Lincoln Goes to Washington

Last week Lincoln and I took a little trip to Washington State to visit family and friends. This was Lincoln's first time on a plane and he did an excellent job. I got so many compliments from people who said they didn't even know there was a baby on the plane!

We flew from Syracuse to Seattle and then took a Southwest flight from Seattle to Spokane. There was a huge gap in between the flight times, though, so my grandma and cousin Amy came to keep us company at the airport.

We decided we wanted to surprise Jonathan's family, so we didn't tell them we were coming. When we got to their house, I left Lincoln on the doorstep, rang the doorbell, and ran. I should have filmed Chantal's reaction, but I didn't think about it. It was pretty funny.


Lincoln met several people for the first time while he was there, and visited some he had already met.
I was a little shocked by how big and... person-like Selena is! Jonathan's family laughed at me when I said, "She can talk and everything!" To be fair, she's eight, but I see her so infrequently I was a little shocked! It was so fun, though, when Sasha, Selena, Lincoln, and I got to spend a little time together at the mall.

Lincoln thought his Uncle Jeremiah was SO funny. He was laughing so much when he was sitting on Jeremiah's chest like this. It's still new to hear him laugh, so we were all loving it!

Lacey drove in for a quick visit... I cannot believe it had been three years since I'd seen her! It was so much fun getting to hang out and catch up for a little bit!

Sunday Lincoln went on his first road trip when Kariah, Jeremiah, Lincoln, and I drove to Seattle. He did an excellent job in the car too... he's just a good little traveler!

We spent Monday in Federal Way with Grandma. It was sort of fun parading Lincoln around and I think Grandma enjoyed it too.

We had a little trouble getting home. We were re-routed and then delayed for several hours, but Lincoln handled it like a champ. His mother, however, was a little upset... next time Daddy is coming with us!

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Lincoln rolled over today! I didn't catch the first time on video, but here is the second one. I was a little distracted by the TV so it takes me a second to react...

Smiley Boy

Lincoln is getting to the age when he should be learning to roll over soon. We have been trying to encourage him in this endeavor. Here are some pictures of Jonathan giving Lincoln a little rolling lesson:
He was making some progress. A few days ago, however, Lincoln found his thumb. This is excellent in many respects. He's sleeping longer (and so are we,) we don't have to worry about bringing a pacifier with us everywhere, or that pacifier getting dirty. However, Lincoln is not struggling to get off his tummy any more. Now tummy time looks more like this:


He almost fell asleep right there on the floor today! We're going to have to figure out some sort of incentive besides discomfort if we ever want him to roll over...


Oh well, he is still the cutest little baby! He was so smiley and happy today. He laughed for the first time and it was the best sound ever. Of course I had just stopped filming at the time, but hopefully we'll be able to get it on video soon. (Sorry the video is sideways, but I'm not sure how to turn it.)

Look What I Made!

(It's a grocery bag holder.) I'm not very good at sewing yet, but I'm having fun experimenting!

The Daring Bakers: Apple Strudel

So this month I joined a group called the Daring Bakers. Every month there is a baking challenge posted and thousands of people from around the world make the same recipe. This month the recipe was for apple strudel. After reading the recipe and watching several YouTube videos of people making strudel, I thought this would be pretty hard so, naturally, I procrastinated until last week. It turned out to be a lot easier than I thought, though. The dough was easy to make and so stretchy!

You are supposed to stretch out the dough on an old table cloth with some flour worked into it until the dough is paper thin and you can "read love letters through it." We don't have any extra table cloths, though, so I thought wax paper would work because someone on the website said they used parchment paper. I've learned that parchment paper and wax paper are not interchangeable. I got the dough pretty big and pretty thin, but then I couldn't get it off the paper, so I had to get as much off as possible and start over.

The next best thing I had to a table cloth was a beach towel. It worked surprisingly well.

Then I just added the apple filling, rolled it up, and baked it.


Jonathan was happier with the result than I was, but then he loves all things apple. Even though the dough was fun to work with, I don't think I'll make this again. I would rather use the apples (and all the work) for an apple pie or apple crisp or something. But I must say, I can't wait for next months challenge!

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

"Lincoln Doin' Work"

Lincoln's face has become so expressive recently! He is cooing at us all the time and smiling a ton.

Lincoln has also discovered he loves to suck on his hands. It is becoming increasing difficult to get pictures of him without his hand in front of his face.

LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER!!!!!

LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER (it's important that you realize how big of a deal this is to me) LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER LAW SCHOOL FINALS ARE OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M DONE WITH MY FIRST YEAR OF LAW SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!