, so she kept telling me to lick it off. She's quite the neat freak and perfectionist (I wonder who she gets that from...)???!!

The final product! (Front)


The final product (Back)!

The funny things they do and say...

I started this blog in order to capture what goes on in our everyday lives, to keep friends and family updated and so I'd never forget the precious moments as our children grow up. For this reason, I have attempted to write some things down that Riley says and does, so here are just a few of the MANY:



Everytime you ask Riley if she wants something, or likes something that requires her to saying "yes", she, instead of just plainly saying yes, says "Yeah, I do" in the cutest little voice.



She takes her clothes/diaper off (as you all know) every nap and bed time and lately I've been threatening spankings if she continues because I'm so sick of cleaning up poop off of the walls and changing sheets...so like the sneakly little thing she is, she takes her pants off, diaper off, and then puts her pants BACK ON so I dont notice that she took her diaper off until it's too late.



She hates going potty in the "big girl potty" and will scream her little head off, then when she actually goes she stops crying and starts clapping and asking for candy!



If I tell her no to something, she says back to me "No, no, no, Shelby"...



...speaking of my name, she hasn't called me "Mommy" or "Mom" or "Momma" in 2 days...it's ALWAYS Shelby. How do I get her to stop, I hate that :)??!!



When I try to get her to say her ABC's, she'll start saying "A, B, C, D...all done". Then I say keep going Ri and she says back to me "No, Shelby, I'm all done". haha



To Riley, it's Grandma's birthday EVERYDAY. It's actually a lot of people's birthday everyday because she loves singing that song.

What do you think??

Here's another one for those of you who don't think Ri and Lincoln look a-like :)...

Lincoln's 1st time sitting up...

Riley's first time sitting up...

...I think they're starting to look more and more alike everyday!

ABC's and sitting up

Riley officially knows her ABC's...well she has for a while, but will never sit long enough for me to get video of it...until last week:

We've been working on them for a little while now and she normally says them a little more clearly than she does in the video, but you get the point. Such a smart little thing! I had to cut the video off before she started "now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me..." because she started coloring on the wall...YIKES!! We're working on counting to 20 now--she's got 1-10 down, now it's 11-20. :)

Another milestone we've reached is Lincoln sitting all by himself (well with the boppy, just in case he takes a spill.) I didn't know when he officially started sitting by himself, but lately he's sitting for long periods of time. He's also still army crawling ALL the time and can get everywhere...he's even starting to get on his hands and knees and rock back and forth.

Lincoln sitting at 7 months!

When the kids go to bed...

....we play Rockband :)...Like I don't have more to do with my precious time when the kids are sleeping, right?? :)

This was my first time playing and I suck, we didn't even get through half of the song because it was too hard for me (and that was on easy mode:)).

We're dorks, we are well aware of that :).

A GREAT deal...

So my favorite store the past few weeks/months has been Walgreens. I get CRAZY deals there!! I mean crazy...

This is what I got tonight, in one shopping trip:

1 pack of schick disposable razors
5 cartons of Orange juice
11 rolls of aluminium foil
21 boxes of Robitussin (medicine)
2 boxes of Ziplock bags
4 large bags of Reese's (for cookies--not all for me to eat :))
1 Kit-Kat (for me to eat :))
4 Arm and Hammer laundry detergents (I've never used it...we'll see??)
2 All laundry detergents
1 Cascade dishwasher soap
14 packages of bandaids
1 box of Fruitloops
24 Christmas gift bags
2-3 packs of Scotch tape

I "spent" $42.00-ish that I paid with a gift card, got $48.00 back in Register Rewards and will be getting back $25.00 in mail-in-rabates. That means I got all of this stuff for FREE, plus I actually made $30.00!!! Crazy, huh??!?

No, I'm not planning on keeping all of it. I'll either donate it to a homeless shelter or to Jennie's food pantry :).

Lincoln's Army Crawl

Lincoln has become increasingly more mobile over the past couple of weeks. His new trick..."army crawling". First he started getting everywhere by rolling and now he's figured out how to use his chubby legs to "propel" himself forward. Now, at 6 1/2 months, he's getting all over the house. Yesterday morning I was giving Riley a bath and Lincoln was playing in the living room; in the matter of 5-6 minutes he ended up at the bathroom door grinning at me! I'm not sure if I'm ready for two babies who can get into EVERYTHING!

Poor little guy is SO fussy lately, he and Riley are sick again. I took them in yesterday and he's got his very first ear infection and Riley has a double ear infection. This is also the first time Riley has ever had an ear infection--hard to believe she's gone more than two years without one! Enjoy the video.

