Christmas, etc...

Alot has happened since I last posted so I'm going to try and remember everything.

Craig, Amy and the boys had an early Christmas vacation this year so we went up to Ft. Worth the weekend before Christmas to be able to spend a few days with them. The boys are so cute. Parker doesn't get to see them much anymore, but they always pick back up like they see each other all of the time. They all play so well together, I enjoy getting to see them spend time together. We enjoyed our visit...but as it is every time, it was way too short. Amy and Craig are doing good, enjoying Georgia. Hayden is in Kindergarten this year and seems to really be doing good. He seems like he likes school so that is good. Kyler's personality has changed so much. He was cracking me up wanting me to see his tricky spins and stuff. Paxton is such a cutie. He's got the biggest smile and eyes I've ever seen. They're all so cute, I wish we could see them more often.

We came home from Ft. Worth and I had Tuesday and Wednesday morning to finish getting everything ready for our Christmas with Jeremy's family (on Christmas Eve). We got a late start with that so it was rushed, but we still enjoyed it. We had to get back for the Candlelight service. I didn't get any pictures of that so I'll have to get some from Cindy and post those later.

We got home, let the kids open their Christmas jammies, and read a few books. Last year we decided that we wanted to get a different "Night Before Christmas" book every year and read that on Christmas eve after they open their jammies and put those on. We also found a kids book that explains the real meaning of Christmas, that we'll start reading with our Night Before Christmas book each year.

Parker still doesn't really understand about the gifts and it being Christmas. I remember as a kid, waking up SO early and getting my brother, sister and parents up, having cinnamon rolls and opening gifts. Parker woke up about 9:00 so we got to sleep in a little Christmas morning, it was nice. He didn't really have any reaction to anything that he got. Just opened the presents and put them to the side and asked if he could play computer games. Brooklyn didn't want to sit still long enough to try and open any presents. She just wanted to eat paper. It was a good Christmas though.

Later Christmas day we had my parents and brother over to do our Christmas with them. It was fun having Gene down to celebrate with us, it's been awhile since we've been able to celebrate Christmas with him. We opened presents, had dinner and stayed up VERY late playing cards. We had all decided to go shopping the next day to get some Christmas stuff half price. I had every intention on going, but when it came time to go...I couldn't do it. I only had one hour of sleep and I couldn't keep my eyes open. So Jeremy still went and got our Christmas lights for next year and a few other things. Mom stocked me up on wrapping paper, tags, bows, etc. since I always wrap all of her gifts. I enjoy wrapping presents.

Brooklyn loves playing with Parker. He does pretty good with her most of the time, but starts to get a little annoyed when she wants to climb on him. He pushed her down a few days ago and busted her lip. She was crying and I look over and her mouth is all bloody. She got over it pretty quick and was on the hunt for Parker. She was ready to play with him again.

I took Brooklyn to the doctor last week for her 6 month check up. She had to get shots, she did pretty good though. I didn't find out what her length was but she weighs 18 pounds now. She was only 14 pounds at her 4 month check up. She only gained 4 pounds in her first 4 months of life and the last 2 months she gained 4. Oh well, she's a healthy baby. I had her on the counter for the nurse to measure her and another nurse came by and commented on her chubby thighs.

Here's a few more pictures of the kids and a video of Parker teaching Brooklyn to roll a ball...

Hope that everyone has a great week!!

Fun In The Snow

I was trying to get Brooklyn calmed down and to sleep last night when I got a few calls...IT'S SNOWING!! Parker was excited, we went out and played for about an hour but after we came in it started snowing even harder. I haven't seen snow this good in Dayton since I was a kid. It was great!! I got a ton of pictures of the yard and house, here are a few...

Parker and I went out this morning with Brooklyn. I had her all bundled up with her little hat, mittens and jacket. She kept putting her mittens in the snow and licking them. She did pretty good until her mittens kept falling off and she would cry. Her little fingers were so cold so I brought her in. Here are a few pics of the kids...

