Summer prediction...

We live in Florida and Summer is in full force with temps in the 90s and humidity has set in. I have a prediction that our summer will be spent doing a whole lotta this:

eating lotsa watermelon

have sticky watermelon juice run down our chins

eating lots of ice cream

going to Home Depot for projects around the house

playing in the baby pool in the front yard while Mommy and Daddy...

do a small bit of gardening

baking brownies and sharing w/ neighbors and friends

riding with the top down...

riding roller coasters at Busch Gardens (and playing in the splash area)

waiting around at Busch Gardens b/c Avery's too little to ride some of the rides

succumbing to pressure and jumping into the cold pool after your 2 year old daughter smirks at you as she keeps jumping in...so what to do but drag her in with you!

eating popsicles

drawing/coloring

date night in and night swimming

It's Florida...it's sweltering hot, but we're gonna have lots of fun!

R.I.P.

Alligator passed away a couple of weeks ago. He was with us for three very short weeks. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't handle the whole thing very well. As our ritual every morning, Parker and I went to the bathroom to feed Alligator and then brush Parker's teeth. Only when Parker dropped the first pellet Alligator didn't swim over. Normally he's like a little puppy that goes crazy when it's time to eat. So I peeked in his bowl, screamed bloody murder and cried out: "He's dead! Alligator died! Oh my god!" It wasn't a proud moment especially with Parker right there! At Parker's horrified look, I got my act together and pulled him out of the bathroom since he was starting to freak out.

kevin and i always said alligator was like a little puppy...whenever we walked into the bathroom he would start swimming like crazy and follow us (well as far as his bowl would allow)

First I asked him if he knows what dying meant. I felt that he did after he learned about Jesus during Easter time at school and we talked about Bailey dying. He said yes, but then asked to see him. Unfortunately, I heard the toilet flush just then. Not knowing what to say, I told him that Alligator is playing with Bailey and Jesus in heaven. He had huge tears in his eyes and kept saying: "I just miss my fish!". It about broke my heart!

I knew the fish would die one day, but I wasn't expecting it to be 3 weeks after we got him!

We still have Alligator's bowl sitting on the kid's bathroom vanity and just yesterday morning while I was brushing Avery's hair, she pipes up in her squeaky little voice: "Alligator all gone! Goldfish (she thinks all fish are goldfish) all gone, Mommy!" I've promised Parker another fish, but I don't know if I can go through another traumatic event like that again and have to explain it to Parker.

Happy Father's Day 2013

Happy Father's Day to my daddy, father in law, and to the man who gave me the best gifts I could have ever asked for...my wild and crazy, but super sweet and loving kiddos. I didn't plan anything for today...I figured we would just spend a relaxing day at home since we have been going going going for the past few weeks.

i was originally going to put kevin's dress shirts on them, but it was really really big and you would only be able to see the tips of the shoes.

Parker woke up at the crack of dawn (6:20 am) and Avery woke up around 7:10. I ended up taking Avery to the pediatrician b/c she hasn't been feeling well and has been tugging at her ears. But before we left, the kids gave Kevin his present. Nothing big, but something he needs.

After we got back home, we just lounged around, ate breakfast, played, watched a movie, ate lunch, then went swimming.

For dinner, we are going to have one of Kevin's favorite dishes. It's a Cuban dish called Masitas de Puerco. It's basically a fried pork dish with black beans and rice and plantains. It's sooo good! I order the exact same thing and the kids order Arroz con Pollo (yellow rice with chicken). For dessert I ordered a flan for myself (nobody else likes it) and everyone else will get ice cream cones.

all nice and smiling at the pediatrician's office...completely aware that Dr. G just laid down the verdict: an antibiotic SHOT!!!

i gave her the iTouch to distract her from the impending shot

poor baby got her shots on her bum...and yes that's plural! TWO shots!!! First I wasn't even prepared for her to get a shot (I hate needles!) and then apparently it was gonna be 2 shots! She did so good the first shot though. She didn't even flinch or cry. But the antibiotic, which was the 2nd shot apparently stings so that's when all hell broke loose and the nurse asked if she could have a lollipop.

we rarely give the kids candy, but ya know, when you get two shots, even Mommy will cave and give you candy!

kevin has been needing a new coffee mug for a while now and I've been raving about my Tervis cup for months! He never would have spent that much money on a cup, but I think they are worth it b/c they really keep your coffee hot and my drinks cold! hopefully daddy's isn't too embarassed to use his cup at work with half naked babies on it! lol

happy father's day 2013

Daddy, we want to be just like you when we grow up. Love, Parker & Avery

getting ready to go swimming

a Tervis full of Riesling...I filled Kevin's with Yueng Ling

I'm not a pool jumping kinda girl. I tend to get my feet wet for a few minutes then move on to my knees, then hips...you get the idea. Well when your husband and 2 kids are egging you on to jump and calling you chicken...and your 2 year old is smirking at you as she jumps into the pool with no problem...what are you left to do, but jump in the pool...and drag her in with you!

after pool time we watched Bubble Guppies in bed before putting the kids down for naps (in their own beds)

