Playing with toys

Now that Parker is feeling better, she's been having fun rediscovering her toys. She's big into grouping things and lining them up. For some reason, she and her friends like to fill her Rose Petal Cottage with shoes:

And an animal parade around the bathtub. If you look closely you'll see that she's grouped all the animals into families....all the pics together, all the sheep together, etc. The 'leader' is a penguin, followed by 2 frogs and a lion.

As I'm typing this, she's eating her dinner. I think she just put 2 and 2 together and realized that her fish sticks were once actual fish.

"Is there fish in my fishsticks?"
me: "yes"
"Real fish, like strips?"
me: "yes"
"But no eyes, right?"
me: "right"
(under her breath) "good"

It's fine if she wants to go vegetarian on me, she just better learn to like vegetables or she's going to have a very limited diet. Her side dish with her fishsticks was strawberries, that she dipped in ketchup.

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Office Max retractable Sharpie coupon

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(There are about 4 blog readers that are jumping up and down with excitement right now. )

Absence of snow pictures

No snow for us, really. We got a lot, but it was mixed with rain and didn't really stick. Just in case it did stick, we were ready this time with a new hat. The red thing on her arm is a stamp from school.

Last ones

2 more pictures, and I'll stop with the snow. Here's another sled one from our second trip outside after Parker's hands warmed up. I put fleece socks on them this time, and it did the trick. I'll get her some decent glove/mittens next year.

And for comparison, here she is at 8 months during her first snow. I was looking back at pictures, and was shocked that this is only her 3rd winter. It seems like it's been way longer than that!

I think she is feeling better after her ear infection, finally. We are still having some rough afternoons, since she is detoxing from being pampered and waited on hand and foot, but this morning she was her old cheerful talkative self. We had a long discussion in the car this morning about how trees stay up, and why birds poop on your car and dogs don't. What what would happen if they did. And what would we say to them if they did. And what the dog would do after we said that to them....and on and on and on.

Happy Goforth Day!

I nearly forgot! I hope everyone enjoyed their March 4th.

more snow pictures

It continued to snow all last night, so there's several inches....I don't know what the official report is, but it's 3" maybe? You can look at my footprints and see the depth.
In a brilliant move earlier this year, I ordered a sled from LLBean when they had free shipping. It's been sitting in a box in the garage during all of the 40 degree winter. We finally had a chance to open it!

Parker is not what you call a morning person, so it was iffy whether or not we were going to get outside before it all melted. We did several runs up and down the front slope in the yard...I could get her going and then fling her a bit and she'd slide on her own. But then her hands got cold, and she's DONE.

Snow!

It's snowing! Is it nutty that we went and got Parker out of bed to show her? She was very appreciative...she said "I can't wait to tell everyone at school that I saw SNOW!".

3 pictures for Monday

I'm way behind on posting pictures. We had a rough week last week. Parker followed up her weekend sickness (fever sat/sun) with weekday sickness (more fever Tues/Wed, ear and throat infection). She missed 2 days of school, but she's on antibiotics now, and seems to be feeling better...but still not 100%. When we went to the pediatrician, I printed out a calendar of February and marked all the days she's been sick. The theory is that she's been fighting different viral things, and now one of those has turned into a secondary infection (ear/throat). Cross your fingers that the antibiotics work. She's a grumpy patient.
We've been doing lots of arts and crafts and activities you can do at the table, since she hasn't felt like playing. Crayola makes a great watercolor package for little ones, with raised lines so the watercolor stays in the lines. Unless you paint right over the lines like Parker does. Either way, she's really enjoying painting.

She had TWO soccer games this weekend....usually there is just one per weekend. She 'played' (stayed on the field) quite a bit during her saturday game, but only managed one play on sunday before refusing to go back on the field. Luckily I had my camera out for the first play! She's the last one in line in the pic below.

I can't remember exactly what she's doing here, but she requested I take a picture of it. Singing or dancing or both. Usually before she does a singing/dancing act, she pretends to have a microphone and 'announces' herself in her best Michael Buffer voice... "Ladies annnnnnd Gentleman! The amaaaaazing Olivia!!!" (her stage name is Olivia).

