Into the mind of a little sister...

...& a glimpse at how our attempts at getting a "happy family" photo of the twosome always fails me...:

(Above picture)
Eh eh. Too close!

I meeeeaan it!! Back OFF buddy!

That's IT.

You're gonna get it!

A nice chomp out of your leg oughtta do it...

Eghh...I give up. What is that, a smirk?! Seriously, are all boys this annoying?!

Quite possibly, Em. You just keep that guard up for the next twenty years or so and you'll be just fine!

*I know, I shouldn't condone biting but somehow it makes me smile to see my little girl stand up for herself... even when it means another failed picture attempt. :)

FOUR

Dear Parker,

This picture I took of you today pretty much sums up how I feel about my cute little guy turning FOUR!:

Where has the time gone?! As I think back over the last four years, it's hard to remember life without you, but at the same time I didn't expect my baby boy to grow up so fast on me! I often wonder what in the world we did to deserve such a wonderful, handsome, spunky, FUN little boy in our lives! You are such a bright, warm and kind spirit, full of love for everyone around you. You are the life of the party & your quest in life is to have FUN. Your sparkling blue eyes, big smile and darling dimples make my heart sing. I love it when you are happy & the countenance you carry is usually a cheerful one!

I love that you are so inquisitive. You are a very quick learner - I admire that in you as I am not! You are a constant chatterbox. Literally. That is why mommy can't survive without your "quiet time" these days in replace of your naptime. Nevertheless, I love (most of the time) that you have so much to say. We still aren't sure where that came from, but let's just say that it has been a change for me to have a boy in the house who can talk my ear off. :)

You are an extremely affectionate little guy, always quick to give a hug & you continue to give genuine compliments out in a way that I didn't know was possible for someone your age. That is an outstanding quality that I hope you will continue throughout your life - to be quick to notice the good in others. The contrary -- withholding compliments, is not an attractive feature in a person. I believe there is always something good to be said about others & I am in awe that at such a young age you already look for those shining characteristics in those you come in contact with, & are quick to share them.

You LOVE FRIENDS & you are quick to accept anyone as such! You have made some great friends on our street this last year & it's been so exciting to watch you be so thrilled about those relationships.

You started playing a little soccor this year! At first you were a little hesitant to join the group, but by month 2 you were loving it! You even made a goal during a game. I don't know if it was on purpose, but you made it! Once again, you just love to be around other kids. I don't think it matters what you are playing. You are just there to have FUN!

You started Primary this year as a Sunbeam! The first few months were an adjustment to be out of nursery and in classes, but you have made big strides in going willingly (most of the time) in the last several months & we are so proud of you! You are blessed with WONDERFUL teachers, Brother and Sister Smith, who adore you. You love to sing "Do As I'm Doing" and "I am a Child of God". You said your first prayer in Sharing Time on the 4th of July of this year. You have gotten really good at praying and I am amazed by the thought and sincereity you put in them for your age. You have a special light inside of you & we hope that you will always stay close to your Heavenly Father & keep that light shining in your beautiful blue eyes.

You love to swing, go on walks, go to the park, ride your scooter... you just love to be outside!!! You love to play with Daddy's Iphone, & play the Wii. You are amazing at doing puzzles! You love reading stories. "How I Became a Pirate" and "I Love You Stinky Face" are a few of your many favorites from this year. Many of your books you can recite to me without me even reading them. You have an amazing memory!! Your favorite color is RED. You can point out Utah, Arizona, Texas, California and NY on a map. You always amuse me by yelling out President Obama's name when you see him on TV. You love to color and paint & you've gotten good at writing your name - although you prefer to simply sign your masterpieces with a "P". A few of your favorite foods are strawberries (this has by far been your #1 choice in food for the last 3 years!), corn on the cob, avacado, pizza, "chips and dip" (tortilla chips and refried beans), noodles, and "orange" cheese. You have come to appreciate and like chicken this year, much to my happiness. You eat the majority of fruits and veggies which is awesome. And you've decided that you love chicken nuggets and french fries. And of course, you have your Daddy's unquenchable sweet tooth. You looove any treats but especially chocolate!

Like any good man, you take pride in your battle wounds. You are obsessed with bandaids and are under the firm impression that each little knick needs to be covered by a Toy Story bandaid.

You saw your first movie this year, "Princess and the Frog". It was loud and a bit scary for you. Even Mom thought it was scary. You covered your ears for most of it when your hands weren't digging into your popcorn, but you seemed in awe at your first movie theater experience. You also saw "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Toy Story 3". You love Toy Story and have decided that you must be Buzz for Halloween. We will have to see if we can conjure up an affordable costume.

You love to play with your sister. You love to make her laugh at you and play hide and seek with you. She looks up to you and follows after whatever you do. You also like to tease her but you look after her as well. She adores you!!!

