Funny

I had to laugh as I walked in the room Sat. night. This is what i saw.
Maci had spent the night with a friend, Maddox was watching star wars, and Eric wanted a quite night to watch the KU game.
So he set Lincoln up with a game, cozy by the fire, and close to watch the action with the Jayhawks as well.
I guess it worked, he got his wish. Everyone was busy and he got to enjoy the game!

Party Night

We had a dual party on Friday night. Grandma Votaw had a birthday, and several years back she chose that day to get married. So we celebrated a wedding anniversary and a birthday party that night. We invited everyone over for a meal and presents. We enjoyed a breakfast buffet with all the fixings.
The girls had fun decorating t-shirts while the boys played the wii.

We had a hard year last year with losing both Great Grandpa's, but it's turned out nice because we get to spend so much more time with these 2 lovely ladies. Both Great Grandma's joined us for the celebrations.

Eric's brothers were in a deep conversation with Great Grandma Votaw.

And finally Grandma gets to open some presents. As you can see she took the matter very seriously! ha. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of her and grandpa together.

Anyway...

Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday to you!
We love you guys!

Cousins

I love that Maddox has a cousin just a few months older then him. Maverick and Maddox have always had a lot of fun together. Their personalities are completely different, and their interest couldn't be further apart, but they still have a great time playing together.
I had to laugh at Mavericks clothing choice the other day. He will not wear anything other then shorts and a t-shirt. I asked him if he knew it was cold outside and he stated... "don't you know I'm from Russia. We Russians don't get cold."

Maverick is in homecoming at the high school next week. He wanted to borrow a tie from Maddox and Mimi bought him some suspenders that he though would be cool. He was so excited to add them to his outfit. He doesn't know yet if he wants a tie or a bow tie..

This kid cracks me up!

My boys

My boys are playing Polly Pockets. Usually it's swords and balls. Is it bad that since they are quite and getting along, I could care less?

My gamer!

Maddox is my game playing kiddo. He loves his Wii and his DS! Lately I've got him playing the computer. The best part about that is atleast it's educational!

Sledding Fun

We've been enjoying the snow. My kiddos all love it! It doesn't matter how cold it is, they are out playing. It makes me want to go to Colorado for spring break! So much fun!

I don't even know what to say...

Oh look at this sweet little face... he's so precious!

Okay... now the real Lincoln...

Short glimpse into my days with this little darling.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese the other day with a friend.

As we were playing Lincoln decided to go to the bathroom. He went on his own without telling me he had to go. After a few minutes of not seeing him I asked his sister to go see if he was in the bathroom. She came back with tears in her eyes, she was laughing so hard. She informed me that Lincoln had come out of the bathroom, but had no pants on... nothing from the waste down. After finding him and getting him dressed, I found out that he couldn't fasten the button on his jeans so he just decided to leave them off. He prefers no underwear so that was a given that with his control it would be left behind.

10 minutes later I find him inside the pop a shot game. He didn't have any more tokens so he figured out it's much easier to climb on up into the game and grab the balls and shoot all you want. When I found him there I told him that was it. We had to leave because he knew he wasn't supposed to do that. I loaded the 6 kids I had up and we went home. That night at dinner as I was telling his dad about his day Maci filled us in on more.


She said that while they were playing skeeball that he would just walk up to the holes and drop the ball into them. No wonder my kids got so many tickets that day. I thought Chuck E Cheese would be a fun place for a day out... but I guess with 6 little ones to look after, there's a little someone who is always looking for trouble.

No worries Chuck... we won' t be back for a long long time.

I can only imagine the relief people had when I left with this little trouble maker!

Trenton's Party

This little man turned 3 last Friday. I had the kids help me decorate him a cake and we made sure to celebrate on his actual birthday!
And Saturday night his mom and dad had a party for him at the Lawrence Gymnastic Academy.

The kids had a blast and can't wait to go back again. SO much fun!

Happy Birthday Trenton. I don't know how you have grown up so fast, but I love getting to spend every day with your sweet little self! We love you!

Family Time

Saturday after Maci's basketball game, Eric's parents invited us over for lunch and to watch the KU basketball game. I promise you, we will never turn down food at their house. Talk about yummy!
Right away Lincoln found the puzzles. Luckily grandma has stacks of them, so he was kept nice and busy

After the game we set around to play some games. I can tell Lincoln was trying to get his Uncle Chris' attention, while Brandon was busy concentrating.

I think Eric's tired of the pictures! I got "that look" ha

Uncle Darrin and Grandpa Al discussing something pretty serious it looks like

and the girls put on a fashion show with some of grandma's old clothes. What do you know... Lincoln found his way into this picture too!

