Christmas Day

My Cousins and Aunt came over for Christmas. This was after we were all sugared up. It was only the beginning of the night of laughter.
Playing Kismet

Christmas Morning

I think this was one of our best Christmas mornings since we have been married. Parker is old enough now to understand the gloriousness of Santa and also old enough to understand it was about Christ's birth. 3 year old + Christmas= FUN! This letter to Santa are his exact words he wanted to tell Santa. Then he proceeded to draw his bike and then he said "wait wait, we can't forget about Garretts presents." He was worried Santa would forget Garrett so he had to draw a picture of his "2 presents." Then he had me write his name with dots so he could trace over it himself.
So, the morning began. ***preface, Parker is attached to his blanket*** he carried his blanket down with him and to his astonishment, SANTA CAME! He dropped his jaw and froze his body as he dropped his blanket to the floor with just a slight movement of his fingers. Still frozen he noticed his bike, but most importantly, he noticed that Santa ate the Rocky Road we left for him.

This was his face for about 5 minutes. ASTONISHMENT. (Sitting next to the rocky road plate is his elf that went to visit Santa every night to report on Parker's good/bad status)

First time on, riding like a pro.

Then there was Garrett, not quite understanding what was going on but thought it was all great. Parker being the "good brother" that he is, helped open Garrett's presents. He even helped play with his toys too.

Click on the picture below to see it better. This was his favorite toy of the morning.

December Part 2

Day in the life. Parker helping Grammie in the kitchen. Pancakes for sunday dinner is one of our favorites.
Garrett snuggling with GG. He will go into her room, climb on up her lap and watch TV with her for at least 15 minutes at a time. 92 years apart in age and they still have things they enjoy doing together.

This is a rare photo. Brad and I, ALONE, in a picture. Lately we always seem to have someone hanging on us. This is from our ward's Christmas party.

Kinda random and not posed. I have been waiting for an opportunity to do a color/black&white picture. So here it is.

December part 1- short and simple

OK, maybe not short, but simple.

I was able to get together with my two best girlfriends I have ever had and will ever have. They are simply the best. Left to right, me. Heather. Jerilyn.
This is "before" seeing Parker at preschool

After... notice a difference in the fun meter. We were really bored waiting for the doors to open.

Parker's preschool class put on a christmas program where all the kids shook their jingle bells as the parents entered the room and proceeded to sing Jingle Bells and other ADORABLE songs and poems. Those who know Parker know he is rather loud at home and won't stop singing, but in public...silence. He did 3 things during the program 1. shook the jingle bells 2. said "hey" during the song jingle bells 3. put his fingertips together above his head for "I'm a little Christmas tree." The rest of the time he smiled and did his shy face, but we could not have been beaming with more pride than we did while watching him stand still with all those little kids. This picture is of him "getting ready" to go to preschool that day. Such a cool kid with Mom's sunglasses.

Eating cookies in his classroom afterwards. What you don't see is the girl (Ava) sitting to his left...as Parker would say "the prettiest girl in his class" with out any hesitation.

Fire Station

A few weeks ago the boys and I ran into some fireman in the grocery store. Parker did not let go of the sticker they gave him for the whole day. The fireman told us we could stop by any time to check out the big fire truck, so today that is just what we did. Parker and Garrett were both a bit apprehensive at first but after a few minutes they were able to enjoy the whole adventure. A special thank you to the fireman who took the time to make today special. Both boys even got little fire chief hats. If you have not done this yet in your neighborhood, I would highly recommend it. ( I would call first just in case they aren't as friendly in your town) So fun and so free!

Just Because

We love you. Through your ups and downs. Through every mood. Through every tantrum. With every hug and every kiss.Every laugh and every cry. Every frustation and every joy. Every smile and every frown. You are one complicated kid and we love every bit of you.
Patiently waiting to get in the car for preschool. I couldn't resist getting out the camera.

Halloween 2009

This was my first attempt at making a halloween costume for one of my boys. It could have been better, but also could have been way worse. Parker decided he wanted to be "Casper the friendly ghost" for Halloween. So, that is what he got. I spent the whole day before Halloween making his costume. It wasn't too hard to make, just a bit time consuming to get it to fit him just right since I didn't have a pattern. We wanted to use white face paint on his face but in a time crunch we ended up putting sparkly white eyeshadow all over his face. haha. I thought he was a perfect Casper with his HUGE blue eyes. When people asked him what he was dressed as he didn't just say "casper" he had to add "the friendly ghost."

Now for our little CHICKEN. I did NOT make Garrett's costume and I am so glad I didn't take the time to make one since he wore this for a total of maybe 3 minutes. He hated it. "but isn't he smiling in this picture?" you ask. Yes he is, but this was literally the only smile we got out of him. Distraction I tell ya, distraction. Both boys did well with staying up past their bedtime to trick or treat and surprisingly even better at church the next day. Shocker!

A special thanks to my Aunt Linda and my cousins coming over to hang out and trick or treat with us. We had such a great time with you!