All Aboard!

Over Fall Break, our sweet friends Audrey and Lil invited us to go on a train ride aboard the Amtrak Heartland Flyer!  They weren't able to make it to Olive's birthday, so this was how we got to celebrate!  The girls were SO excited when the train pulled up.  We could see it coming down the track and Olive kept yelling "Stop train! Stop here!  We want to get on!"

 The conductor came over to check our tickets.  I love how Olive is checking him out and Lil backed away. 

 All Aboard!  We were greeted by a friendly conductor who told us where our seats were. 

 Here we go!  They were so funny when it started moving because it goes FAST!  It was really wobbly which they thought was hysterical. 

 Sweet passengers!

 When he came by to punch their tickets, he even took a picture with the girls! 

 Tickets!

At one point on the ride, Audrey and I were chatting and looked across the aisle and the girls were just sitting and having their own little conversation.  It brought tears to my eyes!  I couldn't believe our sweet little girls who started at Miss Terri's when they were so tiny were old enough to sit in seats by themselves and carry on a conversation!! Where has the time gone?  After the 17 minute ride to Purcell we loaded up in Audrey's car and headed back for some play time at the park and lunch.  We had such a great time!  Thanks Audrey and Lil for the fun adventure! We are so thankful for sweet friends like you!

Olive Has BIG News!

Olive has big news to share...

 

We are so excited to welcome Baby Link #2 in April!  We shared the news with Olive the night before we told our families because we were afraid she wouldn't be able to keep the secret for long.  Her reaction was so priceless and I got in on video, but the video won't upload.  Let's just say there was a lot of squealing, jumping up and down and covering her mouth with her hands!

We told our families the next day and they were equally excited!  We took Olive with us to the 12 week ultrasound and I so wish someone could have been there to video it.  She was really apprehensive about going into the room and very concerned about what they were doing to Mommy.  But when she saw the baby on the screen, she got the most precious look on her face!  The baby was waving it's little arms around and she said "She's waving to me!" and started waving back.  It was one of the most incredible moments.  She was so excited.  She kept squeezing Stephen and just staring at the screen completely mesmerized.  
Olive has it in her mind that she is having a baby sister.  In fact, that is the only option she is willing to discuss.  We have tried to talk about baby brothers, but she cries and says "I want her to be a girl."  She has recently decided that if she did get a baby brother, she wants two babies, a girl and a boy.  Pretty sure that's not going to happen!  I told her that God may have chosen to give us a boy baby and that we would love it just the same as a girl baby.  Her reply, "nope, God went to the baby store and chose a girl baby for us."  About another month and we will be able to find out if she is right or not! 
As I type this, I am 15 weeks along.  I want to be better about documenting things about this pregnancy here, but I am not making any promises!  When I was pregnant with Olive, I was nauseated ALL the time but I didn't get sick much.  This time around I have been really sick.  I know this is a blessing and that I should be grateful because it means everything is okay but it is hard to have that attitude all the time when you feel crummy.  It is getting a little better and I think I can see the light at the end of the morning sickness tunnel, at least I hope I do!  Everyone had told me that with the second, you were so much more tired because you chased the first one around all day.  I have been tired, but our schedule is SO much better than when I had Olive that it hasn't been nearly as bad as I expected. We are beyond thrilled to bring another Link into the world and all of the adventures that will come with having 2!

A Day Out With Thomas

 Several weeks ago, we took Olive to the "Day Out With Thomas".  Both weekends that he was here were rainy and cold which was a bummer!  But it didn't stop our #1 Thomas fan! She was so excited to get to ride Thomas! 

Here she is with Rosie (her favorite engine!)

 

Looking for Thomas with Daddy.

 All Aboard!  She was so excited! Can you tell? 

 

Choo! Choo!  Proudly displaying her Jr. Engineer Certificate!  

They had fun activities set up for the kids to play with and this little lady spent her fair share of time at the fancy train tables. 

Despite the chilly weather we had a lot of fun on our "Day Out With Thomas"!

Disney Princesses On Ice

I have been a super blog slacker and have a lot of catching up to do!  Several weeks ago, we took Olive to see "Princesses on Ice".  She was so excited! 

 She got a special "Dolly Rapunzel" who she carried around for weeks and is totally in love with! 

 She didn't really know what to expect and it was so fun to watch how excited she was about seeing the characters on the ice!

 I am not sure what was so shocking, but this picture cracks me up!

