Crazy Fun

Well this will be my last blog post I make at work for the school year.  I will be a stay-at-home-mom for the next 2 months.  I hope I can keep up the blog over the summer.  I'm going to try to do my best.  I cannot wait to be with my boy all day everyday.  Matt and I are still discussing whether or not we should allow Parker to go to school 1 day a week over the summer.  He finally loves it there and I would hate to start from square one come August when I go back to work.  So, I'm trying to get Matt on board with allowing him to go one day.  We'll see.

This past week has been crazy fun for Parker.  Papa and Maw Maw took him to Chucky Cheese on Thursday.  He had a blast overall, but I was told he was seriously afraid of the giant "mouse" (aka chucky).  I don't blame him.  Here are some cute pics of his day.

GAWWW, Melt.My.Heart!

Checking out the "burdies"

Then on Friday he got to spend the entire day with just his Nannie.  They had a lot of fun at the park...

The weekend was a blast as well.  Beautiful weather makes the weekends with a toddler so much more enjoyable.  We went the pool a few times, played out side A LOT, went out to eat A LOT, cleaned the garage, went over the the Kingman's new house (beautiful!), and even had the Wilson's over on Sunday for a cookout.  Overall, it was a successful Memorial Day weekend! Oh, and wish me luck... Operation potty training starts on Friday!  I know Parker is ready... I'm just wondering if I am!?!

His face slays me in this picture. He is so dang cute to me!

Trying on his new big boy undies!

Boys being boys.  The top picture kills me! Both boys going pee pee in the yard!

Mine

"Mine" "Mine" "Mine".... is all I hear these days.  What is with that?  It is getting pretty really ridiculous. And kinda really annoying.  Most of the time I respond with "No baby, actually it is NOT yours, it is Mama's, but I'm so nice to share with you, right?" (that one really pisses him off).  Or sometimes it is his (whatever IT is) and I respond with "Yes baby, that is yours, you are so right."  He likes that response. He will then nod and go on his happy little way back to whatever he was doing.  However, what bothers me the most about this new word is that my kid doesn't stop saying "mine" until I acknowledge that IT is indeed HIS. Even when IT is not.  Like take yesterday for example.  We were outside with the neighborhood kids and Parker and another boy, Charles, decided they wanted to switch cars for the night.  Charles wanted Parker's green racecar, and Parker wanted Charles' red car from the movie "Cars" so us moms thought they could just switch for the night and switch back today sometime.  Sounds like a great plan, right? Everyone is happy, right? WRONG.  After all the kids ran inside for dinner and Parker and I were about to go inside after "the ol' car switch-a-roo", Parker stood in our lawn, would not budge, and refused to move.  I was calling him to come inside with me, but he just stood still, griping the red car, saying.... can you guess it.... "MINE".  I responded "Well no sweetheart, it is actually Charles' car, he is just nice enough to let you borrow it".  Parker then said, "No, MINE!"  Still not budging.  Ugh!  We went back and forth like this for what seemed like forever.  The only way I could get him inside was to agree with him.  It was annoying, but I had to get the kid inside for dinner and bath.  So I sucked it up, swallowed my pride, and said "Fine, yes, it is your car."  He smiled, happily agreed with me, and ran inside for dinner.  Ugh!  I hope this phase ends fast, but it is never going to end if I keep agreeing with him just to make him move on from it.  I need another strategy STAT.

I mean, of course I've heard of the "terrible twos", and I actually don't agree with that saying.  Parker has never been as much fun as he is at this very second.  I love who the boy is becoming, and I can finally communicate with him now. It is so much fun.  He really is just so sweet.  Now, if we can just get over this "mine" crap, then I think this terrible two thing is, well, pretty damn awesome.

Parker's teacher, Ms. Tessa, sent this picture to me last week.  The text caption on this picture was as follows: "Parker was wearing this apron passing out flowers to his friends this morning. Precious!".

Melt.My.Heart.

  SEE.... My boy IS Sweet (most of the time)!

Kiawah Island & Mother's Day 2013

We had another wedding this past weekend in Kiawah Island, SC.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  It was about time Johnny and Emily became the “Merritt’s”.  I mean, they were the ones who were responsible for Matt and I getting together and we have been married for 3.5 years and have a 2 year old.  Anyway, I am so happy for them, and so happy they had a destination wedding in which we were able to use as some vacation time with the Kingman’s.  Lauren and I missed our little boys terribly, and spent ½ of the time sharing text pictures and videos that were sent to us by our parents.  At least we were in it together, and enjoyed some awesome pampering poolside each day. 

The Foursome







So in love with Aubrey Cone! Really wanted to steal her!



Parker had a blast with his grandparents (as usual) and they reported that he was a good boy while we were gone.  He did have a difficult time going to sleep next to Papa because he wanted his “Maw Maw” Saturday night, so my poor mother had to sleep sitting up on the couch cradling Parker the entire night.  I know she was exhausted, and it was so sweet of her to give up a comfortable night’s sleep in order to satisfy her only grandson.  She’s so good to him.  Here are some pictures of his time with grandparents…

Parker's teacher sent me this one :)

As for me, I was totally fine Thursday night, Friday night got a little harder, and by Saturday Lauren and I were joking that we needed an IV of our boys in our veins STAT.  Saturday was super hard because there were quite a few kids Parker and Charlie’s age at the wedding.  They were so cute on the dance floor, but it was also really hard for Lauren and I to watch because we missed our own so much.  Lauren ended up calling it a night pretty early, and I caught a shuttle shortly after her.  We just missed them so much and were ready to go to bed so we could wake up and fly home to spend Mother’s day with them.  The scream of excitement that Parker let out when he saw me was PRICELESS!!!!  So glad to be home with him, and even happier that we don’t any more trips away from him planned anytime soon J



My mother's day present from Parker. Love!





