I *heart* Ocean Water!!

You're probably thinking I'm talking about the water that's actually in the ocean, right? Well, any true Sonic fan will know I am NOT talking about the body of water which we call an ocean but a GLORIOUS drink that leaves you feeling refreshed after you consume it. OK, that totally sounded like they paid me to say that. Sadly, they didn't - BUT they could! **Sonic - I will accept payment in the form of gift cards or a life-time supply of Ocean Water.**

The first time I ever went to Sonic was a couple of months ago. David and I decided to take the drive out there with the kids and give it a go. Our friend, Dino, knows all about Sonic so I had David call him to ask what an Ocean Water was. Let me say, he gave it a bad description. Something about Gatorade that had fizz in it. SO NOT OCEAN WATER! I decided to get it anyway and to also get the strawberry add-in.

When the girl delivered our food to our car I said "Oh, I ordered an Ocean Water with strawberry add-in." She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Yep, that's what it is." and I just kind of sat there looking blankly at what she handed me. The drink I had in my hand was blue.. hmm.. strawberry is not blue! "Umm, OK. I only ask because this is blue." I say. She comes back with, "Yep, it's an ocean water. Ocean waters are blue." So.. I take my first sip - SOOOOO good!! We eat our food and then drive across the street to Blockbuster. While David is inside I resume enjoying my drink...I enjoy it so much it's gone by the time he comes out.

I momentarily considered driving back across the street just to get another one. Man, if that's not love! LOL

By the way - I'm not the only person that loves Sonic. My friend Kristie got me started with thinking about blogging about Sonic.

Pictures from a 2 year-old

Since Graycen was a baby I've had the dang camera out and in her face - so it's no surprise that she has such a fascination with it. One day Graycen got a hold of the camera and just started snapping away. She wasn't doing anything to hurt the camera so I just let it go. Here's what she got:

These were taken March 2, 2009.

Hailey's foot

Hailey's leg

Toys that she dumped

Xbox controller

Hailey

Her own foot with a teething ring around her ankle (her "bracelet")

Now, the other day while I was at work David was taking pictures of the kids. Graycen said it was her turn to take pictures. David handed over the camera to see what she could do and this is what she got:

These were taken April 10, 2009.

Silly daddy

Parker

Happy Parker

For this picture I guess she told David to do a "family hug with Parkey" At first I didn't think she really took this but then I examined it a little - she did. If you look carefully, you can see one of David's hands on the side of Parker and the other is on the back of his booster seat. I know from what's behind them that they're not at the table either. She did this all on her own. That's just crazy - and the picture is perfect and adorable!

Oh Blogger, how I miss thee..

So, I realized this morning that it has already been 2 weeks since my last post. I know this is way better than the running record I was creating but it seems too long. I mean to come in and write up all of these posts and it never happens. You see, I have a list of posts I want to write about but I never carve out time to come and actually do it. I don't know why. Sure, I take care of my kids and family all day long and keep house, but by no means am I so busy that I can't type up a post in 5 minutes or so. I'm trying though and I think that speaks for itself.

In the past couple of weeks not a whole lot has happened. Here are the main things:

