It's Beginning to Look @ Lot Like Christmas...

Decided to be resourceful this year & chop down the tree in our front yard for Christmas:) With a lot o' help from my dad & mom not to mention the boys' assistance, it was done in about a half hour! Dad showed up @ my door with Santa hat & Mele Kalikimaka t-shirt ready for action incl few different saws to complete the job! The ole' but not-so-trusty chainsaw was the main tool in action...
Cole's protective eyewear so he could be up close & personal:)Dane was all about the tools, but I had to keep reminding him they are NOT toys! Luke was content to be held @ a distance from work in progress! Thanks Aunts Boop & Cait for providing moral support while I turned into fam photog!TTTTTiiiiimmmmmmbbbbbeeeeerrrrr!Finished product actually came a couple days later for FHE; always been a past tradition to get it on Mon. night following Thanksgiving, but boys would have to wait forever to decorate after my lighting ordeal...T'was complicated this year by quite a bit pokier branches yet fuller overall & teething 1 y.o. who insisted I hold him entire night-ugh!
After we enjoyed scent of freshly cut pine in our living room, we decorated gingerbread houses with Dent girls (not to fear, still prior to kickoff of Apple Cup!:) Olivia contributed that fab gingerbread woman, but she pref watching & dancing to Frosty the Snowman alongside the design for rest o' time except she is busy @ work in the background of Dane's close-up:)














That was Dane's response to my request to "look like you're frosting the house"?!


















While Luke would've liked to sample our creations, I made sure he was napping during this experience!

Feasting with First Graders & What If...

...your mom started a temp job & hadn't made it to grocery store beforehand, so you were forced to go to Pizza Hut for FREE personal pan pizzas being a Mon. night! T'was a bit chaotic since we sat adjacent to soccer banquet-So it took forever for waitress to see us let alone replenish the salad bar albeit only paid portion of meal (whoppin' $2.09 for me & Luke plus another trip incl peaches/choc pudding for Cole & Dane:) I know I already mentioned during post re: summer freebies, but every time seems too good to be true:) Who cares if it takes a while for your order to be taken not to mention baked when then they run outta personal pan-sz...All murmuring & growling tummies for naught 'cuz you end up with 2 med-sz pizzas still complimentary-->leftovers on top o' deal!! in addition to leftover cake from coach of soccer team:) We shared with frazzled employees...Never mind that the older boys were more into Phineas & Ferb on overhead TV & wondered why muted-ugh! Tried to ignore fact that Luke had plenty of screams to go around-who needs a girl in this Parker family when he more than compensates despite newfound knowledge of signs for "Please" & "Thank You"?! And so what if Dane crawled under the table few too many times & insisted on using his quarter courtesy of Grandma on candy machine (heaven forbid we save any $ in this house?!) As we were waiting though & fwiw, point of this post is to capture boys' answers to handy menu designed to stimulate quality fam conversation perfect for FHE...Since I don't do a very good job keeping up with the sidebar of their funny quotes & like to read 'em on other blogs, you get to read my lame attempt @ capturing the moment:
?=What if you had a giraffe & wanted to put him in refrigerator?!
C=I would tell him that he was going to have to roll himself into ball 'cuz he was so tall & push him into it!
D=I would cut a hole in the top & very gently (with respective scooping motions) slide his neck out:)

?=What if you had a wild animal as a pet?! What would you choose & why?
C=I would pick an elephant 'cuz then it would clean up after me by picking up things with its trunk:)
D=I would pick a lion 'cuz they are scary & some boys who are mean to girls would stay away!

?=What if you had a million dollars (If I had a million dollars...thanks Bare Naked Ladies for the tune now in my head:), how would you spend it?
C=I would buy most gigantic pizza! (Can ya tell he was famished?? No worries if he had pizza for lunch too:)
D=I would buy a hundred and a million (currently his fav & freq used #:) Bakugans (also fav o' week).

?=What if you were President for a day?
C=I would throw away all the money (oh wait...hasn't that been done?:/ & say that everything was for free!
D= I would give a free toy to all the kids in the country! (Can ya tell he's countin' down 'til Christmas & mixing up Obama with Santa?! Hmmm...)

