the kidd family four

block letters

2012-01-19T15:49:00.003-07:00

a few days ago parker started building different letters with liam's legos & blocks. this continued a few letters at a time until our snack bar was pretty much covered in block letters. parker is really getting good at the creating part of legos, but he's not so good with the destruction. each creation is special to him & he has a hard time seeing it taken apart.

well, obviously we can't live this way so eventually the creations have to be put away. i came up with the idea to take pictures of his letters so that he could remember them & he was totally excited for it. he even arranged them all, stacking some of them, so that i could take the pictures. some of the letters you have to have a really creative eye for, but can you tell what they are?

the little one

2012-01-08T17:33:00.001-07:00

this little guy is something else! he sure does give us a run for the money. we love him to bits, but boy oh boy! it's not like he's always rotten, it's just even when he's happy he can sound like a pterodactyl.

liam is currently into legos (his own & parker's), batman (& pretty much all our little guy superheroes), cars, video games, animals (real & toy), & pretend fighting with parker. mostly legos though, they have been a big thing around this house lately. he likes to make little creations, mostly what seem to be like guns because of the sound effects he provides when he's done building.

i know i've complained about his eating habits quite a bit, but i think we are finally on the upside of the battle. he's actually started asking for things that we are eating & although he doesn't always like what we have, just asking for a taste is a HUGE thing. he's even been more willing to taste things by giving them a little lick first instead of just flat out refusing them.

this little one is turning into quite a talker. you can't always understand what he says, but some phrases come out quite clear. some things he's said have been:

there you go

here you go

too (love you too)

bye bye

ear other ear (he does this with all duplicate body parts)

bubby (his name for parker)

nini (what he calls me)

daddy

taste (sometimes "i wan taste")

bebe (baby kaesin)

pizza

mil (milk)

ba (bath)

outside

shoe

toesies

tickletickle

mine

pho (phone)

cheese

& a few more that i can't think of right now.

this one is a funny one - if we laugh at something he's done he will repeat it as long as he gets a good enough laugh from us. he loves to give kisses & hugs & is really good about sharing his toys (most the time, the ugly "mine monster" has recently made an appearance). he likes to dance & run & climb & get into things that he knows he shouldn't.

so that's a brief update on the littlest one in our family. we love him & can't get enough of him!

& so this is christmas

2011-12-26T17:19:00.003-07:00

what a fun christmas weekend we have had! we were so lucky to have guy home with us for 4 days in a row! yay!

santa came to visit us at our family christmas party. parker turned to me & said, "mommy, i think he's the real santa!"

liam wasn't quite as excited about santa, not even after the offer of a rice krispie treat bear.

guy & his mom getting ready to play the reindeer game (that's vaseline on their noses).

that night we stayed at g&g awsumb's so we didn't have to drive to slc again for our christmas eve tradition. lazy me forgot to get out the camera...even after i reminded both guy & parker that i wanted a picture of the boys with g&g awsumb. oopsy.

we stopped at g&g kidd's house on our way home & wound up eating dinner with them. it was a fun little spontaneous stop. once we got home it was time for our traditional christmas eve pajamas. i put the camera away too soon & missed liam's reaction when he saw the jammies, grabbed them, & held them up to his face giving them loves. it was so cute.

all of us in our jammies!

& it looks like santa has come!

because of our late night the boys slept in until 10! this is the beginning of the christmas morning blur....

see, blur....

liam loving one of his new shirts. once all the presents were open we went upstairs for some christmas brunch. then spent the day eating, laughing, playing games, & having fun with family.

daddy playing with liam & giving mommy a heart attack.

parker wanted to pose for the picture.

& i think this pretty much sums up our liam.

from our family to yours we hope you had a very, merry christmas.

oh, christmas tree

2011-12-05T21:32:00.001-07:00

(let's pretend the majority of these pictures aren't blurry. thank you.)

this year i decided that i wanted a real christmas tree. so last thursday night we headed out to pick one up. i won't bore you with all the details, but let's just say it was one hectic evening.

we wanted to buy a tree from a lot just up the street from us. we drove by at 7 & they were still open, but when we got back 20 minutes later, they were closed. bummer. so we headed to the next nearest lot & there we found our perfect tree. it was nice they had a bonfire going to warm your hands by. coincidentally, we came home with a tree that smelled more like a forest fire than pine.

liam flipped out as soon as we got out of the car. he was so excited about whatever was going on he was hollerin' & laughin'. parker was way excited to go find our tree, but then got distracted by the fire.

when i was younger-ish i seem to remember driving to several different lots looking for the perfect christmas tree. my husband, however, seems to have the perfect eye & usually finds ours within a minute or two. it almost feels weird to say yes to the first tree we see.

"everybody smile for the christmas card!" yeah, maybe we'll have to try that again.

since we got home so late on thursday night, we actually had to wait until friday to decorate (you know, being that it was a school night & we were already waaayyy past bedtime). & then friday was another hectically busy day, so we didn't start decorating until about 10pm!

parker finding the perfect spot for the ornament.

once liam figured it out he loved helping. i was handing out the ornaments & he would come to me & say, "meeee peeease! peeease! peeease!" we're working on the patience thing.

it was liam's turn this year to help daddy put the star on.

i love our little christmas tree.

little ninjas - episode 1

2011-11-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

be sure to check out all the episodes 1-4!

little ninjas - episode 2

2011-11-10T23:54:00.000-07:00

be sure to check out all the episodes 1-4!

little ninjas - episode 3

2011-11-10T23:53:00.001-07:00

be sure to check out episodes 1-4...it's best if you go in order!

little ninjas - episode 4

2011-11-10T23:52:00.001-07:00

be sure to check out all the episodes 1-4!

he's my brother!

2011-11-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

i think it's safe to say that liam just adores his big brother (& vice versa). the other day parker was a bit tired & wanted to lay down for a rest. he got all his stuff on the couch & laid down for a nap. liam climbed right up on that couch with him & tucked himself in, just like his brother.

i love that these two boys (for the most part) get along so well. it really is fun to watch them together.

halloween treating

2011-11-03T23:06:00.000-06:00

on saturday we went to our local trunk or treat. unfortunately, guy was at work so it was just me & the boys.

indiana parker jones & super lightening liam

liam seemed to really fit into his superhero role. his costume was the easiest to make thanks to wendy. i just used clothes we had on hand & added the felt lightening bolt to the front. it's stitched on & colored in with crayon. i let liam run around a bit while it was still light. he enjoyed throwing rocks & saving the world from a gas leak.

parker was jumping over & avoiding the "hot lava"

once again, thanks to wendy for her role in parker's costume this year, the satchel & hat come from her. luckily we had the perfect pants & shirt for this ensemble. i was brainstorming for a while on what to do about his leather jacket. while discussing it with guy, he suggested i use his brown sweater that had a hole in it & thus the "leather" jacket was born...or rather, made in one night. i didn't follow a pattern, i just looked at a denim jacket of parker's & sort of pieced it together. somehow, it worked. i made his whip by braiding together some hemp string & using leftover sweater bits for the "leather" handle. then i just looped it up & tied it to his belt loop.

we had a fun halloween, just me & the boys, but we sure missed our daddy. guy had to work on halloween also, so i didn't really take any pictures as i didn't want to hassle with the camera while going around the neighborhood. in all, i think parker had more fun passing out our candy than going door to door collecting it.

halloween pumpkins

2011-11-02T00:07:00.000-06:00

last friday we headed over to our local pumpkin patch. i was hoping since we went earlier in the day it wouldn't be too crowded. there were a ton of kids there because school was out, but we were still able to have some fun.

the daddy with his boys

me with my littles, just ignore the fact that i have really short legs.

there was a hay pyramid which parker climbed nearly to the top. it was pretty high up there.

liam wanted to be like his big brother & had fun walking around the first level.

i attempted to take liam's 2 year old pictures, but he refuses to look at me these days when i have a camera. we'll have to try again. either way, i think he's one handsome little fella.

attempting to get some cute brother shots, you can see how well that worked out. i've got parker pretty well trained, it's just gonna take some time with liam.

we went through the little maze that they had. they also had a little "petting" zoo. liam LOVED the animals, but it actually made me a little sad (especially the poor kangaroo that was just laying there shivering, i wanted to give him a blanket).

liam was a little cautious walking around & he definitely did not like sitting up on the tractor (which was strange because he usually has no fear, i think he was tired). parker was all over the place & had lots of fun in the corn "pool".

then it was time to pick out our pumpkins. we walked waaaaay out into the field to find the perfect ones. it was a bit of a challenge walking back with four pumpkins & liam who was struggling to walk in the rough terrain.

but we made it back with my awesome stem still intact!

once we got home liam went down for a short nap. parker was so excited to carve his pumpkin & could hardly wait!

as long as he could use the spoon parker was game to scoop out the pumpkin guts.

liam seemed a little upset by what was going on & we couldn't quite figure out why he was whining so much. we finally let him out of his seat & he came & sat on my lap. it was determined he wanted to be a part of the carving & not just an observer. i gave him the little poker & he proceeded to "carve" his pumpkin for about 10 minutes, successfully gouging out his pumpkin's eye.

our final creations.

halloween cookies

2011-10-31T21:56:00.003-06:00

last thursday i decided we needed to make halloween cookies. we invited aunt cami & uncle clint to join us in the fun.

we almost had a crisis with the frosting, we were out of red food coloring! however, i was able to make orange out of pink & yellow & mommy saves the day!

parker enjoyed loading up his cookies with lots of candy. i think his first one had about 10 pounds of candy on it.

liam just thought it was pretty cool that i gave him a knife full of frosting to eat. he obviously decided to skip the part where you put it on the cookie first. he might have been a bit wired afterward.

a closer look at the ten pound cookie. we had a lot of fun & were so glad c&c could join us.

