He's 2!!!

Parker's Birthday is today, but we celebrated last night with all our friends after our Thanksgiving dinner! He Has been singing "Happy Birthday to you" all week. 

Parker getting a little shy when we sang to him

Remi comforting him and explaining about blowing out candles

Blowing out the candle

Yay! I did it.

Proud Parker and proud Remi

Parker enjoying his bowl of ice cream with Alissa and Livi watching every bite

Parker sharing his ice cream with Alissa and Livi

Parker opening presents while Aver, Remi, Drew, Alissa and Broden watch!

Parker loved the ball and hat from Grandma and Grandpa DD. He liked the shirts too, but the ball and hat entertained him for hours last night and still loving them today. The rest of his presents are still in the mail. I ordered his present over a month ago, so hopefully it will be here today.

Parker is such a fun little boy! he is so happy and loves to listen to mom and dad and do what we say. He is usually the first child with shoes and coat, ready to go. He is good at saying please and thank you and if he hurts someone he will say sorry and give them a hug. He loves to play soccer and ride Alissa's scooter. In the summer I would take him to play tennis every few days and one day I said Parker we are going to go now and his reply was"Tennis?" He loves his sports! 

This morning when Parker woke up he layed in bed for about half an hour singing Happy Birthday to Parker, It was so cute. Then when he came into the bathroom to find me(he can climb out of his crib) he was singing happy birthday to Grandma and has been asking for grandma all day. 

Parker loves to eat fruit! He loves blueberries, raspberries, oranges, strawberries melon, kiwi and pretty much any other fruit. I can't think of any main dishes he always loves. It is hit and miss. He used to eat spaghetti every time, but now he says "yuck"(thanks to older Brother and Sister) and won't eat it. When I bake cookies I have to hide them or he won't eat anything or do anything but try to get to the cookies and cry for cookies. I think its funny for a little while. Then I just hide them and he's ok. 

Parker loves his brother and sisters. He always wants to do what they are doing, playing soccer, swinging, playing games, coloring, singing and riding scooters. 

Parker is growing up so fast and I am thinking about potty training him in the next few weeks. He had been telling me potty and poopy for a while and likes to sit on the toilet and try. Usually I would just wait until he was really, really ready, but he has never liked getting his diaper changed. He screams and kicks the whole time if I am trying to wipe off his poop, and he poops like 4 times a day. In the winter it is ever worse, because for some reason he gets really bad diaper rashes. His love of fruit doesn't help:) So I think potty training will solve those problems.

Parker loves to count. His 2 favorite numbers are 4 and six. When we are playing counting games in the car with Remi and Broden, Parker will just sit there saying, "4, 6, 4, 6," over and over again. We try to get him to say 1, 2, 3, but we just say 1, 2, 3, and he goes 4,6. Pretty funny. 

We love our Parker and what a fun, loving boy he is!

Thanksgiving

We have kind of created a Thanksgiving tradition of having Thanksgiving dinner before or after Thanksgiving Day. We have always gone to other people's houses or been traveling, but love to have the turkey and leftovers too. So we just have our own party! 

Parker went with me to go grocery shopping and helped me unload all the groceries. I went to the bathroom and when I came ou this is what he was doing. It was too funny!

Parker riding the Turkey

He kept saying "yee haw"

Aliss, Rilyn, Remi and Shaylee(Broden on the top bunk)

 Friday night we had Shaylee and Rilyn over for a sleepover. They had so much fun together and us adults enjoyed some wii fit plus competitions while the kids watched a movie. The next day I woke up and Kim and I left at 6:30 and went to some huge pottery sales about 2 hours away. 2 hours later and some money, I came home with some nice serving platters and bowls that match what I already have! Yay, I don't have to buy all new dishes so they can match. We had so much fun getting good deals, getting lost and just talking and hanging out!

The kiddos had fun too. They go to have cinnamon rolls then go feed the horses with all the friends and dads and go to a movie.

Sunday was the big dinner. We had the Ingersoll's and Hatch's and Constance Taow(Sister Towel). We made Rolls, Turkey, Pretzel Jello salad and Lemon Meringue Pie. Every one else brought, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pies, chips and cranberry salsa, bread and spinach dip, veggies and dip, apples and dip and crackers, meat and cheese. The food was delicious and the company even better. We ate, chatted, ate, played games and ate some more. The kids had a blast wrestling and dancing with the dads too.

Constance and Kim 

Blake and Andy getting attacked by Rilyn, Avery, Drew, Shaylee and Remi

More wrestling with Dads!

We are so grateful to have such good friends here in England. We have found friends we can hand out with, play games, volleyball, tennis, and travel with. Our kids also love having friends to play with when the adults get together. We feel so blessed and although we miss our family in the states we are glad we have "family" here too.