• Parker is crawling! He turned 9 months old on the 22nd, which just seems way too early to me for him to be crawling. I know it's not, but it just feels like it. Graycen didn't start crawling until she was almost 11 months, I think. I should go back and check on that. (**Ok, I went back to check and Graycen actually started crawling 2 days before she turned 9 months. Where is my head?!**) He did it for the first time last night. I didn't catch it the first time so David grabbed the bowl of popcorn and baited him with it. I grabbed my phone and caught it on video. I will try to post it here. All day long today he kept crawling. I tell ya, give it a couple of days and he will be all over the place. He has even started with a little rug burn on his knees. Time for him to wear pants for sure - at least until he gets the hang of it.
• Parker cut another tooth. He now has 3 teeth and a 4th one is getting ready to cut. He has 2 on the bottom, 1 on the top and it's so cute!
• I am going back to school to become a medical assistant. I start on Thursday of next week and I'm stoked! Long story short is - I wanted to go to school to become a MA but realized thought about how much more money I would make as a nurse so changed my mind and was going to go to nursing school. Well, I have hit so many road blocks with trying to get into nursing school that it made me take a step back think about things. Through my thought process I realized why I was going to nursing school and decided to call about becoming a MA the next day. I called Everest Institute the next morning and said I was looking for some info. Our conversation went something like this. Rep: When are you looking to start? Me: Well, I want to start as soon as possible, but I'm interested in the evening class and I know that one is tougher to get into right away. Rep: Actually, we have one starting April 2 that has a couple of openings. I thought she was totally kidding since that is next week. I asked if there was enough time to get me in, registered and financing stuff taken care of by then. I went in on Tuesday for my entrance exam and to get going on paperwork. The finances lady I needed to see wasn't taking anymore people for the night so I had to go back yesterday to finish it up. I have orientation on Wednesday where I will get my paperwork, info, scrubs (yay!) and some books and have my first day on Thursday. My school week will be Mon-Thu from 6-10pm. The course is 10 months and I will graduate in January. I am so excited! Now if this wasn't meant to be then I don't know what is!
• Graycen is still a little miss smarty pants. She amazes us every day with her vocabulary and the things she has figured out. It's just nuts. She's growing like a weed. The girl is only two and a half and wears 4T clothes. I can't believe how big (tall) she is. She can definitely tell you what she does or doesn't want to do or eat. Sometimes we just step back and really say, "Wow."
• Ive started Weight Watchers again, too. I started up again on the 8th of this month. It always seems the first week is the adjustment week for me. So my first reall week into it again was the week of the 15th. I lost 3lbs my first week and I weigh in again on Sunday. I am excited bacause I know it's making a difference again. I can feel it in my clothes that I am losing! YAY me!!

I promise I will get better at blogging again. I really do miss it, even when it seems like a chore..

The long(ish) update!

Ok, so I actually typed up the update and thought I posted it just over a week ago. I wondered why I wasn’t getting any comments on it. Not even one... It was kind of strange to me. Well, turns out, I only saved as a draft rather than publishing. So sorry! I swear I did it! Ha ha! I don’t think I’ve ever had that problem before. I am adding a few things since it didn’t post when I meant for it to and more has happened since then. Somehow I lost the pictures that were here so I will have to add all of them in a separate post.

We really haven’t been up to too much; just hanging out.

Mommy:
I have been doing the same old thing… watching kids and taking care of the family. One of the girls I watch is my friend, Steph’s daughter. Graycen will soon be disappointed as her last day here is in a little over a week. She is only 12 days older than Graycen and its Graycen’s first real friend. Sometimes they don’t get along so well, but hey, that’s 2 year olds.
In honor of Emilie’s birthday a few of us ladies got together for some chatting, nummy food and smiles. It was so nice to see some familiar faces and get to munch on some great Italian food. We met at Buca and it was so good. I had never been before. And can’t believe all along I had been missing out on that food. Thanks for the good time Missy, April, Liz and Jill!
I was lucky enough to be able to make it out to one of David's shows - FINALLY! If you can believe it, it was my first time. I had a blast and it was fantastic to finally see him perform. I know he was happy I was able to come. He only thanked me about a million times. It felt good to go. It felt good to get out. I even had some drinks.. something I haven't done in years. That is nuts!
I got the tattoo on my foot that I have been longing for! Its 3 flowers on a small branch. It is on the top and side of my foot and the end of the branch kind of wraps up around my ankle bone. I was going in expecting the pain to be just the worst ever and I can honestly say it wasn’t that bad. Sure, it hurt like hell, but it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I would definitely do it again. So I guess that means I will be getting one on my other foot – eventually! It’s been like 5 years since my last so I was LONG overdue! If you're looking for a good place to go - we found a good guy! His name is Benny and he works at Fluid Ink in St Paul.
For Valentine’s Day we lucked out and were able to go to a movie together. We have already seen more movies in Parker’s 8 months of being born then we did of Graycen’s 2 years. Isn’t that crazy?? My sisters came over during the day while we caught a matinee. It was nice to get out even if it was only for a little bit.
I'm sad because my friend, Steph, is only going to be here in MN for another week. Her husband is in the Marines and they are relocating to Virginia next week to be with him. :-( Steph, you will be missed very much! You and Hailey!
My mom is coming over to watch the kids tonight. David has another show and I am able to go. It'll be a super easy babysitting job as both kids will already be seleeping when I leave. They don't go on until between 10 and 11 so I have plenty of time to get those kids to sleep first!

