Happy Valentine's Day

I unintentionally chipped this out while shoveling snow/ice from our driveway - perfect!!

6 Months

Hard to believe that 6 months ago...





Has now become this...





(notice the one little tooth on the bottom!)

And life couldn't be sweeter!

Pizza!

For Christmas, Ryan's parents gave us some neat pizza-making tools: a sauce ladle/spreader, a cheese shaker, a pizza cutter, and some yummy Crate & Barrel flatbread dough mix. Combine that with pepperoni, bacon, sauce, and lots of cheese and this is what you get!




One pepperoni for the pizza, one pepperoni for Link...


Not quite circular...maybe if I tossed it in the air?!

Yummy!!

January Fun

Despite the cool NJ weather (no snow though, luckily!) we are having lots of fun together. Here's some recent updates:

Ellie
Is getting her first tooth! (I didn't even attempt to take any pictures yet because they never turn out well - always lots of tongue and drool and no teeth!)

Loves to eat her rice cereal and join us at the dinner table. She also found a nice ottoman! HAHA


Is still affectionately known as "baby sister" by Lincoln. My mom found the perfect shirt for her...she should wear it every day.


Loves the Jumparoo...and wearing sweet little leggings and ballet shoes :)


Lincoln
Wants to wear his boots (rain boots or snow boots) every day. This is what I woke up to last week:


Had lots of fun at the Imagine That! museum that we went to for playgroup.




Ryan
Celebrated his {age not mentioned} BDay last week!! We had a quiet celebration at home - just what he wanted.




Jamie
(not pictured)
Enjoying meeting new people, organizing the house, playing with my kids, and am grateful each day for a *real* clothes dryer! :)

Back in the US of A

Yes, it's true...we're back in the States. We've actually been back for a month, but I'm just beginning to recover from the craziness that comes with moving across the ocean, traveling to see family out of state, Christmas, and of course the endless unpacking and organizing.

When we first came back to the US, it was strange for me. Besides the awful jet-lag (waking up at 4am for a few days!), I didn't realize how accustomed I had become to the English lifestyle. It was weird to hear people talk without a British accent. I freaked out when Ryan would drive on the right-hand side of the road. I kept thinking "pounds" instead of "dollars". I missed pick 'n mix. Sadly, most of those things have been reversed back to my usual American-brain mode...except the pick 'n mix - I still miss that. I really loved living in England. I will always be grateful for the opportunity we had to live there, if only for a short time. We made wonderful friends and have beautiful memories that we will cherish forever.

However, things have been great here. I absolutely LOVE our new home. Ryan chose it on his own a month before we arrived, and he did a great job. It instilled further confidence that he should continue to choose our homes without me (this is the third time he's done so).

We had a fantastic Christmas with my parents in KC. All my siblings came home for Christmas, so we were all together for the first time in who-knows-how-long. We had plenty of aunties and an uncle who wanted to hold Ellie and play with Lincoln, but of course they had to compete with Nana and Pop too! The kids were much-loved to say the least! We ate, played games, watched movies, rocked out to Beatles Rock Band, talked, and enjoyed a white Christmas together. It was hard to say good-bye...it always is!

Now we're back in New Jersey and continue to get settled here. Almost all the boxes are emptied out; it's just figuring out where to put everything! I'm pacing myself and trying not to expect "the perfect home" just yet. There is still lots of organizing and furniture-purchasing that needs to be done, but will require more time in both thought and available funds. :)

Our little town is so cute and our ward is great. There are 20+ kids in nursery, so Link is bound to make some new friends. We haven't been in a ward where Deacons pass the Sacrament for a LONG time (maybe never?) - in Brighton 80 year-old men did, and before then we never had any young men in the wards! It's refreshing and fun to have big families and lots of new people to meet.

Lincoln just loves the snow so much. Too bad (for him) most of it is melted here. He still prefers to wear his snow boots around every day and is very proud to put them on and off himself.


Ellie is just getting so big! She is now over 5 months old - rolling all over the place, chatting in baby-talk, eating rice cereal, and always charming strangers with her bright blue eyes and beautiful smile.




One of my New Year's resolutions is to be better with posting on the blog...so hopefully massive, belated posts like this won't happen! :)

Latest Pictures

Jamie and I have been busy moving into our new home and celebrating Christmas. She will likely get back to her usual blogging, but while waiting here are some pictures of our kids.

He loves decorating the tree and he also loves running around in diaper only. I better turn down the temperature to encourage more clothes.



He isn't particularly good at decorating the tree.





New Hat!

Lincoln {Hearts} Bowling

I don't know how it started...maybe all the way back to when I was pregnant with Lincoln and would watch my sister's bowling league at BYU. The bowling vibes must have soaked in, because Lincoln loves bowling. He watches bowling on YouTube. He has several sets of bowling pins that he sets up and bowls over. He plays bowling on the iTouch. Whenever he sees a show, commercial, story, or bowling things he just loves it! His Nana found a shirt with bowling on it, and he pretty much wants to wear it every day (tied with his Thomas shirts).

That said, we decided it was time to take Lincoln bowling, and boy did he LOVE it! We let him bowl Ryan and my frames as well, and he was just a little bowling machine. He picked up the ball all by himself (6 or 8 lb balls - even lifting up heavier ones at times on accident!) and would place them on top of the bowling ramp and send them flying.


Waiting for the ball to come back - aren't those little bowling shoes the cutest??!


Each bowl deserved a celebratory dance:


Even bowling for all of us, Link managed to get the high score for himself! Not too bad for a 2 year old!


He wasn't quite ready to leave...although I'm pretty sure he would have stayed all day if we let him.