Flowerchain

Here is Audrey with a flower crown we made today at the park. I can't get over how much she looks like her Horn cousins in this picture. This girl is definitely not a Parker girl.

Too windy for kites

Today it was a gorgeous day, and there was a little breeze in the air. The best part of the day was, though, that Dr. H came home early! So we were off to the park to fly kites. Can you believe they make "rainbow flying unicorn" kites? Crazy, but true. We tried to fly them, but it was too windy! The kite took on a mind of its own and the wind was way too strong.

Parker trying to fly his kite

Up it goes!

I thought Audrey looked very "Little House on the Prairie" in this picture.

Luckily there was a playground to distract us. The kids had fun swinging and singing, two things they love to do, especially at the same time.

Gamenent Dote

Ever since he was a nursing baby, Parker, in his little eccentric way, has been completely attached to some of my unmentionables that he likes to call "gamenent dote." (You may be able to guess what he's trying to pronounce. Say it to yourself a few times to get a better idea.) He sleeps with them every night, a big bundle of them, and if he sees one during the day, he gets a little look on his face like he's found a long lost friend. He handles them very gently, but his favorite thing is when they're cold. Yes, cold.
Today I washed the bundle of gamenent dotes, and as they came out of the dryer, I gave them to Parker to hug. A little while later, this is what I found:

He had put them in the fridge. Like I said, he likes them cold. Please refer back to this post to have a little peek into my anxieties about my next child. Are yours this crazy?

PS, Parker is topless because he still insists on running around being Tarzan. He even sports a little Tarzan tattoo on his left arm. It's a good thing he's so cute or I'd really start to wonder about him.

At last . . .

At last we are having a very boring day. Sometimes I hate staying home all day, especially when we lived in LA and had only 900 square feet to live in. But these days, when lots of my clothes don't fit and everywhere I go I end up spending money, it's just nice to stay home! So we did a whole lotta nothing today, well, the usual housework/laundry, but not much else.

This is a picture from the other day. As any of you who know my mom know, she loves m&m's. If we don't have any at our house when she comes to visit, we always end up with some somehow. Parker found them the other day on the kitchen counter and decided he needed to get up there to eat them. This is how we found him.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Here are just a few of the many reasons why we love our PA!

He exudes magical sleep molecules that put any baby (or kid) to sleep!

He comes to play with us, even though we live in Texas!

He loves BayBob almost as much as Audrey does.

He takes us to Sundance to play in the snow.

He can play with 11 grandkids at once.

He's the best grandpa and dad that ever was or ever will be. We love you Pa! Happy Birthday!

Have you ever . . .

Have you ever wished for Monday to arrive? Me neither, at least not until now. I have had the craziest week, at least crazy for me, whose life if pleasantly still and uneventful. Nothing serious or major happening, just a lot of things to do and places to go. Saturday will bring a soccer game and lots of house-straightening, as I am hosting a baby shower here in the afternoon. After that, it's Primary to plan and come Monday morning, I will be blissfully looking at a week full of normal days. Yay! I will return to my blogging ways soon, I promise.

Totally Unposed

I got out of the shower the other day and found the kids huddled under a blanket on the big chair to keep warm. Apparently they drank their orange juice way too fast and were so cold they were hugging eachother. This isn't that rare, these guys are the best of friends, but Elliott's right, at moments like this, you think you may be raising them right.

Thanks Dad!

My dad helped me create this family history wall that I have been longing to put up! The left side are pictures from Neal's family and the right is pictures from mine. I can build onto it, which I plan to do very soon. Thank you, Dad!

Finally . . .

We finally got Blogger to comply. You can see pictures of Audrey's party here! There's also a picture of a certain superhero here.

Our Little Girl is Growing Up!

Here she is on her first birthday!

Here's number two!

