Kindergarten Girl

We officially have a kindergartner! Gabby was nervous this morning, but when I picked her up, she was a pro and ready to go back tomorrow! Our teacher is great, and she is a great match for Gabby. We look forward to many more great days!







Gabby & Mrs. Julie

Sweet Smiles

Sweet Smiles from Marci Lincoln on Vimeo.

The Addition

So I haven't been blogging much lately. Here's the main reason, in all his sweetness:


Nathaniel Isaac was born June 29. 7 lbs. 1 oz., 2 1/2 inches long.
Ellie is constantly wanting to touch his hands and feet, and for a couple of weeks Gabby couldn't stop talking about how cute he is.


Since his birth, he's been waking about every three hours to eat, which makes for one tired momma! The past couple of nights he's slept 4-5 hours in the first stretch. Hopefully he'll keep stretching that!

He smiled for real for the first time this past Saturday. First at his daddy, then at mommy. He even gave the nursery worker Sunday night a couple of grins. Now, of course, he hasn't smiled since!

We love having three kids, but it sure it a lot of work! The exhaustion is just temporary, (we hope!) and so worth it. Why, already one month has already passed! It all passes so quickly. I pray I focus on what matters and cherish these little ones God has entrusted to us!

Birthday Party!!

Birthday Girl

Happy second birthday to Ellie!

I can hardly believe she is two years old!

Some of her favorite things:

Food: Whatever she decides at the time. She is a toddler, after all!
Activity: Whatever big sister is doing, and jumping on the "blamblableen" (trampoline) :)
Characters: Barney (Lord, help us.), Elmo, and Mickey Mouse. She is a lot like her sister.
Sayings: "Whatdadoin?" (When you ask her what she's doing, she'll say, "Good.")
             She also has great manners. She is very good at "thank you" and "excuse
             me". We're working on"please".

We love you, Ellie, and we're so glad you came to be a part of our family!!!

Stage Girl

I really should make this a "Miraculous Mondays" post, as it appears I'm finally trying to blog at a regular pace again. But, alas, this one is about our little preschooler.


A few weeks ago Gabby's preschool presented the chapel program for the elementary school. I'm so sorry I don't have the video uploaded. Maybe one of these days we'll enter the digital age with our camcorder too. But I do have a few pics! They did some pretty cool stuff like saying the books of the New Testament and singing some songs.
This kid claims she's shy. Ha. Look at the little poser. It took her five minutes to get to her place on stage because she was striking a pose for the camera!

I have no idea what this kid is doing. . .

"I like to talk and whisper; I like to hum and sing."

Best buddy announcing he was going to pray. So cute!

Saturday Sharing

A few things that caught my eye this week:

LOVE this post about adoption. How many times do we try to put a band-aid on a wound, instead of looking at the source of the infection?

This living room remodel is gorgeous! It's amazing what a little elbow grease can do.

Sophie has a most hilarious post about a 100th birthday celebration. So Southern, so glad.

I wasn't a huge Hanson fan when they hit the charts back in the day, but I love their new song. Try to figure out who is playing the tambourine. :)


Thinking 'Bout Somethin'

HANSON | MySpace Music Videos

Spring Break 2010

Warning: Lots of pictures ahead!

On Spring Break, we traveled over the river to do a little visiting o' the family. First stop, Wolfchase Mall for a ride on the carosel. When we arrived at the mall, there was no one around the carosel and it looked like to was closed. Just our luck. That's why we went to the mall! But it was up and running by the time we were ready to leave. Mommy knew that riding on something spinning was not going to work for her, so Daddy had the pleasure of helping two very excited little girls.

Which one should we choose. . . .

Such a pro.

The next day we headed to the Children's Museum!

Getting our groove on in the disco room -

Paper airplanes -

Weeeeee!

Got to do a little Krogering. . .

So much fun!

Happy Easter!

The Birthday Celebrations

Gabby had a pretty big time celebrating her birthday. First, there were cupcakes at school.

Then, Aunt  Cathy came to visit.

And she brought bubbles!

Friday night was the party. Howwwwwwwwl!

Gabby talked for months of an Arkansas State Red Wolves party. So howl we did.

Spring Break mini-trip to come!

Happy Birthday!

As of yesterday, we officially have a five-year-old. It's hard to put into words how you feel about your child turning another year older. We only had the second half of my pregnancy to prepare for her arrival, and sometimes I feel like we still don't have enough time to prepare for her arrivals. Many times I wish time would slow down so we could really take in what is going on around us.

