Lincoln James || Four Years Old

Today, my sweet baby boy turned four. I can't believe how quickly the past fours year have gone by and yet here we are.

There is so much to say about Lincoln. He is a sweet and gentle little soul, but at the same time is very much a four year old. Each day he is growing more and more independent and wants to exert that independence just a tiny bit more.

And as often as he comes out exclaiming...."I have a good idea" and "Sure, you can play with me," and so many other sweet sweet comments, minutes later, I'll hear "See...I told ya!" or "You don't tell me that."

He is slowly growing into his role of big brother. He loves baby Finn something fierce, but is very much struggling with the fact that he is no longer our one and only baby. He is still wanting to revert back into "baby mode" and is constantly asking us to sleep with him or if he can sleep in our bed. It breaks my little heart to see him feel a little bit discombobulated by the arrival of Finn. I know he'll get through it, but it's been a tough five months for sure.

While Finn seems to be proving himself as a little force of nature, Lincoln is our quiet, gentle and strong soul. He is very sensitive and still cries if he gets in trouble. When his feelings are hurt, you can see his little eyes well up with tears and he tries to be strong and asks "Ugh...why do my eyes keep watering?"

He is so joyful too, with such an easy going nature and can find fun and happiness in any little activity. Just running through the sprinklers has him screaming with delight. He is always up to try new things, probably one of my favorite characteristics about him, and is willing to try anything once, especially if mommy and daddy are there to try it too.

He is still very much a "truck" guy...loving fire trucks, garbage trucks, construction trucks and even mail trucks. He has a newly peaked interest in dinosaurs and most recently told me he wants to be an archaeologist when he grows up, which is just so cool to me.

Daddy is still his favorite for playing and getting down and dirty. They love to do yard work, dig in the garden, and just be outdoors in general. They headed off on their first father, son camping trip this summer and Lincoln go to go fishing for the first time! But as much as he loves his daddy and playing with him, I think I'm still his home base. He'll cuddle with me, curled up in my lap to watch a show at the end of the day. I'm his comforter when he's hurt, and I can calm his tears much easier than Kevin can. And he is, and always will be, my favorite little baker, always up for making cookies with me!

Lincoln makes each and every day an adventure, always up for anything and like his mama, always looking for something fun to do. I am so excited to see what four entails for our first little man.

Happy Birthday Lincoln Log! We love you so very much.

A Garbage Truck Birthday Party || Lincoln Turns Four!

This past weekend we celebrated our special big boy who is turning 4 this week! He requested a "garbage truck" themed birthday party and I think we delivered just that!

We had originally wanted to do the party at our local park/splash pad, but it had been booked out months in advance and we were too late to the party on that one. So instead, I found a great deal on a bounce house rental and we hosted about 30 people total at our house.

I spent a few weeks cutting out a ton of garbage truck themed signs, but by the time the day of the party arrived, we kept it simple with Costco pizza and caesar salad along with some pre-cut fruit. I made a boxed (gasp!) confetti cake and cupcakes the night before and we were good to go.

I must say, I'm pretty proud of the way it turned out and I think Lincoln had a blast!

Lake Days

We live in an area with access to almost 10 different lakes. It's a  beautiful area for sure. A few weekends ago some friends of ours invited us out on their boat and we jumped at the chance! Below are a few photos of all the fun we had, including swimming, tubing and boating!

Boys Camping Trip || 2018

This past weekend, Kevin took Lincoln on their very first boys only camping trip. They headed out to Medical Lake for a one night stay and got to do everything from fishing, boating, swimming, campfire making and s'mores!

Kevin wasn't that impressed with the campsite itself as it was pretty close to the road, but Lincoln had a blast on his first boys only camping trip and I'm sure there were many memories made. This mama can't wait till Finn is big enough to head out on the boys only adventure as well so I get a night all to myself, ha! ;0)

In addition, we're looking forward to many camping trips as a family of four once little Finn is just a bit older. Here are a few photos Kevin sent my way from this past weekend!

4th of July || 2018

Happy 5th of July! I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! Our was laid back and low key which was nice for a 4th stuck right in the middle of the week. This year was fun, but I'm definitely hoping next year we can make it out to the island for a long weekend!

We made the most of our Wednesday off though. We started our day off at Hello Sugar where we snagged some festive mini donuts along with much needed coffee from Indaba. Afterwards, we headed over to Olmstead Park where Lincoln played to his heart content for a good 2 hours.

Later on, we headed home for some back yard entertainment where he played in the kiddie pool and Kevin and I had a little festive cocktail. Lime La Croix makes the best mid-day gin and tonic if you're looking for a quick summer drink. I added a few blueberries and strawberries to it for a little festive touch. We tried to keep Lincoln up a bit later than usual for his afternoon nap because we had plans to watch the fireworks. Those didn't start till 10 PM so we had to be strategic with nap time. Our plan was successful and Lincoln napped from about 3PM till a little after 5:30 which kept him in a decently good mood for our late night festivities.

After his nap we whipped up a batch of muddy buddies complete with 4th of July m&m's and packed up our goodies for fireworks later on. I had made eat live run's beef carnitas tacos in the slow cooker earlier that day so dinner was easy peasy as well.

After baths and PJs and a few shows to pass the time, it was time to head down to the Cliff Park drive to watch the fireworks from a far. It was our first year doing so, and I was impressed with how many people watch the show from up there. They even close down the road so people can post up. I was successfully able to transfer Finn from bed to car seat and back to bed again and he didn't wake up once!

We watched the show for about 15 minutes and then headed back home. Lincoln was in bed by 10:30 and lights were out for us by 11. It was a great laid back 4th of July!

My Little Fish || Swim Lessons 2018

We signed Lincoln up for swim lessons this summer. It has been a hit! He absolutely loves being in the water. This first session was only 4 weeks so we'll be signing him up for round two as well.

Some fun photos from the past few lessons are below!

Hoopfest 2018

This past weekend was Hoopfest, the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world. It's been held every year in Spokane for the past 29 years and every year, thousands of people descend on our small city. I think this year there was an estimated 50,000 players, which is crazy talk!

I've played a few times grown up, but have avoided the crazy crowds the past few years. Kevin played this year however, and Lincoln is starting to show an interest in basketball. So this year, we headed down to watch daddy play! You can tell the city has this event dialed in, because the crowds were easy to navigate and even parking was surprisingly a breeze. I brought one of my friends down with me to help me wrangle the boys because I have a pretty high sense of fear that Lincoln is going to wander off. He's a little too comfortable and doesn't have a ton of stranger danger these days, so I figured the more hands and eyes the better.

It all worked out and we had a blast. Kevin's team lost their first game, won their second and lost their third, bringing their hoopfest run to an end early on Saturday. They played well and had fun though and that's what counts! Pictures from our weekend are below!