"i can be pretty!!"

terrifying bath

2011-10-30T21:19:00.001-06:00

we've run into a bit of a small problem with our liam. you see, he used to LOVE taking baths, but we've discovered he can't be in there longer that about 5 minutes or he'll...um...poop.

so, we got pretty good at getting him in, washed, & out. however, sometimes it's fun to take a brother bath. so, occasionally parker & liam would have a fun bath together splashing & laughing, but then it started. suddenly, there would be an extra "friend" in the tub & of course, quick evasive action would be taken. however, i think this action may have caused liam to be afraid of his poop & the bath.

a few days ago, it was time for another bath. i got liam ready to go into the bathroom & he freaked out. like screaming, crying, whole body shaking freaked out. he was looking around in the tub & would not sit down. tried to use me to climb out, but he really needed a bath. i thought about it & i think what it is is that he's now terrified of that thing that happens in the bath. that thing which is his own doing. just tonight i turned on the bath for parker & found liam barricaded at the end of his crib behind a chair. he was terrified.

okay, so now what do we do? number one, bath time is very difficult, but as anyone knows a toddler needs a bath at the very minimum every other day. number two, if he's scared of his own poop how's it going to be with potty training?

has anyone had a problem similar to this?

first grade report

2011-10-27T22:02:00.000-06:00

today was parent teacher conference. i met with parker's teacher & she had nothing but good things to report. she said that he is always helpful in class & raises his hand all the time. he is currently above grade level in everything but reading, which he is at grade level (however, she's planning on bumping him up a level next week). he has 100% in spelling, which they are only expected to be at 80%. he also has gotten 100% on all his math quizzes. we are so proud of our parker & how well he is doing in school. i hope his dedication & excitement for learning continues forever. oh, she also mentioned that all the teachers who see him comment on how darling he is. another first grade teacher told him that she loved his brown eyes & he responded, "my mommy likes to get lost in them." which i do.

we LOVE you parker & are so very proud of you!

2 years old

2011-10-23T00:46:00.000-06:00

our little man turned 2 years old today. he is definitely his own little person full of piss & vinegar. he can go from being the cuddliest, lovingest, sweetest boy one moment to throwing a text-book fit the next. we sure do love this little guy, challenges & all.

ready go! running down the hill

liam is still running on the "tiny" side (i mean as far as what we're used to). i'm sure it has something to do with his extremely picky eating habits. most days i really can't figure out what this kid wants to eat so i'll give in & let him eat spoonfuls of sour cream (does that make me a bad parent? at least he's eating something).

liam loves to play outside & especially loves to "boun" on the tramp with parker (whom he calls bubba). liam looks forward to bubba coming home from school on the weekdays & gets so excited the moment he sees him. he follows him everywhere & loves when parker gets down & plays with him (which parker does quite a bit of). these two get along so well, it's so fun to see them interact with each other. they definitely have their "brother" moments, but to hear them laughing & playing together warms my heart.

liam is talking quite a bit & says new things every day. he's figuring this whole language thing out & sometimes surprises us with how clear the words come out. he still loves animals, i think his favorite being the cows. he loves to go look for the "moos" in the field by our house. we have to watch him close sometimes because he has no fear, even our neighbors huge st. bernard doesn't scare him (sweet dog, but still want to be careful).

again, with this child & no fear...this ladder part goes up to a slide that is about 8-9 feet off the ground. the top part is a little tricky...i don't try to be an overly paranoid sort of parent, but i do worry. he'd never climbed this ladder before, so i didn't think anything of it while i took his picture. however, he got about half-way up before i decided i wasn't comfortable with him being so brave.

anyway, when all is said & done we love this little boy so much! & i think he's pretty fond of us also.

a daddy & his boys

2011-10-19T17:18:00.000-06:00

i think it's pretty obvious that these two little boys of ours love their daddy to pieces. they love to play with him, cuddle with him, & just be right by him.

unfortunately, with guy's schedule some days they don't get to see him much at all. especially parker on school days (they only have about 15 minutes before the bus comes). by the time wednesday (guy's friday) rolls around they are missing him so much they can hardly stand it.

i'm so thankful for guy & the kind of dad he is to our two boys. i really couldn't ask for a better person to be the father of my children.

we love you daddy!

evening walks

2011-09-28T01:10:00.002-06:00

since school started i've tried to make it a habit to get some outside time with the boys after dinner. once parker gets home from school the evening seems to pass by quick.

4-6pm i let parker have "his" time. sometimes he plays with friends, sometimes he just hangs out with liam.

6-7 dinner time & homework

7-7:30 outside play or walk

8-8:45 bath, short movie, reading

8:45 bed!

it's so nice to take an evening walk now that it's starting to get cooler. our neighborhood is pretty big, so we can take a slightly different route each time.

the boys seem to really enjoy it, too. parker wanted me to take his picture by these "3 guys" in our neighbors yard.

liam gets really excited when i set up his stroller for our walk. he even likes to climb in himself & tries to get buckled. he is very aware of the sounds all around him. whenever he hears a truck or a train he says, "whas that?"

parker wanted to go down this path today even though it was slightly overgrown.

i love looking around & seeing how everything is changing for the season. i just love the colors of fall.

i'm sad that all the pretty sunflowers are starting to die. we had tons around our neighborhood, love them.

whenever liam hears an airplane he looks into the sky until he finds it. he'll then point it out & wave to it saying, "bye dada". i'm not sure why he thinks daddy is on the plane, but it's still so cute. we sure miss daddy while he is at work, these walks help us get through the rest of the evening to bedtime. it's also good for all of us to get a bit of fresh air.

oh, liam.

2011-09-05T17:47:00.003-06:00

i haven't said much about this little guy lately. he is growing up fast & boy oh, boy has he got a temper. i'd say the terrible 2's are in full swing.

one day a couple weeks ago he decided to impress us with his word knowledge & has steadily been growing his vocabulary since. it's still mostly in a language only guy & i can understand, but he's figuring it all out. he is quite the little character & loves to make us laugh.

rainbows

2011-08-25T23:21:00.003-06:00

tonight after dinner we headed outside to find a double rainbow. yes, liam is eating guy's hat.

it was so bright & we could see where it ended, perhaps we should have looked for the pot of gold.

we could actually see it stretched clear across the sky. i couldn't get back quite far enough to get all of it. also, as it was still raining i didn't want to sacrifice my camera. parker was so excited & kept exclaiming, "i can't believe there is a double rainbow on my 4th day of school!" if only we could all be so excited about such simple things.

first day of school & cows

2011-08-23T12:56:00.004-06:00

so the school year has officially begun! i thought i was ready for it, but then after not knowing what to do with myself while liam napped, i realized it's going to take some getting used to.

parker's afternoon bus was about 20 minutes later than they said it would be. let's hope it was just a first day fluke. he was so excited to be home & tell me all about his first day. his teacher is brand new, this is her first class ever, which i think is fun. she's not jaded & she's full of fun, new ideas. parker seems to like her, too. he is looking forward to doing art & her playing her guitar. we are excited for this new year of learning!after dinner we headed out for a little walk before bed. there is a field behind our neighbors house that has some cows in it. liam LOVES to go look at the cows. they were kind of off in the distance when parker started saying, "moo moo moo moo". then one started walking toward us. parker kept saying "moo" & this guy got about as close as he could before he decided to start eating more grass.i was holding liam at the time & he could hardly contain himself. have i ever mentioned how much he likes animals? if there wouldn't have been a fence there he would have been right up in that cow's face. our neighbors have this giant sunflower right at the front of their house. parker was so impressed by it & couldn't stop commenting on it. he really wanted to take a picture, so i let him use my phone for a minute. this is the result...kind of cool i think.

jump!

2011-08-20T12:47:00.003-06:00

i think jumping pictures are so fun & thought parker would love them, too. i saw this little sidewalk ramp & told parker to go for it.

this was the first jump, not quite what i had expected, haha.there we go, now he's got the idea. the rest of the jump poses were his idea.i'm thinking we might need to get him a belt....guns!

mega man!a little earlymega man!
(again)

we had so much fun doing all these jumps, i would love to go out & do some more.

the handsome 6 year old in our family

2011-08-20T12:06:00.005-06:00

we finally headed out to do parker's 6 year old pictures. sometimes i just stare at this kid & i can't believe how handsome he is. he's also one of the sweetest people i know, i sure hope it stays with him always.

remember when he was a chunky little bowling ball?

he's so fun to take out & do pictures with (most of the time). he picked this wall & pose.

for some reason, parker has started refusing to "smile with his teeth" for pictures. he winds up doing this closed-lip goofy grin most of the time.

he's pretty game for most of everything i tell him to do also.i really love this picture, i'm not exactly sure why...see, he refuses to smile...oh, but he's still so cute.the other day parker & i were walking outside. he pointed out some garbage that someone had left on the ground. i commented that wasn't a very nice thing to do. he said, "yeah, because there are lots of habitats around & garbage isn't good".
earlier in the day we met his new teacher. she is cute, young, & plays the guitar. i'm so excited for him to start 1st grade. he is definitely ready for some more learning.
here is a bit of silliness that we love from our boy.this summer he has been like a sponge picking up knowledge from the educational shows we let him watch. on a recent car ride he explained to me how ligaments & tendons are what hold our bones & joints together. he talked for a good 10 minutes telling me how it all worked.gotta have the finger point pose.

he is trying so hard in this picture to just ignore us. sometimes guy & i can get a little crazy trying to tell parker how to pose. of course, guy offers such great suggestions as "do your angry face" & "click click" (which is the finger point pose). while well-meaning, guy is not the best assistant, haha.this is one of the last when parker was just done with pictures, a little dazed & hot. it was time to go get a drink & a reward for being so good.on our way to the car parker said he didn't get a picture with liam. he was really concerned about it, too. i love how he is looking at liam in this picture. he loves that little brother of his so much.these little boys have stolen my heart, i'm pretty much putty in their hands.

give me s'mores!

2011-08-13T13:05:00.002-06:00

since wednesday was national s'mores day we had to do our part to celebrate. luckily, parker had gotten s'mores ingredients from our friend for his birthday (saving us a trip to the store).

i was going to do them over our grill, but there is a massive hornets nest growing on it (oops). so, we did them in the oven. some day i would like to have a fire pit in our backyard for such occasions. parker patiently waiting for the ooey, gooey goodness.perfect....well, almost. i do enjoy the toastiness that comes from an open flame.liam doesn't like his marshmallows when they are melted, so he had a cold s'more. which he loved.parker taking a moment away from his psp to eat a s'more.

birthday week!

