Nashville Floods

Emily posted a few photos of the flooding in Nashville. It hit close to home when school was cancelled because some areas immediately surrounding the building were under water. I haven't heard if they've missed a second day of school or if the water has sufficiently drained.

Photo Booth

My favorite two-year-old and I had a Photo Booth session and this is what we came up with:

Birthday, Two Years Old, the finale

It was quite the Birthday Extravaganza!

Lincoln took a great early nap so he was a total and complete All-Star for his whole show. The food was great and the company was wonderful. There are a number of principles and ideas that Jenn and I will instill into Lincoln (and his brothers and/or sisters) over the years and one of them is: appreciate family and friends. Jenn, Lincoln and I have been so wonderfully blessed with great family and friends... Praise God!

Here is a sampling of the fun:

Meng gave Lincoln a beautiful Chinese pen, much like an ink-brush.

And then Lincoln started to wind down a bit.
He never made much more than a short fuss, though, until I had to take him up for bed. The last thing he said to me as I left his room was, "Bicycle!" Jenn and I gave him a Radio Flyer tricycle that he can't yet use properly, but he loves to climb on it. Anyway, tomorrow ought to be a fun day as he really gets to play with his new toys.

Thanks so much to everyone who extended birthday wishes to Lincoln. Jenn and I are so proud of him and blessed to have him be a part of our family. We can't believe it's been two years. At times it seems longer than that, and at other times it seems like just yesterday we were at the hospital with him. Time flies, and from what I hear, it only goes by faster as we all get older.

And on that note, it's time for bed.

Latest Birthday Update

Here's the lates birthday update.

Lincoln and I went to Kidz Kutz to have his hair cut. He got to sit in a great Tractor Seat and watch Spongebob... but he cried anyway... the whole time. But the lady was very nice and understanding, and his haircut looks great. So then when I got him out of the seat to go pay, he pointed to the Tractor Seat and said, "Sit in tractor!" and then started crying again to sit in the tractor. I couldn't win.

Jenn finished his cake and it looks simply awesome! She's getting better and better and better with cake decorating. It's scary to think about what Lincoln's 16-year-old cake will look like!The excitement will continue through they day. Come back tomorrow to see the recap of all of the fun!

Preparing for the Party

There's a lot going on at the Gates Home and we're not going to leave our extended, out-of-town family out of the loop. The big news since this morning's post has been Jenn's unbelievable work on Lincoln's cake. If you know Jenn, you know that she doesn't do anything half-way. Lincoln's been into Thomas the Train, and when Jenn asked Lincoln if he wanted a Thomas Cake, a Percy Cake or a James Cake, he informed her that he wanted a Percy Cake. She spent most of the day decorating and it's looking fantastic! Here it is in its not-quite-yet-finished state:Wait until Party Time tomorrow!!!

Food-Prep Lincoln

Lincoln's Birthday Party preparation is underway! Great Grandparents Mullen came yesterday afternoon to help corral Lincoln while Jenn does the baking and cooking, and Lincoln was very helpful:

New Sport

RT from @Mom (Grandma Paulette): "I think he's chosen his sport."Grandma Paulette and Lincoln enjoy taking walks over to CVCA to look at interesting things. It was cool yesterday so they didn't make it much further than the tennis courts.

Getting Ready To Move

Did the title fool you? No, we're not moving. With Great Grandpa & Great Grandma Mullen looking to list their house soon, Jenn, Lincoln and I (and Gretel) took Saturday morning to head over to their place, hang a dining room light & have Jenn take another step in staging their house. We had a great visit!

the photo is a little fuzzy, but it was the best I had from the trip

Lincoln had fun time mosey-ing around the house and finding all of Great Grandma's giraffes and collecting them all in one spot.

Kitchen help

I got home from work today, and this is what I saw as I walked past the door and into the kitchen: