Randomness

 Naturally all his pandas wanted to watch Parker play computer games one morning!

McKenzie soaking her feet, reading the funnies.  Proof that life around here might not be ultra exciting, but it has its moments that sure make me laugh!

Captain America is 4!

 

My little man is 4!  Parker flew out of his bedroom this morning to have his powdered sugar donuts and get a look at his cake (what a nutritional day it's been!).  

 Here's a close-up of the cake (just for you, Steph!).  I was going to put a figurine of Capt. America on the cake, but Parker freaked out and yelled, "You can't put toys on cake!"  Kenzie finally figured out that Parker was worried I would use Capt. America as a candle!  No wonder he wasn't happy about the idea.  When he saw his cake this morning, he didn't see the figurine and asked, "Mom, did you bake Captain America in my cake?"  That made me laugh.  I had to reassure him Capt. America was safe in his room!

 Since it was just us for the day, we went to the movies (the $1 showing of Shrek Forever After, but Parker was still thrilled).

 Our afternoon was a little more low-key.  Here's Parker playing with his train set (my garage sale finds keep our basement fun).

 Once Daddy made it home from work, Parker was ready to open presents!

 Showing off his new Thor.  (In case you haven't noticed, superheroes are a big deal to this little guy.  There was a time we stood in the freezer section of the grocery store for several minutes admiring displays for the Avengers and couldn't leave until Parker was ready!)

 

Showing off his loot.  He's holding the set of Cars squinkies McKenzie picked out for him.

 This deserves mentioning because it hopefully marks a turning point in this family - a child of mine chose a meal besides McDonald's for his birthday dinner!  Parker chose cheese pizza at Rock Creek Pizza.  (I'm hoping McKenzie realizes now that not every birthday needs to be spent under the Golden Arches, but we'll see.) 

 Parker's present from Mommy and Daddy was a new Spiderman scooter, so when we got home from dinner he promptly raced up and down the sidewalk.  He'd wanted to ride the scooter to the pizza place, and it had taken a lot of persuading to convince him riding his scooter down 12600 South was a bad idea!

 About to blow out his candles - we had four blue and four green candles, plus the number four candle. 

 

I wonder why I always seem to wind up using royal blue or red for cakes?  It sure makes for a colorful mess...

 

Parker ended his birthday by "shaving" with his new Capt. America mirror and shaving cream. He must have spent 20 minutes standing there happily pretending to shave and getting foam all over his face and shirt.  It was pretty cute to watch.  Once everything calmed down, and he lined up all his action figures on his desk for the night, he agreed he'd had a great birthday.  We enjoyed listening to him recount his day to his stuffed panda in bed.  He's a sweet kid, and we're glad Parker's part of our family.  Happy Birthday, Parkee Bud!

A Superhero's Mom

 Mother's Day was very sweet.  McKenzie gave me no less than 7 cute notes throughout the day.  It would be hard to rival that...

 

...except that my note from Parker was delivered by Spiderman himself and said, "Spiderman loves you."  I'm still chuckling about that a whole day later!  I'm definitely saving all my notes.

 

Then the kids decided to play, "Happy Mother's Day" in the hall, which consisted of them giving "presents" to each other until thoroughly congesting the main walkway of the house.

 We had a nice, lazy day around the house.  I wanted a picture of Parker in his get-up with sweatpants and rain boots.

 This is him pouting about that!

 And here's my cute husband making honey butter to go with his homemade bread for me.  I have a neat family, and am glad to be "Mom."

Nydegger Reception

 

Last night we attended a reception for Kyle and Addy Nydegger, and got the chance to say hello to all sorts of people we hadn't seen in awhile (much to the kids' dismay... they wanted less chit-chat and more progress towards the dessert table!).

 

Kenzie found her buddies Hannah and Lacey.  They were well-trained flower girls by this point in the evening.  I asked if I could take a picture of them in their lovely dresses, and they immediately posed!

Finally after asking for dessert at least 237 times, Chocolate Face 1 and Chocolate Face 2 were satisfied.

Such goofballs.  Earlier in the day, McKenzie had looked at the wedding present with utter disappointment.  When I explained that wedding presents were things you need, like silverware, dishes, and the like, she just kept staring at me.  The concept of "gifts" really being something as boring as pie plates baffled her.  Consequently, she did not look twice at the pile of presents at the reception!

End of a Long Week

Here's where I found Parker this afternoon.  Not the most traditional place for a nap.  He was only there a few minutes, and when I woke him up right after this picture he even chuckled at where he was!