Christmas 2008 continued

Okay, Parker is only 6 months old and he's a complete party animal...I tried to put the little guy down to sleep several times but he just wanted to PARTAY! Here are a few pictures of Parker with Auntie Tracy on Christmas around 11 pm! Damn, he's so cute!

Christmas 2008 continued

Thanks Claire, Jeffrey, Carolyn and Auntie Marlene for the awesome gifts for Parker.

Christmas 2008 continued

Here's Grandma straight from the North Pole!

Here are the ravin' dorks playing the "Ravin' Rabbids" Wii game.

Darryl and Elisa

Parker's Christmas dinner...not bad for having NO teeth!

Christmas 2008 continued

After opening gifts, we headed home for a nap. Then we headed back to my parents' place for Christmas dinner. The usual suspects were there: Grandma, Lana and Don, Lori and Matt, Auntie Helen, Uncle Tom, Bob, my family, Auntie Joyce, Uncle Walter, George and all the way from Chicago...Darryl and his wife Elisa. After a dinner which included eating a brined turkey...yes, a turkey which was first soaked in apple juice (I hear it was delicious, but being a vegetarian, I just took everyone's word for it :)) and the usual fixings, Shawn set up the Wii and we played a party game called "Ravin' Rabbids" It was absolutely hilarious! Shawn and Tracy started playing this party dancing game, then Vanessa and Richard joined in. To get points you had to mimic the dance moves on the TV screen. Songs which you danced to included "Wake me up before you go - go" by Wham and "ABC" by the Jackson 5. Moves included waving your hands in the air over your head, punching side-to-side, to slapping your butt, etc. They must have given everyone driving by quite the show.

Christmas 2008

On Christmas morning, we all woke up early...despite every attempt to sleep longer. I was hoping the little guy might sleep for a few additional hours given that he was up so late the night before, but no such luck. After we got dressed we headed over to my parents place for the first round of gift openings. Like what Shawn's brother said, "this Christmas is ALL about Parker" He wasn't kidding. Parker got a rocking horse from Cristen and Craig. When you press the ears, the horse's nose and tail move. It is really cool. Tracy bought Parker the matching frog toque and mitts.

Christmas Eve 2008

I can't believe another Christmas has come and gone already! Here's what we did. On Christmas Eve, Shawn, Parker and I spent time with his parents and all of Shawn's extended family at his Auntie Brenda's house.

Parker was a real trooper, eventhough his bedtime was 8 pm, he partied until 11 pm. Parker wore the cutest little red plaid vest, matching black cords and black shoes with a little black bow tie to boot all thanks to Nana Shirley. The poor little guy crashed in his car seat mere seconds after we left, zzzzzzz.

Parker with Nana, Poppa and Santa (Uncle Trevor)

Thank God for the Backpack

The backpack has come in sooooo handy! Parker loves it!

Here are some pictures of Shawn and I taking Sailor and Parker for a walk through Assiniboine Forest on the last warm day of the year. It was amazing on Monday (Nov 3, 2008), the day we went for the walk, it was +18C. By that Friday the high was -5C and we had snow :(! So weird! Gotta love Winterpeg Manisnowba!

The backback has so many purposes...Shawn will even put Parker in the backpack while he's cooking! Thanks Bruce and Jaime for lending us this amazing item!

Holy Jolly Jumper Batman!

If I had to choose two things Parker loves the most...other than his chewy toy "Froggie", "Sophie", Shawn and I :), it would hands down be his Jolly Jumper and Sailor!

Parker LOVES his Jolly Jumper! It was the best investment we ever made! He's a jumping machine! He totally just bounces and giggles madly the entire time! He especially loves when Sailor butt checks him while he's bouncing - he can't stop laughing! Sailor can totally bowl Parker over in the Jolly Jumper and Parker LOVES every second of it.

Halloween 2008

On Halloween, instead of handing out candy (we ate the candy ourselves :)), we drove all over the city visiting friends and family with our Parker pumkin in tow! Here are a few pictures from Halloween 2008!

For Halloween, my sister Vanessa carved Parker's name into a pumpkin! She used some sort of small drill to do it. From the pictures I saw of her doing the carving, there was minute pumpkin fragments everywhere! Her glasses and hair were absolutely covered in pumpkin bits. Thanks Vanessa for the awesome pumpkin!

Here's the finished product! We staged the pictures of Parker sitting in a pile of leaves. Parker is actually sitting in his Bumbo chair. Shawn and I had to act fast because Parker kept on grabbing and eating the leaves!

Happy Holidays!

Here are some pictures I took yesterday of the Parkermeister wearing his Santa hat while in his exersaucer. He is sooooo "toot" as Ziko would say! :) (Parker 23 weeks old)

Hello! Hope everyone is doing well! With the holidays fast approaching. I am frantically trying to create holiday cards to send out.

Here's what we have been up to in one big nutshell!

Shawn is doing his practicum at Golden Gate Middle School (off of Moray in St. James). Thankfully, he only has two weeks left then he's on holidays until the new year (Yippee). Other than that he's been working at Wally World a few nights a week and on the weekends.

As for Parker and I, we have been enjoying hanging out together. The little guy learned to sit up about four weeks ago- it is the best thing since...sliced bread! I can put the cutie-pa-tootie down on his playmat with some toys and actually get some housework done! Whooo Hoooo!

Two and a half weeks ago, Parker started eating solid foods. He blasted past the rice and barley cereals and now he's on oatmeal cereal - he's a cereal eating machine! The first week was fun...I think he had more food on his face than the amount he actually ate! Too funny! In a few more days, he's on to MEAT (so much for being a vegetarian :)) and veggies!

Other than this, Parker and I head to a playgroup on Thursday afternoons at Heritage Park School. Parker loves looking at all the other babies! Then on Fridays, the two of us head to Mommy aerobics from 2 -3 pm. Surprisingly, Parker is the most alert baby in this class! Other babies in the class are completely zonked and sleeping in their car seats...but not Parker! He's HAS to be in the action all the time! Plus it is funny for me to see the other Moms huffing and puffing as they use their 'tiny' babies as free weights...then there's me using an 18 lb + free weight named Parker! The class is a blast and I am going to have the most awesome pipes ever!

Ahhhhh Summer

What can I say, I LOVE summer! So Parker and I spent as much time outside as possible. We went for daily walks to the park and chilled by the (kiddie) pool in my parents backyard!

Hey Bruce and Jaime...do you recognize the Blue hat Parker is wearing?

Baby Showers!

Boy was Parker showered with great company and gifts! He had not one, but TWO showers! The first was hosted by Heidi on August 19! That woman is sure talented, she baked and decorated Parker's aquatic-themed cake. If you can't make it out, there are three fish...I am the one on the right...Parker is the baby fish (of course) and Shawn is on the left. Heidi even put a goatee on Shawn's fish. Too cute! It was great to see everyone including Jaime, Tara, Alex, Maria and Stefanie!

The second shower was hosted by Shawn's Mom, Shirley, Shawn's brother's girlfriend Danielle, and my my Mom on August 24. It was a total surprise...I couldn't figure out why Shawn, Parker and I had to rush home from the lake early for that weekend. Now it all make sense, duh! It was great seeing so many friends and family. What made the event extra special was that Shawn's grandma joined us too! The food was fantatstic. My Mom went the extra mile and actually carved a killer whale out of a watermelon! I couldn't believe it. She even put Keiko's charateristic dots under the watermelon...ahem, or should I say the whale's chin! Now that's attention to detail! Way to go Mom!