Summer 2011

Parker started school last week.
He loves it.
Temperatures are dropping.
We love that.
And while my absolute FAVORITE (favorite, favorite!) time of year, Fall, is fast approaching, I'm still way sad to say goodbye to our summer.
It's truly been a great one and went by far too fast.
Here's a recap of just a few of our
simple favorites from summer 2011...

Popsicles.
What kid doesn't love a popsicle?
Believe me, mine are no exception.

Sandbox fun...

Deserves 2 pics because of how much they love it... especially Emmie... the girl is obsessed with dirt. By day's end she's sure to have dirt grain remnants covering her scalp, invading her pull up, and tracked all over my kitchen floors. This girl is largely responsible for preterm labor issues I experience brought on by the vacuuum...

PARTY PARTY PARTIES!

We end up celebrating all week it seems for birthdays around here but going on a fun family venture for their birthdays as well as their parties with extended family has been a fun tradition this last few years and one we hope to continue!

Our many ventures to Thanksgiving Point... so much fun!
And especially fun that Daddy gets to come!

Bikes, scooters, and more bikes and scooters.

In case you wondered, paranoid  cautious moms post head injury accidents don't take off their 5 year old's training wheels until they're 6 18.

Don't feel bad. He hasn't minded. He just loves to be out there racing with his friends!

Pool trips!

With our fearless, water-obsessed little fish we made numerous Monday night trips to a local community pool. This one has a lazy river, water slides, and pirate ships. The kiddos were in heaven! Also falling under this category are their first swimming lesson adventures through the month of June, as well as their much anticipated trip to Cowabunga Bay for Emmie's birthday (more on that later:).

I was worried that our summer would be slowed and less active this year with end-of-pregnancy issues. And although the contractions were a bit ridiculous there for a while & I feared the worst, having a doctor who doesn't believe in bed rest allowed us to be able to pack a ton of fun in, especially this last month and right in time for the onslaught of the real preterm labor stuff I've been dreading! (Appointment this week showed dilation etc etc...here we go!)It's time to slow down and I think I'm finally ready and okay with doing just that. We've had a great run and now we're ready to welcome Fall and this cute new baby girl into our lives. We'll miss our summer days but we also can't wait for what lies right around the corner for our fam! :)

Farmer P

Is there anything better than fresh, home grown veggies from the garden?
I think not.
Okay so maybe freshly baked homemade cookies from the oven are up there too.
And this little guy would agree on both premises, I assure you.

Chris and Parker started a vegetable garden this year and it's caused a lot of excitement around here.  I don't know that there ever was a little boy so excited to go and not only pick his crops from the garden, but eat them, too!

P-Man probably eats at least 10 grape tomatoes a day. I can't tell you how happy I am to send my little gopher out to the backyard to get them for me rather than buy them at the store!

Needless to say we are eating lots of these these days....:

As of a few months ago Parker wouldn't eat lettuce, but now even he partakes!

We love you, summer!

Please don't leave us too quickly.

We're not done enjoying our salads yet!

A recent discovery

Recently we made a great discovery...

The Discovery Gardens at Thanksgiving Point! How we did not know about this place with having an annual pass is beyond me, but we are loving our recent find!

Not only do they have trails of exploration for the kids, beautiful gardens, a Noahs Ark Splash park, shrub mazes, & bear caves for the kids to play in... but they have story time and crafts once a week (this week they read "Where the Wild things are", hence the kiddo's monster craft above) and even a family activity and picnic night on Mondays! And those are only the areas we have ventured into... I get about ten too many contractions hiking around that place so we haven't even explored it all yet.

Oh but don't worry, we will! :)

 (I am hoping anyways - as long as this baby calms down a bit!:)

The best part is, it's all free with our annual pass. (Normally it's $4 for kids, $6 for adults)

And to think we thought Thanksgiving Point was just a cute farm, some pretty gardens, a golf course and a dinosaur museum.... nah.

Turns out it's way cooler than that! :)

(& if you want to come along with us, our pass will get you in half off...);)

24th of July Parade

Growing up, we frequented the 24th of July Parade on the good old streets of Salt Lake quite often. I have fun memories from those days and I thought that the kiddos were at great ages to attend this year. So we bustled out the door way earlier than we normally are ever ready to hit the highway, and off to the parade we went!

We were even able to coerce Grandma and Grandpa Hansen, and Aunt Bethany to attend with us.  It wasn't as super exciting as I remembered it as a kid, but it was a fun morning and definitely a worthwhile trip! We even got lucky with some nice rain clouds blocking the hot sun for us most of the morning.       

Apparently this is Emmie's new smile...

