Pool fun!

With temps being in the 100's here in Texas, nothing beats the heat like a nice dip in the pool. On this particular day I took the boys in the pool at 10am before it really got hot out! Both of the boys love the water, so its not a matter of getting them in the pool, its usually trying to get them out to go home! The pool we have is part of our HOA, so everyone uses it. The location of the pool is so close to our house, its almost like the pool is in our backyard :)

I recently just got one of those one piece suits that have the built in floater things for Nathan. Because to be honest, its getting harder and harder for me to just continuously hold him in my arms in the pool ( and with my back problems, that doesn't help either). I also put the arm floaters on him too, so that helps some too. The boys have no problems just jumping right in the pool. We also have a slide that Parker loves to go down! Nathan like its too, but I have to sit him on my lap, which is not a easy task, but he loves it!

The last picture is of Nathan and I at my friends luau party. He had a blast playing in the water while mommy enjoyed the margarita machine!

Mother's Day

I had the best mother's day ever! I got to sleep in, which is ALWAYS a plus! Well, I could have slept longer, but I kept hearing my 2 wild boys running all over the house, so I just decided to get up. Parker couldn't hold back the excitement in telling me that I had 2 presents on the kitchen table and that I needed to open them up! The boys got me a bottle of my favorite wine, Riesling, a new can opener( which I really needed) and some chocolates that were mint flavored( which is my favorite). After I opened my gifts we all got ready and they treated me to breakfast at a restaurant called Wecks in Lewsiville. Then after that we went to look at some pets at Petsmart. The boys enjoyed looking at the hamsters running circles on their wheels and all the different types of fish and birds. We then went home and the boys both took a nap ( AMEN, quietness!) and I just relaxed reading. After the boys got up Leland made hamburgers on the grill and had potato salad, coleslaw, and chips for dinner. Then the best part is that he got my favorite ice cream, chip and mint!!!!!!!

On Monday May 11th Parker's school had a special "Muffins with Mom" to celebrate mothers day. It was supposed to be on May 8th, but his school was closed, so it got pushed back. I took a picture of the paper he made me and the homemade vase with flowers in it he made in school. I know the picture may be a little hard to read so I will type it all out to tell you what he said. It was like a fill in the blank where his teacher read it and Parker was supposed to fill in the blanks: The parts that are bold or colored are what Parker said:

My mom's name is Amy. She is 22 years old. She has brown hair and blue eyes. her favorite place to shop is Wal-Mart. When I am at school my mom loves to play with Nate. My mom loves to eat soup. When she was a little girl, my mom play toys. I love my mom because she likes me. I almost started crying when I read this, but managed to keep it together :)

I will also include that today is Leland and I's 7 year anniversary! Leland surprised me with tickets to the Dallas Mavericks basketball playoff game this evening at 8:30pm. We have bis brother Matt coming over to watch the boys for us so we can enjoy a night out to ourselves!

Parker's last soccer game/awards

On Saturday May 9th Parker has his last soccer game of the season. It was rescheduled twice because of the weather, so it finally happened. Parker was so excited, it was hard for him to remain calm before the game. I tried up upload a video of Parker scoring a goal, but for some reason it wouldn't let me, so I will just have to tell you all about it. Parker and 2 of his teammates started out the game. Parker had so much energy and determination that he was constantly running all over the field getting the ball. Parker scored 2 goals and he was so proud after each time he scored. He would put his arms up in the air every time he scored and would look over at Leland and I to see what we were doing. I would put my arms up in the air along with Parker and just seeing the smile on his face was priceless.

After the game was over, Parker's team, the Hornets were recognized along with all the other teams. Each player was presented with their own trophy. Parker was so excited to be getting his own trophy and having his coach say his name and having everyone cheering for him and saying his name. After the ceremony was over Leland took the boys to go eat at McDonalds.

As I sit back today thinking about the first time I took Parker to practice up until his last game it almost makes me cry. From first seeing him just run around the soccer field with his head cut off to now actually running after the soccer ball and knowing where his goal is and scoring is absolutely amazing! I can tell he is going to be a determined player and will always work hard!

His soccer coach gave Parker a little grab bag full of little treats, along with a ribbon and small trophy which make Parker feel special. I talked with Parker's coach after the game and he told me taht he knew Parker was going to be a great player when he first joined the team and that he's come a long way from when they first started. That made me feel so good as mom!

Parker's Easter party/hunt

Parker had his Easter egg hunt/party on April 8th at his school, Footprints Preschool. It was a beautiful day out and perfect for a Easter egg hunt. I brought Grandma Oldham with me to watch Parker collect his eggs. Each kid in the class were to collect 12 eggs. After the hunt I managed to get a picture of Parker with the Easter bunny. Last year Parker wanted nothing to do with the Easter bunny, wouldn't even get close to the bunny. After the Easter egg hunt I went home and then I came back at 1pm to have a little party for the kids in the classroom. Since I am the room mom for the class, its part of my responsibility to plan parities and activities in the classroom. I had each child make a bunny ear hat for them to wear. I had the color the ears and then I stapled them to piece of construction paper that wrapped around their head. The kids had fun coloring the ears and were 'hopping' all over the classroom. I captured a cute picture of the class with their bunny ears on. After that I brought some sugar cookies for each child. The kids all had fun and I'm sure all the parents loved me for getting their child all sugared up....hehehe!

