Prayerful

I think I mentioned before how cute Parker's prayers are lately. He now prayers for everything he can think of, focusing on the things he is currently looking at. Before I whipped out the camera, he was praying, "Bless the friends and the weird guys who I don't know their names. Bless that I can have mama tell me where we are going after my rest. Bless that there won't be bad guys. Bless that I will dream of ponies and the fair." Then came this...

OC Fair... second fair trip of the summer

If this doesn't show Parker and Papa's devotion to the county fair, I don't know what does... Not only did they go to the San Diego fair four times, but they made a trip up to the Orange County Fair last weekend. I got pics all day long and I knew they were having a blast. Of course the food is a highlight for them both. Corndogs...

 The rides are also a hit. Parker kept wanting to know how many ride tickets Papa got, to make sure they had enough!

 And the bus ride from the parking lot is a ride in and of itself.

 More rides...

 Long day...

 Another treat...

 The boys!

 And ANOTHER treat!

 And another pony ride.

 Bus ride back to the car.

I can't tell you how sweet the bond of these two is. They are a match made in heaven and my dad's energy to keep up with Park amazes me. Such love between these guys. Next year dad says he is taking both boys. 

Dadd-io

These boys love their daddy. It's so cute to see them light up when he gets home at night. Parker often prays about how he loves when daddy is home. Austin frequently reaches for him and loves rough housing with him. He also loves how Pete shares his food with him.

 Parker's buddy Carter had a pistachio allergic reaction... poor boy ended up in the hospital overnight, so we sent him a picture of Parker with this sign...

Pioneer Run

We went over to support the runners at the Pioneer Day 5k at our community park. We had some friends participate and the cousins even did the one mile run. Then Parker and Austin ran in the "diaper dash" So cute.

Here's cousin Jo getting ready to race. I think she won this heat!

Austin in his race... he needed a little prompting from behind:)

Parker in his race... Parker needed no prompting. 

Happy Birthday Denise

Let me tell you about my sister in law, Denise. Pete's sister is amazing. In high school she was a star soccer player, drum major, and genius. She got her UG in bio and her masters degree in record time (more evidence of her genius). Then she proceeded to have four kids and commit every ounce of her being to providing them rich life experiences and fun. Her oldest has special needs, and she copes with his challenges with grace and perseverance. She has her hands full but she is the first one to always think of others. It is not unusual for her house to have several more kids in it, as she is helping out a friend. Sometimes we think we are too busy and tired to help out another, but she is proof that we always have the ability to do something for someone else. I'm so glad to live in the same town as her, so we can have our kids grow up together. We don't know how long this will last, but we will just keep enjoying it. She is also my partner in crime in our Kids Sing venture and I love working with her. What a special person she is. 

So one of her friends hosted a birthday lunch for her and she invited us. So sweet. They had an amazing backyard. Parker loved the trampoline and a skateboard ramp that all the kids were sliding down. 

 Denise and some friends (the two on the end were best friends of her mom).

 One of her best friends, Paula.

 Holli and Denise (it was Holli's house).

Happy Birthday, Denise. We love you!

Ann Arbor comes to So Cal...

One of the best things of living in SD is that people love to vacation here... which means that when my friends from across the country, and around the world, come to visit, we get to have a little reunion! So this week I got together with two of my best friends from Ann Arbor, who now live in Orange County and Doha, Qatar. :) We all have 2 or 3 sons a piece so it was quite the reunion. We met up at Pretend City, a children's dramatic play museum in Irvine. It was so awesome. They had dramatic play areas revolving around Wahoo's fish tacos, Ralph's, a doctor's office, dentist, fire station, stage, garden, construction area, etc... Amazing. Parker was in heaven.

 Eli and Austin... clearly Eli loves the camera more than Aussie.

 All the kids... kind of. Heidi was the designated mom in the photo:)

Loving the stage! My children are hams... where do they get that from?

 Heidi, Lindsay, me and our babies:)

 Jake and James loving the tow truck. This was a coveted vehicle at this place. They need a dozen more.

 Parker zooming down a bridge on a firetruck.

 We were at the "dentist" but Parker thought I needed an eye exam instead.

 I love me a cash register!

What a fun reunion. I treasure the friendships I made in Ann Arbor. We may live all over now, but the relationships that we made will endure any distance. I'm so lucky.

Sweet friends

While we have been enjoying the flexibility that comes with the summer schedule, we have also been missing some of our good friends. Parker and Sadie were best buds during the school year, and we finally got together for a playdate. So fun. It was the first time we've had a friend come over, while her mom left to run errands. Such big kids!

