A Couple Random Stories...

This is Devri, asleep in her walker, holding her pacifier in her mouth.

For Greg's birthday, his dad had the fish he caught up at Clear Lake 10 years ago recreated. It was the biggest bass he had ever caught (9 lbs 12 oz.) and Greg has always regretted throwing it back! Now he can at least hang it on his wall.

Canvas Pictures

My friend, Cassie, made a post on her blog a couple weeks ago about getting a free picture printed on an 8x10 canvas at canvaspeople.com

Well, here are the canvases up on my walls!

Oh the ridiculousness of my son...

Hope you enjoy this little piece of blackmail that I'm saving for Parker's dating years!

Photoshop Fun

Just playing around with photoshop today for the first time.

Devri's 4 month (?) Stats

This was supposed to be her four month appointment, but she won't actually be four months until the end of this month. Then, they wrote that it was her three month appointment so now I'm confused about the scheduling so we'll just call this her 3 1/2 month stats:

Weight: 12 pounds 10 ounces (50th percentile - which has jumped from 25 percent since her last appointment... bring on the baby fat!)

Height: 24 1/4 inches (75th percentile - same percentile as before)

Head Circumference: 16 inches (50th percentile - was 25 at last appointment)

Her measurements are so different from Parker's, especially with their heads! I guess I had always assumed my babies would be about the same in their measurements, but it's been fun seeing all the differences! Two more weeks and we get to start rice cereal. Yay!

Happy Birthday Greg!

Greg turns 26 today! This morning, he received an awesome birthday present… a notification telling him that he passed another one of his CPA exams! We could not have been more thrilled. It was the toughest test for him so far and we feel really blessed that he has not had to repeat any of his exams. One more and he’ll be done!

Since it’s his birthday and we’re so close to Thanksgiving, I’m going to list a few reasons why I’m thankful for this birthday boy of mine.

I am thankful for his dedication; his dedication to church, school, work, me, the kids, and everything in between!

Church: with as much studying that he has to do already, he has never once complained about the extra time it takes to prepare lessons each week for church... and his class loves him!

School and Work: I basically already mentioned how hard he studies, but with two kids, I find it wonderful that he has enough energy to keep focused.

Not only that, but he is helpful with me and my studies as well.

Me and the Kids: His family is his number one priority and I just love watching him with our kids.

I am thankful for his cooking. We made a deal when we got married: he would barbecue and cook pasta and I would do the rest of the cooking. He has held up his end of the bargain and then some!

I am thankful that he provides for our family...

...and is teaching Parker the family trade! :)

I am thankful for his love of all creatures (okay, I really just thought this was a funny pic)

I am thankful that he loves to spend time with both of our families and that he would move back to California so we could be closer to them.

I am thankful for his love of sports... ha ha, I'm sure some of you don't believe me, but really, I love that he finds so much joy in it...

...and that he shares his love of sports with Parker (and Devri one day too)

Basketball

Golf

Olympic Diving ( ha ha)

Football

Tennis

Baseball

Lastly, I am thankful for his sense of humor. The fact that he can get me to laugh even when I'm trying to stay mad at him is a wonderful trait. (I have no idea why this sentence is underlined, but I can't seem to fix it).

My life is so much better with Greg in it and I'm sure our kids feel the same way. Happy Birthday Greg!

UNprotective Big Brother

So, last night we watched an episode of The Closer (one of many law and order-type shows). Well, Parker sat down and watched the end of it with me. At the end of the show, a teenage guy was getting arrested for murdering another teenager who had gotten his sister pregnant. Long story short, he thought he was protecting his sister from him and ended up getting arrested for it. Parker, at this point, is staring wide-eyed at the TV while this guy is being arrested. Here is the conversation that then went on:

Greg: "Parker, are you okay?"

Parker: (just turns and looks at Greg with big eyes)

Greg: "Are you going to protect your little sister?"

Parker: (still with wide eyes and now a shaking head) "No"

Ha ha ha ha! Greg and I had to laugh big time at that one! Now we know where Parker stands... there is no way he is going to protect Devri if it means getting arrested!

In retaliation, Devri decided to steal Parker's robe (obviously way too small for Parker now).

Halloween

I forgot to bring my camera for the Trick or Treating on Halloween so I'm having to rely on the pictures from the grandparents. I was able to steal these pictures off of my mom's facebook, but I still need pictures from Greg's parents. We took Parker and Devri to both grandparents' neighborhoods for trick or treating, but as I said before, these are only pictures from one of our stops that night.

Devri and her cousin, Noah before donning their costumes

Devri trick or treating at Teri's house, our neighbor

Parker trick or treating at Dale and Cathy Williams' house

Family Shot (Parker avoiding the camera as usual)

Group Shot of the Trick or Treaters (Jamie and Ethan: Jurassic Park Employee and Dinosaur, Preston and Noah: Supermen, Greg and Parker: Pirates, Sarah and Devri: Ladybugs)

The boys had a blast together. Here they are holding hands and hurrying to the next house.

I'm sure this next picture is obvious, for parents all over the world engage in this very same battle: the fight over who gets their kids' candy!

A First Time for Everything!

I decided last minute to introduce Parker to the experience of decorating sugar cookies for Halloween! It was only fitting that his first time decorating was my first time making sugar cookies. All things considered, it was a success... nothing got burned! :)

Parker started out doing really well trying to frost his cookie. It wasn't long before he realized how tasty the frosting was and from that point on, no more frosting was added to the cookie... only to his mouth.

Not the safest, I'm sure, but you really couldn't get a knife more dull than the one he was using.

I dare you... just try and take this frosting away from me!