I learned how to make jewelry the other day, thanks to some very good friends Rhianna and Kati.  I like this new hobby very much, but I think I could spend booku bucks on it.  Here is a necklace I made for myself and a bracelet for Mercedes.

Pictures I took today.

This is Owen.  He is my next door neighbor's child and I watch him while his Mommy and Daddy go to work/school.

The Christmas Tree

I was so surprised this year when Todd started talking about getting the Christmas tree out the day after Thanksgiving.  Usually he won't let me until Saturday, but he would prefer Dec. 1st.  So this year we got it out, but didn't end up decorating it until Sunday, Nov 28.  Lincoln was cute to watch.  He and Owen got into the ornaments a lot on Monday, but have since realized it is not worth getting in trouble and going to time out. I'm so glad because Monday night I really wanted to take all the ornaments off!

My little reindeer.  He would only wear them for the picture and then promptly took them off.

Helping mommy.

Mercedes just got to watch most of the time.

Lincoln putting up his Cars ornament for last year.

Putting up his Mickey Mouse ornament for this year.

Mercedes did help put up her "Baby's First Christmas" ornament.

The first time we used the tripod and the delayed picture setting on our camera.  Excuse my pregnant looking belly.  I did join a gym this week and hope to make that go away quickly ;)

Thanksgiving

These are the only actual Thanksgiving day pictures that I got - I was too busy stuffing my face.  Anyway, for the first part of the day we ate a lovely lunch made mostly by my mom at Megan and Jim's house.  Last year when we went to Iowa for Thanksgiving, my mom didn't make my favorite dish, chicken noodles.  So I've given her a hard time ever since.  She almost forgot to make them again this year - she would have never lived it down.  Luckily they were made and I ate lots of them.  After we ate we were lazy and played games and planned out our Black Friday shopping excursion.  I love Black Friday.  I know a lot of people don't, but I think it is so fun.  We only ended up going to Walmart at their midnight sale, because we decided we shouldn't spend any more money.  I did have other things that I really wanted, so you should definitely be proud of me.  Usually when I want something I buy it.  We just got a bunch of $5 and $10 blu-rays and a few little toys for Lincoln. 

Another fun thing we did was go out to Eagle Mountain for Pie Night.  This is a Dow family tradition.  Every year Todd's mother and grandmother make like 20 pies for Thanksgiving.  So, we have to carry it on out here in Utah.  We actually went to my sister-in-law's parent's house to eat and be fat and happy!  We had 16 pies I think.  Some of the ones I remember are coconut cream, cherry, apple, kentucky derby, cinnamon, peanut butter, chocolate, sour cream rhubarb, oatmeal, and pear.  Sorry if I forgot yours!  Anyway the ones that I tried were delicious.  I could only eat 4 pieces!!

Lincoln loved the chocolate pie!  He ate the whole piece and wanted another.  Then he only ate one bite of that piece.  Stinker.

The little boys.  Lincoln loves to play with his cousins.  He talks about them all the time at home.  Here are two of them, Nathan and Alec who are closest in age to Linc.

A New Little Lady

On November 19, our family was joined by a new little niece.  My sister, Megan, delivered a perfect little girl to later be named Alyvia.  She is so fun and cuddly.  A bonus to this is that my mom came out for the event and stayed for Thanksgiving.  Which means I didn't have to do much cooking :) Unfortunately my camera was acting up last week so I didn't even get a picture of her.  I found my camera book later and figured out why it was doing that, but it was annoying during the time.  It was just the lens not being screwed in all the way apparently.  

The only picture of Linc I got at Megan's house for Thanksgiving.

My sweet Cedes always moving and smiling at mommy.

Half a Year Old

I realize that Mercedes actually turned 6 months old on November 13, but we didn't have the doctor's appointment until this past Saturday.  She's growing, but still super skinny.  I can't believe how the time has flown, even faster with number two I guess.  She's so beautiful and every time I look at her I can just feel the love that Heavenly Father has for this sweet girl.  I'm so glad she's mine and I hope I still feel this way when she's a teenager ;)  

 Bumbo Love - She likes to sit up and this is really helping her gain some balance.

I love our jumper and so does Cedes.  She loves to stand up and has been able to support her own weight it seems like since she was born.  She will sit in here or play on the floor for long periods of time.  I guess that's what happens with a second child, they have to learn to fend for themselves a lot.  Anyway, here are the stats.
Height - 26 inches - 65 %
Weight - 13lbs 8oz - 10%
Head - 42.3 cm - 50%

