The Falk Family Blog

It was such a strange feeling putting Ethan on the bus for the first time. He’s growing up so fast.
He waved a blew a kiss to me from his bus window. So sweet!

Isaac woke up this morning with a smile on his face knowing it was his very first day of Pre-K! He just couldn’t wait to get there. He walked right in, gave me a kiss, and sat in his seat ready for anything. He has been talking about his teacher and the other children all day. I think he will do quite well!

Ethan in his new classroom at his desk.

Isaac in his new classroom.

Thank you, Daddy, for working from home today so you could take the boys to school on their first day! I’m sure it made them feel special to have both Mommy and Daddy there.

I take the boys swimming at the YMCA about once a week. Kari came with me and the boys had a great time in the water together.

Look at that face! Lincoln loves this pool. It starts out at zero feet and he just loves to do his little army crawl through the water. He looks like a little slithery lizard.

Lincoln is watching his silly cousin, Owen. They were too cute in the pool together! I’m sure they will have a blast playing together as they get older. Little Alex was asleep when all this fun was going on. He missed out, but there will be plenty other opportunities for fun!

Owen and “Wenkin.” (that’s how Owen says ‘Lincoln’)

Isaac has been taking soccer at the YMCA every Thursday for about 3 months. He finally told me that he wanted a break and didn’t want to play again for a while. These pictures are from his last day. He enjoyed it, but I think it started to get old to him.

Rachel and I took the kids to the zoo on Wednesday. The kids had a great time. It was a gorgeous summer day. We’ve had such great weather all week.

All the kids lined up looking at the manatees and other fish.

Lincoln and Josie chatting away about the fish.

Annie and Ethan hangin’ out.

Looking at the white lions.

Me and my boys…I’m so blessed!

Isaac liked the giraffes the most.

The big silver back.

All tired out from a long day at the zoo!

Even Ethan took a rest :)

My friend, Rachel, and I took the kiddos to a park nearby and enjoyed the beautiful weather.
We were happy to get a picture with all our 6 kids looking at the same time!

Isaac doing what he loves most!

Lincoln doing what he loves most! I’m so glad I got a good picture of this expression. He usually does look this content and happy.

Ethan and Annie. This picture is worth a million words if you know the two of them! They have always had a love/hate relationship. They get along quite well now and both say they want to marry the other some day! My, oh my, the stories we could tell at the wedding!

Isaac and Josiah. These two get along great. They are both easy going. It was cute the other day when my van pulled next to Rachel’s van at the YMCA, when Annie saw Ethan she said, “There’s my boyfriend!” And when Josiah saw Isaac he said, “There’s my boyfriend!” So innocent!

Lincoln and Josie. They are just adorable together, what more can I say?!

The four big kids. They really do have a great time together. Not a morning goes by that the boys don’t ask to play with Annie and Josiah!

This is what I see when I come into Lincoln’s room after he wakes up. It melts my heart every time seeing his little eyes peaking through his crib rails.

It was time to trim Lincoln’s hair. It was getting long around his ears. He did a great job and so did Daddy!

Doesn’t he look handsome?

We swam at Dan and Kari’s neighborhood pool on Friday night. Ethan and Isaac really wanted to watch Warren dive off the diving board into the 11-foot deep water! I think they were most impressed that Daddy was swimming in 11-feet-deep water! Warren dove twice and then said he would do it just one more time. I had the boys watch closely since it was his last dive. Little did I know he would scrape his nose and forehead on the bottom of the pool and come up with a bloody nose! Apparently he dove towards the shallow end. Once we realized he was fine and it was his ego that suffered the most we all had a good laugh! I had my camera handy and he was nice enough to let me take a picture.

As you can see in the picture above Lincoln got his first set of pearly whites this month! He actually just got his third tooth the other day and is working on the second top center tooth.

This was a busy month for Lincoln. He went to New York for the first time. He got to meet his Great-Grandma and other family members. He was such a good baby in the car during the long drive.

Lincoln also went to his first Anderson reunion in Tennessee this month. He didn’t seem to mind having lots (and I mean lots) of new people holding him.

He has mastered the army crawl. He can get around so fast that we wonder if he will ever crawl on his hands and knees! He goes from room to room and explores the world around him.

Lincoln is not a fan of baby food. I guess I can’t blame him. He loves to eat what we eat. I think he likes the texture of real food and I’m sure it tastes better to him.

He’s been sucking his thumb a lot when it’s bedtime. In fact, lately when I am holding him and walk into his room for something he puts his thumb in his mouth and lays on my shoulder thinking it’s time for bed. He definitely knows his room is for sleeping. It’s the sweetest thing.

