Update to tag...

Okay, it seems I have forgotten some things (Parker is going to be the smartest of the 3 children in our family because he took all of my brain cells when he was born!!) I have been reminded that the first real concert was Whitesnake and Tesla. The reason I was reminded was that Aaron was at the same concert....pretty cool...the guy I was going to marry was at the same concert, the same club, the same town and same spring break, but we didn't meet until years later. It also turns out that our high schools played each other in basketball and baseball...Aaron also came to Spring Sing at Harding 2 of the years that I was in it and remembered both of our shows (we did win, after all, so it WAS memorable), yet we still didn't meet until 1997, in Florida, at church. Neat.
Oh, and I went to LOTS of concerts growing up, but going to them on Harding's campus with your parents doesn't really count for me because we went to everything on campus...Kenny Rodgers, The Statler Brothers, The Oak Ridge Boys, the dude in the silver pyramid that played the keyboard (Michael Iceburg or something was his name)...if it was country in the 80's, we heard it!! We were those kids whose parents dropped them off every Friday night at the Benson auditorium for the movies with their friends...of course that is also when it was FREE! Oh to be a kid growing up on a college campus...great fun and always lots of stuff to do!!

Okay, I'm done but I forgot to tag Dyane, I know she has so much time with all of Jeff's family in town and all!! We are enjoying VBS at church this week...staying busy and getting ready for our visit to DD and Gramps house coming up really quick!!

Tagged again...

My friend, Dallas, tagged me so here goes....

Firsts and lasts:

First Memory - That is sooo hard. When your dad is a photographer, almost everything is documented with a photo so it is hard to remember what is a real memory or if I just remember the pictures....but I do remember going to lots of Harding basketball games when I was little (and every other HU sport) with my dad and sitting at the officials table. I would eat massive amounts of popcorn. I also attended many, I repeat, many weddings as the child of a photographer...they all run together now.

First Real Kiss - Travis Flowers...I was a freshman in high school and it was inbetween classes. Now that I think about him it makes my skin crawl...he was so gross!

First Love - Wheeler Clemons in the 10th grade. We ended up being good friends after he dated every other girl in the school.

First concert - Spring Break in the 10th grade we went and snuck into "Club LaVila" in Panama City Beach. There was Whitesnake and some other big hair band....it was awesome!! By the way, I was at the beach for the week with a friend in their condo, my parents were in Tallahassee and would have killed me for going to that place, but they weren't in charge (in person, anyway)

First thought in the morning - There sure are a lot of stairs in this house and I really need to work out so that it does not hurt when I go up to get Parker at 7 AM when he wakes up!

First Best Friend - Rebekah "Lizardbreath" Lowe...We were born 2 weeks apart. I was born on her due date and have been friends ever since!

Last food you ate - A chocolate chip cookie last night before bed. Now I'm drinking a cup of coffee...

Last CD purchased - I can't remember buying any CD's lately...We use Itunes, alot. My dad did give the girls an old Amy Grant CD (it was my fav. tape when I was little) and they love it!

Last good book you read - Wicked- The life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West, By Gregory Maguire

Last time you cried - Last week I think...I can't remember...

Last "I love you" said - To my sister on the phone just a minute ago!

Last funny thing you did - I make faces at Parker all the time and of course I think that I am way funnier (is that a word?) than everyone else thinks that I am....he he he....I did fall right on my rear end at church last week and it was quite funny, I must say. I just hope I didn't flash any old people!! :)

Okay, I now tag...Laura, Amber and Reagan...Jill, you need to actually publish your blog and then I can tag you, too!!

Yes, this is all we do....

We had another batch of great friends come in this week for a visit. I just LOVE living in a town where there are lots of things to do that give people a reason to come and stay with all of us! Of course, they are coming to see us too, right? Toby Sissons, one of our dear friends from our Duncan, Oklahoma days, brought two of his girls, Taylor and Kelsey, to go to Six Flags. The first night they were here, we all went to "Incredible Pizza" for dinner. If you haven't been, it's like Chuckie Cheese meets Dave and Busters. It was fun, but we were ready to go home when it was over. I do recommend the cinnamon rolls after you eat the pizza. They were great and covered with icing. My favorite!

While we were at Incredible Pizza, Kelsey and Taylor did the big Dance, Dance Revolution game for a LONG time. Yeah, they were good and Sus wanted to be just like them. It was pretty cute to watch her watch Kelsey.

We got up Thursday and just hung out. Aaron went to work for part of the day and came home about 2:00 for us to head over to......you guessed it folks, SIX FLAGS! We had a great time and Grace rode every roller coaster that the big kids did (except for the Batman and Mr. Freeze, she is still too short for those, but I'm sure she will try next summer)....I could not believe that she rode all the other ones, though. You couldn't pay me to ride those huge and scary rides!! YIKES!

