We love to see our little Vance grow up and show us more and more of his adorable personality. He likes to cuddle and even in his high chair he tucks up his little feet. He loves to vacuum and hysterically cries when I am trying to vacuum. We usually have to give him his own real vacuum. Even the toy vacuum doesn't cut it but he still pretends with the toy vacuum every now and then.
We love being in our new house. The boys have so much room to play and the neighborhood is so great to let them run around outside. We don't have a whole lot of youth in our neighborhood but we have over 60 kids 3 and under! These boys will have plenty of friends to choose from. :)
The only downside in the neighborhood seems to be the wind! But it makes for some great kite flying.
In April for the Time Out for Women Week my Mom invited me to lunch with Michelle Edwardson (Lisonbee) and Justin Lisonbee's wife (Katie). It was nice to get out and visit and of course eat good food at one of my absolute Provo favorites, Guru's!
Lincoln boy loves to help me cook and bake cookies and muffins especially! He is getting better and better. One day I let him help me make some muffins and he and Vance wanted to watch them bake in the oven so I overheard him excitedly telling little 1 year old Vance, "Look Bances, the cookies is cooking!"
I cannot say enough how much Lincoln and Vance adore Sheehan. They ask from the moment they wake up "Is Daddy Here?" They scream and squeal and attack him to the ground as soon as he gets home. It never gets old for any of us every single day!
Most days Lincoln and Vance get along really great. The older Vance gets the more he wants to play with whatever Lincoln is playing with. Some days Lincoln shares great other days is a scream fest. One day Lincoln was watching some tv and asked if "his Bances" could sit with him. It was the sweetest thing.
One day after visiting with Sandi Bethke she started giggling as she saw Vance and Lincoln both in their carseats. She said, "I use to love looking back and seeing all these little carseats in my car." I thought they did look pretty cute back there.
Ezra is quickly outgrowing Vance in size but Vance is kind of mean to him. Vance isn't the nicest to babies that are littler than him. He runs up to them and says, "No, no, no, no, no, no." It makes me laugh but I do have to apologize in the halls at church and with little visiting our house. He's too cute anyway especially in his little hats! Sheehan's favorite sweater is the blue elephant sweater on Bancito.
My little baby Vance became little boy Vance this year. He has been so sweet and snuggly and he is talking so well!! I can hardly believe some of the words and sentences he puts together. He cracks us all up.
The boys and I had to kill some time waiting for my car to get an oil change so we walked over to a nearby McDonalds. Lincoln doesn't eat much. He has a few main food groups including chicken nuggets, corndogs, hotdogs, pizza, and burritos. He likes most fruit but the closest thing to potatoes is mashed potatoes covered in gravy. I'm not sure that even counts as a vegetable.
My only saving grace is the fact that he loves the protein shake Sheehan makes almost every morning. Sheehan shares with the boys his morning shake filled with bananas, oatmeal, peanut butter and now he adds superfood so we can sleep at night rather than worry about Lincoln's poor diet. I still can't help but worry though....
Lincoln has found his love for swimming and I don't think it is because of the Mom and Tot's swim class we did together at the Provo Rec Center when I was 7 months pregnant. Dumbest class ever. He hated it and I did too so we only went twice.
But this Summer he can swim on his own (with his floaty jacket of course). He asks to go swimming all the time. If I didn't have to get in the water also I'd be much more obliged to go often. One day Vance really wanted to climb up the stairs to the slides in the middle of the kiddie pool. I grudgingly walked up those stairs while getting sprayed by water coming every which way at me. Vance thought it was the best day of his life. So we get to the top and there are little wheels for the kids to pretend to drive.
Figuring Vance was happily occupied by the pretend steering wheel I started to look down in the kiddie pool for Lincoln who was swimming with cousins. A few seconds later I glance back at Vance to see the back of him starting to zip down the water slide by himself. He does not have the proper fear he should!
So I had to jump (head first mind you) into the slide after him. He was dropped into the kiddie pool at the end of the slide then 2 seconds later comes Mom like Superman through the slide and I landed on top of him but quickly scooped him up out of the water so he could breathe. He wiped his eyes and instead of crying (like I expected) he started cracking up.
He's not allowed up those stairs anymore....but swimming does tire them out so as they get older it will definitely be a regular summer activity.
Vance took up the art of bottle painting like his brother before him. When I catch him in the act I make him clean it up. I love the "Cinderelly" picture of him wiping up the floor after a mess he made.
I try to take the boys to the park a lot while the weather is warm. Vance tends to climb up to areas that are beyond his age so it's not the most relaxing experience for me but they love it. After a few hours at the park it was time to go so I asked Lincoln to hold Vance's hand while we walked to the car. (Vance tends to wander as we walk along.) It was so sweet to watch Lincoln be such a big brother and help little Vance along.
Having the backyard finished has been one of the greatest things about this house. I love that these little guys are fenced in. (Except Lincoln already figured out how to open the gate...). Most days I release them to play for hours and I listen to hear them talking and playing. If it gets too quiet then I check on them. Some days I sit under the gazebo and just watch them play while they run back and forth to tell me things they've discovered. Lincoln likes to open the side gate for Devin's dog Reeford to join us. Some days I just let them sit in the grass and paint.
Jacquelyn and Lincoln still have a love/hate relationship. Some days they play great together other days they just fight and cry over and over. On a particularly good day I heard them talking in the closet under the stairs (where Lincoln keeps his pretend kitchen and table). They had set the table with plates and cups and found hats for themselves to wear. They were having a hilarious conversation visiting with each other. Questions like: How are you? Are you happy? Do you like your food?
I didn't want to disturb them and make them embarrassed so I snuck into the office and took a picture of them through the little hole Sheehan had built into the wall of his office closet so the kids could say hi to him while he worked. He didn't quite think about the fact that they are small enough to climb through this peeking hole and come sit on his lap and desk while he is trying to work. haha
Zach and Max come to visit about every summer and Lincoln talks about them for weeks after.
Lincoln also loves to play with Nefi and Eva (Shay's kids). They play really well together.
Lincoln loves to go to the grocery store. I like too if I don't have little people with me. Lincoln loves to have his own little cart. We drive around the parking lot looking in the cart return stalls to see if we can snag one. He starts a lot of sentences with "some people". One day a woman was coming out of the aisle and into where we were walking and he said very loudly, "Mommy, some people almost hit me." I am sure the woman overheard him. :) Vance just enjoys eating everything we bring home.
We attended a wedding reception for Jessica Poulson in SLC. (I think I was about 12 weeks pregnant.) I just love visiting with all our Bear Valley ward friends! Sister Branham, Sister Bethke, and myself were enjoying a great chat in this picture.
Being pregnant and tired I try to nap while Vance is napping. I get Lincoln set up next to me in bed with a tablet or phone watching cartoons or playing games with his apple juice. Some days the stars align and Lincoln will fall asleep too. He likes to hold my hand when he is falling asleep or have me scratch his back. Almost every night I hear either, "Mommy, scratch my back." or "Mommy, hold my hand." It's the sweetest thing to hold his little had especially after a long and hard day as Mom to 2 little, wild boys.
Grandma Bev sends Lincoln $2 bills on different holidays. I believe this was Halloween. He
was so excited. We put the money in his money canister to take to the Dollar store. :)
Some days Vance is a great eater and others he decides to be picky like his brother. I love going to the food truck roundups on Wednesday nights at the park in Lehi. Lincoln is always too busy playing to eat but Vance likes to come and go and sit with me for a couple bites. He loves dessert the best of course.
Sheehan and Linky on another food truck roundup family outing.
aOne day while cleaning out and organizing the garage we ran across Sheehan's mission pictures. He served in Julianne's home ward for 10 months of his mission so he knew her and her family well before Devin and her ever randomly met and got married. We found this picture in a pile showing him playing board games with their family.
I received some concerned phone calls and texts after those. Here we are trying to have a nice lunch at one of our favorites, Lonestar Taqueria, and he had to climb the decorative car. It's really amazing (and I count my blessings) that neither of the boys have broke a bone or needed stitches...yet.
We have been working on the ever changing playroom. So far I just love it. All the books shelves and mostly all the toys can be thrown in there and out of sight!
My Mom wanted to make homemade corn tortillas so she brought over a tortilla press. They were delicious! Lincoln loved helping make them. After a few times he figured out how to do the process completely on his own (except the actual cooking on the stove part-we left that for Gigi). Tio Linko's Tortilla shack is well on it's way though. He was cracking us up over how good he was doing. Sometimes I'm surprised how much he understands at just 3 years old.
Lauren Brewer, one of my best friends growing up, got married this year to Alan Studer. I'm really happy for her and she was a stunning bride. Devin was best friends with her brother who walked her down the aisle, Jeff Brewer.
Have I said enough how much I love our backyard?? We've had some great nights sitting out together around the firepit. Vance's little smile says it all.
Vance loves the soft blankets around the house and has to sleep with two of them. I sent him out to the living room after having a bath and he didn't quite make it. He had to stop to cuddle with the soft blanket. Another thing Vance can't live without is his puppy that he used to call Pup pup but now he calls Butter after Uncle Seth's yellow lab.
Vance is my cuddly boy. I love his sweet hugs.
We had our first big snow storm and these little boys were so excited. They stood on the windowsill together. I thought it was funny they thought it was so much more exciting to watch the snow fall from the window rather than the giant sliding glass door.
Whenever Lincoln "re-finds" his Spiderman umbrella he likes to make a little shelter for himself on the couch. "Tut tut it looks like rain!"
Baby Bances put this helmet on and walked the scooter into my room one morning while I was laying in bed. He looked so cute in his diaper and helmet. He was so proud of himself standing on the big boy scooter. Love him! That crooked smile is the best!
Bath time still never gets old for these brothers. They splash each other, dump water on each other, and swim in the tub together.
Most days I'm completely overwhelmed, running on too little sleep, and a little impatient but I remind myself that these 2 little boys are the most important part of my life.
"Full Hands Now, Full Heart Later"
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