Happy November Friends and Family,
In my attempt to get in at least one more post before the end of the year, I will fill you in to what's happening in the Lins Lair. Amazingly, there are no new babies on the way, job changes or moves to another state. In fact, I finally made the commitment to switch my Ames cell phone number to a local number, gasp! It was difficult, I must admit. But it had to be done.
Our family took a road trip down to Texas last month to see my sister and her family. Now Josiah knows how far Texas is from Minnesota! She just had her second baby, Zachary, and they moved to a new home in San Antonio shortly before he arrived! The kids had a blast together on Faith's new swingset in their backyard and cooking in Faith's kitchen. I overheard Josiah telling Faith as he was playing in her kitchen "okay Faith, I'm gonna make you some lunch but then you have to take your nap!" I wonder where he's heard that before?


We had a great garden this year. My sister, Sara, and I collaborated our efforts (quite ambitously I might add) and did one BIG garden. We'll do it again next year but maybe downsize just a tad. ;)


For a birthday party on Halloween, Josiah was a fierce pirate and Grace was the most charming little stinker I've ever seen.
We entered Porter in the pet contest during Mantorville's Fall Festival to get some more miles out of his Leopard costume I made him years ago. To our surprise, he won it! Must have had a few sympathy votes in there.

For all who have kids and live close to Byron, go to Tweite's Pumpkin Patch in October for their fall festivities. So much fun for the kids! They have huge slides, piles of tires to climb up, drums made out of plastic barrels squeezed in round bale feeders, tractor rides, a kiddie town and so much more. Our MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers) group went with the kids and despite the really cold temperature, they had a great time.

Although Josiah's still my little boy, he's growing up so fast. He has figured out the art of kissing up by telling me I'm "his best friend ever" when ever he wants some thing. His bear hugs are the best, complete with a "grrrrr".

Grace started walking a little over a month ago. So much for the laid back child! Once she figured out how to crawl, it was all over. She follows Josiah every where even though she get plowed over or "accidently" pushed over every five minutes. When she does something she's not suppose to be doing and I tell her no sternly, she'll break down and cry like you've just broke her heart. I can't help not laughing.

Josiah helped "Opa" (Ryan's dad) last weekend on the combine. He was so excited to ride in it he fell asleep. He really did love it, I just think he was a bit overwhelmed, then exhausted!

No promises but I'll try to generate another post before the end of the year. Thanks for filling us in on your lives and have a great Thanksgiving!

Another couple months have passed since our last post so I figured it was time to get caught up on our blogging....

With the help of some very dedicated family members (a.k.a. Mark and Don), we built a swingset for the kids. Josiah has found a love of tools in the meantime. Grace seemed to enjoy just supervising the whole project.

My sister Mandi and her daughter Faith came to visit us mid April and we had lots of fun. We went up to pick them up from the airport and as evidenced by the picture, Josiah and Faith were slightly happy to see eachother.

One of the highlights of thier visit was going to Como Zoo and Arboritum. Very neat to vist and free!

A few pictures from our visit to Wisconsin a few weeks ago. Even after "helping" dad and Opa rake hay for an hour, Josiah still wasn't ready to be done with his tractor ride.

Ryan hosted a Brazilian coworker this past week. His position is the same as Ryan's, just in South America. We were able to learn a lot about Brazil and he got a few homecooked American meals, like hamburgers and rice krispie bars.
While our visitor was here, we took trip to La Crosse for some pizza via plane. Ryan's summer help also happens to be a very good pilot who offered to give us a ride. How could we turn a plane ride to go get some pizza? We got to fly right over our house, up to Lake City and down the Mississippi. Josiah LOVED it and both of the kids were fantastic the whole ride there and back. Ryan got to fly the plane on the way back (with a little help from our pilot). He may have found a very expensive hobby to delve into.

That's all for now. Hope to get to see some of you this summer if life allows! God Bless.

Josiah turns 2!

Josiah turned two on Sunday! He's already declared his independence by the foods he'd prefer to eat, wanting to go up and down stairs by himself, and saying no to pretty much anything we ask of him. We celebrated his birthday in Wisconsin with Ryan's parents and had a great time. Even with all the great presents he got, I think his favorite part of the trip was riding in one of Opa's tractors. When Ryan opened up the door of the tractor cab for me to take a picture of them, he frantically said "no, no, no" thinking I was going to take him out!

Grace will be 4 months next week and a very happy baby. When she smiles, her eyes completely light up. You can't not smile when she does! Josiah totally keeps her entertained, when she's up, she's always watching him....most likely for her own protection.

On the other hand, most of the time Josiah is very affectionate with her. He loves to kiss her and help give (or cram) the pacifier in her mouth.


We've already got Jojo earning his keep at Papa's office....he handles the difficult customers that call.

I've begun Mac's training as he is a two year old now as well. Hopefully Ryan and I can hit some trails on horseback this summer!

Happy February All!

Aren't you all happy that spring will be here soon???? Okay, you lucky folks with nicer weather year round aren't probably as appreciative as us northerners holed up in our houses all winter. Anyway, we've weren't totally holed up this past month. We made a trip to Wisconsin to visit the newest addition to the Lins side, Sansa Elizabeth Lins. She's so darling!!!! We're excited to finally have her here and she's blessed to have Clay and Trista as parents. Below is the first photo shoot (of many to come I'm sure) of Grace and Sansa. I couldn't help but to pick these bows up at the mall for the girls. So Texas, don't you think Mandi????!

We also got to take a ride on the North Freedom train while we were there. Duane went with us and Josiah had a blast...as you can see from the picture! Josiah has never sat so well than this 1 hour train ride.
We're getting settled into our new home. I got my dad to put his talent to good use in Grace's soon to be bedroom and Grace over saw the job.

Speaking of Grace, she is getting so fun. She is becoming more and more attentive each day. She started smiling and cooing last month. She's just starting to giggle now so I hope I can attach a clip of her laughing with my next posting.


Josiah has been a champ with this transition into brotherhood. He's learned to share us and help out with getting stuff for baby. The first week in February, Ryan had a work trip to San Antonio and took Josiah along with him since my sister and her family live down there. Check out the link Tucker Town on our blog for the whole story, my sister documented it well! He had a great time with his cousin Faith. I was showing him different facial expressions the other day and this is Josiah's attempt at a frown face. Gotta love the kid!

How in the world do people manage with 2+ kids????

Seriously, we have a whole new respect for both sets of parents, who have managed to raise 3 somewhat normal kids of thier own. I feel like I have spent a great deal of my waking moments changing diapers, cleaning up food/spit up off faces and doing laundry. Ryan has been a trooper. Before and after work, he's helping out right alongside of me!
Last month, our family attended five family Christmas gatherings between Minnesota and Wisconsin. Needless to say, we're happy to see the holidays over and get settled into our new home.
Grace is growing fast and has already endured a mild cold. Josiah is starting to figure out Grace is a permanent fixture in our family and seems to be handling it allright....so far. He loves to kiss her, and point/poke at her eyes and know where she is at all times. It's unreal how many words he has started saying this past month and counting in his own specaial order is a favorite past time -"one, two, five, nine". He's got four more years before he has to figure it out!

Ryan is liking having an at home office. He's been able to turn one of the rooms in our basement into his office "cave". A great setup as he can hang all the pictures he loves (and I, not so fond of).

Hope all of you have had a great Christmas. Lots of you have started blogs recently, thanks for sending them our way!