Chubby Girl Gets Her Toes

Merry Christmas!

Last weekend we finally got to go and visit Santa.  He was the best Santa we've ever seen because he was clearly the real deal!  He was wonderful and I can't believe after all these years I finally met the real Santa Claus. Eli asked for a Nintendo DS and Parker had fun taking a turn on Santa's lap.

Saturday night we had an ugly Christmas sweater party to go to at the Williams' house.  I couldn't find an ugly sweater for Parker, but I managed to find a pretty funny Mrs. Claus dress.  

Eli had his first Christmas program Monday night.  He sang his little heart out.  It seems like his first Christmas was yesterday.

Christmas 2004-Eli Robert

Bedlam 2008

We went to Stillwater for Thanksgiving this year and got a chance to see the bedlam football game.  (Courtesy of Trevor--thank you Trevor!)  We had a great time with Trevor and Tamara and can't wait to go back and visit them again.  We tailgated with the Richardsons and the Ashleys while we were there.  Both were great tailgates!  There's no better sport than football!  Boo OU!

Hangin' Out

Parker likes to hang out in Eli's room and watch him play.  He's so sweet to her.  I'm sure things will change when she gets bigger and gets into his things, but for now, they couldn't get along any better.  

Daddy's Girl

I recently took a trip to Chicago for the annual American Speech-Language and Hearing Association conference.  I was gone for four days--the longest I'd ever been away from Parker.  She became a major Daddy's girl while I was gone.

  

Six Months Old

Well Miss Parker Evelyn turned six months old on November 26th.  Her stats are as follows:

Weight: 19 lbs. 13 oz. (96th percentile)

Height: 28 inches (98th percentile)

Head: 44 cm (85th percentile)

She's a bit lighter than her brother at this age.  He was a whopping 22 lbs. at his six month check up.  She's just as tall as he was though.  Her head is a lot smaller than his--that boy still has a huge melon!  :)

Parker is starting to notice when we leave the room and she's not a fan.  Her two bottom teeth just poked through a few days ago.  She's growing up so fast.  

Movie Time

Eli and I went to see "Madagascar 2" yesterday evening.  It was good, but the best part was right when the movie started and Eli's toes started tapping to the music.  He looked at me and said, "Mom, when I drink pop it makes my feet dance!"  

Girly Girl

Parker got her very own "girl toy" not too long ago.  She loves it.  We didn't have a little play gym for Eli so I figured I might as well get the girly one.  I also purchased a couple of tutus for her.  Pretty cute.

Sweet Treat Night

We went to "Sweet Treat Night" at Ralston High School with my friend Abby and her son Carter who is 9 months old.  He's wearing Eli's elephant costume that Grandma Kay made.  It's so cute on him!  I remember when Eli wore it we got lots of comments about the 2004 election. Abby has been getting the same comments.  He's not a Republican, he's an elephant.  I can't believe we picked that costume during an election year!  

Go Cowboys

Marshall has long been a San Diego Chargers fan so I jumped on that bandwagon and have cheered for them and we've declared them as our NFL team of choice.  Eli recently decided he wanted to cheer for the Cowboys because his buddy Mason likes the Cowboys.  He's obsessed.  It will probably work out well though, my family has always cheered for Dallas and Great Grandma Dorothy is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan.  Since Grandpa and Grandma live in Texas I'm pretty sure that's another reason why he wants to be their #1 fan.  Maybe we can try to get Eli to a game someday.  He's still sporting the big, cheesy smile of course.  

Five Months Old

Parker Evelyn is five months old today.  She's growing so fast!  We laugh at that crossed eye--there may be a pirate patch in her future I'm afraid.  She's loving vegetables right now.  We mix them with a little cereal, but she'd rather just have the veggies I think.  She's up to at least 17 lbs. and has started lots of "bah bah bah" and other fun noises.  The jumperoo is her favorite playtime activity.  She sings and sings when she lays in her crib.  Her brother is a great source of entertainment.  Still an exceptionally happy girl.  

