The Parker Family

2011-06-21T13:38:00.001-06:00

Little Miss Muffet

Katelyn was sitting by the ditch at the produce field today. All of the sudden she stood up, crying and could not even breathe to tell me what happened. As I got to her I asked if she was hurt. Still sobbing profusely, she managed a "Nnnoooooooo!"
"What is the matter?"
"There was a spider crawling on my pants!"
I brushed her pants all over with no sign of a spider. I asked, "Was it a daddy long-leg?"
"Nooooooo! It was a sister!"

2011-06-15T20:00:00.008-06:00

Toilet Training

Landon will use the bathroom everytime his diaper gets changed. He does pretty well with it but does not like to go when we randomly, throughout the day, ask him to.

Today I caught him with that red, frog-face look that kids get when they are pushing (yes, surely adults get it too, but they tend to not have an audience). I hurried him into the bathroom to, as far as he knew, "change his diaper." He had already gone a bit in his diaper so I coaxed him onto the toilet to finish. I also knew I had to leave him alone or he wouldn't go.

"Landon, I am going to get you some clean clothes. Wait here and try to finish pooping in the toilet."

I was gone for about 2 minutes, returned and asked, "Did you go?"

"Yeah," was his little response.

"Hurray! You did it!"

With a firm feeling on the matter he declared, "Yeah, it really freaked me out!"

2011-06-12T21:03:00.000-06:00

Profound

Dalan came into the kitchen and said to me, "Mom, I'm not always a good boy, but I try to be."
Overhearing our conversation, Landon piped in and exclaimed, "Well, I am!"

2011-05-13T20:25:00.011-06:00

Pancake Shapes

Landon was helping me make pancakes for dinner. As I put the first batch on the griddle, he looked at them and said, "Mom, you maked-ed a lot of Bobs. Can you make a Larry?"
Sure enough, all the pancakes were Bobs (circles). The next batch, I made some pancakes oval shaped.
Landon laughed, "Oh there are some Larrys!"

2011-05-02T17:41:00.004-06:00

What A Good Little . . . Helper?

Landon, 2, loves to be outside and explore. He loves feeding dandelions to our pet rabbits and I often see him by their cage talking to them or laughing as they hop around.
As I was preparing dinner this evening, I looked outside to see him bringing in one of the bunnie's water bottles.
He came into the house and I pleasingly said, "What a helper! Does Twitch need more water?"
Landon responded," Yeah, I dranked it all."

2011-04-06T18:28:00.001-06:00

Discombobulated

Driving up to Idaho with the kids, I had to stop along the way to pick up Dalan. He had spent a few days with his Nana and we were meeting along the freeway so he could come with us.
On the way to the designated meeting spot, Landon fell asleep and did not wake up until after we had Dalan and were almost to Idaho.
I kept hearing Landon say, "Mom!" I would reply, "What?" and receive no response. After a few times of this, I said, "Landon, what do you want?"
With a bit of confusion in his voice he asked,
"How did my brudder get here?"

2011-03-24T09:31:00.000-06:00

Morning Smiles

Katelyn woke up crying, which is unusual for her in the morning. She came into the kitchen and I asked her if she wanted breakfast to which she shook her head.
I then asked her if she wanted me to hold her. She shook her head and cried, "I want someone to read me a story."
Landon, standing by my side, shot his hand up in the air saying, "Me! Me! Me! I will read you a story."
He ran into the other room, "Let me go get a book."
I just shook my head laughing, wondering how little, upset Katelyn was going to react.
I sat on the floor by the heater vent and put her on my lap. She calmed down. We waited a moment before Landon came in with a book.
He, too, sat on my lap and opened the book.
He stared at the page for a moment, . . processing. . . processing. . . processing, handed me the book and said, "Here mom, you read it."

2011-03-17T15:36:00.001-06:00

20,000 Bouncy Balls

This was so fun!

This week was Utah State University's science week (aka. Geek Week). A helicopter flew over a parking lot full of people and dropped over 20,000 bouncy balls into a roped off section. We were at the bottom of the downward slopped parking lot. As soon as the bouncy balls landed they came flying our way. The kids had a blast getting pelted with bouncy balls and shoving as much as they could into their pockets!