Fort Worth Stockyards/Train Ride

On Friday April 10th, Leland' parents, myself and the boys took a train ride from Grapevine TX to Fort Worth TX. The train ride left at 1pm and we got to the Fort Worth Stockyards around 2:15pm. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing train ride. The boys loved looking out the window and seeing different things. We went over a couple lakes and Parker could see the turtles in the lake and thought that was neat. Shortly after the train took off Nathan fell asleep on my lap. The train ride happened to take place during his normal nap time, so it was ok for him to get some sleep.

We got to the Stockyards in Fort Worth and met Leland there since he works in Fort Worth now. Parker spotted the mechanical bull and wanted to ride it, so we went over to watch him. The guy that was running the mechanical bull said he would go very slow so he wouldn't fall off. After the first few minutes Parker said, " Faster mom, I want to go faster!" So the guy turned up the speed. He had the biggest smile on his face, it was absolutely priceless! He was so proud of himself that he didn't fall off and he wanted to ride it again, but at $5 a pop, we had to pass and move on to something else. We began walking down the streets looking at all the little shops and came across a cowboy with a longhorn. Parker wanted to sit on the longhorn, so we waited in line for his turn to sit on the longhorn. The guy told him to say, "Texas" while he was sitting on the longhorn. I thought for sure sitting up that high would have scared him, but nope, he was petting him and everything. Now if we could just get Parker to like dogs, then we could be set:) We went to a candy store and got some taffy and stopped at a restaurant to have a drink and snack.

I love the picture of Parker on the train tracks. He was fun watching him try to balance on the tracks with out falling over. We only had about 2 hours to spend at the Stockyards before it was time to get back on the train to head back to Grapevine. Leland's mom decided to stay back with Leland and drive back with him, so it was me, grandpa, and the boys on the train ride back. The boys were so wild on the way back, it was hard to keep their arms and head inside the train. After we made it back to Grapevine we all went out to eat at Golden Coral.

Bunny cake

I decided to do something special for the dessert after our meal for Easter. I figured the boys would have fun decorating the bunny cake. I found the idea on kraftfoods.com. It was simple to make. I used one tub of cool whip and got jelly beans for the eyes and nose, licorice pull and peel for the whiskers, and different colored licorice for the bow tie.

Nathan immediately stuck his finger in the cool whip and licked his finger right away, but he soon realized what we were doing and he had fun decorating. Parker was really into decorating the cake. He wanted to put a carrot in the bunny's mouth and when he did that it actually looked like a pipe in the bunny's mouth. Leland and I couldn't stop laughing when Parker put the piece of licorice in the bunny mouth.

Easter '09

We were very fortunate to have Leland's parents come down for Easter and stay for a week. We stayed busy every day and it helped that the weather was beautiful while they were here too. We have been working on landscaping in front of the house, so we made a trip down to the farmers market in downtown Dallas to pick up some flats of flowers and fresh produce. There is nothing like fresh tomatoes and watermelon, yummy!

Corinth has a Easter egg hunt each each, but we couldn't make it to the one this year because Parker had a soccer game at the same time as the Easter egg hunt, so we decided to have one at the house. Leland's mom and I filled the eggs while the boys were taking a nap and then hid them around the house. We did the hunt on Saturday before Easter because we were expecting rain for Easter Sunday. We also included a BIG yellow egg that was the golden egg that had a big prize in it for Parker. Parker has been asking for a pair of goggles that he can wear in the pool this summer, so I decided to go out and get him a pair. They fit perfectly in the yellow egg.

Nathan had a blast looking for the eggs and putting them into his bag( he didn't have a Easter basket, so he used a bag I had laying around from bath and body works, I know cheesy right?) Grandma and Grandpa got each of the boys their own Easter basket, but they didn't open them until Easter Sunday.

We went to church Easter morning. I was a little worried how the boys would be since church was so packed and it was at 11:30am which is lunch time, but Nathan fell asleep half way through the mass and Parker was very well behaved. We captured a nice family picture before we went to church. We had a nice Easter dinner after church of a spiral ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, raisin bran muffins, jello, devil eggs, and a very special rabbit cake we made. I will include separate pictures in the next blog.

Day at Meadowview Park

It was such a wonderful afternoon, temps in the upper 70's that it was just too nice not to go to the park and enjoy the afternoon. Leland had the afternoon off, so we decided to take the boys to the park and feed the ducks. We almost had a entire loaf of bread to give the ducks, so we thought we would give them a special treat. There had to be about 20 or so ducks there today! The minute we stepped out of the car its like they could smell the bread.............and they came walking up to us. Nathan is my little guy who has no fear when it comes to animals, so he didn't mind holding the bread in his hands and having the ducks come right up to him and eat it out of his hands. Parker on the other hand was a little hesitant, especially the bigger ducks like you see in the pictures. After all the bread was gone Nathan thought there should be another bag of bread for him and he didn't want to leave the pond. We even tried to distract him by saying, "hey Nathan lets go swing!" But he was still determined to throw sticks in the pond hoping the ducks would come back up. After coming to mommy, everything was ok and we went swinging. Right before we left to go home Parker wanted to have his picture taken in the tree so we did and so did Nathan. We all had a good time at the park!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I thought I would just snap a few pictures of the boys and myself on this St. Patrick's Day. I had bought the boys each a tee shirt from Old Navy a couple weeks ago, so I thought why not take some pictures? Parker picked out his own shirt, which is so cute, "Dad's Lil' Leprechaun". Even good 'ol mom decided to put her green shirt on too!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!

