Silly Parker Dancing

Last night right before bed the kiddos were dancing and being silly.  I tried to make a video of Cameron, but I wound up getting Parker's performance instead!  Chris and I watched the video a few times last night and laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes! 

Special Baby

 Cameron is now 18-months old.  The novelty of "the baby" has not worn off for his older siblings, however -

 - just look at this picture!  Kenzie took Cameron down the slide, and Parker cheered him on.  Then Parker took several turns slowly climbing behind Cameron up the stairs.  (It's such a relief to me because it was awkward and uncomfortable to try and fit on slides and climb through the structures when McKenzie was little!  I'd much rather wait at the bottom of the slide!)

He wouldn't hang on to the swing, so this made me laugh.  It was amazing how much Cameron has grown.  He was so busy at the park yesterday, running around and climbing on everything.  What happened to the baby who simply sat in the grass with me last summer?

Here you can see the smiles as they made a "train" to go down the slide together.  Cameron is a lucky kid to have such neat siblings watching out for him.

Vegetarians Beware

This is too funny to me not to share.  Cameron doesn't usually eat chicken (except chicken nuggets), but the other day Daddy was silly and ate a bite with a growl - Cameron was immediately interested!  He sat there growling and eating chicken for the longest time.  I guess we'll eventually have to work on table manners, but it's pretty cute for now.

Cameron's First Hockey Game

 On Presidents' Day we took the kiddos to a Grizzlies game.  A neighbor had given Chris some tickets in exchange for computer support, so we thought an afternoon game would be a good time to take them.

  Cameron had this expression on his face for the longest time!  (He wasn't sure what was going on, but he loved when music was blasting.  He would bob in his seat and wave his hands.)

 Parker was a little bit excited, too.  He eventually moved over to sit by Daddy because he had a lot of questions about the hockey game.

Here's Cameron checking out his hockey puck.  The guy in front of us works for the hockey league and gave Parker and Cameron a puck.  (Kenzie got a puck at the last hockey game we went to, so our kids are pretty lucky at hockey games!)  The Grizzlies lost, but it was still a fun little outing (and when I mentioned at dinner they had lost, both Kenzie and Parker were surprised!).

It wore Little Man out!

Valentine's Day

 Parker was so proud of the Valentine's box he made!  I wanted to use green wrapping paper and make sharp teeth for it, but Parker frowned and told me, "No, Mom, you can't make it ferocious because my class is having a contest for the cutest box!"  So this is what he came up with.  (And yes, I do love that he uses words like "ferocious" on a regular basis.  He cracks me up.)

 His box was crammed full, plus he had another large envelope he'd decorated, and it was full, plus some things were too big for either (like the drink) and were just in his backpack.  He was beyond pleased with his haul.

 Kenzie, too, had her own idea for a box and decorated it with a million little hearts.  She has a smaller class than Parker, but her box was overflowing, too.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kenzie's Rosa Parks Report

Kenzie's big project in third grade was to write a biographical report about anyone she picked.  We went to the library and looked all through the biography section.  McKenzie decided to do her report on Rosa Parks.  It was a good learning experience to read the biography with McKenzie and explain the unequal treatment of blacks.  McKenzie's jaw dropped open many times.  

Then the other part of the project was to make a puppet out of a 2-liter bottle to represent the person.  I thought it was kind of a silly thing to do, but McKenzie picked out items at Hobby Lobby with me, went through Grandma Arnold's button and fabric stash, and worked pretty hard painting and decorating her puppet.  She was very proud.  (I helped her glue the hair on, and my only big idea was to make glasses from the little wire dippers for Easter eggs, but besides that it was all McKenzie!)

It's a little hard to hear the video of McKenzie giving her report in class, but it was important to her that I post the video.  She practiced hard to make sure she could read her report clearly, and she was quite pleased to get 100% on her project. 

Valentine's Box

 

 If this picture is worth 1,000 words, then most of those words would be Parker saying, "I am just so excited!" over and over again.  My spoiled kiddos got a Valentine's box from their grandparents and they were so, so happy to get some candies and a few fun things.

When my Mom said she was sending balloons, I thought for sure they would pop in the mail, but all three made it intact.  In this picture Cameron is making a sound that can only be described as a, "Battle Cry."  He swung his puppy balloon around at everything.  (It didn't quite last 24 hours before it was reduced to two sad shreds attached to a bent stick!  But I don't think Cameron has any regrets.)

Happy Love Month!

Just Slightly Similar

 Every night Chris and I get a kick out of checking on Parker and Cameron.  It's not uncommon for Parker to be half off the bed or for Cameron to have both legs completely through the crib slats.  I don't know how they can sleep like that.  Most amusing, however, was the other night when Cameron and Parker were both asleep on their right side with their left arm in the same position.

During the day, Parker and Cameron have very different personalities, but at night they really look like brothers.

Cabin Fever

Every once in awhile, Parker sets up some type of obstacle course for himself and calls it a "circus."  The last time he did this was a few weeks ago, and he was so proud to have Daddy come outside and watch.  My favorite part is his modesty at the end, however.  (He says, "I know!" in case you can't understand it.)