 Austin loves wearing hats. Especially hats that belong to others and are too large for his head:) And he wanted a bath... gangsters need baths too.

 Parker was leading a music class for Austin. He was saying, "I'm Miss Kara, let's sing after me."

Parker's prayers lately have included:

"Please let me have good dreams, only about ponies and sharks... nice sharks." 

"Bless me that I will make good choices and not fight with mama." 

"Bless that the water will stay cold and the ice won't melt."

"Bless that mama will tell me what we are going to do when I wake up." 

"Bless that we can have a donut when we wake up." 

"Bless Jesus cuz he died."

"Bless daddy that I like it when he is home with us." 

Pizza making

We had an awesome morning out the other day, making our own pizzas at a local restaurant. They are so nice to open up before hours to host preschool/moms groups and let the kids make their own food and tour the kitchen. Parker had a lot of fun with his buddies. 

Unfortunately, Parker was in quite the mood yesterday, which made for a very long. It's like he just could not get control over his body. It was tantrum after tantrum and he goal appeared to be looking to find where he could do the most damage. I put myself in a two minute time out in order to keep myself from totally losing it and came back to find he had completely emptied the clothes from his drawers in his closet. Not pleased.

I thought the day would never end, but I'm thankful that we can sleep off a bad day and wake up with a new one. And even if today isn't perfect, it can't be any worse than yesterday! :) Here's to a good day.

Beach buddies

This should be on a greeting card. 

 We went to a bonfire at the beach on Monday night with our church. It was really fun and REALLY sandy! Pete was even able to meet us which was awesome. Everyone gave him a hard time for his attire:) And here's a family pic.

I wanted to take it again since I cut off Aussie's face, but Pete said, "You take tons of pictures of his whole head." haha. Good point.

Mixmate character blocks

I'm obsessed with these blocks. 

It's so cool when moms come up with ideas based on what they would want their children to have. I grew up with one of the creators of these character blocks and not only is she sweet, she's super talented. I love the video detailing their block product. As of now, they only have the characters in a download form, and then you make your own blocks (and I have a love/hate relationship with DIY block projects... ugh!)... but I am dying over the thought that I can buy them already assembled! Think about supporting this cause and get yourself some blocks in the process. And, if you're into this kind of thing, buy the pdf and make your own blocks. So cute! I hate toys that make a racket but I love toys that encourage imagination. This fits the bill! (Not paid for this endorsement:))

Fun family activity

While Scott, Lance and Abbey were still in town, Clare prepared a fun family activity after our final dinner together. She had papers with each of our name's listed at the top, and then we sat in a circle and passed around the papers, writing something we loved about the person on their sheet. The thing I love most is seeing all the different handwriting on it. So sweet. One of the kids wrote that Clare "smelled like a flower."  At the conclusion we read our paper aloud. Super fun and uplifting activity. 

 Awkward reading Pete's inappropriate, yet comical contribution...

 Dave wrote the comment on Austin's about him getting thinner:)

Cousins

This was the best I could do to get a pic of all the cousins together. Denise got some better ones that I will eventually steal, but here is documentation of the kids together. So fun! We miss you already, Lance!

Austin at 16 months

Austin is so sweet. We just did another well-child visit at the doctor and he's doing great. 19 lbs 13 oz and 30 inches. They don't give you percentiles at this doctor... weird Kaiser. Anyway, he's developing well and aside for some rashy-ness on his upper back due to his sweating he's perfect. Austin loves food of all kinds especially when it's off your plate, he loves waving at the waving audience on the Today Show, he claps and dances to music and is starting to match pitch when we sing. He really enjoyed the music class we did in the spring and I will do it with just him while Parker is in preschool in the fall. He has turned into a little climber and is constantly yelling for me to retrieve him. He loves Parker and is mimicking more of his behaviors... oh joy! He does a few signs which has helped to lessen the shrill scream he started doing to communicate his feelings. He loves balls and bats. He loves to kick the soccer ball around (many times with his left foot, much to Pete's excitement), and he loves swimming. He is a solid walker now, which makes our park visits much more high maintenance for me, since he wants to be climbing all over the structure. He also loves Sea World and coos at all the animals. He has a special love for Papa, but shows equal excitement whenever he sees "dada". He loves to plop in your lap for a good book. I love my snuggly guy. Things to work on... he can be quite jealous at times. He doesn't like Parker getting all the attention or if I am holding another baby he is not a fan. It's pretty funny at the same time:)