Fig Newton Face

It's amazing the way two Fig Newtons can turn into such a mess in the right hands!

"It Was Take Your Girl to Work Day"

Today was Take Your Daughter to Work Day, and Kenzie was so thrilled! (Yesterday morning she ran downstairs saying, "Daddy just forgot me to go to work!" and was relieved to hear she hadn't missed it. This morning she got dressed and ate breakfast in record time! She beamed the entire time, too!) Here they are right before heading off.

Parker missed Kenzie, but one highlight for him (besides getting to hold Kenzie's kitty purse) was getting this piano all to himself. Kenzie usually hogs it!

I'm not sure, but I think he was trying to sing!

They returned for lunch, and Kenzie fell asleep in the car! I believe the quote was, "This was just hard work!" She woke up after the picture, gave me a hug, then perked up and yelled, "I GOT CANDY!" (Boy, did she! She came home with bags of stuff: pencils, candy, a slap bracelet, a hat, erasers, toys, etc.) It was definitely a fun day for our little girl, and right now she's still quietly sitting on her bed, sorting her loot!

11 Months!

I really do stop counting months after the first year, so here's the last monthly age update for Parker!Here he is this morning adding to the mess in Kenzie's room

His new trick for the day is using Mommy to help him stand up. Can't you just hear him thinking, "Well, this crawling thing is great, but if I could just have these hands free, think of the fun I could have! And just think of what I can reach if I stand up!"

I Forgot How Busy Babies Are

I ran upstairs to start some laundry this morning, and Parker was in the middle of the floor, happily banging on his Elmo keyboard. I hadn't been upstairs but a minute when I heard him slapping the stairs and yelling for me, so I hurried back over to see -

Thankfully he can't go anywhere yet or anything, but it was so cute to see his little face grinning up at me. He knows he can get around and is loving it!

Case in point: this is the view I get most of Parker - him crawling into Kenzie's room!He's so proud of himself! (And as tiring as it is, I'll admit it is a bit handier to have him just follow Kenzie around instead of begging her to stay and play to keep him happy)

Babies Do Three Things

Eat, sleep, and you know what else. Nobody needs a picture of that third one, though, so here's one of Parker eating and two of him sleeping to make up for it.

He shook his head fiercely at the baby food, but quieted down holding a piece of pizza the size of his head! That's my boy!!

This cracked me up with his hand and foot out of the crib like that.

So sweet... (and he's a good snuggler, too)

So Ends the Group Photo

Before church I thought I'd take a picture (no surprise there). Parker couldn't sit still, because the cat was nosing around. Parker lunged and crawled, rolled and tackled, but the cat was still just too interested to stay away (sorry Seiko, but it's your own fault).

My cute girl cheesing it up

How about if I climb on your lap, Mom? (He tried the stairs, too, but they were a bit too tall today. Maybe tomorrow...)

Destructo's Dream Come True

Parker loves to knock over the blocks (who doesn't?), so Chris gave me the idea to set up a course of blocks for him to crawl through.Entering the room, he laughed.

I love this face! Look at the determination!

He kept going until all the blocks were down, although I did have to clear them aside since he couldn't crawl over them after awhile!

Again?

Little Man In-Action

Parker couldn't be happier about his newly discovered mobility. He likes to kneel next to this wagon and "walk" behind it on his knees. He also crawls in short increments, leading to countless calls of, "Mom, Parker's getting into my things!"

Oh, and another random fact: Parker got his 7th tooth today! His drool was the only give-away because he's still been pretty happy.

Happy Easter

My little girl gave her first talk in Primary today! Of course the microphone didn't work, and she was so shy that she whispered her part, but she was still so brave to get up there! (Parker clapped when she finished, too!)

My handsome guys

Kenzie took this! We were really impressed!

Egg Hunt!

Yesterday we had the family over for an egg hunt. It was a little dreary outside and drizzled on and off, but Kenzie was still thrilled.She ran so fast I literally couldn't keep up with her to take any in-action pictures!

I did get her to stop once to show me her basket (I couldn't be picky that she didn't hold it at the right angle, because hey, she was missing out on prime searching time by stopping!)

Parker was happy with his one egg, which was good since the older kids had no qualms about hoarding all the obvious eggs intended for the little ones. (There will need to be an age limit next year!)

Parker with a piece of Easter cake. We gave him the piece with the least amount of frosting...

He managed to be efficient with it, though! (And no, he didn't eat the whole piece; the majority of his cake wound up on the floor)

The Easter Bunny Came!

