Parker's Community Helper Fair

Parker's preschool spends the entire month of October learning about community helpers. To complete the month, they have a community helper fair. Instead of dressing in their Halloween costumes, they dress up as their favorite community helper. Parker chose to be a fire fighter this year.

At the fair, they rotate through different stations and learn about each community helper. Parker's favorite station this year was the same as last year- the garbage collector. He loved gathering up all of the trash and putting it in the trashcan. Some other favorites were dentist, veterinarian, and musician.
As I was leaving the fair, I noticed that all the students had placed their name on a bulletin board next to the community helper that they wanted to be when they grow up. Uncle Jon will be proud to learn that Parker chose fire fighter!

Golfing with Granstan

Parker went golfing with his Daddy and Granstan for the first time today. He was a little hesitant about going but once they got started he had a good time. According to Cory, the highlights of the trip were putting his ball on the greens and washing his golf balls in the ball washers. Apparently, he had the cleanest golf balls on the course! When I asked him about his outing, he told me that they had to play 18 holes and that there was a flag at every hole. It's funny to experience golf through the eyes of a 4 year old! I'm curious to see if Parker develops a desire to play golf in the future. I know his Granstan sure hopes he does!

BUSTED!!!

Lily got caught playing with the toilet paper today! Eden used to play with the toilet paper all of the time and I am really surprised that it has taken Lily this long to discover it. Eden could get an entire roll onto the floor in a matter of minutes. Lily likes to pull some off and then sit and tear that little bit into teeny tiny pieces which makes clean up a lot more tedious!
So mischievous! But how could you be mad at a face like that?!?!?!

GO RANGERS!!!!

I wish I was posting about how exciting it was to see the Rangers win the World Series last night, but after 7 excruciating games, they unfortunately fell short of the title. The games were incredibly close and stressful and I have to admit that I am very glad this season of baseball is over. I don't know how much more I could have taken!

Cory and I did not get a chance to go to any of the World Series games but we did attend two of the American League Championship Series games- Game 2 where Cruz hit a walk off grand slam in the 11th inning (awesome!) and Game 6 where they clinched the American League title that allowed them to go to the World Series. They were both great games and it was so fun to get to help them celebrate their championship. Thanks again to the Wedels who invited us to Game 6- we had a great time!

Dr. Wedel's huge Texas flag got us on the Jumbotron twice during the game!

Cory got his head painted to show his team spirit!

Thursday School Parties

Yesterday the kids had their Halloween parties at Thursday school. I was not sure if Eden was going to like wearing her butterfly costume to school but she loved it! She told my mom as they were getting dressed for school, "I'm so happy!" I've never had to be at two parties at once. Luckily, Cory is off on Thursdays so he was able to go to Parker's party while I went to Eden's. The kids were eating their treats when I got there. Unfortunately, Eden's teacher had gone home sick earlier in the day, so after Eden finished her cookie, we headed over to Parker's party to check things out.
By the time I got to Parker's party, they had already played a game, eaten their cookies, and were digging through their treat bags.

Parker loved his silly glasses and teeth!

Parker's best friend at Thursday school is Cason. I was able to get a great picture of the boys after the party. Parker and Cason were in the same class two years ago and it is so fun to see how they have changed over the past two years. (Notice that Parker is eating a sucker in both pictures. Some things never change!)
Overall, the parties were very successful! The kids had fun and got WAY too much candy that I am going to have to try and avoid eating!

Four and a Half

Parker,

You turn four and a half today! All I can say is- what a difference six months makes! You are a completely different child from just six months ago. You have matured so much and are growing into such a wonderful little boy! I enjoy spending my days with you and can not imagine what it will be like without you next year when you go to kindergarten. Here are some of the things I want to remember about you at this age:

-You are still strong willed (some things will never change!) but you can now reason enough to not throw temper tantrums when you get upset. You still cry when things don't go your way, but your fits usually don't last long at all. You still like to test the limits but not nearly as often because you have learned that what mommy and daddy say is what we mean. I am so proud of how much you have matured since your birthday! Being your mommy has become so much more fun since I don't feel like I spend all my time disciplining you day in and day out. Our days are not perfect, but they are much easier than they were this time last year.

-You are such a boy! You can make a gun out of anything (blocks, sticks, food) and you love to "shoot the big guys". You love to run, chase, and be rough. I am always reminding you that you have to be gentle with Eden and Lily. You are so impulsive with your playing and we are really working on thinking about what you are doing before you actually do it. This seems to be the most frequent reason that gets you in trouble these days! (That and talking back. We are really working on learning that you do not always get to have the last word in a disagreement!)

-You love to reenact things. For example, you tripped and stumped your toe at Granna's a few days ago. You showed me at least 10 times how you fell by falling on the floor and rolling around. Your reenactments are always complete with sound effects too!

