Christmas Program

Here's Parker dressed up for her Christmas Program at her school. She really did well, considering I had to drop her off in a classroom full of screaming kids and her regular teacher wasn't there. During the performance (50+ 2 year olds) she had a great time, but didn't do much actual singing. More jumping up and down and waving.

2006 Review: Summer trip to San Diego

Here's a picture of Bob and Parker during out trip out to San Diego this summer. Parker had a blast playing with her cousins and running on the beach chasing waves.

Santa lap picture

I really need to get a scanner. This is the redneck version of scanning in a photo....taking a photo of a photo. I think I might try cropping out Mrs. Claus, who seems think this picture is all about her. Parker was trying her best not to cry, because she figured out that as soon as she got a good picture, she could get off Santa's lap and eat her candy cane.

Driving tip from Parker

"You have to be careful drivin'.
You might see a reindeer!!!"

Taller than a breadbox

Parker discovered the perfect thing to use as a stool: a breadbox. Usually, it's her oven for cooking, but she figured out that she can carry it around and use it to adjust the lights to her liking. It's so funny to see her trying to reach something in a drawer or on the countertop and then seeing the thought come over her that she can get her box to climb on....and pitter pat pitter pat, she's off running to find her box.
This outfit she has on represents a huge victory getting her to wear her leggings. They are called Babylegs and are so darn cute but she has refused to wear them until just recently. 

Been there, done that, got the space blanket

Just one more thing about me, and we'll return to posts about Parker. Parker posts, get it? Ha.

Anyway, I ran half a marathon on Sunday. The White Rock Marathon. My "chip time" was 2:22 (from when I crossed the start until when I crossed the finish). My clock time (in the pictures) was much longer because it took a while to reach the start. So a little under an 11 min/mile pace. I was really pleased with how I ran and my time. It was really neat.

Anyway, here's a link to the pictures:
http://www.sportphoto.com/Event.aspx?EventID=21
and you have to put in my name or my bib #, which was 6597

What I do at work

I think it was my sister that requested I post a picture of what I do for work. Here's a bad example. The two green lines that are running into the middle of the aqua stuff are my conduit running into the middle of some duct work. That's why I have a picture of it, a picture named "Conflict #5". Usually what I draw looks more like normal architectural floorplans, but they wanted this one in 3d so we could see all the pretty conflicts. 

Another cookie picture

Excuse the red-eye, it looks even odder when I try to fix it.

Today's game: "Say how are you today Baby Jesus". She's been playing with her little nativity set, it's very cute.

Hopefully I'll have some Santa-lap pictures up soon, I pick them up friday. She knew she'd get a candy cane if she sat on Santa's lap, and she was trying her hardest not to cry. She was very brave. She told him she wanted a rocket ship. This is an improvement from what she initially was saying she wanted for Christmas....cookies. I think she thought 'Christmas' was a meal.

Speaking of meals, she's requested that Sprite be added to my shopping list. She said "can you get me some Sprite at the store?". She only gets to drink Sprite when we go out to eat, and I guess she's put it together that, if all these other places can have Sprite, we should be able to also. 

Flashback Friday

Another oldie but a goodie.
What a sweety pie. 

making cookies

Few things make Parker happier than sprinkles. This is our first attempt at making cookies with sprinkles. She was beyond thrilled, especially that she got to help. That's her new favorite thing to tell me, "I'll help you! I'm helping you!". 

oh yes I did

Bob recently mentioned that Parker needed some "cool clothes". How lucky are we to find this shirt at Target? If the pic is hard to see, that's a gold skull and crossbones on the front. And there are little colorful skulls on the sleeves. The best news is that it seems as though the XS (4) size in girls will sort of fit her now (if I dry on hot and roll up the sleeves), so we should have lots of great cool clothing options open to us now!

And just ignore the pacifier. She was playing "baby". 

Birthday Party for June

I heard the pitter patter of busy feet and went to look and found that Parker was moving all the toys from the toy area into the kitchen. I asked her what she was doing and she said "I'm making a birthday party for June.". I figured out a few days later that June is from the Little Einsteins cartoon. In the background, that is Parker laying on the floor having a fit about something.
That fit aside, we've had a nice week of no teething and no colds. She's even eating well. There have been several evenings when she was just so cute and funny we didn't want to put her to bed. Hopefully I didn't just jinx her good behavior right before a trip to Walmart. 

file under RULES / EXCUSES

Me: "Noooooo!!!! You CANNOT flush the potty with your mouth!!!!!

Parker (holding up her fists): "But I don't have any hands!"

(this is much better than last week when she'd fall on the floor and say "I can't walk")

Artwork from school

Here's a little thingie she made at school for Thanksgiving. 

Play imitating life again

Parker, as a result of potty training, now thinks of the bathroom as a puppet show theater. That has bled over to the bathtub. She has a washcloth that looks like a fish that she likes to converse with:

Parker: "Sayhowareyoutoday Fish puppet"

Me: "How are you today?"

Parker: "Nooooooo, put your hand in the Fish puppet and say 'Howareyoutoday'!"

Me, holding the puppet properly now: "How are you today Parker?"

Parker: "I'm busy right now, Fish puppet."

