Mommy and Parker

Here is Parker's school photo from this year (his second year of Preschool), and my Kindergarten school photo (from when we were living in England). Lately I've been seeing a lot of myself in Parker, as well as my brother Ian, and one day I thought of this photo of myself and just had to see these two pictures side by side. I love Parker's freckles these days :)

Bon Voyage to Dee and Collen!

Dee and Collen were leaving from San Diego for a cruise to Hawaii on the same day that we went for a family outing in the Bay. So we just had to drive the fishing boat down to the cruise ship docks to wish them a Bon Voyage before they crossed the ocean. We made a few cell phone calls trying to get ahold of Dee, in the hopes that we could wave goodbye, and luckily enough she and Collen were able to step out on their deck and see us and we all had a good wave before we headed home and they headed to Hawaii! It was pretty cool, and it's pretty ridiculous that I'm just now getting around to posting these photos, considering that they are already back from their trip! 

A Day in San Diego Bay

School Christmas Party

It's been a long time since I've posted on our blog, so I'll try to do some catching up. I've just felt too overwhelmed by photos since Christmas and our trip to Yosemite. But I'll do my best!

Cozy Bears

I took the boys out for a neighborhood wagon ride around dusk this evening. By the time we were on our way back home, a lot of the houses along the way had turned their Christmas lights on. We are planning on spending a few nights in Yosemite after Christmas, so we borrowed some cozy clothes for Levi from Cousin Forest who lives up in cold country, Montana. This was Levi's first time wearing mittens, and he was pretty curious about them at first. Luckily, he kept them on the whole time, along with Forest's fleece jacket, and was warm and toasty when we got home. I also got Parker a super warm and cozy jacket, which he loves, and which should keep him nice and warm in Yosemite. We definitely usually dress like beach people in the snow, so hopefully we will be a little bit prepared :) Although I think he kind of looks like he's going out hunting for caribou or something in the camo jacket...

Sick-Day Crafting

Welcome to winter--our family is deep in cold and flu season once again. Although I love Christmas time, and have always looked forward to this time of year, now that Parker is in school I'm finding that I miss summer more and more. Why? Because we are all miraculously healthy all summer long, and then once winter rolls around, all four of us stew in colds for months on end. Parker has been under the weather for a week or so now, and had his worst day yesterday. He is much better today, although I think he might have to miss another day of school tomorrow (sadly, because it's his last day before Christmas break). We did a little half-hearted craft this afternoon, since he was getting bored hanging out in the house although at the same time he's really not healthy enough to go out and play (and Levi is on his first super sick day of this round of illness). On the bright side, Parker did get to wear his apron that I made him a while ago out of a dish towel--he picked out the ribbon himself :)

Levi's First Word

Is "Ball"! 


Although he is quite the little noisemaker, and although he's made a few sounds that have seemed like words, I'm calling his most definite first word as ball. He says it whenever he sees a ball or a ball-like object, often and consistently. We're still waiting for a definite "Mama" "Dada" or "Parker," though :)