Here is my favorite picture of Sus from the trip. While we were waiting on them to get off the Shockwave, she was making lots of funny faces. We had a great time and have $9.99 ticket prices for anyone who wants to come as our guests from now until July 31st!!! That is pretty cheap for Six Flags. We are always ready for company, so bring it on, ya'll. Don't you want to come and visit?

Six Flags with friends...

Our friends, The Bozeman family, from Graham came to visit us this past week. They went to Six Flags for the morning (to hot for us locals) and then came back to our house for naps. When Aaron got home from work, we ate and then headed off for the big park, all together. The kids loved being there with their friends.

Grace really loves being with their 2 boys, Gage and Bryce. She is right in the middle of them age wise so they all get along so great. Grace and Gage rode almost every ride together that they could. I have no idea why the girl gets along better with boys. We have so many sweet girls here at our church and they get along and all, but she just really clicks with little boys...I guess we have a tomboy on our hands!

They always take every opportunity to see every character at Six Flags even though they have never seen the cartoons...it's pretty funny!

Susannah and McKynna were born one day apart and have so much fun together. Here they are in the big chair, waiting for the rest of us to get off of a big kid ride....we think this makes our 16th time to go to Six Flags this year. Isn't that just CRAZY! Oh, by the way, we are growing out Sus's bangs, that is why you can't see the child's pretty blue eyes. Most of the time we pull her bangs back, except when she wants to wear "Jessie braids" (Jessie from Toy Story 2) and then they just hang in her face until they get just a little longer! :)
Enjoy the weekend! We are going to veg and work on bible class stuff for Sunday...we love teaching the fifth and sixth graders, they are so fun!

First haircut!

Here is the before picture of Parker....the little one could wait no longer for a haircut! His hair was in his face all the time and the hair was over his little ears! I put him in his high chair, turned his bib inside out and started cutting. The girls kept him happy by feeding him goldfish and we were done in no time at all!

He sat still for a little while, but not long enough for me to do the back...we'll have to try that when Aaron is home to help us! Yet, for now, the little one can see and hear!

Parker is walking!!

I forgot to post this last week in the mist of all the company and birthday stuff, but Parker is walking!!! Hooray for the big guy!!

New Toy!

We had been talking about getting the kids a trampoline for quite some time...well, Aaron finally broke down and bought one after church on Sunday. Grace had to pitch in all her birthday money and Susie will give hers to the "trampoline fund" in September when it is time for her birthday as well. I know, we are mean, but if they really want it, that is what it takes...those things don't pay for themselves, you know! Aaron started by putting it together by himself and soon called for help after I took the first picture above.

It took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes to put it together. It was fun and we were so excited when it all finally got finished.

Aaron did get a little excited when putting the protection around one of the poles....We fixed it and you can't even tell which pole he messed up...it was pretty funny.

The finished product! We are on our way outside to jump right now while Parker is napping!!

It's fun to be 6!!

Grace said that she wanted a castle cake for her birthday. Since we have postponed the princess party for a few weeks, I decided to make a small castle cake, just for our family (and for the birthday girl, of course!) to eat on for the next for days. She loved it and she even helped decorate the cake. They waited all day for Daddy to get home so we could blow out her candles and get off to Six Flags. Okay, if you are even thinking of going to Six Flags this summer, I HIGHLY suggest that you don't go until after 5 pm.

It is great!! We have gone the past 2 weeks, each time after 5 PM and it has been like a dream. No lines (except for the big roller coasters, you may have to wait for one group to go in front of you, but that is it!)...the girls rode EVERY ride in the kids area and then every ride in the park that they wanted. We didn't even get in the park until 6:30, but there was no blazing sun, so no sunscreen (with a redhead and a baby that is a big deal) and the heat factor isn't there, hardly at all!! Of course, you have the stink factor from all the people that have been there all day long, but we can make it through that....

When Grace and I got off of the Sponge Bob Squarepants 4D ride (I know, I don't like SBSP either, but it's a ride, come on, and it is fun) there was a KISS cover band. It brought back memories of being a little girl and TOTALLY being scared of them when I was little...Gene Simmons was always sooo scary to me with that tongue. They even had a guy in this band that did the same faces as Mr. Simmons, himself. We didn't stay to listen, I think it was scaring my kids, too, but there were some die hard KISS fans there that were loving life!