Here is an article if you want to know more about this story and the science experiment that was conducted:

http://hardnewscafe.usu.edu/?p=4366

2011-03-07T18:21:00.002-07:00

Elevator

Kate, Landon and I left the second floor dentist office today. Reminding me, Kate said, "Mom! You said we could take the elevator down."
"Ok," I replied. "Go push the button. Landon come on, let's go down the elevator."
Backing up in terror, Landon yelled, "No! No! No! No!"
"What's the matter? Let's get in the elevator."

(Elevator door opens)

Continuing to back up, poor little scared Landon firmly stated, "No! I not want to get in a alligator!"

It took some coaxing to get him to come close enough for me to show him that it wasn't an alligator. I don't think my laughter helped comfort the child that thought his mother was feeding him to an animal.

2011-03-01T22:07:00.003-07:00

Dinner Woes and Wows

As I was cooking dinner, Aunalee asked what I was making.
Sounding excited, knowing it isn't her choice meal, I said, "Spaghetti."
She dropped her head and whined, "Nooooho."
Kate came over and stomped her foot, "I don't like spaghetti!"
Landon joined in with a foot stomp, "I don't like it either."
I replied, "Super! You three go to bed and the rest of us will eat it all."
Knowing I was serious, they went on their way until dinner time.

Needless to say, when we did sit down for dinner they ate it up! The girls even had seconds. Hurray for yummy spaghetti!

2011-02-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

Compliments to Aunalee

I was volunteering at the school today and saw a mom of some twin boys that are in Aunalee's class. We were visiting for a few minutes and this mom said, "My boy, Logan, sure talks about Aunalee a lot. They sit by each other and I help in the classroom quite a bit and she is such a sweet girl. The other day Logan said to me, 'Mom, one day I want to marry a girl just like Aunalee.' I told him that would be great. If he can keep this great taste in girls I will be just fine with that."

Later I was in the computer room getting something. The computer teacher said to me, "Oh your Aunalee (she put her hand to her heart) is such a sweetheart. She is just a sweet little girl." She proceeded to show me some of Aunalee's work and told me how much she loves to work with her on the computer.

Those compliments made me feel pleased to know that my child behaves so well at school and is kind to others.
She is a sweetheart and I love her.

2011-02-17T14:42:00.001-07:00

Landonisms

I love the language and interpretations of two-year-olds.
Before the kids come to dinner we have them wash their hands. Last night Landon had it in his mind that he was not going to wash. Speaking of dinner I said, "Landon, go wash your hands or you are not getting any."
He stomped his foot and said, "But I want some any."

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Last night the kids got some jelly beans. Landon ate all of his in one mouthful. When he finally swallowed he saw that the other kids still had some and he wanted them to share. No one was sharing.
Sweet Kate said, "I will share with you, Landon."
With a smile on his face he ran up to me and said, "Mom, look! Kate shared her belly jeans with me!"

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Landon ran in the room and said, "Mom, that freaked me out."
"What did you say?" was my response, unsure if I heard him correctly.
Katelyn chimed in, "He said it freaked him out."

Wow, I did not realize my little ones had such language in their vocabulary.

2011-02-14T22:55:00.001-07:00

FYI: Landon gets really hyper at night.

Tonight he stood up on the arm of the couch and raised his arms high and shouted, "I am bigger than Jesus!"

2011-02-10T17:02:00.002-07:00

Humorous Honesty

I was driving kids home after school today. The topic of discussion between all the children was buying things and how much stuff costs.
One 3rd grade girl said, "I have saved $100 already."
A bit astonished I asked, "Where did you get all that money?"
"My grandmas both gave me $30 for my birthday. Plus other money I have saved up."
Dalan said, "On our birthdays, our Nana and Grandpa give us as much money as how old we are."
I responded with, "Yeah, just wait until you are my age! Think of all the money you will get."
Aunalee quickly said, "I think Nana and Grandpa will be dead by then."

2011-02-07T21:33:00.003-07:00

Cousins and Canoes

Never a dull moment! When cousins get together they combine their creative minds to come up with unique ways of having fun.

Did you count how many kids are crammed in there?!

2011-02-07T17:16:00.000-07:00

At the dinner table one evening Dalan told us that he wanted to go to the moon some day.

