Letter of the Week

A couple of weeks ago, we started talking about letters.

Parker & I that is...

"A" says /a/ like apple.

The apple prints were oh so fun, until she discovered that I didn't mind the finger painting.

All bets were off then.

Whatever that means...

"A" says /a/ like address.

Ignore the giant lightning bolt & orange heart.

Had to block our address from STRANGERS.

:)

This idea came from the Preschool link in my sidebar.

It's under the "a" section.

"B" says /b/ like button, bunny, & beautiful butterfly.

We read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" & then made him into a B-eautiful B-utterfly.

That idea came from Preschool Daze too.

It's so fun having a preschooler around.

She gets so proud of herself when she finds the letters around the house & out & about.

Makes me proud too.

We've been working on C for 2 weeks now.

It got busy around here.

We'll show those /c/ things off next week.

Age brings wisdom....

teeth that is.

And he had his out yesterday.

Poor guy.

All is well. As you can see one of his favorite girls has been very attentive to him.

He's swollen & a little sore, but other than that he's great.

For having 4 teeth removed that is...

And he's a very sweet patient.

Last weekend

Wow.

We were busy.

My sister came in town on Thursday, so we spent the evening at my parents.

Friday...Miss P was treated to an evening of pajamas, milk, cookies, & Clifford.

It was her big potty prize for the week:).

Trying to figure out how to get rid of those potty prizes....nice problem to have I suppose.

Barnes & Noble, you're so great that Clifford wanted to stop by for a visit.

There were lots of happy kids waiting to meet the Big Red Dog.

That's my hip next to Parker.

If only it stopped there...

Sigh.

My parents were equally excited about Clifford.

Of course I think it had more to do with watching & being with the little lady.

But I don't want to hurt the big red guy's feelings...

We read Clifford books all week getting ready for this.

I even remembered to record it for her on Friday morning to watch on TV!

Thrilling:).

She LOVED him. We were all a little surprised at how she had no fear of the furry thing.

She gave him 2, yes 2, hugs (we missed the 1st one anticipating a different reaction).

And the sweet dog posed for a picture with her.

The next day we had a wedding rehearsal to attend.

Yep, our girl was a flower girl in a wedding.

In my unbiased opinion, she was awesome...hehe.

She was so excited & proud.

So were we.

I mean who doesn't love a curly headed girl in a big poofy dress, throwing (or more like chunking) flower petals down a wedding aisle before the bride.

She was convinced that she & Miss Jen were BOTH getting married.

Thankfully a boy was not involved in Parker's idea of a wedding.

Yikes.

A-dor-able.

And...oh my goodness.

I love him. I love him. I love him.

Man, having kids is crazy.

They're so great, freaky,funny, scary, wonderful, beautiful, nerve wracking & precious.

I wouldn't trade 'em for anything.

This was lots of fun.

But I'll be glad for NOTHING to do this weekend. Ah.

Christmas is March 2 :)

Christmas in our family always starts the Sunday before Christmas.

At Nana's.

This was a stroller from my Aunt Kathy & my Nana.

She still walks around almost daily pushing that thing.

That's Nana.

We all love her.

She just turned 82.

It's always so fun to kick things off at her house.

Christmas Eve is full of busy-ness for us.

We end the day with church & Christmas with the Mershawn's.

It's always so nice to get a good dose of Jesus the night before His celebration.

This is us at Mitchel's parents.

Mimi & Papa with our cuties.

The favorite aunt & favorite girl cousins:).

(they're the only aunt & girl cousins....but they'd still be favorites)

Then...Christmas morning comes so fast.

Parker got a trampoline this year.

Lots of fun times on that thing....and not just for her.

And one of my favorites that she got: Jessie. From Toy Story.

I love her attitude.

:)

There was a lot of help this year for us.

Just in case we needed a refresher on how to open gifts...our 2 year old was ready & waiting to assist.

And apparently she approved of this gift.

There are no words.

Okay, maybe...

I love that goofy guy.

He makes me happy.

So sweet.

Can't believe how tiny he was.

He was very into Christmas...

or maybe napping. Hard to say which thrilled him more.

hehe

After our morning, we head to my parents for one more gift exchanging extravaganza.

This year a surprise box had arrived a few days before Christmas.

From my sister & brother-in-law.

I guessed right:).

That baby is coming at the end of July.

We can't wait to meet him.

Mr. Potato Head made a visit to our Christmas festivities.

And then there was the cleaning lady/doctor.

She was very helpful.

My parents surprised me with my new friend.

Bernie is what I call her.

She is my new sewing machine.

After a couple of months of intimidation I decided to tell her I wasn't afraid of her anymore & try her out. It started out rough. But now she knows who's boss.

I'll be sharing pics of that later.

Then my mom's family stopped by.

That means our cousin Kylie came.

Let's just say her & Parker are 2 peas in a pod.

She made Parker fancy.

