California Vacation pics - 1

Better late than never, here are some pics from our trip to San Diego.

Parker did really well on the plane. She was VERY excited to get to California. In the pic below, she's reading the seat-pocket brochure with the instructions for evacuation. Parker *loves* instructions.

Happy and cheerful on the plane. She has to sit by the window, and Bob sits in the middle and does kid management. I sit on the aisle and dole out gum, snacks, magazines, coloring books, ipods and toys. We put some episodes of her favorite Disney shows on the video ipod and that really helped burn up some time.
The view outside the window isn't flash glare, it's fog. The day we got to San Diego it was so socked in with fog that the pilot had to make 2 approaches to land. But since we were coming from 100 degree heat, we were thrilled to see fog, clouds and highs in the 70's.

Day 2 on the beach. It's amazing how much entertainment miles and miles of sand can be.

This was the day of hole digging. Parker and her cousin spent pretty much the whole day digging a huge hole. I think Bob might have given them a head start though.

July 4th

This weekend was the annual neighborhood 4th of July Extravaganza. It always kicks off with a parade. Since Bob and I always run on saturday mornings, it's a bit of a race to get our runs done before the parade starts. This year we had a drum line that marched in the front. The rest is kids with decorated bikes, folks showing off their classic cars, and people on lawnmowers.

Drum line

Decorate Golf Carts

New this year: a gal on horseback

And so I don't get complaints, here's a picture of Parker

She had a very full day on the 4th. After the parade there were kid games and other activities that she attended. The evening ends with fireworks and a band, which we attended. Parker and her friends were only mildly interested in the fireworks, they were way more involved in playing with the glow necklaces we brought. We were all up until midnight, which does nothing to help our lingering California jetlag. Hopefully we can finally get back on a normal sleep schedule this week.

I'm still working on the vacation pictures/posting. Hopefully by Tuesday I'll have something up.

We're baaaaack

We just got back from our annual trip to California. The high there was usually about 75, lows in the 60's. The high in Dallas today, according to the temp readout in the car on the way home from the airport, was 105. That's a hot welcome home.

I'll try to get some pictures posted from the trip soon ( in between doing the mountain of laundry and battling an overtired jet lagged kiddo) .

Birthday pics - last

Then they escorted the girls to the cake room. Notice all the fancy table decorations that I didn't have to provide? I love this place.

Parker chose a rainbow cake from Costco. An odd choice since she doesn't LIKE cake. She probably would have like a chocolate one, but she was adamant that she did NOT want a chocolate cake. Whatever. Costco has DELICIOUS cakes. Inbetween the layers is cheesecake mousse!

And finally, we sing and she blows out her candles. Right before this picture was taken, the girl on the left leaned over and strongly admonished her sister, the girl in the purple, to NOT blow out Parker's candles. She managed to refrain.

Parker was very pleased with her party. This has been a big deal, turning 5. She's been counting the days for months now, and she's thrilled to finally be 5. I don't remember all the fuss about the number last year at 4, but I do at 3. I guess it's an every-other year thing. Good thing, because next year's party is going to be considerably more low key. I hope.

Birthday party part 3

Next activity was a 'fashion show' where they walked on the runway, and then did a pose at the end. Notice all the Hannah details in the background. They re-decorate for each type of party. (better them than me)

Next the girls taught them the dance that is in the Hannah Montana movie. A movie that Parker hasn't seen yet. Whoops. She caught on to the dance just fine though. They all did.

And then they wrapped up the games with a little karaoke. Sort of tricky since most of them can't read. Luckily they all know every word to every song.

Next up.....cake.

Birthday part 2

For phase..what...3? we had a party with all her friends at a party place. They offer many different themes, and she chose Hannah Montana. When everyone arrived, the girls were escorted to the dressup stash and chose a costume.

Blue glitter top and gold jacket. Oh yeah.

The best part....they have high school girls that act as hostesses, and they lead them through several games. This one was sort of like Musical Chairs and Follow the Leader. All set to Hannah Montana music of course.

Group picture. She had 11 friends attend...I think 100% of who we invited. Oddly enough, she doesn't really remember who was there. She keeps asking "was X at my birthday?". Good thing I took lots of pictures.

More pics tomorrow.....

Birthday pics, Part1

We had a super busy week again last week. I'm trying to get caught up on posting the birthday pictures. Phase one of her birthday started Tuesday night. We took Parker and her friend out for dinner and icecream. (PF Changs for Honey Seared Chicken, and then to Pacuigo for gelato if you want to be specific). After that we enjoyed the lawn area....the girls raced around and climbed on the sculptures and rocks.

Phase 2 was on her actual birthday - Bob came home from work early and brought her a cupcake. We sang and she blew out her candles. She actually ate part of her cupcake!

Then we opened some presents. We got her 2 dress-up pettiskirts and she was thrilled. They are very thrilling to wear, very bouncy and flouncy.

More pictures coming....stay tuned.

