Happy 2nd Birthday Parker!

Here come the terrible two's! Greg and I still find it hard to believe that Parker could already be two! He is growing so fast. For his birthday, we had a little family party yesterday. We had a picnic in the park, opened presents, and ate cake!

When Parker was opening his presents, he had a pretty sober face the entire time. However, when he was opening one of his presents, he ripped off the paper, got really excited, and shouted, "a box!" Don't worry, we let him know that his gift was actually inside the box. :) Here's the picture below.

You can ask Parker how old he is and he will show you his fingers and shout, "two!"

He carried his new piano everywhere around the park!

Blowing out the Candles

One of the reasons we picked the park was so the LITTLE kids could have fun playing on the playground. Here they are below!

David and Brandon finally decided to let the actual little kids play too! :)

Parker thought the cake was yummy... he made sure to help eat everyone else's cake.

Saying goodbye to his favorite cousin!

Parker is letting David know all the difficulties of being two.

Kisses.... whether you want them or not!

Happy Birthday Parker! We love you!

When life kicks you when you're already down...

So, it's been an interesting few weeks, to say the least. (Warning: here comes the complaining part of my post) Let's start with I'm pregnant. Wouldn't that be nice if that was all I had to deal with? Ha ha! So, I signed up for several classes this semester (thinking I could get more done before Devri arrives) and my English class is, suffice it to say, kicking my behind! We are supposed to spend 9 hours a week on that one class, but I find myself spending a lot more time than that. I had this huge essay due next week that I'd been stressing about, only to have to put it on the back burner because we were assigned a test for this week that's had me writing five essays! What?! On top of these wonderful items, we have our normal workload of lessons and assignments (maybe a little less reading than normal). So, everyone that lives near me has heard plenty of complaint about this class. Greg, on the other hand, has been getting up early every morning to study for his CPA exam, going to work, coming home, and studying some more once Parker is in bed. Greg takes the first portion of his exam tomorrow so we knew this week would be busy for the both of us. Well, life decided to throw us a curve ball... or rather a left hand turn while driving when the oncoming traffic wasn't quite clear. So, now our only car is out of commission.

So, when life kicks you when you're already down... look at the positive things!

After that long post of complaint... I'm turning the rest of my post into a "Thankful Thursday" post (thanks for letting me steal the idea Cassie!).

1. I am thankful for our safety. Parker, Devri, and I are doing well, considering the accident.

2. I am thankful for all our friends and family who have offered to help us out.

3. I am thankful for my Dad who is awesome enough to take Greg to and from work until we figure out the car situation.

4. I am thankful for my Mom who has been my sanity this week in helping me find the time to write my essays. Let's just say that Parker now loves my Mom more than he does me! :) Every time I tried to do anything for him he would say, "No. Don't." and then he would point at my mom and say "mama" (his word for Grandma) so that she would do it for him instead!

5. I am thankful for Greg. When I feel like everything's falling down around me, he keeps assuring me that everything will work out fine and that we'll be able to laugh about it down the road... even if it is a LONG way down the road. :)

6. I am thankful that my English class is ending before Devri comes (assuming she doesn't come earlier than expected!).

7. I am thankful for Greg's job, especially in this economy. Not only does he have a job, but he loves where he works. That is a huge blessing.

8. I am thankful for my relatively easy pregnancy. The hard things I remember during my pregnancy with Parker have been easier this time around.

9. I am thankful for prayer. It is a great comfort to know there is always someone there to listen.

10. I am thankful for Parker. Who else can make me laugh so often in one day? For example, I was making dinner last night and I gave Parker some cheese to tie him over until dinner was ready only to find him later.... sitting on his toilet, watching TV, with his cheese on his head.

We also found pieces of cheese in other unmentionable places, but don't worry, we didn't let him eat those!

Parker's Hair

Thank you Grandma Stauffer for cutting Parker's hair! He needed it badly and I don't trust myself to do it yet! Here he is after his nap so the styling is messed up a little bit, but I think you get the idea!

Sleepy Head

Parker sure played hard the other day. On our way home from a busy day, he fell asleep in the car just as we were pulling into our apartment complex. Well, it was too close to bedtime for a nap and we figured if we could just keep him awake, he could go to bed a little earlier. Greg sat him on the couch where we thought he would wake up right away... we were wrong. He was just too tired to care where he was!

Counting to Ten

For those of you who see Parker often, you know how hard it is to catch him counting all the way to ten. He knows how to do it, but getting his attention span for that long is a miracle. Well, we have our miracle! And, if you're wondering where he is looking, we flipped the camera screen around so he could watch himself count. Enjoy!

Comparisons - 28 Weeks

Okay everyone... I hit 28 weeks this weekend and now you get to compare!

28 Weeks Pregnant with Parker

28 Weeks Pregnant with Devri

I was planning on using the same sweater from the Parker picture for this current picture so you have a better comparison but it was triple digits today! Can you blame me?

Evening at the Pool

After an extremely long day of cleaning the house, moving furniture, and other things, we decided there was a little time leftover in the day for Parker to swim. Thank you Grandma Stauffer for taking the pictures!

Parker was very angry at me for throwing the bowling pin into the pool!

He had fun, and thankfully, he didn't throw too big of a fit when it was time to get out. :)

Happy 20th Birthday to The Blue Beast!

Alas, our lovely 1989 Toyota Corolla, nicknamed "The Blue Beast," turns 20 this year. Let's start from the beginning... my Grandma and Grandpa Stauffer adopted this brand new baby in 1989. It has been lovingly watched over and passed since then from Aunt Richele, to me, and now to David. And for its birthday this year... a new paint job! When I dropped David off to pick The Blue Beast up, my first reaction was that the paint color was exactly the same as before... hmmm... I had been told that it would be dark blue, but actually, if you look closely, it is a little darker than before. Either way, no one feels comfortable changing The Blue Beast into a color other than blue since it was born blue (kind of an ice blue back then) and well, "Blue" is part of its name. So, here is the car in all its glory!

Hike!

So, Parker has a new face... his game face! Every time he plays football, he yells hike and then he gives you his murderous glare before he throws the ball. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to catch it on camera when I'm the only one with him. I'll have to wait until he's playing football with someone else. Until then, here's the face Parker gives when he first sees me pull out the camera. He even says "cheese" beforehand.

Nostalgia, anyone?

I find myself getting a little nostalgic lately. I think part of it is being pregnant again and remembering all the memories when Parker was born. It has me excited and terrified for Devri's arrival! These thoughts have also led me to realize that Parker turns two this month! Life has been busy and time has gone by so fast! So, for your viewing pleasure, I have included pictures so you can view his growth.

Parker in the hospital

Parker's First Birthday

Parker today

My Little Sponge

Just a quick update for you all. Parker is just a great big sponge! He is always learning new things and half the time I don't even know where he picked them up! Parker's latest attempt is trying to dribble a basketball... now, I know what some of you are thinking. My husband is Greg and therefore it must be Greg teaching him to do it. I promise you, Greg has never showed him how to dribble, but sure enough, we found him trying on several different occasions. The only thing we can figure is that he pays attention to the basketball games we sometimes watch on TV or option number two: it's in his blood! :)

Here's a picture I took today just for fun. Parker loves reading and he's getting to the point where he's memorized what all the pictures are in his books. I guess I need to buy some more!