Daddy:
David has been working, like usual. He’s had a couple shows lately and they have been good for him. They’re trying to build up more of a fan base before their cd release party. It will make it all the more successful and with a bigger turnout too. He and Dino have also had my cousin, Nelle, in the studio lately. She plays the acoustic guitar and has a great voice! They’re trying to help her get her stuff recorded and I think they’re doing a pretty good job!
David went the week after I did to get another tattoo himself. It’s been about 2 years since his last tattoo so I am glad he finally went. He got it on his chest. It was an unexpected place for him but I like it. It looks good.

Graycen:
Graycen is rapidly approaching 3. In just about a week she will be 2 ½ and that is just nuts to me. Where does the time go? Her vocab is ever expanding and I swear the girl is older than 2 ½. She talks in sentences and she can definitely voice her opinions. Sometimes I have to kind of stand back and soak it all in. The fact that she can communicate with us so well makes my days so much easier. She loves to play with the food for her kitchen and with her kitchen. She’s all about pretending lately. It’s so cute.
Last week we were lucky enough to go to the Children’s Museum just Graycen and myself. It was a day that I didn’t have the youngest girl I watch and Hailey was home sick with her Steph. David had gone into work but came home early so Graycen and I could get out! We had such a good day. We went to the museum and played. It was probably about 2 ½ hours that we played. Afterwards we had some McDonald’s. I swear she was in heaven getting all of mommy’s attention all day long. What a lucky girl. It was the day of the nasty snow storm that we had. The ride home took us 1 ½ hours to get from the museum to New Brighton. It was horrible!
Over the weekend we were asked if Graycen could be a flower girl in our good friend's wedding. I am so excited to shop for a flower girl dress for her! She's going to look adorable!!! One thing that is really nice is Dana said we could get whatever dress we wanted. That will make things easier. I still requested a picture of her dress so I would have something to try and coordinate with. If you have any recommendations on where to get a good dress please let me know!

Parker:
Oh Parker. The boy is not a good sleeper at all. Never has been. He naps for 30 minutes at a time and has almost since the day he was born. Well, minus the brand new baby sleeping all the time sleep. It pretty much sucks. Don’t even get me started with bedtime. He needs to be rocked to sleep and then for the first 2 hours or so, he wakes up like every 25-40 minutes. It sucks. We attempted sleep training but I realized (after about 3 weeks with great progress and then a HUGE setback) that I was rubbing his back in the middle of the night to get him back to sleep. He then was relying on it in the middle of the night to go back to sleep. After that he got an icky cold so we had to completely stop. Now, we are ready to start up again. Wish us luck!
He’s got two teeth on the bottom and they are so cute. He talks (babbles) all the time. He is sitting so well and playing with toys. Just the other day last week I had set Parker down in the living room to play with the toys while I was doing the dishes when all of a sudden he was screaming bloody murder. I come out and he is sitting in front of the TV with his face smashed into the safety gate in front of it. He scooted his way almost all the way across the living room. When did this start?? Now within 10 minutes he makes his way across the room to play with different stuff. It’s adorable! I swear, before we know it, he will be crawling, standing and cruising. Oh man. Just last night he pulled himself up using the laundry basket. He was sitting and pulled himself up to a position where he was propped up on his knees. I know it’s not all the way but he’s working on it.
Parker was just introduced to the Baby Einstein video “Baby Neptune” last week. He had never seen one before. I totally should have gotten out the camera and caught his reaction. He just loved it. I have never seen him smile so much and get so excited about something. He seemed to especially love the puppets that they show. Graycen loves Baby Einstein videos, too. I guess they both do now!

I am sure more has happened for all of us but I just can’t seem to remember what. It’s been so long that I posted that I forget everything we’ve done in between. As I think of things I will post them.

Oh, we finally got our big TV that we’ve been wanting! We bought a Panasonic 50” Plasma. Let me tell you, it is amazing! I never really thought I would enjoy it as much as I do. I also got my Wii and Wii Fit that I have been wanting so bad! If only I used it now. Ha!

Happy Half Birthday Parker!