For further evidence that the Parker boys aren't starving, next day we visited Cole's school again to help with set-up for Annual Thanksgiving Feast. The kids are encouraged to buy hot lunch that day & then moms supplement with veggies, rolls & desserts!
Cole in line with the ladies first...notice he isn't the only toothless wonder in first grade:) So is adorable Liv!! Payton is a cutie too!Then he sat with male buddies of course (Matthew, William & Evan)! Luke was sequestered to the backpack so he wasn't crashing & burning all over the dining area. Dane felt pretty cool to be incl once again & even left with his own turkey hat:)

Also need to recog b-day girls in the fam, beloved sis (+in-law) & Aunts Britt & Staci (right on Thanksgiving this year)!!

Yakima is all about good friends, fruit & fun! The boys & I slipped away to the self-proclaimed "Palm Springs of WA":) (per billboard on way outta town) for Veterans' Day in hopes to help while my good friend Krista was on semi-bedrest but we ended up more on receiving end!! Enjoyed turkey dinner right after arrival on Tues night followed by cute movie Up! Re-Con, Miss Beth & Ty camped out in their parents' room so we could take over their beds; we were even greeted by these signs:)














Of course kids ignored fact that they could sleep in on day off o' school, but had a great time while moms tried to relax in the am-Luke kept busy by loading the dishwasher...
We all sweated a bit in the afternoon over 90 lbs. apples but don't be fooled:) A machine really did most of the work for our applesauce...Ended up leaving with more jars than I brought full of pears, peaches & jam too!Couldn't hit the road before a stop @ Miner's for tasty burgers & shakes. Luke dipped with best of 'em & who could blame him with their bbq ranch fry sauce?! All as good as I remembered:)

T'was short n' sweet visit but well worth it! Thanks Hills!

Little Boy(s) Blue & Christmas Preview

Random post, but I just love my lil' boys' coordination on Sun. in particular...even when they've outgrown their shirts! It's no secret that I've been rolling up their sleeves in button-up shirts for a while as they aren't long enough otherwise. Had to take a pic if it's the last time in this set-anyone know where I can find that classic pin-stripe for my oldest these days? I should've grabbed last one I saw @ consignment store but alas! I was too cheap & now can't find @ Old Navy etc?!
Prob shouldn't be posting this in Nov, but frankly could've in Aug. We (boys already discovered then so we couldn't blame on Santa:( thought Devastator (combo of 6 Transformers) would be hot commodity not unlike Tickle Me Elmo of yesteryear, so snagged what we thought was great deal a couple months ago. Then saw on sale for less this past week, so exchanged & used the difference for more early holiday shopping! Dane was my lil' elf on errands, so he got to see the purchase of his Leapster game on sale. I also picked up some costumes 75% off @ Wal-Mart. Will need to adapt Luke's size if intended for Halloween '10, but I'm afraid others will turn into dress-up. Not bad for $5 apiece, but prob too small by next year?! Guess that won't be end of world 'cuz they think they're coolest things ever now & have already changed their minds re: plan for coming costumes about 5x since Halloween:) I don't know where they got their tendency to plan ahead?!:) Anyway, their new coat & boots respectively were really more needs than wants (not joking about latter since part o' daily attire @ Parker house!!) & can't wait to be wrapped under tree...btw, Dane's expression is intentional 'cuz he was saying "Christmas Rocks!" as I took the pic but I didn't get his 2 thumbs-up in this shot & yes, Cole was hugging Devastator & studying the box long before the camera appeared on the scene! Don't worry if they have already made 2 wish lists from magazine clippings composed of a plethora of items that won't make it into their hot lil' hands no matter how good they've been this year...hate to tell 'em Santa is on a very limited budget his year 'cuz they're extreme believers in a omniproducing toy shop! You can bet I will be emph that t'is better to give than rec've starting tomorrow!!

Calm, Cool & Collected

On Friday, Cole was nominated as "Terrific Kid" by his first grade teacher=>red carpet treatment & award recognition in school assembly :) Fun 'cuz we rec'd letter earlier in the week, but it was supposed to be kept a surprise to him until that very day!!