Another Year

I realized as I sat here looking at someone else's blog that was posted on November 17 that I had never said a word about my anniversary.  Well, Todd and I have been married for 4 years now, and despite my sad lack of shouting out about it I really am grateful.  Four years may not be a long time in the grand scheme of things, but I feel like we've done a lot and been very blessed in these last four years.  Here are some of the things that have happened in the past four years.
-We were very blessed with a beautiful baby boy, Lincoln, that is now a crazy two year old.
-We were joined by our little angel, Mercedes, who loves to smile and laugh at us.
-Todd got accepted to BYU.
-Todd also went through quite a few career choices, but we feel like we are finally settled on one.
-We've been on lots of trips, a few to Maine, some to Iowa (and Lake Mozingo), and one to San Diego.
-We've spent way too much money.
-We celebrated our four year anniversary ALONE in a hotel in Salt Lake City.
-We have eaten a lot of yummy food and discovered new things together including Sweet Tooth Fairy and Shirley's Bakery.
-We've been on a few diets and gained and lost weight.
-We've been in three different wards.
-We've planned and dreamed what our future will be like when school is over.
-We've cleaned out two classrooms and set up one.
-I've seen three different Kindergarten classes.
-We've been blessed with 11 nieces and nephews in the last four years.
Probably a lot more has happened, but my sleep deprived brain can't think of anything else good to put on here.  We've had a great four years and hope to have many more four years together.

Last night while Mercedes was asleep and Lincoln and I were waiting for Todd to come home, we decided to  go outside and play for a little while.  Well, I got out the rake and went into the neighbors yard and made a pile of leaves for Linc.  He loved it.  He wouldn't let me take too many pictures though because he wanted me to "Come on, Mom" and play.  We had a blast throwing leaves in the air and letting them rain down on us.  I had to redo the pile a few times, but it was so worth it to see the smile on my little guy's face. 

 Don't you love his cute hat.  I didn't get out the gloves that match because they are mittens.

 Don't pay attention to my vampire child picture here.

Bath Time Buddies

I started watching my next door neighbor's little boy, Owen, a couple of weeks ago.  He and Lincoln love each other.  Sometimes a little too much, but hey that's what boys do right - pushing, shoving, and taking toys is their specialty.  Anyway, Linc loves to take baths and if Owen is here he likes to splash from the outside.  The other day he decided that he wanted to get in and they both loved it.  It was cute to watch them play.  My whole bathroom was wet afterward, but they had fun and sometimes that is what counts the most.

Owen definitely does not like water being dumped on his head though.  I found that out when washing his hair;)

Way Too Soon

I cannot believe my little baby is doing this already.  She likes to rock back and forth and it is so stinking cute to see her tiny little body in the crawling position.  She likes to do this army crawl thing right now and can pretty much get wherever she wants.  I can't believe it.  She's six months old now, but we haven't gone to the doctor yet, so no stats yet.  I think she is really small!  

 This is another one of her new tricks.  She can only do it for a limited amount of time, but she still tries.

Yes we did do Halloween (a little)

I'm glad Lincoln wasn't too excited about Halloween this year. It was rainy and cold on the trick-or-treat night, so we were bad parents and didn't take our kids out. The only thing we did this year was go to this cute kid party hosted by some friends of ours in our ward. Mercedes was a tiger, I put the bow in her hair because I wanted her to look like a girl. Todd said I had to use Lincoln's old costumes until she's old enough to ask for something else. We'll see about next year. I might just dress her in a girly costume anyway. That's the point of having a girl right.

Here's Mercedes at the party.

Todd helping Lincoln make a paper jack-o-lantern at the party. I did dress up as a witch, but alas no pictures of me since I was behind the camera.
I had to get Lincoln to dress up today so that I could take pictures of his full costume. What a lame mom I am. Here are some cute videos of him being "Mickey House" as Linc likes to call him.

This video is purely for the grandparents, but anyone can watch that wants to.

Another One Bites the Dust

Yesterday night Lincoln totally bit it on our steps outside. I think he got pushed by someone (Ahem, ahem). I'm totally kidding. He just fell as they always do at this age. I didn't see it actually happen, which according to Ashley I am very glad that I didn't. I was already on the verge of tears. The big circle on the top was a huge goose egg last night, but it is just a big scratch this morning. He cried for awhile, but as soon as I offered to put a "banaid" on it, he calmed right down. He just kept saying, "stairs, fall, hurt." It was so sad.

The stuff around his mouth is cinnamon sugar from eating my toast at breakfast.

We love the park!

We go to the park about 4-5 times a week. Lincoln is always asking to go. Since the weather has been pretty mild, I've been pretty okay with going.

Lincoln likes big "hard" pushes, and Ceds likes tiny pushes.

Bikes, Bikes, Bikes

You know I don't think I've ever met a child who doesn't like bikes. The other day Porter and McKenna came over and we played outside. Luckily we had enough bikes for everyone. My mom and sister Alisha got the big bike for Lincoln's birthday but he wasn't quite ready for it this year so Todd and I got him the trike. He has only recently decided he even likes to try and pedal. Mostly he just likes his Scoot-About. I think it's because he can go a lot faster on it than pedaling.

McKenna having fun going fast.
Porter was doing these tiny little steps and it was so cute to watch. Linc really leans forward on this bike and pushes so fast, it's interesting to remember how he was with it last year. Owen from next door just likes to stand with this bike and push it around. He just giggles.
She's always making these faces:)
Can you tell that his Auntie Katie did his hair?
What Mom?!

Here is a video of his newfound pedaling skills. He's been practicing in our kitchen and can even go backwards.