Morning Prayer

I overheard Addison praying in her playroom a few minutes ago.

"Good morning, Jesus.

Good morning, God.

I love you, Jesus.

I love you, God.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.

Bye.

Amen, Jesus.

Amen, God. "

Thought it might make you smile today.

Christmas Eve

Our house had a pretty laid-back Christmas Eve. Libby has been sick and had a rough night, so she stayed home with Bryan while Addi and I went to church. We ate leftover pizza for lunch and then the girls went down for their naps. Bryan watched football all afternoon and I baked cookies. Tonight we ate (in our dining room for the first time since we moved into this house almost 2 years ago!) brisket, Mexican rice, homemade salsa and tortillas...yummy! And we let Addi and Libby open a couple gifts from us. They each got a pair of pajamas and a book to share. Addi made sure to leave cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for Rudolph before she went to bed. Now it's time for Santa's elves to get busy :) Have a Merry Christmas!

Our Little Angel

Last night was our church's Christmas play. Addison was an angel and she did a wonderful job!

Hmmmm...

80% of 5 years olds know there have only been white presidents

1/3 believe it is against the law for a black person to be elected president

source: University of Texas

Before my kids woke this morning I caught most of a segment on Good Morning America. It was about race, but what struck me was this little tidbit that flashed on the screen during the story (see above). 80%????!!! Of 5 year olds??! I must really be failing as a parent - I don't believe Addi can name or recognize 1 president, including the current one! She's only 4, but does a year really make that much difference? I mean, silly me, I've been working with her on letter sounds, and simple words, and patterns, and numbers when, apparently, I also need to be squeezing in some US history! Come on, people! I don't know where they got the 5 year olds or how the questions were asked, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that there were some major flaws in that study. Not that I'm trying to imply that anything to do with the University of Texas would be flawed :) Really though, I work with 3 and 4 year olds (in a preschool in Raleigh which was named the 3rd most educated city in the US) and have taught 6-12 year olds in the past, so I know a little something about the knowledge of a typical child. Typical 5 year olds don't know there have only been white presidents in this country. That is plain ridiculous! Most couldn't name more than 1 or 2 presidents and would only recognize their faces on money. I'm not sure what the GMA folks wanted to prove by flashing this on screen, except maybe you can find a study that "proves" anything if you have time to read all 20,400,000 hits that pop up when you Google 'presidents'. Anyway, I better get going...have to download pictures of all 40+ presidents to hang up in Addi's room :)

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Bryan's birthday was yesterday and we celebrated by going to lunch, eating cake, and spending time together. Libby, Addi and I are Bryan's biggest fans. We hope that he knows how much love and support he has from his girls.

What we love most about Daddy/Bryan:
1. his parents
2. his special whistle when he walks in the door
3. he plays with his daughters
4. he has made me more conscience of getting places early
5. his silliness
6. he feeds me a snack when MaMa is taking too long making supper
7. he makes me "breakbust " every morning
8. he loves us always
9. when I have a bad day he is the person I want to talk to

There are so many more, but there are 3 of us here trying to all get in something. Can you guess whose is who's (whom's?...I should know this!)? We won't mention how old Bryan was, if you don't already know. He was a little grumpy about it :)

We are so thankful for Daddy/Bryan and can't wait to experience many more of life's celebrations with him.

Love your girls,
Gin, Addison GrAce PARker, and Libs

"Goodbye to texas university,

so long to the orange and the white..."

What a game! All the Parkers watched the Aggies BTHOtu on Friday - the girls even learned how to whoop! Well, Miss Reagan's is more of a yell and Addi's is quite high-pitched. They have a few years to perfect it!

Watching that game makes me wish we could replay ou and nebraska! I'd take that win anyday if we could only win one of those 3 games though :)

Our house is ready to watch those number 11 ranked Texas Aggies play some basketball out here in b-ball country! (When did we get good at basketball?!)

Happy Thanksgiving

Friday morning Addison's preschool class hosted a Thanksgiving breakfast for their families. It was very sweet and I know her teachers put in a lot of time and patience in making the food, decorations, costumes, and entertainment perfect. I got most of the "show" on video. Enjoy!