Preston said he could go anytime, it would just cost about $300 million.
"Whoa, that's a lot of money," Dalan responded.
Aunalee then chimed in with a big smile, "Dalan!" She pointed to the top of the cupboard at Dalan's piggy bank and looked at him with an excited, pleased that she reminded him of all his money sitting up there, look.
"Yeah, like that would be enough," he so sadly clued her in.
Not to be shot down too quickly, she optimistically came back with, "Plus that other $10 you have downstairs."

2011-01-06T16:17:00.001-07:00

Katelyn's Christmas Wish

Our almost four year old has been begging to have her bottom-length hair cut. Her dad is very much loving it.

Mom, on the other hand, dislike the screams and tears every time a brush comes near her head. We both have an extremely tender head so I know her pain.

For Christmas we gave Katelyn her very first haircut, 15 inches in all.

She loves it and is so cute with short hair.

2010-12-02T19:40:00.001-07:00

Aunalee's Vegetable Soup

This recipe makes enough for our family of 6 to all have second helpings. Aunalee decided what she wanted in the soup and so we added whatever sounded good to her. It is delicious!

In a large pot add:

About 6 cups water

5 sliced carrots

1 stalk celery

2 bunches broccoli

1 small head cauliflower

1 small red onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can cream of chicken

1 can cream of mushroom

3 Tbls. parsley

2 cubes chicken bullion

1 1/2 tsp. salt

ground pepper

Add the carrots to the water so they can cook a bit while you chop up the other veggies. Chop the vegetables to bite size chunks. Add all the other ingredients. Cook soup until the vegetables are tender.

Just before serving, stir in 1 cup sour cream.

We have made it once before and added diced chicken. That was good too.

We all love it!

2010-11-20T08:57:00.002-07:00

Katelyn and her cousin, Casey (one month older), were having a breakfast conversation about Halloween costumes.

To preface the rest of this story, these two continually tease each other. They get along great and most of the teasing is fun. When one is in a bad mood, the other takes advantage and sees how much they can get the other to scream and yell. Typical almost four-year old play.

Back to the breakfast conversation:

Casey says all the things he can dress up as and when Katelyn says, "me too!"
Casey replies "nu-uh because you don't have that costume."

After a few back and forth stabs Casey states, "When I grow up I'm gonna need a BIG Batman costume!"

Kate responded, "But you wiln't, so you will only need a little one."

2010-10-30T09:14:00.000-06:00

Pumpkin Carving Fun!

We had a blast carving pumpkins this year.

Dalan and Aunalee did their pumpkins almost entirely on their own!


Dalan and his spider


Aunalee's Cat

Katelyn and Tinkerbell (She did help)


Landon and PacMan (He scooped out the guts)


Mom's Goofy

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2010-10-26T22:11:00.001-06:00

Dialogue between Mother and Daughter

I had returned home from a three day trip without children (first time in my life).

Aunalee came to me that afternoon, after church, with a very solemn look.

"Mom. I have something to tell you and I know you are going to be mad."

"I'm listening."

"At Farmers' Market yesterday with dad I wore my favorite church shoes and lost one down the river."

"You wore your new church shoes to market?"

"Yeah."

(deep breath) "How did you loose one down the river?"

"I was washing the mud off and it slipped out of my hand."

"Uh-hu. And how did it get mud on it?"

"I was playing on the side of the river."

"And why were you wearing your church shoes to market and playing in the mud with them on?"

"Dad said to hurry and get shoes on and those were the only ones I could find."

"You are right, I am mad."

Needless to say, the two of us went to the river (Logan canal), me in wader boots and Aunalee showing me where she lost the shoe and where "Dalan was watching for it to float by and it never did" (this sounds more intentional than accidental). After a few minutes of searching in the canal the shoe was found, very lucky!

Seven-year old rejoicing and groveling took place as well as lessons learned.

Together Again

2010-09-21T22:41:00.000-06:00

Someday I will be just like mommy!

Katelyn was getting into her jammies and had her shirt off. She said to me, "Mommy, when I have a lot and a lot and a lot of birthdays I will get to be a mommy like you."

I smiled, "Yes you will."