2011-08-06T20:17:00.006-06:00

tuesday was parker's 6th birthday. six!

posing by his presents. this kid has a ton of toys already so it was a real challenge finding him fun things that weren't toys. plus, he said he would be happy with whatever we got him, you'd think that'd make it easy, but i didn't just want get him school clothes. luckily, we found a few things at borders (which sadly is closing, but luckily had some great sales) & some fun $1 section items. score! that makes the birthday pile so much bigger, teehee!

we started the day with a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes. mmmm, yum! then parker got to open his presents. after we were all ready, we went & registered parker for 1st grade. holy cow!a couple weeks ago we found out our neighbors make harry potter style wands. ever since, parker had been talking about wanting to make one of his own. i was able to have them make him one & he was so surprised!

blowing out the candles on his first of two birthday cakes.

guy was able to get off work on tuesday so we invited family over for a small party. we knew it was an awkward time & not many would be able to make it. g&g awsumb were able to come & were actually the only ones i got a picture of (i'm so bad at remembering to take pictures of people/guests).

mmmmm, yummy cake!

parker casting a spell.

on friday parker got to have his first ever friend party. these were the treat bags the guests got to take home. it was superhero themed, could it have been anything else? here is parker playing one of the party games.

i got a little crazy & made capes for all the kids. you can read more about the party & games here.

i decided it would be fun to make the cupcakes in the cones. it worked out great for the kids with hardly any crumbs on the floor & they were yummy, too. i made the same flavor cake as the first one.making a wish at his friend party. we planned this party on guy's "off" day so that he could help out. boy am i glad he was there. later on friday we headed outside to test out one of parker's presents.

here are the boys trying to set off the rocket launcher.

daddy is much better at it.parker's standard pose for pictures now.sometimes when i look at him, he still has such a baby face. other times, he looks so grown up to me.liam loves wearing parker's cape from aunt wendy, so i made an extra one from the party for him as a temporary substitute.

yes, liam is barefoot & yes, those are his shoes off to the right. we can't keep that kids shoes on for anything.

aw, aren't they just the cutest.

me with my sweet boys. we can't get liam to look at the camera very often either.

all my cute boys. i just love how loving parker is. he gives the best hugs that just makes you melt. he told me one of his wishes for his birthday was to get a billion hugs. seriously!

happy birthday my sweet boy. i am so glad that you are a part of our world, it's definitely better with you in it!

a walk in pictures

2011-07-30T18:31:00.006-06:00

yesterday we headed out for a walk.these boys make my heart happy.

yes, guy dressed the boys & yes, they match.

we kind of live in the country.can you spot the lady bug?

i don't even know what to say.

curb walking.

tweet.

i love when flowers do this.

parker spotted this poor butterfly that apparently didn't make it.

a little bit country.sunny day.truck route.

this field smelled so good.liam asking for more water (it was a lot hotter than we thought).dragonfly.clover bee.we were so hot when we got home. i had the boys take their shirts off to help cool down. parker wanted liam to sit with him to watch "up". he also requested that i take a picture. we've decided that each friday will be our official family adventure walk day. there may not always be pictures, but there will always be memories.

a boy, his boots, & a kitty

2011-07-28T18:49:00.004-06:00

liam loves to go outside. he likes to get his own shoes & put them on. usually he grabs his yellow rainboots, which is fine with me because they look so cute.

once outside this kid is determined to go where he wants to go.

& if he sees our neighbors kitty then that is where he is headed.

he love, love, LOVES that kitty (as well as any animal he sees). he will follow that kitty all over & try to love & pet it. he's pretty good about it, too, having learned the meaning of "soft".

occasionally i have to stop him from climbing into the bushes after the kitty.

& you know what? i think the kitty likes him, too.

pioneer day

2011-07-24T22:40:00.006-06:00

saturday we celebrated pioneer day. we got up & headed over to our local city park for a quick moment before guy had to go to work. my mom had gotten parker a couple tickets for the bounce houses & games. liam really wanted to go in a bounce house, that was, until i got him up to the entrance.

later in the evening we headed over to the soccer field where there was a free concert & fireworks. the city was also doing a ping pong ball drop for the kids. what is a ping pong ball drop you ask? well, they corral all the kids together (they did 3 different age groups) & then a helicopter flies by & drops ping pong balls on them. each kid is to grab one ball & then go wait with their parents for the drawing (they were giving away 29 bikes). well, no one told the 4-6 year olds that the helicopter would fly by once & then come around again to do the actual drop. that was a sad bunch of kids when they thought there were no ping pong balls. the helicopter & the ping pong balls for the third group.

funny story, out of about 400 4-6 year olds we bumped into one of parker's friends from his class. i saw them walking around together as if they were looking for something. parker then saw me on the outskirts of the field (parents weren't allowed in the ball drop area) & said, "mommy! we can't find the ping pong balls anywhere!" i guess maybe i forgot to tell him they'd be coming from the sky (to be fair, it was a little hectic when we got to the park about 5 minutes before the first drop).

liam is such a funny little kid. here we are waiting for the entertainment to begin.

& my buddy parker. he was really hoping for a bike, but was actually okay with not winning. plus, everyone who got a ping pong ball that didn't win a bike got a little prize.

i don't know why, but liam started making this face for the camera when i pointed it at him. he is such a goof! (with my mom & jody in the background)

& this was parker's prize. as you can imagine i was super excited that he was going to be hopped up on sugar....not really though.

this little goober always tries to touch my lens. i made us peanut butter sandwiches & frosting graham cracker sandwiches...yeah, he was a little sticky.

here is my dad hanging out listening to the music. we danced a little, then waited semi-patiently for the fireworks.

i promise liam didn't just sit in his stroller the whole time. i took him out to a field to run. he would walk away from me a bit, turn around, smile, & run toward me with a big hug. we did this for about 10 minutes. then he got brave enough to just keep going so i had to chase after him. we also danced a bit to the music, which he thought was pretty fun!
(oh yeah, liam totally swiped my mom's dr pepper when i wasn't looking & started drinking it! little thief.)

parker also had fun playing out in the field with luke. i made him come back though before it got too dark. here he is dancing to the music (ryan shupe & the rubberband). parker is an awesome dancer, just ask anyone ;)

cami & clint were there, too. they helped me with the boys & we had some fun listening to the music & watching the people.& then finally the fireworks began! it's been so long since we were this close to the show. it was awesome!

parker kept saying "woah!" "wow!" he loved them.

we literally were right under them looking straight up. you could feel them going off.

liam was a little unsure at first so i held him, but he was just too wiggly. i put him back in his stroller laying down & he just watched & clapped. turned out he loved them, too!

they said the show would rival those from the stadium of fire. i don't know if that's true, but i was impressed!

the night was almost perfect we were just missing one thing.....guy was at work. he tried to get to the park in time for the fireworks, but he just didn't make it. luckily he got to watch from our house with some neighbors.

not an announcement

2011-07-15T17:55:00.002-06:00

i have to say the $1 i spent on this little chalkboard was so worth it. usually i will draw a picture on it & parker will add to it. he seems to look forward to a new picture, which changes once or twice a week. last time i encouraged guy to draw something. so he drew our family. each of us are holding something that represents us. as you can see, there is an additional family member down on the left side. this was parker's addition. he said this was our baby sister & she is holding "lots & lots of blankets".
maybe he knows something we don't, maybe he doesn't.

the 4th of july & such

2011-07-11T14:16:00.016-06:00

our 4th of july turned out a little different than originally planned. we got some good news on june 30th! we found out, officially, that guy was hired on permanent to the job he's been a temp at since march. to say the least, we are thrilled. not only does it come with a pay raise, but benefits also. however, his schedule changed & started immediately. he now works wed-sat 1pm-9:30pm, while we are so grateful for his job, we are still trying to adjust to this schedule.with the new schedule guy had to work during most of our 4th of july activities. on saturday, we went to the park to hang out & watch the stadium of fire fireworks. here are the jets as they flew over.

my sister, cami, & my niece, maddi (who should be popping any day now). my dad is in the background there, he moved up here so he's been hanging out more.

liam seems to have recently discovered his tongue, which means it's outside of his mouth a lot. he is a silly kid.

liam had so much fun being able to run around the park with so much freedom. i had my eye on him the whole time. he had to go give my mom a hug. he is such a loving child.

for some reason liam started squatting like this & since we laughed he just kept doing it. he loves to perform & if he can get us to laugh he loves it even more.

my sweet parker, he is getting so old & just wanted to play with the big kids. i can hardly get him to pose for the camera anymore (unless he's in the mood).

my cute little blondies. the 4th is one of the few times a year where we really just junk out on treats. liam was in heaven with all the candy (his mouth is so full in this picture). me & my little boys...guy was still working at this point. i was able to leave shortly after & got him back just in time to enjoy the fireworks.

here is our little family enjoying the fireworks show. with the new utah law there were tons of aerial fireworks going off all over. we got quite a show!

on monday we got together at our house for a bbq & hanging out. once again, guy had to work so he took off just before people came over. after we ate, cami, clint, my dad & i played a couple games of scrabble. it was just kind of a lazy day waiting for it to get dark for the fireworks.

here my mom & her boyfriend, jody, are with liam. it was super windy then kind of rainy, then windy....crazy weather. cami & clint always get the fireworks to share with us. they were also kind enough to wait until guy got home (around 10pm) to do the show.

as we were hanging around outside we got to see everyone else's fireworks going off. we also made some very yummy homemade ice cream, another 4th of july tradition.

my dad & maddi (like i said, any day now....)

maddi's little sister & brother came over as well as jody's son. everyone was getting a little anxious for the fireworks, so we let them do sparklers.

parker kept asking for those things that you go like this (waving his arms around) with.

as you can see he was quite thrilled!

once guy came home we watched our own fireworks. then about 5 minutes later the wind stopped & all was calm.

we hope you all had a great 4th of july celebration!

happy independence day!

