McCall trip

We spent last weekend in McCall at my friend's family cabin. We had a lot of fun, just relaxing and playing in the snow.

We all walked down the the frozen lake. Someone had built a snowman out on the lake.
Parker didn't like to sled, he just wanted to eat the snow.

Up the hill she goes again.

Amy didn't want to go sledding, until dad made her go down. Then she thought it was sooo much fun.

I need to find a new babysitter.

I am so sad today, because my babysitter has decided to take a break for at least the summer, but maybe permanently. My kids love her. Amy really enjoys playing with her daughter. I feel like I am back at square one again. Sometimes I feel like I need to just take a couple of years off of work until my kids our in school. The problem is I worry if I can get my job back especially now with this slower economy. I hate asking people to watch my kids. I do have a few options right now that I hope will work out. If not I don't know what I will do. Regular daycare is not an option. I will stay home before I send them to a daycare. Daycares are too pricey for part time care anyways. If anyone has any great ideas I am open to them.

Having fun after work

Amy being a cheese ball. She had to get into the picture action. This is her typical pose.
Parker loves this hat his aunt Birdeena made. He wears it all the time. Today he was playing Peek-a-boo. He was cute.

A kid's perspective.

I was getting ready for work today and Amy was sitting on my bed. She said to me, "Mom? You and Dad are old huh?"
I said, "Well we are old compared to you and Parker."
She then said, "Me and Parker we are young." I love to see her ponder things.
She asked me the other day how Heavenly Father gets us to earth. I told her that we are born, but that was not a good enough answer she wanted to know how our spirit gets into our body. I told her that I didn't know. I thought to myself, what a thing to think about when your 4.

Parker is starting to talk more. Hooray!! Just in the last week he has started to say, "no", "up", bye-bye", "eat", "bird", and he is trying to say words when I ask him too. I think he was just in observation mode for a long time. I had him evaluated last week and his receptive language was at a 2 year 11 months level and his expressive was at 1 year 4mo level. It was nice to hear that he understands so well, which wasn't a big surprise.

Amy's version of the Barbie song

We were driving to preschool the other day and Amy was in the backseat singing. She loves Barbies now and I showed her the Barbie Song on You Tube, so she was singing, "I am Barbie girl, in a Barbie world.......Let's go potty, Let's go potty, Huh, Huh." She then wanted to know why I was laughing. For those of you that have never heard the song it is suppose to be "Let's go party."

My kids love to dance.

We hear "Hot and Cold" by Katy Perry and "I Like to Move" daily at our house. My kids love them and they love to dance to them. They are growing on me as well, but we just need to find the radio version of Hot and Cold. I like Katy Perry, but some of her songs are not kid friendly. Amy learned the words to "I Kissed a Girl" while she was at the Fair this year. I didn't really know what it was about until I really listened to the words and watched the video. Not a very good song.

2008 Christmas Card

December 13, 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

I can’t believe December is half over already. This year went by so fast. It seems like Amy and Parker are growing up way too fast. The highlight of our year was our trip in October. We went to see David’s sister Elizabeth and her husband and new baby in AZ and then spent two days at Sea World and then 3 days at Disneyland. We were able to meet David’s other sister and his brother and their families and my parents at Disneyland. We celebrated Amy’s 4th birthday by having lunch with the princesses. It was so much fun! We can’t wait to go again. We are thinking next spring might be a good time.
Parker is now 19 months and a very quiet boy that loves balls, sticks and tools. He is also fascinated by bicycles, but the only problem is that he isn’t quite big enough to ride one yet. But you can’t tell him that he thinks he can ride one just fine. He just wants to be pushed, but make sure not to touch the handle bars; those are for only his hands. He still thinks Amy is great, but he definitely gets mad at her when she takes something away or she doesn’t let him in her room. We love Parker very much. He is pretty easy going and just goes with the flow for the most part.
Amy is 4 now and we are always hearing about when she turns 5 which isn’t until next October. She is full of drama. We never know what the day will bring. She is still into Disney princesses, but her favorite is now Cinderella. She is going to preschool two half days and week and she is really enjoying it. She just earned her Alphabet Crown, which she is very proud of. The Alphabet Crown means she knows all of her letters and their sounds. Amy also started wearing glasses this year. She looks so cute in them. She is not wearing them in our family picture because she has transition lenses and they get dark outside. It took some convincing to get her to take them off, because she loves them.
David and I are thankfully still working at our same jobs. I still only work 16 hours a week which is perfect for now. We feel very bless to have two wonderful children and extended family and friends that support us. We are very grateful for this time of year to reflect on the blessings we have and for our Savior Jesus Christ. We look forward to hearing from everyone. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Love,

David, Shannon, Amy and Parker