Have you all met Pirate Lincoln?  He's a "big boy" now as he is fond of telling us.  He has a newfound independence for doing things himself and often leaves a room telling us he will "be right back" (which means, don't follow me, I can do this myself!).  

So, it seemed appropriate to give our big boy a big boy room (forgive my poor iPhone photos)

I was determined to do his room makeover on a tight budget (shocking, I know...but I want my husband to stay married to me).  Luckily, we purchased a convertible crib, so the majority of the furniture was taken care of.  The dresser in the picture above was his changing table.  A few minutes with a screwdriver and it converted back to a dresser very nicely!  The color on the walls is Sherwin Williams Ryegrass.  Thanks to the awesome Sydney Fiedler for suggesting this color when we first moved into the house.  It worked with his nursery then and I think it makes and ADORABLE big boy room color now...plus, that meant all I had to do was touch up nail holes.  

A couple of items I added:  Pottery Barn Madras bedding with an alligator duvet cover and alligator sheets (he thinks these are so cool...and I picked up a piece or two at a time over the course of several months...so that's practically free, right!), a bright orange bedside table for a pop of color (which I found for super cheap online), shelves from Hobby Lobby ($12/each!!!) which my sweet mama painted white, a few pieces of Lincoln's art work on display and a few lamps...and Lincoln's favorite piece of all, the "road carpet" (which I got online at casa.com, using a 20% discount I received in the mail). 

John and I really wanted his room to have space for him to play, so we kept his bed on one side of the room and made a play area in front of the dresser.  He loves getting his cars out and racing them on the rug.  

A bright orange lamp and my dad's teddy bear from when he was a little boy (Boo-boo bear) adorn the chest. 

We updated his bathroom by doing some coordinating bathmats and hand towels...and that's all for now because at some point our circa 1959 bathroom will need a little more love.  

And...can someone please tell me how he EVER napped without black-out curtains?!?  We love these things!  

Easter Fun 2012

It's been a big week at the Guild house.  Last Sunday, we went to Dinosaur Train Live at the Children's Museum, followed by our church's Easter Egg Hunt.  Thursday, we had Lincoln's school's Easter Egg Hunt and Picnic Lunch.  Throw in 2 playdates, several art projects and lunch with Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw...well, no wonder John and I are exhausted tonight.  

Lincoln was not a fan of the Easter Bunny again this year, so on Saturday, we sat his Easter Basket on the front porch with some snacks for the Easter Bunny.  The Easter Bunny picked up the basket, filled it with goodies and delivered it back to our front porch.  I asked him what he thought the Easter Bunny might like to eat, he suggested Bailey's food, which I thought was pretty clever.  

The picture above is of him checking out the basket on the front porch...he was so excited!  

The picture below is Easter 2011...wow, what a difference a year makes!

Dinosaur Train!  The Easter Bunny left a Buddy the Dinosaur in the Easter basket at Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw's house.  Lincoln was so excited about it that he couldn't nap today (perhaps another reason that John and I are exhausted)

First United Methodist Church Easter Egg Hunt and Picnic 

DLC Easter Egg Hunt and Picnic

Art Fun and Playdates!

(because everyone should wear cowboy boots with their shorts)

Anytime we draw a photo for Lincoln, he asks us to draw: a boat, water, sun, birds, Lincoln, Mommy, Daddy, Bailey (in that order)...good thing he doesn't ask for anything more artistically challenging!

Happy Easter from the Guilds!

Climbing the walls

It's that time of year when the Guild's seem to catch every bug that goes around.  So far this month we've spent 8 days in self-imposed quarantine.  What does a toddler do when forced with not leaving the house for 8 days...he climbs the walls!  So, John and I decided to get him a small climbing structure that we could put in the playroom; thus letting him burn off energy in a manner that didn't result in a time out!  

