a summer cut

Field Day 2010

Addison's Field Day was a few weeks ago. It was supposed to be on a Friday, but, at the last minute, was moved to the following Tuesday for fear of thunderstorms. That meant, I was late and had to leave early. I was late since I had to drop Libby off at preschool and I had to leave early because Levi has to eat lunch and get a good nap in before 1:30 on Tuesdays. We leave at 1:40 to pick Libby up, come home for about 45 minutes to wait for Addi to get home, and then leave for the girls' gymnastics classes. It's way too late after gymnastics for him to nap and I've tried letting him go without a nap. We spent the hour in the car and I might have cried the entire drive home! All that blah, blah, blah was to explain why I don't have many pictures. These, with a couple whole-class pictures are truly all I took.

Addi probably takes the most pleasure in this first one. This little boy was also in her kinder class and he likes to aggravate her. A lot. She couldn't wait until school was out so she could tell me his clothes were still wet at the end of the day!

Then it was her turn!

Levi was content in the stroller for just a little while.

That smile looks like she had a great time. Next year I'll be running around watching both my girls at Field Day since kinder-2nd grades go at the same time.

silly girl

Libby in Bryan's pajama pants...I caught her right before she attempted to walk down the stairs in those things!

2 Gymnasts and a Monkey

day ???

REP, May 2006

We are alive!

We've just been really busy lately and I neglected posting about our fun weekend trip to College Station. It's been almost 2 weekends ago now - oops!

Anyway, Bryan was in Houston most of the week, so the kids and I drove to College Station on Saturday morning. But, first we stopped (and met Grandpa and Uncle Brett) in Levi, TX. I wanted to get a picture of the "Levi, Population 50" sign. However, there isn't one, so I had to settle for this road sign. It was the only thing, besides an address on a mailbox, that said Levi. Oh, if you're wondering, Levi was totally impressed with the town he was named after. :)

Our next stop was in Reagan, TX. My sister in law gave me a black and white photo of the old Reagan post office building one year for my birthday. It made me cry, so I wanted to go back and get a picture of our Reagan standing in front of the building. Sadly, it is now an eating establishment, but Grandpa thought we should still get the picture. I'm glad we did. The next time we drive through it could be gone. (And, yes the wind was fierce. You just have to take my word for it that the little girl sitting atop my father's shoulders is, in fact, Reagan.)

Next stop - Olsen Field for peanuts and popcorn...

and snow cones...

and cotton candy!

We said goodbye to Grandpa and Uncle Brett as they headed home and we hit the road for Houston. We met Bryan at his hotel and everyone fell asleep early. The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, loaded the car, dropped off Bryan's rental and set out for College Station again. That afternoon we attended a ring ceremony for one of Bryan's closest friends from college who gave his life in service to our country. It was a moving ceremony with plenty of memories and old friends.

There were a lot of people there, including Governor Perry. This thrilled Addi beyond words since her class recently finished their Texas unit.

We're not so sure Levi's a republican!

Levi finally warmed up to the govenor while he tried to teach Levi how to stick his thumb up without sticking any other fingers up. The girls have it and Levi sort of got it. (Incidentally, we're not so sure Levi's an Aggie either :)

Major Glenn and his family were there.

A bunch of kids were there.

Christian was there. His mom and dad were there too, but I didn't get a picture with them.

I did, however, snap this picture of my child licking the glass inside a revolving door right before I told him to stop licking the glass because that is disgusting!

It was a good weekend. Ideally we would've had time to walk around campus and bore our children to tears, but Addi had school the next day and it's a 3+ hour drive back home. The girls did have fun in this huge Aggie ring outside the Former Students building. Levi was asleep in Bryan's arms or he would've been right in the middle of this picture.

After a meal at Wings N More (yummy!) with the Starrs, we made the trip back home.

And, I've been recovering ever since. :) Not really, but that would be a good excuse for my lack of blogging!

day 109 - another hint...

day 108

We had a great time this past weekend and when I get a chance I'm going to sit down and devote a post or two to our activities. For now, I'll just leave you with this hint. :)

day 106

I couldn't resist disprupting this sweetness the other night when the 3 were all snug in a chair reading a bible story. And disrupt it, I did. After the last picture, the younger 2 were off the chair and in my lap with pleas of "I want to see! I want to see !" Should've left well enough alone. :)

day 105 - Rodeo Day

Last Thursday was Rodeo Day at preschool! Libby declared it "the most fun day at preschool ever!" Her class had just ended a Texas unit. Another reason I love being back here...my kids are learning about their home state starting in preschool!

She got to rope a rocking horse.