I can't believe our little (BIG) guy is 6 months old already. Where does the time go? It seems like it was just yesterday that Graycen was born. Oh man!
Parker had his 6 month well baby check today, coincidentally. He checks out healthy, like usual, and a big guy! His stats were: Weight - 21 pounds 6 ounces (97th percentile) and Height - 28 inches (90th percentile) He's a big guy, just like his sister was.

• He loves to roll over and gets mad when he can't reach something or roll back.
• He loves to sit for short periods of time and just today, while sitting (unassisted) he reached for a toy that Graycen had in her hands. I couldn't believe he kept his balance, too!
• He started rice cereal just about a week ago. We held off due to his skin irritations. It has been confirmed today that it is Eczema. Go figure - he has skin problems just like his mommy.
• He mostly sleeps through the whole night - usually waking one time to eat and then going back to sleep.
• Naps are still shorter than I would like them to be (at 30-45 minutes each), but apparently they are considered "normal" as long as those naps in combination with his night sleep add up to where they should be.
• He loves watching Graycen play, dance, talk - whatever! He thinks it is funny when she cries. Graycen hates that!
• He loves the Exersaucer, Bumbo, his floor mat and his bouncer chair. Well, he pretty much loves everything as long as he isn't left alone to lay on the floor with nothing to play with/look at.

The boy is getting too old, too fast. It's only a matter of time before he's crawling and before we know it, we'll be celebrating his first birthday. Oh my gosh!

It's been a little while now.

I realized today, when Emily commented that she hadn't seen pictures of Parker in a while, that I need to post some pics of the kids! Here are some pics and then updates at the end!!

Hanging out with his activity gym - sucking on his fingers (like usual!)

Showing you how "The force" is with him.

Little Turkey #1 on Thanksgiving morning.

Little Turkey #2 on Thanksgiving morning.

His first time in the exersaucer. He liked it!

Parker wanted to go tubing with daddy & Graycen.

Graycen was just ready to go!

Walking up the hill with daddy to go down for the first time!

Daddy sliding her around to get a feel for it.

Playing in the snow with daddy.

She didn't like going down the hill with David on the tube also. She wanted to be a big girl and do it alone.

Have to have hot (warm) cocoa with marshmallows afterwards!

Parker at 5 ½ months –
The little (BIG!) guy is rolling over constantly. He rolls from his back to his stomach but gets mad because he can’t go back the other way. We haven’t started him on cereal yet. At his 4 month appointment the doctor was commenting on his ridiculously dry skin. She recommended we wait another month or two to start cereals since we may experience food allergies. Now that he is 5 1/2 months old we’ll probably start it soon.
He is getting better with his sleep. He was teasing us with full on, sleep through the night sleeping until about 2 months ago. Now he is up about every 4 hours. I know we’re at the milestone stage where this will happen. We deal with it by having toothpicks hold our eyes open!
He loves to lie on his activity mat and play with his fishies, sitting in the Bumbo or playing in the exersaucer. He does switch from extremely happy-go-lucky guy to sounding like he’s being murdered in a split second when he’s unhappy. His cry is so loud ALL THE TIME!
He jabbers all the time, laughs all the time and smiles all the time. He is the smileiest little baby I have ever seen. You can always get a smile out of him without too much effort.

Graycen at 2 ¼ years –
“Daddy, Mommy, look at me!” This is the saying that comes out of Grycen’s mouth the most. It’s adorable but can get so annoying sometimes. We thought we had quite the talked on our hands before – ha! She doesn’t shut up now. Talking in full sentences, asking questions, figuring out how to put different words together to achieve the result she is looking for. It’s amazing.
She can count to 5 with no help and to 9 with some help. Her favorite song is “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” complete with the motions.
Playing with Parker is something she has gotten really good about doing. She likes being the big sister and helping me with things – sometimes. When Parker wakes up after her in the morning, she comes in the room with me shouting, “Parker, it’s ok! I’m here! Mommy’s here, Graycen’s here!” Then she will sit next to him and pat his head telling him, “Parker, good mooooooorniiiiiing,” in her cute singsong little voice. Like always, she likes to read her books, color, cook food for anyone that will ‘eat’ it, watch movies, sign, sing, dance and just all around play!