I have to recommend that you go and stay for the Cirque Dream Coobrila Show at Six Flags. The show starts at 9:30 and it is so amazing! There are all kinds of acts going on during this show...it was so not like a normal show you would see at a park...even Parker was mesmorized. We all really enjoyed the show and the performers all came out afterwards for pictures. We didn't get a picture (way too many people) but Grace got a high five from two of the performers and that was better for her, I'm sure!!
Grace said it was the "Best birthday, EVER!" I have to agree with her...no lines and no heat and we were at Six Flags? What a day!!

Happy Birthday Grace!!

Today Grace turns 6 years old! All day yesterday she told us, "You know, tomorrow I am going to be 6" She was pretty bummed yesterday because she found out that 3 of her friends that she invited to her Princess Party on Friday are going to be out of town and can't come to her party. Which for some kids wouldn't really be a big deal, but Grace really only has a few friends because of us just moving here in January. She (and us, too) loves her church friends and we are so thankful that there are such sweet girls (and Jackson) at church that are here age. Actually, yesterday was a very emotional day...many tears, but her daddy tried to make her feel better by buying her a 15 foot trampoline. Well, we were going to buy it anyway, it just turns out that we got it yesterday admid the tear fest. Oh, to be the mother of little girls!! Of course we didn't think about how long it would take to put the trampoline together....the two boxes that it came in are HUGE and barely fit into the Tahoe. So, all we got accomplished yesterday after church was moving the boxes in the house. Hopefully we will tackle that project tomorrow. We heard one of our friends say it took them 3 hours and they had help! AKK! Anyone want to put up a trampoline?

No bother, we'll get it done, that is the Green way, right? :) Grace got up bright and early this morning, ready to eat her breakfast on the beloved, "Happy Birthday" plate. And today she also gets to pick what we eat for all the meals! Tonight we are going to Six Flags after dinner for some rides and some family birthday fun and hopefully forgetting about the postponed Princess Party. Postponed to when? Yeah, we don't know either...I'm thinking maybe VBS week when I know everyone will be in town...I don't know, I may just be too worn out to do VBS and a party, we will see. I'm sure Grace will hold me to whatever we decide until then.

When my parents came for Parker's birthday last week, inbetween rain storms, we took the kids to the zoo and it was perfect. The temp. was just great and there were no crowds AT ALL! Of course, who wants to pay when you know you are going to get wet? But we have passes!! We went for about 2 hours and it was great...Nana even bought them the little seed sticks to feed the birds (which I never do...sorry, but I don't) so they LOVED feeding the birds. So, we are off to celebrate Grace's big day today. I think we even might go to the zoo again!!
Happy birthday, Sweet Grace! We love you and are so very thankful for you, our favorite little redhead!

He turned one!

Since we were having just a small family party this year, we decided to go with the old standby, the football cake! The girls and I went to Hobby Lobby to look at different cake pans and we just didn't see one that was screamin' at us, so we figured, "He's a boy, right? Let's make him a football cake!" I bought this cake pan when we first got married and I have used it more than any other pan in my collection, all combined! We use it for Super bowl parties, national championship parties and of course, Aaron's birthday. Can you tell that we love us some football around here? Maybe I could've gone with some less "girlie" handwriting on the cake, but come on, it's cake!!
Parker had to love on Daisy for the camera. He just loves that dog something silly and Daisy loves him, too. She is so protective of him. When he was a baby, Daisy would guard Parker and wouldn't let people get too close to him. In this picture, she looks like an evil dog with the crazy eyes, but she is a sweetie in real life and we love her to pieces. She's a great little yorkie. Of course, the girls call Parker, "Parkie Yorkie" so I guess they are perfect together!
Parker really loved the cake. But of course, I didn't need to tell you that. The little man loves ANYTHING!! We went for his 12 month check up yesterday (and shots, sorry Parkerman) and he is doing great! He weighs 23.9 pounds, 30.5 inches long, has 12 teeth (yes, I said TWELVE!)and is talking up a storm, which I hear is quite good for a little boy. He says, Mama, Dada, Dog, Sus, and something that sounds like Gracie...of course, he has quite a bit of other chatter as well, but those are the words that he really knows and says to us, anyway. The kid is really a rocket scientist and can say anything, he just doesn't want us to feel silly so he makes us feel better by talking "down" to us, right? :)
My parents came for the week and they brought my sister (yeah!) for the weekend. Jess had to fly back on Sunday night, but we are so glad that she came for just a few days!! We love us some Aunt Jess! Mom and Jess are trying to un-do all the little ties that are on the toys so that Parker can play with them....they are definitely not getting them undone quickly!! he he he
I know, Parker is a little out of focus in this picture, but he was so cute with the little balls and smiling that I had to post this pic. He had a great first birthday and we are so thankful that God has blessed our family with this sweet little guy!