The Holiday

The past week has been a busy one, so here's a little recap...

Troy, Lincoln & I got to spend a long and fun weekend at Okoboji with Troy's family.  It wasn't the best weather, but we managed to have an enjoyable vacation anyway.  Lincoln on the other hand had a mind of his own...(typical).  Friday night rolled around and we got to blow up his "big boy" bed...aka: single blow up mattress with awesome dinosaur sheets.  He thought it was pretty cool, until he had to sleep on it.  Lincoln had other plans.  After several hours of crying and battling, he fell asleep (with us) only to wake up again...and again...and again.  Eventually he was awake for the day at about 5:30 am.  It was worse than having a newborn, he must not have gotten the memo of vacation.  The next couple nights slowly got better.  Needless to say we were more exhausted than he was. 

We spent many hours golfing with plastic clubs, browsing around the shops, relaxing, watching "Monkey George" and Lion King, getting a pedicure, and of course boating.  This became the dreaded "B" word.  Lincoln LOVED boating.  In fact he threw a fit at 6 in the morning when he wanted to go boat and everyone else was sleeping.  As the weekend went on we began referring to the boat as the "B" word...to avoid the tantrums :)

All things fun came to a halt for me when my tooth began to hurt.  Who would have thought a little tooth could cause so much pain?!  In fact, I would compare this pain to child birth...except without the epidural and happy ending of a sweet little babe.  After many tries of pain relievers, Orajel, and a few tears later...we decided to give a dentist a try.  Luckily this sweet man came in on a Sunday afternoon, over a holiday weekend mind you, to help me out.  Turns out I had an abscess.  With the help of my sister-in-law (who got to run the suction hose), a quick dental fix, and some drugs...I was mostly pain free for the rest of the weekend.  Phew.  Four days later, I had a root canal and problem fixed...I hope!

Enough with the rambling...here's some pictures of the weekend (well, mostly of Saturday).

 Cheeto fingers, only at the lake is he lucky enough to eat Cheetos for supper.

 Uncle John & Lincoln on the golf cart

 Mowing the neighbor's lawn...so thoughtful :)

 Working on vacation

 Me and my little babe!

 Had to have a hand on his life jacket all the time...he was too brave for my liking!

 Loving it!

 Lincoln & daddy taking the boat out for it's last ride...this weekend Troy's dad bought a new one!

My sister-in-law, Andrea & I enjoying an evening boat ride

 

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day Weekend was busy as usual, but lots of fun.  My weekend to work happened to fall last weekend which put a damper in the beautiful weekend- oh well!  Sunday we got to attend church with my family...Lincoln again was adamant about sitting in "chuch" instead of going to the nursery.  As usual, it lasted about 15 minutes (which is considered somewhat successful in our book).  We enjoyed dinner with my lovely mother and family, got a quick nap in for the little man and went on to spend the evening with Troy's parents.  I loved spending the day with all the wonderful moms in my life...and of course with my own little love bug. 

 Lincoln and I took on a little craft for the "gammas".

 He thought it was pretty neat that he even got to try his hand at painting, even though it only last about 15 minutes.  :)

 Smiling or not, it's a miracle we get him to look at the camera.

 The end product: Mother's Day gifts for Lincoln's "gammas"

And boy does he love his grandmas!

 My 3rd Mother's Day with this handsome little boy...three!?  Couldn't be happier to be his mommy!

 Grandma Schut and Lincoln

 Grandma Smit and Lincoln

 And the best gift from Lincoln & Troy...a vase of Lincoln's sweet face and some gorgeous flowers waiting for me after work! :)



Blooming

Today marked my first afternoon of "summer" as I finished my last final this morning- and what a gorgeous afternoon to have off!!  This spring I have been obsessing over everyone's beautiful flowers outside (probably because mine failed me last year...and I desperately want to make a comeback).  I had to force myself to wait until school was over before I went on the hunt for flowers.  So, first thing Lincoln and I do when I get home from class...make our rounds to find the perfect flowers!  Three stops later and I was ready to plant (and thankfully Lincoln was quite the trooper).

Even if it took three stops and several passes by each row before I found just what I had in mind, I LOVE how they turned out.  Now to keep them alive for a whole summer may be another thing...but I'll enjoy it while I can :)

Although we live in an apartment...on the second floor, that kind of hides behind a big tree- the likely hood of people seeing my flowers are kind of slim, but regardless I love looking at them, and it's kind of therapeutic!

 How I spent my night...

This was for my last final...I won't be missing those notecards!

The finished product!

My favorite:

Fine gold leaf stonecrop (Sedum hybrid)

Diamond frost (Euphorbia graminea)

Live wire fiber optic grass (Isolepis cernua)

Love the Artist Purple in this one!

Wish me luck with these beauties! :)

May...finally!

I love this month for many reasons...especially this year!  Although this year has flown by (which I really can't complain about), I still welcome May with open arms.  Here are some of the reasons I really love May:

• May marks the end of the semester (and year!)...a long, challenging, and very stressful semester but hey, one more down!! 
• FREE TIME!!  You have no idea how excited I am to enjoy my evenings and weekends without worrying about what I should be doing for school.
• The beginning of SUMMER.  I love summer!  I love summer especially because it's probably my last "free" summer before studying my life away for boards and then getting a full time job.  I plan to cherish every minute soaking up the sun, playing at the pool with Lincoln, making trips to the library, and indulging in a good book...non-educational of course :)
• My birthday...the big 25!  My younger friends like to remind me I've lived a quarter of a century and after turning 21, being older isn't cooler.
• Mother's Day...because I have the best mother, mother-in-law...and I love being Lincoln's mommy!
• The Tulip Festival in Orange City.  I don't know why I love going so much, but I do...always have.  I love the parade, walking down the streets, the tulips and of course the food!
• This May, Troy and his friends put together their own Amateur Triathlon, much like a sprint triathlon.  One Saturday we're all getting together to swim 5(ish) laps, bike to Hull, and then run 2 miles.  Aftewards, we're planning a big bbq!  They've been real excited about this...and are hoping to have a lot of fun.  I'm still not convinced I'm actually going to participate...Troy begs to differ, so we'll see! :)
• Memorial Day at the lake.  I love kicking off the summer with a long (and much needed) weekend at the lake!  Troy's sister and brother-in-law will even be there this year.