San Diego & Disneyland

 What a beautiful zoo!

 Oh the Mickey Mouse!!

 These cars were amazing! Lincoln adored Mater.

 Show your muscles!

 Our whole group visiting the pandas!

The happy campers!

These are simply a FEW of the hundreds of pictures Erin and I took on our amazing trip to San Diego and Anaheim. It was simply amazing! I'll try very hard to work on several other posts highlighting what we did and all the fun that was had.

Things I don't want to forget....

Lincoln says:

pupcake - cupcake

hellipopter - hellicopter

puhsketti - spaghetti

His L's still sound like W's. So he calls himself Winkin. 

He knows his birthday is in April. 

Here is a list of questions I asked him around his 3rd birthday! 

1.       What is your favorite color? red

2.       What is your favorite toy? Mack (from Cars)

3.       What is your favorite fruit? peaches (really? He hasn’t eaten peaches in ages!)

4.       What is your favorite TV show? Wall-E (it should be Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!)

5.        What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Macaroni

6.       What is your favorite outfit? a tree shirt (he doesn’t have a tree shirt?! maybe a tee shirt?)

7.       What is your favorite game? Angry Birds

8.       What is your favorite snack? vitamins (they’re gummies)

9.       What is your favorite animal? a lion

10.   What is your favorite song? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

11.    What is your favorite book? Moo, Baa, La La La, by Sandra Boynton

12.   Who is your best friend? Nemo (???? Sorry Carter!)

13.   What is your favorite sport? basketball

14.   What is your favorite thing to do outside? play basketball (I thought it would be riding his truck)

15.   What is your favorite drink? apple juice

16.    What is your favorite holiday? Easter (probably because that was the most recent!)

17.    What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Lightning McQueen pillow pet (but he never goes without his blue blankey)

18.   What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? pancakes

19.    What do you want for dinner on your birthday? tacos

20.   What do you want to be when you grow up? 3 J

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

 Well...it has come and gone. Our first big together birthday bash was a fabulous success! They came, they played, they ate...and they didn't want to leave!! 

Check out my tissue puffs! Erin made them for me. There's even a goldfish hanging on the left. They were beautiful and better than I even expected!  They are actually still hanging in my kitchen because I don't want to take them down!!

We decorated with bright colors that matched the Eric Carle book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see? I added pink owls for Aspen's theme. There are no owls in Brown Bear...but I wanted owls, so owls we did! The circles hanging in the background, the buckets, and the tablecloth were all borrowed from our sweet friend, Jenn Rice. I made the cupcake toppers and food tents all by myself! And the invitations, I think I posted those here already. 

Isn't this pretty? Brown bear, goldfish, pink owl, blue horse, purple cat, green frog, red bird. The cupcakes and two smash cakes were from Alex Bell, of course. You can see her website here. I must say her cakes are fabulously delicious!!  We ordered 36 cupcakes and two smash cakes so each of the kids could have their own. We only ended up with 6 cupcakes left over! 

Lincoln's Brown Bear cake...I think it's fabulous!

Aspen had her pink owl cake with chevron on top! Love it!

I must say they both LOVED their cakes. Lincoln didn't want a fork and had already leaned in and taken his first bite before we had even finished singing Happy Birthday! He really enjoyed eating the bear piece by piece. 

Aspen was very happy to put handful after handful of delicious cake in her mouth!!

She shoved her mouth so full she couldn't even chew! She had cake boogies, too! We actually had to cut her off. I think she would've eaten the whole thing!

Cheesing it up! He loved his cake. 

I used an idea from Pinterest and made a bubble station out of an old detergent bottle. It worked like magic! Jeromy actually sat down there and filled up the tiny bubble bottles. The kids had fun and took their bubbles home as part of their favors.

The birthday boy getting some bubble action.

Our happy family, post cake. They were both covered and we didn't really want to touch them! Aspen had cake in her ears, her nose, her hair...a whole wardrobe change was necessary! 