What the Parkers are thankful for:

1. good health - except for the occasional ear infection or cold
2. Bryan's job - how else would we have discovered the wonderful city of Raleigh, North Carolina and all its wonderful people and it provides us with more than we need
3. our home - it isn't perfect, but projects give us something to do
4. cars - reliable and suited for our needs
5. computers - otherwise I might have to write a letter and mail it
6. phones - otherwise I might have to write a letter and mail it
7. princess stuff - so we can watch the girls dance around in tulle and sequins
8. A&D - takes care of diaper rash fast
9. preschool - especially Mrs. Teresa, Mrs. Nicole, Mrs. Sarah, and Mrs. Suzanne
10. extended families - they support us and love us always
11. Zoe - she could possibly be the best dog in the world
12. airplanes - they make a trip to Texas with 2 kids much easier
13. service men and women (and their families) - they make sacrifices many Americans can't fathom
14. Mexican food - we can't wait to fill our bellies on our next Texas trip
15. foodnetwork.com - it is where I go to plan my weekly menus
16. bananas - Libby Lu eats one for breakfast daily
17. cereal - Addi couldn't live without it
18. Addison Grace and Reagan Elizabeth - Bryan and I feel that we're the most blessed parents in the entire world...they light up our lives
19. you - our friends and family reading our blog
20. Jesus Christ - He died so we could live.

A Conversation

Addi: "Daddy, look at Larry-Boy! We get him for the weekend and Mommy might let him sleep with me!"
Bryan: "What happened to Scooby?" (Larry-Boy's predecessor)
Addi: "He's in heaven with the squirrels. Right, Mommy?" (referring to the squirrels that had nested in our chimney)

Larry-Boy

That's the name of the most recent "wildlife" to enter our home. Remember, we first had the mouse in the garage and then the squirrels in the chimney. Actually, I don't think I ever blogged about the squirrels. Well, I don't have the energy (or time) to go into that now - just think Christmas Vacation...without the tree and with 3 squirrels! If you really want to know the details, just ask the next time we talk. The only differences this time are Larry-Boy was invited and, more importanly, he is in a cage. Addi is thrilled to have him and is begging me to allow him to sleep in her room. Larry-Boy is our guest for the weekend and will be returned to his perch at preschool on Monday morning. I was at least smart enough (this year) not to sign up to host the gerbil/mouse/hamster during Thanksgiving. I just have to keep reminding myself that he is one of God's creatures and Addi will (hopefully) not grow up to be as squirmy around rodents as her Momma :)

Happy Birthday, Uncle Brett!

Libby isn't feeling too well today, so she isn't her usual active self in this birthday greeting the girls sang for Uncle Brett. Sorry, Uncle Brett, I wish she could be more entertaining for you...next year! We love you.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Clay

Happy Birthday, Miss Addi Grace!

On Saturday, the 4th, our baby turned 4! Not so much a baby anymore :( We let Addison open her presents from us in the morning. She had already gotten a bike from Nana and Poppa, a package from Meme and Papa, and a package from Grammy and Grandpa. We let her open the packages when they came...lots of cute clothes, 2 movies, a Barbie (her first one) with Barbie clothes, and fun princess crafts. Her party began at noon and was at Playspace Children's Museum. It was so much fun! The kids got to decorate their own cakes (got rid of Halloween candy!), sang Happy Birthday to Addi, "helped" her open presents, and played. By the time we arrived home, both girls were ready for naps.

4 (+4) Things I Love About Addi

1. Addison Grace is 100% girl!
2. She loves people...young or old, boy or girl, family, friend or stranger. And everyone is her best friend.
3. Addi earnestly believes she is the best dancer and singer in the entire world.
4. She spends most all day, every day with me and still asks me to put her to bed almost every night.
5. Her face lights up each evening when she hears her Daddy's whistle as he walks in the door.
6. Addi likes to ask, "Do you want to snuggle me?"
7. She never sings the right lyrics to songs (see number 3). For example, she was singing the Bear Necessities song from The Jungle Book in the car this weekend. It goes, "It's just the bear necessities, the simple bear necessities. Forget about your worries and your strife." She sings "It's just the bear recipes, the simple bear recipes. Forget about your worries and your stripes." And the list goes on...
8. Addison is super protective of Libby. She adores her little sister and her little sister adores her.

hbta and bthoou

That's Happy Birthday to Addison and Beat the H@#& Outta ou! I have pictures to post of Addi's birthday party, but will have to do it later when I have more time. I really just wanted to say that Bryan and I are getting pumped about the game tonight. We got a babysitter and are going out to watch it. We recorded Game Day while we were at the birthday party and have come home to watch. Of course, that is really getting us excited! So...we love you Addi (and I'll devote a real post to your birthday later) and Gig' Em Aggies....Whoop!

