Last night's family debate

 

   Last night we had a long family debate while we were on our walk about whether or not a evening swim counts as a bath or not. It went a little like this: "Mommy does an evening swim count as a bath?
                                                                        "No."
                                                                         "Not according to aunt Paula."
                                                                         "Ask on the blog."
                                                                        "Maybe I will."
And so here I am now asking you whether or not a evening swim counts as a bath. Leave yes or no  in the comments and why.
                    -Parker ;)

Jump Serve

This week I have been playing beach volleyball up at the clubhouse in our neighborhood with my dad. I have been working on my jump serve and it is really progressing.
 I have even made a chant for my victories;

 WHAT? WHAT? WHAT WAS THAT? THAT'S PARKER POWER OH OH YEAAA!

 I don't get to do my victories that often because  it is a bit difficult to jump serve on the sand . Hopefully today at practice I will do better.

Finally Summer!

           

Heyoo it's Parker! Sorry for the shortage of pictures, we have been very busy lately. It is officially the second day of summer and things are going great! Updates- Yesterday I went and got my hair cut, a full 2 1/2  inches! I am still getting used to it and I have been straightening it so it looks better than it would because it is so short! Yesterday I also got my braces tightened, it takes a little getting used to because they are so tight! Blogging is one of my chores on the chore list that I can choose from and you are probably going to be getting a lot more blog posts by me because this is pretty enjoyable. Best chore ever! 

Summer. Day1.

Summer started today.  It went pretty well except Parker used up all her screen time by 7:30, so I had to adjust the rule to be "1 hour of screen time or until I'm awake".  For further screen time, she has some requirements to meet, and she did them all happily, and then made a chart so she could check them off.   I didn't make this up, I got it here. 

 Instead of screentime, she chose to pick a game to play with me.  It needed more than 2 people, so we made Fisher play, and he won. 

One of the things on the chore list is to post a paragraph and picture to the blog, so maybe there will be another post tomorrow.  Maybe we can catch up on the backlog.

Fwd: Look

(Email picture from Parker)

> Look they're giraffes!!!!! Kind of...

Ice and sleet

Here are some pictures of the ice and sleet we got last night.  There's a thick layer of it on the ground and the trees are coated in ice.  Lots of people are losing trees and limbs.

 I only have pictures of Fisher out in it though....Parker high-tailed it to her friend's house first thing this morning.  I think their plan is to spend part of there day there, and part of it here.  They were going to play outside until they got too cold, and then come in and do Dance Party on the Wii.

Fisher was VERY unsure about the surface and how it gives way under your feet/paws.  It took a lot of convincing to get him off the porch this morning to potty.

Big branch snapped off the tree in our front yard.  :-(

Fisher found a stick-sickle

The crepe myrtles bent over with ice

Since I don't have any Parker pics, here are some of her making a corn husk doll.  They read Indian Captive in her Integrated Studies class (social studies + reading/language arts) and her role for her literature circle was Artful Artist.  Instead of the slapdash stick figure picture she drew, I encouraged her to make a doll like the native americans in her book did.  She protested a bit, but had fun making it and was very pleased with the outcome.  I don't have a picture of the finished doll unfortunately.  When/if she brings it home, I'll post one.

Knitting

this lasted 3 rows.  Then she said "quit helping me"

Halloween

Nerds....parker is far left.

Teething, part 2

Parker got her braces today. So far so good. We're still in the honeymoon phase where they're fun and novel and the Advil hasn't worn off yet. For the last month, she also been enjoying a palette expander, which is a midevil looking device anchored in the roof of her mouth used to stretch her top palette to make her teeth meet up in the back. She has tolerated that pretty well. The braces will close the gap in her teeth that the expander creates, and bring her eye teeth into line as well.

Backbend

Another pretty pic

Testing my uploader. Here's another pretty picture. 

note to self:  When I upload them straight from Lightroom, you can't click on them to view them larger.  