She used to never sleep through the night; now it's at least more often than not. She admitted the other day that when we wakes us up to tell us she's had a bad dream, she hasn't always had a bad dream; she just wants to cuddle with us. And she wasn't a cuddly baby! But I love my Gabby cuddling time.

A few things about Gabby at the big age of five:

Favorite food: Currently, Shells & Cheese
Favorite drink: Apple Juice
Favorite activities: Playing outside & drawing

She loves to learn, and I love that about her. I pray she continues that! I'm extremely biased, but I think she's a great student.

We are very proud of the little lady she is becoming!

Tuesday

Today I have so much in my mind I want to write about, but I can't put it all down. It would probably make up ten different posts. Not that you'd want to read them all, anyway! In the meantime, remember the bloggers who are traveling to Kenya with Compassion International. Keep up with them. Read their posts. But most of all, pray for them. They will most likely never be the same after this trip. In a good way.

eta: they just left this morning, so the link isn't working yet. It should be up later today.

Happy Belated Valentines Day!

Or Valentimes, as Gabby might say.

We had a full Valentines' weekend. Gabby had a school party on Thursday, we had the big ultrasound on Friday, and our AWANA Valentine banquet on Sunday. All of the groups sang. We really enjoyed hearing our Cubbies belt out their song!

Here are a few shots from the fun times:

First, the snacks.

 

Then, the passing out of the Valentines.

  

Best buddy, Levi

 

We are AWANA cubbies!

 

It's a . . .

BOY!!

Friday morning the family loaded up and went to doctor to have an ultrasound. We told Gabby that we were going to make sure the baby was growing and doing well, but all she cared about was finding out if it is a boy or a girl. She was pleased as could be (as were we) to find out it's a boy! Ellie, of course, didn't have a clue what was going on. Won't she be surprised this summer!

After the appointment, we started making phone calls and sending out texts. We are so blessed to have so many family and friends so involved and excited with us. In fact, we received a few calls and texts before we even had the test that day, anxious to find out!

We headed to Chuck-E-Cheese and Build-A-Bear (pics to come) after that, so we all had a really full, fun day. Now it's time to think about a name.  .  .

 

Today is my niece's birthday. The oldest of my beautiful, talented, incredible nieces. Today she is 21. Twenty-one. I still can't believe it. It seems like just a few years ago I was sleeping in the bedroom next to her, visiting, waking up and hearing the sweet little voice while she played in her crib. Thing is, most mornings she would sleep later than me, which hasn't changed at all.  ;)

Seems like yesterday we were putting bows on her head at Christmas time, playing with her in the play kitchen, hunting eggs at Easter time and sitting in the floor reading books to her. Now she does all that with my little girls.

What a incredible woman she has grown to be. It has been such a privilege to watch her mature and grow. She has had to face a lot in just the past few years, and has handled it with great dignity and faith. 

Her passion for God and for doing His work is great. She has traveled across the states and the world ministering, with no reservation. I can't wait to see what the next 21 years holds for you, Lauren. God has such great things in store for you. I love you and am beyond proud of you.

Silly Girl

 

Yes, ma'am, those are panties on my head.

This girl just makes us laugh. Gabby was getting pj's on in her room and Ellie was back there too. When Ellie came back in the living room, this is what she looked like. (Don't worry Mom, they were clean!) :)

Snow Much Fun!

Last week we all anticipated and planned for a "winter storm" for our area. We live in the South. When they say winter storm, we pay attention. Could be ten inches of snow, could be two inches of ice. We always hope for the snow. Last year at the same time of year we had an ice storm that crippled the area. And I mean crippled. Power lines came down and everyone in our town lost power. Some people in the area were without power for over a month!

Thankfully, this year we got snow. And lots of it! Officially in our town we received nine inches. NINE INCHES. In Arkansas. It started with sleet on Thursday night and since we had to travel to Jonesboro on Friday morning for Jason to have a test done, I got a little nervous. But we made it back home before it got too bad. Sweet husband he is, right after he told me he was seeing double while I was driving him home, he offered to drive. I politely declined. :)

It snowed and snowed and snowed Friday. It was beautiful, and we had two excited girls. Well, we had one excited girl anyway. Little bit didn't really understand what was going on! We played Saturday and Sunday too, since the roads were still bad and church was canceled. The roads were glazed over just right for some fun sledding Sunday. The picture above is what it still pretty much looks like today, so schools are still closed and we're having an inside day, aside from Daddy, who got to go to work today. Big girl hasn't even asked to go back out there yet. She's worn out from all the fun.

All bundled up and ready to go!

 

Snow Angel

  

  

The snow was a little too deep for this sled Saturday. Good thing we had a toboggan too!

  

  

Gabby LOVED this one!