Watch where you step

or you may crunch on a mouse! Yep, that's right, I experienced the most disgusting thing ever to happen to me in recent memory, perhaps even my life, today....I stepped on a mouse! In a way it is incredible. I couldn't have stepped on a mouse if I was trying (not that I would ever try), but I happen to step at just the right time to hear a "crunch", look down, and see the little thing twitching. Here's the story. This morning I was loading my girls into the car which was in the garage (garage door open). I buckled Addi and as I was walking around the back side, I heard (and felt) something crunch under my foot. I took a couple more steps and kind of thought to look back because it was certainly something more substantial than a leaf. There was a little mouse laying on its back and twitching a leg. I screamed. I jumped. I almost had a heart attack. All I could think of was that it was still alive and I didn't want the thing making it all the way into our garage and then into our house. The thought that I weigh probably a million times more than what it weighs and the crunching was all of its little bones breaking didn't cross my mind. I was in survival mode. It was my mortal enemy! So, I worked up my courage to step out of the car and peek around...still twitching. I ran inside to get the broom, decided I didn't want our dirty broom touching a mouse (it made sense to me at that moment), ran back to the garage to get something else that could be used to scoop it up and away. There were shovels of all weights and sizes, however, I felt a rake would be more appropriate for this job (again, it made sense to me at that moment). It is one of the rakes with long, curved, flimsy spikes on it. When I tried to scoop the mouse out of the garage (keep in mind it was laying about 2 inches inside the doorway) and into the yard, it fell into the ridge where the driveway concrete meets the foundation of the garage. There it still lays because I am not nearly as brave as Kat! Kat, how did you work up your nerve?! You are my hero :) Unfortunately for my viewers, I am not about to walk out there and take a picture to add to this post. I did call Bryan. His reaction was a little different than mine. He thought it was one of the coolest things I've ever done...glad I could impress you, Babe :) But, he clearly understood that he will spending hours of time laying traps in the garage and Decon under the crawlspace. I keep envisioning armys of mice making strategic battleplans to invade my house. Apparently my feet are the only defense we need, but since I am a wimp, we will be using other means to defend our domain. As I said before, watch where you step! Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket and be thankful the weather is nice with no thunderstorms in the forecast :)

Happy Birthday to Cousin Ethan!

Ethan turned 2 today! We wish so much that we could be with him and his family to celebrate the big day. Since we can't, Addi and Libby are sending a special message his way...

Walking and Marriage

I finally got some video of Miss Libby Lu's wobbly steps. She is showing great improvement with each passing day. Of course now she believes she's too big to crawl down the stairs and will "uhh, uhh, uhh" at the top of the stairs until I come help her "walk" down. All the teachers at preschool comment that she looks too small to be walking :), but here she is...
*warning - you may want to turn down the volume on your computer to avoid blasting your eardrums with shrieking "Momma-encouragement" :)



Yesterday Addi announced to Bryan and me that Joshua is her favorite friend and she is going to marry him! She has been talking about this Josh kid for a while now and couldn't wait to introduce me to him at preschool today. Apparently he's the little Ladies' Man of the class and seemed to enjoy all the attention he was getting. I don't think Bryan is enjoying any of this and it hasn't even really started yet:)

We've been...

very busy this past month. I started teaching preschool 5 mornings a week (which means the girls both go to their classes 5 times a week) and will continue with that through October. It has been great and I will miss this group of 4 year-olds when their teacher returns from maternity leave. Bryan's parents flew in on the 22nd of September. We had a great visit and they were wonderful houseguests. They cooked every night and kept my house neater than I usually do :) Nana and Poppa, you are welcome here anytime! (Even if you don't cook or clean!) Aunt Lisa, Uncle Clay and Ethan flew in on the 28th and we all loaded up and set out for the beach that same day. We spent 4 days on our most favorite NC beach, Sunset. It is peaceful, relaxing, and beautiful. We hung out in the beach house, hunted for sand dollars, shells and starfish (by the way Parkers/Starrs, Starry the starfish was apparently eaten by something while drying out on our deck...shhh, Addi hasn't noticed!), rode bikes on the beach, tried (some more successfully than others) some boogey-boarding, played games, took walks, and had a great time. Lisa has posted more pictures of our beach trip on her blog. We returned to Raleigh in time for Bryan's parents to adjust their packing and head to the airport. The Starrs stayed with us until the afternoon of October 3. Addi was so excited to have Ethan sleep in her room! They both slept on her trundle until Ethan kicked her off of it in the middle of the night :) I'm sure the next time they're here we will have to let Libby sleep somewhere in that room so the "new girl baby cousin" (as Addi calls her) will have a room to sleep in. Now I need to start planning for Halloween and Addison's birthday party. She already got a big present from Nana and Poppa when they visited - a new bike! Oh, one last update...Libby has joined the walking world! She took a few steps about a week ago. Since then she has taken 3 or 4 steps at a time a few times a day. Today, though she was walking like crazy at preschool. Her teachers said she was even turning around without losing her balance! I've tried to get some video footage of it. When I'm successful, I'll post some of her first wobbly steps.

