Farewell 2009

Hooray for another great year gone by. We lived 2009 to the fullest and are prepared to do even more in 2010. In the year 2009, we watched our good friends Katie and Austin begin a happy marriage; we celebrated the Pittsburgh Steelers winning yet another Super Bowl; we painted and refurnished the kitchen; we celebrated Scott's 28th birthday with a Flight of the Concords concert; we traveled to Savannah for our 4-year wedding anniversary; Scott grew a beard to help the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup; we took Beckham for his first visits to White Water and the Atlanta Zoo; I made my first attempt at buzzing Beckham's head at home; we took our Parker Family trip to St. Augustine, FL; we said goodbye for now to our beloved Aunt Teresa; we celebrated my 29th birthday with Chicago the musical; we gathered with old friends at our 10-year high school reunion; we endured the great wrath of God as He flooded the metro-Atlanta area; I said goodbye to my precious kitty, Olivia; we celebrated Beckham's 2nd birthday (how the time flies); we found out the baby we knew for sure was a girl is actually a boy; we cheered on the Dawgs at our first game since 2002; we celebrated our Lord's birthday with a very enthusiastic little boy (at home for the very first time); we finally hung the second-story roman shades in our living room; and we transitioned Olivia's room into a Big Boy room for Beckham.


Ahead in 2010, we will start by recarpeting our entire house, moving Beckham into his Big Boy room, welcoming Brooks Edward Parker into our loving home, celebrating our 5-year anniversary, celebrating Scott's 29th birthday, hopefully making a trip to Pittsburgh for a long-awaited visit, celebrating my 30th birthday, and celebrating Beckham's 3rd birthday. I'm sure there are many surprises in store for us in the year 2010. We can only pray they will make positive changes to our family.


May God bless all of you with a very happy New Year. We hope that everything unfolds with joy around every corner. We love you all!

Santa Came!

"JINGER-BEWS"

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Cookie-Baking Day 2009

So this year's Cookie-baking Day was not the usual bake-til-we-drop Christmas rendezvous my sister, mom, and I have done for the past 10 years. Instead, Mom was home sick and Shanna and I threw ready-made sugar cookie dough in the oven and let the kids have at them with icing and sprinkles. It was a LOT less stressful/chaotic and much, much easier. It was also more fun to make it more about the kids than us. .

Stockings are Hung from the Chimney with Care

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there! The Christmas festivities have begun at the Parker house. On Saturday, Scott and Beckham picked out a tree. Beckham shed a few tears over the branches being trimmed off the bottom. He was sad because "(he) lubs da tree". Sunday night, Scott and I hung the lights. And Monday, we all listened to some joyous Christmas music by 'Straight No Chasers' while decorating the tree with our favorite ornaments. To "top it all off", Beckham got the pleasure of placing the star on top of the tree. As you can see, he was VERY excited!

Our annual family ornament. . .

The little touches of Christmas throughout the house. . .

Beckham's new apron for baking all those Christmas cookies

As for the outside of the house, no lights this year. I can't exactly get on a ladder 6 mos. pregnant, and its dark by the time Scott gets home from work. So, come on inside for all you skeptics that think we are unfestive! As far as Becks is concerned, he is thrilled looking out the window at everyone else's lights. As he says "there's Christmas out there"!

The Holiday Season So Far. . .

The holidays begin with Thanksgiving every year, of course. This year, I worked the Thanksgiving holiday so Scott and Beckham headed to Casa de Parker in Snellville for a late-afternoon dinner. Apparently Beckham can put a hurtin' on some turkey and cranberry sauce! On Black Friday, we decided to head to the ATL for some family time. We got Beck's all excited about seeing the sharks at the Georgia Aquarium. When we got in line, though, around noon, the announcement being made was that unless you had previously purchased a ticket, you would not get into the aquarium until 4pm. WHAT!?! So, after tears were shed (by me, not our understanding 2-year-old), we headed back to Kennesaw to sit down at On the Border for a Mexican fiesta. We ended up having a very long weekend together, but we certainly learned our lesson about tourist attractions on Black Friday! In light of the holidays, Beckham and I have made a few trips to the mall. The newest thing at our mall is a Choo-choo train that takes you around the top floor of the mall. We, of course, have to ride it EVERY time we go. And should I choose to shop first, I have a whiny, little boy who doesn't let up until he is climbing on the train. Other fun things to do at the mall are to ride the "moving stairs" (which is followed by a temper tantrum if we don't go up and down enough for his liking) and he has recently discovered the indoor kids zone which is conveniently next to the train loading area. Since when did malls become more about pleasing kids than getting some good old fashioned shopping done? (Oh, yeah. And don't forget about Santa!)
Well, a little shopping aside, I got all dolled up and headed to an ornament exchange. Everyone else was dressed casual, but I figured since Scott and I can't make it to any Christmas parties this year due to my work schedule, I'd take advantage of the outing. (Scott told me my hat looked like an Engineer's cap). Notice the 5-month belly poking out!
On Saturday, we got a very excited little boy dressed and headed to the neighborhood clubhouse for Santa's annual visit. I had taken him to see Santa at the mall the day before as a warm-up. It didn't go so well on Friday. But on Saturday, he did surprisingly well (aside from not smiling while sitting in his lap). I think it helped that Santa sang Christmas songs with the kids, read them The Night Before the Night-Before Christmas, and recited The Night Before Christmas all before taking pictures.

Anxiously awaiting the M&M's Santa gave him.

After the festivities, we said our goodbyes, took a few pictures, and headed home. He hasn't STOPPED talking about seeing Santa, singing Jingle Bells, and getting M&M's. Oh, and apparently he wants dinosaurs and a train.

Gooooooo Dawgs!!!!

It has been 7 LONG years since Scott and I have made it back to Athens, GA for a UGA game. Our group of friends usually has a Thanksgiving dinner together, but we substituted it with tailgating and a game between the hedges this year. We had Bubba burgers instead of fried turkey, but we had a BLAST! We drove up Saturday afternoon accompanied by Mrs. Tara Bogozan and were treated to priority parking with a parking pass for a numbered space directly in front of the frat house we were tailgating at! (We love you Katie L.!!!) I spent the afternoon watching everyone drink themselves into an oblivian, playing Corn Hole and Beer Pong, and munching on all the goodies everyone brought. (my pigs-n-a-blanket were gone in like 5 minutes)

Whit, Gretchen, Tara, and I

The game started at 7:45pm, so we headed over to the stadium (which was a stone's throw from the frat house) and found our seats. FIFTH ROW!!! We sat so close to the field and had special little padded seats with backs on them! Regardless of UGA playing a horrible game and Joe Cox being booed off the field, Scott and I had and AWESOME time.
While we bundled up and had a great time in the cold, Beckham was at Grammy's house helping make a Syrian dinner for Uncle Ben's birthday. On Sunday, we all gathered over at my mom's to indulge in the feast- and OH it was delicious! And Beckham had a great time. (Mommy and Daddy who?)

Since Beckham Turned 2:

Since turning 2, Beckham's little life has been a full one. First we headed off to the OBGYN for our 20 week ultrasound (wearing PINK shirts) only to find out that Beckham will be having a little BROTHER next spring. Needless to say, a wardrobe change was called for.

A few days later, and after a lot of practice with his Doctor's Kit, we made it to the pediatrician for his 2-year check-up. Unfortunately, all the play-acting in the world couldn't have made him comfortable on the exam table.
That appt. resulted in us taking a family field trip to the urologist (only to find out that Beckham is perfectly NORMAL). Sidenote: the Scottish Rite parking is free for the first 30 minutes. We had to pay because our appt. took us 31 minutes. What a crock!!

By the end of that week, Beckham had begun reciting all of the doctors' names.

Dr. Fisch. . . Dr. Gadea pointed flashlight at the butterfly. . . Dr. Massad made me lay on the table.

He is such a talkative little guy! The latest changes to his little personality have been independence, defiance, temper, and silliness. He is an absolute Mama's Boy and uses "snuggling" to get out of any situation (i.e. mealtime, bedtime, riding in the car, sitting in a shopping cart). So, did I mention he's manipulative? But no worries, he doesn't get his way ALL the time!

Some funny things he has said recently:
Scott: (after making a snake out of Play-Do) Beckham, what's this?
Beckham: Thibideaux's poop!

Me: Beckham, what's in my belly?
Beckham: Brooks
Me: And he's your baby. . .
Beckham: Bwadew (aka brother)

Beckham: (while sitting in the baby-bath playing with the carseat toy) Come sit in my lap, Mommy!

Beckham: (while fighting hard against taking a nap) Ho!Ho!Ho! Mewwy Chwistmas! Happy biwfday to you. Happy biwfday to you.

