It has been awhile! :o)
As I have said before...maybe I will get better at this! Time is always an issue! What do I do with those few hours after the kids go to bed and before I have to be in bed? Each night my choices are:clean the house, read, clean the house, check email, clean the house, wash dishes, check Facebook, clean the house, watch a show with Ryan, OR clean the house....
Having two kids sure does keep our house messy!!
Sadly, keeping up on my blog hasn't happened. Someday - maybe??
We are currently busily preparing for our first camping trip. We had a practice run in our backyard last week and it went pretty well. Kera got chilly around 3am so the two of us went back up to the house and Parker and Ryan stayed down in the tent. Parker LOVED it! He was so excited and he slept really well. Our little man is just so much fun! :o)
The kids have grown so much since my last post.
In order to catch you up, here are some of the latest!
Our Annual Easter Family Picture
June
Two silly kids messing around (do you like how they are dressed the same??)
I came home to Parker, Ryan and Kera all dressed exactly the same - too funny!
Celebrating my dad's birthday!
Parker's first professional hair cut! He was such a good boy!
He sat perfectly still and even had a conversation with the stylist!
The newest member of our family! This is MJ (Mary Jane) and she adopted Ryan. She slept outside our bedroom door a few nights and Ryan fell in love. We posted signs and took her to the vet to see if she had a chip, but she was a lost puppy! She found her way into our hearts and we have all grown quite attached to her! Even Chaser has begun to accept her!
We celebrated my wonderful Grannie (Gigi)'s 90th birthday!
My mom and I put on a big "to do" to help honor this AMAZING woman.
It was such a special day!
She is still reading the cards that everyone sent in for her. :o)
My Grannie and me when I was 9 months!
May Day
One of the festivals that we put on with Parker's School is a May Day celebration. We all gather and make flower crowns, play games, dance around the May Pole, and have a lovely time!
Kera is RUNNING!
Parker walking around the May Pole (no dancing for him)
Don't you love my beautiful crown?
April
We celebrated Kera's first birthday!
I had a dilemma - do we throw her a small party on her actual BIRTH-day or a big party on the weekend. I had such a hard time deciding! I finally chose to do the small one on her BIRTH-day and we had grandparents with us to celebrate. It was small but we had a wonderful time. I still go back and forth on if I should have had a big party for her like we did Parker... hopefully she doesn't hold it against me when she is older! :o)
I made her a CARE BEAR for her cake (we call her our little KERA-BEAR) but the frosting didn't turn out the right way and it melted so it looked more like a psychedelic bear.
The cake was carrot cake and she LOVED it!
She kept shoving it in her mouth!
The little purple flower is borage - it is an edible flower that my mom put on my cake when I turned one. It is such a poor excuse for a cake :o(
Sorry baby girl!
Opening presents! One of her presents was this cool chair! She LOVES sitting in chairs!
All her little presents! The banner around the fireplace has a picture of her from each month!
My little girl has grown up so fast!
Parker's 4th Birthday
This is his actual birthday!
He wanted a dinosaur theme this year so we decorate the house in that style.
I decorated the kitchen table like a volcano!
The day before his birthday we went to Legoland! We were going to go on his actual birthday but Legoland is closed on Wednesdays - WEIRD!!!
Here is Parker playing daddy's favorite sport - golf!
Hanging out with the grandparents while we waited for the Fireman show.
Parker got his first driver's license! He was SOOOO excited!
Driving around!
The weekend before his actual birthday, we had Parker's first FRIEND party.
We invited about 12 of his little friends for a Dinosaur Dig.
Here he is with grandma!
With Gigi
Uncle Darren was the greeter.
He checked in the guests and gave them their paleontologist gear!
THANK YOU UNCLE DARREN!!!
With Nana
His birthday cake
One of the activities was to erupt a volcano the run through an obstacle course and pop a balloon with a baby dinosaur in it!
My dad helped by giving the kids their vinegar and baking soda for the volcano!
THANK YOU DADDY!
The birthday boy!
We made plaster of paris T-Rex skeletons and then buried them.
The kids got a bucket, a shovel and a paint brush. They then had to dig to find their bones.
Once they found their bones, they glued them on a paper and got to watercolor it!
March
Kera started really cruising around holding onto things!
This is my FAVORITE dress on her!
We put in a new walkway (this is it before the walkway)
We took out the steps about 2 years ago and had just a dirt path up from the streets!
Finally, this month I got my walkway!
I LOVE IT and even had the kids put their handprints in it!
EASTER
My sister and her family came down for our annual Easter Egg Hunt!
Lana and Parker had fun looking for eggs.
Dash and Kera had fun eating the little snacks inside!
Settling in for a snack
Kera trying on her bunny ears
Parker was so excited to get CHOCOLATE!!!
(He must take after his mommy!)
My parents had a large group for Easter Dinner - our little family, my sister's family, both my grandmothers, my aunt and uncle, two of my cousins, and Ryan's parents!
It was SO much fun all being together!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE family events!
There was so much going on that Kera didn't want to take her morning or her afternoon nap, so by about 3:00 she fell fast asleep in her chair! Too cute!
February
Finally, TWO teeth!
Conversations with Great-Grandma Judy
Bath Time
Valentine's Day
Pictures with Grana
Kera's favorite thing to do is put things on her head!
If she can't find a hat - she will put on a scarf! No scarf - clothes!!!
My little boy!
Sitting pretty
Eating sweet potatoes all by herself
(I think some actually did go in her mouth)
January
We all went over to my good friend's house for the Superbowl.
Parker fell in love with this horse and rode on it for the majority of the time we were there!
Diaper baby!
Holding hands in the backseat!
This is my favorite thing! Often I will look back and they will be holding hands smiling at each other. This is so blurry because I had to snap it quickly while I was at a stop light!
I am so happy that I captured this incredible moment!
A group effort helping Parker put together a dinosaur!
Well, that's it for the past couple of months! It is so hard to put all the little things in! Maybe if I do it more often it won't take over an hour to do and then I can put in more pictures! Hmmm... maybe! :o)
