LATELY WITH THE LINKS

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Happy Happenings!

This past weekend, we had a few cute, fun little things happen in the life of the Link Family

YEAH CADEN!!!

This was Caden's last year to have a chance at the big 1st place trophy at the Pinewood Derby. So--we bought two car kits, lots of fancy extra stuff, colored wheels, and a book ensuring a blazin' fast car. Caden and his dad worked for days together out in the garage. And after 3 days and a few trips to Home Depot to get more tools..we had two tricked out cars. Byron and Caden went to the track early to see which car was the fastest. "Pac-Man" proved to be the car of destiny. He never lost a race. He had to race 7 times and never came in second. The times were so close--his last race for the championship came down to milli-seconds.

HE DID IT!! He WON!! Sing it with me "Sweet--sweet--sweet victory"! It was so fun to see him accomplish something and do great at it. Nice job, Dude!!

Brynna became "THE TOOTH-LESS WONDER"!

After much torture and pain...and more torture and pain...Her tooth just fell out--no torture involved. She loves to look at herself in the mirror, just starring at her toothless grin. Isn't she cute!!

Maggie's Princess Party! Yippee--She's 3!

Perfectly dressed in her princess dress, princess sash, and "Birthday Girl" glitter party hat--she had her very perfect Princess party. She was so happy to be dressed-up. I was happy too...if you saw how many pictures I have, you'd know exactly how happy. We can't help but be completely and totally enamored with this girl. She couldn't wait to blow out the candles on her princess cake. She's a pro.

She ate cake and opened her presents...then played and pranced while Daddy assembled her big gift. It's the cutest little 3 in 1 baby station. It only took three hours--it's a small piece of furniture really. (Hasbro should've been a little more forth-coming with their phrase "some assembly required). She had a fantastic time all night long...and we had a fantastic time watching.

Last, but certainly not least..my momma visited us all weekend. I love it when she's here and I hate it when she leaves. She's such a cool and fun mom. We always have so much to talk about--usually it's all trivial stuff--but she makes everything interesting. I love that she loves my kids so much and they love her. I wish we all lived closer so that I could spend more time with her. I love her so. Anyway...We decided to give her a Mother's Day present early this year ( mainly because I couldn't wait to give it to her).

We got her tickets to see Il Divo in concert. They are her very favorite singers. She's got every CD and every DVD. Honestly, I think she's a little obsessed ( along with her big sister, Janice). I've never seen her so surprised. She acted like I would've imagined her as a teenager getting Elvis tickets. How fun it was to see her face and how happy it made her. So, look-out Il Divo...here comes Dianne!

Fun, Fun weekend! Busy, wild, fun, and happy!!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGGIE!!

Miss Maggie Mae is 3 years old!! She is ablsolutely the funnest little 3 year old girl in the world. How blessed we are that she is healthy (at the moment) and happy. One month after she turned 2, all of her health issues began--and she's been a trooper. So let's all pray that her 3rd year is better and healthier than her last. Happy Birthday, Maggie! We love you so!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Great-Grandpa's House in the Woods

This past weekend, we went to Byron's Grandpa Waldron's house in Arkansas. He lives in a beautiful town in the middle of the Ozarks. Needless to say, there are a lot of trees--these of which we don't have much of here. My kids were in heaven. Even though it was not any warmer than 50 degrees, they stayed outside for hours playing in "the woods". They climbed trees, stacked rocks, stacked branches and sticks, and played swords. Brynna came inside after a day of adventure and told her daddy, "Daddy...we need to get some woods". I wish it was that easy to just get some woods.

It was cool to have Byron's mom and dad there too. Grandpa Waldron is Byron's mom's father and we were able to take four generation photos of each of the kids with their dad, grandma, and great-grandpa. That doesn't happen very often--what a great opportunity.

We loved just spending time with everyone. We watched football, watched movies, ate great food that Anna made (she did a great job cooking for 8 extra people), played in "the woods", and Grandpa taught the kids to play chicken-foot. I pray that my kids will lock this weekend away in their memories and remember how cool their great-grandpa is and the adventures they had. And..I hope they remember how much their grandpa love's them.

Magdalene--Maggie Mae

Little Miss Sass is actually what we should call her. Lately, she's been "testing her limits" or should I say "her mom and dad's limits"--Just a little here and there. She's really decided that she has an opinion on every single thing and that it's her way or the highway. I guess we can just call her "Miss Independent". No more holding her hand while walking down the sidewalk, or helping her into her stroller. She'll do it "by self". "By self" is just one of the funny little things she says. "Or not" is big in her vocabulary, too. If you ask her if she wants a snack or not, if she doesn't, she'll say "Or not". She's just so funny. Conversations are never dull and always cute.

Brynna-Bel

My heaven's--getting older every second. She's no longer a little girl. She has turned into, simply, a girl. Not little, but not too big either. We are young enough to still love Barbie--but old enough to really care what Barbie is wearing. A good thing, right?
Bel is in the 1st grade now, and love's to read. She really loves school too. She loves her teachers and her friends. Can you say Social Butterfly? Talk-talk-talk-talk. She's never been considered shy. Everyone is her best-friend, you know, even if it's the first time you've ever talked to her. I love that quality about her. She is a friend to everyone. What a good and sweet girl she is.

Caden--C Dog

I just love my little Caden. He is THE sweetest and nicest kid around--and did I mention handsome. He's now in the 5th grade--the year when things get a bit more hectic. He has more work and he's expected to be organized enough to get it all in one day, do it over the next week and then turn it in. We're still workin' on that one. Organization is not a strong point for us. He changes classes too, which is new to him. I tell you what--he absolutley LOVES science. Almost every day he comes home telling me of the experiment that they did in science lab or goes on and on about protons and neutrons and electrons. I have a hard time following because he goes into every single little detail--and he remembers every-single-detail. What a smarty-pants. He's really discovering how funny his personality is lately, too. He now know's he's funny and that he's got the gift of gab. He takes after his dad.

Greyson--G Money

You'd think I was giving this kid steroids at the rate he's growing. He's only 15, but people ask if he's 17. He's very tall for his age. He might think he acts like he's 17--but we know better. Maturity-?-it's comin' along. We'll just say we're working on it. No, really-all kidding aside--he's a really good young man. He's at the age when typical teenage angst sets in. And..we have our fair share of it. But, all in all, I think he really tries to keep a cool head when he thinks we've asked him to take out the trash one too many times. He's just at an age when we can really count on his help. He is a great helper to me. He even folds laundry (don't tell his friends).
Greyson is doing really, really well in school so far this year. He's got and extra load-basically doing two years of school in only one. We thought he'd really have to bust it and be doing work constantly to keep up. But..he hardly has any homework and he's making all A's. He has a 100% in Geometry!? I asked him if he just has never missed any question ever on anything to get that average. He replied by saying, "No--I've missed stuff, but I got a 120% on a project". Whatever--wouldn't it be great to be that smart?