honk shu... I'm tired!

But I wanted to update the website... I finally finished Parkers room... at least the painting the walls portion of it. Its not exactly what I expected, but it did turn out good. I like it ok. Parker seems to love it. Now I am just trying to get his decorations in order.
Darin got to come home early from his trip. So on Tuesday we got daddy back. He has to go back tomorrow... come home on Saturday night, leave on Sunday, and then on Monday we will all meet up in Minneapolis... Yay, we are going to visit my dad! No, he does not live in Minneapolis, but he lives about 4 1/2 hours away. It was just too expensive to fly into the little tiny airport that is closest to them (still an hour away). Anyway, we'll be in the back woods fishing, 4 wheeling, and playing! And... Eating grandma's homemade pies! LOL! What a great trip we will have! I cannot wait! We've not been up there as a family since June of 05. So over 3 years! WOW. Oh, I can't wait! If you can't tell... I already said that!
So, today we hung out at home for the whole morning. That is not my favorite thing to do... But it was ok, because when the boys went down for a nap Darin let me go out and do some shopping, get some coffee... By myself. That is always nice. Life is so funny... before I had kids I hated being by myself. There was never really a time that I would have preferred to be by myself, and these days I cherish that time. I hardly even like to talk on the phone during that time. I would just rather be by myself and think. Please don't get me wrong. I cherish the time I spend with my family more! I LOVE being with my boys, and I LOVE being able to stay home with them and see them everyday! In fact I miss them when I am alone. But it is just so nice sometimes to be able to think. Conner is in the stage of asking questions... incessantly. And Parker is in a screaming phase. He's also picked up the question "why" from Conner. He actually says "wah." But we know what it means. The point is.... It is hardly ever quiet. So to have quiet time is so great!
Well, that is about all I have to say tonight! Hope this finds you in a great day (whoever is reading this).

Sleep Over...

"BEST FRIENDS!"

Are those not the cutest boys you've ever seen?!

Sweet smile! Love this kid!

Pabob, Nema, Conner and Parker after our fishing expedition

Parker looks like he was crying, but he was really

saying "cheese," as were the other two.

Here are some pictures i just took a couple of hours ago... and one from when Neomia and Bob were here.

This morning at 6:30 am Nema and Pabob rolled out of the driveway.:( We sure did enjoy this visit with them. Probably the best ever. I don't know what made it so great, but it was. I especially got to spend a lot of time with them. What a blessing!

Darin took the boys and I out for donuts this morning, and we brought them to a park and ate them and then played there for awhile. Then we went to Conner's best friends house to pick him up and bring him home with us. His parents are on a little trip (yes, I am soooo jealous!).... Anyway, tonight Daniel is staying the night. The boys had great fun as you can see.

And, yes, if you are wondering those jammies Conner and Parker are wearing are much too warm, but Conner wanted to wear them, and what Conner wants Parker wants... So, yes, they are probably sweating like crazy in their rooms right now.

Anyway, Nema and Pabob left today, and then Daddy had to leave this afternoon.:( We are all alone+ Daniel! Darin is supposed to be gone for the whole week. But he said that there is a chance he'll be home tomorrow. That would sure be nice!

So, thats what we're up to... Just an update.

Life as usual...

Nothing new to report. We are just living life as usual. "NeMa" and "PaBob" are still here. Those are the names that Parker has for them. He actually says both of them. Surprising because Parker is not much of a talker and usually his talking consists of grunts.
We got to do some yard work today. Which was nice, but unfortunatly it hardly made a dent.LOL. A big yard is nice, however it can really be a lot of work! After dinner Darin and I got to take the boys for a bike ride. We LOVE doing that! I do at least! What great family time! It was hot outside, but such is the life of a Texan is the summer time!
We are about to paint Parkers room, so today I got the room taped off. That is exciting. Hopefully I will get to paint it tomorrow. Darin wants to take NeMa and PaBob and Conner and Parker fishing. He wants me to go too, but that would be a GREAT time to paint. So, we'll see.
Anyway, ok, well I guess I just wanted to write something, since I haven't in a little while. So there, I just wasted your time!LOL

Ladies night!!!