Mommy –
I am currently getting stuff together to get prerequisites done for nursing school. I was going to apply for nursing school for the Fall 2009 semester, but I was such an idiot and forgot about my assessment testing and missed it. The deadline for submission of application and having your testing done was December 1. Of course, when was I supposed to go take my test? Two days before Thanksgiving. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. There are quite a few pre-reds I would have had to complete by September and it would have been a little bit of a struggle to get them all done. I mean, I could have done it, but it would have been tricky. So, now the plan is for me to get everything done and apply for the fall 2010 school year. I am pretty excited!
I have found a new love for the sewing machine. I haven’t had much time to be able to do my fun extra-time things lately, but that’s ok.
I went to the eye doctor about a month and a half ago and found out I have 20/20 vision. I could use reading glasses if I absolutely felt it were necessary but the eye doctor said (in not so many words) it would be a waste of my money to get them.
The same day I had my eye appointment, I had an appointment with the dermatologist to have a full body skin check, to get some moles and skin tags removed and to get some medication for my head and face. It was a good appointment. She took off 5 moles and prescribed me some medications, thankfully! I was surprised with how painless it was to have the moles removed. She waited on the skin tags until about a week and a half ago when she wanted me to come back to see how the medications were working and how the removals were healing.
When I went back a week and a half ago, she had to go back and take the entirety if a mole that was on my back. She had called me on the evening of Halloween to say that there was something about the cells with the mole that they didn’t like and were recommending it be removed entirely. So, I definitely won’t fight that one! I went back, they cut me open, cut it all out and stitched me up. I had to have 6 stitches on the surface. Poor David had to clean it out for me since I can’t reach it.
I’ve currently lost 22 pounds and still going…


Daddy –
It’s that time of year again. Holiday season in retail is never fun. He’s swamped with work 100% of the time that he’s there.
Their album is currently being mastered and they have to wait for them to be pressed. Looking at another couple of months until it is ready and then I am sure there will be a huge cd release show for them. I know David can’t wait for that to happen!
David has his eye doctor appointment on Thursday morning. The poor guy needs glasses so bad. I know he is excited for this, too. Since now he will be able to see well! I am excited because he looks so cute with glasses on!

Happy Halloween

Our First Date (again)

I'm pretty late in posting this, but hey, better late than never.
Three weeks ago David and I were able to escape the crazies around here to go on a date where we, for the whole night a brief moment, forgot we even had kids!
I set everything up to be a surprise to David. It was so sneaky, I couldn't believe it. My awesome sisters, Kayla & Jordan, came over and watched the kids for us. When they got there, I went in the room, where David and the kids were laying in bed and watching a movie and said, "The babysitters are here." He looked at me with the most confused look I think I have ever seen on his face. He didn't ask me what was going on. I thought that was weird. He got up, smiled and said, "Ooookay. Hmmm. Well, since you obviously knew about this, what should I wear?"
We went to dinner at TGI Friday (yay!) where we had dinner and we each had an alcoholic beverage! This was my first drink in almost 3 years. Can you believe that? We followed it up with a trip to the movies! We hadn't been to the movies together in almost a year and a half. The last movie we saw together was Blades of Glory. Yeah, pretty long. We went and saw Eagle Eye. It was AWESOME!!! When our movie was over we got home to find Mr Parker was still awake (it was after 10pm) and had given Kayla a hard time. Poor guy missed his mama, I guess. It seemed Graycen didn't even care we were gone. That really did feel good!
It felt so good to get out and do something - as adults or better yet, as a couple!

Huge Update

So, I realize I haven't posted for real in like a month now. That is just crazy. I'm sorry everyone! I will try to be better at this (again!) In the last month a lot has happened:
We went to the fair, Graycen turned 2, we had a visit from ma, Parker turned 3 months, Graycen started potty training, Graycen attended her first Mary Kay party, we went to the apple orchard.. see a lot of stuff happened!
Since I have already started this post I am going to write everything out and then I will create another post with the millions and millions of pictures.