Even despite the drizzle outside, the Easter Bunny made it to our house this morning. Kenzie ran right to the door to answer it, "But the Easter Bunny just hopped away, never to return!" (So dramatic!) Parker was super excited. He got some new cars and a chocolate bunny that he tried to bite through the package.

Kenzie got Play-doh and a ton of candy!

Parker thought all the candy wrappers were fun to crinkle, but he did growl at his cars, too.

The big hit was Kenzie's magnifying glass, though. How did the Easter Bunny know that Mommy really wanted her grease splatter screen back in the kitchen? (Kenzie's been taking it around the house the past few weeks, claiming it's her magnifying glass and she's looking for clues)

Kenzie the Photographer

Out of the blue this morning Kenzie came running, asking if she could have my camera to take a picture of Cinderella. Uhh, sure, why not? So here's the first picture she's ever taken.

And her second, which is of the Prince.

Her third choice for subject material was Parker, who was busy playing with the dinosaur. (Today he figured out how to get the balls inside, but preferred to hang on to them and just push the lever that activated the music instead! Smart little guy...). Anyways those are the pictures Kenzie took. I guess the camera is now in the ever-expanding category of Things I Have to Share!

Easter Eggs at Breakfast

I made the mistake of showing Kenzie the hard-boiled eggs in the fridge to try and get her excited for coloring eggs later today. It worked way too well - she carried the carton around until I finally agreed that we could color the eggs right away. I did convince her to change out of her pajamas first, at least, although the hair combing obviously didn't get accomplished.She was pretty proud of them, though. One more thing off my to-do list for the day! Yardwork looms ahead...

Plotting His Escape

Look, Mom, a new trick! I can pull up on the crib now!

Doesn't he look so proud of himself? When I was taking a shower this morning I heard his little, "Uh!" noise, so I opened the shower curtain... there he was, kneeling in front of the tub, pulling himself up as best he could, big grin on his face.

P.S. For any Safety Patrol members out there, yes, we did move the crib down to a lower position. Just in time, too, since he actually stood up against the tub later to reach inside and get a bath toy!

A Brave Attempt

It's been a year since I got out the finger paints, because Kenzie hated getting her fingers dirty. (This is the same girl that practically lived in the sand box all summer, but nevertheless...) Anyways I tried again today, and at first she was really into mixing the colors.Why is this the face I get when I say, "Smile, Kenzie!" ???

Her masterpiece: the top is traditional finger painted smudge, but after roughly three minutes she told me, "Mom, it's all over my fingers. I just need my brush." So she washed her hands, got out her paintbrush and finished her finger painting with the brush. Funny kid.

Hooray for Easter Outfits

I am not normally inclined to play dress-up with my kids... I know, I know, I'm about a week too late for April Fool's. I love new outfits on the kiddos! Plus I figured, just in case by Sunday one of them has a cold or a scrape on their face, I should get some Easter pictures now.

"I'm sitting like a lady, Mom!" Hmmm... but it's a better pose than when she insisted on holding her dress up past her underwear!

Kenzie did her usual peek-a-boo over my shoulder, but Parker doesn't just smile at it anymore, he also claps and yells back. Still cute, though!

"Mom, I just need to be a ballerina in my dress!"

He tried to get away by scooting backwards until he was half-stuck under the chair. (He'll learn soon enough that there's no escaping Mommy with her camera)

I love the poses I get when they sit in this chair! Happy Easter!

Clean Up, Clean Up

Today marked Day 1 of my mission to get the yard Easter-egg-hunt ready by Saturday. Ugh. While Parker napped and Kenzie watched Special Agent Oso (her new favorite cartoon - Chris overheard her saying, "Special Alert!" to herself tonight) I cleaned the yard. Well, a very small portion of it. Just the swingset area, which also happens to be the dog's favorite potty area. Let's just say the bucket got really heavy... ugh.Then when Parker woke up I put him out in his playpen. (I was scared I'd missed too many "land mines" for Parker to be rolling around in the grass just yet). He was content to play with Kenzie's toys and eat graham crackers, though.

Kenzie with Taz. "Here, BOY!" she kept yelling. He didn't know to answer to that, and I don't know where Kenzie learned the "boy" part, but if she yelled, "Taz!" he'd come right over.

The leaves are everywhere because I managed to rake them all out to the center of the yard for Chris to suck up with the lawnmower. (Hint, hint!) So that's one part of the yard, and only 4 more to go! It might snow again on Wednesday, too. I've lived in Utah for several years now, so you'd think I'd get used to these pseudo-Springs. But not yet.