Thanksgiving

I realize that I'm a little bit late on this post...but better late than never right? We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, spent with lots of family. We went to my dad's side of the family--to my Aunt and Uncle's house. Dinner and desert was delicious, as always and time spent with family is never long enough. Riley loves Nani and Papa and calls them constantly--I think that's why I went over on my phone minutes last month (seriously). She also got to see my cousins who she's always been fond of (especially Britton--not to be confused with my sister-in-law, yes they have the exact same name now). When she was a baby he was the only one who was able to hold her without her screaming. This time she branched out and spent most of her time with Whitney, reading books and eating raisins :).

Riley and Lincoln in their Thanksgiving outfits.

My little old man.

Riley and Whitney reading a book.

Britton and Riley

Papa and Nani with Riley and Lincoln.

I can't say enough about how thankful I am for my family--for Ty, Riley and Lincoln. They mean the world to me and mean more to me than life itself! No matter how long of a day I have with the kids they always bring a smile to my face and make all the scarifies we've made worth it. I am also thankful that Ty has a job--yes, it's not the greatest and it's not very predictable, but he has a job and I know that in these difficult economic times many people don't have a job at all. I am also SO thankful that I am able to stay home with the kids.--watching them grow, interacting with each other, and taking care of their every need. I can't imagine having to go to work everyday and leave my babies with someone other than myself. I am also thankful for my God and his faithfulness--he has provided and has given us two beautiful children that I couldn't imagine my life without. God is good!

Congrats, Daddy!!

This weekend was Ty's graduation at SAU. He's totally and completely done with his MBA (Master's in Business Administration). I am so proud of him and all he has accomplished. It isn't easy going back to school for further education, let alone doing it with 2 kids and a wife. He has worked so hard and he did so well. Now we're just praying that the perfect job, for him, will come about! He's been searching and searching and applying for hours on end...God sure has been shutting doors but we know that He will provide for our family as He always has! Anyways, good job Ty, we're so proud of you.

Ty, walking to his seat at the beginning of the commencement!

Ty and Ri

Ty and Lincoln

Ty and I--we don't get many pictures with just the two of us anymore :).


Family shot

Congrats Ty!! You're DONE!

We had a great time at the commencement--although it was two against one. The kids against myself. Keeping them (namely, Riley) occupied for 2 hours was a challenge but she did better than I had expected. I took books and snacks and toys to keep her busy and it did for about the first 45 minutes, then she got antsy. I took her to the back of the gym and let her run around while Lincoln was satisfied in the Baby Bjorn. I couldn't expect that she'd sit still for 2 hours, but she did very well! Although, I was exhausted by the time the ceremony was over!

I'm behind...

...in my posting because we've been sick for the past week. We're all better now, but it was rough for about a week and a half. It's a long story, but to give the shortened version, Riley had the norovirus (the same virus that shut down Hope's campus) and Lincoln and I had Hand, Foot, Mouth disease. Yes, even I had it--thank you Lincoln for passing it my way.

Riley was a little bit sick last weekend when we had gone to see my dad's side of the family--well, I knew she was really sick when she threw up in the car much of the way home. GROSS! I took her to the dr. Monday, Lincoln got shots Tuesday, Tuesday night he woke up at 4 am with a 104.1 fever. I called urgent care and they said if it got to 105 to bring him to the ER. It didn't, thankfully! I took him back to the dr. on Wed. and Thursday. We were at the dr. 4 days in a row--NOT FUN! Lincoln was probably the most sick out of all of us, but I had the virus the worst (so the doc. said). Anyways, we're back in the swing of things...

Oh and did I mention that Ty didn't get sick--I find it very unfair that I get EVERYTHING the kids have and he doesn't even get a cough :) (although I'm glad I didn't have to take care of a sick hubby too :)). So scroll down to catch up with us...

Yummmm....(Lincoln's 1st food)

Well, it's back in the kitchen for me...making baby food! I love doing it, but it is much more difficult when you've got 2 kids--at least finding the time to do it with 2 kids is more difficult. Anyways, I made Lincoln's frist baby food--sweet potatoes and he LOVED them. As you can see in the video, he dn't even bat an eye; he just scarfed his sweet potatoes down. He was so excited to eat I could barely get it in his mouth--he kept kicking his legs! By night #2 of baby food he was eating the equivilent of a stage 2 jar! He loves his food.

Lincoln @ 6 months

Here is my little guy at 6 months old:

A half a year old already??? Oh my goodness the time has flown by. At his 6 month check up he weighed 17 lbs. 3 oz. (50th %ile) and was 26 3/4 inches (60th %ile). As people have commented (Kelli :)), he is definitely starting to look more and more like Ty each day...and I thought maybe I'd have one that looked like me, I guess I was wrong.