August 30 - Graycen and Parker's first trip to the MN State Fair
David happened to have a half day at work. He got home at like 12:30 and we decided just right then and there that we were going to the fair. We found a parking spot (which was a good close one!) got everyone unpacked and headed in. We no more than left the gates when David got a call from Dino. They were on their way to the fair and wanted to know what we were up to. Since we were already there he asked if they could meet up with us. Sure! So, we ate some stuff, walked around and just had a good time. I had been waiting for the fair since I was pregnant with Parker so I could eat all of this nummy stuff and since I am on Weight Watchers, i chose not to indulge in everything I had wanted. I ate corn on the cob, a couple of fries and too many of Sweet Martha's cookies. Graycen had her first roasted corn on the cob as well as her first Sweet Martha's cookies - oh no, she's hooked! Graycen fell asleep right before we left and slept until we got home. She was a mess and definitely needed a bath when we got home. My feet were also disgusting. I couldn't believe it. Parker slept the entire time we were there. Go figure.

September 5 - Graycen turned 2 years old!
Graycen woke up in a good mood this day. It's like she just knew it was something special. We didn't do anything, really. I had the boys to watch and we celebrated her birthday with them with mini, pink, sprinkled cupcakes at lunch. After the boys left her aunties and nana stopped by to deliver some birthday gifts. She had a blast and was a riot - dancing for everyone! Later on we played some Guitar Hero III (Graycen absolutely LOVES GH) ate some pizza and bread sticks, which David picked up from Little Caesar's and just had a good family night with the birthday girl. We put her to bed and reflected on the last two years. Always a way to make me cry!

September 9 - Graycen attended her first Mary Kay party and was a total diva!
So, I had a Mary Kay party. Graycen was home and awake while this was going on. Being the total girl that she is, she wanted in on this makeup thing. So Natalie made up a little makeup tray for her and let her go to town. I didn't mind! Graycen put lipstick, liner, eyeshadow, blush and lotions all over her face. She definitely looked like she was ready to go to war with her war paint. It was so cute!

September 13 - Ma came down to visit and celebrate Graycen's birthday
Ma was unable to come down the weekend of Graycen's birthday to celebrate it with her so she came down the following weekend. Ma did the traditional grand kid birthday day - took her shopping! Graycen got her winter coat, some footie pajamas, socks and a new pair of shoes.Oh and of course, it wouldn't be a birthday without a toy too. She bought her a bag of Mega Blocks (which Graycen just loves!) We were sad to see her go - as usual - and always wish she could stay longer.


September 17 - Graycen started potty training - successfully!
For some reason today was the day that the whole potty thing really struck Graycen as something she wanted to be involved in. We have been trying the potty thing but haven't been pushing it. Lately we kind of pushed it to the side since it seemed like she really wasn't too interested. Well, today was different. She decided at one point she wanted to go potty while I was going. I said OK and let her hop up on the big potty (she LOVED this!) she went and was super excited. She jumped down and yelled, "I did it! It's awesome!" we high-fived and she ran out to tell David. He got excited and came in to look. She repeated the above again. It was too cute. All day long, about every 5-10 minutes she said she had to go potty so we decided to bring her potty chair out of the bathroom and let her run around sans undies all day to see how it went. Much to our surprise, she came to me telling me she needed to potty but kept pointing to the big potty. I took her in and she pooped. First day really on the potty and she pooped. Of course, I had to get a picture of it. She was so proud and so were we!
Since that day she has been doing GREAT with potty training. She doesn't wear a diaper during the day and uses the potty all day long (the big and little - whichever she feels like at the time) She only wears a diaper to bed and nap time which the past few days she has been waking up dry!! YAY!! We were out for about 5 hours this weekend and had her in a pull-up. She kept it dry the entire time- telling us when she needed to potty. As a reward/motivational tool we let her pick out big girl undies on Saturday. She picked a pack of Dora and a pack of Ariel. She loves them and is so excited to wear them! This is going great *knock on wood*


September 20 - Our trip to Emma Krumbee's Apple Farm
We had anther family day and went out to Emma Krumbee's in Belle Plaine. Let me just say, I feel like we wasted our time and money. We drove for an hour to get to a place that wasn't worth the $5/adult we had to pay to get in. Basically we spent $20.95 on a half peck of Honeycrisp apples. Yay!
There was a hay pile that you could jump in, on and off of. Graycen enjoyed that part! They had scare crows which people made all around. We looked at them but Graycen didn't really care about them. They had, what they would like to call a petting zoo. It wasn't. It was a fenced in area which contained some miniature horses, donkeys and goats. All of the animals were in the shade next to the barn and really only came up to the fence if you had some feed. We made our way back to the car and that was about it. Boring, right? Next time (which will be later this season) we are going to try out Afton. We'll see how that goes!

