Parker is NINE today!

We've been celebrating Parker's birthday for a couple of weeks already, so I think he's pretty happy that now it actually IS his big day and he can say he's 9! Here are some pics from his party last week:





Following a family tradition from my childhood, our kids have family parties on even years and friend parties on odd years. So we gave Parker the choice of 1) having lots of friends come to a party at our house or 2) going to a fun place for the party and inviting 2 close friends. He requested the second option and picked Stevie B's - a pizza buffet with arcade games - as the location.

Checking out the prizes they could earn with the tickets they win:



Easy to serve cake - 9 cupcakes in the shape of a 9:



Opening presents while friends, Grandma & Lincoln look on:



(I love the way Syd is looking up at him in this last pic)

Hello and Goodbye

We took another feels-too-short-but-is-really-just-long-enough trip to Alabama. We said HELLO to our new baby nephew/cousin, Bruce:


- and GOODBYE to Mom/Grandy since this was the last time we'd see her before she & Dad leave for their mission.


My boys were happy to give Bruce attention, but I think Anndra couldn't figure out what the big deal was. She'd point to him and say "baby" - but she wasn't very interested. At least the boys bonded:






We attended church with Jess & fam - and it happened to be the Sunday of their primary program. It was fun to see Jane and Maren do their parts.



More happy smiles and other silliness:





Sunday evening we took the kids on a nature walk and they loved collecting leaves, pine-cones, sticks, etc. in their little bags:





It was beautiful weather, so we ALL went (even Bruce):


Parker was really good about showing the camera his treasures:



The other kids were too busy running from one thing to the next and seeing whose bag was fullest:


This next pic is funny because Jessie stopped all the kids to point out a big fire-ant nest and warn them to watch for these and not step on them. Then about two seconds after I took this shot Anndra walked right into it!


We tried to get a picture of the kids on a merry-go-round we passed, but it kept turning even when no one was pushing it... so it didn't turn out very well:


Cute pic of Anndra (too bad the road is in the background):


Right before we left, we lined the kids up and had them hold signs for their ages because we thought it was fun that right now we have a kid for each digit from zero to five:

Vacation Weekend in Orlando

Grandma Debbie flew to Orlando Friday and we met her there for a fun weekend at the Nickelodeon Hotel. Parker has been asking to go back ever since we stayed there for Lincoln's first birthday (March 2009). It was great to get away from home without having to go too far (and it was great to get the Florida resident discount!).

When we got to the hotel, the boys wanted to dog-pile, but Anndra wasn't that into it.



We kicked off our weekend with some early trick-or-treating - an event the hotel was putting on to gear up for Halloween. Parker and Lincoln were excited to dress up like ninjas:



Lincoln insisted that we call him Poison Dragon Ninja for the next two days. If we slipped and accidentally called him Lincoln, he would say, "No! I'm NOT Lincoln! I'm Poison Dragon Ninja!"


The only thing Anndra wanted to wear was her little Minnie Mouse purse:


I was surprised by how much walking we ended up doing just to get to all the places in the hotel that were giving out candy. This place was huge!



Everyone was SO NICE to the boys and they loved getting many, many compliments on their costumes.


The next day was POOL DAY! (and for the first time in years, Todd actually got in the water).







Next to the pool was a large water-park structure with tons of slides and a humongous bucket of green slime that got tipped over once a day to drench everyone below it. Here is Parker after he got SLIMED:



There was also a smaller splash/slide area for kids under 40 inches - at 39" Lincoln was just barely too short to go on the big kid slides. But after he got over his initial disappointment, he discovered that the 'baby' slides were fun too:






Happy kids = Happy parents


Another happiness was the big yellow cabana we rented - complete with ceiling fan, TV, mini-fridge full of cold water bottles, table & chairs, lounge chairs, and an endless supply of warm towels (straight from the dryer). We felt very pampered and it was nice to have a place for the kids to rest and warm up - or eat or nap or whatever - in between swims. There was an outlet for charging the ipad Grandma was using to read and it gave her privacy and shade (without having to be in the hotel room) while we were enjoying the water.


Another bonus was being able to keep Anndra's potty chair out by the pool with us (since she still refuses to use regular size toilets - silly girl).


Finally we dined in the hotel restaurant and celebrated our two October birthdays - Anndra & Parker: