I Spy With My Little Eyes Something Red...

Well this time of year it could take all day to figure out what it could be and it did take the kids pretty much all day. So I'm just going to get right to it...

Welcome back Elfs!!! Not sure if you remember this post and this post from last Christmas. Elfs came back from the North Pole sometime after we all went to bed Thanksgiving night.

I think Elfs liked our new tree...its not as big or tall as our old tree. So much easier to put together, just three pieces and then fluff the branches. Our tree before, while I loved the height, I wasn't a fan of the width. It was a HUGE tree and each branch had to be placed on the base separately...oh and it wasn't pre-lit so we had to string the lights. It literally would take Kevin and me half the day to put the tree up. But then again, I was a bit crazy when it came to the tree being perfect and the lights being placed just right. But I digress...

Elfs became our tree topper. Our old one won't work on the tree. Kevin said it's too heavy. 

I had to give the kids a hint as far as what they could be looking for and I may have waved in the general vicinity of the tree.

"Elfs, Elfs!!!!" I didn't read the book to the kids this year, but I did tell them that Elfs wants to make sure they listen to Mommy and Daddy, no hitting/kicking/pushing, no saying bad words (poopie head is being said quite a bit lately...Parker learned it from school and Avery adores her Bubba and mimics everything he says and does), and no whining or tantrums. I also told them that Elfs can see them even when they aren't in the same room as Elfs or even when they are at school and that each night after they go to sleep, Elfs goes back to the North Pole to tell Santa whether they've been good or not. Parker I think understands the concept more this year than last year b/c once I was done explaining, he told Avery "you have to be good or Santa won't give you presents". 

Elfs LOVED the new tree so much that he decided to stay in the same exact spot for 2 days! But tonight he came back from the North Pole fairly quickly and decided to find a new spot. He overheard Parker ask me for a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast so he decided to make the sandwiches himself and made a little bit of a mess! Kevin may have rolled his eyes a bit and asked why Elfs can't do something simple. I rolled my eyes back b/c I'm sure Elfs will throw in more than a few simple things during his visit with us. I can't wait for Parker to see Elfs and the mischief he's gotten into. 

Happy 4th Birthday, Parker!

I'm a little (ok a lot, but my computer has been acting crazy so I've been avoiding using it) late posting this...Parker's 4th bday was on September 10th. My dad I think has finally given up on seeing pics from his bday! lol

How is it that the little baby who  made me a mommy for the first time is FOUR YEARS OLD?!? Time has flown by! It seems just like yesterday that Kevin and I went in for my 38 week appointment for a regular check up and was told by Dr. Miller that I was 3-4" dilated (when I was at 0 just a couple of days before) and needed to go to the hospital. I was in denial b/c my contractions weren't coming in at regular intervals and I only had a few hard ones. I think I was lucky to have this appointment b/c if I hadn't I probably would have had Parker at home! My contractions weren't bad at all when I got my epidural, but I knew I wanted one! I thought he was going to be born on 9/11 and I told the doctor (Dr. Todd) who was going to be delivering Parker that I was really bummed about that, but he insisted Parker would be born that night. I loved his optimism, but my sisters in law and friends all had labors that were long and had to push for like 2 hours so I assumed Parker wouldn't arrive until the next day. I checked in around 5:30 pm and wouldn't you know it, Parker came at 9:21 pm. It took like 6 pushes and he was out! I was so shocked at how quickly he came that I didn't really have time to process the whole thing. My mom didn't even have time to drive down from Jacksonville, which is 4 hours away and I had to call my best friend, Lauren, and ask her to come for support (for Kevin and me). She lives 1 hour away and literally walked in as I was scooting down the bed, both legs up, and getting ready to push!

i ordered the same delicious chocolate cake w/ chocoalte mousse filling that i ordered for Avery's bday. it was from Costco and was only $18 for a sheet cake. absolutely delicioius! i kept the actual cake simple and just dug through Parker's stash of cars. He actually got the "Lemon bus" (London bus) along with lighter weight Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater from my aunt earlier that morning. He was attached to the bus and did not let it out of his sight. The Lightning and Mater cars were actually perfect b/c Parker's other ones were heavier.

