Watermelon Sugar Cookies?

We LOVE the sugar cookies at Target. If you don't know what I'm talking about just from that statement, send me an email. Cause we need to talk.

So here's a warning for all you other sugar cookie lovers. When you see a box of mini sugar cookies that looks like this:


...and after you go through the initial horror of "what did they DO?!" you approach them a little closer and realize they used food coloring and sprinkles to make them look like little watermelons! Cute, right? And food coloring doesn't have as strong a taste as it used to, so you think, "hey, they're sugar cookies! What could go wrong? Let's give it a try."

Mistake! They also added flavoring! I am talking back-to-third-grade watermelon bubblicious taste! Yuck. That taste belongs only in bubblicious. I think the whole rest of the carton will end up in the trash. I didn't even finish the one I took a bite of. Moral of the story - stick to cookies that are cookie-colored (and flavored). And if you want to do a fun watermelon dessert (which I FULLY support), I have a great low-fat cake recipe that was a hit at a Relief Society event a few years ago. The trick is to have it look, not taste, like watermelon. Thank you. This has been deep thoughts by Kelli Williams.

March For Babies

Crunch Time! March for Babies is THIS Saturday! Some background information in case you can't remember the details from last year - I've thankfully never needed the services that March of Dimes is committed to, but when Lincoln was born over a year ago, it was the end of a VERY rough pregnancy. I had preeclampsia for the last month of my pregnancy, so Lincoln had to come 4 weeks early. We felt SO blessed that he was healthy enough not to spend more than a 4-hour transition in the NICU, but I felt the immediacy of how many things could have gone wrong. It really opened my eyes. And I simply can't do much to help those families and babies who aren't as lucky, but I CAN walk a few miles (that's a blessing as well, come to think of it) for such a wonderful cause.
A few weeks ago I started toying with the idea of doing a giveaway on my craft blog in which you could get one entry for every dollar donated to help me reach my goal. But it doesn't quite seem right to try to make people buy into a cause, so I kept putting it off and putting it off. Now it's the eleventh hour, so this is the compromise I've arrived at: while I'll almost certainly do a giveaway one of these days, if I meet my March of Dimes goal, I commit to hosting a giveaway by the end of May. Otherwise, you'll just have to wait patiently :) (and don't worry, when I do, I'll post a note here to go check out the other blog). So, if you feel like this is a cause you'd like to support but you weren't sure how to, here's an easy way! Just click on my March for Babies link to the right -------> and donate however much you feel you can. I won't publish names or amounts; you have the option to leave a comment when you make the donation, though.
If you can post about this and get the wider blog world aware, that would be fantastic, too! Maybe other people can find someone they know who is walking that they can support. I also think the walks are at different times in different cities, so it's never too late to support this cause. The important thing is for the donations to get to the right place! Thanks! :)
Also, check to see if your company can match your donations. Mine does, so if yours doesn't and you want to see your donation go further, get me your info to make the donation in my name so my company can match it.
Enough babbling. I'd really appreciate y'all's support. Thanks!

This One's For You, Leserlee

For those that find the title a little cryptic, I'll fill you in. Last fall, I mentioned on my facebook status that I had planted over 100 bulbs around our house. When questioned, I said most were daffodils and I couldn't remember the name of the others (they came in a box together). Les, who knows WAY more about plants than I ever even aspire to, really wanted to help me figure it out. Or maybe she's a little OCD like the rest of us, and it bothered her, too. I don't know. Either way, HERE is the plant, Les!


What IS it? And PLEASE tell me it gets bigger? Cause our house is small, but not small enough that all these tiny little dwarf flowers don't look ridiculous. (For those that have trouble following a double negative - the house looks ridiculous with all these dwarf flowers!) Maybe the hostas will save us. If I planted them correctly...

Photo Shoot @ the Corner of Lincoln and Williams

That's right, kids, we headed over to downtown Huntsville, so we could do a photoshoot at the corner of Lincoln and Williams. I was hoping to get a decent picture of him with the streetsign in the background and his cute smile on his face, but man that kid was NOT in a smiling mood. And he really just wanted to watch the cars. It took him a little while to warm up to my friend Natalie who took the pictures for us. But how cute is this, really?


And, then, like I said, he just wanted to look at the cars.


But we still got some cute shots, and you can see them all in Natalie's facebook album here. Check back again in a few days because she told me she's still planning to put some more up. Yay! Thanks, Natalie!

