Parker's 10th Birthday!

Parker turned 10 on July 27th! A whole decade! Double digits! He's such a good kid. He wakes up and packs his own lunch and gets himself ready for the day. He eats breakfast and is always ready for school on time and with a smile on his face. He has such a positive attitude about everything and never complains when we ask him to help out... or even with things that could be considered boring like reading the scriptures. He LOVES one on one time with his Mom and Dad, hanging out with his friends, and Pokemon. He can do his own laundry and make simple meals like Mac n Cheese or pancakes. My goal is for him to be confident in his own abilities and a strong leader. I know life is going to start getting a little bit more complicated as his gets into his teen years but for now I love the boy he's growing up to be. He's smart and classy and lovable and kind. He's grateful and a loyal friend. He has a strong desire to choose the right and follow the commandments. He listens to the Book of Mormon every night before bed. He loves going to church and never hesitates to say prayers. I could be doing so much more to enrich his spiritual side but I'm hoping that my limited effort is having a positive effect. I should at least play more games with him because that is something we both enjoy! I'm so proud of Parker and love him so much! 10 years has flown by!!!!

Toddlers don't know the meaning of personal space. I have a daughter on my back and a daughter in my belly!

The other night while we were in the pool swimming, I tried to get a cute picture of the boys together but Rayleigh wanted a picture of HER! Me me me me me me me

I tried to do her hair in little braids the other day and she kinda hated it so I said, "Look! You look like Ana/Elsa!" Well, that did the trick. She was thrilled to look like her favorite princess and even put the dress on and her Elsa sunglasses. She had on some lip gloss too. I love all this girly stuff that she's getting into lately. Dolls and tea parties, dress up and make up- this is my jam!

We had some friends from Utah stop by on their way from Utah to Disneyland! Ryan and Tanner were mission buddies so we go WAY back. Claurys just had her 3rd baby boy and the kids had a blast together. We had pizza and went swimming and were able to chat and get caught up. It means so much to us to have friends stop by!!!

So, I have this "thing" about the popcorn bowl. I absolutely HATE washing it. Tanner always makes popcorn and then just leaves the bowl out. It's like my pet peeve. Yes, I realize it's like the easiest dish to wash. But I hate it! This particular day I reminded him to get that bowl out of our bedroom before he left for work but he refused and while I was in the shower the babies got to it. They dumped it everywhere and stepped all in it and made a huge mess. And Jack even peed on the floor. Hurray! Since Tanner broke my vacuum many months ago I couldn't easily clean up this mess (which I was trying to avoid all together in the first place). Tanner felt so badly that he came home from work in the middle of the day to clean it up.

After my 37 week check up.... My appointments are every week now! Everything looks perfect and I actually feel really great. The babies were acting SO tired at my mom's house and both crashed in the car.

Trying to play the piano. It was a joke. They climb all over me and try and take over.... Piano playing will have to wait a few more years.

My princess!

The bump! The babies will look at my tummy and say, "The baby is getting bigger and bigger!"

I blow dried her hair!

She has way more style than I ever will!

About every other Saturday we have an "at home" day when we can actually get some projects done. My hope is that we have the garage/laundry room all organized by the time the baby arrives. We have such a HUGE garage but it's up to Tanner to organized (which drives me nuts because he hates organizing and I love it). I feel like I'm going to kill myself every time I try to get something out of there because there is so much stuff everywhere.... Tanner worked so hard this day installing more shelving and stuff. It was hot so we had tons of fans blowing. I cleaned the inside of the house and did some other projects before finally plopping myself down to admire Tanner's work. ha ha Oh and Parker and I cleaned the church!

Had to document Parker's shoe size at age 10.

And his reading report! Every year at the beginning of the school year they assess the students to see where they fall on the reading scale. Parker reads at a level 95% higher than all the other 4th grade students in the nation! And he is reading at a 7th grade level!

Why? One of the weird things Ray does- she loves to make piles with her soft blankets and stuff. This is pillows and blankets and JAMMIES all piled on the purple baby chair. Cozy?

Play room shenanigans. We found a few free toys out in the neighborhood. These kids are usually good to play on their own which is nice so I can get other things done. But they love it when I just sit there with them and play.

Of course later I tried to get everyone out to the pool and no one got in! So here I am sitting alone.... it's hot!

Parker's birthday was on a Thursday and the temple happened to be closed so my parents came up to wish him a Happy Birthday! We brought him Wendy's to school at lunch time (tradition) and he was so happy!!!! My Mom gave him some Pokemon cards and that was also quite the highlight.

We baked cupcakes after school and Ray wanted to lick the spoon.. then she hid in the pantry and licked the door..???