You are such a GOOD little boy, but a few things that you struggle with are focusing and keeping your hands to yourself. You are also already a great procrastinator when you are told to do something, but these are things we are looking forward to working on in preschool this next year!

If I only I had one word to describe you, it would be JOY! That is what you have brought to us this last four years. You are such a wonderful, unique little spirit and it is obvious that you have great things to accomplish in this life. We are tremendously blessed by you and love you more than we knew was possible. We are forever grateful to have you as a part of our family!

Love,

Mom

Parker's first friend party

Months back when asked about what kind of birthday party he wanted, Parker replied with no hesitation that he wanted a Mickey water party. Okay! A strange combination, but whatever the little guy wants, right? Somehow I had to marry the two, which just turned out to be Mickey decor mixed with some water fun ... so I present you with

Parker's Mickey Splash Party! :)

The BiRtHdAy BoY!!!

The silly minor details that the Mom obsesses over...

The FUN!

I stole this water bottle idea (above) from one of my favorite blogs....they work out great because they last so much longer than squirt guns and I put their names on with vinyl lettering so as to not mix them up. I had to swallow my pride on these as I went to at least five stores trying to find ones that matched the red, yellow and black decor with NO LUCK! Oh well. I kept having to tell myself, "4 year olds aren't going to care if they match, Michelle". Well, I DID care - but ah well. They were fun anyways. :)

The party-goers who made the magic happen! (minus darling Addi who wanted a few more minutes at the table inside:))

Parker LOVES his friends! He is quite the social butterfly and is a friend to anyone and everyone. I hope that he will always show love, kindness & acceptance to those around him. He wanted to invite even more kids but I had to draw the line somewhere... these cute kids are all from our street! We are lucky to live in a place where Parker can be surrounded by so many great kids! We sure love our neighborhood.

Thanks to everyone for coming and for all the fun gifts! You all make Parker feel so loved! :)

The celebrations continue...

On the morning of the 24th of July we had breakfast at the Hansens & also celebrated Parker's birthday with them.

They gave him an awesome bounce-back soccor net which will be an exciting accessory for our backyard. Parker's Daddy kind of likes it, too! Cute Aunt (& Uncle) B gave him a FUN (Guess-who like) game that is especially great for traveling, and the coolest frisbee-like toy. He also got $ from Great-Gma & Gpa Lonczyna for his missionary fund.

The kiddos always like to hang out at the Hansens as they have quite the fan base there. :)

At lunchtime we went home for naps (for the kids of course -- although I would have loved one myself), then we were off to my Dad's by dinnertime for yet another party!

Included in the birthday activities, we played darts for prizes which of course was a dream come true for the Birthday Boy. What 4 year old boy doesn't like to chuck sharp objects at balloons and then pull a string for a fun prize/treat? He looooved it! Even my cute Grandma whom just a few months back we weren't sure if she would walk again joined in on the fun. Parker got some really fun toys and games (including Buzz Lightyear, an art set he is obsessed with, and some bases for T-ball which he loooved playing with this afternoon - just to name a few). So needless to say we have been playing it up the last few days with all his fun new stuff!

Thank you everybody for making this little boy feel so special on his birthday weekend! He is very blessed by all of you!

FUN FUN FUN! :)

Fourth Birthday!

Our cute little Parker turned FOUR on July 22nd! I have lots of celebrations to post and little time but we'll start out with his actual birthday....He is at such a fun age this year & I'm not sure who was more excited to celebrate his birthday - me or him!

Parker woke up to a room full of balloons and then had a Christmas morning-style birthday with his presents awaiting him downstairs...

Among his gifts he got the Handy Manny Repair Shop (proving to be a great purchase!) and the Wii-obsessed child got a Wii game chosen by the Mom who pretty much despises all video games (induces such unproductiveness) and limits the little guy's time on it...BUT I knew he would love it -- and guess what, he does!

Chris didn't have to work until that afternoon so we were then off to Kangaroo Zoo (Parker's pick) for some fun bouncing around. It was such fun. :)

The BIRTHDAY BOY!

Love this little guy!

Then we were off to none other than "Old McDonald's" for lunch (once again - Parker's pick). I think it's been years since I've actually eaten inside a McDonald's. It wasn't so bad. :)

I'm not a person big on fast food (except for occasional fries) & I once swore I would never feed my children chicken nuggets or any so called "meat" from such places... Well, so much for that! I guess it's taken me four years to give in (they had them for the first time - to my knowledge - a couple months back... & guess what? They love them - despite the negative nutritional value & whatever ickiness they grind up in those things...but that is another story)...

All in all, it was a great day!

The following day is when the parties begin...