Tonight Neomia and I got to go out for dinner and conversation with some women from our family's homegroup. It was a fun night! But grandma is wiped out! She went straight to bed when we got home just after 10.
Darin and Bob watched the boys and that was just so sweet! I am just so happy that I have such a wonderful husband that wants me to go out and do things like that... and the boys and I are so lucky to have a dad who wants to spend lots of time with them... Wants to "tackle" with them. He even gave them a bath tonight per my request (he usually finds childrens bathing quite optional, a point of disagreement for us). Anyway, a very special night for the boys with their dad, and a special night for great grandma and I with "the ladies."

United States... ABC's... Elmo... C-O-N-N-E-R... this is what our days have been consumed with lately. We are doing puzzle after puzzle and trying despratley to teach Conner how to spell his name, and write his name.
Darin came home in the wee hours of this morning, and brought with him a puzzle each for both boys, and we have been doing them ALL day long today! They love them!
Neomia and Bob (Darin's grandparents) stayed here with the boys during naptime so that Darin and I could go out and have some coffee and do some shopping. That was real nice!
Darin has to leave again tomorrow early in the morning, and he won't be back till Sunday... I don't know what the plan is after that. It is so hard to keep track.
We are just really enjoying having family in town. Just wish so much that we had all of our family all the time!!! Any takers?!

Hehehe

Want to make a great grandma blush? Tonight Parker went into the guest bedroom where Ggma and Ggpa are sleeping, which is also the playroom... and came out with Great Grandma's dirty underwear around his neck... He had put his head through one of the legholes! Then he came out in the livingroom to show everyone his "style!" She turned BRIGHT RED! Wish I would have gotten a picture!

Random... as usual!

This morning Darin got home at about 2 am... notice any kind of pattern here.LOL... Home from New York for work that is. He's not much of a "stay out till 2 in the morning partying" type guy... Anyway so this morning when the boys got up at 6:30 (another pattern I am not totally ready to accept)... I got up with them and brought them into the living room (they come straight into our room when they wake up) and we all three (four if you include the dog) layed on the couch for about 15 minutes together. I LOVE this time in the morning. I don't necessarily love the whole waking up early thing, but I do love how snuggly my boys can be early in the morning. They layed there and loved on me for 15 minutes! I LOVE that!
Then we had lots of fun putting together the alphabet train puzzle! Parker loves the Narwal (some kind of fish I have never heard of), that is his favorite puzzle piece- he says "Nah, Nah." What a cutie. Conner is getting a lot better with his ABC's. And he's been wanting to write his name a lot lately. He doesn't know how and when I try to teach him he just goofs off... but at least he's showing interest. I bought a dvd today called the letter factory... and he loves it. So that is great! Maybe he will learn his abc's this summer (he knows the song, but doesn't recognize the letters yet).
Darin had to leave again tonight. Just an hour before his grandma and grandpa came (the excitement of our day!).
Conner and Parker LOVE their grandma's and grandpa's... This great grandma is pretty amazing too... She will jump through firey hoops if that is what Conner or Parker wants her to do... I am sure she is the same way with her only other great grandchild, Riley. She plays anything and everything with them, and for a 77 year old woman, that is saying a lot! Needless to say they were so excited when Great Grandma Compton rolled into town! They will be here for a week or maybe a little longer... so the boys will enjoy every moment with them until they have to head back to California. After which we will enjoy funny memories of Great Grandma doing something crazy like hiding in a tiny closet full of golfballs (all of which were falling down, and she was struggling- not to necessarily stop them from falling on her, but to stop them from making noise so that Conner couldn't find her while they were playing hide and seek) at Grandma and Grandpa Wilsons house. What a "great" grandma!

