Parris Family

Spoiled?...of course!

2009-11-19T09:25:00.007-05:00

Jonathan started it...he was the one who put her in her bed one day with a video on and hooked her up with a comfy pillow to prop her up. Now she will walk over to her crib and reach up to get in and then point to the video player (clearly she knows what she wants!). Or she will point to it first thing in the morning when you walk in to get her out of bed. Its kind of funny, but at the same time, genius! Hey, if it will buy us 30 more minutes of sleep on a Saturday morning then I'm all for it!

Sometimes its a great place to put her if she's tired and needs a nap but you know she's not going to take one, so some "rest" time while dinner preparations are underway is a great option.

As a result of this royal treatment, she also gets to be propped up while watching a show in the den. Her favorites have always been Baby Einstein (mostly Mozart, Newton and VanGogh), but recently she has really gotten interested in Barney. I think it is because of the singing and dancing. Of course, she doesn't lay down to watch Barney because she has to be up dancing along with it!

So is she spoiled? Definitely--we wouldn't have it any other way!

Mismatched socks

2009-11-19T09:05:00.005-05:00

Funny story about Kylie and socks. We usually put socks on her feet before she goes to bed at night since its cooler now and she doesn't sleep with blankets (even if we put them over her she just kicks the blankets off after a short time so what's the point?!). Anyway, the night before last I couldn't find the pair of socks that I like to put on her (only could find one sock of the pair) so I decided to use it and then picked another sock of a similar style/fabric/feel/etc. to go with it. Who cares right? At least both feet were covered... Well, Kylie was NOT okay with that! She kept pulling one of the socks off--and it wasn't just one in particular so I knew it wasn't because one didn't feel comfortable. I think she just did not like the fact that they didn't match! Well, after she fell asleep I went back in and put the other sock back on. I checked on her before I went to bed and she only had one sock on! So I replaced it (again!) and went to bed. Jonathan went in to get her the next morning and brought her back to our bed and guess how many socks she was wearing? One! We put her to bed last night with a matching pair of socks on and she seemed to sleep just fine! Guess we won't make that mistake again...!

Here's a cute picture of the sleeping beauty--the covers didn't last long before she kicked them off!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-05T20:45:00.012-05:00

We had such a fun time getting ready for Halloween this year--I think it works out much better to be on a Saturday--more time to enjoy it. Our town has trick-or-treating on Main Street downtown every year and most of the stores/businesses participate and pass out candy to the kids. Since we live so close to "downtown" (did I mention that I love living in a small town??), we can just walk to all sorts of parades and festivities throughout the year and not have to worry about parking, etc. The downtown fun was on Friday night and then we had a party to go to right afterwards. We also had another party to go to Saturday during the day, and then more fun with trick-or-treaters Saturday night. We got to wear our costumes several times, but at first Kylie wasn't so sure about it all!

Our costumes weren't anything fancy. Ben knew he wanted to be a vampire and so there was talk a few weeks ago about possible face-painting and "blood" around his mouth. Well, I wasn't necessarily enthused about that topic, so I was quite happy to find the perfect vampire/dracula mask at the dollar store instead. Kylie's costume also came partly from the dollar store (wings), and turned out to be the perfect accessories to some things we already had in her wardrobe for a cute little butterfly. At first when I put the wings on her she started to cry and took off down the hall, but when it was actually time to go trick-or-treating she seemed to be okay with it and played along. By this point she was already wondering what was going on anyway since her brother had on a cape and some weird-looking mask, and her mom had a strange pointy-hat with orange hair...

The night only got stranger as we headed downtown and saw more and more people dressed oddly. It really was fun to watch Kylie's face as she took it all in! Who knows what she was thinking as perfect strangers put candy into her pumpkin bag and told her happy halloween! It definitely had her attention!

We decorated the front porch a few weeks before Halloween. Well, when I say decorated I may be stretching it just a bit. We set out a pumpkin and put up a spider-web made out of cotton (complete with a few plastic spiders!). I wonder what the real spiders that live on our front porch thought about our creation?

If you look closely you can see Kylie through the door inside the house. I put her inside so she wouldn't fall down the steps while I was taking pictures and she was pressed up against the glass saying hi to us through the door--so cute!

Here's a "before" shot of the pumpkin. Ben actually carved it by himself, but not until Halloween day. He drew out a plan on paper first (typical Ben!) and then got to work on carving it with only a few deviations from the original plan!