He is attempting to sit on his own and if he's looking up at me he does really well, but he's still pretty wobbly. I have to remind myself that 1. he is a boy and 2. he is not Riley. I am so tempted to compare the two of them as far as reaching their milestone, but know both will do things at their own pace. Riley was sitting by 5 1/2 months and crawling at 7 and I just don't think Lincoln will be quite as quick--which, frankly, is fine by me :). I'm just thankful he's such a happy and healthy baby.

9 times out of 10 he's got a smile on his face. Sometimes I forget he's in the room with me because he just never cries! He's sleeping through the night for the most part, he has his night where he wakes up, but when he does I try not to feed him. He also had his first taste of real food--sweet potatoes, which he LOVES. More on that to come...

Right after his sixth month apt. Lincoln got really sick, what I would call his first time "getting sick". He had the hand, foot, mouth disease. Poor baby was so sick. I felt horrible for him, but he bounced back quickly.

Matching!

Like Papa, like Grandson???

My dad and Lincoln in their matching winter hats :).

Pumping!

Don't worry, this video is NOT of me :)! Just of Riley, being Riley. She's so observant and I've noticed a lot lately that she copies my every move and every word (I really have to watch what I say). This morning was no exception. I was changing Lincoln's diaper and I heard the noise from the kitchen and I snuck up on her with our video camera... What was she doing, you ask?? She was pumping!! She had even lifted up her shirt! It was just too funny.

I just couldn't resist putting this embarrassing video up :).

Kalamazoo kids museum

Last Friday, I took Riley and Lincoln to the kids museum here in Kzoo. We had never been there before, but we were meeting our MOPs group there. We had so much fun, once we found the place. I suck at directions and finding things, which is why Ty always drives, but he was working so it was up to me. I definitely got lost and turned down the wrong way on a one-way road--twice! YIKES. The worst part was my cell phone died when I tried calling and getting directions! But we found it, nonetheless, and had a blast.

Right before we left, Riley was being so loving to Lincoln. She was kissing and hugging and caressing his head.

Riley didn't want to look at me for a picture, but I got her anyways :).

As I said our MOPs group was meeting at the museum, but the only ones that showed up were my friend Molly and one of her two boys, and me with Riley and Lincoln. That's alright though, Riley and Evan had a blast and played so nicely together.

Evan driving Riley in the school bus!

LET US OUT!!

It was too cute, Riley and Evan held hands everywhere they went!

Good Morning!

This morning I FINALLY got Riley "eating" her cereal on video. She's been doing this since she started eating real cereal. It cracks me up...she must watch Ty eat his cereal too often. When she's done she always says "more milk momma", I secretly have the milk next to me so I don't have to get up 10 times :). Both kids are usually so happy in the morning, it is one of my favorite times to spend with them.

Another loooong day...

Yesterday was probably one of the longest days of my life, for a few reasons: 1. Ty worked from 6 am until 7 pm. 2. Riley and 3. Lincoln :). I seem to be having a lot of long days lately!!

The morning started off rough, Lincoln was up at 5 and Ri was up at 6 (time change has really messed them up). I decided to take a shower while Riley watched Sesame Street at 10 because she rarely moves from the t.v. I took Lincoln into the bathroom with me in his bouncer. I came out after 5 minutes, literally, and didn't see Riley. I thought that was weird, so I started walking to her room but as I passed the kitchen I saw her sitting on the floor with the cake that I had just made. She had taken the Bumbo seat to the counter and grabbed the cake, the whole thing, off the counter onto the floor where she could devour it. So, it was 1/2 gone and 1/2 on the floor. I was not happy...(it was awfully funny, but I didn't want her to know I thought so :)). Here's the leftovers:

The left over cake...

Then, in the afternoon after a LONG day at the mall (Ri was so crabby and tired) I came home and put her down for a nap. She hasn't been wanting to take naps lately and she always takes her diaper off when she does, it's so frustrating! So after about an hour of her playing in her crib, I peeked in to check on her and sure enough, she was bare-bottomed. Well, what I didn't know was that she had pooped and thrown her diaper at the wall with the poop in it. There was poop on the carpet, on the wall, on her dress, her sheet, etc. You get the picture. So I spent 20 minutes cleaning up and lysoling her toys and the wall--GROSS.

Poopy diaper (don't mind the mess...I'm referring to the toys :)).

It seemed like things like that went on ALL day. I'm glad that Ty's taking the kids tonight and I'm doing something with a friend :)...