Darin is gone... Just for two days, but he is gone, and things are a bit crazy. Conner is in a funk. He's finally taking a nap now, but he has been in a bit of a bad mood. And Parker is in his room screaming because I closed his door. So, we'll see how these two days go. You never know. They could both feel better after a nap! I hope so! I hope they both take a nap...a really good one!
Darin's grandma and grandpa are coming on Monday. That is also the day Darin is coming home. So that should be fun. His grandma has already offered us a date night... if not two! Yay!
Conner's best friend is moving to California. He's really sad about it, even though he doesn't fully get what is going to happen. So we will try to see them a few times before they move too.
Ok, well I am going to go try to get Parker... I was going to finish that sentence with "to bed again." But I had to run from the computer to see what that big crash was. Scary. I still don't know what it was,but something crashed pretty loudly coming from Parkers room, and he stopped crying. All I was thinking was that his dresser fell on him. But thankfully it didn't. Actually nothing did. I don't know what the crash was, but both boys are fine, and sleeping now. Phew!
Ok now I will try to take a nap, even though I have a THOUSAND things I need to do. Lately all I want to do while they are sleeping is take naps.

Shots...

Conner had to get two shots yesterday.:( He starts preschool in the Fall and apparently I forgot to get a couple of his shots that he missed because he was sick at a well visit...
Anyway, he had to get the shots, and I told him the night before, and kept reminding him... That kinda sounded bad, its not like I was taunting him or anything. I just wanted him to get used to the idea that it was going to happen. I wasn't sure if that was better than just surprising him, but honestly he did soooo good! He whimpered a little bit, but he didn't even cry! I was so proud of him! Just wanted to share that.
Today Darin took Conner fishing and Parker and I hung out. They went on Lake Lewisville, and Darin said that Conner must have caught 10 fish... then he caught a 1-2 pound trout, that his fishing pole was too weak to bring in.LOL They had a lot of fun!
Parker and I had fun too. We had breakfast on the patio, and he let me hold him and rock in one of the chairs out there for about 10 minutes. It was so serene! What a nice morning!

just a couple pictures...

There is another posting below this one too....
Parkers got a style all his own... He picked out his clothes... and no, it was not bed time. He got all dressed up to sweep? Also he was wearing Conner's cars slippers. He's saying cheese! Its actually more like "Teeese." So cute! See the picture below to see more of "Parker's style"

Here is a picture of Parkers quilt that I made for him.

Yeah, this is the kind of stuff we do in our spare time. Conner is wearing Parker's last year Halloween costume and Parker is wearing Conner's and we all have those funny fake teeth in. The boys love to put them in!

Notice the shoes!LOL... Parker loves to wear Mommy's shoes, and if he had his way I would wear hot pink high heels EVERYDAY! He brings them to me every morning.

Bubbles!

What a great night the boys and I had. Darin had to work at Best Buy so we went to the gym. We usually go and meet a friend there (she has 3 boys, that Conner and Parker are friends with). Parker has just recently gotten better about not crying the entire time he's in the childcare. Anyway, our gym is in a sort of town square with shops and a gazebo in a big quad type of area. So after we were done working out my friend Jenn and I decided to go out and let the boys play in the grassy area. Well, on the way over there it started to rain-hard! But it was so nice! It was hot outside and the rain was a wonderful break! It put us all in very playful moods! So when we got home (after a very scary drive in the POURING down rain)... we got to play before bed. Conner was a spider- shocker!LOL Parker of course copied his brother with the spider thing, but he soon got distracted by some of my belly showing. This kid is a bubble blower through and through. Sometimes he doesn't even need to see skin to think about it, but if skin is showing it is all over! He blew bubbles on my belly forever! It was so funny! Then Conner had to join in. The very strange thing about their bubble blowing is that Parker is just funny when he does it... But for some reason Conners bubbles tickle like nothing else. He blows the bubbles and then he sits there for a second breathing on your belly! It drives me crazy!LOL I laugh hysterically everytime he does it, which just provokes him. Honestly one of the funniest things I have ever experienced!
On a more developmental note (LOL-totally not really developmental) Parker has decided that everytime Conner sits on the toilet he needs to as well. He just sits there and plays with himself for a little while and then tells me "dow" which means down in Parker lingo. He has a very lazy way about his speech... For example- we are teaching him to ask to be excused from the table. So he says "mai"... Well, actually I don't know how to spell it, but it is a really sad attempt at May I... and he doesn't even attempt the "be excused from the table" part. Lazy guy. Ohwell. He did say rain today, among some other things I can't remember. It seems like everyday he trys to say more and more things! It is so exciting, because we have been worried about his speech for some time now as he has not been much of a talker.
Anyway, tonight was a great night! Those boys are such a joy!