And in case you missed the big parade or wonder what in the world goes on at this sort of celebration, above is a sampling of the plethora of floats. The police squads also come out in hoards and do synchronized motorcycle dances. I think it must be an exciting day for the cops around our state. Pretty entertaining, actually. :)

But my favorite part of the parade hands down was our cute prophet Thomas S. Monson, riding by! That alone made the trip worth it for sure. It sure made me wish I had brought my nice camera!

I asked Parker what he thought, and he said he wants to go back next year, so I guess that means he liked it.

Maybe it will be a become our new tradition.... :)

Our Big 5 year old

*This is not necessarily meant to entertain blogging audiences... more for the family history book!
But have at it if you're in need of a good nap...;)

Dear Parker,

I can't believe that you are 5! This last 5 years have been some of the BEST and the craziest all because of you! You are such a fun, kind and thoughtful little ball of energy and we sure feel blessed that you are our little boy!
You are so quick to serve your family. Emmie and your newest sister on the way are so blessed to have you as their big brother. When Emmie is upset, you often set out to find and bring her her blanky because you know it will make her feel better. I hope that you will always watch out for your little sisters and continue to make them feel your love for them throughout your life!

You are such an honest little boy. Even though you have access to all the treats, and you have a strong love for them, you always ask permission before having them and never sneak them. Even at such a young age I always feel like I can trust you and I feel that a strong sense of honesty is a quality that you have been blessed with.

You love to have fun and be rambunctious at times but you also have a very soft and gentle side. You are very affectionate and I love that about you!

You have an incessant curiousity about life and your little brain is always cranking with new questions. I am amazed at your depth of understanding new concepts and your ability to retain information after just learning something once or twice. This is such a gift that you did not inherit from me! I hope that you will take advantage of your love for learning and utilize it to it's fullest capacity and use it to make wise education and career choices as you enter adulthood. Don't waste the gift of knowledge that you have been given!

You are such a charismatic and fun little person to be around. You are outgoing and ADORE your friends. They are of utmost importance to you and you are accepting of all kids you come in contact with.

You love to be outside to play with those friends, to swing, play in the sandbox, ride your bike and ride your scooter. And you LOOOVE popsicles! This summer you developed a love for swimming with your first swimming lessons. You were very patient with your teachers and even when you were dunked numerous times, you never broke down crying. You were always happy to be in the water.

You were on your first soccor team this year! You had fun playing and always looked forward to your practices and games.

You love church! Well, at least part of it anyways. It's still hard for you to sit still in sacrament meeting but you LOVE primary and are always happy to go. Your teachers say that you are well-behaved and reverent in class.

You are a great eater! You love pretty much any vegetable I put in front of you including squash, zucchini, carrots, grape tomatoes, pickles, broccoli, corn and corn on the cob... the list goes on. You haven't tried lettuce yet but maybe now that you are 5! You also love any fruit...strawberries have been your #1 favorite food since you could eat them! You will eat a whole pack of strawberries (you usually say "strawbreeze") in one sitting if I will let you. You also LOVE sliced up "orange" cheese as you call it, but you don't care for string cheese.

You phased out of your nap this last year, and in it's place you have "quiet time" in the afternoons. You used to have this in your room, but now have it in the basement as long as you pick up your toys afterwards. You play with toys during this time, color, work on workbooks (which you LOVE!), play your Leapster, and sometimes you get to play the Wii or watch a Netflix show.

I asked you a few questions and here were your answers:

Favorite sport:  Soccor

Favorite toy: Dragons

Favorite animals: Elephants and zebras

Favorite foods: Strawberries, and Beans and rice with cheese

Favorite summertime activities: Play with friends and eat popsicles

Favorite Shows: Little Einsteins and Jake and the Neverland Pirates

Favorite movies: Lion King and Toy Story

What you are afraid of: Bees, spiders and mice

Favorite character: Buzz

Favorite Treat: Chocolate

What you want to be when you grow up: Pharmacist

We LOVE having you in our family Parker.

 You have blessed and changed our lives forever and we adore you!

More birthday celebrations

Yes, there is more.
Parker's birthday extravaganza continues!:)
The day after his actual birthday and Boondocks outing, we took the kids to see Cars 2. We weren't all that impressed with the movie itself but it was still fun to go out with the kiddos.
The next day - Sunday, we went over to the
Hansens to celebrate Parker's birthday with them....

Since he'd already had chocolate cake on his birthday, his requested birthday treat for this night was rice krispie treats (yep I forgot to bring the candle), chocolate chocolate cookies, and ice cream was even thrown into the mix via Grandma and Grandpa.

Chris' parents had just returned from a 3 week vacation to Europe, so we were able to watch a slide show (via the big screen) and hear all about their fun European adventures.

