First Place...in my opinion!

Yesterday in the little town we live in we had a celebration called "Popcorn Day".  It's named after the popcorn plant we have here in town.   Anyway, it is a day filled with street vendors, a parade, dances for teens, there also used to be things like a tractor pull, little kid games that my parents seemed to run every year (like water balloon tossing, frog jump contest, bubblegum blowing, etc.) and other various things.  This year we decided, well I did I guess, to enter Mercedes into the Baby Contest.  There were different age groups that I'm not entirely aware of, but in my very unbiased opinion she should have won first place in any category.  It was just an excuse for me to dress her up a little and it was fun to see the other kids out there. Now before you go a little weird on me, no I am not the Toddlers and Tiaras type of mom, okay!

 My little princess.

 The kids in her age group.  The one sitting on the lap of the lady with a pink shirt was the winner.  Mercedes was in a 3 way tie for 2nd place.  My dad was thinking that they probably should have stopped being worried about feelings and just made a decision.  I happen to agree.  I will always think my daughter is the prettiest thing around, no matter what others try to say to me.

So freaking cute!

Okay I am here...

I don't know why it has been so absolutely hard for me to blog lately.  Every time I think about doing it I just think, yech.  So, I've been on a blogging hiatus.  Our lives have been pretty crazy in the last few months.  My kids both had birthdays.  Mercedes turned one.  Yes I have a zillion pictures, and no I'm not sure if I'll go back and post them or not.  Lincoln turned three.  Wow how time has flown.  We also packed up our lives in Utah and moved to Iowa.  Because of some flooding and other crazy situations, most of our stuff is actually still packed up in boxes.  It has been a crazy summer.  But something I wanted to blog about real quick is my little boy's first day of school.  Lincoln started preschool this year and he LOVES it.  He's been talking about school ever since last winter when we would go pick up Todd at BYU.  Linc thought he should be going to school and I thought about it for awhile and decided that it would be a great opportunity for him.  I am a firm believer that each child is different and therefore has different needs.  Lincoln loves his little school time and I love hearing about his day each time I pick him up.  He talks about it for hours.  He only goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8-11:30, but he would much rather go everyday, all day.  I don't think I would like that very much.  But it is fun to see his excitement.  Well enjoy a few pictures of him, I didn't actually get him in the school (my mom did though so I'll get some of those eventually.) I think part of this blogging thing has been the feeling that I have to post about everything that has happened to us, so I'm trying to get myself away from that attitude. 

 

Well...

You might feel as if I am throwing up pictures.  There are a bunch from the last little while.  These are very out of order and I really don't feel like moving them around, so sorry.  

 We have been absolutely loving the nice weather these last few days.  We spend as much time as possible outside.

 Jammie time.  I love this time.  My kids are so fun to just snuggle.

 Crazy boy.  Who is never standing still.

 He loves football and soccer.  Whenever he plays he calls it a "soccer game" or "football game".

 Todd graduated!!! We didn't go to commencement but we went to his college graduation.  It was about 2 and 1/2 hours long, so I'm very glad I got a babysitter.

 Just getting seated.

 Waiting for his turn to get his diploma cover.  Sad story - somewhere the right paperwork wasn't filled out so his name wasn't on the program.  Made me more upset than Todd, but I think he deserves to have his name in print!!

 He made it!

 Do they look a little excited to you!

 Mini Easter Egg hunt at our house.  I filled some eggs with coins, candy, stickers and a few small toys.  He loved looking for them with our neighbor Owen.

 Can never actually look at the camera.

 He fell and scratched his lip a couple days before this, so that is not chocolate.

 He loved the stamps he got.

 He LOVES coins.  He puts them in his piggy bank that our good friends Kati and Tyson got for him.

 What a pretty little lady.

 She chews on everything.

 I love her grin.

 Easter morning surprises.

 She is actually laughing here not crying.

 Mercedes has started to stand on her own lately.  This picture is actually deceiving because she is leaning on the ottoman.  But she really does stand on her own.

 He's trying to show you that he is 2.

I hope this video works.  This is Todd receiving his diploma