2011-07-04T14:30:00.000-06:00

stay safe!

then parker makes him laugh

2011-06-29T12:01:00.001-06:00

so, parker thought it was pretty funny that liam was using his head to knock over the stacking cups. not wanting to be outdone, parker performed for liam because he loves to make him laugh. these boys are so much fun to watch together, i just love them!

liam uses his head

2011-06-29T11:55:00.001-06:00

yesterday, liam was stacking his cups then using his head to knock them over. we thought it was pretty funny so he kept doing it. i think it's cute what he does with his hands. this kid is a crack up.

summer solstice

2011-06-24T16:50:00.005-06:00

the other day we headed out to celebrate the first official day of summer. we first headed to the paleontology museum. my wild & crazy boys ready to get the fun started!
the best part about this place? totally free!

i loved the colors & patterns in this rock...er, malachite.

here parker is explaining to us how a fossil is made.

parker stuck his head inside every open mouth he could. this is a giant crocodile.

liam LOVED this place. we watch a lot of dinosaur train & he was running around roaring. the great part was it's not a big place & there was no one else there, so i didn't have to worry too much.

the boys in front of a giant palm frond.

after the museum we headed over to the park for our picnic lunch. i wanted to sit on a blanket, but we each thought the other had grabbed it, so we sat in the pavilion instead.

i'm obviously really good at having my picture taken...thus, the reason why i don't like to have it done very often.

guy & parker played some catch. we have discovered that parker has quite the arm. can you see the ball on it's way to guy?

while guy & parker played ball, liam & i hung out under some trees.

this little kid loves to be outside. he will go anywhere & explore anything if i let him.

liam sat & hugged this tree & touched his forehead to it (a sign of affection) for the longest time.

then we decided it was time to head over to the playground. i'm looking at this picture & can't get over how tall parker is.

zip line - wheeeeeee!

liam loves slides.

then it got too hot & we were thirsty, so it was time to head home.

it was a fun & loverly day & it didn't cost us a thing (which is great!) i'm looking forward to lots more fun summer days.

growing up

2011-06-14T22:55:00.002-06:00

liam seems to be growing up too fast. i think having an older brother makes it easier to figure things out. liam has a few scoot type bikes, but he was more interested in the neighbors trike. he got a little frustrated because his legs weren't quite long enough to pedal, just barely able to reach. tonight parker was helping liam get his rainboots on while guy & i were secretly watching. it was such a tender moment & then parker announced he had helped liam. we said, "good job!" parker said, "yeah, i'm learning how to be a grown up!"

not too soon my boys, stay little for a bit longer please.

through parker's eyes

2011-06-13T22:21:00.006-06:00

parker has had a little preschooler camera for a while now. it doesn't take great pics, but he's loved taking pictures. i thought it would be fun for him to have a better camera to work with, so i decided to let him have our old point & shoot. he has been having a lot of fun with it & it's so fun for me to see what he takes pictures of.the other day he, liam, & i went for a walk. these are the pictures he took. i did not edit or change them in any way.

okay, well, i did edit this one. no one needs to know the exact street corner we live near.

it was a beautiful day, perfect temperature, slight breeze. i wish everyday could be like that.

he loved taking pictures of all the "roses". one day i'll give him a flower lesson, but for now it was cute to hear him call them all roses.

he decided on every picture he wanted to take. i showed him how to zoom in & out, but nothing else.

he felt pretty cool walking around the neighborhood with a fancy camera. he even took a few pictures of his friends. they aren't my kids though, so i didn't post them.

we think this owl looks like hedwig.

i'm not sure what these flowers are, but they were beautiful! huge petals.

love the self portraits he takes.

he wanted to get a picture of the "m".

man, i sure love this kid. (picture taken by me)

summer boys - the movie

2011-06-06T00:14:00.001-06:00

you know you're jealous of my camera skills.

boys of summer

2011-06-05T20:24:00.006-06:00

parker got a slip n'slide from my mom to celebrate school ending & he has been dying to use it. i told him as soon as it got to 80 degrees i would definitely set it up. well, today he went outside & came back really excited. "mommy," he said, "it's hot outside! let me check on your phone to see if it's 80 degrees!" & sure enough, it was...82 degrees in fact.

this is the one time i was able to get him to hold still for a picture.

liam loved playing in the water, too. he's had a bit of a rough week. starting on monday he caught a yucky virus that was making him all sorts of miserable. then we've discovered that he's getting all four of his canines & they happen to be giving him quite some trouble. he is grumpy & irritable & angry at the world right now. anyway, today however, was a good day. we had some fun in the sun.

liam saw how parker did the slide so he tried to do it also. it was so cute how he took a few steps, then fell to his knees, then to his tummy. liam's favorite part was the little splash pool at the end. he spent most his time here.

at first parker wasn't able to get very far on the slide. he almost made it to the splash pool, but then he got tired. i'm sure next time he'll get all the way there.

oh, & how convenient is it that liam's shorts from last summer still fit him? i guess there is an upside to him being a slightly slower grower. (he was around the 15% at his 18 month appointment.)

kindergartener no more

2011-05-22T10:21:00.000-06:00

on thursday parker had his end of year program for kindergarten. he was so excited for us to come see what they had been working on. i honestly think i was more sad for the end of kindergarten than i was for the beginning. he just seems so grown up now.

here's parker in his classroom for the last time. i remember on the first day he was so unsure of where to go. his confidence has grown so much!parker with mr. k - we really couldn't have asked for a better teacher. it's obvious he loves his job & the kids. for the program the kids were asked what they wanted to be when they grow up & encouraged to dress the part. i tried to persuade parker into something more...lucrative, but he would not be swayed. he wore his costume all day, even out thrifting with me.an attempt at a family picture. we wanted to give parker a special day for completing kindergarten, so we invited a few people over. parker planned the menu of mac & cheese with ice cream cones for dessert. parker with my mom & jody.
parker with cami & clint. parker loves that they will play board games with him. (maddi came also, but she had to leave before i got a picture.) my dad happened to be up for the weekend so he was able to come to dinner also. we love our little batman parker & are so proud of all he has accomplished this year. i know it's every mother's lament, but i really can't believe the school year is over. it does not seem like enough time has passed for my little guy to be a first grader. i just have to remember to enjoy each moment with both my littles before they get too old.

kindergarten program - movie

2011-05-22T10:20:00.000-06:00

parker's class put on a fun little program for the parents. they sang about 7 or 8 songs. this here is a little snippet* of what we got to enjoy. yes, my child is batman.

*you'll have to forgive the quality of this video, i'm still trying to figure out our video camera. plus, i didn't have the tripod & by this time my arm was getting a little tired. oh, & for some reason it decided to fade out toward the end & then come back up overexposed & out of focus. makes it more interesting i guess.

celebrating the birthday

2011-05-17T19:10:00.008-06:00

yesterday was my birthday & my mom was kind enough to watch the boys so guy & i could have an all day date. there's no one else i'd rather spend the day with than this guy. i love him. oh, & don't worry that most of the pictures turned out a bit blurry. i decided to use our little video camera (fits in the pocket) & well, apparently it's not so good at the picture taking.

we started off the day with a massage. my mom had given us gift certificates for christmas & we finally cashed them in. what a way to start the day. ahhhh. my husband, being the sweet man that he is, let me decide where to go & what to do. i've been dying to go to some thrift/antique/consignment shops in slc, but with kids that's always hard to do. so that's where i decided to go.
after a few stores we started to get hungry so we headed to tony caputos. it's probably our favorite place for a sandwich. we split a mozzarella/tomato sandwich & sipped on aranciata. my man
& me.
it seems it's become a little tradition now, sandwiches at tony caputos then frites & waffle from bruges.

the torpedo waffle - a liege waffle stuffed with 2 bars of belgian chocolate. mmmyum!& these frites are soooo delicious. we shared these with 2 dipping sauces - andalouse & the greens. i would eat these everyday if i could, but then i'm sure i'd weigh 400 pounds.
these little birds are very watchful. you can drop the tiniest crumb & they'll come sweeping in to get it. i think they're cute, so i dropped them a few crumbs. hello mr scruffalupogus.

after lunch we walked around downtown a bit. we talked about what it would be like to live in the city. then what it would be like to live somewhere else. i think we both crave a little bit of adventure, but we're unsure of where to take it.

i'm obviously really good at taking self-portraits.

elevator...

water.....

after walking around a bit we headed over to capital city antique mall. we spent the most time looking around there. i love seeing all the old stuff. some things transport me back to my grandparent's house. others i remember from my youth. i saw a little dollhouse that i once had & it was fun to ring it's doorbell. it's all so interesting to look at & if i had more money i'm sure i'd buy more. i did find a couple treasures with my birthday money which i'll share in the next few days on my other blog.

it was a lot of fun hanging out all day & the time seemed to pass too quickly. i did start to miss our little ones though so we headed home. my mom had dinner all ready & made me a chocolate cake. it was pretty close to perfect as far as birthday celebrations go.

everybody needs a little sunshine

2011-05-06T10:34:00.004-06:00

the other day we were all getting just a little too ornery for our britches. as the ceo of this franchise i made the executive decision that it was time to head outside. we NEEDED it.it was a gorgeous day. the sky was soooo blue. perfect weather.liam hitching a ride on his daddy's shoulders.parker getting some good practice time in on his bike. i think we'll set a goal to have him off training wheels before summer is done. i don't care what you say, i think dandelions are pretty.
parker insuring that each neighbor got a little sprinkle.

all this walking can be tiring for a little guy.

we headed over to the park. i love having one (actually two) so close.

liam loves the slide, although he gets a little worried look when he starts to pick up speed. he could go down it a million times if we let him.

heading up to the tall tube slide with daddy.

parker loves to climb all over the playset. he has to make sure he uses all the climbing options while we are there.

parker is a great big brother & likes to help liam go down. liam just loves anything that his big brother does with him.

wheeee!

proof that i was there (guy took other pictures, but they were not flattering...at all.)

getting ready to head home. it was nice to get the fresh air & it was definitely something we all needed. i love getting out on sunny days where there is still a bit of chill in the air. to be honest, i'm not looking forward to the super hot summer days.

liam's first...

2011-05-01T14:51:00.002-06:00

...haircut! liam's hair was starting to have a mind of it's own. while it was cute & curling in the back, the tops & sides were getting crazy!
his hair regularly looked like this.

so aunt cami came over to give him his first hair cut. he was very excited....um, maybe not.

he did not like the squirt bottle & that just set him off to cry the whole time. i was trying to take video & pictures for guy (he was at work). liam needed his mommy to comfort him though, so i held his head & cuddled (as best i could) to finish up the haircut.

we didn't take much off, just the crazy. he's still got the curls in the back & the top curls into a little mohawk. oh, & he recovered just fine.

choppity chop

2011-04-30T09:13:00.003-06:00

i guess i've been growing my hair for about 2 years now. i really wanted long hair, but i forgot how heavy it gets (which causes major headaches). i started thinking the other day that i wanted to cut it. i texted my sister & the rest is history.

once upon a time i used to have straight hair, then i had kids. this picture doesn't even show how curly it gets now.we can just pretend i look pretty in this picture.i was hoping to donate it, but i'm not sure it's quite long enough. tada! & now it's gone.my sister does such a great job of interpreting what i want.my husband is super attractive. so, now i have short hair & there's no going back. i like it.

so....easter happened.