Swim lesson progress

We started swim lessons this week. Yesterday was 'parent observation day' so we got to watch. Usually parents have to stay behind the fence. Parker is loving swim lessons this year (last year she cried the first 4 days) and she has picked up right where she left off last year. I think we're going to be spending a lot of time at the pool this summer. As it should be.

Here's a video of her jumping off the diving board. The most exciting part for me is that she picks her head up and takes a breath part way back to the edge.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Summer fun and games

We're nearly done with our second week of summer. "Real" summer starts next week....all the schools are finally out, and we'll have a few more choices of people to play with.

Today I bought Parker a stop watch. I figured she would enjoy timing herself and her friends and it would reinforce double digit numbers and greater than, less than, etc. Tonight we needed to burn off a little energy, so we timed her running laps around the house. She LOVED it, we had to make her stop for bathtime or she'd still be going.

For added resistance and silliness, she did most of the laps carrying a stuffed puppy and a pool noodle.

"Ready, Steady, Go!!"

Home stretch

Her best time was about 35 seconds...but if we added some obstacles, it could take her up to a minute.

(stand by...I think my sister/nephew have a similar story of doing laps around the house....but theirs involves being chased by a rooster. Or maybe I'm mixing up 2 stories)

Family pictures

Summer has started and I'm having trouble finding time to do computer stuff. I updated the headedr for 'spring' (a little late), and you have no idea the lengths Parker goes to in order to try to draw me offsides. Some days she is very intolerant of not being the center of attention. I know, it's hard to believe looking at her sweet picture that she could be anything other than an angel. It must be opposite day.

Anyway, we had some family pictures taken. I love this photographer. So here are some pictures to enjoy while I get back in the blog swing of things.

http://chera25.com/galleries/51909Carla/

More birthday wishes

Happy Birthday Paula!!

Birthday wishes

Happy Birthday Emily!!

Birthday wishes

Happy Birthday Jack!!

Continued Wildlife Encroachment

This is getting ridiculous. This is what i saw when I was about to walk out the front door. It's much scarier in real life. I think I'm going to put a big stew pot (or Fry Daddy?) on the porch and hope that he'll run the other way.

Finished garden boxes

Here are the completed garden boxes. One was from last year, and Bob made 2 new ones this year. He also filled them with dirt for me, which was awesome.

This picture was done April 12th and the next one was done May 5th. You'd think I'd have a little more growth on things by now, but it's been chilly and gloomy. Plus I've had to start a few things over after they were eaten by pill bugs.

In addition to battling pill bugs, I'm also battling CRAWFISH coming up in the garden. That should give you some indication just how swampy our back yard gets in the spring. Everytime Mr. Crawfish digs a new hole, I cover it with a heavy flowerpot. And then he digs a new one. It's a fun game we've got going....I'm hoping to eventually chase him out.

I've planted: shallots, blackberries, tomatoes, peppers, squash, zuchinni, zinnias, eggplant, thai basil, cucumber, dill, Indian corn (Parker brought home from school), marigolds (to keep aphids off the tomatoes) and I'm on my 3rd attemp at both sunflowers and beans (the supposed easiest thing in the world to grow).

You'll notice that Parker's wearing her swim suit. Every day after school, ran, shine, or chilly weather Parker puts on her swimsuit and runs around and plays in it. She can't wait until it's warm enough to go swimming.

Spring Break - Garden Box Update

One of our projects for spring break was to plant seeds for our garden plants. Parker has a lot of interest in plants and seeds and planting....but no interest in the actual consumption of vegetables.
We planted seeds for eggplant, cantelope, beans, zucchini, squash, and cucumber. Everything is up now except for the beans. I've tried them twice. I thought those would be the easiest.

Since i have 2 garden boxes to fill, and we need mulch, we ordered in bulk. Here's dirt arrival day:

I'm going to put pictures of the completed garden in another post. I've taken several, but none are very good. I keep thinking my plants are really going to take off, but they're just limping along, like they always do this time of year.

Chores

Every couple weeks I wash a pile of cleaning rags, and Parker has learned to fold them. I give her a choice of either money for her piggy bank or a little toy or gift I've stashed away. On this day she got something she's been asking for for a long time.....her very own clipboard. I guess she gets the love of office supply gene from my side of the family.

artwork

Have I posted this yet? They all start to look the same after a while. This is a self portrait Parker did. She's wearing a skirt and a shirt, and has several bows in her hair.

Wildlife Encroachment

Here's the view from my backyard today, once in the morning, once in the afternoon. This morning there was a possum poking around. He's the white dot on the middle right. I think he lives under our deck. If anyone has any tips on how to lure him to the highway, please respond.

(and doesn't our Oak Leaf Hydrangea look great? White blooms and leaves in the foreground)


And this afternoon we were visited by a pack of ducks. It's one mom and 3 males. Should I name her Holly, Allie or Courtenay?

Build your own burrito

Here's the latest in "I can do it myself!": Parker can build her own burrito. She listed off the ingredients she wanted on it (chicken - she got ground turkey, rice and beans) and had me heat it all up, then she assembled it herself. And the best part....she ate it! She's done it two nights in a row ...last night was fish tacos, tonight was turkey tacos. Very inventive, I know.