Althea is Three!

A better late than never posting... Althea turned three on August 21st and we celebrated with a princess/super hero party. The girls dressed up, made crowns, had a parade, ate, swam and enjoyed cake and presents together. It was a beautiful day and a great time!

Althea hammed it up whenever she could and loved being the center of attention.

A few weeks later, we received a bike and a push car from cousins Lai, Chris, Hannah, Will, and Luc. As you can see in the picture, they are a big hit! So check for the Schachtele biker gang on the streets of Columbia Heights this fall!

Lincoln's Baptism

This past Saturday, July 16, 2011, Lincoln James was baptized by Pastor Grandpa James at Turtle Lake. Thanks so much to all the family in attendance: Jamie, Rachel, Al, Julie, Scott, Sarah, Stella, Jim and Sally. Thanks also to Lincoln's godparents, David and Erin Hart, for being a part of this special day. We thank God for blessing our little man and welcome him into the family of Christ!

If you don't already know this, Britt loves musicals. The Sound of Music is one of my favorites! So I'm excited to share the fact that Althea is following in my footsteps! Or dance steps as the case may be. She requests Do, a Deer quite frequently now that she knows the tune! I'm sure Bryan will have her playing soccer by fall, but for now, drama club here we come! Unfortunately, the video wouldn't work, but I'm sure you can imagine the fun!

In other news, Lincoln is as cute as ever and enjoys making dragon noises. I also swear I heard a "mama" and "dada" the other day. He'll be walking and talking in no time!

Summer!

This June, Althea was privileged to be a bell ringer in our friends' wedding. She was so proud of her new white dress! Here are some pics of the event.

Dancing with Dad

The whole family. Lincoln is almost 8 months old, already!

She was one of 14 ringers... One of the youngest and cutest, if you ask us!

Spring Break?

Feels like the longest winter ever! The Schachtele family is ready for spring, but still dressed for the cold. With munchkins like these, however, every season is a joy!
Lincoln continues to grow and change. He loves to smile and coo, especially at his big sister! Before we know it, they'll be running around together, talking like crazy. Can't wait!

Merry Christmas!

It was a wonderful holiday for the Schachtele family. Althea was inundated with gifts, and slept for 13 hours straight on Christmas night after all the action.

This is an original Christmas photo taken BY Althea!

Here she is with her seals, CC1 and CC2, and her new Hello Kitty outfit!

A highlight for Lincoln was receiving his Abraham Lincoln doll. They're currently about the same size!
Happy Holidays, everybody!

Entertaining each other...

Halloween and Thanksgiving have quickly passed us by this year. We had the stomach flu, so we missed seeing family over this past holiday weekend! Still, our little family of four is managing to stay entertained, mostly by Althea. And now that we're healthy, we'll share some of that entertainment with all of you!

Here's Althea in all her energetic glory!

In contrast, we have Lincoln who sleeps about 20 hours a day!

Sometimes he opens his pretty blue eyes, though!

What Althea loves most these days, is helping out with Baby Brother. Here she is trying to give him a bottle. We find ourselves saying "GENTLY!" a lot. Princess Bride reference, anyone?