Makin' Cookies

Parker and Alicia made cookies tonight.  I was thinking back to previous Christmas cookies making sessions - the first year with Parker in the Baby Bjorn and her drooling into the dough.  Last year, her sitting on the counter and mostly watching.  Then, this year - such a big girl standing on her stool and actually helping!

For the love of.....

Shutterfly. Yes, I also am shameless and will promote a company (that I LOVE by the way) in order to get free things. So, here goes.

I love Shutterfly. We order more pictures than we should of Parker because we can get them for such a reasonable price. They have solved the problem of what Parker should get for her Great-Grandparents for Christmas because we now just make a calendar and call it good. They love it - it's easy and they are almost always on sale around the holidays.

When Parker was born, we started a share site (mostly for the grandparents) and this will be a third year using their holiday cards.  They are cute (and so is the toddler we put on them!) and easy.

They also have cool things like birthday invitations, which we may be using in the near future when Parker starts having parties for her friends instead of just her family.

So, in conclusion. Please remember. 1) I love Shutterfly.  2) Ever since we have had a child, we have used their photo cards at the holidays. 3) We will be using Shutterfly cards this Christmas 4) They have lots of other cool things that you should check out and...5) I am shameless and just really need to save a bit of money this Christmas.

Thanks you all and look for your card in the mail! :)

In a Nutshell

Parker's life (and therefore OUR lives) lately can be summed up with the following two pictures.

1) So exhausted (or sick) that we fall asleep anywhere and anytime.  (Even on the bath mat while Mommy is taking a shower 45 minutes after we have gotten up.)

 2) This mostly applies to Parker, although we can all get a little cranky. - very ornery, opinionated (please note the raincoat and crocs with socks in NOVEMBER) and in general pretty cranky.

Thank goodness Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner.  We need to leave the daycare germs at school, get some sleep and hopefully, get rid of the crankies!

Happy Halloween

A Lion Says "RAWWWWWWWWWR!"

Cuteness at the Zoo

Tonight we were actually able to attend the "Boo" portion of Zoo Boo.  We have been to the zoo 3 times in the past two weeks, but never at the time when the Halloween activities were going on and Parker was so excited to actually wear her costume and, of course, get candy!  She makes a pretty cute little lion, if I do say so myself.

 The best part (well second to the candy) of this trip is that she got to see her friends Bryn and Shay.  The girls were far too cute.

 And, we actually managed to pose all the children for a pretty respectable photo.

 Two butterflies and a (friendly) lion.

Parker had a great time, but was WIPED out.  Hopefully, she will sleep well and rest up for more fun tomorrow! Happy Fall Break!

The Best Kind of Saturday

Today was the best kind of Saturday.  All family - no major things to do.  I've been waiting for this kind of Saturday for a LONG time.  We had gone to the grocery store Friday night, so we didn't even have that on the agenda.  

We got up this morning and headed to the Stoney Creek Pumpkin Festival.  It's just a few minute from our house and it was so much fun.  I was unsure how into Parker would be because she is sometimes quite cautious and shy about those kind of things.  Not today!

First, she wanted to ride the "pumpkin train."  Based on past experiences, I thought she would freak out and wind up a crying mess.  Not today!  She was all smiles.  She did want us to walk behind her, but I think it's progress!

After the train, we explored the grounds and try to take advantage of some photo spots.  Parker was so interested in everything there that she didn't want to look at the camera.  Immediately after this photo Parker spied a blow-up caterpillar that kids could crawl through.  After our success with the train, I thought she might actually do it, but it turns out she just wanted to look at it closer.  We didn't have any tears, she just decided she didn't want to try after closer inspection.

We took a hayride to the pumpkin patch, which Parker loved.  She didn't want to get off!  We searched all around trying to find the right pumpkin for P.  I think she wanted one that was small enough that she could lift it by the stem.  We finally found one and she clutched it all the way back.  (She was also fascinated by the tractor pulling the wagon, which is what she's staring at in this photo.)

Alicia took the pumpkins to the car and Parker and I explored the farm.  Parker claimed that she really wanted to go on the "trampoline" (the bouncy pillow) but we didn't think that she would actually be able to navigate getting on the pillow by herself since it was REALLY busy by this time.  So, we distracted her with making a candle.  Basically, you had to take this pre-cut piece of wax and roll it around a wick. The woman got it started and then Parker finished all by herself! (Again, shocking because she had to interact with a person she didn't know!)

We did a little more exploring, took some silly pictures...

Watched the ducks on the pond (and the zip line above) ate a funnel cake, got a butterfly balloon and went home!

