Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!! We've have quite a bit of fun over the past few weeks since I last posted anything.

We decorated our first Gingerbread House...

We visited Sea World to see the Christmas Sesame Street show and Shamu show...

We made and decorated gingerbread cookies (Can you believe this was my first time ever making gingerbread cookies from scratch...I know that's pretty bad.) I think they turned out pretty well with a little help from the kiddos...

And we had a wonderful Christmas Day together opening gifts and celebrating the birth of Jesus...(more pictures to come!)

Fun Conversations of the Week

Here are 2 cute little conversations we had with Ethan and Emma this past week:

* We've all been sick over the past 2 weeks and are all finally on the mend. However, I have had a scratchy throat for the last day and then last night I just completely lost my voice. So this is what we talked about at dinner:

Ethan: "Mom, are you gonna die." (He must have been talking about my sickness or losing my voice or something).

Me: "No." (I was thinking that he was talking about tonight. But, then I realized that what I said wasn't really true.) So I said, "Well, eventually...we are all doing to die."

Ethan: "I hope Mommy doesn't die early." (I'm so glad my little guy wants me around for a little while.)

Jeremy: "I hope not too."

Me: "Me too." (Then Jeremy and I just looked at each other and started to laugh quietly.)

*Here is a conversation that I have had with Emma almost every night over the last 2 weeks when I put her to bed.

Me: "Just close your eyes and go to sleep."

Emma: (starts to whine and whimper) "But Momma...I can't see if I close my eyes."

Me: "Exactly." (That is what I am hoping for...a sleeping child who is not seeing anything because she is peacefully sleeping.)

Anyway, this conversation goes on and repeats itself for about 1 minute. Then I finally just give in and say:

Me: "Then just go ahead and leave your eyes open."

Emma: (after much whimpering) "OK." (She is now totally fine with no signs of just having cried for the last minute and then I find her fast asleep with eyes closed the next time I check on her.)

Anyway, I hope you got a few laughs out of those. We did.

First snowfall of the year

Well I have to tell you that I never thought I'd see snow here in San Antonio while we lived here. But lo and behold the last few days have been cold (by Texas standards - in the 30's and 40's for a high). They were calling for snow on Friday. We woke up and there was no snow - boohoo. So I packed up the kiddos and we went to preschool. When I picked the kiddos up at school in the afternoon we saw some snow flurries!! There were probably enough flurries to count on 2 hands, but it was snow and the kiddos ran around the grass at school with their tongues out to try to catch the flakes. I wish I had a picture of that moment, but I don't (this would be a time where Jeremy would tell me that I need an i-phone so I could take a picture - I guess in this instance he was right.) Come on snow!!!!

Tea Party

Here are a couple of pictures of some of my sweet friends. We are in a Bible study together on Tuesdays and we just finished studying, "Discerning the Voice of God." It was a great study, but it was just awesome because of these wonderful women that I get to study with. For the last study of the year we decided to do something special. Tammy (the lady in red in the second picture) had the idea of having a tea party. She hosted it at her home and we just had a blast with our hats, gloves, tea, and time to share together. God just continues to bless me with such amazing friendships - these women are treasures that I am truly thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was a nice Thanksgiving in the Parker household. Jeremy worked the night shift and got home at around 8:00 this morning. So as soon as he got home we said "Good-night" to him. Then the kiddos and I went to where we were having our 3rd annual Pulte bowl. This is where all of our friends get together and the guys (mostly guys with a few select girls) play football and the gals and kiddos hang out to cheer them on or just play at the park nearby. This year we even brought breakfast food to share. It was fun...but we really missed having Daddy there to cheer for. This first picture is everyone who was playing football.

The Gator fan and his sister.

Hannah's first Thanksgiving!

Then we came home and watched some of the Macy's Day Parade on TV. When Jeremy woke up we had a small little Thanksgiving feast as it was just the 5 of us. It's hard to believe that this was Hannah's first Thanksgiving! Wow. Anyway, I'm going to leave you with a song that Ethan learned at school that we just love. It is sung to the tune of "Have you ever seen a lassie?"

Gobble, gobble fat turkey, fat turkey, fat turkey

Gobble, gobble fat turkey, fat turkey am I.

I'm not made for living, I am for Thanksgiving

Gobble, gobble fat turkey, fat turkey am I.

Here are my cuties with their Thanksgiving hats and Ethan's turkey namecard that he made in school (ssh...don't tell anyone, but I totally forgot to have them wear their hats on Thanksgiving so I took this picture the day after.)

Ethan's Birthday Party

Well, today was Ethan's birthday party. We invited some of his friends to Pump it Up (a place where they have fun inflatables for the kids to bounce in). We then took the kiddos to Pizza Hut for some pizza and cake. I think they all had a great time. Unfortunately, Emma got sick in the morning. So she, Jeremy, and Hannah missed out on the festivities. Oh well...it wouldn't be a Parker birthday party without someone getting sick. Enjoy the pictures.

Here is my attempt at a Star Wars Cake.

Here we are at Pump It UpSidney and Caleb smiling for the camera.Drew and Luke - brothers with some cute grins.C.C. having some fun.Luke looking very serious.Lily (or Ella) - ugh - I'm not sure which twin this is. I tried to get a picture of both of them but the one was just too fast for me.Now we are at Pizza Hut just waiting for some yummy pizza.
Time to blow out the candle.Here is what poor Emma did during Ethan's party (she was on the chair at home hanging out with Daddy...princess blankie close at hand as well as a barf bucket close by...poor Emma...we saved her some cake for when she feels better.)

What a fun birthday party!

Funny Conversations of the Week

Here are some fun conversations that I've had with the kiddos over the past few weeks.

* At lunch we were talking about Thanksgiving and how Ethan drew a picture of a teepee and Indians for himself and Emma. I asked Ethan what he drew and he said, "It's a PT and Indians with feathers." This probably only cracks me up because PT stands for physical therapist. Anyway, it's probably not as funny as I think but I had a laugh.

* One night we were eating dinner and Jeremy and I were talking and I said, "Hey Honey." Then Ethan said, "Hey...why did you call him that?" Then I said, "Because he's my honey." Then Ethan said, "He's your food?" (That was hilarious.)

* One day Ethan was trying on a bunch of new clothes that my sister sent us as my nephew is older than Ethan and passes down his clothes to us and here was the conversation:

E: "Mommy, does Joshua have any clothes?" (I think he was worried that Joshua sent him all of his clothes and therefore didn't have any clothes.) "I don't want him to run out of clothes...because he gave me all of his clothes."

Me: "Oh Joshua has clothes. He is loaning you his clothes as they don't fit him anymore."

E: "Then we need to thank him." (what a sweet kid)

* We just finished completing our dream sheet for the Air Force where we rank the Air Force bases as to where we would like to be stationed. We asked Ethan what state he would like to live in and he said, "Florida." When I asked him why I thought he was going to say something like..."because that is where Grandma and Grandpa live" but he said, "I want to go to Florida to meet the GATORS. I want to shake their hands." You can tell his Dad is a Gator fan.

* This week Ethan was invited to a birthday party and when I told him that he was going to get to go to the party without us (his first birthday party without all of us) he started to cry and said, "But I want Emma to come to." (I just thought that was so sweet.)

* I was carrying Ethan up the stairs today and Ethan looked at me and said, "Mom, I'm just perfect for a 5 y/o (Ethan is totally excited that he turned 5 this past week.)

Anyway, until next time.