2011-04-29T20:25:00.008-06:00

saturday night after guy got off work we decorated easter eggs. parker was super excited. my mom picked up the kit because target was out when i went to get one.
liam wasn't so into it & just preferred running around making awful noises (which is what he does now.)
a rainbow of colors!

so, we wound up with the same monster kit as last year, but we had tons of fun. parker decided to make his into aliens. he even named each one - malien 1, malien 2, malien 3, malien 4, malien 5, malien 6, & a rocket ship.

guy's four eggs

mine

unfortunately, guy had to work on sunday. the boys got up bright & early (7:45). parker was so excited i practically had to hold him down to wait for his brother. liam quickly discovered what was inside the eggs.

collecting all the eggs on the trail to their baskets.

liam found his!

parker found his!

parker loves his new little lion, he named him humphrey.

we were having family over for brunch, so i got to work on the buttermilk syrup for our french toast. it happens to expand....whoops!

some blossoming branches for a center piece.

another egg hunt.

parker was up against two 1 year olds, so he found the motherload!

lucy looking for eggs, but mostly getting distracted by everything else.

me & my niece maddi...the sun might have been a little bright.

ah maddi, we love you!

me with my cute boys missing the daddy.

spring blossoms

liam is 8 weeks older, it is so fun to watch these two interact.

realizing they can't escape their fate.

what's easter without deviled eggs?

brothers

2011-04-21T14:08:00.002-06:00

i love that liam is getting old enough to play around with parker. he loves his big brother & already looks up to him. parker is so good with liam, too. he knows how to play with him without being too rough. he also loves to make him laugh & will do ridiculous things to hear liam giggle. parker also has a lot of patience with liam. he rarely gets frustrated or upset with him & has never tried to hit him. it is so fun to see these two little guys interact with each other. here is a video of something that happens nearly daily.

31 years

2011-04-20T10:50:00.005-06:00

yesterday was guy's birthday so we decided to celebrate as a family. luckily, it was also his day off. we headed out to lunch, guy's pick, to cafe paesan. yes, it's true, we are addicted to this place. also, it's kind of become tradition to eat italian for his birthday.after lunch we headed over to the bean museum. i haven't been there forever & thought it would be fun for parker (we actually planned to do this for spring break, but then everyone got sick with yucky colds). it's fun to see the actual size of some of the animals. this moose was HUGE. you can't really tell because parker wasn't right next to it, but i think the leg was taller than parker.

every once in a while liam would take his thumb out & say, "ohhh". i missed getting it on camera, but it was cute with his eyes wide. they recently named this elephant humphrey. parker decided his favorite animal was a fox. we only found a couple though because the main fox display was closed for maintenance.

if you look closely you can see this giant butterfly was made out of a bunch of individual butterflies. way cool.

this was parker throwing a fit as we were trying to leave. he really wanted something from the museum shop, but you just can't always get something. he got really mad at me for taking his picture....maybe someday he'll laugh about it.

we then headed up to target to just look around & check out some bikes (which is what we'll both be getting for our birthdays as soon as we get the $$). afterward, we went to sub zero for ice cream. guy isn't a big cake fan, so he decided he'd rather go there instead. plus, they can make soy ice cream for him! we had a fun day celebrating our favorite guy. we are so glad that he was born :)

ps i've been neglecting my camera (& blog) quite a bit lately. it can be a little difficult to try & juggle a big camera while chasing after a very curious 18 month old. i just need to get back into the habit of taking pictures, as it's one of my favorite things to do.

a visit to the farm

2011-04-07T20:32:00.006-06:00

**warning: picture overload & not the best quality due to camera phone usage.**

today i got to help out with the kindergarten field trip to a local farm. it was a lot of fun with tons of kids. most of them were pretty well behaved & we had a lot of parents to help corral them.

this is parker's class just as we got there. we went to a local farm that sells corn in the summer. they also grow pumpkins, watermelons, & hay among other things. here they are visiting with terry the talking tomato. she was stung by a bee so only one eye was open. they have been learning about how things grow & got to learn more about what plants need.

each "station" had these buckets set up for the kids. the farmers really went all out to make this a special thing for the kids (there was also 2 bus loads of second graders there).

here is parker making a "living necklace".

it has a cottonball with some seeds that he'll get to watch sprout & grow roots. we hung it in the window when we got home so it could have some sun (if the sun comes out.)

they also learned about farm safety & what the farmer needs to keep himself healthy. they learned a little song & dance that they all sung together.

then we got to meet some animals that are found on a farm. parker is standing in front of 6 week old twin lambs with their mama.

these 6 week old baby goats were so cute. unfortunately, they wouldn't hold still & there were too many kids so i couldn't get a good picture of their faces.

lambs & their mama

this little baby was chewing on a little girls jacket.

parker loved the little goats & told me he loved petting them. they also had a horse there & he walked right up to it with no fear.

we got to learn about some of the equipment used on the farm. this is the baler.

parker wanted to stand by the big tire of the tractor.

when he does this pose he makes a "click click" sound with his mouth & winks.

then we got to learn about sheeps wool & what is made with it. not only do they use the wool for fabric, but the lanolin is used to make lotion & other stuff. we got to watch a very pregnant mama sheep (called a ewe) get shaved.

then we drove down the road to visit some more sheep, chickens, & cows. this sheep pen also had the cutest miniature burro in it. he wasn't any bigger than the sheep, but ran around like he was the boss.

yes, my boy was one of the first to climb to the top of this hay pile. it was about 8 feet high. the farmer didn't care, but i'm sure the teachers & parents weren't too thrilled when about 20 kindergartners were crowded on top. luckily, no one got hurt or fell.

i would love to live on a farm. i'm not exactly a fan of the stinky animals, but to be self sustainable would be really cool.

hanging out on top of the fence.

i'm glad i got to spend this time with parker. even though it was't exactly one on one it still made him feel special to have me there.

kindy 500

2011-03-24T13:56:00.002-06:00

today was the kindy 500 for parker. all the kindergartners have been learning about american history & today they got to go on a tour to learn more about it. i helped out today so all i had was my phone camera. my stop was mount rushmore. if you ever need to know which presidents are on mount rushmore, i'm your gal.
after talking about some fun facts, each kid got to draw their face on our own mountain. it was fun to see how the different kids drew themselves. some went for a more realistic look, others used their favorite colors, & others just used the first crayon out of the box.

parker was in the very last group of kids to come to my landmark. by that time most the kids were getting tired & hungry. such a contrast to the morning group that was all revved up & LOUD.

daddy & i designed the body of the car. parker decided on the color & the #5. he also helped cut out the numbers & lightning bolts & painted the wheels.

he loved his car, which made me so happy. i couldn't believe some of the cars that were there. we were encouraged to let the kids do most of the work, but it was obvious which cars were the complete work of the parents. i wish i could have taken more pictures of the other "vehicles". one little girl had a hot air balloon with a huge helium balloon. another had a huge vw bug. there was also a tank, a couple lightning mcqueen's, airplanes, & a huge car that the poor kid couldn't even fit through a door. oh, there was also a house with balloons like in the movie up.

i had parker model his car for me after school. his dad taught him all his moves.

parker said his favorite part of the day was at the end when he got to be at my station. which is funny, because at first when i told him i was going to be there he said, "but mommy,i wanted to do it all by myself".

yeah, he's awesome :)

12 hours (or so) on a monday....

2011-03-22T21:20:00.005-06:00

7:45 am

7:45 pm

getting back into it

2011-03-18T21:30:00.003-06:00

this was our first official week with guy back at work. it's been an adjustment after having him home every day. i wish we were independently wealthy, but ah well. we went outside this evening looking for puddles. parker loves to dance, so here's a pose for you. he found a big puddle & stomped so hard his pants were entirely soaked!
these boys sure miss their daddy while he's gone. almost every day parker has asked, "when is daddy going to be home?"

little liam getting so big. he definitely has his own little mind & is quite determined. he wasn't feeling so good at the beginning of the week. i'm glad it seems he got over whatever the little stomach bug was.

nearly perfect

2011-03-11T21:44:00.004-07:00

today parker declared it was a perfect day for him to ride his bike to the park. after dinner we got all ready to go only to discover his tires are flat. unfortunately, we don't have a pump, so we have to convince him to take his scooter instead. he was a little bummed, but we promised to get his tires fixed so he could ride it tomorrow. on our way there...i love how this building makes it look like we live way out in the country.

my three handsome boys...i really can't get enough of them.

liam is no longer content to sit in his stroller & watch. he has to be in on the action & tries to do it like the big kids.

they just put in this new play area close to our house. parker has loved going to it these past few weeks when we've had nice weather.

train slide!

liam & i taking a turn...a bit blurry, but oh well.

parker loves this tire swing & was running around in circles with it.

liam getting ready to go down the slide by himself. he LOVED it.

on our way home. i am loving this warmer weather & being able to get outside.

triple threat

2011-02-28T14:28:00.004-07:00

parker has gotten really good at memorizing songs & winds up singing them all the time.

here is one for all you "phineas & ferb" fans....

