Blogging…what is that?

Long time no blog! It has been busy around our house with Summer time activities. I am way behind in blogging, but we have had a great time together. I have been focusing on just being with my family rather than documenting everything. I might catch up and I might not.

Chase starts school next Monday. He has morning Kindergarten which I am THRILLED about. It really is the perfect schedule for our family. School, chores, and a little preschool (taught by me)  for Parker in the morning, and our afternoons are open for activities and naps .

I am starting to think about my homemade Christmas gifts. I am going to make an apron, 3 superhero capes, and a few other small things.

I am looking forward to going to a Giants/Braves game next week with my hubby. It will just be the 2 of us. Can’t wait!!

The following weekend my cousin is getting married in Half Moon Bay. We will be going down just the 2 of us and leaving the kiddos home. I am looking forward to celebrating with the happy couple and our family!

We feel so busy all the time. However, we don’t do much out of the ordinary. Our kids, work, school, church, and our family keeps our schedule full. We are tired. Life often feels out of control. Our home is LOUD and ACTIVE. I should be used to it by now, but I am not. Probably by the time I am used to it the kids will be grown and moving out . I am holding on for the ride!!

Parker is 3

3 years ago the Lord blessed us with a 7lb sweet, little boy.

 

Here are some things that come to mind about Parker at this time in his life:

*He has a wonderful imagination and loves to pretend

*He finds a toy and will bring it with him everywhere we go (his yellow and blue pens, sunglasses, wallet). If you look at his cute little hands often he will be holding something

*He is a tad dramatic and very sensitive

*He is a little timid and shy especially with new people or an unknown situation

*His favorite hymn is There is a Fountain

*He loves chocolate milk

*He LOVES his Daddy

*His favorite TV show is Curious George, but isn’t really that into watching television

*He has an imaginary friend Marisan that he met at Burger King

*He loves to swim, ride his bike, and kick a soccer ball

*He is very quick to share in others’ joy

*He is always hungry

*He likes to come in our bed in the early morning

*He has a hard time falling asleep for naps and bedtime and takes a while to wake up

*He can be stubborn, but I would not call him strong-willed

*He has dreamy blue eyes and cute blonde hair

*Every owie needs a band-aid

*He loves to change his clothes

*He loves his brother and sister very much

*He easily entertains himself for long periods of time

 

Our prayer for our sweet boy is that he will grow up to be the man that God intends HIM to be. Not living in anyone’s shadows. We pray that he will have moral courage and be able to stand alone for what is right and acceptable in God’s sight.

His babyhood was cut short by the addition of his sister. He also follows a brother with a very strong personality. That I am sure will shape who he is to some extent, but I really do hope that he can be secure in who God made him.

I love his satisfaction with simple things, and hope he is able to keep that with throughout his life. I can learn from him.

Parker Robert, we love you!

Sewing is on this week’s agenda

I have to get 3 sewing projects completed in about a week. 2 dresses (for Maggie and Bridget) for the 4th of July and 1 superhero cape for Parker. He requested a cape for his birthday.

Here is the cape tutorial I am going to use.

 

Here is the dress tutorial I am going to use. I am a little nervous about the dress for Bridget. I am going to have make adjustments because she is almost ten and needs a much bigger size. Hope it turns out

I am going to get to use my craft table for the first time. I will actually get to leave the sewing projects out and not have to clean them up every night.

This table is made from the same barn wood. It is super heavy duty. Perfect for my craft projects.

Parker wanted in the picture

Some things I want to remember

My kids are young. They are needy, whiny, naughty, very active, and pretty much all-consuming. Every day there are mountains to climb all day. It is hard to take care of them. Keeping track of their eating, safety, laundry, playing with them, educating them, teaching them about the things of God, disciplining them is exhausting.

However, the cute little things they do and say in a day are so rewarding and special. It keeps me going. It is so special to see how God designed them so differently and individually. It is fun to see them interact with one another.

It is amazing to me how much I don’t remember about when the kids were younger. I have a pretty good memory, but I am forgetting things. It makes me kind of sad. I want to be more deliberate about writing things down. I want to remember this really special, exhausting time of life. It really is so short! People say I will miss it. Right now I don’t feel like I will miss a lot of it, but they are probably correct.

Some things I want to remember:

• when Maggie and Parker get hurt, they immediately look for their blankies and run to be held
• Chase loves to count money
• Parker likes to have wooden gun with him when he watches Swiss Family Robinsons
• Helping me clean the fingerprints off the windows is a real treat. They like to spray the Windex.
• Maggie loves to smash her nose up against the shower door and smile. It shows her top 2 teeth and she looks like Mater from Cars
• The boys love for us too lay in bed with them at night and listen to music. They fight over who gets to lay with them.
• Maggie shows us her nose by crinkling and sniffing. Hilarious!
• Watering the plants and trees in the backyard is a huge treat
• They love chocolate milk
• Everything is a treasure-a rock, a nuts and bolts found on the ground, old soda bottles, etc.
• Chase loves to sort things by color or size
• Parker loves to change his clothes (I don’t think this is cute now, but someday I might )
• Maggie gives kisses and makes the “muah” sound. Abe takes her on the kissing tour at night where she gives each family member a kiss.
• The boys like to watch the same movie over and over.
• The boys like to wear just shorts and no shirts.
• Parker pronounces”th” as an “s” sound. Think sounds like “sink.”
• The boys think imaginary friends are called “ordinary” friends.
• Maggie loves to look at pictures.

I am sure there are more, but that is what I can remember now. My life is so blessed, even though my attitudes and thoughts don’t always show that. Thank you Lord!

Me and my loves!

Naptime!