And, after she had her picture taken while sitting in a saddle, she chose this picture of a longhorn to color. I tried to move a picture of a Mockingbird or a Bluebonnet in front of her. But, she insisted on coloring a longhorn and in orange. I don't know where we've gone wrong. :)

Moments after snapping that picture, she claimed I distracted her requiring her to scribble out "REAN" replacing it with "REAGAN". I wasn't allowed to take any more pictures after that.

Well, except for this one, but it was taken after we got home. Do you think she likes her cowgirl boots and cowgirl hat?

day 103

Sleeping Beauties

day 101

Untitled from ginny parker on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday, GRANDPA! We love you!

Addi is missing, I didn't get the video done before she left for her sleep over, but she called to wish him a happy birthday earlier. She'll be mad when she finds out she was left out. :)

day 100

Here she is...in Addi's old Easter dress. She was thrilled to lay it out with her Easter basket last night. :)

day 99

Reagan loves pretty things. Most girls do, I suppose. Her older sister certainly does and I do, but her enjoyment of pretty things is on a whole other level from Addi's and mine. She's been so excited about wearing her Easter dress this year. She had planned on wearing it to preschool tomorrow, but I just couldn't let her. That girl is messy! There's rarely a day she doesn't walk out of her classroom covered in some sort of food, marker and/or paint stain. Don't get me wrong, I love that she's being a kid at preschool! But, I just couldn't send her in her new Easter dress. Instead I pulled out Addi's Easter dress she wore when she was 4. I love that dress and would've had Libby wear it this year, but I had trouble coming up with an option for Levi. I just don't think I could've put him in lavender. (Bryan might have put his foot down :) I originally saved it thinking Libby would wear it and now she will. Of course, she can wear it to church also...just not on Easter. So, here are some scanned pictures of my girls from April 2007. I love them because I'm reminded how scared Libs was of the bunnies. She attacked the bunnies the year before, so that's totally what I expected. Instead she shook with fright!

day 98

I spent way too much time today prepping bribing begging coaxing Levi to perform for the video camera. After all that investment, I couldn't let the vidoes sit on my camera until later in the week, so I spent even more time uploading them to the computer and them embedding them into this post. I mean a really absurd amount of time. I should be embarrassed. Instead, I'll just spend a little more time explaining the videos. :)

I'd noticed Levi could count to 3. Not super-impressive since he's 2 and all, but last week I thought I'd teach him to count to 5. I said, "Let's count, Levi. One..." He followed my lead and said, "Two..." I got to 5 and he said, "Six..." We got all the way to 10! I was impressed with that since I'd worked on counting with him exactly one time, including that time. So, I did what anyone would. I called Bryan at work and had our son perform. I then had him do it again when Libby got home from preschool and then again when Addi got home from school. Partly because I was proud and partly because it was just so darn cute! Bryan mentioned getting it on video and that's what I set out to do today.

However, Levi was done performing. We tried about 20 times. I even promised him a pop-pop (lollipop) even though he'd already had one two earlier at the store. (I know! I never, ever would've have given one of the girls candy to keep them busy in a store. I'm so ashamed I just admitted it! Does it make it any better that they're organic??)

He never counted. While the tape was rolling, that is. Every time I stopped recording he begged to see and then he answered every question I asked. Every question he'd refused to answer while being recorded. But, what I got was good enough and then I thought I'd share one of the less frustrating other attempts. Enjoy!

Note: For some reason there are 3 videos here with the first 2 being the same. I have tried deleting one. I'm not spending anymore time on it. Sorry!

http://vimeo.com/10565721 from ginny parker on Vimeo.

leviouttakes from ginny parker on Vimeo.

day 97

Think of this as a Before

and After, if you will.

Bryan strategically packs for trips. He will spend hours loading the van just right the day before we leave for vacation. We're only allowed to use certain bags for clothing because they've passed his test for optimal conformity in our luggage carrier.

Normally I pack and am finishing with packing while he loads. However, we decided to leave a day early from our camping trip to avoid the impending snow. We decided earlier in the afternoon, but didn't really start packing up until early evening. We'd been warned rain was in the forecast for the evening, so, naturally we wanted to be in the car before it began. I decided I'd help Bryan load up the van since he tends to take a while. I'm all for order, but when it's time to go home, I really just want to throw the stuff in the van, slam the door and hit the road.

In the first picture I tried. Really, I did. I just couldn't make myself stand and stare at the back of the van for 15 minutes mentally rearranging our sleeping bags and mats and quilts. Needless to say, Bryan started all over and came up with the better solution seen in the second photo. :) As soon as I finished, I stood back and began to laugh. I knew nothing would last with my way. Then I grabbed the camera. Because I know my husband and I knew he would produce order pretty enough for a picture.

And, that's one of the many reasons I love him so much. :)