How he has changed!

Parker in his "Superman" blanket. Remember when the meteor crashed to Earth in the first Superman and the "baby superman" was wrapped in a blanket? Yeah, it's this one, or so Aaron says....It doesn't help that last summer, Superman Returns came out 2 days after Parker was born so of course we went to see it in the theater, which does not happen very often for the two of us!!

Of of my favorite outfits for Parker to wear to church. I was so sad when he outgrew this one...it made him look like a little man!

I think this was the first time he ate baby cereal. Just think this was the baby that they were worried because he was soo skinny! Now he is just jumping off the charts in every part.

We stopped off at Sonic after church Wednesday night for ice cream. It was raining (and it has been for 17 straight days now, I think, have you seen the news?) but we couldn't miss out on having ice cream because of a little rain! Notice, Parker has on a hat for more than 30 seconds...he must have been distracted with the ice cream. Love my boys...and my girlies!! Off to clean for the family is coming tonight! Whoopie!!

Goes by so fast!!

This is what I did for over 12 hours exactly one year ago today. I sat. Yes, I sat in this hospital bed and waited for Parker to make his entrance. Of course, he didn't want to be like his sisters and come out easy. No, that would not be little mans way. Instead, they had to roll me down to the O.R. for a C-section for Parker to make his grand entry. I am so thankful for every minute that we spent there in Graham at their hospital. Dr. Steve Jones (one of our friends from church) was the best, as were the nurses and other attending physicians. What a great day!

Here is Aaron in his lovely outfit on the way to the O.R. He was so excited about Parker finally coming that we forgot the camera for the birth. Parker came without the camera, and that was okay with us!

Parker York Green meeting his big sisters for the first time. They love him so much and we are all so thankful to have a happy (most of the time!) and healthy family.

What a blessing! How one year goes by so extremely fast!

Aaron's trip...

Aaron and 3 other of his friends from church took off on Thursday afternoon and drove to New Mexico to hike....Here are some pictures that he brought back from their adventures. They stopped at the Big Texan while they were driving across our great big state here in Texas and tried out their fine food and then were off again for another place....The wild and exciting roads of New Mexico. he he he

The got up Saturday morning and hiked, but to tell you the truth, I have no idea what the name of the mountain is...Mt. Wheeler, maybe? I'm sure he told me, but I had my hands full this weekend with 4 kids and all....

They got to hike in the snow, which I'm sure they loved. You know those boys. They had much male bonding time, poker and stories to tell for quite some time, I'm sure.

Oh, and Kevin got pulled over....Just had to add this picture. It has to be my favorite. I was SURE to send it to his wife for her to hold over his head for a few years to come. Of course, he only got a written warning, but really, getting pulled over is getting pulled over!! I'm so glad they had fun, but now I'm ready for a non-eventful week before my family comes for Parker's birthday this weekend...Yippee!!! Still no walking yet, but he is doing a few steps here and there...he put together 5 steps in a row on Friday!

4 kid update....

Oh my word....today was a shamble. I have to give those little two 3 year olds credit. They have been together constantly for over one week and aren't completely killing each other....yet. I decided to get everyone out of the house today because they can't play at all without fighting in the house (its MY doll, she took MY dress and so on from them both and McKynna doesn't even live here.) Grace has been great at being the middle man and breaking up the fights, but I could tell that tonight, even she was tired.
We drove over to the zoo. Big mistake. One of two little girls cried just about the whole time we were there. They just kept taking turns crying...it would seem like one of them was done and then something would happen and the other one would cry. Goodness!!! One hit the other or one is holding Grace's hand and that's not her big sister....the list goes on and on when you are completely exhausted and three years old. McKynna's parents are coming to pick her up tomorrow night and I hope the girls can make it through tomorrow. Susie kept asking if we could take her home today....Oh, they are soooo tired. I put them to bed before 8 and they were both out in about 3 minutes.

4 Kids!!

All I have to say is "WOW!" We have had McKynna here with us for less than 24 hours and I am tired already! She is fine and they all play great together, but boy, I'm just tired! Of course, Aaron is gone and I'm by myself, but Dyane, Shanna and Mom...ya'll are great! We are going to get ready to go to the zoo in a few minutes so wish me luck!!

Picking up Susie!

Yeah! We are going to pick up Susannah in a few hours and I can't wait!! I have missed my little cuddlebug so much! I know she has had much fun with her friend and will continue to have fun with her because when we pick up Sus, we are bringing McKynna back with us, as well! We are keeping her until Saturday night so that her family can go to the Rangers game and Six Flags.

I'm off to Wal-Mart for fun supplies before they both get here....Aaron is going hiking with his church buddies this weekend and I really don't want to have to go to Wal-Mart with 4 kids by myself!!!

