The Parker Challenge

I hate vegetables. When I was raised my parents didn't like vegetables, so I hardly had to eat any. I only had to eat a small spoonful of peas or corn at dinner and that was a sufficient vegetable intake for the day. As far as I was concerned if it wasn't peas in a pod or corn on the cob there was no point in eating it.

I now am trying to change my ways and actually enjoy vegetables. Not a very easy change to make, but I am determined. Here is a story of how hard I am trying:

Today while preparing lunch I decided instead of chips to go with our lunch we needed to eat some carrots. I usually eat about 4 carrots and call it good, but today I thought in my head I am going to eat as many carrots as Parker(isn't that sad my 2 year old is my example). As if Parker could read my thoughts he finished his carrots and asked for more, looking at me as if to challenge me.

I took that challenge. I gave him more and then took an equivalent amount for myself. Parker continued to do this, asking for more and more like he actually thinks carrots taste good. Well, he didn't stop there. He ate more and more from 6 carrots to 10 carrots then telling me "more mom more." He had eaten 14 now, 16, now he was up to 18 carrots. I just kept wondering how many stinking carrots am I going to have to eat. Parker finishes chewing and again asks for more, then as if my prayers had been answered I saw there were only 4 carrots left in the bag. I gave him 2 and I took the last 2.

What in the world? I think I have eaten more carrots today than I have my whole life combined. The worst part is, after all those carrots I didn't have room in my belly to eat any of my left over chocolate from Valentines day. I guess this could be a good thing.

My smiling beauty

One of the best things that has ever happened in my life is having a baby girl, after having a boy first. It is completely different, and I love every second of it (except for the night feedings). McKenzie is my little doll I get her all dressed up everyday, even if we are just staying home. When Anthony asks "Does she still have to wear this bow?" the answer is yes because that is what girls do, and she looks so stinking cute with it in. She has been smiling since she was 5 weeks and I finally caught it on camera.
There is no better sound than hearing an infant laugh.
Anthony's friend Jen from school gave Kenzie these boots and they are so adorable. I spend most the day putting them back on because she kicks them off. It is worth the trouble, they are so cute.

Like Father Like Son

Lately Parker has started to copy everything Anthony and I do. He even watchs T.V. like Anthony.

Father & Son

This Friday Anthony and his friend Andrew took their son's to a car show in Buffalo. It was a great father son activity. I heard Parker and his friend Weston wouldn't let their dads in the car. Here is a picture of Weston taking Parker for a ride.

Anthony

I talked Anthony into telling me 6 random things, and thought it would be fun to post them.

1. I was suspended in the sixth grade for shorting out electrical outlets with gum wrappers. I was required to go to fire safety school, because I was blamed for trying to burn down the elementary school.
2. As a young boy I was blamed for starting a fire in a field that nearly burned down our house. I still claim my innocence because I don’t remember it happening, I just remember my dad and the neighbors running around with hoses.
3. I hold the world’s record for the longest amount of time spent being grounded. I was grounded from the age of 15 to the age of 16 for an incident involving a haunted house.
4. A family rule was enacted stating that interest can no longer be charged to immediate family members, because when my sisters wanted to play house the only way I would agree is if I could be the banker. And of course the banker always makes money.
5. At ten years old my uncle thought it would be fun to pull me behind a four-wheeler on a tube. That sounds normal, but in this case there wasn’t any snow just a bunch of mud. I’m not sure if I have any pictures of it, but it doesn’t really matter, because you can’t even tell me apart from a giant mud pie.
6. Being one of the older cousins in my family put me in position to be the brains behind many of our endeavors. One such plan ended up with my cousin Daniel falling 20 ft onto his back, after I told him to be the first one to test our new zipline. The zipline was my ingenious idea, I just didn’t have the guts to try it out.

Coloring

The other night Parker and I were coloring together and I looked over to check on McKenzie and this is what I saw:
Parker, being the great big brother he is, had given her some crayons and a piece of paper to color. He is to cute.

54 degrees

The other day we had a horrible wind storm. When the news anchors announced their was a wind storm warning in affect, I just kind of laughed. I thought to myself, what is a little wind going to do? Apparently if the wind is blowing more than 60 mph, it can actually cause a lot of trouble.

We ended up with no power so me and the kids bundled up and stayed inside. Throughout the day I got more and more nervous as the temperature in the house slowly continued to drop. I just kept on putting more layers on to keep the kids warm.

The house got down to 54 degrees then at 3:30 the electricity was finally on again. I just had to post this picture of Parker because it cracks me up. He looks like he weighs about 80lbs. The best part was when the heat was back on Parker wouldn't let me take off all his layers. So he continued to wear 5 layers of clothes and snow boots for the rest of the night.