Celebrating these Ladies and my boy on mother's day!



Mother's Day 2013

 On another note, I have to include this adorable video Parker's teacher just sent me.  He has been out the last 2 days because of a fever and virus, so she and the class made a little "get well" video for Parker. So stinking sweet!

http://youtu.be/1nKN3yEzXTo

"kit-hens"

Nope, I'm not talking about kittens.  Parker has another new obsession I must document for some giggles later in life.  I think it's because of the play date his Nannie took him on last week where he got to play with a bunch of girly stuff.  But this kid is obsessed with watching kitchen playset commercials.  Yes, that's right, just the commercials.  He requests to watch them over and over again on the i-pad.  He'll watch the same damn commerical 10 times in a row if it's a really good one.  This is how the conversation typically goes:

Parker: Momma, Pad, Pad, PADDDDD!!!!
Me: Huh? Oh do you mean I-pad??
P: YESH! (yes)
Me: Ok, honey, how about Elmo?
P: No, ount uh, kit-hens.
Me: Hmmm, what about Barney... or animal flashcards... or an educational ABC app?
P: NOOOOOO, ount uh, KIT-Hens!!!! KIT-HENS!
Me: Ugh, ok sweetie, calm down, we can watch kitchens.

Yup, that's pretty much how it's been going in our house the last couple nights.  I asked Parker if he wanted Daddy to buy him a play kitchen.... he answered with a definitive "YESH" and then said "Let's go".  He thought I meant we were going to get him one right that very second (10 minutes before bedtime... um, no).  Matt then asked him... "Parker, how about a nice manly tool set?"... Parker then busted into tears while screaming "NOOOOO" and running over to me like his Dad just crushed his dreams of ever having a play kitchen.  I guess we'll start looking into "boyish" looking kitchen sets soon.  Of course Parker will probably play with it once and move on to something else once we buy it. Awesome.  Here of some pics of him watching "kit-hens".



weather blues

It's May... you wouldn't know it if you walked outside the past 5 days though.  Ugh.  This weather makes keeping a toddler happy very difficult.  Between the rain and the freezing weather, we had a very cooped up weekend inside.  We tried to make the best of it and started off the weekend very successful by having a play date with Harlen and Grayson.  These boys are so fun to watch together.  Trying to make these boys share bats and ball was really our only obstacle.  Other than that, Parker had a blast with his besties... and so did I!

Oh, I've got to back up to Friday...  Parker was at Nannie and Poppie's house on Friday.  Parker forced Nannie to MAKE pancakes (she tried to just make him the froozen ones, but Parker had another thing in mind).  He is obsessed with cooking and cleaning... he obviously didn't get those traits from me. haha.  Here are the pics I got from her Friday morning.

After the pancake making, Nannie took Parker over to friend's house to have a play date.  She reported back that Parker was a good little boy and loved playing with the baby dolls and cash register.

Ok, back to the weekend.  After our play date Saturday morning, we went home and napped and then headed to the mall and then back home for bath and bedtime.  Parker insisted on wearing my boots. It was hilarious and made for a good picture.

Sunday morning we woke up and surprise.... more rain.  So, we painted, colored, played with play dough, and dreamed of naptime because we were running out of things to do with our little man.  Naptime came and went, and all of a sudden the sun came out.  Parker woke up, ran to the window, and said "Sunny"!!!! I was like, yup, honey that is what the sun looks like.  I'm surprised he didn't forget since it's been so long since he's actually seen the sun.  We packed up and headed over to Matt's parent's house for Matt's birthday dinner.  My parents were there too, so Parker was in grandparent heaven. 

Cousins sharing rocks. And Joey's walking now! Yay!

Love!

Spring Nights in the Hood

The perfect way to end a long day’s work is playing outside with Parker and the cul-de-sac gang.  Last night in particular was especially fun.  Most of the kids were outside along with their parents.  Just playing so nice together and including Parker in the fun.  What a joy it was to see him interacting and playing and having so much fun with all the kids.  He played with cars, hunted for ladybugs, sang ring around the rosey, shared strawberries, and rode scooters (with mama's help of course).  It was just so much fun and it got me super excited for all the summer nights this group of kids are about to have together. 

Ladybug hunting. This tree had a million and the kids were going crazy out of excitement!

Jumping for joy because he found one!

"Mama! Look! Buggy!"

The big girls being so sweet with Parker.  He's already got older women eating out of the palm of his hand!

MY kid has refused to eat strawberries for the past 4 months. Meanwhile, he eats 5 last night with the girls.

Love love love!
On a side note... parker got a splinter in his thumb last night.  Any tips on how to remove a splinter from a toddler's finger without him totally thinking you're trying to assult him would be greatly appreciated.  As of now, it's still lodged in there.  I keep having nightmare-ish thoughts of his thumb getting infected and falling off.  It's really freaking me out.