Yogurt

Parker LOVES yogurt. He'll eat at least 2 individual containers of it a day. And he's getting pretty good at feeding himself. Although it's messy, he has a good time!

Sky Lanterns

We found these really cool sky lanterns! These lanterns were much bigger than we expected. We had to light a block that is on the bottom of the lantern and then it filled up with hot air until it lifted off. We succeeded with 2 of our lanterns. We lit one in the field behind our house and watched it slowly go up and over our house.

Up, up and away!

Small black spot in the sky

It looked like it got pretty far by the time the flame burned out and it started to fall back down.

Our second lantern we lit in the field across from our front yard. It went up and over some trees and was also successful. Our neighbor Callan came down to watch this one with us.

Waiting for the lantern to fill with hot air and lift off

Waiting...

There it goes!

Cool!

Our third lantern we tried to light on May 31st to send up to Uncle Todd. Sadly, it ended up being too windy so it didn't work. Hopefully Todd saw our efforts anyway!

Acting Class and Goodale Park

Isabelle was in an acting class recently. They met each Saturday for a few weeks, and the final Saturday was a Share Day. On Share Day, each student performed a monologue in front of an audience. We all, along with Grandma Barb and Grandpa Steve, watched the performances. Isabelle's performance was with Maddy and the monologue was a humorous about two girls talking about dentists.



The class before the performances



Isabelle & Maddy during their monologue

Before the monologues, the class showed us some warm up exercises they do. This one was really cute - the instructor told them what to do, then they had to sing this little song while they did it. Each verse they added another thing they had to do. Some of the things they had to do was put their wrists together, put one foot up, stick your tongue out and turn around. Here they are at the "turn around" point.

Isabelle really liked the acting class and is hoping to take another one soon.

Before the sharing event, Isabelle's class did some warm ups and the parents weren't yet allowed in. So the rest of us walked to nearby Goodale Park and had some fun.

Parker loves slides!

Seth used to wear this jacket

Shane couldn't resist!

My two favorite boys

Plank's with Isabelle

Isabelle's third grade class took a walking tour of Grove City. They stopped at several significant spots and told the students about the places. One of the places was a restaurant called Plank's. So naturally, Isabelle wanted to go eat at Plank's. We made it a girl's night and it was just me and her for dinner. We had a good time. The building used to be a saloon and a hotel so we imagined where the guest rooms must have been.

On our way out, we found this old telephone booth. There was no longer a phone in there, but it was neat to see. Isabelle is in it in this photo, although it's hard to see her through the handprints.

Construction Zone

The field behind our house has been a construction zone for a few weeks. I wanted to take some photos of the progress. There will be a road and 23 houses there when everything is done. We imagine it will be a few years before it's complete. The kids have had fun playing on the dirt and rock piles.



Right behind our playset



Seth is in the orange shirt

We also have a house being built caddy-corner to our house which has provided a nice dirt and rock playground as well. And a lot of baths!

Last Day of School 2012

Seth & Isabelle in the morning on the last day of school.

Do we have to get a picture together?

Seth finished Kindergarten and Isabelle finished Third Grade. Isabelle was sad at the end of the day and wanted to go back to school. I wonder if that will continue into high school (wishful thinking).

Mother's Day

Today is actually Father's Day, but I haven't written about Mother's Day yet! I think this was my best Mother's Day yet! I woke up to breakfast in bed, served by Isabelle and Seth. I had scrambled eggs and sausage. Downstairs I had some surprises waiting for me. Isabelle made a craft at school out of four outlines of her hands which she made into a flower. Each finger said one thing that Isabelle loves about me. Very sweet. She also got out some props that stood for each of the things that were written on the fingers. The 20 things she wrote were:

• You make brownies with me
• You sign me up for activities
• You used to play Barbies with me
• You do Mommy-Daughter Day
• You let me watch the ball drop (referring to New Years Eve)
• You will take me to a B.T.R. concert
• You help me do my homework
• You take me shopping
• You signed me up for swimming
• You make me breakfast
• You take me to Emma's house in the winter
• You let me sleep with you and Dad at night when I'm scared
• You gave me an oatmeal bath (this from a severe sunburn)
• You don't make me take showers
• You don't make me wear a bike helmet
• You take me to Chipotle
• You got me an easel for my birthday
• You play Fluffy (the purple stuffed unicorn below)
• You went to school to give me my lotion
• You signed me up for acting

Seth gave me a flower that he brought home from school. He was really looking forward to giving me this surprise. The day he brought it home (and hid it in his room), it had only one bloom. On Mother's Day it had 3 blooms - we were very excited about that!

And of course Parker made me feel loved!

I also received the Kindle version of the book Fifty Shades of Grey, a gift certificate for a wine tasting and movie tickets, which hopefully I will get to enjoy with Shane soon! We also all went out to dinner. All in all, a wonderful and relaxing Mother's Day!

Parker's 18 / 19 Month Snapshot

This past month flew by! So quickly that this is an 18 month and 19 month update for Parker!

My attempt at an 18 month photo didn't go too well. He's too active now! I did get this photo as he was playing near me:

Parker, 1 1/2 year old

For Parker's 19 month photo, we took him on a walk and snapped this:

Now that we have warm weather, Parker really likes to be outside. We usually spend a few hours of the day outside. He likes to push his bike and toy stroller around. He rides on a toy firetruck up and down the street. Since there are new houses being built near us, Parker likes to walk on the big dirt and rock piles.

Parker still takes a bottle of milk in the morning, at nap time, in the afternoon and at bedtime. This is something I'm sure we should be cutting down on. He learned how to drink with a straw and likes Capri Suns and juice boxes on occasion. He prefers to drink water though.

Going to restaurants with Parker has become a challenge. He is no longer content sitting in a high chair and having snacks. He wants to get up and explore the place instead.

Parker wears mostly size 24 months or 2T clothes, and size 5 or 5 1/2 shoes. When he first went barefoot outside, he wouldn't step on the grass. Now, though, he's a pro at going barefoot. H still prefers to wear shoes and he will go get his shoes for us when he wants to go outside.

We're looking forward to spending lots of time outside this summer with little Parker Pie!

Happy Birthday, Clyde

For Clyde's 70th birthday (Shane's dad), we surprised him with a party at Buffalo Wild Wings in Canal Winchester.  The surprise and the party were a success! He had no idea. Even when they arrived, Clyde just thought they "ran into" us there! This was after Diane spent a few minutes driving around making "wrong turns" so that they wouldn't arrive too early. Here are some photos from the night.

Clyde's entrance. He hadn't yet realized it was a surprise party for him!

Cathy, Lance, Diane, Shane, Parker & Clyde

Steve, Jennifer & Isabelle

Jacob, Shane, Seth, Cathy, Carrie, Parker

Diane, Clyde, Seth, Shane, Cathy

Parker Pie and Mommy

Parker having fun with balloons

Kade, Diane & Seth

Happy Birthday, Clyde!