Beckham: (hiding behind the chair) Beckham, where are you?

Entering the Terrible Two's

Beckham turned TWO YEARS OLD on Monday, so the family headed to the park next to our house on Sunday to celebrate. We had a picnic-style party with a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake and what turned out to be a ton of presents. the hat didn't stay on long
the very cool Thomas cake
after all the work it took to light the candles. . .
playing with Uncle Sean's present (no longer interested in opening the others)
"it's my party and i'll cry if i want to"

On Monday, we headed to the park for some playtime since it was dark by the time we left Sunday night. Beckham was very mad he didn't get to swing at his party!

His new favorite thing to do at the playground is slide. . . over and over and over.
Monday night, we lit another candle and let Beckham do the blowing ALONE. He wanted to do it again and again. After the candle-blowing was over, he wanted nothing to do with the cake (except feeding it to Daddy and getting it all over Daddy's face).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BECKHAM!!!!

Smell My Feet

I have to begin this blog by telling you about the 7 stores I went to just to find a "muscle" Spiderman in Beckham's size. Needless to say, no one had it. But, Aunt Shanna came to the rescue with a Black Muscle Spiderman costume that was only 4 sizes too big :) We only had to safety-pin the sleeves. Beckham LOVED it. He was so excited to put his costume on and go trick-or-treating. I only went to a few houses with he and Scott, so I could go home and give out candy (which was fine with me since it was raining). Scott says he actually said "trick or treat" at a few doors. So cute! Daddy and Baby Spidey

Scott's kick-butt Zombie pumpkin

Celebrating the loot!

Olivia

For my 14th birthday, my mom took me to the Gwinnett Humane Society to pick out a new kitten. This precious white and grey kitty with the saddest blue eyes said "take me home". When we came back to pick her up, people were standing in line to call her their own. She came home with me, though, and was named Olivia (after Olivia Newton John- my all-time favorite movie at the time was Grease).
Well, after 15 years of loving her and cuddling with her, Olivia got sick and we had to say goodbye. With tears in my eyes (and snot all over my face), I kissed Olivia and stroked her sweet little head one last time. She will be so missed! A special thanks to the staff at Shiloh Veterinary Hospital for making the whole process so tolerable and comforting for me. They let me spend as much time with her as I needed, provided me with an entire box of tissues (which I used most of), sent a sympathy card, and called me a couple days afterwards to make sure I was doing alright. Thanks again!

"Ride the Tractor"

We headed out to Berry Patch Farms yesterday to hunt for the perfect pumpkin. The weather was perfect, though the sun could have hidden behind a few clouds. It was a napless day, so there weren't a lot of smiles, but there wasn't any whining either.

Taking the hayride to the pumpkin patch

We had to stand in line to get back on the hayride. Beckham really could have cared less about the pumpkins this year. All he wanted was to "ride the tractor" (the one pulling the hayride).

This was the result of no nap and an hour out in the sun :)

SNAKE!!

Mommy, look! Snake! So my heart starts racing and I run over to pick him up. Much to my relief, it was a caterpillar. . . But look at this thing. Its gynormous! And check out the spike on its butt!

Me & My Daddy

Beckham and Scott have gotten to spend some really special time together lately. Beckham is at such a fun age. He is trying new things constantly! As soon as Daddy gets home from work, he usually changes clothes. Beckham likes to put Daddy's clothes on the second they hit the floor- so cute!

Beckham was so proud of the artwork that Daddy helped him create. And afterwards, he ran around naked then took a shower (since he wiped his hands on his shirt and the paint bled through).

We've all enjoyed going outside in the evenings (when its not raining) and throwing ball with Thibideaux. The weather has been that beautiful autumn cool lately :)

Beckham has been really excited about helping out in the kitchen. He has shared in making Banana Bread, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and French Toast. Our own little chef in the making.

.........................................................................................

I also have to share some of the really cute dialogue that has been happening between father and son lately.

Daddy: Beckham, what are you gonna dream about tonight. Football?

Beckham: And Ladies

Daddy: And hockey. And the Stanley. . .

Beckham: Cup

..............................................................

Daddy: Go. . .

Beckham: Steeders (most L's are replaced with D's these days)

Daddy: And who is our quarterback?

Beckham: Big Ben!

............................................................

Daddy: What's Chuck Norris say?

Beckham: Hi-ya!