Shutterfly my holiday, baby!

Calling all bloggers!!! Shutterfly is offering 50 free holiday cards just for doing what we do...ramble. And lord knows I can ramble for most anything, but this is seriously something worth my babbling energy :) Shutterfly rocks, I love ordering pics from them and sharing albums with friends. And every year I order our family calendar filled with our favorite photos! And seriously, these make me want to have a party...or at least get an invite in the mail! Our favorite Christmas cards always come from their site, and with this promotion I might even get cards out this year!

Whaddya think?

Festive?





Colorful?

Or, we'd be pretty cute in pale blue.

This one makes my heart sing a little...but I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise!!!

TOO MANY CHOICES!! Do you think after I qualify for my free Christmas cards, someone else can decide which design, choose which pictures to use, put it all together, stuff the envelopes, stamp them, address them, and make me look oh so organized and festive in the process?? Oh, and I need my calendar this year too.

But seriously, this is a great promotion! I've been stressing about where to find the extra pennies this year to do Christmas cards and after the most pathetic yard sale in history, I figured we would do without AGAIN. But now I can totally send pics of my incredibly cute children to everyone we love. YEA!

Tonight we said our final goodnight to Frasier Maupin. He was a member of this family before we were even officially a family. He moved with us from Albany to Miami to Nashville to Phoenix. He saved me when I was unbearably lonely, snuggled me when I was cold, shunned me when I was pregnant, pooped on the carpet, spread litter to every corner of our homes, played fetch, wrestled with lizards, tormented Jack, tolerated our kids, and loved us unconditionally everyday even when we weren't very lovable.

Thank you Frasier for bringing me so much joy and love, and I hope you are now without pain in a place with plenty of tuna and ice cold milk. I love you sweet boy and I will miss you.

Pumpkin Patch

Our Halloween celebrations have been plentiful this year. I've never been a huge Halloween fan, I'll dress the kids up, we trick or treat, but nothing extravagant. But we have fallen into such a fabulous group of friends here, and it seems each holiday has taken on a life of it's own!

We started with the pumpkin patch. We went to the same place as last year, and never before has it been so apparent that my baby boy HAS CHANGED! Lets review...last year...

This year!

But Parker isn't the only one who has grown up. Last year...

This year...

Of course, Lisa and I haven't aged a bit :)

Irresistible

These pictures were taken a few days after Parker's birthday party when we still had the slide and gator pool out back.

I double dog dare you not to fall in love with this man...

The Big Little Man

This is a post I have been working on since Sept 27th, its only been a month, but I haven't been able to load pictures until today. Either way, he still is adorable :)

Parker is two. Did you hear that? I said, Parker is TWO! How on earth did that happen?!? He is two and adorable and fabulous and a handful and dramatic and little and lovable and OH-SO-BLONDE! He is a whopping 26 pounds (25 percentile) and 35 inches (50 percentile), but his great curls add at least 2 inches. And I love him. I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM. His smile is contagious, he sings Twinkle Twinkle and he talks back to Diego and Dora like their lives depend on his every move.

We had a party at the house to celebrate his big day. It was a grand success even if he was a little annoyed about sharing his brand new toys. I found myself inspired by my friend Debbie, who recently had a party for her son's first birthday. As it turns out, I am no Debbie. She comments repeatedly on the ease of making her own amazingly fabulous party decor...mine were not easy but I like to think we had our own fabulousness going on!

I made these pinwheels. And for every father at the party who felt compelled to remind me over and over that they didn't spin up to the standards of a...well...anyone really, they were a royal pain in the rear end to make! Jona quit not even halfway through. I did not enjoy constructing them, or even duct taping them together in the end, but I did INDEED make them and I was giving them out darn it. So there.

These were my other super-cute-and-crafty party favor idea. And while they did turn out super-cute-and-crafty, the names started popping off the balls well before a single guest arrived. I didn't let anyone touch them until every single guest had arrived so everyone could see the cuteness!! And then everyone took home a perfectly plain beach ball...yippie.

There was digging...

driving....

sliding and splashing!



Chicken wings for all, because as it turns out, while Parker wants to be a vegetarian he is a chicken wang lover!

And sweets, my oh my there were sweets. Parker believes with all his heart that birthdays mean cake, nothing but cake, cake cake cake...and M&Ms!

