Parker is 11!

Parker with a particularly cool car after church. He is always spotting awesomeness.

Parker had great birthday, mostly because of the surprise appearance of PA! It was a pretty regular Monday morning until my dad texted me at 6 am to let me know he had a lengthy layover in Dallas en route to London. I picked him up around 10:00 and we went straight to the elementary school to surprise Miles. It was so cute to see Miles see Pa! He put his things down and ran for the classroom door and into a big Pa hug.

We ended up checking him out of school and going next to Parker's school. He was expecting me to bring him lunch for his birthday, but we surprised him in the office and took him out for tacos. He had a project due that afternoon, or he would have come home, too! Luckily, we knew that Pa would be back a week later, so the goodbye wasn't so hard.

Lastly, we went to Young to see Audrey. We talked with her for a bit and I took dad back to the airport. Later, we had Kobeya for dinner and invited Parker's buddy Tyler over for pie. Mmm!

On Easter, the day before Parker's birthday, we had family over and stuck some candles in our Texas Sheet Cake. 

Parker got some great gifts, most of which were Rubik's Cube-related!

We are so proud of Parker. He is a gentle, smart, easy-going, happy kid, and brings such joy to us. Every so often, I skip ahead emotionally, as if to prepare myself for the eventualities of my kids growing up. One of the moments I leap to (mostly in fear for my sadness slash pride), is Parker leaving on his mission. Oh how hard that will be, but I know he will get there because he is good and wants to do the right thing. We love this guy.

Webelo and Arrow of Light

Parker is right on track for scouting. He was honored with his Webelo and Arrow of Light at a pack meeting at the park. Woohoo! He is mostly ready to be done wearing that teeny blue cub scout shirt!

Fast Cars

Parker got to experience an early birthday gift yesterday! I reserved a ride-along experience for him in a Lambourghini! Parker is totally obsessed with exotic cars, thanks mostly to Pa, who introduced him to the wodnerful BBC show, Top Gear. He had a blast riding in the awesomeness. Neal got to drive a Ferrari, which was pretty awesome, too.

Miles, Bear and the Lambo.

Getting safety-fied.

It was freezing.

I felt really weird posing my kids next to a car. But alas. Parker always grabs my phone when we are driving around the fancy part of town. Without fail, we see at least cone photo-worthy car. I have a bunch of blurry pictures of Maclarens on my phone! Haha.

Talent Shows

Parker and Miles both performed in their school talent shows this month. Parker played with his band, Cold Bombers. They did a fantastic job!

Tyler and Parker

Celebratory dinner after the show!

Parker, bass; Jacob; keyboards; Tyler, guitar and vocals; Austin, guitar; Blake, drums

Miles and Benjamin performed an awesome two-minute version of "Who's on First?" It was pretty adorable, despite their little mix-up in the middle!

Who's on First? Miles and Benjamin Feb 2014 from lesliehorn on Vimeo.

Parker played bass for his friend, Bowan, who played a John Mayer song in the elementary school show. They were awesome!

Miles and I both performed in the first grade musical. He had a speaking part and I played the piano.

The same night Miles did his comedy sketch, Parker played bass for his friend, Bowan, who sang a John Mayer song. They were fabulous! Here's the video:

Lightning Lemon Squeezers

Parker has some great teachers this year in Purple Pod. They involve the kids in wonderful, deep-thought projects and they have a lot of fun while they are at it. Parker and a group of classmates were asked to form a catering company and then advertise, calculate recipes for crowds (fractions and decimals), create a menu and brochure, and peddle their wares at a marketplace. It was really fun to see them in action. They were the Lightning Lemon Squeezers, and all of their food was lemon-based. Parker and I made a big batch of homemade lemonade.

They earned the most money for having their research prepared early, and so they spent it on advertising in the hallway.

A few days later, they had their Christmas party, which involved a contest to see who could make the largest reindeer antlers. Super weird and fun!

Pottery at Scouts

Pickpockets Performance

Parker used his own money to buy a bass guitar a few months ago and has been completely attached to it ever since. He watches YouTube videos, has downloaded guitar tabs apps, and jams with Neal (who used his own money to buy a guitar, too). Parker now can play two instruments in his band, the Cold Bombers. They get together most Saturdays and have a coaching session with my friend, Jill, who is in a band herself and so is knowledgable about things like rock n roll. Parker has never latched onto anything as securely as his bass and this band idea. It's awesome.

His band got together and decided to do a camp at the School of Rock here in town, and, as providence would have it, they were signed up for Beatles week! They have been at the camp every day this week from 9 until 3, and today, they performed their Beatles set at Bronson Rock, a restaurant here in Keller that hosts live bands pretty much every night. There were two girls who attended the camp with them, one of whom played drums and sang and the other did vocals and a little bit of keyboards. We invited friends, got our nerves under control, and watched these guys jam. It was awesome!

Setting up.

High fives from teachers and fans afterward.

I'm so proud of this dude.

Cub Scout Day Camp

The first week after school was finished found Parker roasting in the heat for eight hours every day at Cub Scout Day Camp. Now that he is a Webelo, though, he needs all the help he can get completing activity pins and beltloops, so camp was pretty necessary. I was able to join him the last day as a volunteer, and we had a lot of fun. I just didn't take a whole lot of photos. :)

Weirdos planking.

After the boys had turns, they let the moms have a shot at the beebee guns. Not too shabby for my first time!

Fourth and Sixth Grades are Complete!

Audrey and Parker had their awards ceremonies this week. Audrey earned many awards; she is always so accomplished, and we are so proud of her! She earned:

The Presidential Gold Seal (Top 5 GPA in her team of 60)

Destination Imagination State Qualifier

Principal's Honor Roll

G3 (Go Green Group)

Spelling Bee Participant

Peer Mediator

Art Award

Reading Olympics Gold Medal

Citizenship Award

She was the only girl to earn the Presidential Gold Seal in her team. Woohoo!

Parker had a great fourth grade year, made even better by his friendship with his classmate, church friend, and band mate, Tyler. These two are great buds, and we so grateful! I love it when my kids find good friends! Now, don't move anywhere, Tyler!

 

One of the moms in Parker's class made a great scrapbook for the teacher with a page for every child. I snapped a photo of the "Parker" page.

Parker and Mrs. Fritzenmeier

He earned some great awards, too:

Academic Achievement (all As [and one B] all year)

Citizenship Award

Physical Fitness Award

Reading Olympics Bronze Medal

Parker and Reed

Parker and the girls from church.

Parker and Camden, who have been friends since kindergarten. I should post the picture of their height difference.

Ok, there. :)

I took Parker to lunch after school and he was looking especially old and handsome and reminding me of my brothers, and I thought, how can graduating from fourth grade make that much of a difference? Sigh.

Above are the Kindergarten and Fourth Grade photos of these five boys, who met in Mrs. Johnson's class in 2008 and now are so grown up. We'll have to do another one of these after sixth grade and see what happens.

Our final day of carpool. We like to go for donuts before school on the last day! I am thankful for my friendship with Tiffany, my carpool buddy and dear friend. We are good at making it work and being forgetful and scatterbrained together! Her three boys are pictured here, as is our neighbor, Memory, who is in Audrey's grade.