Soccer

Remi and Broden played on the same soccer team and Blake got to be their coach. We put word out in the ward that Blake was coaching and got 8 players from our ward and the other ward all on the same team. Remi and Broden had a blast and Blake is a great coach. I think he is excited to coach them as they get better and better!

Team picture

Broden breaking away!

Now on to basketball that starts in 2 weeks. Luckily they are on the same team again and so we aren't doing basketball every day of the week like tball was!

Guy Fawkes

 For Family Home evening a few weeks ago we had Remi and Broden tell us about Guy Fawkes, because it was Guy Fawkes in England. They explained all about how this group of people had planned to kill the king because they didn't like the way he was running things. So they set up explosives and Guy Fawkes was the guy who was all ready to light them. He got caught and they burned him. So, the government created Guy Fawkes day so everyone knew that if you did something like that you would get burned like him. Now it is more of a celebration that he didn't succeed in killing the king.

They have bonfires and put Guy Fawkes scarecrow type things on the fire, then have fireworks. We thought it would be fun to go to a celebration and see what it was all about. So the next Saturday after Blake's soccer game we headed to Ely for their celebration. They had carnival rides and food too. We had an awesome spot to sit/stand and a great view of the fire and fireworks. When they first lit the fire there were a bunch of fireworks in it, which we weren't expecting. They were really, REALLY loud and scared Parker. I felt bad because he was just playing on the ground when they started and he started crying. The rest of the night was fun though. The fireworks were surprisingly really good. We are used to our Idaho Falls 4th of July fireworks. But these almost compared. The kids loved it!

Broden with the bon fire in the background

Remi and the bon fire

The bon fire

Alissa, Blake and Parker drinking hot chocolate waiting for fireworks

The fireworks

more fireworks

The location for the fireworks was perfect. They set them off on a hill right in front of the Ely Cathedral. We could even see all the med running around lighting the fireworks. It was beautiful.

Remi, Alissa and Broden watching a movie with Dad.

Happy Birthday Broden!

 Broden's birthday was during their fall break for school, so I made him cupcakes the last day before break, to take to his class. He wanted Halloween cupcakes with spiderwebs.

Alissa sampling a cupcake

 On Broden's birthday he wanted to have cinnamon rolls. So I made cinnamon rolls, then we made his cake and got ready for his party that night. The day before his birthday I was laying in bed and Broden and Remi came running in saying they had made Broden's birthday party list. Then they asked if they could make invitations. I said sure and away they went. They only asked 2 questions. What time was the party and what road do we live on. By the time I got up they had all the invitations made and sealed in envelopes with names on them all ready to deliver. I had no idea what they said, but didn't have the heart to open them and look, so we just delivered them and followed up with a facebook invite. It was so cute and I was proud of them for being able to do that all by themselves.

Broden's cinnamon roll and candles

Remi reading Broden his birthday card

Present from Grandma and Grandpa Jones

 Grandma and Grandpa Jones sent supplies to catch bugs and animals. Broden put them to use right away in the back yard and caught a toad we had living under our wood pile by the shed. It was pretty big. Now he says he is raising it:)

Broden's toad

For Broden's birthday party he wanted a Halloween party. So we made a Halloween cake, then we let the kids be on teams and shoot at the bats I had on the window and get points for how many they shoot. After that we played a mummy wrap game. They were in 2 teams and had to wrap 1 person on their team like a mummy, using a whole role of toilet paper. Whoever used the whole role first, won. It was pretty cute and they had fun doing it. These 2 games only took like 45 minutes, so we scrambled for another game. I had them all get a balloon and we let them stand at one end of our living room and take turns "shooting" their balloon to see who could shoot their balloon the farthest. Then we sang to Broden and let him blow out candles, opened presents while Blake cut the cake, then had cake and ice cream. It was still only about 7:20 when they got done, so we came up with another idea. We had each of them draw a picture and think of a scary story to go with it. Then we turned off the lights and let each of them tell their scary story. It was really fun and cute. I love how innocent they still are. They didn't tell bloody, gory, killing, violent stories. It was things they were scared of, like spiders, or kidnappers. Things like that. What a fun Birthday party for Broden. We are so glad he has friend and that he is such a good friend.

Halloween cake with spiders, bats, a tree and ghost

The first place team and their mummy

The second place team and their mummy

All the birthday guests

the inside of the cake

 The next day we had fun making balloon animals with the kit Broden got to make them. We had fun and had a lot of jumps from the balloons popping!

