Merry Christmas from our house to your's.

(Editor's Note: This video was taken on a whim. There were no rehearsals.)

Lincoln Looses a Tooth

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving (11-20-2007), Lincoln was eating an apple. Afterwards, he mentioned that it made his tooth hurt. I assumed the peel had poked his gums causing them to hurt. Then after Thanksgiving, Friday or Saturday, he mentioned it hurting again. When I went to investigate, I realized it was loose.

On Thursday, November 29, while at MDO, Lincoln really played with his tooth. Especially at nap time, Lincoln said. By that afternoon, it was ready to come out. I told Lincoln that if he pulled on it, it would come out. I handed him a small, torn-off piece of paper towel and instructed him on how to grasp the tooth and pull. Lincoln pulled a good 5 times, but it didn’t come out. It was much looser, though.

I asked Lincoln to come to me, and in one motion I pulled the tooth. I immediately put my hand behind my back. Lincoln just looked at me like “what?” until he put his finger and tongue where his tooth used to be. His eyebrows went up and we both just smiled at each other. Then we gave High-5. It bled just a little, and once that stopped, we gave each other a big hug. We were both excited. We took a picture on my cell phone and sent it to Gmommy and Daddy, who called us back from work immediatley. We surprised Gran and Papa that evening by going to their house. Lincoln just smiled real big at them. They gasped with surprise- it came out so quick. Lincoln did tell Karen that the tooth fairy would bring him 120 coins. We later explained that his coin (a golden dollar coin) was equal to 100 coins.

"Tullahoma" Thanksgiving

This year, our family traveled to Tullahoma for Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving in Ttown because I get to see my cousins and their kids. It is hard to get together as often now that we are all grown up with children. I also love Thanksgiving b/c of our family's menu! I failed to get a picture of all the food, but there was plenty. It was Delicious!! My personal favs were the hashbrown casserole, the pineapple casserole, cranberry salad, squash casserole, the rolls, pecan pie, and the sweet potatoe casserole. I won't tell you how many pounds I gained in the 72 hours I was in Ttown.

From noon until 10pm, things were happenin'. I captured a few pictures to give you a glimpse of what was like.

Madeline arrived first giving Catherine a playmate. They instantly paired up and disappeared. It wasn't long before we found them upstairs in

Grandmommy's magazines. A little later we found them in Anna
Lea's barbie dolls and accessories. They had a blast. Cousins
Kathryn and Molly were unable to join these two this year. I
decided that they will make a little "possy" that will need to be
watched. I was thankful that Catherine and Madeline didn't find
Gmommy's make-up!!




There was also some football. Tyler holding Lincoln, and bro/sis combo Reagan and Riley played football. Lincoln got his first taste of "tackle" football and had a blast. He actually threw a lateral pass to Tyler who scored a touchdown. His first assist!! The older kids were SO patient and helpful with the younger ones, for which I was thankful.

Gmommy ordered crafts from Oriental Trading company in case the weather was bad. We
were thankful the rain was finished, but the kids enjoyed the
crafts none-the-less.










Thanksgiving would not be Thanksgiving if there weren't snoozers during the day. Dad and Brad at least made it to the evening before passing out. They will LOVE this picture being included! :)

I can never format my pictures the way that I want to on this blog, but we also had games. They started after Coleman went to bed. Some of us played Phase 10 while Gmommy and the boys played on the computer. At 10:30 pm, we decided it was time for the kids to go to bed. Catherine fell asleep on Brad around 9:30 and Lincoln's eyelids were going to need toothpicks to hold them up if had been up much longer. I wish I could say that Lincoln slept in the next morning, but he was up by 7 am. He crawled into bed with Brad and I. See the blog below titled "Sweet Nothings from Lincoln".

I did play Hide and Seek outside after dark with the 5-9 year olds. I learned a couple things about myself. Running around my parents yard as a 32 year old was not the same as running around it as a 13 year old. As I chased kids or ran from them, I was constantly wondering where the next bump/hole would be, and I wondered if I leapt for any reason would my knees hold. That takes a little of the fun out of the game. It did make me feel a little better that I was still pretty quick in chasing the kids. I chased Anna Lea around the house once at high speed and decided quickly, however, that I wouldn't do that again. I needed to catch my breath after that one. I think playing Hide-N-Seek was one of the highlights of the day! I got to know Riley and Reagan a little more too. I told my cousin Sandy that they were both great team players!!

Thank you God for our parents and grandparents who taught us from the beginning that being with family was important!

Oh, I almost forgot this picture- Here is a picture of all the "kids"- big and little.

Sweet Nothings from Lincoln

Friday morning in Tullahoma, Lincoln woke up early and crawled into bed with Brad and me. I love these moments with him. As he has grown older, they have become few and far between. As we were snuggling Lincoln says,

"Mommy, I love your heart."

me- "Thank you Lincoln, I love you from the top of your head to the tips of your toes."

"Mommy, I love your whole body"

(that got a soft chuckle) "Thank you, Lincoln"

"Mommy, I will never love any other girl. Just you."

I squeezed him tight- my heart was overflowing. Words were no longer needed!