Parker's Songs

For those of you not lucky enough to live close to us...you don't know what you are missing.

Parker for example is quite simply put, AWESOME. 

He gets it from his dad.

Recently Parker's creative streak & sense of humor have blossomed. One of my favorite things he does is make up songs like these.

For months his favorite song was the Batman song.he sang it all the time, even during the Sacrament.

One day I noticed he was sanding on my purse, you know because it was the only non flat surface on the floor. I told him to get down. He looked up at me smiling & sang,

 "Nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana BATPURSE!"

The song, "Once There Was a Snowman", is a favorite in our house. Eating ice cream is too.

We had ice cream after Family Home Evening one night. Parker randomly belts out this song.

"One there was a ice cream, ice cream, ice cream. Once there was an ice cream tall, tall, tall."

One of Annley's current favorite songs is the song "Tomorrow" from the movie "Annie".

Parker sings it like this, "I'm Parker, I'm Parker, I love you, I'm Parker."

Not bad for a kid who isn't even two years old.

Past and Present

I've never really done very well sticking to my New Year's resolutions until last year. I managed to keep one of the two goals I set.
Last year I made a family goal to have family prayer regularly. My other goal was to run a half marathon by the end of the year.  I was pregnant most of last year and I'm not that hard core so I figured not completing that goal was forgivable.

This year our family goals are to hold Family Home Evening regularly and do something outdoors as a family once a month.

My personal goals are to completely the newer Personal Progress Program and to run a 1/2 marathon by the end of the year.
I'm a little daunted at the task of completing a 1/2 marathon so my coach (Tyler) and I will be running a few events throughout the year.  The event I'm looking forward to most is in April. You'll have to wait until then to find out more.

Anyways, I am looking forward to this year.

Not that kind of Mold

Meet the A Molds

Meet the B Mold

3 Months

Look who's 3 months old today!

We love our little guy. He goes by Jesse, but is also known as Tiny, Jesse Grayson and Little Papoose.

He is happy most of the time and has the most infectious smile. Annley can NOT get enough of him which is sometimes a little frustrating like when I'm trying to feed and change him. Parker loves him too. Jesse likes to watch Annley and Parker play. He squeals and wiggles trying to get to them. He is very ticklish! He recently started laughing so we try to make him laugh as much as possible.

I am so grateful this little one was sent to our family.

Christmas with the Monkeys

We spent this Christmas at my parents' house in GA. Once again Annley was sick for Christmas. Luckily, this time is was just a cough and fever but she still wasn't herself. This Christmas Annley asked to get married to which the obvious answer was not this year. She then asked santa for a wedding dress and a baby doll. Lucky for her I was a miniature bride in a wedding when I was six. My mom still had the dress. It fits her perfectly.

Parker was the most excited kid on the planet. The first present he got was a truck. He started dancing and shouting "CARS". He did that every time it was his turn to open a present. It was great!

This Christmas has been my favorite since Tyler and I have had kids. I'm looking forward to several more like this one.

Georgia Aquarium

A few weeks ago while Tyler was working in Atlanta, I decided to take the kids to the aquarium and invited my mom to go. She suggested I ask my brothers to go. One of those brothers asked if he could bring a date. I said yes, thinking we could use all the adults we could get since we were taking three kids three years old and younger. The trip to the aquarium was my first outing with all three kids and I was terrified. What if I lost someone?
That being said, there is absolutely no way my mom and I would have survived that trip on our own and here's why. I forgot to pack the stroller and the aquarium does not provide rental strollers. I also couldn't find Parker's monkey leash which is kind of necessary when going to a place like the largest aquarium in the U.S. Plus Parker has the energy of threes toddlers rolled into one and he tends to be a little strong willed.

The moment we walked through the door Parker took off yelling "PISH" (fish for you non toddler speakers).  Mom had Jesse, one of the uncles had Annley so I took off after Parker. He stopped suddenly and stared in awe at the fish behind the floor to ceiling glass. He took of running again but this time it was just the length of the glass and back. He picked out a fish and followed it back and forth for a little while before we moved on to something else.

We only made it through a third of the aquarium because both kids were up at 4:30 and hadn't napped. We left as soon as the meltdowns began. Regardless, we had a great time. The uncles were the heroes of the day seeing as they carried Annley and Parker most of the time we were gone.

Annley loved the jellyfish and the sea otters. She also got to touch a starfish and an anemone and was excited about it. That was a huge deal! I've never been able to convince her to willingly touch anything that wasn't cute and cuddly.

Mice on Main

I have done a HORRIBLE job of writing about what's been going on. A few weeks before Jesse was born Lori and I took the kids on a "field trip" to Greenville.
Downtown Greenville has done an amazing thing. The city took the book "Mice on Main" and actually put bronzed mice down Main Street.

I checked out the book and read it several times with Annley before we went to look for them ourselves. They were pretty tricky to find even with the clues Lori printed out to help us.
The weather was perfect! I think this was one of the last outings we went on before Jesse was born.