Parkerisms and Edenisms

Out of the mouth of babes!  You just can't make this stuff up!  Here are some of our recent funnies:

Parkerisms:
"Granna, I almost hit a tricycle (cycle) in my baseball game last night!" 
(Parker hit a single, triple, and home run in one of his tball games.  Cory told him that if he had hit a double, he would have hit a cycle.  He couldn't wait to tell Granna the next morning!)

Yesternight- Apparently, last night + yesterday = yesternight

"Mom, I want to dip my apples in some of that carnival (caramel)."

Edenisms:
Eden loves to sing her ABC song.  Up until the last few weeks this is how she sang it:
ABCDEFG
HIJK Elmo Elmo P
QRSTUV
WXYZ

"Mom, can I put this coin in my money pig (piggy bank)?"

"Mom, your car is dirty.  You need soap and a spongebob (sponge)."

Every night as I am leaving her room, Eden asks me, "Mom, will you come back and pep (check) on me?"

One of the sounds that Eden has trouble making is s-blends, such as sc- and sw-.  She often substitutes the /f/ sound for these blends.  One of my favorite things that she says right now is "Mom will you fratch (scratch) my back?".  And even though it is the middle of November, she still asks me all the time if she can go fwimming (swimming) at Granna's house.

The other sounds that she is working on in speech are /k/ and /g/.  I am really going to miss when she stops saying:
titty tat for kitty cat
otay for okay
tittle for tickle
goddles for goggles
The list goes on and on.  I am so thankful for her speech therapist but know it will be bittersweet when she starts pronouncing everything correctly.  All of these substitutions are just so Eden.  It will seem so different when they are gone.

Photo Dump

I was looking at pictures on my iPhone with Lily this week and realized that there were several pictures that I've never shared.  They made me smile and I thought my family might like them too! So here goes:

 

Eden looked like such a diva in her princess dress and sunglasses! 

Lily LOVES to swing!  She asks me several times a day to "swing me?"  I'm pretty sure she'd swing ALL. DAY. LONG. if I would let her.  Look how happy she is- how can you say no to a face like that!

Lily also LOVES her new winter coat.  She loves it so much that she refuses to take it off- even for breakfast!

Lily's hair is now long enough to put in a little ponytail.  I don't think I've seen anything cuter!

We go to Wal*Mart every Sunday after church.  It's right before lunch which means the kids are starting to get cranky.  Ring Pops often help us make it through our weekly shopping trip.  Don't judge- you would do it too after listening to three kids whine and cry week after week.

At our school fall festival last month, Parker's friend Cole won "Eat with the Assistant Principal" and invited Parker to join him.  Mrs. Perry treated them to a Sonic lunch complete with a Sprite!  They had a great time and I can only hope that Parker remembered to use his manners!

Last week the kids BEGGED me to take a bath in the master bathtub.  I'm not sure why I agreed but I did.  Look at those smiles!  They were soooo excited that I finally said yes!  I left them alone to play for about 5 minutes and when I came back, my bathroom was literally covered in water.  I have no idea what they did but there was water on the floor, on my mirrors, on the top of the windows and on the walls.  I'm pretty sure I will think long and hard before agreeing to that again anytime soon!

Parker got these silly glasses out of the treasure chest at school.  I hardly recognized him when he got in the car that day!

It's not often that we can catch Eden on camera being silly.  She usually starts crying as soon as the camera appears.  I love that I caught her showing her goofy side!

Lily thought it was absolutely hilarious when we put Eden's sunglasses on Brinkley this week!

This is "Harper doll", who is named after one of Eden's friends from preschool last year.  It is the first doll that she has shown a lot of interest in.  She plays with her often and usually drags her around by a loose piece of hair on her head.  I promise she has never seen that modeled!

I LOVE these two girls so much!!  I am so sad that we missed out on cousin time this Thanksgiving due to our stomach bug.  We are in major withdrawal and I hope we can stay well enough to see them very, very soon! 

And I LOVE these two silly cousins too!  They are such good friends and Parker always lights up when I tell him that Addison is coming over to play.

And finally... I knew she was still not feeling well when she begged me to go lay down with her at 3:00 in the afternoon. (She hasn't taken a nap in over a year and a half.) She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.  Sweet girl! 

And on a side note... I realized this week that Eden thought she had literally eaten a bad bug and that's why she had the stomach bug.  I may need to think of another way to talk to her about the stomach flu!!

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from the Brown Infirmary!  We have spent the entire week battling strep throat and the stomach bug and as a result, missed out on Thanksgiving with my family last night.  Thankfully, we are all finally feeling better today.  The house has been wiped down with Clorox wipes and every sheet, blanket, towel and piece of clothing that has touched us over the last week has now been washed.  Hopefully the germs will leave us alone for a while.

Luckily, both Eden and Parker had special days at school last week to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Eden had her Thanksgiving feast at preschool and invited me to join her for lunch.  She looked so cute in her turkey hat!

Lily also joined us for lunch and didn't feel at all intimidated by the bigger kids.  She fit right in and was so excited when Eden asked her to join in at recess! 

Parker got to celebrate Grandparent's Day with Papa, Granna, and Granstan (and Addison too!).  Granna brought him a special Taco Bueno lunch and treated him to a new book at the book fair.  He was so excited to have everyone there to eat with him.

Our Thanksgiving might not have turned out the way we had wanted this year, but we still have so many things to be thankful for-  three beautiful, healthy kids, a great marriage and a wonderfully supportive family- just to name a few.  We are grateful for all of the blessings in our lives and are anxious to start this holiday season!  Happy Thanksgiving!   