I haven't asked Kevin how his Father's Day has been, but poor guy had to make his own breakfast, cooked lunch (he made a Filipino noodle dish called pancit, which is similar to lo mein), and will be picking up our dinner to go! In my own defense, I was the at the doctor's office during breakfast and I was slathering sunscreen on the kids while he made lunch and I did offer to go pick up dinner. Love you, babe! We love and appreciate all that you do for us! xoxo

Mother's Day 2013

5/5/13: Mother's Day this year couldn't have been more perfect. Parker woke up around 7:35...he was sleeping in our room b/c the kids' godmother, Kristin, was visiting and had slept in Parker's room the night before. She was supposed to leave early and I thought she had slept in so I popped out of bed and saw her getting ready. Parker and I sat on the couch and waited for her to get done and then Kevin came walking out. I was confused b/c I was letting him sleep in (I know...it should have been my day to sleep in). Well he and Parker disappeared and then came back and Parker showed me "a surprise". I saw a vase of cut of flowers and a small gift bag on the dining room table. As I gave Parker a thank you kiss he giggles and yells: "it's a picture frame!" and an exasperated Kevin tells him: "shhh, it's supposed to be a surprise, don't tell Mommy!". I opened up my cards...the cards were so sweet! As I reached inside the gift bag, Parker again squealing and jumping up and down yells: "it's a picture frame!". Guess what I pulled out of the bag??? A picture frame!

Kevin and the kids worked on my gift when they got home from work/school while I was still working...Kevin said it was a 2 night process. Both kids painted my beautiful picture frame!

Kevin said Parker helped paint the heart on the sign. He turned away from Parker for a second just in time for Parker to say: "Mommy loves sprinkles!" and watch Parker dump a bunch of pink glitter all over the heart and the floor...and with only 15 min til I got home from work. By the way Lyndsay C...I probably owe you a big bottle of pink glitter! lol



On Saturday night, after going out to dinner Kevin said he needed to stop by the store with the kids to pick up a few things for me while Kristin and I went to a girlfriend's house for a little girl's night in. He apparently got ingredients to make french toast...yummy!

not sure if she'll kill me for posting this...but here's the kids' fairy godmother, Kristin. I don't know how, but we didn't take any pic at all except for this and none with  Avery b/c she decided to sleep in!

after Avery woke up we decided to go to the park and brought the kids' plasma cars. this was the best present ever! the kids love using it!

my babies and me

my lovies and me

it's not just the kids who love riding the plasma car! lol

it was a sweltering hot morning so we only stayed for about 30 min...Parker didn't mind the heat and was racing around in his plasma car. Avery started to leave her car behind...so I had to ride it with her.

we decided to have a water kind of day after the park to cool off. we bought the baby pool since our big pool wasn't ready for swimming yet. Avery is sporting her first ponytail!



After playing outside, we had lunch. I was going through a wedge salad phase so Kevin fixed me up a big salad for lunch. The kids napped and then we decided to go to the airport and have a picnic dinner at the roof top deck of the garage. Only to find out that the roof top deck was closed for maintenance. Try explaining that to your 3.5 year old who was so excited to watch the planes and "trains" and have a picnic. Plan B was formulated as we drove back home. We decided to head to another park that we had never been to before, still eat our lunch on the back of the truck and then walk around and play with the kids.

Overall, it was a fabulous day! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day! My wonderful husband and kiddos made this day simply the best day!

Summer Camp

Parker's last day of speech class was last Tuesday and is officially on Summer vacation...only he doesn't get a "real" summer vacation b/c I'm back to working full time. So he is going to his pre-school full time (during the school year he only goes full time for 1 day and half day the rest of the week). They have a summer camp program, where it's a little more chill and relaxed and there will be lots of fun activities.

Avery started going to the same preschool yesterday. She's still too little to really understand, but I have been "prepping" her for the last month since we've decided to switch her from her home daycare. I've been telling her she's going to start going to a big kid school, she's going to Bubba's school, telling her her teacher's name, practicing her new teacher's name (Ms. Robinson is kinda hard and we've got Ms. Robins down...just gotta get that "son"), and I've been taking her on Monday's when I drop Parker's lunch box and nap bag off and on Wednesdays when Parker doesn't have speech class so that she can get used to the place. Last week she actually started to wonder around Parker's classroom. The great thing too is that we saw Ms. Robinson at my niece's bday party last weekend so Avery got to see and talk to her for a little bit and I reminded Avery who she was. I don't think she fully understood it b/c after our "prepping" sessions she'd start saying "Debbie" (her old nanny) and naming all of her friends from her daycare.

my sweet baby girl is growing up! Parker and I went to Target last week and we bought Avery her lunch box (I've been banned from ordering anything from PBK w/ specific instructions not to buy a lunch box...what's wrong with a $15 lunchbox?!?). Parker was so excited to give it to her and she was so happy to have her own lunch box finally!

