Happy Halloween!

Heading to school for Costume Day on the Friday before Halloween. Parker was pretty into all of the decorations that people put up in our neighborhood, so we put up a few of our own this year. We started off small, but he was excited by our ghosts, spider webs, and spider! Here he is in his pirate costume...

Having his picture taken in his classroom.

Our pirate in the costume parade with his classmates.

Parker and Levi getting ready for all of our trick-or-treaters on Halloween. 

Levi absolutely loved playing with all of the little candy packages! I think he crawled around with a mini wrapped candy bar in his hand for quite a while before I finally pried it out of his little fingers.

Grammy found a perfect costume for Levi--jammies that look like a cowboy outfit! Considering that he was totally oblivious to the entire occasion, it's nice that we will be able to have a good pair of pj's for him to wear after the fact! He managed to keep his cowboy hat (which we got for Parker in Oaxaca, Mexico when he was 10 months old) on for about 30 seconds so we could snap this photo. I really should have cleaned the lasagna off of his face first, though...

Pirate Mommy and Pirate Parker

My mom and dad came over after dinner to celebrate Halloween with us this year--Grammy held down the fort for us and passed out candy while we were out trick-or-treating, while Grampy joined us and pushed Levi in the stroller. Our neighborhood gets super busy for Halloween--each street feels like a block party. There are people everywhere, and it is so easy to trick-or-treat up and down each street. This was the first year that Parker was really excited to go out trick-or-treating; we didn't have to twist his arm to get him to walk up to the front doors and knock and say trick-or-treat. There were a few houses that were a little too scary for him, so we just passed on those. He was perfectly content to do just a few blocks before heading home to "organize" his candy. Overall, I think Parker had a pretty fun Halloween this year.

Dad's Night

Parker and Jared attended the annual "Dad's Night" at Parker's school last week. The dads and kids all enjoy ice cream and check out the classrooms and meet the teachers and listen to stories. To be honest, I think this event is rather overwhelming for both Jared and Parker--it tends to be really crowded and hectic--but I know that it is a special thing for both of them, too. I know Parker was really excited to have his dad come to school with him, and it's nice for Jared to have a chance to see where Parker goes and what he does and who the other kids are in his class; now Jared can picture the scene when Parker gives us the scoop on his school day at dinner :) 

Parker was so excited for Jared to get home so that they could go to Dad's Night; he drew this sign with directions to the school and taped it to the wall next to the front door so that they would be sure to make it there.

Well, he definitely got the favorite food and the bike riding right :)

Last Day of Summer School

Parker had his last day of summer school yesterday, so he has been released into the wild until mid-September. Perhaps this is what they were symbolizing when they had each child release a balloon into the air at the end of their last day! Although I can't imagine that this is a very environmentally friendly practice, it sure was cute and it still kind of chokes me up just thinking about it. I'm so glad Parker was able to attend a month of summer school, it gave him something to do three days a week--fun projects to make, water days, bubble days, special snacks (S'mores! Ice cream sandwiches!)--and he made a new buddy. 

I thought this list of the kids' favorite sea animals was so funny--note the differences in choices between the girls and the boys in the class. They sure do start that whole gender stereotyping thing young...

Preschool Treasures

I must admit that one of my favorite things about Preschool is all of the cute crafts that Parker brings home nearly every day. Some of them are intricate paintings or collages covered in yarn and colored pasta and glitter, while some of them seem more like reckless scribbles and lonely stickers. But they are all treasures to me. His teachers made him an awesome book as an end-of-the-year gift, filled with drawings that he did throughout the year and photos of him on special school days. He was so excited to get this book last week; we brought it home and sat right down on the front lawn and looked through the whole thing together. He told me stories about every drawing and photo, and then did the same thing for Jared that night. It felt so special. I just added this book, along with the rest of his end-of-the-year crafts, to a big plastic box that is full of basically every thing he ever created this year, which I will happily save forever. I hope that he has fun looking back through these treasures some day--I know I will. 

Last Day of School

Parker finished his first year of Preschool! Here he was on September 10, 2010--his first day of school--and June 9, 2011--his last day of school. I am so ridiculously proud of him for all of the growing he has done this year. I love his school, and think it has been such a positive influence on him. I'm thankful that he will be able to attend the same school again next year, his last year of Preschool before he starts Kindergarten--what??!!

An Early Mother's Day Celebration

Parker's class hosted a Mother's Day Tea for their moms today--it was so special! All of the moms came to school for the last hour of class; when we arrived, each mom had to go into the classroom one at a time, and their child presented them with a corsage that they had made. Then the whole class sang a song about loving their moms, served us all fruit salad and strawberry bread that they made themselves, and then gave us gifts they had made. The teachers and the kids put so much effort into everything, it was so sweet and I really appreciated it. Parker's corsage presentation made me a little teary :) It was great getting to spend a little bit of one-on-one time with Parker, which we don't get much any more these days!

Easter Party Recap

Parker had an Easter Party at preschool today, and he was as talkative as ever when I picked him up afterwards...I always love it when he wants to share all sorts of details about his school day with me on the way home. I also loved that he was still wearing his bunny ears when I picked him up. His school is off for spring break next week, and I'm really gonna miss having those precious six hours "to myself" (sort of)! :)

His Many Colored Days

Parker's class has been "celebrating colors" at school for the last couple of weeks. As part of the "celebration," the kids can wear or bring something to share that is the color of the day. The top picture shows Parker wearing his Bass Pro Shops hat for Green Day; he wore his shirt that Daddy got him from the Great Wall of China today for Orange Day. Parker's teacher put up a list of all the kids' favorite colors; Parker usually does say that black is his favorite color, so I was proud of him for sharing his true feelings in class! Cute.


(p.s. I didn't realize that Parker was feeling really sick at the time that I took the Orange photo of him today, thus the strange look on his face. By the time I got him home from school, I realized that he had a fever and was feeling pretty miserable. He fell asleep on the couch within minutes of arriving home, and has been hot and flushed all day. He is finding the energy for his typical night-time crazies right now, but I have a feeling he's not really better yet...poor guy.)