HGTV and Craigslist

This is just funny. Click the image so you can read the listing.

Spring Has Sprung

The bulbs I planted last fall are blooming! I feel like such a success. But is it possible I got dwarf daffodils? These things are tiny, and all the others in the neighborhood are large and gorgeous. Do they bloom later their first year?



No sign yet of the hostas and the other whatchacallit-flowers (I seriously can't remember the name), but I'll keep y'all posted. Cause I know you're dying for updates on our landscaping.

I'll post some cute pics of Lincoln soon, cause let's be honest, that's why y'all are here. We've got some good ones, trust me. We've also added a few on facebook, so check the albums More Lincoln, Lincoln 2010 vol.1, and the mobile uploads (which I'll add right now) on the side ----> and let me know if you can't access them. :)

Tricks and Treats

I really need to be better about keeping this up-to-date with some Lincoln stories. I'm SO that mom who when asked how her weekend was, says, "Oh, it was ok... Lincoln did the cutest thing!..." and then I'm off. I'll try to be better about doing that on the blog, as well.

So, these are some of his latest tricks (and treats):

He learned how to clap just the other day, and he thinks it is the funniest thing. He was sitting on Tyler's shoulders at the ward activity on Friday night and started clapping while he was watching people dancing. It was adorable! I tried to get a pic or video, but nada. I think that's the first time he spontaneously clapped. We've been trying to teach him for a while, so success was felt all around.

We also taught him how to "give 5," but he's not much of a performer so we can't show anybody! It's really cute, though. We say, "Can you give me 5?" and hold up our hand and he just starts slappin' 5s!

He's learned what "no" means, so now when he sees cords, for instance, he solemnly shakes his head and says "no no." He also does this when he gets to about the second step on the staircase at my in-laws.

He is VERY independent. He's all about finger foods. If we try to hold out a cheerio to put in his mouth, he leans his head back and reaches out to take the cheerio from us to put it in his mouth by himself. Some of his favorite foods right now are bananas, peas, carrots, corn, pears, goldfish crackers, graham crackers, teddy grahams, and cheerios. He also loves the little gerber graduates meat sticks. And he loves anything sweet or anything, at all, that you are trying to eat.

He's learning to drink from a straw, but sometimes he gets too much in his mouth, doesn't know what to do with it, and lets it just run out down his chin. So drinks get kind of messy. He's getting better though. He had his first kids meal at Wendy's on Saturday, and he really liked the chocolate milk. But we didn't have a bib for him, so we had to remind him to swallow and take the straw out of his mouth. I think he's been doing much better since then.

At the doctor's the other week he got his first series of 12-month shots. As a reward, the nurse offered him a sucker. He'd never had one before, but oh my word, he LOVED it! And he looked SO smug about it. I love that something so simple can bring such joy. I have a lot to learn from my little guy.


I already blogged about his obsession with diet mt. dew that he got from us, but seriously all the kid needs for hours of enjoyment is an empty soda can. I'm afraid he's going to hurt himself one of these days, but it's a losing battle to try to keep them away from him.

About three weeks before he turned one, he starting pitching a HUGE fit every time we put him in his car seat. We were confident that the next three weeks would be terrible until we could turn his car-seat around. But then he figured out that he could see his "friend" in the mirror on the headrest (that we use to see his face in our rear-view mirror), and he started getting this huge grin when we would put him in his seat! It still hasn't lost it's appeal, but we're wondering if this narcissistic impulse should be encouraged or not? It's so adorable, though. He even took his first series of steps toward the mirror! (One's been on the floor lately because of our flooring project.)

He LOVES shoes. We're not sure what it is about them, but he makes a beeline for the foyer and the shoes that are neatly stacked there... until he pulls them ALL down. I think part of it is the laces (remember he loves cords, too, that's why he's learned "no").

He is ALWAYS on the go. That's why I love this last of our monthly pics with the elephant:

We could NOT get him to hold still.

Which is about as funny as his 11-month pic where we could only get him to hold still if we let him hang on to a mt. dew can:

And finally, the kid is stinkin' cute in hats. At the store on Saturday we were trying a bunch of hats on him and admiring him. At first, he pulled them off, but we think that once he caught on that we were an appreciative audience, he was more willing to pose.


I think that's all for today. If I can manage these more frequently, the next updates won't be quite so long!