Eden's Princess Party

We celebrated Eden's birthday with a princess party this past Saturday.  When I asked Eden several months ago what kind of party she wanted, she immediately said "a princess party".  Eden is pretty girly but she is not that into princess stuff and dressing up, so I was a little surprised at the theme she chose and assumed she would change her mind several times before her actual party.  But as her birthday approached, she kept insisting that she wanted a princess party.  So a princess party it was!  (We weren't sure what Parker was going to do at this party so I asked him if her would be the prince and help me serve the princesses lunch.  We got him a crown to wear and he felt very important!)

We invited a few of her friends to dress up as their favorite princess and join us for her party.  We started the party by making the girls look like princesses.  When they arrived each girl got a pair of princess shoes and a tiara to wear.  Then Granna painted all the girls nails while Aunt MerMer gave them some sparkly princess makeup.

After the princesses were all dressed and ready, we decorated princess jewelry boxes.

While the jewelry boxes were drying, we read The Princess and the Pea and played a little game.  I put a green "pea" under one of three pillows and each girl had to sit on the pillows to decide where the pea was.  If they could feel the pea, they earned a pink necklace that told everyone that they were a "real" princess!  I'm happy to report that all of the girls found the hidden pea and proved that they were a real princess!

After our game, Prince Parker helped me serve the princesses lunch.  We had crown PB&J sandwiches, pink yogurt wands, and high heel jello.  I also served pink lemonade in fancy champagne glasses.

After lunch, Princess Eden opened presents.  She was excited to get a new game, new pajamas and lots and lots of fun princess stuff. 

Last but not least, we let Eden reveal her princess cake.  She was a little embarrassed as we all sang to her but did a great job blowing out her candles!

This was, by far, the most involved party I have ever thrown for one of the kids but hearing Eden say "My party is so beautiful!" and "My party was so fun, Mommy!" made it all worth it in the end.  Thanks to all of Eden's family and friends who came and helped her celebrate her 4th birthday! I hope it will be a party she will never forget!

Four Years Old

My sweet, sweet Eden,
Today is finally the day you turn four!  You have been counting down the days for over a week and today we finally get to celebrate your real birthday! You are such a beautiful little girl and I enjoy spending my days with you.  You are growing way to fast and I know that I am going to blink my eyes and you will be in school with Parker, so I am trying to soak up every minute with you.  Here are some of the things I always want to remember about you at this stage in your life:

-You are still tall and skinny.  You weigh about 37 pounds and wear size 5T clothes.  I have no idea how tall you are but I noticed at preschool this week that you are the tallest girl in your class. 

-You started speech therapy back in September and are making slow but steady progress.  You love your teacher, Miss Fabiola, and are always excited to go see her on Monday and Wednesday.  You usually work hard for her but sometimes you test her by being stubborn and refusing to try.  You are working really hard on the /k/ and /g/ sounds and can often make them in isolation.  You are still working on transferring those sounds into conversations.  I am proud of all of your progress so far this year!

-You LOVE going to preschool on Tuesday/Thursday.  You love Miss Tammy and your friends Noah, Reagan, and Sara. You are quickly learning all of your letters and sounds.

-You are painfully shy and hate to be the center of attention.  There are always tears involved when someone asks you to participate in an activity that requires you to do something by yourself.  It can be frustrating at times, but I did the exact same thing when I was your age, so I know there is hope that you will outgrow it one day,  It is because of this that we have not signed you up for any sport/dance/gymnastics yet.  I'm afraid you will just sit and cry the entire time so we are going to give you a little longer to mature before we throw you into something like that.

-You are not a good eater and as hard as I try to get you to eat well, I am rarely successful.  You do not like fruit or vegetables and usually just pick at the food on your plate.  One thing you do love to eat is cereal.  You would probably eat that for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I would let you.  Some of your other favorites are spaghetti, yogurt, nuts, and black olives.

-You adore Parker (or Parpar as you say it).  He is your best friend and worst enemy!  You miss him when he is at school and always look forward to him getting home so you can play.  You are starting to form a much tighter bond with Lily now that Parker is in school.  I pray that you will have a strong and unique bond with both of them throughout your life.

-You still put EVERYTHING in your mouth.  You bite your nails, chew on your blanket, and put toys in your mouth.  I am constantly telling you to "get that out of your mouth".

-You have finally started singing songs and it is music to my ears!  You sing with or without music and you sometimes make up your own songs.  You always want to sing Lily a song before I put her in bed at night. 

-You still like to play with small figures and toys like the people in your dollhouse.  Harper doll is your favorite doll and you play with her often.  You have also shown an interest in playing games like Candyland and Memory recently.

-You are still easy to parent.  You are very sensitive and do not like to get in trouble.  You are usually crying and apologizing before I even open my mouth.  You can whine with the best of them but I am hoping that will get better now that you are four.

-You are not overly affectionate but can be very generous with your kisses at bedtime. I look forward to them every night! 

You are such a joy to me, Eden!  I can't wait to see what this year has in store for you- I'm sure it is going to be great!

I love you to the moon and back, Mommy

A is for Acorn

 

A few weeks ago when Eden was learning about the letter "A" in preschool, her teacher taught her that acorn started with the letter "a".  I think they might have even gone on an acorn walk to find some acorns.  From that day on, Eden has been obsessed with finding acorns.  She looks for them everywhere we go- preschool, Granna's house, my school!  She even gets Lily involved in helping her search for them.

When I pick her up from preschool, her pockets are full of them!  Miss Tammy told me that there are no more acorns on their playground because Eden has picked up every last one of them! 

Luckily, I've convinced Eden that the squirrels in our backyard need them for the winter so she willingly takes them and puts them in our yard any time she comes home with a pocketful.  (I don't think I've ever seen a squirrel in our backyard since we do not have any trees, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her!) 

It is so sweet to watch her search for and pick up acorns! Now if I can just figure out how to get her to pick up her toys with the same amount of enthusiasm!