J-Pod

This is Jaz's newest toy. Let's just say that her and the I-Pod Nano seem to be inseparable these days ;)

A huge Thank you to Uncle Tim and Dave for this very thoughtful and generous gift!

Sick Baby

The past few days have been miserable for my poor Little Man. Parker has been terribly ill :( The other day I was cuddling with him on the sofa after he had been crying in pain just moments earlier. All of the sudden the Tylenol and Advil must have kicked in for him because the tears turned into smiles. He was so cuddly, smiley, and giggly. It reminded me of back in the day when he was an itty-bitty infant and we would sit on the sofa and cuddle for hours on end. I miss those days, but thankfully he still has cuddles for me in him every so often. I think I'll be heartbroken when he gets too big to rock with me before bedtime :( I didn't want to get up and ruin the moment to grab my camera but thankfully my cell phone was near by (hence the blury pics) Check out what a sweet boy he was being ....

And here is a short video. You'll definitely have to turn up the volume (and pause the music on the bottom of this page) to hear his sweet little chuckles. He was definitely delirious ... I think it was a combination of being so sick and the pain meds finally kicking in ;)

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Pumpkin Obsession

Parker has a new found obsession with Pumpkins. It all started the other day when our neighbors across the street put this Jack-O-Lantern out on their front porch. Once Parker caught glimpse of it he got really excited. He is constantly standing at our front door, peering through the side windows and begging to go out to see the "Pumpkin". The words "Pumpkin" and "Jack-o-lantern" are now repeated thousands of times throughout the days. The other day while we were playing outside Parker ran to the neighbors house to examine the pumpkin up close. He proceeded to give it a hug and a kiss. Then he sat down right next to the pumpkin and had a lenghty conversation with it. It was the funniest thing! Parker is a very loving child and often treats inanimate objects like they are babies. I had my cell phone on me so I snapped this quick picture of Parker conversing with the Pumpkin. I'm so excited for the Fall to be here this year! I can only imagine how Parker is going to react on our annual family pumpkin patch trip this year. He's going to be blown away when he sees all the pumpkins!

Busted!!!

This is Parker's "B-U-S-T-E-D" Face. I know, it's just too cute isn't it?!?! You may be asking, what on earth could this little boy have done that would warrant a face like this? Well, he didn't do anything bad but apparently moving his toy bins and hiding behind them was something he did not want to get caught doing. When I finally found him hiding, this was the face he gave me ....

I could hear him but I had no clue where he was until a little head peeked up after I called his name a few times ...

I'm so glad I had the camera near by! Parker sure is a sneaky boy, this is his sneaky look ...

Parker got himself wedged in behind the toy bins, but he sure couldn't get back out. Here he is saying "Mommy, mommy, stuck, help, out" .....

Thankfully mommy was there for the rescue!

Uncle Mark!

Uncle Mark is here visiting from California.

We are all so happy he's here!

The Sky's Her Limit!

Awe, my Jaz ... she's quite the handful these days! She's very determined and ambitious. The sky is her limit these days and I wouldn't have it any other way. Now maybe a little less sass would be nice, but hopefully that is just a phase!

She has never been in cheer leading but I'm rethinking that because she is constantly prancing around the house with some cheer she has made up. In fact the other day one of the teachers saw her and some of her friends making up cheers at recess and approached her to make up a cheer for the vice-principles surprise birthday rally the next day. Jazmyne took this assignment really serious and came home and put together some moves and a totally cute little cheer. She printed a copy of the words out for all her friends and they got to school early the next day to practice the moves. She's quite the little leader and loves giving direction. Now I do worry about the cartwheels and jumps in the house and she has pulled a few muscles here and there but what's a mom to do? I feel bad telling her to stop but I also don't want her to get hurt. Maybe if I were to put her in an actual cheer leading class she would learn the proper way to stretch and do the moves to where she doesn't hurt herself doing it.

She loves school! She recently applied for a position with the school bank and got the job! She had to pick a position, fill out the application, get a letter of recommendation from one of her teachers, and went on an actual interview! She is a customer service representative for the school bank and takes the job very seriously. She always gets so excited when she wakes up and realizes it's a bank work day at school! And then there is the student council, class representative position that she holds. She also gets excited every other week when they meet for lunch.