Heavy heart

I know I've already blogged for today, but I got an e-mail this morning and it is so heavy on my heart right now all I can do is write. My best friend from college is Shellie. We lived together our freshman year and went to Europe together our sophomore year. She and Mike got married our junior year, but they never made me feel like a third wheel. The 2 of them are are so very dear to me. We don't get to see each other much of all. We e-mail, phone and send the occasional letter. But she knows that I love her and would do anything in the world for either one of them.

Shell e-mailed me this morning with news that she went into early labor (she was due in Oct.) Monday night and gave birth to a 1 pound baby boy. His heart beat for 14 minutes and then he went on to be with God. I'm so sad. I'm so extremely sad. I have had 3 healthy babies and my best friend just lost hers. They have a sweet little boy named Adison and he is a joy. I'm so thankful for him and that they have such a wonderful little one. But, how do you deal with these kinds of things? God has given us life and the ability to produce life. I'm not upset with God, whatsoever, I'm just so upset that my friends are hurting so very much. When bad things have happened to us (me and Shell) we can't talk on the phone...we e-mail and we cry together on the computer, but I honestly think if we picked up the phone it would just be another crying session...which sometimes we need again, but this is how we communicate. Blogging is another way that I communicate. It gives me a chance to write out how I am feeling. When I got her e-mail this morning, I cried, held my baby boy, cried some more, took a shower and then cried some more. Sometimes I just don't know how to react. Bad things happen to good people, I know that, it happens to bad people, too. It just hurts when your friends are hurting. But people like Mike and Shellie are the best and I KNOW that they will be okay and they will look straight to God in this time. And for that, I am thankful. I'm praying and that is what I'm going to keep doing.

Keep them in your prayers and all the families out there that are hurting over lost babies.

Just another day at the zoo!!

With Susie gone to her friends house until Thursday (yes, they are brave aren't they?) Grace and I had planned some just Grace and Mommmy activities. Of course, we forgot to factor in that all the babysitters that we know are gone to camp this week....so we had to do a little shuffle step and change our plans yesterday. No biggie. We were to go to NRH2O (the local water park) with a few people from church. Well, with no babysitter for Parker man, there was no way that was going to happen because Grace and I were wanting to ride some good rides. So we will do it another day when we can get one of our fav sitters to come and stay with little man. It was also a little cloudy. I for one, am NOT going to pay $40 or so to go to a water park and then get rained on and have to leave. So we decided to use our handy dandy zoo passes for a day of fun at the Ft. Worth Zoo.

It was great! Parker loved all the animals....although he kept calling them all, "DOG!"...he is pretty funny. He really liked getting so close in the petting zoo to the goats. He was really excited about the goats, for sure!

Grace was enjoying the time without Susie, but she kept saying, "my sister would really like that animal" or "Sus would have LOVED to hear the lion roar like that!"....She does love her (and so do I!) We held hands most of the day and she liked being able to push the stroller without fighting with Sus for the chance to do whatever she wanted. Grace always wants to have her picture taken at all the little picture spots...she was just posing as usual!

Grace in front of the elephant house...they have 8 elephants at the Ft. Worth zoo and they are all so playful. The youngest one was running (yes, running and I have never seen that in a zoo) after it's mommy. It was so cute to see them having fun together, just like we were yesterday!

Loving on her little brother. They were both pretty worn out after all the walking...the temp was 96 when we got to the car, but we had some great shade and some wonderful breezes at the zoo. Last night we had some more wonderful rain and the temp is 70 right now (9:15 AM)...I wish the zoo were open this early, wouldn't that be great! The rain has been sooo plentiful this summer, it is hardly resembling last summer at all!

Sippy cups are taking over the house!

 

Here is an example of the different sippy cup that we have tried with Parker over the past few months. I included the bottle because I can say we "tried" it but he never really took it, he just chewed on it like all the other cups.

 

This cup is not the one....everytime he tried it, the stopper fell out and he had juice all over him. I also figured out something else that could be why he doesn't want juice in a sippy. I had been watering it down...I always did that for the girls (I read it in some parenting magazine, what do they know anyway?) and they didn't mind but I guess Parker wants the straight stuff. He loved the juice (not the watered down version) yesterday. Of course, you see where most of it went....

 

I really think this cup (It is the newest Gerber cup that we have bought) works the best and he can actually get a sip every once in a while. We'll try to stick with this one and see if he can get it all down. As for the others, they can go back up the in cabinet with all the other ones....until Aaron gets frustrated (he's an engineer, remember)and throws them away....

 

Missing Susie

 

Susie is in Graham this week playing with her best friend, McKynna. Sus and McKynna were born just one day apart and are little sweet things together. We went to Graham this past Saturday for a wedding (which was wonderful, by the way) and then went over to our friends house for all the kids to play. They are having VBS this week in Graham and McKynna was going to be the only one in her class (she is the only one her age at church now that we have moved, too) so her mom asked if Sus could stay. I thought, "why not?" They are keeping each other so entertained and busy....they just love being together. I wish I had taken my camera in when we were at their house the other night. They haven't seen each other in a few months but they just hug so big and get right back to playing as if they were the only 3 year olds in the world. Let's hope they stay sweet this week after spending so much time together. We are thankful for our friends!

