Parker's Birthday

 He's now 5.  We were pretty lame for the "party", but I think he felt celebrated.  The  biggest stumbling block of the day was that I had an infusion that afternoon and it took for.ev.er.

Finally that night we were all together and could focus on Parker.  He is such a funny kid.  He has a tough exterior, but an ooey gooey center.  He loves his family and does a great job of showing it.  I love his laugh, his twinkly smile, and his sparkly little eyes.

 Parker got to pick the dinner menu and he chose Taco Bell (Jamie could not have been prouder).  While he and dad went to pick it up, Aunt Cynth, Jacob, and I quickly decorated the house and yelled "Surprise" when he got home.  He was both confused and excited.  After dinner we  frosted some Parker cupcakes, sang Happy Birthday, and opened presents.  My favorite part was at one point he walked around the house looking at the decorations we had put up and said, "You guys sure surprised me".  It was a good night.

Polar Bear Plunge

In January our town pool had a polar Bear Plunge.  There was a free t-shirt involved, so Jacob was all in and I made Jamie do it with him.  It was freezing!  They jumped in the water, grabbed a rubber duck they turned in for a prize, and climbed right back out.  As you can tell, they were all business. 

This picture of them afterward makes me laugh every time I look at it.  Jacob's goggles were pushed too far down and he was shivering ... this was the result. 

WHAT?!

You're sick of seeing the same post over and over?  Me too!  I have lots to catch up on - Parker's birthday, Emma's birthday, Disneyland, Easter, cancer updates...  I will soon.  In the meantime, here's a little Emma love.

Just cute

Thank goodness Josie takes pictures of my kids because heaven knows I don't.

That's why Macy is Emma's bestie, she's always there to lend a hand.

His crazy is starting to mellow and he is definitely turning up the cute.

Temple Lights

We made it to the temple this year and enjoyed it with the Hisermans. Always fun.

The highlight of the evening was definitely when the live nativity wasn't going to start for a few minutes, and they were nice enough to start taking parts of their costumes off to let our kids do their own. It was adorable.

Jacob refuses to show his teeth when he smiles. Drives me crazy.

Our picture from the top of the temple. I love that Parker is burying his head into my leg and Jackson could not look more put out by the whole thing. These kids are too funny.

All in all, it was a good night spent with good friends.

Gilroy Gardens

We made the trek to Gilroy last month, it was our first time. We went with our friends the Moores, so fun! It was really empty and FREEZING! We were not adequately prepared. The sun went down and I thought I was going to freeze to death right on the spot. Somehow we survived and managed to enjoy ourselves.

Jacob, Addie, and Parker meeting Linus.

There was even a ride Emma could do all by herself. She was in heaven.

Jacob and Jackson on the Banana Split. If only they had fun.

The guy let them stay on and go over and over because no one was there. I taught them well that the back is the best place to ride.

The gang. Half frozen. Still fun.

Ice Skating

Over the Christmas break we took the boys ice skating for the first time and had a really good time. By the end, they had the hang of it pretty well. Jacob has been asking to go back every week since. Aunt Lauren was here last week and he finally got his wish. She took them both again, and again, they both loved it. I think we may have finally found an interest for Jacob outside of video games. It only took 87 tries.

*not sure why I look like I'm in the throws of plotting some evil scheme, I really did have fun...