My little man is a year old today..... I can't believe how fast it's gone!!! I will be posting pictures of his 1st birthday party after we have it..... on the 31st!! We wanted Jariah and Becca and the kids to be able to be here for his birthday, so we postponed it until they can come too!!! =) I can hardly wait for so many, many reasons!!! (A huge one is that I'll get to meet my new little niece, Natalie!!!)

Meanwhile, I'm busy planning Lincoln's Birthday Bash.... should be pretty fun and no doubt pretty cute!! (The theme is of course Abraham Lincoln and I am making little stovepipe hats for all the kids as party hats!!) I'll be sure and post pictures!!!! =)

Cake? Check.
Presents? Check.
Decorations? Check.
Clean House? Check.
Food? Check.
Games Planned? Check.

Looks like we're almost ready for
Elisabeth's family shower!!!
It's a good thing, too, since it's in 24 hours!!!
Yikes!!

Here are some pictures from this morning.....

I'll probably post some more later.... =)

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!!!!!

Our sad little excuse for a tree.....Zion brought Lincoln from the bedroom and Linc was kind of crying because Zion put him down and didn't bring him all the way into the livingroom..... when he turned and saw the tree and his new train, he stopped whining, got a big grin on his face, threw his arms up in the air and ran over as quick as he could......Unfortunately, he ran too fast for me (I didn't have my camera set to action) and this is the best picture I got of it. I'm really bummed about it and Zion is mad at me for not videoing!! =(Here is his new train... it plays music, the alphabet, numbers, colors and all that good stuff, plus it has blocks and a little book on it. It's from V-tech and he is LOVING it!! It took us quite a while to even get him to look at opening another present!!! lolHe also got this really cool truck with 4 little cars on a trailer....

I'll save pictures of his stocking (which I finished this morning...) and his other 2 gifts for later..... it took him a couple hours to actually get them all opened up, so I'm on his schedule!! hehe He actually hasn't even gotten to his stocking yet, and he is currently conked out!! This morning was sooo exhausting!!!! hehehe What a cutie!!!

Lincoln was a little worried about the big guy.....


Until Janessa came and sat with him.

Here are a few pictures from the past couple days... we've been having a holly jolly Christmas season!!! Lincoln and I met Jess and Ness on Thursday to get pictures with Santa and let the kids ride the holiday train! Lincoln wasn't too sure about the train......

He was even less sure about Santa!!! hehe

After their train ride, we went to Macy's where they have a "letters to Santa" station set up. (They donate a dollar to the Make a Wish Foundation for every letter put in the box, so Janessa wrote her letter and "helped" Lincoln write his.)

Lincoln loved the stars they had hanging from the ceiling!

Tonight when I was done ringing the bells for The Salvation Army, I made a gingerbread house, Linc "helped" and Zion took pictures. =)

YUM!!!!

He really likes it!!! I let him lick the snowman for about 15 seconds....

SO MUCH SUGAR!!! =)

I will try to get Zion to scan in the pictures of the kids with Santa.... but here are these for now! Thanks for looking!!! Happy Holidays!!!!!

Announcement 1: Little brunette 8.1 lb Natalie Raeanne Holsapple is here as of 8:03 PM Eastern Time. We were originally told she was 6.13 pounds.... Canadian health care... whatcha gonna do?!

Announcement 2: Lincoln is walking.

This video was on Friday.


By the end of the day he was walking MUCH better.

On Sunday afternoon, we FINALLY went out to Mom and Dad's for the first time since they left, and while we were there I talked Zion into helping me dig through Jariah and Becca's totes in the basement, so Lincoln has a whole bunch more clothes that actually fit him now. (It's lovely!!!) I am very happy that we found them, (they were like the 5th tote we checked, so it wasn't too bad...) because there was some extra pants which I have been pretty desperate for!! Poor Lincoln has been wearing the same pair of khaki pants for every church service for almost a month!!! Thank you, thank you Becca, for being so kind as to give me those clothes for him.... it's very much appreciated!!! Love ya!!! =) Oh, and while we were there he saw the monkey jack in the box so I borrowed that for him... hope you don't mind. He's loving it! (I think Ness has one he can have when you guys need yours back!!!)

We went out to decorate Mom's house for Christmas.... hardly put a dent in it, but we got it started. It was fun, we watched *It's a wonderful life* while working on the tree... that's such a great movie. (It's even better after you've heard Bro. Jeff's impression of George Bailey from the pulpit!! lol) I think we're gonna meet Justin and Elisabeth out there again next week to work on it some more, next movie will probably be Christmas Vacation..... hope we get the decorating done then!!

On a separate note, Lincoln has been trying more and more steps.... yesterday was insane, everytime I'd turn around he was there, trying to walk across the room. He's getting so big!! He's taking 3 or 4 steps now before falling down.... it's crazy!!!!