Ballet, soccer and skiing

Today was Parker's first soccer game. She's had 2 practices so far and today was the first game. At her first practice, she threw a fit and refused to get out of the car. At her second practice, she got out of the car, but cried at one point, and stayed by Bob on the sideline. Today, she cried while getting dressed, but didn't cry at the game (she may have been bribed with candy). She didn't play, but watched again, and participated in the team picture. So we're getting there. This will ultimately be good for her, I hope, once she gets over her anxieties and actually plays. Here she is in her uniform. I made her hold up 3 fingers because she's 3 years old. It's my way of date-stamping the picture, and it looks nicer than holding up today's newspaper.

In contrast, here she is on the way to ballet lessons (leotard is under the fleece, and ballet shoes are in her bag). She continues to LOVE ballet, and pays close attention to the teacher and does very well considering her size. A big part of why she loves it is that all the other girls are older....4's and 5's. They are learning their dance for their recital in May, and at their class this week, they performed it for the older jazz class girls, which was a big thrill for her.

And more ski pictures are trickling in. Bob found a ski rental place that would bring the skis to you, instead of having to go get them and lug them back to the condo. This is really the way to go. Here I am being fitted with ski boots. The condo we stayed at was the Highland's Lodge, by the way. Super super nice.

Combo pics - skiing and homeschool

Here are more pictures....combination of a ski pic and a Parker pic.

At the top of the first lift at Beaver Creek, they had a guy serving hot cocoa on a silver tray. (I took this picture, so I'm not in it. ) The sign says "Cocoa and Corduroy". Corduroy refers to the ridges the snowcats make in the snow when they groom the slopes. They advertise that these are the best groomed slopes around, and I agree....although I haven't been 'around' that much. They even had the snowcats running during the day - lined up in formation with their lights flashing so you didn't run into them.



On Thursday and Friday, Parker was sick AGAIN with a fever. We did a little homeschooling and practiced tracing letters. She loves to trace letters, but won't write them on her own. Since she's been sick 3 times since Feb 1, we went to the doctor today to have her checked. She was diagnosed with 'a cold'. I asked if it was ok to send her to school, because I was worried she might be contagious. The pediatrician said not to worry about it...since she caught it from kids in the class, we might as well pay them back.

We're baaaaaack

We're home from our vacation! We went to Beaver Creek, Colorado on a ski trip. It was just me, Bob and our friends Nick and Cindy. We had a really wonderful time and did 3 days of hard skiing. The views at Beaver Creek are incredible, but you can't really tell from this pictures. And for some reason, in this picture, we all look really short but we're not. Actually Cindy is. I'll post some more trip highlights later.

Parker stayed home with Bob's parents. She was not the least bit bothered when we left either. When we would call in the evening to say goodnight, she was only interested in talking to one parent...not both, so we'd have to alternate who talked to her each day. She had a great time with her Gigi and Papa and is totally worn out I think. Here are some pictures I haven't gotten around to posting:

Cooking for 4. Parker has really been enjoying the kitchen she got from Santa. Here, she's cooking and setting up the table for a party of 4 apparently. Notice all the condiments set out. And notice potholder on her hand. She set the table herself with forks and napkins underneath the bowls. She's all about details.

Pink boots - She's finally reached the cowboy boot stage. These were an impulse buy from the Target clearance bin and she wears them everywhere (except school). We have a conversation every morning about why she can't wear them to school (too slippery). Otherwise, she wears them constantly, whether they match or not. Although what really does match fuchsia metallic princess boots?

Sick again

Well, we weren't healthy for long. Parker stayed home from school today again, sick. Actually, we made it part of the way to school before she threw up in the car. Of the 5 times she has had a vomit-type illness, 4 of them have been in the car or bike trailer. Luckily, she only threw up that one time today....but I had the couch well protected in case she did! She spent most of the day on the couch nibbling on snacks and drinking bits of liquids I'd allow her in quarter hour increments and watching cartoons. She had a low fever too, but that ended around 2pm, and I bet she'll be able to attend school tomorrow. Isn't she just pitiful? There is so much sickness going around, and I really hope we have now received our quota!

home sick

On Thursday, the school called me to come get Parker because she had a 101.2 fever. And per their rules, you have to be fever-free for 24 hours before you can return. So today, she stayed home 'sick'. Here are some pictures of sick Parker at 8am, dancing with her penguin and jumping on bubble-wrap. Clearly, she is feeling much better and has been very animated and busy and talkative all day long.

