Happy 4th Birthday Jewell!

Today Parker's friend, Jewell, turns four years old. She is almost exactly 2 months older than Parker. Every year on her birthday I am reminded that Parker will soon be having a birthday and turning another year older. It is very hard to believe that Parker and Jewell are turning 4 this year. It seems like just yesterday that Stacey and I were pregnant and completely clueless about how much our lives were about to change. It has been so fun to watch Parker and Jewell grow up together. It will be fun to see if they remain friends all throughout their childhood.

This weekend we got to help Jewell celebrate at her Candyland themed birthday party. We decorated gingerbread cookies, ate yummy cake and ice cream, opened presents, and helped break open a pinata. The highlight of the party for Parker was getting to jump on Jewell's new trampoline. He and Eden both spent most of the party jumping and jumping and jumping! They both had a great time and we hope Jewell had a wonderful birthday today!

The birthday girl with her Candyland cake

Our Newest Addition

We got a new addition to our family this week! No, I'm not pregnant and we didn't get a new puppy! We got a swing set in our backyard! I have been wanting a play set for the kids for a long time but Cory wasn't sure the kids were big enough yet. After a lot of begging, I finally convinced Cory to go look at them. We went to a pre-owned place in town and they had just gotten one in that was in great condition. After a little bit of bargaining, we settled on a good deal and they were able to deliver it this week. We had thought about waiting until Parker's birthday to get one but I realized that we would miss out on two months of great outside weather if we waited. I am so glad we didn't wait- the weather has been great this week and the kids have spent most of their waking hours playing outside on their new swing set.

Parker was so excited when they arrived on Tuesday to set it up. He watched them out the window and kept asking when he could go out and play. Unfortunately, they had to treat the wood so he had to wait several hours before he could go out. It was pure torture for him! Finally, the wood was dry enough to go out. He and Eden played until it was too dark to play any more. They did the same thing every night this week. I had so much fun watching them play and I hope that this will be the beginning of many memories that Parker and Eden (and eventually Lily) will make on their swing set.

Watching them set up the swing set Finally getting to play Look how curly Eden's hair is- can you tell it was humid?!?! Playing in the dark- they did not want to come in!

A Bad Choice

Eden has been very interested in playing with her dolls lately. She is very nuturing and loves to carry them around the house.

I am not sure what this doll did to have to sit in the dishwasher for a time out. Personally, I don't think the dishwasher is an ideal spot for time out and I am pretty sure CPS might also frown upon Eden's choice of discipline! I will definitely have to discuss this with her before she starts babysitting in a few years.

I Feel Old!

I didn't feel old when I had babies of my own.

I didn't feel old when friends of my little sister started having babies.

But I felt really old last month when one of the girls I used to babysit had her first baby.

I started babysitting Kellie when she was six years old. I've watched her over the past twenty years as she has graduated from high school and college and gotten married. Last month she welcomed baby Avery into her family. Lily and I got to go a few weeks ago and meet Avery. She is such a sweetie!

I felt really old sitting next to Kellie comparing baby stories. It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting on the floor playing Barbies with her. How time flies! I know she is going to be such a wonderful mom and I can't wait to see how Avery has grown the next time they are in town!

At Kellie's baby shower in November

Meeting Avery

Four Months Old

Another month has come and gone and Lily continues to grow, and grow, and grow! She is getting to be quite a chunk and carrying her around all day is getting harder and harder. I am anxious to take her for her checkup this week to see what her current stats are.
Lily, here are a few of the things that you have been up to this month:

-You continue to be a happy baby and you "talk" all of the time. You love to coo and smile at us and have started laughing a lot more this month.

-You are about to move into size 3 diapers and are moving into size 6-9 month clothes.
-You are getting very close to rolling over. You can roll over onto your side but then you stop. I don't think it will be much longer before you are rolling over in both directions.

-You are still a great sleeper, both during the day and at night. I realize how lucky we are that you sleep so well and I do not take it for granted!

-You are holding your head up so well, especially when you are laying on your tummy.
-You like to lay under your activity mat and can now grab the toys that are hanging from it. We tried to let you sit in the excersaucer last week but you are not quite ready for it yet.
-You are such a sweet baby and I thank God for you every day! Watching you grow is somewhat bittersweet as all of your "firsts" are also "lasts". Knowing that you are our last baby makes me appreciate everything you are doing more than I ever have before. I can't wait to see what is in store for you this next month!

Who's Who?

Eden or Lily?

Lily or Eden?

I can't believe how much they look alike!

Do you know who is who?

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to my three sweethearts! You continue to fill my heart with more and more love every day!

Parker's TOT Performance

Thursday night was Parker's first TOT performance of the year. TOT is a basketball program that his preschool offers one day a week. It teaches the kids a lot of basketball skills like dribbling and catching as well as academic skills like colors and shapes. At first, we were hesitant to enroll Parker in the program because we were not sure if he would participate. Now we are so glad that we signed him up. He loves going every week and especially loves his teacher, Miss TOT.

His first performance was supposed to be during the ice/snow week and got rescheduled for Thursday night. We knew nothing about what was going to happen at the performance- all we knew was that Parker had to be at the high school gym at 6:15. He was going to be the halftime entertainment at the high school girl's basketball game.

Cory and I have been a little worried about how Parker would do at his performance. He often gets very shy in large groups and refuses to participate, so our attitude going into the show was that as long as he did not cry and throw a fit, it would be a success!

There were about 55 kids that participated in the TOT performance. The kids were from several other preschools around town as well as Parker's preschool. Parker waited patiently with us in the stands until halftime. Then Cory took him down to the court and left him with Miss TOT. He walked out onto the court and found a yellow mat to stand on. (For those of you who don't know- yellow is Parker's favorite color. I was so glad that he got a yellow mat. There might have been some tears if he had gotten another color.) He found Cory and I in the stands, blew us a kiss, and then did a great job showing off his new basketball skills.

We were so proud of Parker and were quite impressed with what he's learned this year. He does not usually come home and show us what he does in class, so many of these skills were new to us. We were so glad that Granstan, Grandma and Papa were also able to come and watch his program. (And a huge thanks goes to my mom for keeping Eden and Lily for me so that I could focus on Parker. I know she hated missing the program, but it really helped to not have to worry about the girls during the performance.) Parker's next performance is in May. I can't wait to see what else he will learn this year.

Blowing us a kiss (he did this several times during the program!)
Here is the video of Parker's performance. I realize that it is quite lengthy, but I wanted a few family members to get to see it. (One more thing- we realized after the program that Parker is pretty much a basketball prodigy. If there are any college or NBA recruiters that accidentally happen upon my blog and want to go ahead and sign Parker for the 2025 basketball season, feel free to email me!)

Parker's Pajama Picnic

Can you guess what letter they were studying at Parker's preschool this week?

On Thursday, Parker got to wear his pajamas to school because they were learning about the letter 'p'. They also finished the day with a picnic. All of the parents were invited to come and eat lunch with the students.

I have been in Dallas at a dyslexia training all week and was not able to go to the picnic. Luckily, Cory was off and went instead. Other than me forgetting to send a towel for Parker to sit on during the picnic, they had a great time and I know that Parker enjoyed some special time with his daddy!