We had a great time. We don't actually know how many people came. All we know is we went through 3 gallons of lemonade, 30 cupcakes, 21 hamburgers, and 30 hotdogs. The party was scheduled to be from 11-1 but we put both the tuckered out birthday babies to nap and still had people here around 4. My mother in law says that's the sign of a good party, when people don't want to leave. We noted that gifts were not necessary but of course they got WAY more than they needed. Fortunately, several friends and family members blessed them with a monetary gift so we will put that in their college funds for later. I must say that I could not have pulled this party off without the help of some fabulous friends. Erin and Anna were so incredibly helpful. EE made the tissue puffs and hung them. She and Anna helped with anything and everything that was needed. From tying up balloons, to cleaning the kitchen they were instrumental in the success of the party. 

This is who I remember for sure:

Erin Leonard

Jeromy, Anna, & Ian Fitzwater

Kelly, David, Will, Elise & Benjamin Wortman

Betty Bostain & Faith

Collin, Faith & Corbin Delp

Gina & Joey Lindsey

Jenn & Carter Rice

Kaleb, Leslie, Zane & Zoey Taylor

Marci & Rocky Taylor (Nana & Papaw)

Toni & Carroll Vance (Grammy & Dadaw)

Carol Hamby (Mamaw Carol)

Molly & Micah Rice

Carmen, Doug, & Landon Suttles

James, Jan, Daniel & Jace Barnhill

Stephanie Pelliccione

If I missed someone it was inadvertent! We were so busy and the kids played outside the whole time. Everyone had a fabulous time and we can't wait to do it again! The double deck worked out perfectly and people could sit upstairs or downstairs. There was a place for everyone to sit and eat and Nana got Aspen and Lincoln a sweet picnic table with umbrella and the kids loved it. 

We can't wait to have another cookout. Anthony said that was the whole reason he built the decks and the play set. So we'd be the place to hang out. It will definitely be a regular thing. :) Just don't always expect such pretty decorations!

I must say that my babies had a fabulous time and really seemed to enjoy themselves. They sure were tuckered out at the end of the day. It's incredible to think that I have a one and three year old. Every day they amaze me.

At their doctor's appointments on April 4 here were their birthday stats:

Lincoln

 31 pounds - 25%ile

38 inches - 50-75%ile

He got two shots...so sad.

Wearing 2T & 3T shirts, 3T pants with adjustable waist, 2T shorts with adjustable waist, size 9 shoes.

Aspen

20 pounds 3 ozs - 30%ile

20 1/2 inches - 60%ile

Head 44.5 cms - 60%ile

She got 4 shots...even more sad.

Wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 4 shoes (Stride Rite)

I can't believe he's THREE!

Just a few fun pictures from Lincoln's birthday. More fun pics to come later...

The morning started with french toast for breakfast.

We visited My Local Bakery in Morganton and let him pick his very own cupcake. 

Needless to say..his lips, teeth, mouth, fingers....were all blue! :)

And no "BIG BOY" birthday would be complete without getting a big boy bed! 

"Great things"

I don't even know where to begin. I just had one of the most amazing experiences of my life.. I had just posted my facebook status: More tears tonight as I tucked my 2 year old into bed for the very last time...I can't believe we've been entrusted with this amazing, intelligent, talented little person. I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for him. I really was crying as I walked away from the computer. Overwhelmed with the fact that tomorrow Lincoln will be 3. That we've been blessed with him for 3 amazing years.

I then went to dry my hair. As I was standing there with the hair dryer in my hand I was completely overcome. There was this resounding voice/presence/words in my mind and in my ears. It wasn't like a sound you hear, or a voice that spoke to me audibly but it was so overwhelming that it was undeniable. "Great things." It just kept repeating and repeating in my mind. So much so that I had to put down the hair dryer and kneal. I was so overcome. "Great things." Over and over. Tears streamed down my face and all I could do was pray. Father God is telling me that Lincoln is going to do "great things." How amazing is that. It was such an overwhelming realization that I didn't know what to pray or what to say. I just asked God to help me to raise Lincoln in the way He sees fit. That I praise him, correct him, love him, encourage him, teach him, and guide him in the way the Lord wants me to. Then all I could ask was 'how?' How can I raise a man who is destined to do great things? How do you parent that? How can I ever be good enough to lead him into what he's going to become?