VIP

Our Very Important Person of the day is my grandmother, Rea Miller...better known (at our house) as Ma. Her birthday was several days ago and I completely forgot. Sorry, Ma and Happy Birthday. She is a loving and kind woman and we love her very much. She was with us the day that Libby was born. (In fact, Libby's real name, Reagan Elizabeth, is partly after her.) We miss you, Ma and hope we get to see you again real soon.

God is So Good

"God is so good.
God is so good.
God is so good.
He's so good to me."

You know the song...the next verses are "He answers prayer" and "I love Him so". Addi knows this song also. She was sitting on my lap last night during our small group singing her heart out to this song. I didn't really know she knew "God is So Good", but it almost moved me to tears hearing her sweet, young voice singing those simple words. It made me reflect on how easily I get caught up in things that don't really matter. The next time I start getting overwhelmed or feeling sorry for myself, I hope I will remember listening to my sweet girl sing that song.

13 Months and a Day

Miss Reagan is now 13 months old (as of yesterday). She has such a funny personality....loves to laugh and loves making others laugh even more! In honor of her 13th month, I have listed 13 funny things she does.
1. Some of her favorite "toys" are remote controls and telephones. She treats both like phones, puts them up to her head (near her ear and sometimes actually to her ear) and says "DaDa". Sometimes she hands the phone/remote to me to "talk" which is really funny to her:)
2. She has also started picking up toys, plates, cups, etc. with her mouth and will then try and get me to put the other side in my mouth. If I do, she thinks it's fun to play a sort-of tug-of-war with our mouths. Probably sounds pretty gross, but she will just laugh and laugh...how could I resist?!
3. The minute she hears music her little feet start moving. The more upbeat the music, the faster she moves. The faster she moves, the more she laughs.
4. She has mastered crawling up into different rocking chairs and then making them rock and rocking makes her laugh.
5. A dog can bark a mile away and Libby will hear it, proceed with her imitation, giggle, imitate again, giggle, and so on.
6. She barks to imitate just about any animal:)
7. Every night as I am taking her to bed, Bryan will ask her for goodnight sugars. Just as he is about to kiss her she will turn her head and look over my other shoulder. He will move closer to her face and she will turn her head again, back to the first side. They will go back and forth and both get so tickled!
8. Libby loves to shake her head...vigorously...until she loses her balance.
9. She "cruises" around the furniture making this panting noise...all the time!
10. She loves to crawl around while holding something in each hand. The more noise the somethings make, the better.
11. Libby has discovered the pots and pans. I find them all over the house!
12. She grabs produce and puts it into the cart while we are grocery shopping.
13. Libby has discovered how fun it can be to be chased. She crawls as fast as she can away from anyone she feels might be trying to chase her...laughing the whole time!

What joy she brings to our household! I remember loving each new age/stage with Addi and the same holds true for Libby. She's more fun every day!

Lunch Conversation

I have started calling Addison "Little B" because there are times she says exactly what her father would say in the same situation. An example of this was a conversation we had at lunch today.

Addi: What did you do while I was at preschool, Mommy?
Mom: Well, I got a lot of cleaning done. I cleaned all 3 bathrooms, dusted upstairs, vacuumed upstairs, cleaned off the kitchen table and island...
Addi: You forgot to clean behind you on the counter.

To that I told her she should be pleased with what got done instead of picking out what isn't done. She thought that was hilarous. After she finished laughing she said, "Noooo, you didn't finish cleaning!"
She keeps me on my toes :)

Poor Sick Libby

Libby has caught a cold at preschool. She woke up Thursday with a runny nose, but she never ran fever or coughed or even seemed to feel badly. Her runny nose improved so I took her to preschool on Friday. Well, this morning she was much worse. She took 3 long naps today and was as still as could be after each....just wanted me to hold her. Those of you who have spent any time around Libby know that she is never still! While I would never wish her sick, I have enjoyed the snuggling I usually miss. Bryan took this picture after her last nap. Sorry it's a little blurry.