Parker took a 2 1/2 hour nap when we got home! :)  We played the rest of the afternoon at home (which Parker rarely gets to do).  Around 5, we decided we wanted some carmel apples, so we took a quick drive up the road to an orchard and got some with some cider.  

It was really great to just spend some time as a family without running errands or doing schoolwork.  Here's hoping we get more Saturdays like this in the future!

Parker's 2 Year Photos - The Funny

As mentioned in my previous post, Parker was being a pain during her 2 year photo shoot.  While this didn't leave us as many "pretty" shots as normal, it did leave us many shots that show Parker's true character! Here are my favorite "real life" shots of P!

OH!  There's Mommy!

Parker the Pirate

Here's my little drama queen.

The wind actually did this by itself!  Hilarious!

Parker's 2 Year Photos - The Good

We had our friend and amazing photographer, Micah Bell, do Parker's 2 year photos at Coxhall Gardens in Carmel.  Parker was being quite the pain.  She refused to willingly look directly at Micah.  In fact, he was often literally chasing her around and has quite a few shots of her back, I'm sure.  He did manage to get a few good ones though.  Here are my favorite "good" shots.

Parker's trip to college

This weekend, Parker and I left Alicia at home and went to visit my sister Sally at college.  We stopped at my other sister, Stacy's, before heading to Baldwin Wallace on Saturday.  Here are Stacy and Parker outside Stacy's house before we left Saturday morning.

 Although, Parker really loved watching the band at Sally's football game, that was about the only part she really liked.  It was rainy and gross, so she had to sit under an umbrella and after half-time we decided to call it quits and head back to the hotel.  Clearly, Parker thought that was a much better idea.

 This morning, Sally took us on a campus tour before we had to leave.  Parker particularly enjoyed the music building and pointed out EVERY piano in EVERY practice room.  She also really enjoyed the instrument lockers and was so excited when she found this empty one.

It was great weekend and flying solo with Parker on the road wasn't nearly as hard as I thought I might be.  I guess P is growing up.

Mysterious Closet Boo Boo

This past weekend we traveled to Northern Indiana to visit with Alicia's family and to attend a friend's baby shower on Sunday.  Parker always has fun with her Grandparents.  Yes, that's a band aid on her face.  Apparently, the new blogger thing actually loads picture in the order you choose them, so these pictures are all backwards from the way I wanted them.  So, just work with me.  More about the band-aid in a minute.

On Saturday, Parker was playing hide and seek in Grandpa's closet.  The first time I followed her in to make sure there wasn't anything she shouldn't be getting into.  I didn't see anything, so I left.  The game was that I would peek out from the door to the room and she would run into the closet and hide in the shirts.  Then, she would sneak out, see me and do the same thing over again.  The 4th or 5th time she ran back in, I hear a giant thump.  P came out and said, "I hit my head."  So, I gave it a kiss and she ran back in.  The next time she came out, her face was dripping blood.  Oh.  Ok.  So, whatever she hit gave her a nice gash under her left eye.

So, we watched some Sesame Street with an icepack.

 Alicia's parents had acquired this game, "Elefun."  Basically, there are about 30 butterflies that you stick in this elephant, turn on the game and it blows them into the air.  The object is to catch the most butterflies.  Parker's version pretty much included laughing while all the butterflies flew out and then picking them up off the floor.  However, after consultation of the rules, we learned that this IS legal. ;)

 And this is just a picture that I think makes Parker look like she's about 4.  Seriously, when did she get so big and long?

Busy Bees

Whew. We have had a really busy weekend. During the day Friday, while we were all at school, Alicia's dad came down and started attacking our weed-field of a backyard. After we got home from school, we pretty much had time to go to dinner and come home and go to bed. Saturday, Alicia and her dad worked on the yard all day. Parker and I worked on going through her closet (getting rid of the too-small clothes, hanging up the new ones.) Parker took her nap and I got 1 coat of clear finish on 1 of the bookshelves. (Slow and steady wins the race on this project, I guess.) Parker woke up and I actually got to spend a bit of time with her, reading LOTS of books. The yard project finally finished and Parker got to play a little with her Grandpa Booga before going to bed. I continued to clean and organize P's room.

Today, we got up and ran to Target. They finally had the cube organizer that we had been eyeing for P's room on sale. So, we went out to get it! We also got Parker's Halloween costume and a winter coat for her. When we got home, we assembled the cube and P took a nap. Unfortunately this was rather short-lived so when Parker got up, we worked on moving all the stuff from the floor and the changing table into the cubes. (This is all part of our grand-plan to get the baby stuff out of Parker's room!) By the time we finished, it was time to get ready to go. Alicia and I actually got to go on a DATE! (What? A date you say? Yes. A real-childless-wine-at-dinner-fancy-restaurant-date!) We took P to a friend's house for babysitting and enjoyed a Parker-less couple of hours.