Quiet...

This morning, Darin let me have a few hours to myself. I got to go to Starbucks and just sit there and have coffee. I read my bible a little bit, and prayed a little bit, and just watched the people go in and out of Starbucks. It was a beautiful morning, and I really enjoyed my time alone. Then I went to the chiropractor. I've never been before, so it was interesting. I went because I have been battling headaches since I was pregnant with Parker. Almost daily, with some relief at times. I've seen several doctors to no avail... so I finally decided to try a chiropractor. He took some x-rays, and told me a few things that he saw wrong with my spine, that could be causing the headaches... So we will see. I have to go back a few times in the next two weeks. HOPEFULLY whatever he does will make these headaches cease!
Anyway, now it is quiet again. The boys are sleeping for naptime and Darin is having his quiet time. I just finished reading the book "The Shack." I went online and found Willie's blog... Anyway, I won't go into all that, but that book is really good! I would recommend it to anyone!
This morning right before I left for my "alone time" the power went out. So while I was gone Darin took the boys to Barnes and Noble. The boys love it there! I guess Conner got really into a spider book. He's been fascinated with them lately. In fact last night we were outside in the front yard, and he decided to throw some of his cars into the bushes right in front of the house. We told him to stop and that we wouldn't be able to get those cars again... But he continued to throw them back there laughing hysterically. Then he tried to climb back into the bushes to retrieve his cars... Well, there are all kinds of bugs in there, and mice that live in those bushes (even after we have set several traps out for them)... So I wouldn't let him climb back there. And all night he kept talking about how the spiders were going to eat his cars!LOL. He's really silly.
Parker started saying "Uh Oh" last night at dinner... and hasn't really stopped since, although sometimes its "Oh-Oh." So cute!
Anyway, not much going on here. Darin's working at BestBuy tonight, and we are going to go to the gym and thats about it. Just happy that Daddy is home!

should be sleeping now...

I don't know why, but I can never get to sleep at a decent hour... Here it is 11:20... not 9:20 like the blog posts it.
Anyway, today we had such a fun day. We didn't really do anything that was really fun... But just being together as a family was really nice. Darin had to leave at 4:30... but while he was here was fun. And the boys took great naps, which meant for GREAT moods this evening. All in all it was just a really nice day!
We got to babysit a little baby boy today. He's almost one. Such a cutie... and it was really fun to see what it would be like to have 3. Maybe God will bless us with a 3rd... that we aren't pretending is ours!LOL
Darin had to go to New York today, but he gets to come home tomorrow for a week! So we are real excited about that!
Last night we had some friends over and we played the Wii and drank Pina coladas (it looks like I spelled that wrong)... and we had so much fun! And tonight I am working on my never ending sewing projects... Tonight... Parker's bedskirt and window treatment. But... I don't have any black thread, so I can't finish it!:( But... I did finish his quilt today! Maybe I will post a picture soon! yay! It is so cute... If I do say so myself!:)
Also... i am thinking of Devon a lot today... I assume if you are reading my blog you know Devon... or I've talked to you about her and her family. She's having a hard day today. Please say a prayer for her family. Life is anything but easy and comfortable for them right now. Please pray that God would envelope her and give her a thousand kisses!
Anyway, this was a blog full of thoughts... Sorry nothing really culminated! Just wanted to share whats going on with me! Random!

Independence Day

Well, first of all... I thought about it some more, and actually Darin has not been out of town every 4th since we've been married. And guess what?! He got to come home last night at midnight! And he's home until Sunday night! I am very excited about this!

