Obligatory Halloween Post

I'm such a lemming. EVERYONE and their brother are posting their Halloween pictures, so I'm just following along. Also, Lincoln was really cute, and I think everyone could use a dose of cute in their lives.

The whole Jedi family

Lincoln and I before we headed to the Trunk or Treat last Wednesday

The cousins at the Trunk or Treat on Friday

Lincoln, one of the few times those two nights that we could get a laugh out of him

Our ward had it's Trunk or Treat last Wednesday, and my in-law's ward (which shares the building with ours) had it's Trunk or Treat on Friday. With two picture opportunities, I was hoping to get more smiles out of Lincoln, but he's really solemn when he's in a new situation. Oh well. He was a cute Yoda.

Side note: Tyler's goal is for Linoln, when he's older and someone asks him what he wants to be when he grows up, to say, "I want to learn the ways of the force and become a Jedi like my father."

Giggling

We recently took some fun video of daddy making Lincoln giggle and we thought we'd share. He's getting so big. We also uploaded some pictures from his recent photo shoot to facebook.

More Pix and My Baby Sister

Well, I added some more pictures of Lincoln to the facebook album "Just Can't Get Enough" (link on the right-hand side). And I would like to point out that Tyler took the following picture, and I love it. Lincoln loves watching Playhouse Disney in the morning while we're getting ready, but Mickey Mouse Clubhouse absolutely mesmerizes him. It is beyond cute.


And now a warning. I've been pretty bad about my contact lens maintenance for as long as I've had contacts, lo these last 10 years or so. I would wear one until it either broke or irritated my eye, regardless of how long I was supposed to wear it. If that meant wearing them for 3 or 4 or 5 months, whatever. The worst I had ever heard of happening to someone was getting an infection and having to use eye drops and wear glasses for a few weeks. Since I don't mind my glasses too much and I have decent insurance, I just figured I would deal with that if it happened. But that changed a few weeks ago. My baby sister (ok, she's 22, but whatever) thought she had pink eye, and when she went in (only 2 days after the symptoms started!), she found out she had a corneal ulcer. It was so infected that the scar tissue will leave her eye permanently damaged. She is still on antibiotics and once the infection has run its course, she'll have to wear a hard contact lense for 6 months (to reshape the eye) and then get a cornea transplant if she ever wants vision correctable to 20/20 again. My baby sister! She barely wore her contacts one month past when she was supposed to throw them away. She wasn't any worse than I was about reusing the solution in her case. But her doctor said it was caused by her contact lenses and that he's seen this many times. Obviously, I went home that night and changed cases and contacts. And I've been much better in the week since. I don't think this happened just because of her contact lense care because if that was all, I would have gotten this years ago. But I do think it's worth remembering that a lot worse can happen than just wearing your glasses for a few weeks and putting in eye drops, just in case any of you are as bad as I used to be. Jamie blogged about this here, and she includes a picture of her eye that they took at the doctor's office. So remember, take care of your contacts!

Street Sign

Some of you may recall this post and this post about the street sign in Huntsville that intersects Lincoln Street and Williams Avenue. Actually, I know some of you recall it because just in the last two days I've had friends ask if I'd settled on one. So, here it is. The picture I decided on, printed, and am just waiting for a matte to frame and hang on his wall. There is no longer a poll on this issue. If you don't like it, I'd prefer not to know. Only positive feedback this time, friends. :) I appreciate all your feedback on the polls, though, never fear!


Also, we've taken some ridiculously cute pictures of Lincoln in the last few weeks, and we'll be adding them to facebook soon. And by "soon," of course I mean anywhere from one day to one month...

Fish Out of Water

Here are some videos of Lincoln "air swimming" and jabbering, both of which he has started to do with more frequency. FYI, Lincoln has reached the 19-pound mark. He is getting super big!

Cake Decorating Class

As promised at the end of this post (though, admittedly, a little late), here are the cakes and cupcakes I produced in the three weeks of my class. It was actually four weeks, but the first week was more of a here's-the-plan and show-and-tell structure.
My first week, I was pretty frustrated because we spent the whole class practicing techniques, so I barely got any time to try to decorate my cake. By the time I got home, I was in no mood to elaborate on what I'd accomplished, so the first week is definitely the weakest (no pun intended) of my efforts. Observe! I know, it's sad.


Now, for the second week, we had learned from the first week, and my friend Rachel and I decided to decorate cupcakes instead of tackling an entire cake. As a result, I finished some nice, simple samples. Luckily I took pictures with my camera-phone before we left the class because they didn't handle the trip home well at all.





And finally, the piece de resistance. I'm quite proud of this. It's looks almost exactly the way I was planning and how it looks in the book. The colors are perhaps a tad off, but that's part of practicing.


So, I learned that the next time I take a cake decorating class, I'll buy a cake from the Target bakery and pre-made frosting/icing 30 minutes before class. It's not about how it tastes, it's about how it looks (just for the purposes of the class, I mean). I also learned that it's easier to do the flowing, swirly frosting for the main cake (like on the yellow cake) rather than trying to make it smooth (like the blue cake). But I also learned that a little bit of practice and experience goes a long way. Now I have a lot more confidence to make birthday cakes for Lincoln (and any other chillins who may follow).

I Am Now a Wreckporter

For those unfamiliar with the blog cakewrecks.blogspot.com, I suggest you check it out. I've been following it for a while now, so a good place to start might be the fan favorites on the right-hand column. It's amazing what "professionals" will try to sell. I've never given much thought to trying to find something to submit, but when I saw this cake at the Wal-Mart bakery last night, I knew it needed to be shared with the world. Sorry the pictures aren't very clear - I only had my camera-phone with me, and I couldn't exactly take it out of the container so there wouldn't be a glare. :)



I don't know about any of you, but nothing makes me want to go on a picnic more than the prospect of 3-inch ants on the watermelon. Who thought that was a good idea??!!
I submitted my pictures to cakewrecks, so I'm hoping you'll be seeing them on the site soon. You can bet that I'll be announcing it when/if they are!!