We went to a Christmas tree farm in New Caney on Sunday. I told Parker that we were going to get our Christmas tree and he said something about cutting it down. We've gone and picked one out and cut it down every year since he's been born. Parker decided that he was in charge of the tape measure. He went around and measured the trees, calling out random numbers. Here are a few pictures...

A Visit From Santa

It's so funny the things that happen in a small town. I was trying to scrapbook earlier and I heard sirens. I thought that maybe it was a volunteer fire fighter headed to a fire or something like that. I kept hearing them, so I look out the window and there are fire trucks coming down the road. I go and get Parker and we stand on the porch and watch them as they are coming down the road toward our house. They stop in front of the house and in the speaker thing they say...come see santa. I told them just a minute, Parker was in his underwear (I didn't tell them that). I got him dressed and we went to go see santa. There were 2 Kenefick Fire Trucks and a couple of regular trucks all decorated in lights.

Santa comes up in the driveway and gives Parker some candy canes, which he was very excited about. One of the fire fighters asked Parker if he'd been good this year and he says yes and then asked what he wanted for Christmas. Parker's answer was boots! That's what he wants this Christmas...boots. Of course we have already bought all of his Christmas presents. I guess that's what we'll get with any Christmas money he gets.

Here's a video of Parker writing to santa...(the camera is shaking a little because I was laughing)

Getting Things Together

I think that I'm finally done packing the kids stuff for our trip today, so I decided to take a break before I packed my stuff. We're going to Mississippi to see Jeremy's family for Thanksgiving. We're leaving as soon as Jeremy gets home and packed. This ought to be an interesting trip. Jeremy and I both have a stomach bug and Brooklyn isn't a good traveler. Hopefully we don't get anyone sick while we're there.

Mom and Gene headed to Georgia yesterday to have Thanksgiving with Amy, Craig and the boys. They should have gotten there sometime EARLY this morning...somewhere around 2:00 AM I think that Gene said. I haven't checked in with them yet this morning.

Dad is staying here and hunting and watching Gene's dogs.

Brooklyn is trying to crawl. Parker did an army crawl first, but Brooklyn is skipping that step I guess. She gets on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. She seems like she's SO ready to be mobile. She does good in the walker, but that doesn't last long and Parker gets on the back of it and pushes it.

Well, not much news to report. Hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Back to packing!

Polka-dotted Baby Girl

Sunday night we noticed that Brooklyn has some red spots on her. We put some cream on it and Monday morning they were worse. They had become raised and were all over her legs, thighs, shoulder and face. Her feet and thighs were starting to swell. I was beginning to get a little worried because throughout the day they would seem as thought they were going away and then they would pop back up in a different spot.

Finally, about 4:00 PM yesterday, I called the doctor's office and made an appointment for her for today. I thought that she had an allergic reaction to sweet potatoes. That was the only thing different that I could think of that she'd been exposed to in the last few days. As I was putting her to bed last night, it clicked...oh yeah, I had accidentally washed her clothes with our detergent instead of her baby detergent. I changed her into some pajamas washed in her detergent and the spots were gone this morning. I guess she has some kind of allergy to something in that detergent or she's just got extremely sensitive skin. Well, mystery solved.

Jeremy's parents were already planning on keeping Parker today since we were going to be headed to the dr. so I took him over there this morning so I could get stuff done at the house. I ended up leaving Brooklyn there too so I'm at the house now and it is SO quiet, it's great...now I can get stuff done.

It is such nasty weather outside. It's been raining almost all day. Our yard is flooded, it's crazy. I heard it's supposed to keep raining through Thursday, I hope not!! I went outside earlier when there was a break in the rain. I went into the shed to fix a piece of tin on the roof that had blown up from Hurricane Ike. I got the ladder out, climbed to the top and pulled the piece of tin back down...not even thinking of the fact that the piece of tin would be collecting water. I should have seen that one coming, but didn't even think about it. I pulled it down and got soaked...and that water was so cold.