The boys and I had a lot of fun yesterday.... We went to two parades (even though we actually missed one of the parades, and just stayed for the fun afterward). We got to see some friends, and meet some neighbors, and best of all... get some candy!:) We also got to stay up really late and watch fireworks last night. Conner got distracted with some other kids there chasing a frog. Parker made friends with some peoples dog and enjoyed letting the dog lick all over him. So they didn't watch much of the fireworks, but ohwell... at least they had a lot of fun!

All in all, we had a great day! Hope you did too!

missing Darin...

What a great dad and hubby we have! Darin is so great! Not that I have one specific thing I can come on here and say... But I think that is a good thing... Because that means all of him is great! Just wanted to share that corny little tidbit!:)
Side note- today Conner asked me if he was daddy's wife!LOL I then tried to explain what a wife is and give him some examples of husband wife relationships that he knows... ie, grandma and grandpa... you know. Anyway, after I thought I had explained it pretty good and he seemed to understand, he said... "So is Parker daddy's wife?"LOL What funny little guy! I had a hard time wording my first sentence of this blog, because of that story. Ohwell... you know what I mean!
Darin got to come home last night... well this morning at about 4... I think. I was dead asleep! But he had to leave at about 3:30 this afternoon. We got to spend some time together! That was nice. But I am so bummed. It would be so fun to get to watch the fireworks as a family... but I don't think that Darin has been home for the 4th of July since we moved out here. Ohwell... It really isn't the most important holiday for him to be home for. Don't get me wrong... I am so glad that there is such a holiday for our country... But honestly, it isn't the most important family holiday! Anyway, we are still going to have fun. I think we are going to parade hop in the morning. There is a parade here in Double Oak, and there is another one in Flower Mound, and luckily they are at different times... So we will see how that goes! I hope the boys enjoy parades as much as I do!:) They've been to some other ones before and seemed to enjoy them.
Today we played in the pool for awhile, after Darin left. Our 18" plastic pool. It was so nice. The boys had a lot of fun splashing around and pouring the water out. It was really hot, but the cool water felt great!
FYI... Parker cried tonight when I shut his door after he came out... but I only went in there and put him back in bed once this time, and he went to sleep! YAY-progress!
Now I just hope I can get myself in bed at a decent hour instead of doing things I know can be done tomorrow!
Night!

I am sitting here listening to Parker cry himself to sleep. It is so sad. I want to hold him and rock him to sleep. He is such a precious boy. But bedtime has been so difficult lately. With both boys actually. Keeping them in their beds from the time I lay them down until the sun comes up in the morning, has become increasingly difficult... So I ask... Is it ok to lock them in their rooms until they fall asleep? That is what it has come to. I know I am asking... but please unless you have a sure-fire answer as to what I should do... please don't tell me I am wrong for doing this-LOL.
I just feel so terrible about it, but I don't have any other ideas. I feel like I have tried everything!
Anyway, today we had a good day. Darin is still out of town. He may come home tonight- well early in the morning- and then he is supposed to leave again tomorrow. He actually came home last night too... from about 11:30pm to 6 am. Poor guy has been running around like crazy, and it seems like the first day of this trip nothing went right. Hopefully he will be able to come home soon- for a few days. Ha- I really meant that... but really we are so lucky, he hardly ever flies.
The boys and I went to the mall today. Conner LOVES to go to the waterfall mall aka the mall where they have the Rainforest Cafe. He and Parker both love to see the gorillas and the alligator. Its so cute. When they see the gorillas they both start beating their chests and hollering.
Sweet boys!

Here is a picture from our recent trip to Disneyland. We had so much fun! Although we wish that Daddy could have come too.

Welcome...

This is my first blog... Ever... on this site or ever. Everyone I know that has a blog has good reason to have one, ie... they have important and interesting news to share with friends and family. We really don't have much in the way of important or interesting. But I thought it would be fun to journal some of our family memories, whether or not they are read by others. I often find myself hoping that I will remember this or that that Conner or Parker did or said, and most of the time don't... So I figured this might be a good way.
Anyway, if you are reading about our family and take interest in knowing what is new with us thanks! I will try my hardest to keep on top of this (although I have to say I am not usually a journally type person).