September 22 - Parker turned 3 months old!
Where has the time gone? Parker is already 3 months old. He smiles like crazy, has GREAT head control, sits in the Bumbo chair, chats with you like he's never going to talk again, sleeps through the night, naps so well and well, he's just a great baby! He's continuing to be huge! He is rapidly growing out of the 6-9 month clothes that we have already. It's just nuts! He watches Graycen with so much intensity. It's adorable to watch him stare at her. Graycen is doing so much better with him than she had been. She doesn't hit him anymore, thankfully! when he cries she gets concerned. It's cute.

Some happenings

Let's go back a little bit here (yes, I am finally getting to the post about our trip up north that happened a month ago!)

July 25 - 27 :: The trip up north

We made our annual trip up north (to Sebeka) for the family reunion of David's mom's side of the family. It was a different trip for us this year as we had 2 kids to tote up there. One of which was born just 4 weeks prior to the gathering! I am sad to say, I didn't take my camera out one time but it's OK because Ma and Sherri took lots of pictures!!

We arrived on Friday around lunch time. Went to Ma's first so Dad (David's dad) could meet Parker for the first time. We went over to Sherri's to get settled in and start the visiting. We ate, talked and had some laughs! Graycen went back to Ma's with her to spend the night. *As a side note, this was her first sleep away from us... thankfully, it went well. Graycen did well too ;-) We got to wake up to Sherri making breakfast (homemade pancakes with fresh blueberries from her garden!) Spent the day hanging out and well, just hanging out.

Graycen had a fun time splashing around in a mud puddle. We can thank ma for that one! We look out the door and Graycen is splashing in a mud puddle. I have to laugh at this part - Ma wasn't telling her to stop or anything (after our hard work of telling her NOT to go in the mud all day) nope, she ran for her camera! It made me laugh. David wasn't so happy about it. First thing he said was "I sure hope she plans on cleaning her up!" HA HA!! Thankfully, Ma brought her in and cleaned her up. Graycen had a great time with it, though!

Later that night, Ma took Graycen back to their house again for another sleepover. We got Parker to sleep, grabbed the monitor and headed out to the fire! FUN! We sat out there until almost midnight (or maybe it was past that, I don't remember) just talking. That's always so fun doing that!
The next day was the sad day of the weekend. Time to go home. We packed up and left. We had a great time while there. It was nice because this year Graycen was old enough to run around and play. It was also a huge help that Ma watched Graycen a lot while we were up there and even took her for sleepovers. Thanks for the help ma and Sherri, thanks for the good time and letting us stay there!!

I love how babies sleep.

A rare picture: David and I! (I hate this picture of me)

Right before Graycen fell asleep in the hammock for about an hour.

Even though I also hate this picture of me, I am going to post it anyways - the whole family!

July 29 :: The "party"

You're invited to a party that nobody wants to attend... well, not unless your name is Graycen. Actually, I don't think she would even like to be there.. It's a POOP PARTY! Just to be warned, these next couple of pictures are icky, but I just couldn't resist!

I was cleaning the kitchen when Graycen come in, stands next to me at the sink and says, "Is it poop?!?" I am just dreading looking down. Yep, she definitely has poop in her hand. I assess the situation further.. She not only has it in her hand but has it in between her fingers, on her shirt, on her legs and on her shorts. DISGUSTING! She had dug in her diaper and was playing with it. I told her it was naughty and that if she didn't want to have it in her diaper then we needed to go to the big girl potty and it belongs in there. She titled her head to the side, smiled at me and repeated "It's naughty. Icky. In the potty" I smiled and said back, "That's right. It does go in the potty. Let's clean up" She started walking towards the bathroom and all I was saying was, "Don't touch anything! Don't touch anything at all! I have to get my camera." Who does that? Really?? I am in the midst of a poop disaster and I get my camera? Wow! Hey, it makes for good embarrassing stories later on (and now.)