These were also inspired by Debbie, and they turned out PERFECT!

My Big Little Man loved every second of it. I love you my precious little boy, you are such a gift and I thank my lucky stars everyday to have you as my son!

It was WAY to hard to pick a few...Cape Cod was AMAZING!

I'm such a big boy...

Hi! My mom is super lazy and hasn't managed to blog in FOREVER which is really sad cause we've done some pretty awesome stuff this summer. But whatever. I just wanted you all to know THAT I'M TWO!

I'll try to light a fire under mama's bum and get her going on this blog thing.

Love,

Parker

HAPPY DAD'S DAY

Hailey picked out her own special outfit to help Jona celebrate Father's Day. Ain't she somethin'? "But mooooom, there's pink here and here (skirt and small flower on shirt), purple here and here (shirt and small flower on skirt), and blue here and here (socks and stitching on skirt)." She really does have so much in common with her daddy.

Happy Father's Day Jona- we are so lucky to have you!

Happy Father's Day Daddy/Grampy- wish we were there to give you big hugs and bake you something chocolate!

Happy Father's Day Tony/Papa- so glad Jona and the kids got to spend some fun time with you, so sorry about the plague!

Splish Splash

Splash pad season is upon us once again in Arizona. Daily temperatures are reaching the 100's with a couple of oh-so-enjoyable 110's this past week. And while the "dry heat" has nothing on Miami's steam bath, 100 degrees is hot no matter how you slice it. So Phoenix hits the splash pads. Located in most parks, sprinklers and fountains and puddles keep kids happy and parents happier.

Parker and Hailey always start off unsure. Which is strange for Hailey the daredevil water lover, but not for my cautious little guy.

And then she remembers that every kid enjoys a good water enema.

Man my boys are cute!

"Hailey, smile for a picture!" Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model, no doubt!

Standing on the sprinklers is always a most entertaining pursuit. Yep, the water does indeed keep coming out, over and over and over again.

Parker's hair has taken on a life of its own. Especially when air dried by the wind. Crazy haired man and I love it!

Ghetto Gangsta P Diddy.

She is a dancing queen!

Hailey took a dance class this past semester on the ASU campus. It was called a Ballet class, but I'm not sure how much ballet they actually learned. She loved it- surprise surprise- and leared all kinds of new moves! Hailey is the blonde in the light blue leotard. Her BFF Zoe is the brunette in the purple leotard...these girls really are entirely too cute.

The Grand Canyon

These need no narration...

Grammy, Grampy, & the Grand Canyon

We always love a visit from Grammy and Grampy. They were here for almost two weeks in April and it was awesome!

Backyard fun is the best.

I mentioned Rawhide Western Town in the last post. So, so, so hot. Parker had a thing for the lasso.

Now ladies and gentlemen if you look out the right side of the horse drawn carriage you will see dirt and perhaps even some rocks. Look closely and you might even catch a glimpse of a cactus.

We took a trip to Williams, AZ and from there we climbed aboard the Grand Canyon Railway. But we started the day with a classic cowboy show...fake guns, bad jokes and a couple of horses. Can't beat that first thing in the morning.

The train was great! We had a ridiculously knowledgeable tour guide named Morgan...she knew more about the railway, the Arizona desert, and the Grand Canyon than would've thought possible.

And then we arrived at the Canyon. I will post those pics on their own, they require no narration. But let me just say, it was amazing. It was awe inspiring. It made me cry.

Oh, and did I mention, it was COLD! So cold in fact that we spent most of our time there in the snow. THE SNOW!!!

Clearly the view proved too much for Parker.

Poor little guy. But seriously, this picture is hysterical!

We had a great lunch and then wandered around...IN THE SNOW!

We had to snuggle to stay warm.

Then we hiked back down to the train. Hailey's shoes were soaked to the core and yet she was eating ice cream.

But on the train ride back to Williams, we were robbed by cowboys!!!

Parker gave up all his money, mainly because he was terrified of the cowboys!

On our way back to Phoenix we stopped in Sedona for lunch with a view. Hailey grabbed the camera and took some great shots. I love this one in particular.

We wandered a little bit. And then...

we climbed back in the rented minivan and conked out. Can you see her drool?

Update #4 done...check.