How a humidifier works

Parker got a new humidifier for her bedroom. She and Bob got it all set up before bed. When I went up to kiss her goodnight, she explained to me how it works:

"You put water in it, and turn it on, and stink comes out the top".

Nothing really

Nothing much going on here, but I thought I'd post some pictures before I forgot about them. One evening when Bob stopped at the grocery store on the way home, he decided to get Parker a bouquet of flowers. Just what every mom wishes her child would receive right before bedtime.
Anyway, she was pretty excited, but mainly, she was interested in holding them. And for several days afterward, she would request to hold one. I guess she doesn't have much opportunity to hold live flowers ...she's usually told "don't pick!". Except for dandelions, she's real familiar with those.

A couple weeks ago we went to a birthday party for a neighbor/friend and they had pony rides! The birthday girl is one of those types that loooooooves horses so much, and her mom said "how can I NOT have a pony party?" So they did. The kids would go outside 2 at a time, and the handlers would take them on a lap around the house. Parker was generally too introverted to play with many of the kids at the party, but she had no reservations about riding the ponies.

Copycat post.....Giftedness

On my friend's blog, she posted a picture of her kiddo using his brother's sleeper pajamas as a cape to be superman. She said she's saving it for the kindergarten Gifted and Talented application: "Uses items in ways other than their intended purpose"

So I thought I'd copy.

Here's Parker showing her 'gifts'. She's playing Christmas carols on a plastic eggplant as if it were a trumpet, of course.

In other news, Bob has his colonoscopy today. Everything was totally normal, so that's good news. Before the procedure, when they were prepping him (IV, etc) one of the techs came in and asked, in a nice professional way, if he had been born a male. Apparently, on his wrist band, they listed him as a female! Too bad we had them change it....can you imagine the lawsuit opportunity we missed out on?

Artwork from school

Here are some paintings from school. They are watercolor, and then they sprinkled salt on them to make them sparkle like snow. Or somesuch.

This one is a family portrait. Bob, me in the middle, and Parker on the right. She got cut off a little in the photo.

New Toy

Today, Parker discovered that her old 'vacuum cleaner'...which was really one of those toddler push toys with the balls inside that would go POP POP POP when you pushed it, was "put up in the attic" (or maybe given away) (or maybe thrown away if you want the truth). So now she's a proud owner of a toy Dyson, just like mommy's. It actually does work and suck up stuff, but she doesn't know that yet. So far she's content with just pushing it around and saying "nnnnnnnnn", so I might keep that info to myself. Plus the idea of cleaning out the dirt tray grosses me out.

Weekend events

Another weekend recap.
We had another busy one, lots of shopping for home decor on my part, and lots of together time for Parker and Bob.
She also had some play time with her friend. In this picture, they're playing Hi Ho Cherry-O and Parker is correcting the way her friend put her cherries on the board. She prefers 'stem down' so they don't roll around when you spin.

And the fruits of my shopping trips:

Yes, after 4 years we finally have artwork hanging in our home. I really wanted something non-objective, but this is a neutral-enough subject, and slightly abstract (up close) and we all agree that we like it, so it's a winner. With any luck, next week I'll post drapery pictures!

Weekend chores

These are pictures from last week. We had a productive day around here! We took town all the Christmas stuff and since the weather was nice, Bob did some outdoor yardwork.

Helping with the outdoor lights.....

And is it just me, or are all the pictures of Bob surrounded by a pile of limbs starting to run together? The dead Willow tree at the end of our driveway is gone now.

Here's an action shot......

And the giant dead Redtip in the front of the house is gone too. I guess the drought/wet spring combo was too much for it.

The aftermath....

Apparently the sound of a chainsaw is to a man's ears as a dog whistle is to a dog's ears. This was the resulting pow-wow.