We got home a bit past her bed-time, but I don't think she was too much worse for the wear. We should do that more often.

So, that's that. A relatively unexciting, but productive weekend. Too bad the weeks aren't as great.

If Anyone Cares

Parker had her 2 year appointment today.

Here is what we learned.

She weighs 29 lbs, 3 oz. (75th percentile)

She is 36 inches tall (95th percentile)

She is developmentally on or ahead of schedule and.....

She has double ear infections. WHAT?

She hasn't been acting obscenely cranky or messing with her ears and her snottiness had mostly gone away. I feel like a horrible parent, but how the heck am I supposed to know when she acts normally and doesn't run a fever or anything? Sheesh.

Anyway. Our kid is mostly doing well. So, that's good. Hopefully, the amoxicillin will do it's stuff and kick these infections!

1 year later

Cute little 1 year old Parker.CRAZY two year old toddler Parker!!!!!!!

MIA

We've been a little MIA from the blogging world lately. Things have been busy with the start of school and getting ready for Parker's party. The party was a success and Parker had a good time. I think she was mostly excited to eat cake. Every time I would ask her what she wanted for her birthday, she would reply, "CAKE!" A girl after my own heart!

Here is the almost Birthday Girl right before her party.
Here she is "riding" her new tricycle.
Oh and did I mention that amidst the party weekend, my father (with the help of my brothers) built us these bookshelves? Craziness? Yes. But at least we have somewhere to put our (okay, Alicia's) books!

A visit from the Helicopter

Today, Parker's school got a visit from a "helicopter." I didn't physically see, it but it appeared to be a toddler size version of a model helicopter. Whatever it was, Parker thought it was awesome. Of course, the company has to make money off this shindig, so they put together a photo package for each kid. Apparently Parker was so pysched about this helicopter when Alicia picked her up, that we sprung for the pictures. (Which are pretty cute.)

These are pictures of the pictures because I don't feel like trying to deal with the scanner so they are a little blurry, but you'll get the gist! I find it hysterical that they put her in a little flight suit.

This one's my favorite. I think it's hilarious!

Traditions and Start of School

Last weekend we headed to the State Fair with our friend, Nancy. This is the 5th year that we have gone together and it has become a tradition. It was wicked hot, but we hung in there and ate some yummy, fatty food and Parker saw some livestock. Here we are with the Randall cows. (The Randall's are a University family who raises cows.) The Randall's themselves were nowhere to be found, but we posed ourselves in front of their cows anyway!Parker wasn't too interested in the couple of Midway rides she was able to ride, but we did get her on the carousel. She pulled a couple of ducks and got a stuffed dog. So, it was all good.

More importantly, Parker started "school" a couple of weeks ago. With me returning to work full time and the amazing Aunt Lauren living 50 minutes away, we needed to start Parker in daycare. She is attending a Goddard School in Noblesville. Although things are improving, she's still having trouble adjusting. I think lots of parts of school are good for her; the social interaction with other kids, being a little more independent etc, but I'm a little bummed that the things they are learning are things that she already knows (body parts, colors, please and thank you etc). Don't get me wrong, there are LOTS of social things that she needs to learn, but I was hoping she would get a boost with the other stuff as well. It's certainly not hurting her (although ever since she started school, she has been skipping 5 and 6 when she counts...probably unrelated, but my paranoid brain blames daycare! lol). So, for right now, we will call the whole thing a wash - at least until P starts liking it more.

Here are some pics from the First Day of School. (Before she REALLY knew what was coming!)

New Addition

We spent the last week with my family in Michigan. Several weeks ago, my brother asked if we wanted another cat. He and his wife, Kimber, were fostering one that was brought in to her vet clinic, but with 2 other cats and 2 dogs, they couldn't keep him. We Definitely did not want another cat.

Then, of course, we stay with them (and the cat) for a week. Parker loves the cat. He actually loves her. Maxx and Finn tolerate her but don't voluntarily curl up next to her. She spent almost every waking second running around the house looking for Little Kitty.

We were sort of considering until the other day when Parker says out of the blue, "I love you Little Kitty." Dang it. Now we're taking a cat home.

So, we have rearranged our plans and are stopping by my brother's house on the way back home next week so that we can lug a kitten back to Indiana.

I hope Maxx and Finn forgive us.

So Busy

We've been really busy hanging out with my family so I haven't had tons of time to post about our adventures, but here are some pictures from today. (I took a TON so I just randomly picked some cute ones!)

Parker peeking through the trees in my parents' yard.
Parker and Aunt Kimber
Aunt Sally, P and Aunt Stacy
Parker and Mommy on the trampoline.