Parker...

Parker is one of a kind!! He and Andrew are soooo close and he's getting sad that Andrew is about to start school:(. I just hate it for Park. He LOVES baby Piper and will be excited to be home with her but really wants to be with Andrew, too. The great thing is that Parker plays really well by himself. He's got a wonderful imagination and can sit for long periods of time making up stories, songs or just playing with things. Sometimes I peak in on him and just giggle at all of his silliness.
Right now he's taking a nap in our bed. This is only his second nap of the week. At nap time he's been going to his room and playing quietly instead of sleeping. Andrew stopped taking consistent naps around 3 1/2 - 4 years. How old were your kids when they stopped napping? The reason Park is in our bed now is because I knew he'd nap if I laid down with him. This morning they were all in our bed:). Piper joined us around 6:30, Parker around 7:15 and Andrew a little before 8:00. It was so sweet... good thing we have a King-size bed:)
While I'm talking about Park, I figured I post some of his favorite things:
1. BABY PIPER - Anytime I ask him, "what's your favorite thing about... (insert anything)" and he says Piper. It doesn't matter if it has nothing to do with her, it's always his answer!
2. Peanut Butter Rolls! which is really just a half of a pb sandwich. He loves them and could live off of them... while I was just laying by him, he had a sweet peanut butter smell:) .. he also likes hot dogs, sour cream casserole, spaghetti, lasagna, mac n cheese...
3. Playing with his big bubby Andrew! He loves Andrew.
4. Batman/Hulk/Spiderman/Underdog.... insert any superhero and Park loves them!
5. Singing... Park loves to sing and loves to make up his own songs! He loves for me to sing him bedtime songs. His favorites are Baby Mine and Mommy loves her baby boy:)... sometime I'm going to video our bedtime routine so we'll be able to look back on it.
6. CANDY or TREATS!! He's quite addicted to anything with sugar. He doesn't get it often but watch out when he does...
7. Papa .... Park and Andrew both love Papa.
8. Amy.... he loves my cousin Amy. He actually cried when she had to go back to Texas.
9. Being tickled and boy does he have the BEST laugh:)
10. Mowing the lawn with daddy!!
He has lots of other favorite things but especially loves all of these and when he gets excited about these things you can see it all over his body. He tenses up and has the biggest smile. It's sweet!!

Mr. Personality

These videos are sooo sweet of little Parker. In the first one he's being a RoCk StAr and in the second he's singing to
Sweet Piper:). I really wish I could freeze these moments forever!

Parker just can't get enough...

Parker has been attached to baby Piper since she got home. He told me yesterday, "I just can't get enough of Piper Jane". He wants to kiss her all of the time. On another note... Parker was about to get a spanking tonight for getting out of bed and when Cameron asked him, "do you know why you're getting a spanking?" Parker said, "I smell chips". Cam had been eating chips in the living room:) Cam asked again, "do you know why you're getting a spanking?" Parker said, "because I want chips".

My thoughts on welcoming little Piper...

I remember how emotional I was when I was pregnant with Parker. I know this sounds crazy, but I was sooo sad for Andrew to have to share his mommy. I knew I would love the new baby, we didn't know if Parker was a boy or a girl, but I just loved Andrew so much and he was only 17 months old. I hated to turn his world upside down. Well, shortly after having Parker, I realized just what a gift he was to Andrew, not to mention what a gift he has been to me and Cam. I can't imagine life without Andrew and Parker being together. They are best friends:) So now after witnessing their relationship, I'm sooo excited about little Piper joining the crew. I can't wait to see Parker become a big brother. He is sooo happy about getting a little sister. I already know Andrew is a perfect big brother, so it'll be such a blessing to see him interact with Piper, too.

Parker's 3rd Birthday Party

We had Parker's birthday's party today at Playworld. He'll turn 3 tomorrow (hard to believe). We had lots of fun with all of Parker's cousins. He loved all of his presents! Here is a little slideshow of the day. (The warrior gear was part of Parker's present:)

Top 5's

God has blessed my life so much with three amazing fellows. I thought I'd share my 5 favorite things about each of them (beginning with the youngest first:)

5 of my favorite things about Parker

1. I love the way his eyes light up when I tickle him. It's one of the sweetest sights I've ever seen and I'm sure I'll never forget it.

2. I love his expressions. He has a vivid expression for every emotion!

3. I love his passion about EVERYTHING! He loves life and his excitement for it oozes out of him!!

4. I love hearing him say "MOMMY" when he first comes out of his room after sleeping. It's honestly as if we've been apart for years:)

5. I love to hear his sweet, squeaky voice. For those of you who've been privileged to be around Parker much, you know just what I'm talking about. 

5 of my favorite things about Andrew

1. I love how much he loves me! He absolutely adores his mommy:) and his favorite thing is snuggling up to me!!

2. I love his eagerness to learn new things. He's constantly asking how to spell words.

3. I love his compassion for others. He always ask about the kids in Africa and about a special student who we've prayed for a lot. He's made this student cards and even put some money in an envelope because he knew this student didn't have much. 

4. I love listening to him sing. His favorite song right now is Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty. It's so much fun singing songs about the Lord with him.

5. I love his calm, sweet spirit. 

5 of my favorite things about Cameron

1. I love his calm spirit, very slow to anger.

2. I love his desire to die to himself daily.

3. I love to watch him be a daddy to Parker and Andrew. They have so much fun with him!

4. I love his sense of humor! We could laugh about anything together:)

5. I love how much he loves me and strives to be better daily.

The Wonder Place

This morning I took Andrew and Parker to the Wonder Place. They had the best time. It really is a cool place for kids to use their imaginations. Parker over the past few weeks has been making a lot of angry faces, mostly kidding and they are quite funny but he's been using them some on strangers. Today some bigger boys were throwing balls really hard into the water table and they kept splashing Parker in the face and he was NOT happy and gave them the worst mean look he could make (btw... he's not making a mean face in this water table pic, he was making a "burrr it's CoLd!" face). Andrew loves the River Market and kitchen area. Who knew you could do so many fun things with dairy products?:) As soon as we got home they said, can we go back now??

Our creative boys:)

They love to play with their new art supplies (Thanks Amy, Uncle Allyn and Aunt Melissa for the artsie Christmas presents:) They love to draw, paint, color, etc. They both also have super fun playing make believe. Andrew made a friend out of some clothes, shoes and a Larry Boy head.