Stroking her bare chest she said, "And I will have big armpits like you."

"What?" I laughed. I poked her in her armpit and said, "that is your armpit."

With a confused look on her face she pointed at her nipples and said, "Well, what are these called?"

"Nipples. When you are a mommy and they are bigger they are called breasts."

"Oh yeah, I will have breast-es."

2010-06-08T10:16:00.002-06:00

Reality Hits

The kids have been informed that I will be gone for a couple of days to spend time with the moms in my family. They keep begging to come and get little reaction from me other than a simple, "no."
"Please! I will be good."
"Are you going swimming? I want to come."
"No fair."
"But who will watch us?"
And on and on and on. This lasted for about a day when they realized I was enjoying the attention and my mind was not going to be changed.

Yesterday at breakfast Aunalee asked, "When are you leaving for your trip?"
"Friday."
"This Friday?"
"Yep!"
She turns to Dalan with excitement and concern in her voice, "Dalan, Dad's going to be in charge of us on Friday. Mom won't be here to tell him what to do!"

Follow-up:

Friday morning. . .Aunalee ran up to Preston when he walked into the kitchen, "Dad, today is the day that mom is leaving and you are in charge."

Preston responded, "Yep, mom won't be here to tell me what to do."

Aunalee said, "Yeah, I guess you will just have to be the dad."

2010-05-18T18:58:00.003-06:00

Speeding? Was I Speeding?

The drive home from Shelley, Idaho, on Saturday evening was extremely pleasant. The kids were watching Peter Pan and Preston, driving, and I were able to have a conversation.
Deep in our conversation, I glanced up and noticed a police officer parked off the road, monitoring traffic.
Speedometer read . . . 77mph. . .busted!
Sure enough, he turned his lights on and pulled us over. Waiting for him to return with license and registration was quite a teaching moment about the laws of the land. The kids were perked right up, quizzing us on the details and wondering what was going to happen.
The officer came back with a ticket and said, "slow down and have a nice day."
The ticket was on the dash and Aunalee said, "Can I hold the ticket?"
"No," said mom.
"Why not?"
"Because it isn't yours."
To which Dalan responded in an exaggerating tone (remembering earlier conversations in his life), "That's right. Until we are 18 everything that is ours is actually Dad's, . . . even the bad stuff."
Dad responded, "That's right!"
'Twas a great comic relief moment.

2010-05-11T21:02:00.001-06:00

Delicious Dinner

With Katelyn by my side, we were making a new chicken recipe for dinner tonight. As we added the parsley Katelyn said, "Yuck! I don't like eating grass!"
I said, "Kate, this is parsley."
She responded, " I don't like it."

The chicken was the favorite item of the night. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com: Easy-Garlic-Broiled-Chicken
I used thighs w/o skin and cut the butter amount in half.

Super Yummy (and fast)!!!

2010-05-04T14:04:00.000-06:00

Kate the Great!

I don't know where she gets it, honestly.
We had some friends over to play the other day and the little girl was bending down getting some colors.
Katelyn came up behind her and said, "Aubrey, your bum is peeking."
A little louder, "Your bum is peeking. You have to stand up so it doesn't peek anymore."

2010-05-01T00:05:00.004-06:00

Our New Pet

Meet Slick, or Speedy, or Sticky (depending on who you ask).

As I was unpacking the van, I saw this snail crawling (slithering? sliming? whatever they do) along the door. I asked Dalan and Aunalee to come and look what was in our van. Aunalee said, "Oh, that is Sticky. We found it on an avocado box at the place where we store produce."
To which I responded, "And you put it in the van?!"
"Yeah, it is our new pet. . . but how did it get out of the cup-holder?"

So here it sits in our window box of peas. As far as we can tell it is pretty content, very low maintenance, and extremely entertaining when it is awake. For now we know that it loves tulips and celery.

Apologies about calling it an it. We do not know if we acquired a male or female snail (I am not about to try and find out) and the kids don't agree on one or the other so, it is an it.

2010-04-26T17:53:00.001-06:00

Retched Morning

As I was pulling out of the garage, the 60 year-old garage door fell and landed on the back window of our van, shattering it. The garage door was pulled off it's track and the frame is all broken.

At least it isn't a story of me pulling out of the garage, forgetting to open the garage door. That would be embarrassing. Sorry to those that have done that.

2010-04-22T14:21:00.000-06:00

Bread-blah!

When you forget to add salt to the dough it makes the bread taste horrible!!! There goes 4 loaves and 2 hours of time. Grrr!
Smother it with enough butter and jam and the kids don't even notice.

2010-04-20T15:15:00.000-06:00

Aunalee's lesson on Drugs

We were at Aunalee's soccer game one evening. The games are held next to an outdoor skate park. After the game the kids went over to watch the skaters. They were older teenage guys wearing low-cut jeans, boxers showing, and no shirt, skateboarding.
As the kids were watching, one of the guys started making "cool" facial expressions and saying phrases like "oh yeah!" or "I'm gonna do this!" every time he passed the kids.
As the kids and Preston were leaving the skate park Preston noticed that Aunalee had run back, across the ramp and over to that one guy. He saw a small conversations and then a wave goodbye. Aunalee came back over, laughing.
Preston inquired as to what that was all about.
Aunalee said the following:
"I went to say goodbye and so I said 'goodbye!' He said, 'Goodbye, be safe, don't drink drugs.' (as she is laughing) . . .That was so funny because I bet he does."

2010-04-09T08:32:00.000-06:00

Katelyn's Daddy Off to Work

As Preston was leaving for work today he said, "Bye, I love you."
"I love you too," came the response from mom and Kate.
After he was gone Katelyn said, "I love daddy when he leaves. . .and I love daddy when he comes back!"

2010-04-07T09:36:00.005-06:00

Aunalee, the Collector

Aunalee, our six-year old, loves to collect things. Everything! She collects marbles, containers of all shapes and sizes, sea shells, chestnuts, stuffed animals etc. Last summer Preston had a bad sunburn on his back. As Aunalee was peeling off the skin she asked, "Mom, can I keep this, please?" (puppy face, begging).
Sorry to gross anyone out, but that is how extreme it can get. She has learned to ask me because I will have her throw stuff out that is just too gross or not allowed in my house (ie. dead skin, frosty cups and boxelder bugs). No, she was not allowed to keep the skin.
So, she lost a tooth the other day. She asked me if she could keep it but still get money from the tooth fairy. Nope. I really did not want a tooth collection in her room too. That lies on the gross side. Aren't I such a mean mom?
Aunalee put her tooth in one of her special containers and put it under her pillow. Not wanting the tooth fairy to take the container she wrote a note for her.
When the tooth fairy came to make the exchange she read this:
Please leave container and lev my towth and mone there to.

To which the tooth fairy replied:
You are a special girl. I will leave a drawing of your tooth. Thank you for leaving it under your pillow for me. Baby teeth sure are special to me. I left you a special coin.

The tooth fairy left a drawing as well as a Susan B. Anthony coin. Lucky girl!

Here is the note (before Aunalee showed us the note the tooth fairy left, she erased the part about keeping the tooth because she was embarrassed and didn't want mom to know that she went behind her back and asked the tooth fairy if she could keep the tooth):

2010-04-06T21:34:00.001-06:00

April Fools on us! Thanks mother nature.

This is what we awoke to on April 1st. Not only that, today we woke up to 8 inches of new snow. Will it never end?!!

2010-03-30T14:40:00.001-06:00

Slime in the Ceiling

So, Dalan's birthday was this month. He got the coolest present ever! It was red slime that came in a blood donation bag. How awesomely gross! 9 year-old boys are easy to please; just give them something that grosses everyone else out and they love it.
All is well until he and his sister (who loves gross things too) are dissecting it at the kitchen table and mom steps out of the room for 1 minute. ONE minute!

I hear banging around in the kitchen and run back in. Low and behold, Dalan is attempting to mop the ceiling?! What?

"Aunalee threw her slime on the ceiling and I was trying to get it off." comes the half-story from Dalan.
"You did it too, Dalan!" comes the rebuttal from Aunalee, ensuring the blame is shared. She walks over to the stairway and points to the ceiling. "That is what Dalan did."
"Yeah, but mine came off, mostly."

I look and sure enough, there are some nice red rings on the ceiling where his slime had been splattered.
Aunalee's mess was much worse as Dalan's frightful attempt to clean it was actually smearing it everywhere.
In my jaw clenched, kind voice, "I don't know why when mom leaves the room you think all of the rules are void and that you can trash my house. . .lecture . . . lecture . . .lecture . . . "
Summary of the discipline, they are too short to clean up the mess and I am not patient enough to wait until they are tall enough. Slime goes in the garbage and they clean up what is on the floor and table. I have to attempt what is on the ceiling.

Sweet, creative Aunalee replies, "We could just paint the ceiling red. That would be cool."
This is a comment where my heart is laughing and my demeanor stays firm. This is extremely difficult to master, so I am told. I'm still working on it.

As for the ceiling, magic eraser only spreads the mess and turns everything pink. It would have worked if I had bought 4 more boxes. The scrub brush only made my arm hurt. Simple Green along with whatever other cleaners I had in the cupboard didn't do a thing either except make the area smell nice and chemically.

My super-heroin friend, Jen came to the rescue. She brought over a gallon of blue windshield washer fluid. This combined with the magic eraser worked, um, magic! It got the slime off without spreading the mess! Yea for super-heroes!

2010-03-27T12:45:00.000-06:00

Katelyn's Dream (as told by Katelyn)

Mom, I had a scary dream last Tuesday and a snake came up to me and you smacked him!

2010-03-07T00:08:00.000-07:00

I was on my way out the door to go to the grocery store tonight.
Kate called out a reminder, "Get me some juice."
"And look at the fishies."

If you have ever taken kids to Walmart, you will know why I was laughing out loud on my way out the door.

2010-03-04T14:54:00.001-07:00

Quick! Mom's not looking!

This morning was going so well too. . .We had breakfast, reading time, got dressed, the kids were actually motivated to get their schooling done, it was great.
Since Aunalee was ready to start her Phonics course (shocker!) I did not clear the table after breakfast.
Big mistake!
Let me say that again. . .BIG mistake!
We had waffles with all the fixings (peanut butter and syrup, yum!) and yogurt. Apparently we had toast because the toaster was on the table. I didn't fix toast, did I? Lack of sleep getting to me here.

I went with Aunalee to my room (the place she chose to do her work today) and started on Phonics.
Dalan started reading, Kate (3) and Landon (16 mon.) were in the kitchen playing with the Fridge Phonics.

The sounds of the morning were pleasant. The kids were laughing and playing nicely while I was left with Aunalee to do work.
Moments later I hear the sounds of spoons and fingers scooping out yogurt and eating it (moms have this sense of knowing exactly who, what and how noises are created, oh, and no noise means mischief).
I called down the hall, "Kate, what are you and Landon doing?"
"Eating yogurt." comes the reply.
"Are you both ok?"
"Yes."

I trusted that, that cute little three-year-old! That was BIG mistake #2!
Five minutes later Kate comes waltzing into my room and asks me to open her bathroom door (child proofed).
From her finger tips, up her arms, to her mouth. . .peanut butter, yogurt, and something else sticky (syrup maybe)!
AHH! Kate!
"I need to wash my hands."
No kidding! Do I laugh? cry? yell?
None of the above is what I actually did.
I opened the bathroom door and had her wash herself up whilst I checked on the other goober.

Covered from head to toe, literally, in yougurt, peanut butter, and syrup, standing on the table, was Landon, smiling and hands straight up in the air as if to say, "I did it! Where is my praise?"
After stripping and hosing him down I decided to clear the table. Which I should have done in the first place!
The peanut butter. . . chucked it.
Yogurt. . .chucked it. They were so mixed together I was not sure which was which.
As for the toaster. . .I put it in the sink and sprayed it down, inside and out. It may be broken after doing that, but how was I supposed to clean the yogurt/peanut butter concoction out?

This is not the end. . .(sorry, no "making a long story short")

As I was cleaning the toaster I heard noise (not the good kind) coming from the bathroom.

I ran into the bathroom and Kate and Landon had combs, a mirror, and the bottle of gel, doing each others' hair.
Out you two!
I cleaned up that mess, now back to the toaster.
Oh, no! Where were those two now?!!!
I found them in my bathroom with the door closed getting into hair stuff again!
What a morning!
Too bad I'm out of duct tape! Nap time for the little ones. So what that it's only 9:30am.

Got to love em!

2010-02-28T21:33:00.000-07:00

Aunalee and Preston got back from the USU girls basketball game yesterday. It was their daddy-daughter time. Aunalee came in, all excited to tell me about it.
"We got to sit in the very tippy front!"

2010-02-16T15:30:00.006-07:00

Katelyn - A day of moods

Setting: Evening time. Grouchy 3-year-old, Kate, that refuses to take naps anymore, was playing at the fridge with her Word Whammer. No one dared go near because they knew of her current mood situation. Mom was making dinner at the stove.

Katelyn had the setting to "build your own word." She kept flicking the letters off the fridge, pushing the song button, and trying to get a reaction from mom or anyone that passed by.
Push red song button and a character sings alphabet song, "A, B, C," push again and it starts over, "A," push, "A," push, "A," "A,""A,""A,""A,"
"KATE. That's enough."
The noise ceases a moment. Big scowl on Kate's face.
Toy defaults to directing a child to build a word, "Put a letter in the spot with the blinking light."
Another moment of silence.
"Put a letter in the spot with the blinking light."
Response from the 3-year-old, "NO! I DON'T WANT TO!"

2010-02-16T15:13:00.001-07:00

Dalan- Oh, the great minds of children!

Last night Preston was doing fun quizzing games with the kids. He would start giving clues or telling about events and the kids had to guess which President of the U.S. he was talking about.

Clue #1: This was the first President to die in office.

Dalan: "He died in his office?!"

2010-02-04T12:53:00.006-07:00

Favorite non-words we hear from our children:

Dalan: "Tadpoles envolve into frogs."

Auanlee: "Look at the patteren I made!"

Katelyn: "Look at my bellybutt. Let me see yours bellybutt." and "How did you do dat?"

Landon: Not really speaking in a comprehendible language. He shakes and nods his head at any question. Sometimes the jibberish he comes out with as a response to a question or comment actually fits perfectly!
"Here you go Landon."
"DaDoo"
"Oh! You're welcome!"

2007-06-26T09:35:00.000-06:00

Five months later and much has happened. Our three children are growing fast!

Dalan finished kindergarten and lost two bottom teeth. His class had some chicken eggs that they watched hatch. We inherited two of the little orphans. Dalan has taken full responsibility of Fluffy and Yellow. He is a good "Daddy."
He also finished the semester of tumbling and his skills are improving.

Aunalee (aka. Rachel, Superwoman, and/or Princess Leah [depending on the day]) is growing into a young lady. She finished ballet and loved it and continues to practice at home. Her energy and excitement starts when she wakes up and does not stop until her head is on her pillow at night. Needless to say, she keeps us on our toes.

Katelyn is five months old! WOW! She started eating rice cereal and, from the first bite, loved it and opened for more. She loves to talk, twist her tongue, and play with her toes. She is getting pretty good at rolling around so we have to keep a close eye on her or she ends up stuck under the couch. She loves people, especially Dalan and Aunalee.

So far this summer we have gone on one road trip. The first week of June we met Preston's cousins in South Dakota on thier move from the east coast to the west coast. We toured Jewel Cave, Crazy Horse, and Mt. Rushmore. We then headed west and went through the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, WY and then spent two days in Yellowstone. It was a great trip! Our favorite parts were touring the cave and seeing all the animals with their new babies at Yellowstone (bears, elk, buffalo, coyotes). We highly recommend Yellowstone in the spring.

2007-02-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Preston, JaNiel, Dalan, Aunalee, and Katelyn

It is only fitting to begin our new family blog with pictures of our newest family member.

Here she is, Katelyn Parker, born on her due date January 27, 2007. Her name, like our other two children, ties into family, yet is their own, unique name. Kathryn is the name of JaNiel's sister who passed away, Kate is the name of JaNiel's Great-Great Grandmother, and Catherine is the name of Preston's Great-Great-Grandmother who is very famous in the Parker family.

You can click on the image to make it bigger:
Katelyn is only about 30 minutes old

First family visit
3 days old

Dalan and Aunale love their baby sister, Katelyn.