As with most of our endeavors, a small idea turned into a much bigger project.  The store didn't have the small climbing structure we wanted so we decided to go big!  We should have thought about how we were going to get said big purchase home...but we didn't.  A BIG thanks to John's co-worker for lending his pick-up truck and his time at a moment's notice.

Lincoln napped and John put it all together...with a little help from me and only a small amount of grumbling.

Lincoln loves to go to the park.  When he walked outside to see his new toy for the first time, he said, "park" and ran to it.  It was adorable (of course)!

The second best thing about a new toy is the big box it comes in!  Lincoln spent a good hour decorating his box with stickers.  I'm not sure why the right side of the box didn't deserve any sticker attention.

He is very insistent that mommy and daddy play "box" and will push us into the box if we don't act eager enough to enter of our own accord.

Ya for the park!  I hope our sweet neighbors don't mind looking at the Little Tykes lawn ornament for the next few years.

If you are happy and you know it...

This is so darling, I just had to share!  Can you tell that we read this book A LOT at our house?  

18 months and he knows so much!

John recently read an article/heard a news story about the number of words a two year old should know (which according to the article is 75-200).  It made me think about this video we took several months back when little guy was about 18 months of him showing off all his tricks.  

Valentine's Fun

Lakewood Early Childhood PTA Valentine's Party

Lincoln made Valentine's for Daddy, Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw

And decorated heart shaped cookies

Yum!

The party included dancing!  

DLC Valentine's Party - Toddler II

The three sweetest women in the world!

Checking out our loot!  

Best Valentine's Day Card Ever!

Fall Fun

Ye-Haw!

(Or as Lincoln says, "ha-ha!")

Fall has been a lot of fun at our house this year.  Lincoln is old enough to participate in and enjoy the activities that come along with the season.  Doesn't he make an adorable cowboy?  

We took our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch at the Arboretum. 

Last year at just under 6 months we had to prop him up on the pumpkins because he couldn't sit up by himself yet.  

This year he was all over the place!

We painted pumpkins with Grandma Kathy and Paw-Paw (though I'm not sure the grandparents enjoyed it as much as Lincoln...notice they are sitting VERY far away from the paint!)

Our church held it's annual Fall Festival; which Lincoln loved.  

Linc's favorite game at the Fall Festival was the duck hunt.  He didn't care about the candy or prizes, he just thought pulling the ducks out of the water was awesome!

Halloween at school was filled with all sorts of fun events.  Lincoln's daycare is located in downtown Dallas.   Each year the kids dress up and walk around the the area offices to receive candy treats.  

Getting his bag ready...

Miss Gretchen handing out candy...

He loved holding his bag open!

Whew...Mommy was TIRED.  Next year this will be a two-parent job!

Daddy works just down the street and was able to join Lincoln for his afternoon Halloween party

Lincoln loved showing his friends the cool games his daddy could play.

Umm...adorable!  His teachers must be saints.

Yum...juice and cupcakes and cheetos.  

Rounding out the fall fun, we went to a birthday party at the Dallas Zoo.  

(thanks Chandler for having such a cool party!)

Lincoln loved checking out the animals

But I think he loved chasing Laurel even more!  

They were adorable!

Sitting on daddy's shoulders to see the animals!

Of course, it was hard to go to the zoo and not think about the loss that our friends, The Sikes', have experienced this year.  They continue to be on our hearts.  If they continue to be on yours, I encourage you to make a donation to the James Camden Sikes fund for the research of rhabdoid tumors.  You can contribute at www.jamescamdensikes.blogspot.com

We didn't visit Jamie the Giraffe on this trip.  

We'll make a special trip to see her soon!

Lincoln turned 18 months old in October.  He is growing and changing everyday, so I thought we'd document the words he knows and the things he likes to do right now.  Getting him to perform on command is always a bit of a challenge, so this is in bits and pieces...Enjoy! 

P.S. ...thanks to Sandra Boynton for teaching Lincoln that "three singing pigs say la, la, la"...