Stay tuned! :)

Then & Now

Growing up, I didn't have a lot of women in my life. My mom, yes. My 2 grandmas - yes. But only several aunts (all but one out of state), no sisters (cute stepsisters & a half sister later but none whom I saw often), & just one girl cousin. I always resented the fact that I didn't have a sister and was jealous of those who did, but she - my cuz - just three months younger than myself - was like the sister I didn't have - a few months out of the year anyway.

We were complete opposites -me the somewhat reserved (in comparison) middle child, girly, & a bit molly Mormon you could say. I did grow up in Utah after all! She was an extrovert, an only child who loved the spotlight & who grew up in a very non-conservative home in Palo Alto, California. (I actually think conservatism is probably the one swear word in their home - but I have to say I love them for (& in spite of) their passionate left-wing political views...) Nonetheless, we had such great times together & to this day I think we can still appreciate our differences & what each can learn from the other. :)

In the summertime, Megan would come out to Utah and spend several weeks with our Grandma who lived in the Avenues of Salt Lake & so would I. I loved those few weeks with her & we cherished that time together with our Grandma. We spent those weeks playing Rummikub and SkipBo, taking walks to the "Little Store" on the corner to buy treats, playing in the Salt Lake City cemetery across the street, swinging in the cherry tree, making up skits for our family, playing office on the patio, eating chocolate pudding with chocolate chips, drinking A&W Rootbeer, rollerskating through our chalk-made cities, playing with Elizabeth McRea the next door neighbor.... the memories go on and on. I would also fly to California on occasion and stay with she and her parents. We had more great times there riding bikes all over Stanford University and the Stanford Shopping Center (& making embarrassing movies of course...).

Here we are back in 1986 with our cute Grandma who always seemed to be wearing an apron... and some shade of her favorite color - pink. She was also always snapping pictures which to the annoyance of some I have followed in her footsteps of...

My Grandma passed away of pancreatic cancer in 1996, my sophmore year of High School.

Don't you love the retro decor? Ahhh... the memories...

FLASH FORWARD 24 years...

Last week, Megan and her husband Adam came to visit us on their drive from California to Massachusetts! It was so good to see them! I didn't make it to their wedding as it was shortly after I had Emmie, so this was my first time meeting Adam. He is a great guy and they obviously make each other happy which was wonderful to see.

Not too soon after the recent purchase of their dream home in downtown San Francisco, the opportunity of a lifetime came up.... Harvard came knocking! No, not to be a student, (she just graduated from Stanford with her PhD in Math!) but she was sought out to join Harvard's faculty as a post doctorate fellow and do math research for the next several years with 2 Harvard professors! AMAZING!!!

Did I forget to mention that she's BRILLIANT?

Well, she is.

So off they go to HARVARD for a great adventure. I have to admit that a tinge of jealousy runs through me as I've dreamed of living back East since I can remember....*sigh*. It will probably never happen for me (however if Chris were to give the okay tomorrow I would be there), but how exciting for them!

It was so great to see you guys!!!

Hope you make it out here again soon - or better yet maybe I'll make it back there to visit YOU this time.

HUGS! :)

Friends in town

We were lucky to have our friends the Bloomfields in town for the whole month of June. They were some of our first friends in this neighborhood and we were sad to have them move back East last year for MBA school.

(L to R: Ty, Cam, Parker, Emmie & Jakey)

Check out these cutie patooties...with all the light hair, blue eyes and dimples they could all be related. There is no question that Emmie will have a plethora of cute boys to choose from in this family in the years to come! These cute little guys don't completely dominate their fam anymore as they have a darling new little sister, Claire. Their Supermom Karen somehow manages to keep her sanity intact with 4 kiddos under 5 years old! I don't know how she does it except that her kids are pretty darn good. As for me, I am barely sane with 2 kids under four. Barely. She is awesome. Me? Apparently not so much. :)

The boys even got to play soccor together for the month of June & share a gymnastics class. These two little cuties will both be FOUR on July 22nd!

It was fun to see you Bloomfields! Come again soon! :)

Our summer fun...

Need the perfect solution for a hot afternoon?

How about this new splash park less than five minutes from home?

LOVE IT!

~Need to work that pitching arm?

...How about feeding the ducks at a nearby park?

~Need to practice up on your mommy skills?

...Baby Minnie to the rescue!

~Need a ride? Big Brother will make room for you!

~Need a loyal friend?

No worries. Roxy is always nearby watching over you!

Cute things at cute prices

OLD NAVY.

$4!!!

YES HUH!

Smiles of Satisfaction all around.

Oh how we love love LOVE to find great things at great prices at our house!!!

Drama at the Stadium of Fire....