Nose update:

Parker has had a bit of a cold. She just updated me on the status of her breathing:

"My nose are clearer. Look, no more boogers anymore."

Pumpkin carving

I guess I need to get busy and take some more pictures. This is Bob and Parker carving the pumpkin for halloween.
We've had a semi-rough week of teething. We saw the pediatrician yesterday for a flu shot, and she confirmed we have 2 year molars coming in. Not fun.
Parker woke up yesterday morning at 4:30 am and announced she was "all done sleepin' ". I'm not sure which is worse, a wide awake happy child or a sick child at 4:30.
We are starting to get excited about Christmas. I'm not sure who is more excited though, us or Parker. She loves seeing all the new seasonal icons and decorations....snowflakes, snowmen, santas, lights, "twinkly trees", etc. We can't wait to start decorating the house and putting up lights! 

Flashback Friday

An oldie, but a goodie. 

Play imitating life

Parker loves to imitate things that she sees us doing. Here she is acting out our normal day. Playing the part of me is her. Playing the part of her is Big Baby.

In these photos, she is re-enacting our normal trip to the park, where I run with her in the stroller, and then she gets to play on the playground.

And apparently, in her eyes, I do all this dressed as a fairy princess (which is FAR from accurate, believe me).

Buckling up...

Jogging.....

then swinging.

and she should count herself lucky that I didn't photograph the obligatory toddler meltdown at the end (where she was back to playing the part of herself I guess). Nothing more pitiful than a fairy princess laying on the ground bawling because we were going in the wrong door.

(remember, you can click on the photos to view them larger)
:-)

Feed a fever, bury a cold...

Parker kept running back and forth to her snack cart getting (fake) food and saying "Dada is sick! I bring him food!". When I finally went to check to make sure all was really ok, this is what I found. On his chest, she has stacked eggs, pizza, grapes, spaghetti, bread and buns.

Talk to the foot!

Last weekend we went to Austin and Parker had a great time visiting with her cousins. Here, she is being less than cooperative for picture taking. 

Feeding time for the Little People Zoo

The funny thing about this one was that she lined everyone up behind the food trough. I don't know where she's ever seen anyone line up for food before, so she came up with the buffet idea on her own (she usually does table service). 

Parker's First Profanity

Last night Parker had a particulary icky potty accident while Bob was on duty. While he was trying to get her icky clothes off without creating a biohazard, I guess Parker could sense his frustration.

She said "Dada, say dame-it. Say dame-it Dada".

We both nearly got nosebleeds trying not to laugh.

Happy Halloween!!!

Tummy swinging...

...also know as: swinging by yourself!!!

Say "knock knock"

We have a new game that is giving SayHowAreYouToday a run for it's money....

knock knock jokes

It goes something like this:
Parker: "Isayknockknockyousaywho'sthere.KnockKnock.
me: "Knock knock"
Parker: "Nooooooo!!!!!! I say knock knock you say who's there! Knock knock."
me: "who's there"
Parker: "Banana"
me: "banana who?"
Parker: "Uuummmmm Banana is yellow I ate it all up!!! Isayknockknockyousay who's there."

And this loop repeats itself indefinitely.
The variation today was
"Only I say who's there. Say knockknock"
Me: who's there
Parker: "Noooo!! Only I say who's there. Say knockknock"
etc, etc

More Halloween

My picture selection was panned, so I'm trying another one.
In this photo, for some reason, the girls had dragged chairs into the living room and were pretending to be in church.

Haloween Party

Our running group had a little Halloween Party today. Parker had a blast running around with her little friend. They were both fairies, although Parker prefers to think of herself as a ballerina or a princess. I'll have more pics of her full costume after Halloween.

"A letter for me?"

Parker got a Happy Halloween card today from her cousin and cousin-in-law (although to make life easier, maybe we'll just call them Uncle John and Aunt Bre). Very exciting! She had great time looking at the card, playing with the card, opening and closing the card and identifying all the halloween icons on the front and back.

"Heeeeyyyy! Stickers!!!!"

And the stickers were a big hit too.

Today's funny quote

Looking at the carpet and seeing the grass clippings that Sierra dragged in, Parker yells:

"What is this mess!!!??"

Cooking with Parker

Parker's really into cooking these days. She has me tie Blankie around her waist and tells me it's her 'cooking blankie'. Here, she has a little frog in a bowl in one bowl and a rock in the other. I asked her what she had cooked for me and
she said "applesauce with medicine".
I'm pretty sure she meant cinnamon.

I'm always afraid to look when I hear:

"Look at me!!!"
(testing....I'm posting this through Picassa)

They call it "vertically challenged" now

We measured Parker last night and plugged her height and weight into a height predictor and came up with this:

Your daughter will likely be 5 feet, 3 inches tall at age 18.

The fine print:
This prediction is a "best guess" but it's still just that -- a guess. Based on the formula we used, blah blah blah...
This method relies on where your daughter falls on the Centers for Disease Control's growth charts, and it assumes that she'll remain in the same percentile until she reaches her adult height. The accuracy of the prediction varies because some children will fall into different percentiles throughout childhood.

I had to fudge the age a little, because she isn't quite 2 1/2.
I'm not marking 'supermodel' off the list of her future endeavors, but I might go ahead and learn how to hem pants.