Here's a picture of Ben and Kylie as we went out to trick-or-treat at our neighbors' homes. By now Kylie has accepted that its just going to be a different couple of days so just put on the wings and roll with it!

Some pics with friends as we trick-or-treated to our neighbors' homes. We only went to about 5 houses because we (Ben) were (was) anxious to get back to pass out candy to the people who came to trick-or-treat at our house. We always get a TON of people. I think most of the people in our county bring their kids to our neighborhood--which is nice that we live in a safe one, but it gets pretty busy!Here's a shot of Ben sitting on the porch taking care of his passing out candy to the trick-or-treaters responsibilities (all serious/no-nonsense of course!). He had a "system" and was all set up with the talking pumpkin to say "Happy Halloween!" at just the right moment when the kids would walk up (so he didn't have to say it) and then give them the candy. Kylie was more interested in her pumpkin treat bag than she was in the candy; probably because it said "happy halloween" and then laughed a spooky sounding "he-he-he-he-he" when you pressed a button on it. What a crazy weekend!

Goodbye Halloween--see you next year!

Run along and play!

2009-11-04T11:11:00.008-05:00

So far, Ben and Kylie have been really great friends and so nice to each other, especially Ben! He loves to include her and doesn't mind that she destroys practically EVERYTHING he makes (examples: lego structures, lincoln log villages, train track towns, etc.). But like it or not, Ben is so fun to play with and Kylie absolutely wants to be doing exactly what he's doing (and does whenever possible!). Sometimes I can tell that Ben gets a little annoyed by the constant imitation/shadow/etc. but he doesn't let it show to the point where her feelings get hurt.

I remember when he used to do the same thing to me. I didn't want to be the kind of mom to tell her kids to "go away" or something similar in a mean tone so that I could get a moment of peace and quiet and to not be bothered. So instead I used to gently steer Ben towards his room full of toys as I would say, "Ok, now run along and play!" And then nine times out of ten he took my subtle suggestion and would happily go play (independently) as I finished a page in a book, or any number of other things that are accomplished so much easier alone than with a talkative helper!

Well, the other day I overheard Ben say this same phrase to Kylie while she was playing in his room, obviously wanting to play with whatever it was that he was holding at the moment. I love it!! He wanted to play by himself without her "help" or assistance, but didn't get mad at her or do something to make her cry. It also made me a little bit happy to know that such a great phrase was passed along. So I intervened at this point, knowing that Kylie really doesn't know how to run along and play on her own just yet! And smiling happily with a feeling of deja vu, I gently led a little girl who was also smiling happily (and blissfully oblivious to anything else) down the hall to her own room full of toys!

Thank you Ben for continuing to be the best big brother to the luckiest little sister in the world!

Snuggles for everyone!

2009-09-30T13:04:00.009-04:00

Above is a picture of someone deemed very special in our house. It is the Curious George in the yellow shirt. Though it may appear to be a simple stuffed animal, it is actually the object of much affection--and not necessarily by its owner! You see, Ben is the owner of the George in the yellow shirt, while the one in the red belongs to Kylie. Kylie likes her Curious George just fine, but is very much aware of the fact that the one that belongs to Ben is the one in the yellow shirt. And that single fact alone makes it the item she wants most on just about any given day. Ben has loved Curious George since he was a little toddler, and its quite likely that you saw his Curious George if you saw him ever while he was 3 or 4 since he basically took George everywhere he went (probably even still some while 5 and later). Don't worry, George was always safe, he usually even had his own seatbelt on while riding in the car. Since then, George has still been an active member of our family's comings and goings, but mostly just on overnight trips since he spends most of his time now on Ben's bed (or in Kylie's clutches, but that is another story...).

When Kylie was just barely big enough/strong enough to hold Ben's Curious George on her own she tried to...of course this was also a time when she put EVERYTHING in her mouth so there were instances when George's shirt would show up in the laundry basket because Ben was trying to cleanse him of the baby drool! One time (fairly recently) George's shirt showed up as I was folding clothes from the dryer. Ben was at school and Kylie was asleep, so Jonathan and I took the yellow shirt and put it on Kylie's Curious George and then set it on the edge of the couch where she would see it when she came in the room. Sure enough, she zeroed in on it as soon as she came in the room and started pointing at it and laughing and babbling all kinds of baby talk. We're pretty sure she was just letting us know that someone had put Ben's Curious George's shirt on her Curious George and either it looked ridiculous or she loved it, but either way she carried it around with her for the rest of the day!

