Christmas Week

Whew! We had a full 5 days starting Christmas Eve. There are so many pictures and stories to share, but I will try to narrow them down to just the best ones. The picture to the left is showing an ornament given to me from the Capra's (my older sis Leann and her family). It is Parker and his cousin Lily in their Santa photos (Parker's photo is from 2007). OK... on to our 5 days of Christmas...

Christmas Eve

It's been a tradition for Jake's grandparents Art and Hallie to throw a Christmas Eve party and we've been going as a couple for the last 10 Christmases! Jake's cousins were little when I first joined the group, and now they're practically all grown up. We have some new additions to that side of the family (not all of whom could attend).

Youngest Baby - Alyssa (Jake's cousin's baby)

Jennae, Ken and Alyssa

Unfortunately, I didn't get too many pictures of the large group of attendees because Parker was running around like a crazy dude getting into trouble, but here are some fun shots of him from the night.

Christmas Day

Parker had gone to bed later than usual on Christmas Eve because of the party and so ended his week and a half or so streak of sleeping in. Seriously, he went from sleeping 12.5 - 13 hours to 10 that night. I blame it on the noisy reindeer outside his window. So we all got up early, put on the Channel 9/KOST 103 Yule Log, and let Parker open his gift from us and his great grandparents Art and Hallie. Strangely enough, he got puzzles from both them and us! He loved them and played with them all day. What a nice quiet way to spend a rainy Christmas day! I didn't even change out of my PJ's.

December 26th

My parents, younger brother Richie and younger sister Sarah came to visit. We spent most of the time chatting, taking a little walk, and then eating at Islands. Parker does not get to see my folks very often since they live in Texas, so they tried to spend as much time with him as possible. They had a fun time singing with him at the restaurant, and Parker showed off by eating almost his whole quesadilla, his whole container of applesauce and quite a few chips. He loves eating out because it's a huge treat after my so-so cooking.

With a little help from my strange father (OK, so you can see from where I inherited it), Parker also got to open a present from his Auntie Sarah. He got his very own computer! He was so thrilled!

December 27th

Yay! With the addition of Leann, Greg and Lily, my whole (immediate) family was finally together! We just spent the day hanging out, opening presents, cooking, eating and playing with the kids. Jake and I made soup and cornbread for lunch and then Leann made a fancy restaurant style meal with roasted lemon rosemary chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus and spinach salad. The only thing missing was the restaurant ambience... kids that wouldn't nap and folding tables in a tiny space made for quite the experience!

Auntie Sarah and the Capra's went all out with the presents. There were some fun gag gifts, including the huge magnifying lenses for my Dad, Brown Bread (we seriously used to eat this bread from a can all the time), and mopping slippers. Parker was hooked up with quite a few gifts by the Capra's, but his favorite gift from them was a huge noisy police car. My parents' gift for Parker arrived in the mail just in time and he had gotten a huge bead roller coaster toy from them (like the kind in dr.'s offices). He loves playing with it and asks to have it brought from his room to the living room every morning.

Below are some more fun photos from the day.

December 28th

We finally got a chance to get together with Jake's immediate family and his grandparents Chet and Betty. Jake's mom had made all her usual Christmas goodies and Jake and I had fun helping to decorate the sugar cookies. Parker was too enthralled with toys to want to participate, as much as I tried to coerce him.

But boy did we get hooked up this day! Parker got slippers, a whole Thomas the Tank Engine track along with a bunch of other engines and trains, an electric Lightening McQueen car, a fun interactive book from Chet and Betty, and his most exciting gift: his first tricycle! We had a blast trying it out that day and Dada has been taking him out on it almost every day since. Thank you Gma and Gpa Munns!

All in all it was a great Christmas and we are so grateful for the sacrifices that my family made to get here and for the generosity all our family bestowed on us this year. Now we are just enjoying having Jake home until Monday. Parker has been loving getting so much extra Dada time in.

Fun Video Friday - Singing!