blowing out his candles

a little smile b/c of his trick candles

 my aunt made this cookie cake for Parker...she's uber talented! she makes the kids cookie cakes every year and they get more amazing every year. my favorite was Avery's owl cookie cake this past May that she made without a mold.

my aunt also made cookies for party favors

we had Parker's party at a pottery painting place

it's not the best pic, but at least we got a family pic in...plus my niece and nephew's heads

Kevin and I were in heaven the first couple of hours after I delivered Parker. But then I had some complications and had to be rushed for an emergency surgery a few hours after delivery. I remembered praying to God to let me live and see my newborn baby boy grow up. I pictured Kevin having to raise him alone as I was being wheeled down the hallway to the OR. It was a crazy night. God answered my prayers and here we are 4 years later. Parker was not an easy baby and he's not an easy kid now. He's crazy, stubborn, and opinionated, but he is also very sweet, loving, and has a kind heart. He still loves to cuddle and give "nose kisses". He completely melts my heart when I come home from work and runs up to me yelling "Mommy, you're home. I miss you so much. I love you!".

painting...most of the boys chose cars and most of the girls chose mermaids or fairies

present time!

Parker went to the pediatrician the day after his bday for his 4 yr check up. He passed his hearing and iron test. His BP was normal. He also got 4 shots and shrieked, but thankfully Kevin was there to help out. He was pretty brave and didn't thrash around, but the shrieking in pain always gets to me. Here's his stats:

Weight: 40 lbs (80th percentile)

Height: 43.5" (97th percentile)



From this past year:

He started going to speech class on 1/14/13 and while I worried how he would do if I pulled him from his preschool, he did absolutely wonderful with the change and loved Ms. Phyllis. His first task at speech was mastering the /s/ sound, which he started to do better within 2-3 weeks. The next task was /l/ sounds. He still stumbled over it for a long time and had a harder time mastering it. Likely because I had started working full time again and we didn't get to do homework every night like we did when we working on /s/ sounds. But Ms. Phyllis said she doesn't expect him to fully master /l/ sounds until he is mid/late 4 yrs old. Now at 4 years old he is doing a lot better, but he sometimes has to stop and say the word slowly and carefully. Ms. Phyllis has been such a fabulous teacher! His speech has really taken off and everyone has noticed how much he has improved. Last year, I was praying for him to really start talking and this year I find myself wishing for a few moments of silence. He is constantly asking questions: why, what, when, where.

loves being sung to!

Avery wants in on the action....and yes i reused the cake from his party and it's the same candle. don't judge!

poor kid can't catch a break...last year one of his good friends blew his candle out at his party (twice) and then this year his cousins helped blow out his trick candles that kept lighting back up. but all hell broke loose when sissy blew out his candle. he didn't even really see it coming b/c she was sitting down the whole time and singing w/ us and then she just popped up when it was time to blow out the candle. poor kid didn't even have time to think of a wish! we did re-light the candle and sang a second time and made sure avery was no where near the candle.

the meltdown was inevitable. it had been a long day. he went to speech class that morning, skipped pre-school and we went to lunch at PF Chang's, then decided to go to Celebration Station where they have go-carts, mini coasters, arcades, mini golf, and bumper cars. Only the outdoor stuff wouldn't be opening for another couple of hours so we decided to go back home and go for a swim. we were going to skip nap, but the kids seemed to really need a nap so we laid them down for a quick nap...and that was our mistake. parker gets cranky when he doesn't get enough sleep or gets woken up before he is ready to wake up. the tantrum lasted 1 hour and we almost skipped going to Celebration Station, but he calmed down enough where we could go, but it ended up being later than we planned so cake time was later than i wanted. 

we kept our presents for parker's actual bday so he could open a few gifts. he got a police car from Lola...he has been asking for one for months. lola also got him a fire rescue helicopter. we got him a fishing pole and avery got him a tackle box and net