School Basketball try-outs are in a couple of weeks and she wants to try out. I think she would be an awesome basketball player. She really discovered her niche with Softball and I really hope her loves for sports can expand to include basketball. I think she would do great, especially because of her height. They will only choose 12 players for the team so I am rooting for Jaz. I know she really wants this and I think it would be great for her.

And there you have it! That's my Jaz!

A Blast from the Past!

These little guys made me smile when I saw them at the store the other day and I just had to get them for Parker! Ahhhh, what memories Gumby & Pokey bring back! Parker loves these things, just like my brother did when we were both little.

Parker likes to make them kiss :) Such a sweet boy!

Please excuse the serious bedhead and mismatched wardrobe displayed in these pictures ... Parker had just woken up from a very long nap!

Speaking of that nap, here are a few random pictures of Parker waking up from his nap. I *heart* going into his room when he just wakes up from a nap and is all smiles.

He was sporting some serious bedhead!

Peek-A-Boo, I See You!

J-U-M-P-I-N-G!

A Family Day w/ Thomas the Train

We had such a fun family day today! We went to Nashville and spent a few hours at the Train Station where Thomas the Train was visiting! There was a ton of fun activities for the kids. The best part of the day was the train ride we took on the one and only Thomas! Parker's eyes were huge the entire day, you would have thought he was in heaven and it was the sweetest thing! He was totally mesmerized seeing all of the characters he sees on TV up close and in person. He LOVES trains and was in total amazement with his face pressed up against the window during the entire 25 minute train ride. Even Jazmyne had fun! I told her that her first train ride was when she was 15 months old in Italy. Seeing Parker on his 1st train ride today brought back fond memories of Jaz's 1st time in Italy/'99. With there being such a big age difference with the kids, sometimes it's hard to find something that they both enjoy but today was definitely a success! It's days like this that I hope the kids have fond memories of when they get older. I want them to always remember the little things we do together as a family and how much Sean and I love to see them happy.
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Now on with the pictures! I know, there are a ton of pictures. Believe me there were many more more taken, but I just couldn't pick a few to sum up such a fun day! Here are the few I was able to narrow down to. It was pretty hot out, and I only took my little p&s camera, so the pics aren't the greatest quality, but I cherish these pictures becasue they document such a fun family day. It's funny because Parker has such a serious face in all of the pictures. He was so intense and his eyes were huge the entire day, taking everything in. It was too cute!

Jaz for Class Representative ... once again!

Jazmyne ran for 5th Grade Class Representative last week. She was praised for doing such a wonderful job as 4th Grade Class Rep. and really enjoyed it, so she thought she'd run again this year. After giving the magnificent speech she wrote in front of her 5th grade class, she was chosen once again this year! Congratulations Jazmyne, we are so very proud of you!

A Parker Funny

Here is Parker's imitation of Daddy sitting on the sofa with his feet propped on the coffee table. Parker's little body isn't big enough to actually be able to sit on the sofa and have his feet reach the coffee table, but boy he sure does try. Here he is a few mornings ago relaxing while eating his waffle and watching his show ...

Parker's 1st Day of School!

Today was Parker's 1st day of MDO and he did really well! I am SO proud of him! He did come home exhausted and hungry but he was in good spirits when I picked him up, so that was a huge relief! His teachers said that he did have a few crying spells, but only when some of the other children started crying for their parents. Overall he did great! I am very pleased with the program and also his teachers and I look forward to a great year at MDO! I am also very happy that it is a bible based program and am happy that he will be receiving some religious education while he is there. He came home today already being more aware of the cross and took notice to the cross that we have hanging in our house. He kept pointing at it and repeating "Cross, big and tall", so sweet!! Here are a few pics of Parker's first day. Sean came along with us this morning and was the "camera man" He also was the reassuring husband and father who had to tell me "Parker will be fine" the entire drive back home!

Starting out with a power breakfast!

Time to go!

Laughing at Daddy's impersonation of the "puffer fish" ... yeah, don't ask! hahaha
Heading into school with Mommy!

Yawning already?
Parker lead the way to his classroom!

Mommy trying to keep up with her little man!

Parker's Little Buddy Aidan is in his class. Ashley and I texted each other ALL day offering support while our "babies" were off on their own for the first time! At least the boys had each other :)