Parker has been obsessed with singing lately. His two favorites at the moment are:

Jingle Bells

and

On Top of Spaghetti

Thankful Thursday - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Today is a special Christmas list of gratitude.

1. I'm grateful that Parker is still young enough to be grateful with just one gift.
2. I'm grateful for Parker's sweet "Merry Christmas, Mama... Merry Christmas, Dada."
3. I'm grateful for my husband who's been doing a lot of dishes and helping me with Parker today so I can relax a little after not getting enough sleep.
4. I'm grateful for the smell of cookies in the oven.
5. I'm grateful for a lazy, rainy day with an excuse to stay in my PJ's and purple robe.
6. I'm grateful for the KCAL 9/KOST 103 Yule Log. We had a fireplace this morning, and Christmas music!
7. I'm grateful for our cell phones so we could call lots of family without any extra charges!
8. I'm grateful we have so many family members who love us and support us through good times and bad.
9. I'm grateful that it's been three years since Jake has had a grand mal seizure and we're hoping it was the first and last one!
10. And last, but not least, I'm grateful we still have more days of celebration to look forward to this week as we spend time with family and friends!
    

Monday Blues

Warning: The following videos and pics are not for the weak of heart... or anyone who can't stand kids and their crying! About a week ago Parker woke up from his nap screaming uncontrollably. I tried taking him outside, asking him if he wanted food, holding him (which just led to him kicking me so that didn't last long), distracting him... I think the only thing that would have worked was turning on the TV, but I didn't want him to think that he could get to watch TV just by throwing a tantrum. Parker's biggest tantrums are always after his nap (anyone care to explain this to me?) Most of the regular tantrums from not getting his way are much shorter and it's much easier to distract him. I decided to get this tantrum on video because I wanted him to see himself when he was older, but upon the request of my friend Morgan (who has never seen a Parker tantrum), I am posting it for everyone to see. Enjoy!

About 15 minutes into the tantrum
(don't worry, the next videos aren't as long or torturous as this one)

About 30 minutes into the tantrum:

About 45 minutes into the tantrum:

About an hour into the tantrum I put a bowl of pretzels and some OJ on a table within his reach and slowly backed away. As soon as he noticed the snack, his crying calmed a little and he started eating, sniffling for a few more minutes just to show me that he still wasn't happy. After the food started to settle in him, he was fine for the rest of the evening, as you can see... the ham in him quickly came out.

Thankful Thursday

Whew! A long week. Rain. Sun. Rain. Sun. Kinda fun, but a little exhausting, too! I've been musing all day on things I'm thankful for this week. I'm so glad I decided to do this list each week because it has made me slow down a little and really be happy for what we are and have. So without further ado, here are some random samplings from my platter of gratefulness this week:

1. I'm grateful for our health insurance.
2. I'm grateful that I can take a shower in the morning now and Parker will amuse himself with his books and toys, or a video if absolute need be!
3. I'm grateful for a son who usually saves his biggest tantrums just for me (and not for the public).
4. I'm grateful for Christmas music.
5. I'm grateful for nights off from Parker (thanks, Mom and Dad Munns!) and hence date nights with hubby.
   
6. I'm grateful for a patient and kind husband who is willing to wake me up almost every night from the couch and help me get up to get ready for bed.
7. I'm grateful for the strange phenomenon this week of Parker wanting to sleep in, especially knowing it has an expiration date.
8. I'm grateful to whomever invented No Tears Shampoo and Conditioner in one.
   
9. I'm grateful that my husband is also my friend who will let me jabber his ear off at night in bed even when he has to get up early the next day, and also be understanding on the days when I fall asleep within seconds of my head touching the pillow.
   
10. I'm grateful that I have two working legs that let me dance with my son.
    

Fun Times with Dada

My boys are just silly!

Fun Video Friday

Baby Cakes, Baby Cakes, I Love You!