Parker got some fun gifts! His Aunties and uncles gave him a marble madness set, and with his new-found love for "swimming", he is now all set for snorkeling!

We sure miss Grandma Jane & Grandpa Reed's old swimming pool these days! ;)

The following Sunday we were off to celebrate yet again with my Dad and Grandma!

My cute Grandma - Mimi - was in a pretty bad car accident the very beginning of July (thanks to a woman running a stop sign). After surgery and spending several weeks in the hospital, she finally came home recently with a badly broken ankle, a wheelchair, and round the clock nursing care (for 6 more weeks!). We're so glad that she is okay though and grateful we could celebrate Parker's birthday with her! We had a really fun night and the kid's especially loved the traditional candy bar game (go ahead and call it junk food game) and came home with quite the loot. It always takes us months to finish off all the treats when we play this!

(and just FYI that picture is before starting the game, not Parker's winnings!)

As you can see, Parker was really spoiled with all the fun presents! I can honestly say he's loved playing with each and every one of these items this last week!

This little guy is so loved and we sure appreciate everyone making his 5th birthday so special!

A Boondocks Birthday

On Parker's birthday, he woke up to a shiny new scooter awaiting him downstairs.

His big grin doesn't lie. He was pretty excited!

And this little girl....

Well, her tears don't lie.
She was pretty sad that SHE didn't have a new scooter too.

The woes of a 2-year-old I tell ya.

Missy Em cried in the corner while Parker opened his other gifts, which included a Hot Wheels track especially picked out by Dad, some books, new jams, a bug catcher, and a butterfly garden (for which our caterpillars are anxiously expected in the mail any day now...), among a few other items.

Then it was off to....

BOONDOCKS!

OHHHH Yeeeaaah! :)

 Since it was his birthday, Parker got an all-day pass for FREE (score!), and we spent the morning enjoying the race cars, boats, arcade, playland, a yummy lunch in the cafe, and of course, mini golf.

Okay, mostly the boys enjoyed mini golf. Chris had to be off to work by 1:30 so the girls dropped out to speed things up....  we didn't mind though. I was busy breathing through heat-induced contractions, and Emmie....

well she was just happy chasing butterflies!

It was a fun family day and I think that  P-Man loved his Boondocks Birthday outing!

Dinosaur Birthday Party

We celebrated Parker's 5th birthday
with his buddies last week.

The "Dino-mite" invitations

The big (and might I add handsome) 5-year-old

(okay technically in this pic he is still 4 for 2 more days)

The party decor!

Parker has been adamant about having a dinosaur themed birthday party for the last six months or so. I was a bit worried wondering how we were going to entertain a bunch of little ones outside in the middle of July with a Jurassic theme without melting. I was thinking more along the line of sno-cones and water activities but dinosaurs are what he wanted. A dinosaur EGG hunt to be precise. So that is what he got.

I found some printable dinosaur party decor online which satisfied the cute factor I always crave at these things. It made my life much easier by just being able to print and cut out, rather than spending a fortune on a dino cricut cartridge, stressing over the color scheme, what paper to purchase which is another huge expense, not to mention all the hours spent assembling the homemade banners, favors, etc.

These, I just ordered (at a very reasonable price), printed, assembled and wallah. Still a bit of work but sooo much easier than I otherwise would have made it! You can check out the shop I ordered them from HERE. I highly recommend! 

The Games!:

Every good paleontologist needs a cute, sturdy bucket armed with a shovel and brush, right? Right. They not only worked out perfectly for their dino dig later, but as containers for Parker's MUCH anticipated

DINOSAUR EGG HUNT!
I scavenged through our Easter stuff, tossing out all the girly colored eggs and used the rest to fill with baby dinosaurs and treats to hide for the hunters. (I bought extras at Easter knowing that this was coming up) The kiddos really seemed to like it and I think it was a hit!

Next up was digging for dinosaurs. I found some awesome dinosaur skeletons on Amazon and they worked out PERFECT for this activity. The excavators loved digging for the dinosaur bones and got to take them home in their buckets. My kids are still playing with theirs in the sandbox almost everyday.

 

We played a bunch of other games including a dinosaur egg relay, "Hot dino egg"(Hot potato) to Dinosaur Train music, musical dinosaur feet (in place of musical chairs) and Dino Dino T-Rex (spin off of duck duck goose), just to name a few. It was great to see the kids having such a fun time.

The kids went nuts over the pinata! They were pretty excited to take down that brontosaurus. It took them awhile but it finally broke and spilled out their reward.

As you can see, Parker got a ton of great presents from his cute friends! We were so glad they could make it and hope they had as good a time as the birthday boy. Unfortunately, four of P's  buddies were out of town and unable to make the party. We definitely missed them, but I guess that's what happens when you have summer birthdays.