Broden's dog

Broden is such a loving boy and we are so proud of him. He has turned into such a fun boy and a good friend. His teachers told us how easily he makes friends and how he gets along with everyone. He loves sports and enjoys trying new sports. He is really good at soccer and baseball. He also enjoys playing tennis and will be starting basketball in a few weeks. His favorite food is still tator tot casserole, but he has added some new favorites too. He likes spaghetti carbanara, spicy chicken and shrimp, rice, and barbecue chicken. He also likes most fruits and vegetables. At church Broden loves to sing. He will always sing as loud as he can if he knows the song and everyone loves it:) He loves to talk about teaching people about Jesus and knows he can go on a mission when he is 18. Broden also loves praying. He says the most thoughtful prayers. It used to be whatever he could see he would list as what he is thankful for. Like the plates, spoons, bowls, table, chairs, mirrors etc. Now he really thinks and lists very thoughtful things he is thankful for and asks for help with things or prays for others. His prayers have brought tears to my eyes more than once. We love our Broden and are so happy that he is 6!

Parties, pumpkins and Halloween!!!

 While Blake was gone I watched a friends kids for the evening and thought it would be fun to do a little Halloween party while they were here. We made green and orange jello, shaped as bats, cats, witches, ghosts and pumpkins, Remi made a veggie plate, that kind of looked like a jack-o-lantern, we had orange kool-aid with gummi worms, pumpkin shaped pizza with jack-o-lantern faces, pretzels the kids shaped into bones. For their treat they got to paint sugar cookies, then have black and orange popcorn while they watched scooby doo movie. They had a blast!

Remi's jack-o-lantern veggie plate

Halloween Jello

coolaid and worms

Halloween popcorn

pretzel "bones"

 Grandma Jones sent her annual halloween shirts and candy for the kids and they had fun opening the package and modeling their shirts!

Halloween shirts and treats

trying on our mustaches

Broden getting mom in trouble

Broden the tough guy

Remi the boss

Alissa the ninja

 We had fun carving our pumpkins the Saturday before Halloween. Broden drew his pumpkin exactly how he wanted it on paper, then we carved it together. Remi wanted an ice cream cone and Alissa picked a cat off the computer that she wanted on her pumpkin. Blake drew it for her and she colored it while we helped the other 2 with their pumpkins. Parker loved cleaning out his pumpkin!

Remi and Broden cleaning them out

Alissa, Blake and Parker picking out pumpkin designs

Broden's finished pumpkin

Alissa's colored pumpkin

Alissa's carved pumpkin

Parker cleaning out his pumpkin

Left to right, Broden's, Parkers, Remi's and Alissa's

Halloween night we headed to base to do some trick or treating with friends. There are SOOO many people who go on base. Some of our friends handed out $250 dollars worth of candy, one at a time in 45 minutes. CRAZY! The kids had a blast thought and got tons of candy!

Alissa the bee, Remi the cat and Broden the bat

Alissa the bee

Parker the dog, he didn't quite know how to open his bag for more candy, when he already had a piece in his other hand.

Parker checking out the scary guy in a chair

Alissa's candy

Broden's candy

Remi's candy

 I try not to spend money on Halloween costumes every year, I don't really know why. I guess thats just  how I am. I remember growing up we used what we had to create costumes, so maybe that is why I do it. We borrowed both Alissa's bee costume and Parker's costume from friends. I did make wings and antennae for Alissa though. I used 2 hangers and some old tights for Alissa's wings, then just put gold glitter on them to make them fancy. For the antennae I used a black headband and put gold pipe cleaners from another project on it with black yarn balls on the end. They were pretty cute. Remi wanted to be a cat and I suggested she wear her black skirt and shirt and we could make her a tail and ears. Then another friend offered ears, so she was set. All I had to do was bed a hanger to look like a tail, wrap the tail with some batting and black material then pin it on. Super easy and free! Broden wanted to be a bat. I cut out his wings out of some scrap black material and pinned them to a black shirt. Then he just wore his black school pants. For his ears we took Blake's ear warmer and sewed some big felt bat ears to them. It wasn't my favorite costume as far as the ones I have made, but he loved it and that's what matters. So this year for Halloween everyone's costume was free! I love making costumes, and I am ok spending some money on them too. I just need to plan ahead a little more than a week. Things are a little harder to find here than they were in the states:)

The kids had a blast with all the Halloween festivities. We went to Blake's work party the Friday before Halloween, where they went through the "Haunted Hallway", played musical pumpkins, ate and colored. They had enough candy after just that one party. On Halloween day I took the kids to another party at the hospital. They did a few crafts, then trick-or-treated around the hospital. After that we went to the bx food court and got their picture taken and in exchange got a free kids meal. So we got 4 free kids meals! After we ate we headed home to relax and regroup for more trick-or-treating that night.

We now have WAY TO MUCH CANDY! I am hoping to find something to do with it besides eat all of it here. We not only have candy our kids got, we have the candy we bought to pass out, then didn't end up passing it out. Oh well. The kids had so much fun dressing up and seeing all the other costumes and Halloween decorations. Hopefully we will learn to eat candy in moderation:)