August 9 :: The kids' first trip to Culver's and the big (little) puppy

OK, so it's more like Graycen's first trip to Culver's since Parker was sleeping and all but who cares?! We were going out and decided to make a stop at Culver's since it's just up the road from us. We ordered Graycen a little kids meal and she was in love with the fries! I can't believe how fast she scarfed down those fries, oh and her chocolate milk, too. She didn't touch her burger. I don't know how she can not touch the burger. That's my favorite thing there! Fast forward to after we are done eating. With her meal, she got a scoop of their famous frozen custard. Any occasion for ice cream is a great one with this family! She was happily eating her cone when Dad intruded. She thought it was kind of funny, surprisingly.

Parker enjoyed himself, too.

I was going through bins of clothes for Parker (since we are now officially moving into 3-6 month clothes) when I came across a costume that Betsy gave me. It's a Dalmatian costume. As soon as I pulled it out Graycen shrieked with excitement. She wanted to wear it so bad. I knew it wasn't going to fit her (the size is 18 months) but she insisted and I caved. I knew we had a fun time coming up if I let her wear it. I put it on and told her to go show Daddy. She walked out the best she could, arms tightly at her sides and slightly raised due to the short length in the costume, feet sticking out past the feet of the costume and her chubby cheeks squeezed into the hood of the head. All I heard was an enormous cackle! David couldn't stop laughing.
She started dancing around in the costume. Unzipping and zipping it back up and telling us what a puppy says. It was hilarious! When we took it off, she was so sweaty and very sad that we had to put it away. I have since put it in a box of stuff up on a shelf which is properly marked "Stuff Graycen shouldn't see or else she will want it!" (A video to come soon of this!)

August 14 :: The boy's a charmer!

I was taking some pictures of Parker (since I have become bad mommy and don't take nearly as many as I did with Graycen when she was a baby) And he whipped out the charmer smile! He has just been all smiles lately. He coos and smiles and well, he's just cute (and HUGE!)

August 15 :: The zoo trip that never was

David had the day off. It was our plan to take the kids to the zoo even though it was supposed to be like 85 degrees out. As we were driving toward Como, down Hamline, I saw a garage sale. There was a cute Little Tykes Basketball hoop in the front yard. I said something to David about it and immediately, he said, "Do you want me to pull over? Do you want me to pull over??!!" I shouted back, "Yes!" I decided to go see how much it was. The whole time while I was walking up there I just kept saying to myself, "Please let it be a good deal." As I was nearing it, I could see a 5. I though with the dollar sign next to it, it looked like it was 15. I got to it and sure enough, it said "$5" I was beyond excited! I had been wanting to buy one of these for Graycen but didn't want to spend $30-40 on it. It was finally my lucky garage sale day. (You know how people go to garage sales and have so much luck finding that one wonderful thing? Well, this was mine!)

We drove off on the way to the zoo. When we turned in to find a parking spot, I realized just how busy the zoo was. We looked for a spot and then David said, "Do you want to just go back to some more garage sales?" I felt bad for it but said I did. I realized Graycen wasn't old enough to know that we didn't go and heck, she could even take her nap then. We drove back to some garage sales. I was lucky and found a Baby Einstein DVD that we actually don't have for $1.00 and a big Ziploc bag of 28 Color Wonder markers, a Color Wonder coloring book and about 20 coloring sheets for $2.00. Yes, I said $2.00. Anyone that is familiar with the Crayola Color Wonder stuff knows that was quite a steal! That was the rest of the findings. Hey, for $8.00 and some great finds, I am OK with that!

I am so glad we didn't go to the zoo!

August 17 :: Free day at the Children's Museum

I had learned last week that every third Sunday is free at the Children's Museum. Betsy had called to see if the kids and I would want to accompany her and her kids. We had nothing planned so decided to go. Graycen had a blast, like always! She was really tired and crabby but she had a good time so long as she got to do what she wanted.

She got her face painted.

Tried to scale a rock wall. Climbed a rope ladder. Spun the wheel for a prize. Played in her favorite area - the water tables! Played with the hula-hoops and scarves! (A video to come soon of this!) Planted some flowers. Made us some food.

After a successful day and lots of fun, we decided to make this a standing date. Every 3rd Sunday of the month we are taking the kids to the Children's Museum together.