This month he started an “I love Mommy” phase. I love it! I do feel bad for Warren, a little, because Lincoln clearly wants me over him.

He loves his music! I play an old tape of kids songs once in a while for him and we dance together. Now when I walk by the TV holding him he gets excited and looks up at the speakers and “talks” loudly.

He started standing while holding onto something. He has not pulled himself up yet, but loves to stand wherever we put him.

Lincoln is such a fun baby and we all love him so much! He is starting to learn so much and become his own little person.

Lincoln has expressed interest in the dishwasher for a couple of weeks now. He gets excited when I open it and comes scooting on over. He can’t quite pull himself up yet, but he loves when we stand him near something he can hold onto. You can see it in his eyes that he thinks he’s so big!

We moved Isaac into a bigger car seat because Lincoln needed the one he was using. It was perfect timing because Isaac is finally big enough for this one. I can’t believe Lincoln is ready to be out of the infant seat. He’s getting so big!

Ethan and Isaac had a lot of fun painting their new treasure boxes. It was cute listening to all the different things they wanted to put into their boxes. In the end they both decided it would make a great jail for bad guys. …Boys!

Lincoln seemed to enjoy himself too! I still don’t know how he managed to get so much paint on him. I thought I did a good job of keeping him out of it.

I’m finally getting a chance to post my reunion pictures from last week! The reunion was held in Pigeon Forge, TN for the 5th consecutive year. Here is the huge family…actually it’s even larger, there were several people missing this year. There are 76 in all…so far!

The Charles Falk Family: The Falk family keeps growing at a fast pace! This year alone there were 6 new additions. (all boys!) We have just as many children as adults. I wonder how many members we’ll have 5 years from now?!

The Warren Falk Family: Here is our little family of five.

Each year we have a baby shower for all the new additions. This year the Anderson family welcomed 7 new little ones. Max, Misha, vitali, (Melissa and Steve adopted these three from Ukraine earlier this year. They are so much fun!) Lincoln, Alex, Jude, and Anderson.

Thank you to all who gave us gifts for little Lincoln! We really appreciate it.

Here are some of the kiddos all lined up for cake after the baby shower. It was sooo yummy!

Alex, Lincoln, and Jude. These three will have a blast together at future reunions.

The picnic at the park was canceled due to rainy weather. So, Aunt Liz took a bunch of people to Wonderworks. It was very crowded there, but there were so many interesting things to look at!

Dan, Warren, and Nathan sang “We are the champions.” Mostly they shouted it…poor Lincoln! I have no idea how he slept through it. It is one of is favorite songs that Warren sings to him.

Warren and family friend, Kathy Melquist sang, “Hey, Jude” to baby Jude.

This is what Lincoln thinks about his Daddy’s singing…

Dad sang a couple of songs too. Elvis of course!

Some of the cousins playing on the big rocks outside the chalet.

Madeline and Ethan played so well this year! On two different occasions since we’ve been home he has said, “I miss Madeline.” He told me how he wished she lived next door so he could go over whenever he wanted!

Sweet Ivy and little Lincoln.

Elise and Simon.

Fun at the pool.

Lincoln and Anderson notice each other for the first time. Anderson is 9 months old.

Jude and Lincoln had the same onsie, of course that meant they had to have a picture taken!

Playing with Daddy’s keyboard.

Kari swinging with her two sweet boys, Alex and Owen.

Isaac’s favorite thing to do is the monkey bars. He does it over and over until he has muscle failure. Daddy took a picture of his hands one evening after practicing the bars for a long time. Ouch.

We went to New York over the July 4th weekend. It was so nice to see Pastor and Mrs. Mohl, my family, and friends. This picture was taken just moments after arriving. Lincoln loved watching the cars pass by. They are looking at Lakeside Drive and the beautiful lake in the background.

Ethan and Isaac had the best time playing at the lake shore.

We went to the July 4th parade in Mayville. It was a gorgeous day! The parade lasted two hours. There was so much to see and the boys loved collecting all the candy!

Mommy and Lincoln…and a big firetruck too.

Isaac was so excited to see this truck because it was ORANGE!

More candy, more candy! The boys left with so much candy from the parade! They got just as much as they got from Halloween this year.

Grandma and Lincoln.

Lisa (my sister) and her boyfriend, Jason.

The cousins: Gracie, Isaac, Lincoln, Ethan, Megan, Jedd, and Jenna. Aren’t they cute?!

Boating fun on Chautauqua Lake! Here is our whole family (minus Lincoln) in the gigantic tube. Look closely and notice Ethan’s face. Yeah, he was not a fan of the experience.