My entire being felt this message from the Lord. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that He was speaking directly to me and giving me a glimpse into the future..to tell me Lincoln is going to be "great." 

I am so scared of what that means. President? Doctor? Scientist? Preacher? Evangelist? 

How can I be prepared for that? How can we, as parents, foster what God wants to grow? Please be in prayer with me that we can teach Lincoln in the way God wants us to. If he's to be 'great' we need to raise him and treat him that way. Please pray for us to be the parents we need to be. 

Happy Birthday Sweet Aspen!!

I plan on taking some super fabulous birthday pictures next week while Mom is off....but for now this was my sweet girl on her birthday! Too bad she was sickly. And about 10 seconds after I took these pictures she threw up all over us....sigh.

VCUG

Today we drove to Charlotte to Levine Children's Hospital. Aspen was scheduled for her VCUG this morning at 9:00. Thankfully Lincoln spent the night with Nana so we didn't have to worry about getting him up and ready and out. No matter...we were late anyway. We never got very good directions so we just went by the GPS. Ugh...not always the best plan. Since I've been driving to Charlotte so often with Aspen's little helmet I could've gotten us to Morehead street a lot quicker and easier. Oh well. Once se got there we couldn't find parking...it was like a maze. Tons of buildings and lots of parking but so much of it was labeled as doctors only or staff only...

Once we got into Levine's I must say that our experience was amazing. From the front desk lady who checked us in and walked us all the way to our waiting area, to the sweetest nurse ever (except you, Tori :)) in the radiology department, everyone was so nice. We felt welcomed and taken care of. The nurse in radiology was cheery and talkative and really put us at ease as she talked us through the procedure. If you want to know more specific details about the VCUG go here. Basically they catheterized her to insert some contrast into her bladder. Then they wait and watch as she pees to see if there is any reflux out of her bladder back into her urethra and her kidneys. That could continually cause scar tissue and lead to renal failure...see past posts about Anthony. 

She screamed the whole time. The whole time. But I must admit that on the scale of Kyla.... I didn't even shed a tear. And I thought it was going to be awful! We laid her on the table, they did their thing and they put the x-ray machine over the top of her body. Anthony and I stood at the head of the table and cooed at her and loved on her and tried to soothe her. Nothing worked. But she didn't kick and wiggle and try to get away like I thought she would. She was very tame and just screamed. She actually peed very quickly and we were done very quickly. She was very ready for us to pick her up and she whimpered for a little while afterwards, but no lingering fussiness. She didn't seem to have any problems the rest of the day either. Our appointment was at 9 and even though we were just a tiny bit late we were walking out of the hospital by 9:45. We wouldn't even have gotten out that quickly if we had been at our doctor's office! Simply fabulous. 

Aspen slept all the way through the ride to Charlotte...waking her up at 7 am is definitely a far cry from her usual sleeping in until almost 9. She nursed before we left and then she actually snacked right before the procedure and we offered her milk cup during to see if it would calm her down. It didn't. On the ride home she just thoughtfully looked out the window until about Gastonia, then she knocked out again. Anthony had taken the morning off to go with us, thank goodness. Since we were finished and home so early we decided to have some lunch. So we grabbed Olive Garden as soon as they opened at 11. Hooray. 

All in all it wasn't nearly as scary as I had anticipated. I must say that I prayed all night last night while falling asleep, and when I woke up in the night to hear Aspen crying. Now we just wait until Tuesday for our follow up appointment for the results. Anthony said he watched the whole thing on the screen and didn't see any backflow. So we'll see what the doctor now has to say after they send him a report. We are praying that the test shows that all is absolutely normal and we can just get back to having two beautiful, happy, healthy kids. No more worrying about appointments and procedures. Well, except for the well checks in early April! 

Just a little photo to make you smile...

Sissy is learning to sit in a chair. In fact it's soo cute! She's learning to back up to sit down in your lap or to put her hiney in a chair. And she loves sitting in Lincoln's Thomas table like a big girl! 

She sat down with her book and just kicked her feet. It's precious!