Thanks for the fun day Grandma and Grandpa

Puzzles

I have heard the stories of how Eric was a puzzle kid. His mom said he would pull out boxes of puzzles and put them together one after the other until the floor was covered.
Maci showed she had the same puzzle trait early on. Maddox didn't care for puzzles until the last year or so, but Lincoln took to them early too.
and nothing brings these 3 closer then pulling out the pile of puzzles and letting them work together to cover the floor with their masterpieces!

Lessons learned

I have been wanting a new sink since I've discovered the ones that have bowls that sit on the vanity. I love the look!

So for the last 4 years or so I have had it on my birthday and Christmas list
So look what my wonderful hubby bought me for my Christmas and birthday present.
The hard part was it wasn't put together. So after looking at the directions we decided to call the expert... my daddy! As Eric learned this week... daddy's are always there to help their daughters!

So after 3 frustrating days... we got it in place and working

and I couldn't be happier!

Thanks honey... and thanks daddy!

Love you both bunches!!!

Lincolns Prayer

Our kids say a prayer every night before we eat dinner.

Maci starts..."For all we eat, for all we wear, thank you Heavenly Father, Amen!"

Maddox follows..."For all we eat, for all we wear, thank you Father, amen!"

Then it's Lincoln's turn, with his own version..."Forty, forty, women!"

Poor ears

I told you previously about our trip to the Dr last week for this little one. After a couple antibiotics and a week of feeling better... the ears started to hurt again. We made another trip to the Dr yesterday and his ear infection is still there. With 2 new antibiotics hopefully he'll get to feeling better soon.

But it's not going to stop us from baking!

After reading on a friends post that every snow day they would make cinnamon rolls... I decided we would give it a shot.

If you notice I even broke out my new toy. Lincoln was feeling good enough to help so we set off baking.

Thanks Vicky, Brook and Chasity... I think I'm going to like this little tradition!

Busy Boys

Two toddlers equals constant mess

Snow Day recipe

The kids were excited when I told them we were going to make ice cream.

I was sent the recipe of Snow Ice Cream from Paula Dean. I LOVE Paula Dean so I knew I had to give it a shot
and with only 3 ingredients, it seemed easy enough: 6 cups of snow, can of sweetened condensed milk, touch of vanilla- mix all together and eat

the kids loved it and cleaned out the bowl!

Linc's fun in the snow

The older kids got to go play outside at nap time... so it was only fair to make sure Lincoln got to go play too. He was so excited. All day he watched as the snow fell and would make sure I realized it was there.

Only the 3rd child has to deal with mismatched gloves.

He got a stern lecture when I saw him ready to throw this pile of goodness at me

Trying to make a snow angel. He saw his sister doing it and didn't really know what the big deal was

Snowday

The snow hit and the kids couldn't be more excited. We spent 30 minutes putting all the necessary clothing on and off they went. Thank goodness they lasted longer then I thought they would. They had so much fun sledding and having a snow ball fight. It's much more fun to play with friends!

The girl can cook!

Sunday morning at 6:04 I was awaken to a whisper in my ear... "mom, can I make breakfast?" In my tired slumber I responded... "I could care less!" (sorry, not a very nice thing to say but I was sooooo tired!)

When I came downstairs I found that she had decided to use her kids cookbook and make cinnamon muffins, not just toast or cereal like I assumed.
We left it up to her and let her do it all herself. Measuring, mixing, baking, and cleaning (okay... I didn't get that lucky... I had to clean up the mess.) but in the end we were served with super yummy cinnamon muffins.
She did an amazing job and I'm ready to turn the dinner role over to her full time!

Beauty

Do you see this beautiful new toy I have... the beautiful toy my wonderful hubby got me for Christmas after hinting for it for a good 10+ years!
I dreamed of having one... dreamed of what all I would make... dreamed of the ease it would bring to my life

but I can't get myself to use it. I don't want to get it dirty. I don't want to scratch it. I don't want to leave water marks on it after washing it. So instead of making chocolate chip cookies with it like I have dreamed of for years... I made no bake cookies. It's still sitting on my counter looking as lovely as ever! Hopefully one day I'll be able to bring myself to use it.

First Big Game

You gotta love good friends... and Maddox is lucky to have such a great one that he has had since he was 5 months old. Camden had an extra ticket to the KU game last weekend and invited Maddox along for the fun. Maddox has been to the Fieldhouse a few times for College game day, and to watch KU beat UNC in the semi-finals (in 08 on the big screen) but has never been to an actual live game. He was so excited! And we were SOOO jealous!

He he is- above the at&t sign and under the 22.

they got their plenty early... Eric always said the best part is the pre-game.

He got a Gameday Program and you can tell he is busy reading it. He has read, slept with, and showed that program to everyone he has seen since that night

enjoying the show

Thanks Justin, Eryn, Camden and Trenton for taking Maddox along for the game. He hasn't stopped talking about it since! He LOVED it!