& here is one for all you "it's always sunny in philadelphia" fans. now, just so you know, we don't actually let him watch this show. guy has this song on his phone, so that's all he's heard or knows.

a good friday

2011-02-26T23:44:00.005-07:00

even though i'm quite ready for spring to be here, i've been secretly wishing for one more good snow fall. i have good reason, you see, the boys got all their snow gear for christmas (including sleds), but parker was sick when we had a ton of snow. he only had a chance to sled down our front yard, which just doesn't seem right. since then, the snow has been all melted or iced over & that's just not good sledding snow. i promised parker as soon as it snowed again we would go sledding. so on friday after school it was on. here he is patiently waiting for us all to get ready to go out.
liam's snowsuit is so puffy on him, it reminds us of randy from a christmas story.

we headed over to the little park in our neighborhood that has a field in a bowl shape. luckily, they hadn't shoveled the sidewalk which made it just perfect to pull liam in his sled.

doesn't that look fun? i sure would love to have a ride like that.

the great thing about this park is that the hills are just big enough for someone parker's size.

it took a few tries to get a good run, but he sure was having fun.

liam just got to kick back & get pulled around by everyone. he was giggling & laughing for a while, but then i think he got tired & just chilled.

wheeeee!

i took liam through the field. although it wasn't too steep i slipped & nearly dumped him. all was well & good though.

my mom hung out with us for a bit & took her turn at pulling liam & giving parker little pushes down the hill.

after we were done sledding (& they came to shovel the sidewalk) we headed over to the slide. liam was a bit cautious about walking in the snow.

parker showing liam how to make a snowball.

daddy laid him down in the snow. after a few moments he decided he didn't like it.

having some fun going down the slide while throwing snowballs.

ah, my three cute boys. in case you haven't heard, guy was offered a job on friday. we are super excited & although it's not a dream job, it's got some potential. i'm definitely going to miss him during the day. it's been fun having him home with us.

valentines & other stuff

2011-02-15T15:40:00.006-07:00

we've just been taking things kind of easy over here. guy had a job interview last week, we're waiting to see what happens with that. liam's thumb is very nearly healed. he won't keep the splint on it anymore (little turd figured out how to suck his thumb with it on anyway) so we're just keeping an eye on it & hoping it stays healed. liam gets so excited when he sees he gets yogurt to eat. he also LOVES craisins, grapefruit, & string cheese.

on sunday parker & i worked on getting all his valentines ready for his class. he wrote on every single one & included a sticker on each.
i cut out the hearts which he stuck to each card. then i stapled them to a pack of fruit snacks.

last week we worked together on his valentine mailbox. since the homework for the week was practicing all the different shapes, i designed a robot using most of the required shapes. we cut & glued together & parker was really happy with the outcome.

sunday night while i was helping parker, guy gave liam his bath then brought him up in his ducky robe. this was a hand-me-down that just now fits.

so cute! he would not hold still for even one second long enough for a picture.

on monday i made parker a little "love lunch" for valentines. yummy!

then my sister came over to make cookies with my mom & us. i made some awesome frosting...if i do say so myself.

parker decorated a cookie for each of us & required us to eat it.

love cookies!

this was our big saturday project. we are in serious need of a big time declutter session. so we decided to start with parker's toy room. we never really unpacked the toys when we moved, they sort of just got played with then thrown back in.
after some major sorting, a bag of garbage, & a bag for donation this room can actually be played in! (i know, it's not technically a room, it's storage under the stairs, but it still works.)

crazy moustache

2011-02-04T11:58:00.002-07:00

i'm not exactly sure how this came about, but parker was doing something at dinner time to be funny. so i decided to draw a moustache on my finger to be silly. then parker wanted one.

here we are modeling our awesome moustaches.

well, then we decided to take it a step further (i believe it was guy's suggestion) & now we have a goatee. it's a little hard to see, but it's there. we kind of look like magicians....right?

& kudo's to guy for taking this awesome picture of liam. isn't he so cute?

sometimes it's the little things that help get you through the bigger struggles.

*ps just ignore the blobby mama in the photos...someday soon i'll be half that size.

15 months

2011-02-02T20:25:00.002-07:00

so our little liam is 15 months old now. he sure is a happy, goofy little guy. he has been exploring tons more lately & has figured out how to climb up onto chairs. he gets so proud of himself when he gets to the top he'll clap his hands. liam LOVE love LOVES his daddy. there is just no doubt about that. it kind of breaks this mama's heart....but only because i want his attention, too. he is quickly becoming "one of the boys". he loves to hold the ps3 controller & "play" games with parker & daddy (in fact, i'd like to find a broken one for him to use so he doesn't break the good ones).
liam gets so excited when visitors come over, especially parker's friends. he also loves to have his freedom to roam around the house (sometimes we block him in).

liam sure has given us a run for our money the past month or so. he started getting his legs caught in his crib which was causing awful bruises. luckily, we found a super cheap (75% off) bumper pad that has seemed to solve this problem.

also, (beware of picture below) last week i noticed some weird red bumps on liam's thumb. a closer inspection made me realize it was not good. the dr had us come right in (in case it was infected). we have been treating it with meds & putting him in a splint so he can't suck his thumb. luckily, it hasn't seemed to cause him much pain. however, night time is no fun as he can't suck his thumb & that has been his source of comfort since he was about 4 months old.
oh, & he's also working on getting two molars in. poor thing.

it looks pretty bad here, but is actually on it's way to getting better. anyway, on to the stats:

weight - 22.4 lbs - 19%

height - 30.39 inches - 26%

head - 19 inches - 78%

as you can see he is still just a small fry...at least in our book. we love this silly guy so much!

ps if you'd like to send good thoughts & prayers his way that would be great. we'd like to avoid having to do another round of antibiotics for his thumb.

the vegetarians

2011-01-31T22:07:00.004-07:00

yes, it's true, we have become a vegetarian family (we do eat dairy & eggs - you can call us lacto-ovo vegetarians if you'd like). it started with guy & i toward the end of may last year. we were having a hard time deciding on meals & realizing that we were both just plain sick of meat. i couldn't even handle raw chicken anymore without getting grossed out. i've been a vegetarian before for about 6 years. guy has also dabbled with it in the past. so, after discussing it we decided "let's do it".

we still allowed parker & liam meat here & there. i didn't want to force either of them into it. however, parker has never been a big meat fan. a cheeseburger or chicken nuggets here & there. we've also found that liam preferred the vegetable over meat baby foods. so, after discussing with their pediatrician (who happens to be very pro vegetarian, we didn't know) which foods would be good sources of protein, etc. we have decided the whole family is going vegetarian.

i will admit at first guy & i weren't doing so great about getting our vegetables. it's actually kind of embarrassing how many cheese quesadillas we've eaten in the last 8 months. also, after he lost his job, forget about it...it was binge eating for about 3 straight months. i baked a lot of yummy, not good for you things. this was not good for us, our health, or our waist lines.

a goal i made for the new year was to lose 8 pounds a month (until i hit my main goal) & to eat more fruits & vegetables. guy has kind of joined me in this goal. also, my mini goal for january was to avoid eating treats & desserts. by eating more healthy & being mindful of our portions i'm proud to say that we have had a successful first month.

erin - 14 1/2 pounds lost

guy - 10 pounds lost

guy has also quit soda & chips. if you know guy & if it's true you are what you eat, then guy was about 95% soda & chips.

this is a huge lifestyle change for us, but i am up for the challenge. i especially want to be a good example to my children & encourage healthy eating while they are young. our mini goal for february is to be more active. on good weather days we are going to start taking family walks after lunch. i love that we are in this & doing this together.

ps if you'd like to see some of the yummy things we eat i've started a weekly "food friday" post on my other blog, clever seed.

cold head

2011-01-22T15:25:00.003-07:00

yesterday, parker informed me his head was cold so he was going to put his hat on. this is his go-to silly face.
just relaxing at the top of the stairs. nevermind the fact that he is wearing a hat with shorts & no socks, silly kid.

look into these eyes & then try to say "no" when he asks, "mommy, can i have some mushmellows?" i dare you.

smile for the camera!

this is a spoon

2011-01-22T15:20:00.002-07:00

yesterday i decided to let liam give self-feeding a try. he does really well with finger foods, but this was the first time i let him have the spoon. as you can see, he didn't quite get it all in his mouth.
in fact, i think he dumped it out & tried to pick it up with his hands. i had turned my back for a second & returned to see it all on his tray (& on his face, in his hair, on his jammies).

mmmmm...good to the last drop.

yogurt is good for the complexion, right?

it might seem silly...

2011-01-19T21:41:00.002-07:00

but i seriously want one of these....

daredevil

2011-01-17T13:03:00.002-07:00

our little liam is learning to climb. his favorite is to stand on things. whether it be a lid on the floor or his rocket ship like so.
oh, boy.

kindergarten progress

2011-01-14T14:05:00.008-07:00

the other night was parent teacher conference. i always look foward to this so we can find out how parker is doing. i am glad to say that so far he is doing great! here is a report on some of his goals.

sight words - there are about 33 sight words that they go over fairly regularly. of those 33 the students are supposed to know 25 by april. parker knows 28.

upper & lower case letter recognition - he knows 26/26 for each

letter sounds - he got 21/26 - the teacher explained that he goes through a flip chart & they have to say the sound the letter makes within about 2 seconds. so, he may know the sounds of all the letters, but he wasn't quite fast enough recalling 5 of them.

sound spelling - they encourage the kids to sound spell a word they don't know. generally they don't get the spelling right, but you get the basic idea. parker is doing really well with this & writes little notes all the time.

counting - there goal is to be able to count verbally to 50 & objects to 30, parker can go way beyond this. he has even started trying to count over 100.

days of the week - he knows his days of the week. now we are just practicing what comes before/after, etc..

identifying concepts from an informational book - he can identify the facts, but still has a hard time with the main idea. basically we just need to help him figure out what it is the author wanted him to get out of the book.

he follows directions, attends to work, does quality work, & shows respect.

i also met with his speech teacher a few weeks ago. she said that he is an "absolute joy to work with" & tries everything they ask him to do. she said he doesn't get frustrated & just keeps working on it. parker has shown so much improvement over that last year with his speech. we were watching movies of when liam was born & there is such a HUGE difference.

i am so proud of how well parker is doing in school. he has learned so much & surprises us each day with his knowledge. although i was a little worried about how he would do socially (as he is very shy), he has actually kind of blossomed in this area. he talks all the time about his friends & was even invited to a birthday party last week (i know some kids by his age are old pros at birthday parties. unfortunately, we never made friends in any of the apartments we lived in, so this is a first for him).

so that's the update on parker. we think he's a pretty dang fantastic kid & we love him so much! ♥

oh, liam...

