Party on!

And the parties continue... of course! :)
The Saturday before Emmie's big day we had the Hansen fam over for a small birthday party.
Emmie was excited as always to see everyone there and waiting for her celebration upon waking up from her afternoon nap.

The party attendees are above...

This little princess told me weeks prior that she wanted to "wear a cown" for her birthday bash.

This one was a little large but she wore it proudly. 

She was sooo excited to get her own PINK scooter from Grandma and Grandpa, a basket full of art supplies from Aunt B, paper dolls from Gma and Gpa L, and some $ from Uncle Z.

Emmie has a fetish with licking everything these days... most of the times she chooses to stick her tongue to things that make me want to clorox out her mouth, but this time she chose wisely and licked her own birthday cake.

I couldn't blame her. Who doesn't love frosting?! If it weren't for self restraint I'd have lapped up the whole bowl as I was making it (I still owe you Jonesy for the yummy recipe -I always use it!).
PaRtY #2

The Sunday after her birthday, we headed over to my Dad's for yet another celebration.

We played the dart game for prizes.

So the birthday girl cheated a little. I don't think anyone minded.

As you can see, the big 3 year old made quite the haul of fun toys! Her expression pretty much explains it all. Her new hot pink dress up gown even glows with lights and her new little twinsies talk to each other. She has really loved playing with all of her new toys and really, I think we are all set and won't be needing any Christmas presents this year for my kids! Thanks Dad, Mimi, Jamie and Al, and Steve and Kylie for all the fun things!

This was our first time seeing my brother Steven and his wife Kylie since they left for a New Jersey internship last May. It was so fun to see them and so good to have them back. It was also fun to have my California, "Fountain Famous" Uncle Mark in town for the get together!

Thanks to EVERYONE for making Emmie feel so special for her birthday!

And she's THREE!

This cutie patootie turned 3 a few weeks back.

The birthday fairy came as she slept and left her some fun presents for the morning.

Some of them included a new rocking chair to rock, a Dora doll, a baby doll, a Cinderella dress up, some cute necklaces, some jams, books, and Wii Just Dance for kids.

She was a happy girl!

The rocking chair is one of her new favorite things. She likes to drag it from room to room and loves too rock her babies to sleep with it. Even big brother likes to have his turn to rock.

On a side note, I recently started carousing the world of ETSY! I'm hooked! I had her custom birthday shirt made (for a great price!) along with some really cute necklaces. If you want to know the links, let me know and I will look them up for you! There are TONS of choices and I think the jewelry especially would make such cute xmas gifts for little girls. :)

Back to our birthday day....Chris had to leave for work by 7:30 that morning, so we saved half her presents to open when he got home around 4:30. Then we were off to....

You guessed it -- Thanksgiving Point! Her birthday activity was really Cowabunga Bay earlier in the week, but we couldn't help going out to do something fun on her actual day. This little cowgirl LOVES to ride the horses so after her ride and checking out some of the other animals, we went over the Emporium for dinner and closed out the night with ice cream.
We sure adore our sweet 'n (recently) sassy Emmie and can't believe that she is already a big three year old!

Cowabunga

Last year we took the kids to Cowabunga Bay for Emmie's birthday.
Every time we've passed it on the freeway since, they scream out, "Owabunga Bay!", and "Bombay!".
They haven't always had the name right, but they knew where they wanted to go. Even in the middle of December and blizzard-like snowstorms they would beg and plead as we drove by the colorful slides.
So this year, we knew we had to go again.
And once again, we chose the week of Emmie's birthday (and the first day back to school for a lot of kids).

Needless to say, the kids had a ball. I did my best to chase fearless Emmie around with my 32 week prego belly in tow (easier said than done!), and Chris tried to keep up with daring little P-Man, who was able to (and did!) go down every slide this year.
It was a fun, fun day and I think our water lover of a birthday girl had a great time on her birthday activity! :)

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!