The many adorable faces of Lincoln John...

ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS AN ADORABLE LITTLE BOY, WITH MANY ADORABLE FACES. HERE IS SOME OF HIS STORY...

"OK MOM, CLICK AWAY..."

"HERE'S MY STUD POSE FOR YOU..."

"I'M REFLECTING..."

"THIS IS MY 'DON'T LOOK AT THE CAMERA' MODEL PHOTO"...

"BWAHAHAHAHA, I'M DEVIOUS..."



"OK NOW I'M OFFICIALLY TICKED OFF!"

THE END...FOR NOW. :)

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

In honor of The Twilight Saga's newest installment "Eclipse" coming out in theatre's this month, I have changed my background. If anyone has me as a friend on facebook, and I talk about loving "Edward" and/or Robert Pattinson, this is where I fell in love with him. :) Robert Pattinson plays "Edward Cullen" in the Twilight Saga. He is the beautiful guy whose face ironically sits above the letters "ec" on my background. :)

On June 29th, my sisters Amy and Megan and a few friends are going to be a small number of the crazed "Twifans" at the theatre for the midnight premiering of "Eclipse". However, not before we see "Twilight" and "New Moon" right before starting at 7pm!!! 7 hours of Rob Pattinson on the big screen! Ahhhhhhhhh. ;)

Soccer Mom!

WELL SLAP A STICKER ON MY BUMPER AND CALL ME A SOCCER MOM!!!

Yes, today I'm officially a soccer mom! Well, for the day at least, if Lincoln decides he doesn't like it. I guess I have to also say, maybe I'm not a 'true soccer mom' because I don't have a minivan, but close enough. :) I signed our little guy up for "Introduction to Soccer Starz" at one of the local gym/physical therapy facilities, "Performance Therapies". It is really close to our house which is nice too. Lincoln will have soccer from 11:00am-11:45am every Thursday. :) I'm sooooooooo excited!

I've always wanted at least one of my children to play soccer. I've never actually followed the world of soccer or anything, I just like the sport. In fact, in high school, you know how the girls are always 'crazy' about the football and basketball players? I was never one of those crazy about athletes in general, but I did think the soccer players were the hotter ones! I can always tell by looking at a guys calves if he's been a soccer player. Hahahahahahahahaha. :)

Don't misunderstand me, I don't necessarily want my son to be the object of any girls affection any time soon, but he is pretty darn cute, so soccer player or not, I know I should realistically prepare myself for girls to be calling my house far sooner than I'd probably like them to be. So we'll see how this goes in a few hours. I'll post an update later!

Ice Cream Truck, TAKE 2...

The ice cream truck came down our street again last night. I hesitated because Lincoln and I shared a bowl of ice cream about 30 minutes before. He even asked me for more at the time and I said no because he had a majority of the bowl! But, I'm a sucker. I remembered the first time (what like a week ago?) when he asked me for Dora and I had to tell him, 'next time buddy'. Well, here was our chance. So we headed out front and sure enough, Lincoln picked the Dora bar. :)

So our little guy came inside and very proud, sat down and ate his Dora bar. :)

The papergirls

So, one of my 2 best girlfriends, Katie, recently took on a paper route to have some extra cash. Paper routes have evolved from what they used to be. Long gone are the 'paperboy's on their bicycles.' Even looking for newspaper clipart, I couldn't find a papergirl! :( Just paperboy's on bikes. Well these days there are paperboys & papergirls and generally, they travel by automobiles. :) Well, 2 weeks into her 7 morning/week route, yes EVERY MORNING, I myself couldn't sleep, so I decided to tag along. It is now 9:30 am. We got to the distribution center at 2 am, rubber banded all the papers (we didn't have to put them in plastic bags today) and delivered all the necessary papers by 5:00am this morning. When I got home, it took me a bit to fall asleep, but I did nonetheless, only to be woken up with "Mommy, wake up" at 8:00am. I was tired, but I'm functioning.

