Parker

Parker is 2 months shy of turning 3.  I can't believe it - where have these last 2 years gone??  It seems like time is going by so fast! 

At 2 years and 10 months, here are some fun facts about Parker:

He is a very sweet boy and a very good eater!  He will eat anything, so that is good! 

He follows directions pretty good and is still very observant. 

His favorite tv show is The Weather Channel and his other favorites are any baseball game, ESPN, and the news. 

He's not a big fan of cartoons, he'll watch for about a minute, then he's done. 

He enjoys music and loves all his musical instruments.

He likes doing things himself (pushing out his chair, brushing his teeth, walking without holding someone's hand) 

We found out Wednesday that Parker is going to have a little sister.  I had to wait about 30 minutes before being seen, so the suspense was killing me.  As soon as the tech took me back to the room and we were ready to start, she asked me if I wanted to know what we were having and I told her yes, most definitely, as soon as possible.  It took a while before she got a good look and she finally told me a girl.  I said, "Are you serious?  Can you check again?"  I had her check 3 times - hah!  The last 2 times, I could see for myself on the screen the female part.  I really enjoyed this ultrasound - it was a great experience for me.  The tech was awesome - she explained everything she was doing and looking for and showed me everything on the screen.  The little one waved several times and even opened and closed her mouth - even the tech thought that was pretty cool!

 

After I left the doctor's office, I stopped by Carter's and picked up this shirt to show Parker.  I think his face shows exactly what he is thinking, "Yuck!"

I think with this pose he's thinking, "Oh lord, does this mean I have to play tea party and dolls with her?"  Hah!

Brad wasn't able to go with me to the doctor, so this was the surprise waiting for him when he got home, to tell him we were having a girl!  His reaction, "Oh my!  What color is that?  Are you serious?  Cool!"

View of Baby Girl Kleeman - she is 11oz right now

Her feet

3D profile image of her face - she's holding her hand up beside her face.  You can see her nose, mouth and her eye socket - pretty cool!

4th of July (and 5th) Fun!

Happy 4th of July!!  We had a fun, low-key and rainy 4th, but we made the best of it.  Brad took Parker to a local playground first thing in the morning, while I ran some errands.  While Parker slept, Brad and I tackled some things on our summer "to-do" list.  For dinner, we had the usual 4th of July meal - hamburgers, corn on the cob, and bbq chips.  After dinner, we were planning on playing with Parker's fireworks, but Mother Nature had a different idea.  It started raining around 7:30pm and never stopped the whole night!  So, we had to postpone our fireworks show until the next night.

Their facial expressions crack me up - look at their eyes how big - hah! 

Proud to be an American!

Parker sticking his tongue out at Jake.  Jake didn't really think it was too funny - hah!

Parker loves to mess with Jake.  We are teaching Parker to be "easy" with Jake and luckily Jake is being a good sport about the whole thing.  However, for some reason, I'm thinking Jake is loving Parker right now, since he's trying to take the hat off - hah!

CHEESE!

Parker - July 2010 in Nebraska - almost 1 year 10 months

Parker's 1st July 4th - 2009 - almost 10 months

For dessert this year, I made cookies and Parker and I tried to design them like the flag

2 years ago, I made a cake and decorated like the flag

Our yummy July 4th dinner (the corn was from our neighbor's garden)

On July 3, I took Parker to a local fireworks stand to purchase his first fireworks.  We got sparklers, pop-its and some snakes.  We also got a carousel, for our grand finale, but we haven't done that one yet.  We had a lot of fun at the fireworks stand.

Parker liked the sparklers the best, and so did I.  He didn't want to hold it, but he liked it when it started sparkling! 

Watching Daddy with his sparkler!  We had a nice July 4th and so glad we were able to spend it together as a family at home.

I just love Parker's little shirt!  A friend of mine, that I work with, has started her embroider business on the side, and she has made Parker a few shirts.  She does a great job and I'm so glad Parker is part of her experimenting - hah!

And on another note, we got a new kitchen table!  I am so excited.  We finally got rid of our "college" table that we've had for over 10 years and didn't match our decor and we were able to get this nice table.  It's actually a little smaller than what we had, so it works so much better in our kitchen space.

Fun with Friends

Thursday Parker and I met my good friends for dinner.  These girls I taught with at my first school several years ago and we've remained good, close friends since.  We always get together for each other's birthday and special occasions.  It's really nice to see them and get to visit with them a few times each year.

Parker and Mckenzie were such troopers during dinner.  The place was packed and it took a while to get our food, but they waited as patiently as they could.  Mckenzie was fascinated with Parker and Parker was focused on all the waiters and waitresses that went by with other people's food - hah!

2 happy kiddos after eating dinner!

Giving each other a hug as we were leaving - it was really sweet!