29 Years (and Weeks!)

 This weekend I turned both 29 years old and marked the 29-week mark in this pregnancy.  I thought that was interesting how they happened at the same time.  Parker spent the entire day reminding me, "Next you are just three and a zero!"  I have a whole year to contemplate that one...

(I had to post both pictures since the kids couldn't synchronize which was the silly picture!)  I am a pretty boring old person already - I painted the bathroom on Friday and spent my birthday money on new towels and other exciting items for the bathroom.  But we did get an ice cream cake from Cold Stone!  So the kiddos blew out my candles for me.  Later that evening Chris and I went out for cheeseburgers at Five Guys.  It was a good birthday to me!

Summer Park Series: Veteran's and Skye

 One of my many goals for the summer is to take the kiddos around to as many parks as we can manage to visit.  I thought if I kept track here of how well we liked them, I could reference in the future which parks were worth visiting again.  So here we go... first up is Veteran's Memorial Park in West Jordan (1985 W. 7800 S.). 

 We had been here before a few years ago, but only Kenzie vaguely remembered it when we went there Tuesday.  The main attraction is the large area full of wooden structures.  Parker spent most of his time running through the giant Saltair (a large twisty slide was on the other side).  I just had to make sure I kept seeing his gray hoodie run by the windows from time to time.

 

McKenzie lounging in the handicapped swing.

 A rare sighting of the elusive Gray Hoodied One.

• Kid Rating: B+ (lots to do, but I spent half the time begging McKenzie to check on Parker since I couldn't go in after him.  Also, two busloads of day camp kids descended on the park 10 minutes after we arrived.  Neither kiddo complained when it was time to leave!)
• Mom's Sanity Rating: C- (Sure, I could sit by the only exit and know they were somewhere in the wooden structures, but there were lots of bigger kids, some armed with squirt guns, and I guess I'm just paranoid.  I prefer to be able to see the kids.)

 Next up, Skye Park in South Jordan (4800 W. Skye Dr./9800 S.).  The weather was much better today, so we brought a picnic and played for about two hours.

 I think I counted seven slides, and Parker tried them all a few times!

 Last year McKenzie was nervous about monkey bars.  Why is she growing up so fast?

 I loved the little kid area, although McKenzie told me, "Mom, this isn't much fun."  Case in point, she's growing up too fast.

 I knew they'd been playing hard when they willingly sat down to eat!

"Okay, Mom," Parker called.  "We will just pick you up in one hour!"

• Kid Rating: A-  (a little crowded at some points, Kenzie complained a little about that, also no shade on the playground so on a warmer day it would not be fun.  There's even a sand pit, though, which I didn't know about so I didn't bring the sand toys.  Both kids were quite disappointed!)
• Mom's Sanity Rating: A- (I could sit at the covered picnic tables and see both kids for the most part.  There were typical gross park bathrooms to use, too.)

Artichokes!

I've mentioned before that Parker is an extremely picky eater.  In fact, only a month or so ago found him crying over dinner.  When I said, "Parker, it's chicken.  You like chicken!" he wailed in despair, "But it looks different!"  So, it has been so enjoyable that suddenly in the past two weeks he has been willing to try new things.  Usually it is just one bite of something, but we still give him high-fives and try to praise him.  I was really surprised, though, that he willingly tried artichokes last night.  After one leaf, I figured he wouldn't want more, but he asked for 6 and was very enthusiastic about it.  It gives me hope that someday dinner will not be met with such resistance!

First Day of Summer Vacation!

 Hooray!  McKenzie is done with first grade as of 12:25 today!  I think I am more excited than she is.  After lunch at Del Taco to celebrate (at least my kids have cheap tastes, I guess) they got their summer "presents" - new flip flops, new beach towels, and a Spiderman sprinkler.

 McKenzie laughed and thought it was great fun...

 ...Parker stayed a safe distance away.  Extremely safe distance, actually.

It didn't take long before it was popsicle and movie time, though.  I'd say the kids lost interest, but really Pregnant Mommy isn't too keen on being outside in the afternoon!  Here's to a long hot summer! 

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."