Parker was very excited about Avery going to his pre-school and wanted to walk her to class so we dropped her off first. Ms. Robinson showed her her cubby and where to put her lunchbox and she wandered around while I talked to Ms. Robinson. I'm sure Ms. Robinson probably thought I was nuts, but I was really nervous about Avery's first day. This was a big change for her. She went from staying home full time to a home daycare with 4-5 other kids to now going to a pre-school with up to 10 kids. She's going to be napping in a cot with a bunch of kids around her...she has only ever slept in a crib or a pack & play. She only gets about 30 min to eat cher lunch and she eats slower than I do (unless she's starving then she stuffs the whole plate in her mouth). Plus there are 3 year olds in her class (young 3 - Parker was an old 3 and got moved to a different class) and I wondered if she'd get picked on.

this looks a bit like a line up pic the way she's holding that chalkboard. lol

Parker has been waiting for this day for 1 month. I told him that Avery will be a "big girl" soon and go to his preschool so at least 3x per week he'd ask me if Avery was a big girl yet.

Parker's class was still in the "purple door", which is the before care classroom, but Ms. Robinson had already picked her kids up so we dropped Avery off first so Parker could do his "big brother duty" and say "bye" to Ms. Robinson. He cried Thursday night when I told him that he was moving to a different classroom and Ms. Robinson was going to be Avery's teacher. I think he thought they would be in the same class and he whimpered "I just love Ms. Robinson so much!"

Avery leading the way...Ms. Robinson moved from the blue door to the yellow door this summer.

I talked to Ms. Robinson...voiced my concerns about napping. I was really mainly worried that we'd get kicked out after the first day if Avery cried like a maniac, refused to nap, and kept the other kids up. Avery did well until I left to drop Parker off in the orange door. I saw that little chin quiver and I dashed off before it became a full out screaming kinda cry. While helping Parker get settled, I asked one of the aides if she knew where Parker's nap blanket and burpy (plain ol' white burp cloth that we used as a burp cloth when he was a baby and he new uses as a "lovey") was b/c it wasn't sent home last Friday. She looked for it and came back 20 seconds later and told me to hang around in Parker's classroom for a bit b/c Avery was crying and they didn't want her to see me walk by.

Less than 1 min later I was given the ok to leave and I peeked in the yellow door and saw this...and no crying was heard!  

bummed that this is the only pic I took of Parker in his classroom b/c I was pre-occupied with Avery crying, not letting her see me, and finding Parker's blanket and burpy, which we found in the purple classroom and I accidentally changed the setting w/o knowing it. Parker was fine and did well in Ms. Powers' classroom. His friends, Catherine and Jason, from the blue door got moved up with him and his friend, Luke, from speech class was also in his class.

I called to see how Avery was doing, but got the school's voicemail. But Kevin said according to Ms. Brown (the after care teacher), Avery had a pretty good day without a lot of crying, she played, and napped. They also said that Avery saw Parker walking down the hallway with his class and she flew out of her classroom to give him a hug and say hi. I'm sure she was relieved to see him! When I got home, I saw a note that Ms. Robinson wrote (bless her sweet heart, she probably knew I was going nuts at work): "Avery had a wonderful day! A little crying at first, but then played well with the other children." I'm relieved! I hope Avery has a smooth transition into "summer camp" and Parker does well in his new classroom! 

Today, Parker went with me to drop Avery off. She already knew what was going to happen b/c she was practically attached to my leg. She just had a quivering chin and wasn't crying until I bent over to say a quick goodbye and give her a kiss and handed her over to Ms. Robinson. I stayed in Parker's classroom for about 5 min and could hear Avery crying a little bit next door. By the time I walked out she was only letting out a little cry and she was being held by Ms. Robinson's aide and facing away the door. I tiptoed away...and left a little broken piece of my heart behind. I hate how she's crying, but I know she'll be fine soon and will love it at the preschool!

Pre-K2

How is it that Parker's first year of pre-school has come and gone?!? Time is def flying by and as excited as I am for my kiddos to reach all these fun and exciting milestones, I'm also sad b/c they're growing up so fast and I just want to keep them little forever!

Parker's birthday is on Sept 10th so he just missed the cut off and that meant he had to be in the 2 year old class even though he turned 3 just a few weeks after school started. He went to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-12 at the W Preschool. He was so excited to start pre-school! I was worried since I had been staying home with him for a while and the last time he had a non-relative watch him was when he was 20 months old - right before I had Avery. I had geared myself up for a meltdown after Kevin and I dropped him off, but he ran off to play with the trains and barely even looked back at us. He did fantastic and loved pre-school!

this picture cracks me up...it was Parker's last day at W Preschool and could he look any goofier with that spiky hair (unintentional b/c he kept freaking out anytime we went anywhere near him w/ the clippers) and the silly smile?!? LOVE it!

Parker started speech class w/ Ms. Phyllis and I was worried about the transition. He did fabulous with the transition and loved Ms. Phyllis! His first obstacle at speech class was learning to say his /s/ words and within a few weeks he had that conquered. We are still working on his /l/ sounds. He is doing much better, but he will still sometimes pronounce it with a /w/ sound  and have to be reminded to "get his tongue up and ready". But apparently /l/ sounds are hard and are not completely mastered until mid to late 4 yrs old.

6/4/13: Parker's last day of speech class. Poor kiddo couldn't understand the concept of summer vacation. He has asked for Ms. Phyllis a few times and to go to speech class.