About my experience, a few houses in, Katie gave me a paper to toss, I chucked it, only to have it go into the person's bush, no where near their door. I dragged myself up to the house and placed in on the front stoop. The next house, I chucked theirs, only to have it hit the house and bounce right back. Again, no where near the door. I again got out and placed it on their front stoop. I returned to Katie's car where my bruised ego and myself were beginning to think I wouldn't make it as a papergirl, (or a pitcher for that matter) I'd be fired before I finished one block!! I told Katie "I'm so fired!" She laughed and I said "give me another chance". We had about 100 more chances in the back seat. :) By the end of the night, my aim was a little sharper, my arm a little stronger.

Thank you Katie, for allowing me to tag along on your journey. I end with this, I think your freakin' nuts. :)

Ice Cream Truck

We've all probably heard it at some point in our lives, my childhood summers we're frequented by its song. The sound of "The Entertainer" at full volume getting louder and louder as it approaches your neighborhood. Yes, it's the ice cream truck. :)

I always loved running up and picking out my selection although ridiculously expensive. Well, last night "The Entertainer" was gracing our street. Usually I don't miss that catchy annoying tune, but the TV was blaring with Toy Story 2 on. Scott looked at me and said "you hear it?" I jumped off the couch excited and said to Lincoln, "c'mon hunny, it's the ice cream man". I flew open the front door, nearly missing them as they were about to pass my house. Of course I flagged 'em down! I didn't want Lincoln to miss it! The three of us went outside and walked up to the truck. I said to Lincoln, "ok buddy, which one do you want?" First he thought the "Ironman" bar, then maybe the "Dora" bar, finally, he selected the "Spiderman" bar. :)

I was thrilled he didn't consider the "Spongebob" bar, I won't watch that dumb show let alone let Lincoln. :) Scott and I both got ice cream sandwiches. :) Lincoln was so excited as he plopped into a chair and went to town on his ice cream. It actually had white gumball eyes! My little boy had his first ice-cream truck experience. :) After finishing the Spiderman bar, he said, "Dora ice cream?" To which I had to say, "maybe next time buddy. :)

Death by garage sale??

As one who likes to garage sale occasionally, I have come to realize I do not share the same feeling for having one myself. I have been working on my garage sale for a few weeks now and I tell you what, the dumb thing will have the death of me before it is all said and done!! I'm so sick of getting it ready! Grrrrrrr. I wanted to get so much more gone through too, but I have NO ROOM out there anymore! The only stuff I have out there is from Lincoln's room and Lincoln's storage from the garage. Oh, and Scott went through his clothes, lucky him. I have nothing of mine out there and that sucks. I will be glad when it's over, and I don't know how long it will take me, if ever, to muster up the energy to EVER have another one.

Memorial Day 2010

Lincoln, myself, my Nana, and my Mom visited our beloved and dearly missed Papa at the cemetary on Memorial Day.

Papa was a combat medic during WWII and earned both the "Purple Heart" after having been shot saving a fellow soilder, as well as the "Silver Star". Any time Papa was out and about, he always had his cherished WWII VET hat on. Below is a picture of Papa with Lincoln the day after he was born, wearing his beloved hat. :)

We love you and miss you Papa! Thank you for fighting for our freedom!

Blogger frustration...

I get irritated with blogger sometimes. The way I type and put pictures into my post doesn't always show up the same. It'll put extra spaces in between paragraphs, or no spaces at all, and pictures will be butted up against words. I go in and fix and repost and it still does it! It ticks me off!

1st Annual Shannon Smith Memorial Picnic

5/30/10 we celebrated Shannon's life at a memorial picnic at Saylorville Lake in Des Moines. His accident was 5/24/09, so it's been just over a year. Many people showed up to remember Shannon. The sun was shining and the food was plenty as we gathered to share memories of a wonderful person. I spoke with Steve, Shannon's dad for awhile. It breaks my heart talking to the parent of such a dearly missed friend. I can't imagine and don't want to imagine, the pain of losing a child.