She was very accepting of her new fancy role.

That's Kylie with Brandon (her husband, my cousin), Tucker, & I.

Good times with family.

And a giant poodle.

I love Christmas.

And now I'm sad all over again that it's over.

Time goes too fast these days.

But we are greatly blessed & that's something to always celebrate.

God is good.

Merry Christmas.

Or Happy St. Patrick's Day.

For whatever mood you're in:).

Countdown 1 year {3 months}

Our buddy was 3 months last Friday.

He's still that super cute, squishy, happy guy.

We tell him everyday that we're so happy he's ours.

But in all that cute, squishiness, there's some growing going on...

He can now lay on his belly & hold that big ol' head up a full 90 degrees.

Makes me giggle every time he does it.

And, sometimes his head falls over & he rolls back over.

Gets the reaction above every time.

Makes us all laugh too.

 

My baby grew out of his 0-3 month clothes BEFORE his 3 month bday.

I don't think Parker outgrew her 0-3 month stuff till she was 9 months:).

I'm serious.

Anyway...

He wears 3-6 month clothes now, but has outgrown some of those.

Socks will not stay on his feet, mostly due to chubby ankles.

He has no wrists.

He wears size 2 diapers already.

His eyes twinkle every time he smiles.

He has learned how to reach out & grab with his right hand.

I'd say this skill is the one he is most proud of.

So far he's grabbed his dad's face, my hair, his sister's hair, & he LOVES to tap his chicken on his play mat.

Gets those legs to kickin!

Oh how I love them.

There's a fondness growing amongst those 2 as well.

Sweet.

hehe

There's the chicken!

He likes to stare at him too.

Can you see him smiling in that 1st picture?

You can barely tell, but he was.

I was there, you can believe me.

I love you a bushel & a peck & a hug around your neck Tucker Brooks!

(have you seen Julie & Julia?)

Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks?

I get to do it everyday....

Christmas, um....in March

Going through our pictures the other day, I decided it was probably time I got to posting about Christmas:). 

I know most of you don't necessarily care to play catch up on our Christmas, but for memory sake, I'm gonna do it!

So bear with me...

Christmas Eve

We spent most of that day baking, wrapping presents, & adjusting to life with a 2 year old & a newborn.

Good sweet moments & crazy wild ones.

We started with sugar cookies:

Now, I had been looking forward to this day for a while.

Relaxed baking fun with my little lady.

What I wasn't prepared for was:

hormones

flour EVERYWHERE (and I mean everywhere)

hormones

a 2 year old who's world that was just turned upside down...

you get the idea.

But it all turned out just fine.

We even had fun:).

And, looking back, I'm glad we did it.

Sweet memories now.

Oh, and she ate TONS of dough.

Just for the record.

Next came Monkey Munch.

Much more controlled, which I enjoy:).

Everything was contained & it's SO easy & SO fast.

And delightful...

And, finally.

Hello Dollies.

Hello friends...I've missed you.

Ahh. I think I ate almost that entire pan by MYSELF.

Yep. Just what a brand new nursing mommy needs.

Chocolate, coconut, buttery heaven.

These will be served at my house in heaven:).

AND they'll be calorie free!

There were many hot "shlocit" breaks.

Don't those mugs make you all Christmasy?

Many newborn nappy breaks.

Look how tiny he was...

So sweet. (he fills that outfit up now)

And White Christmas.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas...

(I'm singing it right now. With a nice deep voice. Too bad you can't hear it.)

Oh yeah! It snowed too.

So fun.

We packed up all of our baked goodies & headed to church.

It was Tuck's first big outing. I was a little apprehensive, but he was great.

After church on Christmas Eve, we always go to Mitchel's parents' house for Christmas presents.

But, that's a lot of pictures.

We'll get to that later.

Man, now I'm hungry. Sorry...

Sure do love you, sweetheart...

My Grandaddy.

He said that to all us girls.

All my life.

He went to be with the Lord,

Sunday, February 28, 2010.

He was ready.

My Naw passed away last January & he had been planning to be gone long before her.

Frustrated him & made him desperately sad to be without her.

It's been bittersweet for me.

Obviously.

He was funny, loving, giving, kind, mischievious (good word Crystal), a good man.

He was a World War 2 vet. Has crazy stories about all he did.

He was in the Navy.

He used to leave us rent money when we were kids, when he & Naw stayed in our rooms.

He smelled good. His hair & clothes were always neat.

He was silly. :)

I loved him.

You know how it is to love your grandfather or grandmother.

They're just special.

I've been really missing my Naw & Grandaddy over the last few days.

Really. So glad they're in heaven & whole. But I'm really missing them.

Keep thinking about being with them. Like in the old days.

Sad & weird to grow up.

Sigh. Can't wait to see them in heaven again.

That'll be awesome.

Sure do love you Grandaddy.

Now, I must go.

I need a tissue.

Or 6...