Lemon Tree

We got a lemon tree a couple weeks ago. The blooms smell just like gardenia. It lives in the pot that the plumeria was in, and the plumeria got a big new pot.

Bob was out of town for a couple days, so I'm very behind on pictures and blogging. Tomorrow is Parker's last day of school. It's going to be very sad because she really had such a great time and made some really good friends and really loved her teacher. Hopefully we'll be able to get together with her little girlfriends this summer.

Reinactment

This wasn't the actual angry moment. I had her recreate the magic so I could take a picture.
I heard her saying

"Mama, you made a MISTAKE!"

According to Parker, I made a mistake when I threw away this very noisy Happy Meal toy. She got it over a year ago, and it has yet to get lost or make its way to the bottom of a toy bin. My mistake was that I didn't shove it far enough down in the trash can so she wouldn't find it.

Tree v. Car

Here's the picture I took last night. This back behind Parker's swingset....like if you had your back to the swingset. Bob said it was bad manners to take a picture, but I did anyway. I can't remember if i mentioned in my earlier post that the chainsaw man showed up at 11:30pm to cut the tree off the cars. He told the neighbor he was booked, so it was last night or wait until Friday. There are trees, big and small, down like this all over town.

Power restored

The power came back on around 2pm. Yay!

Here's a picture of Parker making a beaded necklace.

Weather report

We are all safe and sound after the huge storm last night. I'm posting this from work, since the power is still out at home. Our home, and about 300,000 other peoples from what I've read.
Parker was very confused by the power outage, and was walking around flipping on all the switches trying to make the lights work. When the power does come back on, it's gonna look like Vegas in there.
Our storm drama was that a tree back behind Parker's swingset fell onto the neighbor's cars. Notice I didn't say "our tree". We think it is in an easment, so not technically ours. We assume the insurace companies will sort it all out. It's a good thing we didn't start filling that back flower bed with shade loving plants though.
If anyone knows how long a food in a freezer "lasts" before it has to be pitched out, email my gmail address, or just post a comment and I can check it from my phone.

Apple, pt 2

She is soooooo concerned with
1. The moon
2. Airplanes

Since she was able to talk, she would yell out any time she saw the moon or an airplane.

And cancel what I said about her being in a good mood lately. The Grouch is back. I should have taken her to the doctor last week to see what was causing the happy.

Big Apple

Parker at an entire apple the other day. She didn't want it cut up, she ordered it "big and tall, no cuttin'".

Friday, no flashback

We've had a fun week. Parker has been in a pretty happy mood lately, aside from the normal fit-throwing and drama of the almost 3 year old. Yesterday she had a terrible meltdown because I wouldn't let her wear a dress AND a skirt at the same time. She is obsessed with wearing dresses lately. That's all I can get her to wear. I suggest other skirts and pants that I know she likes, but she only wants to wear them WITH a dress. Could she be Penecostal?
Tonight I picked out PJs for bed, and I showed them to her, hoping it would help motivate her to get out of the tub. She looked at my selection and said

"Probably that doesn't match."

(in my defense, the top and bottom were the same color and they DID SO match, they just weren't a set that was purchased together)
Bob said she did the same thing to him last night...shook off his PJ pick as non-matching, and chose her own.

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Singing in the tub tonight:

"Baa baa black sheep have you any wool?
Bless you, bless you three hands full."

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New plants

We did some landscaping this weekend. I'm posting small pictures since there are several, but you can click on them to see them larger if you'd like. Parker is included in the pictures for scale. I'm just guessing at the spelling of all these plants. You can send in corrections via the comments if you'd like.



New St. Francis (patron saint of animals)


New Japanese Arealia....we might get another one.


3 Japanese Yew ....they stay this wide, but get much taller. (that's the neighbor's swingset in the background) They are to provide screening of the view of the other neighbor's house when sitting on the back patio. I'm sure they'll be glad to have a little screening from us too.



New squirrel-proof birdfeeder. The squirrel was FURIOUS today when he couldn't figure out how to eat out it. And Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal were very happy. :-)


Red mandavilla vine. You can see the Japanese Yew plants in the top of this picture.

New salmon colored Oleander in place of the cannas that had over-multiplied.
Bob did all the hauling and planting of all these, and also planted a zillion flats of periwinkles in the front yard. We still have a ton of work to do, especially in the back beds. We're hoping by next summer we'll be done with most of the planting and will be able to replace the crumbling brick with some nice stone.

Cucumber Sandwich

I heard Parker saying "cucumber sandwich" when she was eating, so I assumed she had stacked a couple pieces of cucumber, but I didn't think she had stacked 5 of them, and was eating them that way!