Trick-or-Treat!

Well, we had a great weekend, full of festivities. Friday, for Halloween, we got the kids all dressed up and went to downtown Richland where they were having a "fall fest" in the town square. There were lots of games and a petting zoo and "trick or treating"...the kids had a lot of fun, but it was definitely for kids that were a little older (ages 5 or 6 probably). It was a beautiful day to go out, we debated taking them at all if it were cold, but it was SO nice that we just had to get out.

Finally sitting still for 2 seconds...I love tutus on her...makes her look so girly!

My little ladybug and monkey!

I call Lincoln "my chunky monkey", so this outfit was very appropriate!

My little Monkey's 1st Halloween!!

After we went to Richland, we went to our church for Trunk or Treating. It was a lot of fun and people definitely get creative with their trunks! Lincoln had fallen asleep by the time we got there, but Riley, Ty and I enjoyed going around getting candy, eating hot dogs and drinking apple cider!

Mr. Independent had to hold his own bucket! :)

Daddy and Ri going trunk or treating!

Riley is definitely at the age where she won't sit still for anything. We tried to get some good pictures of her, but she bounces off the walls so it's becoming increasingly more difficult to get good pics of her just sitting there smiling. Anyone have any suggestions on how to keep her bangs (that I'm trying to grow out) out of her eyes?? Her hair is SO thin that hair bows and hairspray doesn't work!!

Dr. appointment for 2 sickly children!

Well, yesterday I took the kids to the doctor together. I usually drop one of them off at my mom's house for her to watch and take the other with me to the office. However, they've both been sick at the same time lately so I thought I would be brave and take them both in by myself. NEVER AGAIN! I don't care if I have to go in twice on the same day, but I'm NEVER taking them both in together!!!

This is how it went: We got there, checked in, looked at the fish tank and made "fishy faces" at Lincoln. They were both so good, playing with each other and the other little kids waiting for their names to be called. All of a sudden we hear "Riley and Lincoln", Riley takes off running to the nurse and gives her leg a big hug...weird. She's never that friendly. The kids get back to the weigh station and get weighed and temps taken. Riley now weighs 25.4 oz (that was with a coat, sweatshirt, shirt, jeans and shoes on...not sure why they didn't want some of that taken off) and Lincoln weighs 17.2 oz! (Holy cow)

Then the MD came in. He checked out Lincoln first and Ri looked on. Lincoln looked great, but he couldn't tell if he had an ear infection because he had a lot of wax buildup (gross, I know) so he wanted his ear flushed so he could check again. Then he checked out Riley. Anyways, they came to the conclusion that they both have (and probably I have it too) enterovirus--similar to a cold, but it can cause very high fevers so we have to watch out for that.

Anyways here comes the disastrous part. The nurses came in to flush out Lincoln's ear. He was NOT happy. I wouldn't have been either though. The "pumped" his ear full of water to get the wax out. So he was screaming and because he was screaming, Riley was hugging my leg, screaming!! Not crying, but screaming at the top of their lungs! Then when they were done, Lincoln was still crying as was Riley. Then for some reason she bit my leg (I think because she wanted me to pick her up the whole time but I couldn't because I had to hold Lincoln's arms down) so I smacked her mouth (lightly, just so she'd know not to bite--she never bites, weird) so then she screamed more and Lincoln started screaming again. You get the picture...this went on for AT LEAST 10 minutes. OMG, never again :)!

The second worst part to them both screaming was that I couldn't even hear what the doctor was telling me. I finally said, "I'm so sorry, but I can't hear anything you're saying"...needless to say, he came back in after they calmed down and explained it to me.

Thankfully, though, they are feeling a little better today!

Child Prodigy ???

This past weekend, when Lincoln and I were home sick, Ty took Riley to his family's house for a short while. While they were there, she found Ty's electric guitar (and motorcycle helmet) which has been in retirement since we've had kids. She was having so much fun playing it and didn't want to stop (as you can see in the video--I loved when she said "NO DADDY" because she wanted to keep playing).

Maybe not quite a child prodigy, but she had fun playing it nonetheless.

Menu Plan Monday...on Tuesday!