I think we can mark the "Dinosaur Egg Hunt Birthday Party" a big success. :)
Meanwhile, I am going to rest up for Emmie's princess party just a few weeks down the road....

Summer happenings

I'm so behind. LATE. Whatever you want to call it. Welcome to my life. Parker turned 5 today (more about that later - yes, it will be an over due post), and I just today received his birth certificate in the mail from Arizona. That's right. I finally registered to have it sent to me FIVE years after he was born. Good job Michelle. :)

So in trying to play catch up and keep my good-old, exciting blog up to date, here is a bit of what's been going on around here....

Why not start with Father's Day? That was only over a month ago now...


We had my Dad and that side of the fam over for dinner that Sunday night to celebrate.
I think everyone had a good time...?
& yes my kids look like complete ragamuffins...that is how it goes by the end of a Sunday. Or any day for that matter.
 Chris' big "surprise" gift was The Lord of the Rings extended edition blu-ray trilogy that he'd been waiting for to come out. It wasn't actually released until the next week, but I had it all ordered and he got it in the mail the beginning of July.
 Very exciting. Sadly (not really), I've never even seen a Lord of the Rings movie.
My husband is quite passionate about it (the movie) which means I must be a really good wife (since I don't care to share in his passion) or else he is a bit of a sci-fi geek. Okay so maybe it's a little of both.
What can I say except that I have extreme ADD, especially when science fiction/fantasy is made into a three hour spectacle.
I just can't do it.
I'd rather sit and pluck my leg hairs.
Really.
Like I said, I'm a good wife.

Moving on...

A few weeks ago we hit up Thanksgiving Point Farm. Emmie was in LOVE with her pony ride.

And her pony.

She was pretty miffed to only ride 1x.

The girl can scream.

Parker loved feeding the ducks and I still have a bizarre love for the goats. We ate at the Emporium afterwards before Chris jetted off to work. I kind of love his schedule which 3 days a week allows us  to spend a whole half a day with him before he leaves for work. It's kind of awesome.

SWIMMING!

After our St. George trip it was evident that not only Parker needed swim lessons this summer, but fearless, water-obsessed Miss Emmie needed them as well. They pretty much seemed to dominate our June but the kids absolutely LOVED them. They were private lessons, but taught simultaneously at a private residence. They ended up being more of survival lessons - which wasn't made clear to me before signing up. So I can't say that they actually learned how to SWIM, but the object was for them to be able to get themselves safe on their backs and stay afloat. I am still not sure how well it worked, going off the fact that I had to jump in and save Emmie after her class one day while P had an extended class....yah, long story, but the headline would go something like this...
"Fully clothed prego mom jumps into swimming pool to rescue toddler at survival swim class who fell off stairs and failed to utilize her newly taught survival techniques"...
There ya go. I always wanted to be a journalist.
Anyways, she was completely fine (I watched it all happen so my graceful leap into the pool was instantaneous). Me?  A little peeved, I'm not gonna lie. Not at E, but that this was Lesson #12(!), and I wasn't loving driving home in sopping wet clothing... Despite this incident, she was actually really quick at picking up the skills they taught and a great little learner. Overall, I think the lessons were good.
Parker now thinks he wants to become a swimmer.
We'll see how that goes when he hits high school swim team and has to wear a Speedo.
(Shudder) 
No thanks.

A few weeks ago we had a torrential down pour that resulted in a full, beautiful rainbow. The kids were finishing their nightly bath when I noticed it out the window. After they got their jams on Chris and I couldn't resist letting them go outside to view it. By then it was fading but they were pretty excited at the sight. (Can you spot it?) Emmie dances to everything that makes her happy so she was out doing ballet moves with her wild woman, post-bath hair, welcoming the rainbow....

KIDS CAMP...

This cute teenage, brother and sister in our ward started "Camp Fun-Doolah" last summer for kids in our neighborhood. (Um, genius way for teenie boppers to make some summer cash!) Parker absolutely LOVES it. This year they are only running it in July and he's gone to every one so far. (They are just once a week, 3 hours long) They always do a theme and P comes home with all kinds of crafts. Can you guess that this week was pirate week?

And last of all, my belly has been concentrating really hard on looking like a watermelon this last month as I've entered into my 3rd tri....

P & E came home with balloons from the craft store one day and thought they were pretty hilarious to wear the balloons under their shirts to look like mommy. I finally snapped some pictures of them after the joke had gone on for several days....it does seem to be an accurate depiction...
We don't look so "big" from the front, but turn sideways.... and
YOWSERS!
Ah well, what can I do but laugh?
Believe it or not - for the record, I am measuring small...
I'm just sayin'. :)