Grace, Parker and I just got back from Wally World and it was so quiet without Susie there...you don't realize how much things change with just one gone. I miss my cuddle bug Sus, but we'll go get her tomorrow or Wednesday or Thursday...whenever they call! I know that sweet girl is having lots of fun.

Father's Day for us was very uneventful. We are sooo thankful for that. When we came home from the wedding in Graham, Saturday night Parker was getting a little fussy. Then I looked in his mouth and he has his 1 year old molars coming in! He ran a very high fever (103.7...scary!!) so he had to spend quite a bit of time in the tub late that night. Then of course, when he did finally go to sleep, after much tylenol and orajel, he woke up many times. So, Father's day morning, we were soooo tired. We are team teaching the 5&6th graders at church with some friends so we were up bright and early to set up for class...it went great and then we took Aaron to Niki's Italian for lunch after church...he really likes it there and we enjoyed a quiet lunch (no Sus, remember?) just the 4 of us because Parker slept the whole time on my chest. Poor kid, he is just so worn out from not sleeping good...those mean old molars.
We are off to some friends house to swim today...gotta enjoy the sunshine inbetween rain storms and flooding around here!

Okay, some help here first....Anyone have any suggestions on how to get Parker to drink out of a sippy cup? I know, the kid is almost 1 and he is still just a mommy's boy, but we can't get him to drink out of a sippy!!! AKK! So far we have tried 7 different cups. Any suggestions, anyone? Please help, this mom wants to go and play away sometime!!

Big guy!

 

Parker is just getting so big so fast...I just cannot believe that one year has passed by so quickly. I know, we hear it all the time, it goes by in the blink of an eye. But, wow! I totally remember being sooo big and pregnant at Camp Lu-Jo last summer and so looking forward to his arrival! Now look at him, 2 weeks from his first birthday and he is eating with a spoon and loving being a big kid!

 

Of course, he finished all that was in his bowl that he could scoop with the spoon and soon went to just picking up the bowl and licking it out...what a boy!

 

He still isn't walking, but any minute he is going to just bust out and run....he is so ready and you can tell everyday he is gaining a little more confidence!

 

We love VBS!

 

This week we have been attending VBS at the Richland Hills Church of Christ, or as the kids call it, "The big white church"....It has been amazing! The kids all love their classes and then we all go to the auditorium for the big Daniel show, which is a whole blog story in itself.

 

The kids are all wearing their VBS shirts, which everyone wears every night. It's like a sea of yellow when everyone gets together for the "Daniel show!"....I like the babies outfits the best. They all have little rompers and are so very cute when you walk in Parker's class and see all the little ones together.

 

I honestly don't think I have ever been to a more organized VBS. It is great and the kids are learning so much about Daniel and his life. We are so thankful to be in a city where we can go to other church's VBS and learn more about God and His promises!

 

Swim lessons

 

This is the girls first year in swim lessons. Last summer we missed lessons by one week and the rest of the summer, they were full in Graham so Aaron gave the girls little lessons. This summer, we are taking them with "Miss Cheryl" and she is great! Grace and Sus both are like little fish! They go every morning for 45 minutes and they are going every second of that time.

 

Grace loves every minute of being in the water...she can swim the whole length of the pool and is jumping off the diving board...not bad for a kid who has just had 4 lessons!

 

Sus was a bit more strong willed...she must be like her daddy, right? She did NOT want to stick her face in the water but Miss Cheryl took care of that right away!! It was the battle of the wills and Cheryl won! Of course, now Susie is swimming so great! Today they were diving down to the bottom of the pool and picking toys up! How great! We are loving summer time, for sure!

 

Blue Skies and Rainbows

Grace and Susannah had a friend from church over to spend the night on Monday. Grace had her last softball game so we took Elizabeth with us to the game and she was such a sweetie to sit and play with Sus during Grace's game. The sky got sooo dark at the end of the game and we raced home as to not get caught in the big storm. It was a doosey of a storm but was over pretty quick. Aaron was at Grace's game in his car (he came straight from work) so during the storm he had gone to pick up some Papa Murphry's Pizza (our fav.) He called on his way home and told us to check out the rainbow outside.

 

Isn't it amazing? What is even cooler is that it was still raining when we looked at it the first time. The girls all ran to an upstairs window and all at once, they all 3 started singing, "Blue Skies and Rainbows"....it was beautiful sweet music to my ears. My 2 girls and their little friend knew exactly who sent that beautiful rainbow and were praising Him for sending it our way!

 

After the rain stoppped, there were huge puddles of water in the street and they ran and played in the puddles for as long as we let them...well, until the pizza was ready, anyway!

 

Thank you for Blue Skies and Rainbows, Lord! What a blessing!