Some days I live for naptime. I so look forward to the peace and calm. No one is moving, or talking, asking for something. It is a much needed break in my day. It is also a time I use to get some things done like cleaning, emailing, crafting, blogging, exercising, browsing Pinterest, and sometimes rest. Chase goes to school at noon, so I usually come home and put the other 2 down soon after we get home. Maggie just lays down in her crib with a blanket and I shut the door. I usually read books to Parker and lay him down and leave. This was our routine since Chase started school. Then things changed about 2 months ago.
He started to fight naptime. He would get up and open the door. He would bang on the wall. He would take clothes out of the dresser. He would throw stuffed animals around. Get up to use the bathroom multiple times. This would go on for about an hour. Finally I would just give up. I feared he was trying to give up naps altogether. It was so discouraging and not restful at all for me. This started when he was about 2.5. I think that is too young to give up naps, and his attitude and behavior proved I was correct. He was tired and needed a nap.
We all got very sick about a month ago. Chase was home for a week with the flu, and then he had 2 weeks off for Spring Break. The kids napped every single day. They were tired! I would read some books, and then Chase would lay down and fall right asleep. I laid down with Parker and we both would fall asleep. I learned that if I laid with him for about 5 minutes he would fall right asleep. He loves to lay on my arm, prop his little “feets” on my legs, and snuggle down into the covers. He would smack his little lips, and his eyes got very drowsy. He would fall into a deep sleep.
I learned to slow down, enjoy my kid, and take a break from my to-do list. He needs me to snuggle him to sleep, and I am ok with it! I don’t think I will ever regret my naptime snuggles.

Fairytale Town

We went to a fun birthday party at Fairytale Town on Saturday. We took Chase when he was about 1.5, but we haven’t been back with Parker or Maggie. It was fun to watch the boys enjoy this special little place. It feels like you have walked back in time about 5o years. It is very simple, and I found it to be very calming.

When we entered the gates on Saturday, I noticed that they had memberships. I mentioned this to my mom, and we decided that Bridget and our kids would enjoy going throughout the year. We hopped in the car, picked up Chase from school, and headed over to buy the membership.

We went late in the afternoon, and there were about 4 other families. The kids were able to run and play on anything they wanted. It was nice to just let them go. They were safe and couldn’t hurt much or be hurt. It was so very enjoyable. Can’t wait to go back when the rain lets up!

Here are some pictures from that afternoon:

 

In the Tee Pee (sp?)

Had to get Mags in the picture.

At the top of the owl slide.

Bridgie!

 

Chase!

Mr. Parker

Maggie is THRILLED to be out of the stroller!

Trying to get all these kids looking in the right direction and smiling=close to impossible!

Grandma and Maggie

Boys MUST climb EVERYTHING. The great thing is that they are free to climb

Parker was driving the train away from lava! Love the imagination.

Maggie is trying to walk. She took 4 steps in a row later on that night.

Parker doing his ninja moves. Chase climbing again!

He got his dance moves from his mom and dad…poor guy! LOL!!

Sherwood Forest

The Boys!

Chase and Parker are about 2.5 years apart. They just started really playing together within the last 3-4 months. They would play along side each other but not really together. It has been such a blessing to watch them enjoy one another. Don’t get me wrong. Most days they fight more than they play, but their friendship seems to be getting stronger.

Parker is so imaginative. He will pretend that a piece of wood is a cell phone or a book is an iPad. He will turn anything into a sword or a gun. He loves to dress up. This is so different than Chase. He is very literal and has never been into pretend play. However, he is learning from Parker. It is so neat to see Parker teaching him.

They are very interested in superheroes (Star Wars, Transformers, Captain America, The Incredibles, etc.). They often have battles. I love hearing the conversations that are setting the stage for the battle, gun noises, cries of agony as they are “stabbed” or “shot.”  Sometimes they are too rough and they end up hurt or in an argument. However, I love that they are pretending and enjoying each other.

Here is a picture of them playing with Parker’s new carseat and the box that it came in. They told me that Parker was Captain America that he was “getting strengthened.”

We are giving Maggie the kitchen set for her first birthday because we knew that the boys would be able to enjoy it as well. They will play with her and teach her how to pretend as well.

It really bothered me that Chase had no interest in pretend play. I felt like we ruined him with too much TV and computer/phone games. Growing up, my brother and I would play with our toys for hours. I would play with dolls and he would play with Playmobil and his cowboy dress up toys all the time. I am so grateful that this part of Parker has shown through!

Barbie?

"Let's play Barbie. We can beat each other up." That is how boys play Barbie. Lol!

California State Fair-2011

My family has been going to the State Fair for almost 20 years. We haven’t missed too many years. We really like the exhibits and the livestock. When my brother and I were younger we loved the rides as well. Since having kids our State Fair experience has changed dramatically. We barely fit in the Livestock part and spend most of our times at the rides.

Abe and I skipped last year and my parents took Chase. We almost didn’t go this year, but Abe spoke up and mentioned that he wanted to go. My Grandma watched Maggie for us, and we went last week. It was so nice to know that Maggie was in a safe, cool place. It is not the best place for a newborn. Thank you, Grandma!

We bought the kids unlimited ride wristbands. We were debating whether or not we should get one for Parker because he is risk averse and not a daredevil. We ended up getting him one, and boy were we glad we did. He had a blast!! He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to ride the whole time. It was so fun to watch Bridget, Chase, and Parker have fun! We saw a little livestock and watched a showmanship contest for cattle. We had perfect weather! The only downside was that my mom and myself were quite sick. We are looking forward to going back next year totally healthy!

 

Parker’s Parties

We had two parties for Parker. We do one party with each side of the family. It is really too big to do just one party, so he gets two . At the Green party we celebrated Parker, Summer, and Ben’s birthdays. We had a blast at both parties. We have great families! Here are some pictures: