Helicopter Lessons

Here is the latest video of Parker and his helicopter lessons. He has finally learned to have the helicopter take off. It is too bad he has no control after that point and he thinks it is funny to crash the helicopter into his instructor. Don't worry Anthony is okay, he can hear just fine without his left ear.

Playing Pretend

I have noticed that a lot of Parkers friends know how to pretend, and Parker doesn't so I tried to teach him to pretend yesterday. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. We built a pretend plane and went on rides to see Grandma, the zoo, etc. If any of you haven't done this with your child you should. Parker looked at me like I was absolutely crazy. He totally loved it because we kept running all over the house, but the look on his face when I was talking to the pretend animals was priceless.

Father Son time

One of my favorite things is when Anthony takes Parker outside to play. It makes me happy because when Parker hangs with Anthony he can learn what a boy is supposed do verses what girls do. Parker watches me so much he tries to put on eyeliner, curl his eyelashes, and put a bow in his hair on a regular bases. Yesterday Anthony took Parke outside and they worked on the car together.
Working on the car was fun, but every now and then Parker took a brake to play with his new frog umbrella.

Parker's weigh in

I took Parker to the doctor for his 2 year appointment. He weighs almost 32 lbs and is 37 inches tall. He is a big 2 year old. I also got some good/bad news from the doctor. I told her I was concerned with Parker's speech, he only says the beginning of words, and isn't very clear.

Because Parker gets occasional ear infections and had one at the visit, we were referred to an ear specialist. Parker has a lot of scar tissue in his ears that is caused from constant fluid. The specialist thinks Parker has about a 20% hearing loss due to the fluid, so he will probably have to get tubes which should fix the problem.

What a relief, I thought he couldn't talk because I haven't been reading to him for 10 minutes a day since he was a baby(I was told I should be doing this, and have never been good at it). We still have to do more tests, so I still might be the problem Hopefully the problem is the fluid and it can be fixed easily.

Parker also always has a tear running down his right cheek, because his eye isn't draining properly. We were told it should have fixed itself by now, so he will probably have to have surgery to fix that also. I can't decide if Parker wants if fixed or not, it is a chick magnet. All the girls always feel sorry for him when they see it. He is going to miss the attention.

What I learned today.

Today was a tough day being a mom. Parker did something to help me realize what I can do to be better. I was trying to clean the fridge and Parker kept doing things that didn't help the process. It was so hard to be positive about the fact he just got what I cleaned dirty and was spilling water everywhere. I finally realized he is trying to make it fun. Then I remembered part of a scripture in Mosiah "becometh as a child" I think if I apply that to life Parker and I will have a lot more fun together.

Easter

Easter is such a fun holiday because you get to celebrate twice. Sunday we focus on Christ, the atonement the resurrection and celebrate that Christ lives. How wonderful is it that Christ was willing to give up his life so that me (who is far from perfect) and everyone else can become perfect and return to live with Heavenly Father. Then there is the Easter bunny. I don't actually understand how Easter can mean Easter bunny and resurrection, but I am always ready for a party.
My sister and her family came out to celebrate with us. Here is Parker and his cousin Ben coloring eggs. I didn't want them to color their clothes, so we chose to do this activity shirtless. Don't worry the adults wore shirts, the rule only applied to those 4 and under.
Look how happy McKenzie was to see one of the couch cushions dedicated to her from the Easter Bunny.
This picture of Parker is perfect. Parker used to be nothing but smiles, but since Kenzie has been around he has become the strong silent type and this is now his normal smile.
My sister and her son Ben at an easter egg hunt.
My brother-in-law and cute daughter Maddie.
A local church threw a killer easter egg hunt. The kids all had a blast.

Spring Break

It is spring break for Anthony so to celebrate we went with our friends to an indoor water park in Pennsylvania. It was so much fun, we stayed in a hotel and spent 3 days at the park. Here is a picture of all of us, doesn't Jessica look good, you can't even tell she is due in May.
McKenzie loved the bouncer the best.
Ironically, Parker also loved the bouncer.
It took Parker a long time to convince Anthony not to be scared and go down the slide with him:)
I am sure the last thing you want to see is me in my swim suit, but I took a million pictures, and it is my blog so you will like it.
Isn't he cute?
I know this isn't a will, but everyone remember this: if Anthony and I were to ever die Parker would like to live with our friends. Whenever we hang out with our friends Parker always runs and gives Jessica a hug, and grabs Andrews hand and drags him everywhere. He also loves Weston, they are like brothers always wrestling with each other.
To make a good vacation even better we swapped babysitting each night so each couple could each get a date. I am pretty sure this is the only time the 3 kids were holding still, they spent the rest of the time wrestling each other and jumping on the bed.

Last Weekend, This Weekend

I am a little slow at posting this, but last weekend we got over a foot of snow. The snow is so pretty. We got so much snow that church was canceled. Here is Anthony snow blowing the snow, with his little side kick following him up and down the driveway on his bike.
Thank goodness my mom gave us these snow man pieces, and Anthony's mom made the scarf so you can tell what this sorry looking snow mound is supposed to be.
Today we went to an Easter party at the mall. Parker had so much fun as long as he didn't have to be around the bunny. While this picture was being taken Parker was running as far away from this huge monster as he could. He was terrified of the bunny.
After the magic show we watched some Irish dancers, then watched the balloon man. Parker and his friends were absolutely enthralled with the balloon man. They stood as close as they could possibly get to the man, and didn't look away until all 3 of them had their balloons.
Here is Parker & Xandier with their hats and swords.

To: Grandma & Grandpa From:McKenzie

McKenzie is pretty much the cutest baby I have ever seen. She is so good and usually only cries if she needs to eat, sleep, or a diaper change. Lately she likes to play a trick on me. She will start crying, then when I pick her up she will smile her biggest smile ever and laugh, as if to say you fell for it again mom. She is so stinking cute. I thought I would record her smiling and talking, because if you (grandma and grandpa) where here this is what she would like to tell you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANTHONY AND PARKER

I don't think I have ever seen a smile so big as Anthony had when he saw his present. In that huge box is a 75lb sub-woofer. Anthony has wanted a nice sub-woofer forever so he saved up all his Christmas and birthday money (and will have to use future Christmas and birthday money for the next 5 years to repay the dept) to buy this baby.
Parker got trains, books and a zoo pass. After he was done opening his present he went and got the wrapping paper gave it to me and told me more choo choo(trains). Apparently 4 trains wasn't enough.
After the boys were done opening their presents they got to work at hooking the surround sound system up to that lovely sub-woofer. Once the sub-woofer was hooked-up Anthony spent the rest of the day watching action movies, the sound is so good you almost feel like you are there. Have you ever been stopped at a stop light and had a car next to you bumping so loud that you could feel it in your heart? When Anthony turns the sub-woofer up I swear my heart skips a beat, I hope no one with a pacemaker walks past our house when we are watching a movie, their heart will stop for sure.
Anthony and Parker each got to choose 2 friends to come over for dinner. Parker choose Ciella and Weston, and lucky for me Anthony choose Garret and Andrew(Weston's dad and Ciella's dad). They are great friends and made the birthday party fun.
28 candles sure does create a lot of heat.

I married a good man

This morning the kids were up, so it was time for me to get out of bed. As I walked into kitchen Anthony told me I could go back to bed if I wanted. He didn't have to say that twice, I handed him Kenzie and headed back to bed. I got to sleep until 10:00 a.m. it was great. Thanks Antonio'

Shaving

The other day Parker decided he was no longer a little boy, he was a man. While Anthony was showering Parker went in the bathroom, noticing he was unsupervised Parker decided to take advantage of the situation. When Anthony was done showering he opened the shower curtain and found Parker "shaving" a.k.a. cutting his face with a razor. Anthony decided to show Parker how to shave the right way. He put shaving cream on his face, then washed it off. Not thinking this through, Anthony then gave Parker some aftershave to put on his face. Parker took the aftershave and put it right on his cut. Poor kid started screaming, Anthony didn't do it as a punishment for shaving, but Parker hasn't touched the razor since.
You can't see it to well, but Parker cut up his chin pretty good and cut under his nose.

My hero

3 Weeks ago I survived a bird attack. The bird never actually touched me it just flew at me while I was doing the laundry and scared me to death. The bird was never seen or heard by anyone else, just me and I was starting to wonder if I was crazy. How come I was the only one who ever heard it?

Thursday that bird got caught in our heating vent. I had to listen the bird scratch and chirp all day but finally my husband came home from school to save me. The chase:

Here is Anthony trying to catch it in a sheet. The bird is on top of my fridge, it is the black thing just to the left of Anthony's head.
My hero, after chasing it around the house for a couple minutes Anthony caught it in his hands.
My favorite part of the whole thing was Parkers reaction. I took the kids and ran like a chicken into Parkers room and shut the door. Parker asked me to get him a blanket, I gave him a blanket then he went back out in the house to help dad(he saw dad running around with the sheet, so he grabbed a blanket and tried to help).