2011-01-08T20:47:00.000-07:00

...he wants to be just like his daddy & brother.

box fun

2011-01-08T00:26:00.003-07:00

today i was helping my mom pack up the last of her christmas stuff. she had an extra chip box, so we put it together to let the boys play in it. parker is obsessed with blankets, pillows, & stuffed animals. right now he's got two blankets in there along with liam's blanket.
liam was just loving being in there with his brother. he LOVES playing & doing things with parker. he's getting to the age now where he tries to do what parker does.

liam & his blankie of choice which we have named kevin. a few weeks ago he started taking this blanket with him whenever he could. i guess we've got a thumb-sucking, blanket-loving linus on our hands. ♥

as i previously said, parker is obsessed with blankets. he kept adding more & more to the box until both boys could no longer fit. we transferred liam to his own basket with blankets & animals.

they both just kicked back & watched ice age (liam stayed in that basket the whole time). seriously, who needs a couch when you've got comfort like this? i wonder if they make laundry baskets in my size....

we know how to party

2011-01-02T17:56:00.002-07:00

new year's eve was pretty low-key for us..as it usually is. it continued to snow a ton, so it was nice to stay home all cozied up.
we let liam sit on the counter & eat chip dip. yes, he LOVED it.

there's a party going on right here!

i think liam was the craziest of the bunch.

we ate some frozen pizza & played rattlesnake. parker won the first two rounds, but then discovered it was more fun to make the "eggs" clash. liam laughed out loud every time the magnets clashed.

after the boys went to bed guy, my mom, & i fixed us some crackers & cheese, chips & dip, & other so-not-good-for-you goodies. we cuddled down on our extremely uncomfortable couch to watch the director's cut of robin hood. my mom pooped out at 11:30. guy & i knew it was midnight when the neighbors started banging pots & yelling outside.

yeah, we know how to party.

first time

2011-01-02T17:20:00.004-07:00

parker has never really played in the snow. there are many reasons, but this year no more excuses! parker has a warm coat, pants, boots, gloves, & a sledding tube (all of which were gifted to him, lucky kid). i can't even begin to tell you how excited he was to get to go out the other day (after finally feeling well enough..stupid croup). we have a little hill in our front yard which i thought would be perfect for his first time. he LOVED it!all the way down he would say, "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" & then laugh & laugh when he got to the sidewalk. this kid has been talking about doing a snow angel for as long as i can remember. after he was done sledding he headed out to the backyard in the untouched snow.
first snow angel! he was so happy & continued to play & "swim" in the snow for a bit. next time, hopefully we'll all be able to go out (liam was napping). all except boots, liam's got the gear he needs for some fun in the snow, too (he even has a tube we can pull him in).

saying good-bye to 2010

2010-12-30T23:52:00.009-07:00

i'm not gonna lie, this year has been a rough one. let's hope that 2011 has some good news for us. anyway, to say good-bye to 2010, i thought i'd share some highlights.

january

february

march

april

may

june

july

august

september

october

november

december

christmas 2010

2010-12-27T15:28:00.010-07:00

christmas eve we headed up to grandma & grandpa awsumb's house. we ate yummy food & opened fun presents. all the grandkids got cute little monsters that gma awsumb made. on our way home we stopped at grandma & grandpa kidd's house & had a nice quick visit with them. then we headed home for the night. we let parker open up our package of christmas jammies (thanks to great-grandma kidd's christmas $$). then we took our traditional christmas eve picture using our new tripod. unfortunately, you can't see our cute jammies as we all got pants, haha.

christmas morning i woke up to an excited parker exclaiming that santa had come! mommy, "santa came! there was enough christmas spirit & santa came!" he was so excited i thought his little heart was going to pound right out of his chest!

i got him to pause for just a moment while we waited for daddy & grandma to join us. we also had to go wake liam up since he was still sleeping.

liam was entranced by this little santa in an airplane.

so excited to get a dr kit. he's had a ton of fun playing doctor & patient.

liam got a little bored so he went & sat on his rocket. after all the presents were open we headed upstairs for christmas donuts. then we all got ready for our extended family to come.

cami & clint played spongebob operation with parker. he loves that they will play his games with him.

uncle clint was an especially good sport...i think he played every single new game with parker. this included 6 new cards games. parker loves his uncle clint!

my cute mom with some of the food we had prepared. it was quite the spread of deliciousness.

liam checking out his new tubing sled from gramma mar jean. look at his little curls he's getting in the back!

now checking out parker's new tube.

this was liam's favorite thing of the day. he kept climbing in parker's tube & standing up in it. he was so cute!

my brother & his family came over & we all just hung around. my dad was also there visiting. as it started to get later & people were getting ready to go, parker got a huge burst of energy. he used this to entertain little lucy (liam was in bed). he was running & bouncing all over the place. she thought it was the funniest thing in the world. she was trying to catch up to him (she hasn't been walking for too long) & he just kept making her laugh.

one of parker's favorite things to do is get some "fresh air". as people were getting ready to leave he asked if he could go outside to get some. i made him put his boots on & just stay on the porch. i thought he looked cute in his new mario jammies (which he LOVES) & his boots.

parker with his aunt cami...he can be silly sometimes.

well, obviously after everyone had left parker was wound up like a top. he did not want to go to bed so i decided to have him lay down with me by my mom's tree. it was nice to have that peaceful time just cuddling & talking. here parker is showing me how to use your imagination (by closing your eyes). sometimes i wonder what is going on through his little mind.

in all, it was a simple, laid back, & lovely christmas (aside from being sick & zombie-like due to the dayquil). i hope that by carrying on the traditions we have & not getting carried away with extravagance we can teach our children what christmas is really about. merry christmas everyone!

christmas 2010

2010-12-25T08:00:00.004-07:00

wishing you a very, merry christmas! despite all the bad that can happen throughout the year, i think christmas helps us to remember the good. i am so thankful to everyone who has made this christmas possible for our kids. what a humbling experience & i hope to someday be able to do the same for another family. from our family to yours, may you be blessed with peace, love, & hope.

snowed in

2010-12-21T14:10:00.002-07:00

school was canceled today. in all my life growing up in this area i can't remember ever having school canceled. it's been snowing all night. it's quite pretty & peaceful to be covered in a blanket of snow.
i'm glad we don't have anywhere to go today. i like the snow, but not when we have to drive in it.

our power went out around 4am. i was worried about the boys, so i covered them each with about 5 blankets. i'm sure when they woke up they couldn't figure out why they had 10 pounds of blanket covering them.

we had 16 inches out on our deck, which actually wasn't the deepest part. however, i didn't feel like putting snow gear on & trudging through the snow. our neighbors dog couldn't even see over the path they had dug out for it.

it's still snowing.

SNOW!!

locked in

2010-12-20T00:12:00.003-07:00

we had a busy weekend, busier than most. friday night after we got home parker wasn't the happiest of boys. granted it was about 3 hours past his bedtime. also, he hadn't been home since he'd left for school at 8am. so yeah, he was allowed to be a bit grumpy. anyway, he didn't want to brush his teeth & go to bed, so he slammed the door to the bathroom. well, when i tried to open the door, it wouldn't open. i thought he had locked the door so i told him to unlock it. still wouldn't open. i then told him to let go of the knob, still wouldn't open. so i got a little after him & really told him to let go of the knob & that's when he said, "mommy, i'm not holding onto the knob, you are." that's when i knew we had a problem.after trying to pick the lock from the outside we determined we'd need to remove the knob all together. well, as it so happens, the screws to remove it were on the inside. so, guy slipped a screwdriver under the door & instructed parker on what he needed to do. he did get a little nervous about being stuck in there, but we talked him through it & joked around with him.

still, after removing the knob we could not get the latch to open. the only thing we could figure was something must have gotten broken (however, he really didn't slam the door hard, so it must have been really weak). my mom wanted to call a locksmith, but it was 11:30 pm & none of us could afford a late night weekend house call.

finally, after instructing parker to stand back, i leaned myself against the wall & used my foot to push on the door while guy had a screw driver trying to push on the latch. luckily, it popped open & we could see that the latch had truly been broken.

it only took about 40 minutes to get parker out. he was quite happy after that. we do need to replace the door knob, but luckily nothing much else was damaged.

christmas pretty

2010-12-15T23:20:00.003-07:00

i knew christmas was getting close, but it wasn't until this morning that i realized just how close it really is.

christmas is my favorite holiday. i love getting together with family in celebration. i love being cozied up inside while it's snowing. i love baking & making yummy treats together. i love the music & excitement & joy in the air.

i love the lights! they make everything so magical. a family friend was getting rid of a bunch of lights she had. i told her i would take them. i went through two boxes of lights & most of them were still good! i added some to the ones we had put up earlier. it looks much better in my opinion (except that one strand that goes on & off due to a short).

see, magical.

i added some to the inside with garland heading up the staircase. i just love how this turned out.

today i started wrapping christmas presents. i usually wait until christmas eve & wind up staying awake until around 4am (which is why i usually look like a zombie on christmas). i'm so glad to say that santa will be visiting our boys this year thanks to some fantastic little elves.
crusty!!

snow boy

2010-12-15T23:01:00.003-07:00

parker is LOVING all his snow gear he got for early christmas presents. it's so nice knowing that he's warm.his favorite is to go stomping through the snow with his boots. he was so happy when he woke this morning to about six inches of fresh snow. i can't wait to take him sledding, it's going to be so fun. also, don't mind the blurry pictures. i can't get this kid to hold still for anything anymore.

the boxer

2010-12-15T22:47:00.002-07:00

liam has taken it upon himself to make it look like he gets in fights everyday. look at my cute little, handsome boy...now look closer at his face.
in the past 1 1/2 weeks or so he has: opened the entertainment unit door into his face 3 times, fallen on a small rubbermaid bin, fell in his crib, pulled a bin of toys onto himself, & just today fell on something that got the bridge of his nose. all these things have resulted in little bruises & cuts to that precious little face.

the champion!

or rather crusty!

liam hadn't had a bath for a couple days (busy nights around here) & when my kids get dirty i call them crusty. haha...anyway, guy was holding his arms up & saying "crusty!" so of course, liam started imitating him. ah, we love him so.

christmas program

2010-12-08T22:48:00.003-07:00

today parker had his christmas program at school. this is his very first time being in anything like this & i was so proud of him. he did a great job! when he first got up on the stage you could tell he was nervous. i stood up & waved to him, he waved back & looked a lot more confident after that.

they started off with flashlights in the dark to the music of charlie brown christmas.

they also sang rockin' around the christmas tree. at one point they had to pretend to play the trumpet, that's what parker is doing in the next picture. don't mind the blurry faces...i did that on purpose.

they sang quite a few songs, the show lasted about 20 minutes. my favorite part was when they sang jingle bells.

i guess the boys were told to play a "tough guy" when they sang jingle bells because they put their arms up like a rapper & sang it in a low voice. parker then held his "tough guy" pose until it was his turn to sing again. i couldn't stop laughing, he was so dang cute!

snow lights

2010-12-01T01:10:00.004-07:00

i decided tonight would be a perfect time to put up a few outside christmas lights. we all bundled up as best we could & headed out. i told guy he should grow his beard out until he gets a job. isn't it looking spectacular?! parker refused to join us for a group picture. he was too excited to stomp around in his snow boots. i can't wait until he gets his warm clothes so he can really play in the snow (hopefully santa will be able to bring them).
liam & i in our cozy fake fur (don't you LOVE liam's hat?) kind of hard to tell in this picture, but the birth mark on his nose gets really dark when he's cold.

last year liam was too tiny of a newborn to be introduced to snow. this was his first meeting. he seemed to like it & was having fun hitting it out of guy's hand. hopefully santa will bring him some warm clothes, too :)

parker wanted to walk across the street to see our lights after we were done. i think he just wanted to be able to stomp through more snow.

our meager attempt at christmas lights....hopefully we can find some more as we go through our christmas storage. either way, i just LOVE christmas lights.

tree time

2010-11-28T21:06:00.004-07:00

tonight we got the tree out of storage for the season. liam was so excited even though he didn't know quite what was going on.
liam kept laughing & laughing while trying to help.

liam sitting on his daddy's lap....he is such a daddy's boy it's CRAZY!

parker loved helping set up the tree.

here parker is pretending that we just found our tree & he is chopping it down.

parker putting the star on the tree with assistance of liam & the headless daddy.

liam getting his turn...although, he wasn't really quite sure what daddy was making him do.

parker was so happy once it was all done. he was jumping up & down & said, "now santa can bring us everything that we want!" which, actually was about the most heartbreaking thing to hear given our present situation.

i love the christmas season & how magical all the twinkling lights make everything feel. there's nothing quite like the snow falling outside wrapping the house in a blanket of snow, while cuddled up inside with the ones that you love.

looking for a unique gift?