2nd Day of Preschool

Yesterday was the first day of preschool for the girls, but I thought, "Why be like everyone else and take pictures the first day?" So, I took (or tried to take) pictures today, the second day :) No really, I forgot the camera yesterday. And the pictures I was able to take this morning are not that great. My children have turned into runners and screamers when they see a camera, so my only option was to snap the camera while they were both strapped to their car seats! Anyway, everything went well yesterday. Both Addi and Libby are enrolled 5 mornings a week now. This is only because I am going to work for a teacher who is having a baby. She is due September 20, so I could be starting anyday now. I'll be in her 4 year old class while she is on maternity leave. After that ends, I will teach science to the 3 and 4 year olds three mornings a week and the girls will only be going on those mornings. Addi told me her class did "noffing" yesterday and Libby kept trying to get back into her room after I picked her up. I debated about taking Libby at all until I had to...she is after all not even 13 months old and what am I going to do with no kids??....blog all morning?! But, I want her to get used to it (and start getting used to no morning nap), so she went yesterday and today. I think I'll play it day by day with her until I start working. We'll see how it all goes :)

I forgot

to post Libby's 1 year stats.

August 18,2005 - Birth Day
6 pounds, 15.8 ounces
19 1/2 inches

August 18, 2006 - 1 year
18 pounds, 14.5 ounces
28 3/4 inches

Libby grew so much in a year. It is amazing the changes babies go through in their first year.

Franklin, NC

This past week Addi, Libby and I met my family at a mountain house near Franklin, NC. We had a wonderful time and got to see a very beautiful area. The girls did okay on the drive (it took quite a bit longer than Mapquest predicted!). We got to walk under waterfalls, go rafting, do arts and crafts, play games, shop, and spend lots of time together. Because of Ernesto, we ended up coming home a couple days early. It was my objective to miss the bad weather, but I think I ended up driving through the worst of it :) We are getting back into our routines and catching up on sleep - Addi and Libby are still sleeping late! Preschool starts this week, so I guess that was our farewell to summer! It was a perfect end and I feel blessed to have been able to spend that week with my daughters and family.

and more birthday pictures

....still having problems...
this is getting ridiculous :)

more birthday pictures

**I've been having trouble getting my pictures to upload. That is one reason that these birthday posts are just appearing. I couldn't get all the pictures I wanted attached to the last post, so here are some more.

A Day of Firsts

Although August 18th was Libby's first birthday, we had her first birthday party on Saturday the 19th. My grandparents (Meme and Papa) were able to drive from Texas to join us. Their attendance made the day very special. Libby enjoyed her first piece of pizza (cheese) at her party. She actually didn't make a peep the whole time she was eating. Every time I looked at her, she was stuffing another piece in her mouth! After pizza, we sang "Happy Birthday" to her and she tried her first cake (chocolate w/white icing and sprinkles). She liked the pizza better than the cake. Bryan finally "dug" into it for her because she just sort of picked at the icing and sprinkles. She seemed to like the actual cake better than the icing. What she liked most of all was her first ice cream (Blue Bell - Homemade Vanilla, of course!). Blue Bell is not sold in stores here, but we have discovered that Outback restaurants use it for their desserts. So, every couple months or so we have them order another 3 gallon tub for us. We got a fresh one just for Libby's party and Papa shared his bowl of ice cream with her. I'm not sure he got to eat any! It was a fun day of firsts for our sweet Libby Lu and we look forward to many more firsts with her over the next year.

In the past week....

Libby has grown so much. It seems as though she knows her 1st birthday is right around the corner. She is really responding to and interacting with people. She starts clapping if you sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" and kisses the pictures in her books every night. She's very stingy about giving "real" people kisses, but we can hardly get her to stop kissing pictures of people long enough to turn the pages. We also can hardly keep her off the stairs. (I even had a dream last night that she figured out how to walk down them!) However, the most growth in this past week has been her hair (see picture in post below). It is dark and curly and pretty thick. Frankly, I'm having trouble taming it.

Weekend Time

Saturday morning Bryan, the girls, Zoe and I went on a walk. We kind of hung out in the front yard when we returned home...Bryan pulled weeds, Libby played with an umbrella, Addison "walked" Zoe. We were pretty lazy the rest of Saturday. After church on Sunday the girls ate and took their naps. Then Bryan took Addi and Libby out on their swings while I prepared supper. We didn't do much more than spend time together and it was a good weekend. I'm glad we took advantage of not having much to do this weekend as that doesn't seem to happen enough.

A Girl and Her Dog

You can tell from the pictures that Zoe wasn't completely cooperative while Addi "walked" her.