Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Visiting Santa

Mt. Carmel hospital in Grove City hosts a free Christmas event with free photos with Santa. We were able to get a cute picture of the kids with Santa. Even Parker participated this year (last year he refused to get in the photo)! Matt the Balloon Guy gave the kids balloons (a bow and arrow for Seth, a gray and black dog for Parker and a pickle for Isabelle) and we enjoyed free cookies!



MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Letters to Santa

Once again, the kids wrote letters to Santa. We delivered them to Santa's mailbox conveniently located right outside of our library.






Parker's letter:




Parker's response from Santa:



Seth's letter to Santa:




Santa's letter back to Seth:


Isabelle's letter to Santa:


Santa's response:


Friday, November 13, 2015

Parker Mommy Day

The days that Seth and Isabelle have school and I'm off work, Parker and I call "Parker Mommy Day". We have a lot of one-on-one time together and we always have a lot of fun!

Sometimes, we make a list of what we are going to do that day. On this particular day, our list said play outside at the park, watch t.v., eat lunch at Big Boy, play inside, go to the bank, dance in the basement and snuggle. A lot of things to do - and we did them all!






On another Parker Mommy Day, we checked out a new play cafe in Grove City called Treehouse Play Cafe. It was pretty neat - they sell coffee and snacks and have a great, open space for kids to play. We will definitely be back in the winter.




We look forward to the rest of our Parker Mommy days this year before Parker starts full-time school next year!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Parker's 5th Birthday

We had a very busy few days celebrating Parker's 5th Birthday! His birthday fell on a Monday this year. That meant he would be at preschool for the majority of the day. To make the day special, I sent a chocolate cake to preschool for them to celebrate. It was actually another boy's birthday at preschool too! So Parker and Caleb both got to celebrate turning 5 at school. Their teacher, Ms. Carissa, made a poster for them and all the kids signed it.

The cake for preschool



Left to right: Gwyn, Elijah, Caleb, Parker, Declan, Braxton

Parker's piece of cake at school
That evening, Parker received his gifts from us. Isabelle gave him a Tsum Tsum stuffed toy (three peas in a pod). Seth picked out a toy bear for Parker to add to his animal collection. And from us he received a set of MagnaTiles (all pictured below).





For his birthday dinner, Parker chose to go to Big Boy. He was excited to let our server know that it was his birthday.



On our way home we stopped for frosties at Wendy's. Parker had a great day and was so excited to turn 5!

On Friday, as part of "Birthday Week",  Parker and I went to Build A Bear. This was Parker's first time there and he picked out a black and white dog to make. He used his own money that he had saved.

Stuffing the dog

Here he is!

Bathing the dog



Heading home
Parker named his new friend Happy Smile Dog. The name seems pretty appropriate!

While at the mall, Parker picked out a double doozey cookie for a treat. We had a fun afternoon together.

Saturday, we had a birthday party for family. Both sets of grandparents, Cathy, Steve, Jacob and Christy were able to help us celebrate. Parker is really interested in trains and outer space. For his party, we decided on a train theme. You can tell from the pictures how happy and outgoing he was the entire day!

Thomas cake

Opening presents

Aunt Cathy


Grandma Diane and Grandpa Clyde

Grandpa Steve and Grandma Barb


Aunt Christy

Playing with the new train
On Sunday, Parker invited some friends to celebrate with him at a candy shop in Grove City called The Lollipop Stop. 2 friends from preschool (Declan and Elijah) and 2 friends we have known for a couple of years (Derrick and James) were able to come. When the kids arrived, we had them color a picture. This was an awesome picture that Shane drew of The Lollipop Stop! The owner asked to keep a copy of it.


Here's Seth's finished picture:



Each kid got to pick out a flavor of ice cream and add candy toppings and sprinkles to it. We also had brownies for them. They loved it!




Next, Parker opened presents.

Opening presents
James (blurry), Derrick, Parker, Elijah Seth and Declan

Finally, each kid got to fill a goody bag with candy. As you can see, there were many, many kinds of candy to choose from.

Picking out candy

It was another great day for Parker!

At age 5, Parker likes trains and outer space (as mentioned previously), and he likes to build things. His favorite color is white and his favorite season is winter and he says his favorite animal is dogs. He loves stuffed animals and watching "The Magic School Bus" cartoon. He has become pretty outgoing and he loves to snuggle, give hugs, laugh, sing, dance and go just about anywhere. He likes to help with things like doing the dishes, folding laundry and feeding the cats. Parker is just a great kid with a sweet demeanor and loving heart. 




Sunday, November 1, 2015

Haunted Trolley

We discovered the Ohio Railway Museum in Worthington and this year they hosted a haunted trolley ride. Since Parker is very interested in trains, we thought it would be run to try this.

When we arrived, we were given our tickets for the ride. We took a tour through several rail cars and heard stories about ghosts who still visit the trains. Then we boarded the trolley we would take a ride on. The ride went straight ahead and stopped when there was an old van on the tracks. Two people got out of the vehicle and boarded our trolley to punch our tickets. Then our trolley was put into reverse and went all the way back to the where we began the ride. The whole ride was 15 minutes or so.





Loco Bob told us about the giant steam engine behind him











One of the ghosts that still visits the train



Riding on the trolley

After the ride - that was fun!