Isaac on the other hand was our brave one! I don’t think he stopped smiling from the time we got on the boat until we were back on solid ground. He loved it!

He even jumped off the back of the boat to swim in the middle of the lake with Daddy.

Here is our littlest sailor who slept most of the boat ride. Thank you Pastor and Mrs. Mohl for taking our family out on the lake. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed it greatly!

After boating we went to Midway Park so the kids could ride rides. Here is Warren and the kids on the Dragon, the fastest roller coaster there. The boys, especially Ethan love this ride.

Mommy and Lincoln on the carousal. Lincoln got to ride this and the train.

Mommy, Ethan and Isaac going down the giant slide.

The kids enjoying slushes! Yummy.

One of the big disappointments for me was going to the ice cream shack and finding out they don’t make my favorite ice cream ever anymore. I only get to eat it once a year and I really was looking forward to it! I ordered the “peace of cake” ice cream and it was good, but not even close the “white lightening.” Bummer! Oh, they also closed Erickson’s Restaurant. Warren and I used to go out for breakfast there when we were dating so we made a point to eat there atleast once during our visits to NY. That was sad to find out.

Isaac’s ice cream matched his shirt so well so I took a picture.

The cousins playing together in the sandbox at my mom’s house.

Wow, half way to his birthday and not slowing down! Lincoln is growing much too fast.

He has turned into such a smiley baby. He usually has his half smile, very content, look on his face with his eyebrows slightly raised. He’s quite a little charmer! He will go to anybody and really seems to love people!

He belly laughs more often than Ethan and Isaac ever did as babies. He thinks his big brothers are hilarious! His laugh is infectious, Warren and I love to listen to it!

This month he has learned how to army crawl and can move across the floor to get into whatever seems interesting to him.  When he gets to a toy he likes to push it just out of reach and then go after it. He can sit up for long periods of time and play with toys. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, but has not crawled yet.

He continues to sleep all night and take good naps during the day. He is sucking his thumb more often to fall asleep. Thumb-suckers make such good babies!

Lincoln developed his first fear…the vacuum cleaner. He is not petrified or anything, but he will cry when I first turn it on. I can’t blame him, our vacuum cleaner has something wrong with it and it is twice as loud as it should be.

He just started eating baby food. He doesn’t seem to hate it, but doesn’t seem to love it either. His favorites are bananas, peas, and carrots.

His hair is getting lighter and his eyes are getting a lighter blue to them.

My favorite time of the day with Lincoln is first thing in the morning when I walk into his room to get him out of the crib. He gets so excited to see me and kicks his legs like crazy and smiles from ear to ear while inhaling so fast that it makes a funny sound in his throat.

His is such a precious baby! I wish time could stand still.

Yesterday’s accomplishments

1. I got up and took a shower
2. fed the boys breakfast
3. put Lincoln down for a nap
4. cleaned and picked up my house
5. did two loads of laundry
6. packed our lunch and headed to the YMCA
7. watched Isaac’s soccer lesson
8. ate lunch after soccer
9. swam at the indoor pool with the 3 boys
10. came home and got the boys a snack
11. cleaned out the van
12. put ALL the boys down for a nap (ahhh…)
13. cleaned Warren’s office…if this was my only accomplishment of the day it would have been a good day! Most you know what Warren’s office usually looks like, but for those of you who don’t, this was no small undertaking! I wanted to do something special for him, something more than just putting a candy bar on his desk. I wanted it to take more thought and effort. It took me nearly two hours, but I was very happy with the end result. I wrote him a note and stuck it on his computer monitor. I closed the door and waited anxiously for him to come home.
14. I even had time for a 20 minute nap before Lincoln woke up.
15. I made tacos for dinner
16. cleaned the kitchen
17. took the 3 boys down the street to visit an older couple that they got to know quite well during the past 2 years.
18. came home and let the kids play outside
19. put the boys to bed and enjoyed some time cuddling with my hubby on the couch

* Oh by the way, I was outside when Warren finally went into his office. But, he told me he let out an audible “Whoa!” He was very thankful and appreciative!

Today

Today I took the boys to the doctor and found out Ethan and Isaac have strep throat. This is Isaac’s first ever antibiotic and Ethan’s second. The Doctor walked in looking at their charts and said, “These are some healthy boys you have!” They were very good and she asked if the were always this happy and smiley. She said they all three seem to have “great dispositions.” It’s always a good feeling to get compliments on my children’s behavior. I’m just glad she couldn’t hear all the bickering in the car on the way and on the way home!

We have someone coming soon to give us an estimate on a new garage door. A few weeks ago I closed it on the hood of Warren’s truck. His truck was fine, but the door didn’t make it.

Never a dull moment around here!