2010-11-26T14:54:00.003-07:00

mortimer is waiting.....

be sure to check out my new little cleverseed store.

thanksgiving

2010-11-25T22:08:00.004-07:00

thanksgiving this year was a little different for us. we weren't able to afford our usual trip down south to my aunt's house. after much discussion we decided it might be fun to celebrate with our own little family....i kind of forgot that meant i would have to do all the cooking ;) "you're safe with us mr. turkey"

on the menu -

mashed taters

stuffing - cranberry / apple
corn

sweet yams

rolls

cranberry sauce

veggie gravy

acini de pepe salad

olives/pickles

pumpkin pie

wine - apple/raspberry juice

cream pie

green bean casserole

i am thankful for my ability to cook & enjoy it. i love being able to feed my family delicious meals. i am thankful for my parker. he is such a sweet & loving little boy. although he can be a stinker i wouldn't trade him for the world.

i am thankful for my husband who loves me with all his heart. he is always concerned with how i am doing & my feelings. i couldn't ask for a better man. i am thankful for our little liam. i was beginning to wonder if we'd have another when this little guy came along. he is the happiest & cuddliest little buddy.

i am thankful for my ability to create. i love to be able to say 'i made that'. i am thankful for my senses - taste, sight, sound, touch, smell.

i am thankful that we have a roof over our heads & food for our bellies. i am thankful that we are provided help while going through this financially difficult time.

i am thankful for family & friends. i am thankful for inspirational people. i am thankful for those who have fought & continue to fight for our freedom.

so many, many things to be thankful for. i hope you had a wonderul day of thanksgiving. i'm going to enjoy my pumpkin pie with spiced cream clouds now .

snow & etsy

2010-11-21T13:54:00.002-07:00

we woke up to about 6 inches of snow this morning. not much, but enough to make everything pretty & white.

i've been working pretty hard the past couple days to get some things ready for my etsy shop. this is something i've been wanting to do for a long time....a loooooong time. i finally decided to just take the leap & get some things made. my hands hurt, but the results have been so rewarding! i can't wait to show you.

i've also decided that i need a benefactor to really get this ball rolling :) i could definitely use an upgraded sewing machine (i've been doing everything by hand because mine is doing weird things). i also need a few supplies...i'm running out of glue & stuffing.

pictures to come soon!

date night

2010-11-15T00:36:00.004-07:00

saturday my mom watched the boys so that guy & i could go celebrate our anniversary for the day. since we don't have a lot of money right now, we went on a food adventure. we called it our tour through europe. anyway, a lot of people on the internet have been talking about these cookies for some time now (seriously, google french macarons & you'll see what i mean). i found this bakery, les madeleines, in salt lake that makes them, so off to our first stop.i knew they were tiny, but they were smaller than i thought. so cute, so tasty, so expensive. we only bought a couple. then off to our next stop at tony caputos. we have loved their sandwiches for a while now, so we got a tomato, basil, & fresh mozzarella sandwich to split. of course we had to wash it down with aranciata.next we moved on to bruges waffles & frites. we shared the awesome fries & yummy andalouse mayo...i want some right now.we also split this cinnamon liege waffle...oh, seriously, i could go back & eat tons more of their waffles & fries. yum!

apparently the birds like the waffles, too. they weren't shy about coming right up to our table looking for a crumb or two.

after all the food we headed over to the gateway to do some window shopping. although we missed our boys (because we just love them so much) it was nice to have time together to wander through the stores with no rush. after about 3 hours of wandering, we decided to head toward home....but then we decided we were hungry again (i know, shocking huh?) we had a free meal on our frequent diner card from cafe paesan, so we stopped in for a quick little dinner there.

maybe someday we'll actually get to tour europe for our anniversay, but for now, yesterday was a perfect day spent with my wonderful husband.

6 years

2010-11-13T00:55:00.003-07:00

i really can't say it any better than this.happy 6 years to my love, my best friend, my partner! i can't wait to see what the next 6 & more bring. i love you!

halloween weekend

2010-11-01T01:13:00.005-06:00

this past week i've been busy finishing up the boy's costumes. it's amazing what you can do with some felt & thread (or glue, if you're so inclined). a fun little fact about parker's costume: my grandma made the head piece & cape about 30 years ago for my older brother. my mom found it going through her old stuff & that's what helped us decide what parker would be for halloween. since he loves batman he was super excited about this. we got him some gray thermal pajamas & pretty much everything else was made with felt. oh, & guy drew the bat symbol freehand for me. yeah, wow. our little monster...could he have been anything else? i used felt to add the eyes & mouth to an existing fuzzy romper that we had. i crocheted the hat & added stuffed felt horns. oh, & yes, he has a tail. :)

for some reason i just love this picture.
since parker had a four day weekend we decided to make a mini-vacation of it. we headed up to grandma & grandpa awsumb's house for some halloween fun. we got to carve some cool looking pumpkins. while trying to take this picture liam kept pushing the pumpkin & it nearly rolled off his tray. parker couldn't wait to carve pumpkins. he told us he wanted his pumpkin to be mickey mouse.

well, we didn't have any carving kits, so guy designed the mickey mouse pattern & i designed the owl. we then had to cut them out old-school style with regular kitchen knives. guy also did the little pumpkin. i think they all turned out pretty great.

silly guy sneaking in the picture with all the kids.

so just as we decided to head out it started to rain. by the time we got to the third house it was pouring! i took liam back to the house & guy stayed out with parker & his cousins. guy & parker headed home about 10 minutes later. they were both soaked. the rain did let up a bit after our yummy dinner of soup & bread (thanks grandma awsumb!), but parker was happy with the bit of candy he got, so we stayed in the warm house.

parker & hailey watching "scared shrekless". they just love going trick or treating together.

liam LOVED grandma's dog kona. poor little dog had some stitches (nothing serious) that she wouldn't stop licking, so she was forced to wear the cone of shame (or life preserver).

swami kona...the donut deflated a little so she tried to get it off, but it got stuck. too funny!

we hope you all had a spook-tacular halloween!

banana pancakes

2010-10-25T00:39:00.002-06:00

it has become a tradition to have family breakfast on the weekends (since weekdays are usually hectic & running late to catch the bus). it seems that we have become a pancake family. i have a few favorite recipes i make from scratch (oatmeal pancakes & pumpkin pancakes). however, i've also come up with some tricks to make pancake mix just a little better. just add a bit of cinnamon, vanilla, & milk instead of water...yum! my mini-banana pancake stack

i made mini pancakes for liam & as soon as i handed him one he shoved the whole thing in his mouth. apparently he was really hungry. parker's new thing now is to try & hide from the camera. he has also decided he doesn't like syrup on his pancakes because it makes his fingers sticky.

i guess guy was feeling left out that i wasn't pointing the camera at him. i love these breakfast times with my little family.

1 year old

2010-10-23T17:46:00.003-06:00

it doesn't seem like that long ago that we brought our sweet little baby home. so many things have happened & yet, it doesn't feel like a whole year has passed.our sweet little baby his first day home (about 3 days old). i miss that new baby-ness.

liam is our little goof ball (i think he gets it from his brother.) he loves to be silly & knows how to really make us laugh.
i think he is quite the handsome little fella. his 8 little teeth just crack me up.

liam is so excited to be walking now. he did not want to hold still for pictures & kept walking away as if we had set him free!
he is very curious about everything around him. he likes to explore & discover.

i was getting a little worried because he didn't like anything other than his pureed baby food. however, just in the last couple weeks he's started wanting more "big boy" food. he loves cheese quesadillas & bread especially.

liam was quite distracted by everything but the camera while taking his picture. notice that he is very careful not to put his hands on the grass. he does not like the feel of grass.

liam LOVES his brother & his daddy so much. he's pretty fond of his mommy, too. he has the best laugh & we all love to make him giggle.

happy birthday liam! we love you so much!

poor baby

2010-10-18T19:53:00.004-06:00

liam has had a cold for about a week now. we thought he was getting better, but then yesterday he woke up with a swollen, bruised eye & some wicked green boogies. then last night was just awful. he slept for a few hours & then woke up crying & miserable. he finally went back down at about 2am. well, he only slept an hour & was up & crying again at 3. he only wanted me & i could only stand with him. if i got close to his bedroom at all he would freak out. finally, guy made him a bottle & liam fell asleep at about 4am & slept until 8am.

a little hard to see, but he has bruising & swelling under his right eye (left in pic).

i wasn't quite sure what to do because we are currently without insurance (waiting on medicaid approval). liam had his 1 year old appointment scheduled for next monday, but we just couldn't afford both. luckily, i talked to the nurse & she said we could combine the appointments & she move it to today. we took the little guy in & found out he has an ear infection & possible sinus infection (apparently not common in such little kids).

we couldn't get immunizations today because he had a fever, but i guess they are cheaper at the health clinic anyway. poor little guy, doesn't he just look miserable?

1 year old stats -

weight - 20.61 lbs - 20%

length - 29.53 inches - 45% (he's back on his curve, dr thinks last check-up measurement was wrong)

head - 19 inches - 93%

he's doing well as far as all his milestones. he's been walking all over the place & can climb all the way up the stairs without stopping. hopefully, the antibiotics will help so the little guy can be his happy self at his birthday party.