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Complaint:
Parker: "I don't like that yogurt"

Me: "what's wrong with it?"

Parker: "It's too yucky"

Me "what is yucky about it?

Parker: "The yucky part."

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This week, she's been singing lullabies. She does the "Hush little baby" one and makes up her own words, usually looking at the things around her:
"Hush little baby don't say a word,
Daddy's gonna buy you a.......
bathtub.
And if that bathtub is broken,
daddy's gonna buy you a......
potty chair.
And if that potty chair doesn't work,
Daddy's gonna buy you a......
door."

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There was a comment on the previous post about her eating and holding her fork with her left hand. She holds her pencil with her right hand usually, but will eat with either, especially when eating noodles.

Eating noodles

Do not leave children unattended....

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Funny quote from yesterday:

"Mom, will you go halloweening with me?"

Weather report

We are safe and sound and only got a bunch of rain. It was sort of nerve-wracking there for a little while, but most of the bad storms stayed south of us.

Flashback Friday

Hide and Seek

Here's Parker playing Hide and Seek at her Gigi's house. I'm pretty sure she though she was hiding in this picture.

More helping

Bob is taking a long time reading a story, so I'll keep posting pictures. Parker is getting really good at stretching out bedtime these days.
She really loves helping, especially when it involves a screw driver, or when she can hand you stuff. We were suprised she was dexterous (sp?) enough to spin the screwdriver around and around but she was. In the far background, you can see our new tv stand.

Flip Flops

Our goal last week, or maybe 2 weeks ago...it all runs together...was to find flip flops. Parker loves to put on my flip flops, so I knew she'd like some of her own. We had a really hard time finding some in her size, but we finally got some from Payless. They are Dora and have a silver flower on the top. She was so excited she yanked her own shoes off and put these on and wore them out of the store. The sales lady had to clip the tag off so we could pay for them.
Even more exciting, when we got home, I painted her toenails, and she is beyond thrilled having painted toenails. For the first couple days, the first thing she did when she woke up was to check and see if her nail polish was still there. I'm sure people are contacting Child Services because I've been letting her wear them out and about even though we've had chilly weather. I just add an extra sweatshirt and hope it all balances out.

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Filling up the birdfeeder.....very exciting. We spilled some and later she said "oh no! Look at this mess! " Then we discussed at length why there was birdfood on the ground and what might happen to it. She thinks maybe a cardinal will come and eat it.

Like the outfit? 2 shirts, leggings, a swim skirt and flip flops, of course.

Bluebonnet Outtakes

Here are the Bluebonnet outtakes. It's a miracle I got one decent one....she was being purposely uncooperative.
Click on the picture to see it larger, or just view all of them online HERE

Hell Bent For Bluebonnets

If I did NOTHING ELSE this weekend, I was going to get a picture of Parker in the bluebonnets. Last year, because of the drought, there were none, but this year they are everywhere. And every proper mom in Texas is dragging their kiddo out in their Sunday best and plopping them in a field of flowers to get the proper bluebonnet picture. Here is our best attempt. Bob's mom, Parker's Gigi, was an accomplice, responsible for scouting the perfect location. She found a perfect field, and we didn't even have to tresspass much to get there! Bob's dad, Parker's Papa, drove the getaway car, and Bob help with motivation and bribery of the temperamental model. There are many outtakes I'll be posting later.
The weather had us really worried, since on saturday, it SNOWED ALL DAY. Not just flurries, but real, thick flakes. Here is a picture from the WFAA website taken in Granbury (where we spent easter). Hey, why use my memory stick for snow pictures, when I can just download someone elses? I was saving all my megapixel space for bluebonnet pics.

Fun with Friends

We had dinner with friends last weekend. They have a little boy who is a year or so older than Parker, but they play together very well, as you can see in the pictures. Believe it or not, he is the one that took the bottom picture of Parker jumping.

Strange happening

I swear, we have no idea who did this. It was either Parker or Sierra (or Scooby), but Parker denies it, and has a good alibi. It is pretty normal for Sierra to carry her toys and set them down right before she drinks, and there's a good chance this one just happened to land facing this way, but still, it's pretty spooky to walk into a room and see it.

"helping" plant flowers

We've started working on the yard. Parker is actually semi-helpful this year....and when she's not helping, she's pretty easily entertained. Here she is digging a hole for my tomato plant. She helps water it too. The tricky part is getting her to stop digging and watering.

Sorting and Building

This shocked me for some reason. This is the first time she's sorted anything - it was very exciting! For me anyway.
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We got some big weather last night. They are saying that there were damaging winds/tornado a couple miles down the road from us at 544/1378, but we didn't notice anything other than a lot of rain. Hopefully, the donut store is ok, or there will be big trouble this morning.