One thing I didn't expect was the bike to be there. I wondered after the accident what had become of it, and figured it was gone. Shannon's sister-in-law Jill's uncle has been restoring it for several months. They didn't know if it would be done in time for the picnic or not, so it was sort of a surprise to them from my understanding. To see it there brought back a flood of memories. Lincoln thought the motorcycle was pretty cool. He kept saying it is "Shannon's motorcycle". :)

I don't know how many people actually know this, and I did share it with Steve on Sunday, that I took Shannon to pick up the bike when he bought it. He called me from work (P&G) and asked me if I'd take him to pick it up when he got home. He was beyond excited to pick up his new Harley. See, I've never liked motorcycles, ever, I've never been and never will be a fan. I have always thought the danger and rebellion factor with them was too high to risk your life. Even if driven 'sensibly' with a helmet, I don't trust other people driving. So when Shannon said he was going to get a bike, I like a 'mother hen' was so worried. Worried the worst thing would happen to him, little did I know, eventually my worst fear would come true...

When I took Shannon up to get his bike, we had a fun time socializing with the current owner Jim and his wife and even had a beer to toast Shannon's new toy. As I followed Shannon home (I drove his car), the whole time I'm thinking "Lord, please don't let him crash right in front of me, I couldn't handle it". Shannon eventually wanted to get a new wheel put on the front of the bike. So myself, Scott, and Shannon flipped through catalogs of cool wheels and when the bike was finished having the new wheel put on, I again drove Shannon to pick up the bike and followed him home. Neither time did he crash, and many days after that of riding he didn't crash.

I understand we choose whether or not to take risks in life and what not. Shannon's cousin said "there's a fine line between living, and living on the edge", and that is very true. I don't feel at all that I am at fault for what happened, so don't think I'm meaning that in any way, but it just hurts me that much more knowing that even thought he was an adult and could make his own decisions regarding his life, I was the one who took him to get the bike, something I was so against, something that ultimately took his life. I know I would hurt just as bad if someone else had taken him to get the bike, but someone else didn't, it was me, so it's just harder to chew.

I looked at that bike sitting there in the pavillion, and I had so much anger and resentment for that thing, that in that moment I would've like nothing more than to take the biggest axe, hammer, or whatever and destroy it like a pinata. I blame that bike for taking the life of someone so amazing, someone who will never be a husband or a father, or get to continue being the proud uncle he was.

Then I thought about Shannon. How he would be so upset with me thinking that of his 'pride and joy'!!! He'd say "C'mon Andrea, seriously?" That bike brought so much joy to him, that I realized I have a 'love-hate' relationship with it. Shannon loved riding that bike, and I know he was happy and doing what he loved doing when he died. As much as I hate that bike, I love it for bringing him happiness.

Jill's uncle John did a beautiful and amazing job restoring the Harley. A few changes were made I'm told. One was the "Riding Partner" prayer with Shannon's picture was added to the back. Another is a small attached tube containing dirt, grass, and sticks from the accident. Lastly, Steve (Shannon's dad) told me that the rear wheel was ruined in the accident. Shannon had been wanting to add the matching wheel from the front to the back. Steve told me he told Shannon "don't do that, you won't even see it because the saddle bags will cover it", but they ended up putting the matching wheel on that Shannon had wanted to do since it needed a new wheel.

As I heard the bike start up and the roar of the engine, I sobbed. Sobbed because the last time I heard it, Shannon was on it, and when it was summer and he was living with us, I could hear the motorcycle from several blocks away and knew he was almost home. I would laugh because I could imagine our neighbors being irritated with the noise of it on our quiet little street! But no one complained, atleast not that I know of. :) That bike was seriously the LOUDEST MOTORCYCLE I've ever heard!!

After the picnic we went to the cemetary. It would be the first time we've been there since the headstone was placed. We told Lincoln we were going to visit Shannon. It was actually Lincoln's second time there (the first time was last summer with Scott). Anyway, when we were walking away toward the car, Lincoln said "bye-bye Shannon". Talk about tugging of the heartstrings. :( It was absolutely precious.

In conclusion, it was a wonderful time remembering Shannon and honoring him. I know he was looking down on everyone, humble as ever that people thought that much of him. I don't know if he knew how much people thought of him when he was here on Earth with us, but I know now that he knows that he impacted so many lives and left imprints on so many hearts.