I absolutely love the Fourth of July! I also know how unfun it is to have kids stay up late and be rocked off of their schedule, so it's been a good four years since we've stayed up to watch fireworks let alone go anywhere special to observe them. Well, this year, after talking to a neighbor who swore her two year old did great at the Stadium of Fire last year, I got brave and found last minute tickets on KSL.com to go see the exciting event a few days before the holiday. FIREWORKS + AMERICAN IDOL'S AlUMN, CARRIE UNDERWOOD....

Could it get any better?!

In my eyes, it was the opportunity of a lifetime, and Chris and I decided it was well worth chancing that our kids would actually sit still (a very rare thing) and behave well (huge risk given that the show didn't start until an hour past their 7:00 bedtime!).

The Hansens stake out a spot each year outside of the stadium. They have a picnic and watch the fireworks, so we stopped by on our way in to the big show. In case you can't tell, the kiddos are quite popular with the aunties and uncles (Top right: Chris' sisters Bethany and Sarah - Bottom Middle: Uncle Zach)

Then we were OFF to the stadium!...

BUT... not without an accident first. Little P tripped and fell just before reaching the gates and skinned his poor knee. The kid was HYSTERICAL all the way to our seats. Poor guy! I would have been too...I think the blood and the immediate swelled goose egg freaked him out all the more...

While Chris was off to find a bandaid, I, with my arms full of Emmie, purse and camera, my hand holding screaming P, scoot the 3 of us in through the crowded audience to the middle of our bench row.

Relieved to have made it, & feeling sorry for my little guy who was still in hysterics, I turned to comfort him when not thirty seconds after I sit down this nice lady:

{white shirt below)

whips around out of nowhere and very curtly says, "Will you get her FOOT OFF of me?!"

Whaaahut!?

I look down, and Emmie's (sitting on my lap) sandal is barely hanging over the back of her CLIP ON CHAIR, her toe lightly resting on the woman's back.

(The way that she said it you would have thought that we had just thrown up on her & believe me later in the night I was almost wishing one of my kids WOULD heave all over her crisp, white shirt...)

Uhhh.. Seriously?! I just sat down, lady -GIVE ME A BREAK!

Shocked, I muttered a "sorry" and that we were just getting situated....

Nevermind that I'm comforting my hysterical, bleeding three year old, and that we'd only been sitting there SERIOUSLY for 30 seconds when she freaked on me AND had she waited another minute or so for me to assess the fact that her clip on seats that they brought were cutting a good three inches (before they sat back in them) into my very little leg room to begin with!!!

UMMMM, I'm thinking you're the one guilty of invading MY space, woman!!

So for the next ten minutes that Chris was gone, she kept throwing me these nasty looks over her shoulder and huffing and puffing and rolling her eyes in sideways glances - to the point that it angered me so much I was fighting back tears. (we weren't even doing anything!)

I TOTALLY get being bugged by some kid kicking your seat or touching you for 5 or more minutes when you've paid money for something, but GIVE US A CHANCE! We had just sat down! I'm always that mom afraid that my kids are going to drive the people surrounding us crazy & that is why we never attempt things like this. & the one time we finally do, of course we had to have the wicked witch of the west in front of us.

I HATE RUDE PEOPLE!!!!

So for the entire show, I was on edge trying to make sure that no one touched Queenie's chair. I don't know why, I should have let them kick away! Seriously! They were the ones invading our leg space to begin with and were lucky that they had 5'1 ME sitting behind them opposed to my 6'1 husband who is twice my weight because HE wouldn't have fit behind their stupid egocentric chairs. I was sitting sideways and was completely squashed! I was afraid to relax my legs the entire time!

DEEP BREATHES

I am not normally a grudge carrying person at all or someone that takes things personally... I am pretty good at letting things just run off my back....but one thing I don't tolerate well are MEAN PEOPLE!!!

CAN YOU TELL!??! :)

Well, I wasn't going to let her completely ruin my one shot at Carrie Underwood LIVE and watching my kids enjoy fireworks for their first time (their ears stuffed with earplugs). So despite the reminder that some people are incredibly rude, insensitive and completely tactless, I did still manage to enjoy the show! Thank goodness. Carrie Underwood was amazing and tacked on an incredible rendition of 'How Great Thou Art' to the end of 'Jesus Take the Wheel'. Being such big American Idol fans made it all the more exciting for us to be there. WE LOVE her! (yes - even Chris who professes to hate every other female singer!)

The kids were sooo good & P said of the fireworks that he liked them, but that they were too long and too loud...he was really tired and told me several times that he just wanted to go to bed. But all in all he was a trooper. Even the NICE lady behind us kept commenting on how good the kids were. We need more people like that in the world! What a contrast to the woman in front of me!

What I learned in all of this was just to trust my mommy instincts. Events like that are too stressful with tiny kids. We won't be doing it again next year. But for Carrie Underwood, this year it was worth it even with the worse possible person sitting in front of us! :)

HaPpY fOuRtH!!!