Parker's soccer team- The Hornets!

On March 7th Parker has his 2nd soccer game. At least the weather was a little more cooperative this day, it was still windy, but not as cold. Today they had their pictures taken. I'm glad I grabbed the camera before I left the house so I could capture some pictures of my own. I get a little teary eyed when I look at the top 2 pictures.............Parker looks so grown up in those pictures, it is hard to believe he will be 5 soon! He looks so handsome in his soccer uniform, its hard not to get all choked up. The last picture is of his team, The Hornets along with their coach Tony. There are actually 6 boys on his team, but one was missing when the picture was taken. Usually Parker doesn't have a problem smiling for the camera, but for some reason on this day he was always acting silly! Every time I would ask him to smile "normally" he would squint his eyes or act silly and not sit still. I just hope the professional pictures turned out better.

The game was so funny to watch. Even thought we got out bottoms kicked, it was so much fun to watch! At one point in the game Parker got a hold of the ball and began kicking it down the field, which is great, but he was going in the wrong direction! Everyone was cheering him on and encouraging him to turn around and go the other way, but he was in the zone, that he just kept going and scored a goal in the other teams goal. As long as Parker is having a good time and getting exercise that is all that matters to me at this point. He is still learning and will have plenty of time to practice and improve his skills. I'm so proud of my little red headed boy!

Parker's first soccer game!

Ok, let me just start by saying that Texas weather is so messed up!!!! Just 2 days ago the temp was 80 and it was so nice out...........now today its cold and windy with temps only in the upper 40's lower 50's. I took many different video clips of Parker and his team, but for some reason I couldn't or this blogger wouldn't let me upload it. After about 50 minutes later the game was over and Parker had a lot of fun!

Nathan's 1st trip to the dentist

Today was Nathan's first trip to the dentist. I thought I would make an appointment for both boys to get them both done at the same time. Wow, was I in for a challenge! They saw Parker first and he got X-rays taken of his mouth. At first he was ok with it until the lady told him to bite down on the hard black plastic piece, then he started backing away. I just kept telling him how brave he was and how proud of him I was for doing this and that mommy had a surprise waiting for him afterwards. You are all probably wondering if Parker has been to the dentist before and the answer is yes, its just been awhile ( I know bad mommy). After encouraging words from mom and the staff Parker made it through the X-rays and thought it was neat he could see his entire mouth on the computer screen. The next part took a little more encouragement and persuasion. For some reason he didn't want to sit in the big comfy chair and then when it came time to put that napkin type thing around his neck he began freaking out again. Just then the lady gave Parker a pair of sun glasses to wear ( usually worn for the bright lights) and that made him happy. Not to mention that this dentist is called Dental Depot and they have a BIG green train outside their building along with 2 train tables inside to play plus a train that runs on a track throughout the entire building, its the neatest thing! So every few seconds the train would come through the room he was in and that helped distract him:) Parker did very well with opening his mouth wide for the dentist and let them clean his teeth. The dentist said overall Parker has great teeth, however he needs to brush his back teeth better and begin flossing on a regular basis. After everything was all said and done Parker got to chose a toy out of the basket for being a good patient. then he was off to play on the train table and then it was Nathan's turn.........................

I already knew going in that it was going to be a bit difficult for Nathan. He sat on my lap and loved getting a new toothbrush. I thought that was a great way to "distract" him so they could look in his mouth...............right?.............well, kind of...........at least for a few seconds. The lady tried to brush his teeth and he let her for oh all about 2.2 seconds and then he was turning around looking at me like, " mom what are you letting them do to me?" Lucky for me every time the train came through the room it distracted him for a short while. By the time the dentist came in to look in his mouth he wanted nothing to do with him. He was encouraging Nathan to say "ahhhhh" which Nathan did, but not long enough or wide enough for him to really see his back teeth. Nathan was all into his new toothbrush and kept grabbing for his little tube of toothpaste and as you can see in the picture he was trying to put toothpaste on the brush. After many attempts to see in the back of his mouth it was decided that we would no longer push the issue. The dentist did get to see all of his front teeth and some of his back teeth. He did notice that he has some molars coming in.

So 30 minutes later the boys were finished and each got their goodie bags filled with a new toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, and a sticker. You all wondering what the big surprise was for Parker??? I wanted to take him to the park that looks like a big wooden castle, but he said he was hungry instead so we went to Arby's for a treat and then went home to get ready for soccer practice. Be on the outlook for pictures from Parker's 1st soccer game which is this Sat. his little uniform is so cute!