Happy 4th!

Be safe this weekend, and have a great time celebrating the holiday!

Parker Photos

Parker has been busy with his new camera. In among the photos of socks and carpet, there are some decent shots. Fun and so cute!

Tastes like Summer

My new favorite treat:
Watermelon popsicles

Super easy!
cut up a watermelon (we used about 3/4 of a personal size watermelon. use your best guess)


Puree to about 3 cups in a food processor or blender. Find a good three year old to poke the watermelon down between pulses.



When you have your three cups of watermelon puree, add 1/2 cup of orange juice and 1/4 cup sugar. Mix.


Pour into popsicle molds, freeze and enjoy on a warm summer day. These are super refreshing, dairy and gluten free, and delish...

Diagnosis: He's three, alright...

Probably the most unexciting part of Parker's birthday over the last couple of weeks is the annual visit to the pediatrician. I've had the appointment on the calendar for some time but hadn't said much to P about it until the day before, so that we could make it sound as fun and exciting as we could.

We took his doctor's kit with him: stethoscope, ear looker, bandaid, syringe, thermometer, blood pressure cuff. We had "practiced" most of the things on blue bear beforehand so he'd know what to expect, and it appeared we were good and ready.

He did great for the nurse. Let her take his weight, height, blood pressure (no kidding!) and pulse. Then we went to an exam room and the kid. fell. apart. The pediatrician was awesome--I give her total credit because she was amazing and so patient with our, um, patient--and did the once-over while I held him in his moment of fear. Fortunately there weren't any shots involved either, I fear the thought of how that would have gone over.

I still don't know what caused him to be so scared, and there likely isn't a great explanation other than her diagnosis: "Yup, he's three, alright..." And maybe that's all it was. Just a case of the threes.

In any case, we got some excellent news that he's finally starting to catch up weight- and height-wise to other kids his age, after spending nearly his whole life at the bottom of the growth charts. It was music to my ears considering his steady toddler diet of dairy and carbohydrates.

And as we left, he dried his eyes, smiled and waved at the nurses, and said cheerfully, "We all done? I go now? I saw the doctor, momma, just like my doctor kit! That was fuuuuunn."

Stinker.

Parker the Photographer

Parker was excited to get a (kid-proof) digital camera of his very own for his birthday. A big shout out and thanks to P&J&J for the awesome gift! He opened it and was tickled that he could take pictures just like momma. Um, oops, does he think of me as the paparazzi?

I can only imagine how the photos are going to turn out:

Birthday remix 2

We spent the weekend on the western edge of our favorite state with G&G. Parker was so excited to see everyone...and of course, was really excited about a 'prise. :)

He had a couple to open when we arrived on Friday--




Then we spent the day on Saturday doing fun things together—hanging out at the park, the pool, and outside playing football. The boys even hit a few balls:





On Sunday we went to a fly-in breakfast and Parker was thrilled to see all the airplanes. The bigger, and louder, the cooler they were.

Birthday remix

I'm still catching up from this past weekend--so much fun! Thanks for all the well wishes and birthday greetings for Parker...he was so excited to hear everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to him.

We'd been contemplating the addition of a sandbox to our backyard for some time—every little boy needs one, by our account. :) It seemed like the perfect three-year-old gift, and a good project for daddy, too—with help from P and momma, and we managed to accomplish it on what was probably the last comfortable day of the summer. (Now it's just disgustingly hot.)

We found a nice spot in the backyard and went to work. The railroad ties are part of our critter/water control, in case you're wondering...



We had to dig down to put our first layer of 4x4 cedar posts and level them out. This was probably the hardest/most tedious part, aside from putting the sand into the box. This box is 8x8'; I suppose we could have made it smaller, but it's a good size for lots of little boy adventures.



Then we added couple more levels of 4x4's and we were about ready to line the box with landscaping fabric. And then it's time for sand!


Sand arrived the next day and we had to use LOTS of muscle to get it from the driveway to the backyard. We'll post a finished product shot soon--maybe once it's cool enough to go out and play in it!