With me going back to work, Parker also started to ride the school bus to his new pre-school. He loves riding the bus and thinks he is such a big boy. His teacher last Spring, Mrs. Robinson was fabulous. Parker loved her! Now with the 2013-2014 school year, he moved up to pre-school 3's (he turned 4 after Sept 1st so he is in the 3 yr old class), he has new teachers at pre-school: Mrs. Schwartz and Ms. Cole. Love them too! We still see Mrs. Robinson b/c she has Avery in her class. The second teacher in her class, Ms. Milgate dote on both kids. All of the teachers at the pre-school are truly fabulous and I love it that they all seem to truly care about my kids and have little stories to tell about their crazy antics.

from Parker's newborn session w/ jenn hopkins

look how tiny he was!!!

one of my favorite shots...minus all the swelling in my face and fingers from all the IV fluids i had to have at the hospital

This past year he has come to really love swimming and while he refused to jump into the pool last year and the beginning of the summer, he has started to jump into the deep end. He does this without a puddle jumper and paddling to Kevin in the middle of the pool for a quick rest and then on to the steps in the shallow end. I think it helped taking swim lessons at the YMCA for 2.5 months. He and Avery took private lessons and both really trusted Mr. Josh and would do things he asked b/c it wasn't Mommy or Daddy telling him to do it.

from parker's 1st bday party...he tore into the cake and made a huge mess. he also cried when we took the cake away!

2nd bday party was combined with avery's baptism. parker was covered in pink icing since he prefered avery's cupcakes to his blue cupcakes.

3rd bday party had a train theme. this was from his actual bday and it was just us. my aunt who made the cookie cakes made the 3 train tracks out of black licorice. she also was going to bake and decorate the cakes using the train mold, but i asked to borrow her mold and make brownies instead.

Trains were huge for a while, but have recently taken a back seat to cars. He is currently obsessed with Match Box cars. Every time we go to Publix or Target he asks for one. Since it's only $1 he usually gets one if he has been good. We have big bins/buckets filled with cars. It wasn't such a surprise that he wanted a car themed birthday this year. We had gotten him a rug with a print of streets, parking lots, buildings, etc from Ikea a couple of years ago, but it has once again become popular and it is laid out on top of his regular rug 24/7. After we brush the kids teeth I usually put Avery to bed while Kevin and Parker sprawl out on the rugs and play with cars for "5 more minutes" as Parker likes to put it. He is still big on getting warnings so we usually tell him he has 5 more minutes when it's really about 10 minutes and then the I think my dad can even hear him all the way in San Diego! Usually I can get him to calm down by talking calmly and telling him to make good choices. His teachers are big on making good choices so he usually starts to calm down.

Nov 2012

Jan 2013...first day of speech class

April 2013

Speaking of tantrums, his default voice right now is to yell. He yells EVERYTHING! "MOMMY, I HAD A GOOD DAY AT SCHOOL. I PLAYED. I ATE MY LUNCH ALL GONE. I TAKE A NAP." It drives me nuts. Between Avery and Parker my eardrums are getting ready to burst! They are really starting to play together and actually get along...well for the most part. Parker is on a tattle-telling phase: "Avery hit me! Avery's jumping on my bed! Avery took my toy!". He just wants justice to be served and will even tell her you're going to go to time out...at which point Avery usually laughs hysterically just to annoy him. Avery knows all the buttons to push to annoy her big brother. Parker has a bit of OCD in him and will line up his cars when he's playing. Avery will watch quietly and wait until Parker finishes lining up all 200 of his cars and then with a war cry run over with arms and legs flailing and scattering the neatly lined up cars, which causes Parker to absolutely lose it into a pile of tears and will occasionally chuck a car at his sister. I know it's not right, but sometimes I find myself thinking, well Avery kinda asked for it. Of course, both get sent to time out and have to apologize and as extra punishment they have to kiss and hug it out.

June 2013 

He has also started to really like music...he gets this from Kevin. Kevin likes to play music in the car while I prefer to talk to the kids. His favorite earlier this year was "We Are Young" by FUN. It was hilarious watching him bob his head along to the music as he sat in his carseat. If we played it in the house he would literally ask to keep playing it over and over again. Kevin said it was one of his favorite songs until the kids started to like it and would ask to play it over and over. lol

Aug 2013: so excited to get a puppy!

I love you a whole bunch, little peanut! I can't wait to see what craziness your 4 year old self brings us this year!



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.

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!