A first, a crooked, and a comfortable one

Noah after his 1st day in Sunbeams, his class at church. He cried/screamed the whole time and called for daddy. But he liked the ball with lights that his teacher gave him.



Weston showing his tooth coming out (crooked!).

And this is Noah, while I do things in the computer. He laid out a blanket on top of some filing boxes, got a little "Plumbing Codes" book and a pencil, and is "studying"...... He liked the fact that the book is tiny. (This pic is NOT posed!)

10 things

I should be a copy cat of the good things and copy my friend Wendy in what she copied from her sister-in-law "Ten on Tuesdays". Well today is not Tuesday but I just want to start. It's about posting 10 things you would like to remember or share (experiences, ideas, etc). So let's see if I can write 10.
1. Weston already lost his 2nd tooth (at church, like the first one). Both experiences have been a "oh, there's my tooth" while holding it on his fingers. Too easy!
2. Noah is getting better and better in the potty training. He loves getting his jelly beans as a reward.
3. I (Melissa) started playing volleyball last year, with a group of girls from church, from different wards. We play every Thursday from 9-11pm. Yeap, PM, no mistake. I LOVE that "me" time. Wally and I do our daily routine of putting the kids to bed, by 8pm, and I make sure they are completely asleep, so I can leave around 8:40pm, since it takes me 20 minutes to get to the church (where we play, in the gym). I love playing!
4. Weston loves reading books, especially at night, and he is getting better at this reading. We love Dr. Seuss's books.
5.Wally is now the 2nd counselor in the Elders quorum at church; and is enjoying it.

6. Weston loves playing with K'nex and legos. He loves building with them.

7. I heard "Mommy, Mommy!" So I came and that's what I found. Noah was trying to reach some games, on his own. NOT SAFE!

8. "My favorite breakfast", Weston said. So why not take a picture? (Bacon, eggs, cinamon roll, and grape juice) And yes, that was MY plate and I do like my scrambled eggs with ketchup. That is a childhood thing...

9. Weston doesn't complain about doing homework. He really likes doing it. Hopefully this stays throughout the many years of homework to come. I do sit with him and help him.

10. I love baking. I try to always have a treat and I like to share with my neighbors.

Jammies Day at the school!

The school had a movie and pajamas day, and everyone in the school (at different times) watched The Polar Express, and drank hot chocolate and ate cookies (I believe), and they were all wearing pajamas, how fun! Except the parents, when we came to the party...

 The kids were supposed to decorate cookies with frosting and sprinkles and candies. The mom that brought the cookies, misses the detail that they were going to do that, and brought sugar cookies already decorated! So the kids were not sure what to do, but put more frosting and candies on top! There was a lot of candy wasted... How sad!

Below, is Weston with his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Jennifer McHone, and his friends Carson and Sarina, and also my friend Claudia and her son Jake, also Weston's friend, and neighbor.

 

A treasure

This picture has to be considered a "treasure". I see my mom often and we never take pictures together, so we took the opportunity at my brother-in-law's open house (Spens & Jess). (...and the black and white outfits were NOT planned).

Just us

We celebrated Christmas early with my parents as they were flying to Miami, to be with my sister and her family for Christmas. So this picture was just us getting a quick snap in front of the tree. I am always looking for opportunities to get us together in a picture. Usually it's me taking pictures of other people at family gatherings...

Annual Cookie Party

Every year, Wally's mom has a Cookie Party, before Chirstmas, for her nieces and nephews and her grandchildren. There is a lot of preparation involved, and baking, and sugar, and sprinkles, and fun! The kids love it and so do we, as we get to eat cookies for breakfast, lunch and dinner pretty much.
p.s. My posting didn't go that well as far as putting the pics in the order they were taken, but somewhere in there is the picture of each of the platters my boys got.
Thank you Grandma (Mom Parker) for this fun event every year!

Fishing...

It was Weston's first time fishing, and Wally had not been in a while or Noah. Abuelo bought Weston a fishing pole and he was excited to use it soon. So the boys got invited by a friend to go fishing at their place, so they went. And Weston caught a catfish! They told me he couldn't even believe it. (I heard they fed the fish hot dogs or something, to make them come...) But still, he caught something and was sooo excited! Glad they had fun.

Helping Abuelo decorate for Christmas

Weston and Noah helped Abuelo set up his big nativity outside his home, before Christmas. Wally was helping a friend build his house and I went to my cousin, Jeanine's, baby shower.

The kids love helping out in things.

And of course, they had to get in it for a picture!

And then there's mom, trying to get a good picture with her boys... Not the easiest thing. But we're there together!



"Thing 1"

Weston had a school project where he had to pick a book to read, then answer some questions, then come to school dress up as one of the characters. He loves Dr. Seuss's books, so he picked The Cat in the Hat book and he/picked to be Thing 1 (as you can kind of see on the pages of the book). We had fun preparing for this and we thought it turned out really good. So below is a pic of Wes, ready to go to school.

First Tooth Fairy's visit!

At 6 years old, Weston lost his first tooth. I kept telling Wally he would be the one pulling the tooth, because I didn't want to do it. Well, after church, while we were waiting on Wally, Weston just put his finger in his mouth, to wiggle it (was his intention), but instead... I heard, "my tooth came out!" And there it was! I quickly gave him a napkin and send him to the bathroom to rinse it off. And there was no more blood in his mouth, and that's how quick it happened. I was happy with that. He was SSOOOO excited his first tooth came out!

THat night, Weston put his tooth (in a ziploc baggy) under his pillow, and the next morning there was a dollar and the tooth was gone! (He was hoping for a million.... sorry... if that was what happens, I would be pulling my own teeth out now!)

Dads and Donuts

Weston's school had a day called "Dads and Donuts" which is a day where dads (grandparents or "equivalents") can come and have a small breakfast with their children. So Weston invited his daddy and Wally was able to go (he was going to work later) and they both said they had a great time, to what I call "father and son bonding time"! They ate, then Weston took Wally to the hallway by his classroom and showed some projects done, then gave him a book (made by him) describing daddy... pretty funny. Then Wally asked, "so what do we do now, son?", to which Weston replied, "I go in my classroom and you go home". He loves school!!!!!

Oct. 30, 2010 Trunk or Treat?

Our church had an activity for Halloween the Saturday before Halloween. We met at a member's barn and they had some food,

a hay ride, and then we did trunk or treat, where you go around the trunks of cars and you ask for candy. It was kind of short and quick but we had fun.



Good chicken..?

Sep 2010
Normally, my kids don't want to get all sticky when eating... But one day, I made this barbecue chicken and...

the pictures tell you what happened this time. Was it good?!

Sep. 4, 2010 Boating in Lake COnroe

Our friends and neighbors, David and Shelley and their son Connor, invited us to go boating on a Saturday. It was a very fun time. We brought our lunches and we went to a small island where the kids could play in the sand.

Weston loved riding in the front and Noah and I made sure we were tightly sitting in the back with Wally and Shelley. David let Wally drive the boat for a little bit. I couldn't take a picture as I was more worried about keeping me and Noah inside the boat!




Then we went to the other sides of the lakes and saw som big houses. One of them is the grandaughter of Mrs. Bairds, the bread lady.

I love Priscilla!

This picture was taken was my sister was here... I'm so glad Wally took it. Let me just say that that baby girl loved for me to put her to sleep or she loved falling asleep on my arms and I loved holding her... How sweeter can that get and she sucked her thumb! (I sucked my thumb when I was a baby). I love her! She is so soft in every way. I see this picture and I want to have her here to hold her again.
So in honor of missing her, here goes the picture!