Thankful Thursday

One of my New Year's Resolutions this year is to take more time to reflect on what I'm grateful for, so I decided to utilize this blog as a way to hold me accountable for that resolution and I figured there's no reason to wait until the new year to start being grateful! So with that said, here are the things I am most grateful for this week:

1. I'm grateful for no medical appointments this week!
2. I'm grateful that with our budget, I have a good excuse to avoid shopping amongst the masses!
3. I'm grateful that Parker is getting a lot better at self-entertaining for longer periods of time so I can get more"me" time in.
4. I'm grateful that with this colder weather, I can exercise outside at ANY time of the day without passing out (at least not from the heat).
5. I'm grateful that with this colder weather, I have no reason to shave while I'm on my period. HAHA!
6. I'm grateful for a husband who will wash dishes even after a long stressful day at work.
7. I'm grateful for a husband who will still show me affection even when he knows he can't get "any."
8. I'm grateful that my little boy still loves me and forgives me even on my bad days.
9. I'm grateful for generous family, neighbors, and friends who are always helping us out.
10. And last but not least, I'm grateful for my big purple robe!

More Free Stuff!

One of Jake's co-workers has twin sons about a year older than Parker and she has been so nice and thoughtful by giving us a ton of their old clothes (she also lent me a ton of maternity clothes when I was pregnant). She just gave us another batch of awesome hand-me-downs. All brand name and some still had tags on them, too! We should be set for another year, now! What a blessing.

Our sweet downstairs neighbors have taken a special liking to Parker and have given him books and toys their grandchildren have long outgrown. Today they just came by with this awesome truck. It's not really in his age range because it's one of those electric cars, but he's pretty good about being careful with his toys so I let him have it. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get it to work, but Parker doesn't know any differently. I was planning on taking him out this afternoon to the park but once he got his hands on that truck there was no convincing him to leave the house. He's playing contentedly with it as I write this. Perhaps Dada can work some of his magic on it when he comes home and get it working, then next time we could take it with us to the park!

"New" Car!

Jake was taking out the trash one day recently, and look what he stumbled upon inside the trash enclosure! This little taxi was similar to what Jake's dad wanted to buy Parker for Christmas (except he wanted to buy him a fire engine). We asked them not to buy the fire engine because it was a lot of money for something so unnecessary, but free is another thing altogether! Jake fixed it up a little and we gave it to Jake's folks to keep at their place since it's kinda big and really heavy and the hills around here would be way too scary to utilize it once Parker's able to start getting around in it. Jake's parents are planning on making a cushioned seat for it and possibly a push bar to make it easier to help him get around until he figures it out. What a lucky dude!

Oh, and check out his new "kicks" grandma and grandpa bought him (you can see the shoes sticking out from under the car). They have the fun lights that come on when he walks. He calls them his "Grandpa shoes."

Giving Thanks and Eating Us Some Turkey

Thanksgiving this year was mellow and fun. We went to Jake's folks house and tried to get there early enough to help out, but Connie was so organized that there wasn't much left to do! She cooked a great meal with such yummy gravy. I think that was Parker's favorite part, too. He was even willing to try some new things. He tried stuffing and sweet potatoes and fruit salad with whipped cream, but he wouldn't touch the cranberry sauce. He probably would have just spit it out anyway!

Last year he didn't want to nap on Thanksgiving, and this year was no different. I was hoping the turkey would help him get sleepy, but he almost always fights napping when all of us are together. I think on Christmas we may not bother even trying! He's always more of a grump after having a nap anyway.

Family Photo Op!

Mama and Dada

Look at the Feast!

Funny Faces with Uncle Andy (Drew)!

Having Fun with Gma Connie and Gpa Dan

Playing Piano with Dada

Parker spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's so we could have a break and he could have some fun. The next day, Connie and Dan took him to the mall and took pictures by the big Christmas tree like they did last year (wish I had some photos of last year to share). It's a new special tradition they're starting with him! How fun. Here are some awesome pics they took.