Well, I'm a day behind. It's been a long week (already) of taking care of two sick babies--not sure what's going on but they're going to the doctor tomorrow. Probably just a virus, but man when you've got two clingy babes it makes for a couple of long days. I hope they feel better soon, I hate when they're sick!! Anyways, here is what we're eating for the rest of the week:

Wednesday: Beef Stew (Thanks Rachel!!)
Thursday: Sub Sandwiches, chips
Friday: Bacon Stuffed Chicken, broccoli
Saturday: Going out with friends...without the kids!! (YIKES, I've never left Lincoln before and have only left Riley like 3 times since she's been born...but they'll be with my mom, so it'll be okay???!!!)
Sunday: Chicken Noodle Soup, J.P.'s Big Daddy Biscuits (so good and so easy)

Gull Meadow Farms

This past week, Ty had a couple of days off so we took advantage of it! On Wednesday afternoon we took the kids to Gull Meadow Farms to pick out pumpkins, drink apple cider, and pick apples. We had such a great time. They've got a huge farm and when we first got there we went straight for the homemade donuts (SO GOOD) and apple cider.

They've got a great area for the kids to run around in and "pumpkin" scenes, (For instance, they had a manger scene and all the people had pumpkin heads) a huge slide for the kids, which Riley would have nothing to do with, and so much more. We skipped out on the hay ride because I am deathly allergic to hay (well, not deathly, but my eyes will swell shut :)!!). Riley picked out her very own pumpkin and since Lincoln slept the whole time, except for 5 minutes we were there, so she picked out one for him too! Here are some great pictures of our "pumpkin picking":

Riley just had to have a HUGE pumpkin :)!

Her first sip of apple cider and she LOVED it!

Daddy teaching Riley the way of a true Superman fanatic!

Truly the apple of our eye...

Family photo (poor Lincoln missed out because he was sleeping and I wasn't about to wake him up!)

He's awake!! AND warm in his stroller, it was a chilly, chilly day!

My little bear!

Suggestions, anyone??

I need the help and advise of fellow mommas!! So, many of you know that we've been semi-working on potty training with Riley. I say "semi" because it's not going well, in fact it's not working at all. I'm not pushing her to do it, but still trying to encourage without pressuring her.

However, I think it's going to be even more difficult that I originally thought. See, Riley has a thing about pooping in public (or anywhere that's not home). For instance, we went over to my friend's house the other day for a play date and when we got there and pulled into their driveway Riley kept saying "doot doot" (which means poo poo--she has to poopy). She kept crying and saying "doot doot momma". So I said, you can go Riley and mommy will change you when we get inside. She kept crying, she finally calmed down but the whole time we were there she would randomly tell me she had to go potty. Then when we left, we had to do a couple of errands and she kept whining the whole time--I knew it was because she had to go--but she wouldn't. So needless to say, when we got home (6 hours after we got to our friend's house) the second we walked in the house she ran into her room, into her closet and FINALLY went. I felt so bad because I knew she had to go, but wouldn't. She held it for 6 HOURS!!!

Any suggestions how how to change this habit she has? She's been doing this since she was probably 10 months old--refusing to go poopy in pubic. I feel that potty training is going to be so difficult because she holds it for hours when she has to go--both #1 and #2 :). Ughhh...so frustrating. Sorry to be so descriptive...

??? Who's who ???

Here are Riley's and Lincoln's pictures when they were both 5 months old. You be the judge on whether they look alike:




I know people say "never compare your children"...well, I'm going to anyways. Some ways on how they were alike and different as babies:

1. Ri was cholicy from the minute she was born until about 7 weeks old. Lincoln almost never cries.

2. Riley was very high-maintenance, I even had to strap her into the Baby Bjorn to do the dishes some days. Lincoln is happy and content just watching and playing with himself.

3. We rocked Riley to sleep until she was 8 months old (for ALL of her naps and bedtime). Lincoln just lays in his crib and falls asleep on his own; we've never even had to let him "cry it out".

4. Riley slept in her car seat until she was 4 months old because she wouldn't sleep on her back (and I was too paranoid to let her sleep on her belly). Lincoln has slept in his crib from day 1 on his back.

5. They are similar in the fact that they both took 4-45 minute naps a day and had a bed time of 9:00.

6. They were both chunky babies to begin with, then Riley "stopped growing" at 4 months and Lincoln has kept it up :). Riley weighed 13 lbs. at 3 months and 15 1/2 lbs. at 1 year. Lincoln is 5 months and is around 17 lbs. already.

7. Lincoln rolls over A LOT more than Riley ever did, but Riley did it at an earlier age (3 months).

8. Both have Ty's squinty eyes and big smile--although, Lincoln's eyes are brown and Riley's are blue .

9. Lincoln seems much more social and outgoing yet laidback than Riley did when she was a baby. She was clingy and much more shy and still is to this day (although she's getting better).

I'll update this more when things come to me and as Lincoln gets older. It's hard to compare them during their first 6 months of life. :)

So...who's who?? (I know, it's probably pretty obvious for a few reasons :).)