Well, I probably should get back to my photos. Have a great day!!

Mr. Social

Mom and I decided to go shopping this weekend because Toys R Us and Kohls were having good sales on toys. I wanted to go ahead and see what I could find for the kids for Christmas. Jeremy was hunting so we had to bring the kids with us, which always makes things interesting. We were in Toys R Us and I had Brooklyn and was looking around for something, mom was behind me a little ways with Parker. Parker told my mom that he wanted to go over with me so she let him. Well, I didn't know that he was coming so I didn't know to watch for him so a minute later I look around and she doesn't have Parker.

So the search begins. I look on the rows in the section that we were in and no Parker. There's no sense calling him because he doesn't answer. I finally found him about 5 rows down. He apparently had wandered into the back room where the extra stuff is stored that won't fit on the shelves. I look down the aisle and there is an employee standing there holding the doors open and talking to Parker. Parker was happy, he found someone to talk to. He never gets worried when he doesn't see me because he doesn't think...oh no, i'm lost. He just finds someone to talk to and he's just fine.

A few stops later we were at Joanne's fabric store. We were looking at the catalogs to find a pattern that we needed. Parker was looking too because it was either sit and look at the catalog or sit in the shopping cart. There was this little black girl beside him, about his age. He pushed the catalog over to her and said, look at these dolls. The little girl pushed the book back and said, I don't want to look at that, and you're not my friend anymore. Parker just looked at her and said, why? She said, because you're just not. She then puts up her hand (her palm toward his face) and says, and don't look at me. I was just sitting there watching them, laughing to myself. It never once bothered Parker. He just kept asking her why after everything that she said. By the time that we left they were apparently friends because she told him bye and said that she'd see him tomorrow. Kids are so funny.

It ended up being a crazy day. We got home about 5:30 PM and went to a friend's house along with some other couples and we played games, it was fun. Brooklyn was dedicated on Sunday, she did really good...no screaming or crying, that's always good.

Yesterday I was changing Brooklyn's diaper and Parker climbed up on her changing table to talk to her. He always thinks that he has to entertain her. Knowing that he could get off by himself, I just got Brooklyn up and took her to the living room while I fixed her a bottle. About 10 minutes later I hear Parker calling me. He was still in Brooklyn's room on the changing table and had rubbed diaper rash cream all over himself. He emptied out half of the container. Needless to say, he needed a bath.

What an eventful weekend. :) We had a game night at the church last night and the girls enjoyed playing Phase 10 while the guys played 42. It was a busy weekend, but it was fun. I guess that I better wrap up for now. I need to work on more pictures for Randy's video. Have a great day!!

Let's Go Fishin'

We went to the Fall Festival at the church again this year. Parker loved playing the games, I got a few pictures of him playing, but his hat was so big that you can't see his face in any of them. The Fall Festival wasn't on Halloween this year because with it being on a Friday and there being a football game they were worried that we wouldn't have enough youth volunteers to help out with the games. So, Parker got to hand out candy on Halloween which he thought was very fun! Every time that he heard a knock on the door, he'd throw down whatever he was holding at the time and run to the door.

Well, with Randy's last Sunday being next week we wanted to make sure that he dedicated Brooklyn before he left. He's dedicating his grandson, Jonah, on his last Sunday so Brooklyn will be this Sunday. I took some cute pictures of her in a tutu that heather brought over that paige had outgrown. The pictures turned out cute.

I've been working alot the last few days on getting Randy's video together for his reception. I am so happy for him that he's following God's call to go into missions, but we will miss him so much! There are so many great memories of him as youth minister and pastor at the church. It's been 20 great years.

Well, I better wrap up now. I need to head to the grocery store and the library. Hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend!! Here are a few more pics before I head out...