He had a Pack Meeting that night so Tanner took him to dinner at Taco Bell (living the dream, obv) and then they went to Pack Meeting together while I got the babies to bed. Pack Meeting was super fun! He took cupcakes and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. They played "Olympic" games and Parker won a Silver Medal! We got Parker new goggles, Heely shoes, and wrist/elbow/knees pads for when he skateboards. I think he had a pretty awesome day!

On Friday we thew Parker a little "friend" party! Everyone kept saying I was crazy (or a really awesome mom) for putting together a birthday party just days before giving birth to my 4th child. But honestly, Tanner did most of the work. We had 11 kids come over, ate $5 pizza outside, no decorations, and Tanner set up the movie! (And he picked up the pizzas ha ha) I didn't want to bake any more cake so I took the kids to the store and let everyone pick out several boxes of Popsicles and ice cream. During the movie, the kids kept going to the freezer for more... dream come true for a 10 year old! Right? Everyone had such a great time and all the kids were so well behaved and polite!

Sam recently moved back to Utah but they were in town for a week or so and he was able to come to the party! When Katie dropped him off she had Theo with her and Ray fell in love! She is so totally obsessed with babies now (even though Theo is like 20 months old). She said, "Mommy! Take a picture!" So sweet!

Not all the boys I invited could make it so I asked Jill and Courtney if Natalie and Kaelyn wanted to come too. And Tanner ended up inviting Carson and his daughter Eve (they just recently moved here after Tanner scored him a job with SunMar--- Carson's Dad, Westson, and my mom are first cousins). Anyhoo, we had a few girls there too and they seemed not to mind that it was a party for a boy. ;-) I sure do love these sweet girls!

Dessert!

Mason

Kaelyn

Natalie (sorry, I got you while you were chewing pizza!)

Crazy boy, Parker. He was BY FAR the loudest and craziest kid at the party!

Sam- I adore this goofball! He had a broken arm so he couldn't get into the pool but was such a good sport and just hung out by the pool anyway!

Gavin

Austin- I said, "Can I take your picture?" and he said no but I took it anyway. ha ha I'm so sneaky!

Movie time! Big Hero 6

Movie under the moon!

The Dad's all came to pick up their kids around 10pm and then stayed and chatted like a bunch of girly girls! ha ha so funny! The kids opened presents and Parker was stoked!!!

Dream team! Thank you to Tanner for basically doing everything. I forgive you for being 15 minutes late to the party...

The NEXT day we had a family party for Parker and Savannah down in San Clemente at Kari's pool. We split the cost of KFC and I brought juice and ice cream sandwiches and she did fruits/veggies and brownies! So easy and so fun! I love being with family! The kids had a blast! Laura's parents have been in town from Argentina and we were able to see them too! We sang Happy Birthday twice and it was so funny listening to Kari explain the concept... Tanner took a video. She is so sentimental and wanted one "nice" version before the kids could sing a silly version with the cha cha chas and everything. Oh man, my family is hilarious!

Savannah is 13!!! Our first teenager!!!

By Sunday we were ALL super pooped. I went to the 9am sacrament meeting to make sure I could have a meaningful church experience. But miraculously, when we attended our ward at 11:30 the kids did great! We were able to sit in the chapel and not take a kid out once and then all 3 went to class as easy as can be! I wasn't prepared to stay for all 3 hours and my blood sugar got too low. Luckily Tanner had like 4 candy bars.... that man...??? It was so nice being in church for all 3 meetings! (although now Jack has a runny nose from being in the nursery. ugh) We had a yummy dinner and watched a movie on the projector inside after church and Jack totally fell asleep in his high chair. He was SOUND asleep. It was so cute! Then Tanner took the babies out to swim (he made a cute video of them diving down to the bottom of the pool to grab rings) while Parker and I worked on Thank You cards. It was a really nice day... Until bed time when Parker's tooth was bothering him....

Parker has braces on his 4 bottom teeth and then a wire connecting the braces to his molars. But he has a baby tooth that wasn't quite ready to come out that is in the way of the wire and causes him some discomfort. He came into our room and begged us to pull it out. So we strapped some floss around it and yanked it several times HARD until we finally loosened it enough to pull it out. You'd think Parker would be freaking out during all the painful yanking but he was laughing! But now it was bleeding and dangling and at this point he started crying (the blood and the fact that NOW he could feel the tooth hanging there) But it was still stuck pretty good and he couldn't twist it out. After a long time trying to get it out on his own, Tanner pulled it out for him. He was super tired at this point and acting dramatic but once the tooth was out he was happy! We gave him some Advil and ambesol and sent him to bed. He put the tooth under his pillow and was so stoked the next morning (stoked enough to wake me up which I tell him never to do unless he's on fire) when he discovered that the Tooth Fairy left him a paper airplane dollar bill! Cool!

Parker may be 10 and growing up but he's still a kid. I love spending time with him and can't wait to see where life takes him! For now, I'll keep him my special little boy. Love you Bug!