-You are still one of the biggest kids in your class. Last month at preschool you weighed 46 pounds and were 44 inches tall. You are wearing size 5-6 clothes and size 12 shoe.

-You have reached several big milestones recently. You have almost completely stopped sucking your thumb and you no longer wear a diaper at night. You were so proud when you decided that you wanted to wear underwear at night. You have done a great job and have not had any accidents.

-You LOVE sports! Baseball, basketball, football, golf... pretty much anything with a ball! You love to watch sports with your daddy and get so excited when he lets you stay up past your bedtime to watch the Rangers with him. You are getting good at throwing and catching the baseball with daddy and you love hitting the ball with Granna in the mornings when you play outside.

-You love to be outside, but you also love to be inside playing video games. You play games on the computer, Playstation, big screen (iPad) or iPhone. We still have to monitor how much you play everyday or you would never stop playing.

-You love to draw and color and have gotten much better at coloring within the lines. You sometimes spend an hour coloring and working on your pictures. You can now write your first name in lowercase letters and you are working on learning how to write you middle and last names.

-You love going to school and seem to pick up on concepts quickly. You know all of your letters/sounds but are not reading yet. I think reading will come easy to you once you learn how to put everything together. You also enjoy working with numbers. You can add numbers together and have shown a lot of interest in telling time.

-You are not the best eater but you do eat a lot of things that you do like. You're always so proud when you clean your plate. If there is something new on your plate, you will usually at least try one bite and see if you like it. I hope that one day you will branch out and try new foods. You still tend to prefer salty snacks over sweets, just like your mommy.

-You are rough and tough, but you also have a sweet, sensitive side to you. You love your sisters and cousins and are very loving when you want to be. I often catch you giving Lily hugs and kisses when you are playing with her, which melts my heart! I pray that you will always have a special place in your heart for your sisters.

I love you, Parker, and I am so proud of the little boy that you are becoming. It has been a long road and some days have been very hard, but you are worth every moment! I can not wait to see what the next 6 months brings for you.

I love you to the moon and back, Mommy

Guess Who...

discovered the Halloween candy bowl?

Just in case you were wondering...Lily was NOT happy when I took that sucker away from her!

Mr. Smiles

Look who's started smiling!!!!

I realized after my last post that this picture of my nephew Ryan got left out. It is just too sweet not to share so I decided to give Mr. Ryan his own special post.

Ryan is such an easy going, content, and smiley baby. He is such a blessing to our family! Although we are all smitten with him, I think Parker is the most excited in our family about the addition of another boy cousin. He is always in his face giving him hugs and kisses and I'm sure if Ryan could talk, he'd tell him, "Buddy, have you ever heard of a little thing called personal space?!?!"

I have enjoyed watching my kids as their relationships with their cousins have developed and look forward to seeing how Ryan is going to fit into this wonderful but crazy mix of kids!

Lily's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Lily's birthday with a small party at our house with a few family and friends. I ordered Lily a special birthday outfit complete with a tutu, but did not realize when I ordered it just how big the tutu was. She HATED it!! I could only get her to wear it for a few minutes before she started tugging at it and crying. Luckily I got a few cute pictures of her in it before we took it off.

After a few pictures, we traded it for a softer, less full tutu that Eden wore on her first birthday and Lily was happier and much more comfortable!

The kids jumped in the bounce house while we tried to get a few pictures of Lily and then we all gathered around to sing to Lily and have cake and ice cream. Lily's cake was the traditional #1 cake that all of the kids have had on their first birthdays. (I'm a little sad that this is the last time we will get to have this cake at our parties. Now, on to bigger and better things!)

Lily got her own "smash cake" too! (It looked a lot cuter before Eden stuck her fingers in it!)

Lots of pink! Lily was not sure what to think about the cake at first, which surprised me a little bit. Usually she becomes a little bird when she realizes that sweets are nearby!

Eden finally stepped in to help show her what to do! She finally figured it out, but was very careful with it and actually stayed pretty clean. I didn't even have to give her a bath after she was done.
The big kids enjoyed their cake and ice cream too! Next I helped Lily open her presents. She got some fun new toys that all 3 kids have enjoyed playing with today. Parker showed Ryan how to work the new jack-in-the-box. I think Ryan was quite impressed!
After presents, all the kids headed back outside to spend some more time jumping in the bounce house. Before I knew it, Lily had crawled outside and climbed up into the bounce house without any help at all. She was so proud of herself and she had the best time jumping with the big kids. It was the most I'd seen her smile all day!
We had a great time celebrating our sweet Lily and are so thankful to all of our family and friends that came over to help her celebrate her special day!