First days pic - at long last

It has taken a while, but here it is.  If I keep messing with it, I'll never get it posted.  I'm going to have to adjust my template next year or she's going to grow out the top of it. Last year I tried to change the fingers format from showing her age to showing her grade, but Bob took this year's picture and didn't get that memo.   

Own dinner

Parker made her own dinner! It feels like mother's day.
Ramen noodles from the Rapid Ramen cooker, string cheese, yogurt drink and apple sauce.

Pretty Parker pic

Alternate title:  Why I no longer buy school portraits.

and am I crazy, or does this look a lot like Emily?

Breaking news: flip out

I don't have a picture for this but I thought I'd update y'all anyway. We are at tumbling class and I'm watching Parker across the gym doing backhandsprings all on her own with no help. It's a big day!

Sunshine sign

Here's my latest art project, a sign inspired (copycatted) from a blog post I found on the internet.  After we updated the patio area, we had a big blank wall that really needed something.  Something like a 6 foot painting!  

I drew the design on and then traced on the lettering and filled it in with white paint. Parker wasn't terribly interested, but I made her help fill in a few of the letters so she could say that she worked on it too.  And so that it could be a 'family art project'....Bob bought the wood and put the boards together.

 My arm, painting.

Finished work.  The wording is hard to read in this picture....it says "Rise up this morning; Smile with the rising sun", which is a modified lyric from a Bob Marley song that I sing to Parker when she's stressed "the refrain is "don't worry, about a thing....every little thing, is gonna be alright"

Cone of shame

Here are more Fisher pics.  If I'm not careful, this is going to turn into a dog blog.  He's a very cooperative subject.

 A couple weeks ago, we took Fisher to get his neuter surgery done.  He did very well, but they made him wear a cone to prevent licking his stitches.   It was pretty comical, but he was very clumsy in it, so we eventually got him an air filled ring, that worked fairly well and he could use it like a pillow.  He was also not supposed to run or jump for 5 days.  We made it 2.

   

Birthday gift

I'm wondering how many images I can squeeze into a single blog post.  Let me know if this gives anyone viewing issues.  These are too cute to cull any.  I'm also trying a new way to upload them..wondering if there will be any quality changes.  

I'm trying to catch up on blog pictures.  I realize I still owe you guys the collage pic from the first day of school.  I'm hoping to get on that this week.  I've manage to eek out some time today by blogging while I'm getting my oil changed at the dealership.  I'm sure Bob prefers I do that than look at the new cars.

A while back, Parker got a belated birthday gift in the mail from her aunt Paula (belated? you're kidding!)  There was something for everyone in the family, including Fisher.  

Parker got an upgrade for her wallet.  Prior to receiving the fancy one, she had been using one that one of Bob's programmers had brought him from Pakistan.  She had fancied it up with bows and glitter glue and was perfectly happy with it, but it didn't have a place for coins....so I suggested a new wallet would be a good gift.  It was, she LOVES it, and loved transferring her money, coins and discount cards into the various slots and pockets.  

Fisher got a monkey.  We call it his Mexican Monkey.  Any new toy he gets (or anything he steals) he immediately runs and hops on the couch to get some good chomps on it. He's gentle with his toys and doesn't tear them up.  I wish I had a picture of him dragging it off to the couch, but I couldn't get that in time.  He loved posing with it though.  

Pretty new wallet

 Transferring empty gift cards and expired coupon cards.  Just until she gets more. 

Previous Pakistani souveneir wallet.  Glitter P, striped twine and zebra bow all added by Parker.

Fish and his Mexican Monkey

Quick school pic

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Here's a quick pic from the first day of school. I was out of town, so Bob was in charge. I'll try to get more posted later this week.

Helmet Bow

Parker got a new bike helmet, her old one was too small and probably too pink. This one is a little goth for her....with skulls and such, but it was the only one in the store that she remotely liked.  She found out that her friend's brother has the same one, so she's girly'ed hers up with a duct tape bow.