Three

Four

Happy Birthday to Audrey! She had her pony party today and it was a great success. Perfect weather for a birthday party. For more pictures, check out her blog here. We can't believe she's already five and that we are old enough to have a five-year-old! She got five big hugs from Pa this morning and is very sure that she is taller today than she was yesterday. What a girl. We love her to pieces and hope her life is as happy as possible. And if it's not, she's gonna make it that way, no doubt about it.

Duck Nests

The kids raked leaves together in the front yard and pretended they were ducks sitting on their nests. Well, laying on their nests. Parker laying face down on the pile of pokey leaves was Audrey's idea, surprise surprise.

A Most Satisfying Work

Here is a genealogy chart I filled and popped in a frame today, to showcase the work that I (and mostly others before me) have begun. I have never done anything so satisfying and fascinating, and if you haven't given Family History a try, you ought to. Just go to google and type in the first ancestor's name you can think of. Maybe you already have the dates of their lifespan, but often you can find interesting facts and life stories and pictures that others have compiled for you. I discovered that I am the 30th great-grandchild of William the Conqueror. How cool is that? Neal and I are both related to rival royal clans from Scotland centuries ago. You may even find long, lost cousins, as I have, and make connections around the country or even further away. Either way, it's a great way to spend your free time. I haven't had much of that lately, but when the time comes again, the fever will hit me just as it has in the past. There are still LOTS of blank spaces on my chart!

Hmmmm . . .

Some results of Neal's hard work, along with a little help from Mother Nature:

some pretty lilies Neal planted in the backyard

a shot of our garden plot, a little bare right now since seeds were just planted

a pretty flower in the front yard

our little baby fig tree has sprouted leaves!

And just one example of my hard work, thanks to a little help from my washer and dryer.

Oh, and some happy news, I have felt the first little flutters of baby movement these past few days. I'll feel it and think, "Oh, that felt like a baby!" Wait, it is a baby. I'm telling you, my brain is leaking out of somewhere!

Boy Scouts and Blonde Jokes

I don't know if it's pregnancy brain, my newly-refreshed blondeness, or just plain ditziness, but it's gotten quite scary lately. I surprise myself sometimes with my absentmindedness. I'm only 28, so I can't blame it on age yet, but here are just a couple of many examples which I could list:

1. The other day, Neal and I were driving and thinking of baby names. (We have serious problems since the only two names we both like are Audrey and Parker. Any and all suggestions would be quite welcome.) So I come up with this brilliant idea, "Hey, we could name a boy James! I love that name!" Neal quickly responds, in his "why is she so ditzy" way, "James is Parker's middle name." Me: "Oh yeah." I seriously forgot that.
2. On Saturday, Neal and the kids waited in the car while I ran into Kroger for some groceries. The boy scouts were outside selling little coupon books, and I told them I'd buy one on my out, when I had some cash. So I made good on my word and came out with $10, put my purse down on the table, and entered my name in a drawing to win a new car. I walked away inspecting the coupon book, pushed my cart to the car, and hopped in while my gentleman of a husband loaded the groceries in the back.
   

So today, I decided to reward the kids with a trip to McDonald's because they were quite the little angels at church yesterday, considering we stayed after the 4:00 dismissal for a baptism, which lasted until 6:30. They were so quiet and reverent, they earned the trip to MickeyDee's. As I'm loading them in the car, I'm looking for my purse, can't find it anywhere, decide to call my cell phone to locate the purse in my house, blah blah, can't hear the phone. My purse was gone. Now you know that is a horrible feeling. I realize the last time I had it was Saturday at Kroger. I called them up, the heroic Boy Scouts turned it in to Customer Service. Phew! Thank Heavens for those honest little boy scouts and their equally honest dads. I know it's not that interesting of a blog entry, but I was so grateful today for honest people. That's my story. My brain is leaking.

Our Prophet

If you haven't checked out this site yet, I recommend it for a good Sunday activity. There are some really interesting old pictures and documents that are fun to browse. Click on Resource Center. They really did a good job with this site. This is a good one, too! Happy Sunday!