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the Pumpkin Patch when Grandma Kay came for a visit a couple of weeks ago.  It was a beautiful day and we were there from about 9 to 1:30 so Eli was exhausted when we finished.  He picked out a pumpkin on the hayrack ride and rode the train with Grandma.  His absolute favorite part was the Spooky Shed.  He must have walked through that thing 20 times!  

Getting his picture taken with Homer is a yearly ritual.  Doh!

Camping at Botna Bend

We had great weather once again for camping!  This was especially fun for Eli because he had some friends to hang out with.  He absolutely loves going camping when there are kids to hang out with and when we go with a big group.  It's so much fun for him and for us too.  His buddy Grady brought his John Deere along so they had a ball driving around the campground.

The little ones were up early on Saturday morning ready to plan their day.

A pic of the guys getting ready to watch the Husker game...
Parker loves to sit by the fire and Eli loves hanging out in any camper but his own.  Hope's new camper is especially cool.

Four Months Old

Parker's Stats at 4 months:

Weight: 16 lbs. (93rd %ile)

Height: 26 inches (93rd %ile)

Head: 43 (96th %ile)

Her big brother weighed 19 lbs. at 4 months but she may catch him soon!

A Day At The Zoo

We decided to take advantage of the great weather and take a trip to the zoo last Sunday.  It was such a beautiful day.  Parker was pretty wide-eyed when we set off for the desert dome.  Eli and Marshall went into the Kingdom of 

the Night while Parker and I waited in the lobby.

We set off to see the gorillas and Parker started to

 get a little sleepy.  When she starts to pull the woobie over her eyes you

 know she's ready for a snooze.

Eli took a ride on the carousel and stopped to climb on a web.  He practiced his Spider-Man skills of course.

We stopped to check out the polar bears and 

then trekked our way up to see the rhinos and elephants.  This was the first time we actually walked the whole zoo and didn't ride the train.

And I even made it into one of the pictures!

Parker definitely had a great time napping.  It was a great day!

Camping at Pawnee Lake

We didn't have great weather on Friday night or Sunday morning, but Saturday was beautiful!  Parker spent a majority of the weekend doing this...

She slept through the night on Friday and woke up happy Saturday morning.  She was her cheery little self for the morning and fell asleep at about 10:00 am.  Marshall and Eli went fishing so I read my book for a while.  I figured Parker would wake up by lunchtime for sure. Here she is at 12:30 pm...

So I continued reading my book and doing various things around the campsite thinking at any moment she would wake up.  Didn't happen.  Here's a different vantage point, but she's still zonked out in the stroller.

I couldn't believe how long she slept.  It was the perfect temperature outside though.  About 75 degrees and just the slightest breeze.  Great weather for sleeping outside.  Eventually Parker did decide to wake up.  

She just loves lounging in the stroller and watching her big brother be silly.  She's really found her voice and tries to talk back to him.  He loves to make her smile.

Marshall and Eli had a great time fishing.  He got a few shoulder rides.  I know next year Eli will probably be too big for shoulder rides and Parker definitely won't be taking long naps in the stroller.  She'll be on the move!

Boo!

We're ready for Halloween at the Smith house.  Parker is going to be a pea pod and Eli is going to be Batman.  He's been Spider-man and Superman already so Batman seemed like the next logical choice really.  It's been difficult trying to get him out of the costume, but at least we'll get our money's worth!  Parker wasn't thrilled with her costume, but when it's chilly on Halloween I think she'll be fine.  She laughed at herself in it when we put her in front of the mirror.  

Three Months Old

Little Parker cannot go without having her little blankie with her pretty much all day long.  First she was using Eli's that Grandma Kay had made for him when he was a baby...

Eli didn't really like the fact that Parker was 

using his baby blanket, but he went along with it like a good big brother.  Well Grandma Kay made Parker her own pink woobie so now she has her very own.  And she carries it with her everywhere.