You'll have to forgive the poor pic quality as I was covering the camera while the main Parker photog was otherwise occupied with his youngest but one of his biggest fans:) Whatever it takes to soothe the lil' guy when he's teething or else the whole gym would've heard Luke instead of Mrs Engle-ugh! And just in case you wondered, here's the namesake of the school-Mr Zeiger himself:) with his wife in a bright Kiwanis jacket since they sponsor the award...













Afterward we had to find Cole in his classroom 'cuz he skipped the little reception in hopes to get out on the playground in time...such a boy! He earned more points in his family's mind when he invited his little bro out to recess with him:)
















Then to make sure he continued to practice what he preached re: positive attitude, we attended his girlfriend's baptism on Sat:) (Actually Dane is pretty infatuated too, so might be a toss-up who's more into the Dent girls but all the more reason to support her...) Here they are giving Maren a gourmet cupcake in honor of her special day; we picked that out @ store instead of an actual white flower 'cuz it tasted better & had same effect:)

Back in the Saddle Again

Cole got his cast removed mid-week--I thought it was funny that the name of the machine was the Stryker!
Gotta compare & contrast...Still a lil' bruised & swollen plus let's be honest, a bit dirtier than the other:(Cole thought the cast smelled gross inside, but that didn't stop him from wanting to bring to next day's show & tell. I told him it wasn't that fascinating to his classmates who'd seen him in it for past month, but he assured me that they would still all want to try it on:) I caught Cole hugging it before we left the office & think he kinda felt like he'd lost a part of him--Of course, Dane had to share the limelight!















His brothers each took a turn, but I'm grateful for their sake & mine that it was only for funsies & we were still smiling after the fact...Would've been bad news for my lil' leftie if it had really been him, not that I don't expect him to have his own turn somewhere down the road-ugh!











Cole was excited to get back on his bike ASAP after a month hiatus!
Although his arm appears to have healed pretty solidly per x-ray, he still has to stay off his fav climbing wall for another couple weeks per dr...All in all, didn't slow him down too much; however, we're grateful that his casting call was endured well & it's over!!

Team Halloween

Started out our Halloween festivities with the ward harvest party (don't ya love how even the Church has gone all p.c. on us when used to be called trunk or treat & confused my boys in meantime?:) The boys got to trick-or-treat inside the Church night early even though it actually was clear outside! Better to see the full moon with my dear! Here they are goin' around with some of their buddies who had their coveted Star Wars theme along with classic pirate costume!
We had high hopes of making it to a pumpkin patch on Saturday since Huskies had a bye week o' football, but "parting is such sweet sorrow" with our beloved Acura MDX & instead spent majority of day @ car dealerships-ugh. Luke was thoroughly entertained & sticky in his car seat by this sucker, his new favorite treat!
The boys made up for it in action-packed afternoon with movie Astro Boy (thanks Kanekoas for man date!:) followed by party in YMCA gym (thanks Flannerys !:)This was Luke's first encounter with foam block pit & he was determined to get to the ball...I'll spare you the video clip, but needless to say I had fun watching his quest!He also liked these ones & I liked keeping him contained:) However it was nice for all of the boys to use up some energy that hour after being very obedient & calm rest o' day despite anticipation of sugar overload!
Then we all got back in our football attire with an extra layer for traditional door-to-door adventure...Notice we hadn't even left house before they were making sure their pads still worked:) Something instinctive in males I guess?! After keeping our promise to stop by home of lady in the ward who had previously lamented that living on a busy st meant missing out on fun of trick-or-treaters @ their door, our only other detour was to see the house decked out once again as a pirate ship (complete with cannons & cool music:) Otherwise, they were content with covering our st & one other neighborhood circle nearby before calling it a night-Ok with me since Luke was spent & their bags were already full!

















I did take a few minutes to explain the art of trading to my older boys once perfected by my sisters and me during our trick-or-treating days. Apparently I left out part that not only were all transactions pending beyond the very Halloween night but also entire stash didn't need to be consumed immediately?! Nor did they get the memo (including baby bro) that "falling back" time-wise should mean extra hour of sleep enjoyed by all next am?! Pretty sure I was the only one who still managed to be late to Church despite additional prep time afforded me by my bright-eyed & bushy-tailed boys @ early hour:)