 Our sweet Rapunzel with Rapunzel. 

We had such a great time!  Watching the joy on her face the whole show was such a gift.  I love being able to experience things through her eyes.  It truly is magical!  

Cleveland County Fair

Last weekend, The Cleveland County Fair was in town! I am not a fan of the fair.  In fact, I haven't been to the Oklahoma State Fair since I was in high school.  I hate it.  But I knew Olive would love seeing all of the animals and since the county fair is a little different, we decided to go!  Auntie Mica and Isaac came down and the girls headed to the fair and the boys hung out and watched football! 

 The first ride of the day was the carousel!

 Then we got to go on a hay ride!

 Olive wasn't interested in riding Cletus the camel, but she was very excited to pet him!

 Then she rode a pony!  I couldn't believe it!  I said "babe, do you want to ride the pony?" and she said "SURE!"  So she hopped right on and loved it!

 Then we went to see all of the animals.  These baby pigs were so adorable! 

 She even got to pet a little piglet who was only 2 weeks old.  She loved him!  I had to ask her to back up to stop her from kissing him!

 She kept saying "Hi baby cow!  Please say Moo!  Say Moo, please!"  He didn't moo. 

 Then it was funnel cake time! YUM!

 And the last adventure of the day was a ride on the "tilt-a-strawberries".  Auntie Mica and Mommy were a little queasy, but Olive thought it was so fun!

We had a great time at the County fair!  It is much more my speed...small, less people, way less carnies and little rides.  I think the county fair will be our go to from here on out!  Thanks Auntie Mica for the day of fun! 

The Day Olive Became A Normal Child

Five years ago yesterday, Stephen's Mom, Grandma and Aunt were brutally murdered in Stephen's parents home at the hand of his uncle.  That day seems like yesterday but also seems so far away.  It is a day that changed the path of our lives forever.  Stephen was working in the back yard at the time of the murders and came into the scene.  He was given the opportunity to be with his Grandmother in her very last moments, but also had to experience the worst possible thing you could ever see.  These things stick with him daily.  We lost three wonderful women that day, but we also lost a piece of Stephen and his Dad.  A piece of them that we will never ever get back because of the horror they experienced.  Over the last 5 years, it has been a roller coaster to say the least.  His uncle was in the Cleveland County jail that just happens to be a few miles from our home for several years.  Finally in February of 2010, his trial took place.  We were so blessed to have the most amazing District Attorney and team who were able to prove that not only was he guilty but that he deserved the death penalty for his actions. The jury found him guilty on 3 counts of murder and sentenced him to death.  We breathed a sigh of relief.  Not only was he being held accountable for what he did, he would be moved to prison in McAlester and would no longer be in our town so close to us.  This was the best feeling.  We really felt that we could move on and put the past behind us.  And that was semi-true.  The trial brought a lot of closure.  It meant that we didn't have that looming over us anymore, no more anticipating when it was actually going to happen.  We started to try to remember Tami, Grandma and Shelia for who they were and not what happened to them.  This was a slow process, but we thought we were doing a decent job.  

    Then Sunday afternoon we got a call that would change our paths again.  The call said that Bill had died in his death row cell that morning.  This was the last thing we were expecting on this day!  I don't want to say that we rejoiced because he was dead, but we rejoiced because of what this meant for us.  "OLIVE IS A NORMAL CHILD!"  She will learn of these events on our terms now, not because Mommy and Daddy have to go to court for appeals.  Not because Mommy and Daddy have to go to an execution.  It is over.  We stood in our front yard watching her swing and both cried tears of absolute joy!  She smiled and laughed without a care in the world.  I can not tell you the sense of relief that this brought to our entire family.  It's done, it is over and we don't have to deal with him anymore.  God once again showed us that he was holding us in the palm of his hand.  Now we can truly close that chapter of our lives and begin to truly celebrate who they were before being taken away from us.  Our daughter can know WHO they were and not WHAT happened to them!  We are so thankful. 

Our Tiny Dancer

Olive started dance class last week at Modern Dance Arts. She was so excited!  She had been talking about it for several weeks and asked daily if it was "dance class day".  I didn't really know what to expect, but she LOVED it.    

 

 When they opened the door and said to line up, she jumped right in line!  This may be one of my favorite pictures of her ever!  She just looks so happy!

 Going in...

When they came out, she was smiling from ear to ear.  She kept saying 

"I did it! I did it! I danced!"

 I hope that she continues to love it as much as she did the first day!