Here's a picture of a very happy Kylie snuggling Ben's Curious George in his bed while he was at school one day...she does this as often as she can, don't tell Ben! :) Just kidding, he knows but is such an awesome big brother that he doesn't mind. Don't let the red shirt confuse you in this picture. It really is Ben's George, he is just wearing a shirt from another stuffed animal (probably while his yellow shirt was in the wash!).
Kylie has been working puzzles lately and has really amazed us with her skills. She picks up the pieces and puts them where they go without anyone helping her. Here's a video of Kylie working a puzzle, but it starts with a shot of her with Ben's Curious George so I thought I'd include it with this post.

One more thought for this post, here's a cool story about something that happened the other night. This is just another example of what a great big brother Ben is, and how lucky Kylie is to have such a brother. It was time for bed and Kylie had Ben's George. We went into Ben's room so she could give him back to Ben since it was time for bed. Well, she didn't really want to give him up. She held him out to Ben but didn't let go of her grip on George at all :). We even got her Curious George and tried to trade but she wasn't having it! Ben told her that it was okay. He took her George and said she could snuggle his Curious George that night and he would snuggle hers, with the added rationale that her George doll didn't get snuggled as much anyway and would love the opportunity! Isn't that a nice big brother?! Well, the story doesn't end there. I took Kylie to her room and put her in her crib with Ben's Curious George. She pulled him up to her neck and peacefully drifted off with a blissful, content smile on her face. What a great way to fall asleep! Thanks Ben for continuing to bless our home and family with your sweet loving spirit!

Achieving Freedom and Independence!

2009-09-22T13:06:00.013-04:00

Kylie was so excited to take her first steps and literally walked around the house for several days with a huge, satisfied, proud, permasmile plastered to her face! We don't actually have a video of her first steps, but I got to be there for the big event and see it firsthand--and I am so grateful! It was just Kylie and me in the family room and I was sitting on the floor a few feet away from her when she decided it was time to walk towards me--on purpose. I say "on purpose" because she had taken a few steps here and there without realizing it several times during the previous weeks--but as soon as she would realize she wasn't holding onto anyone's hand or the couch or some other object, she would drop down to the floor and crawl the rest of the way. But this time she knew exactly what she was doing as she looked right at me, grinned, and took a step, and then another and another! To say that she was obviously very pleased with herself would be an understatement. I don't know where the camera was or else I would have grabbed it, but here are some shots of her early steps anyway:
She is loving the fact that she can go where she wants to, when she wants to...unless of course someone interferes and picks her up or stops her or something--which is entirely a different issue and brings out a side of her (or anyone for that matter) that we don't typically capture on film!

I love how she carries an object in each hand as she walks, maybe for balance? maybe so she won't be stranded somewhere without something to do? Either way, its been so much fun to watch. The other day she was carrying a book in each hand and kept stopping, sitting down, reading, and then getting back up to continue on to wherever she was going. I have a picture of one of her reading breaks here:
Kylie's favorite animal/object/theme/etc. is ANYTHING to do with dogs! She is absolutely fascinated by every animal she sees (especially since she's never met a mean one!) and literally SHOUTS out her excitement when she sees a dog. We found that out quickly when what seemed like an innocent book to let her look at during church became the source of the loudest noise to happen, naturally right during the quiet, most spiritual part of the meeting! It wasn't even a book about dogs. Ironically enough it was a book about the sacrament, but there just happened to be a picture of a dog on one of the pages...she let EVERYONE know about it! :)

This clip is one of her "reading" a book about dogs. By reading I mean repeating the word "doggie" as many times as you can, sometimes with different inflection!

She is such a cautious walker--very steady and determined. I guess that since she waited until after she turned 1 to walk that she also waited until she was definitely ready to do it right! Ben was eager to go as soon as he could, and I know that by the time he was her age he already had received several battle scars from various mishaps! Kylie mastered turning very quickly (maybe a few hours?) and considers herself completely independent now, ready to take on anything! Watch out world--here she comes!

I love living in a small town

2009-09-15T13:11:00.001-04:00

I love living in a small town... for example, I'm planning to have a yard sale this Sat. so I go to the internet to look up the phone number on the newspaper's website so I can place an ad. I see "Classified Sales" and a phone number with extension #21... so I call the number and a nice lady answers the phone very politely, here's what happened next:
Me: Hello, extension 21 please.
Nice Lady: One moment...(pause)...we don't have an extension 21.
Me: (only slightly confused because, well, I've been in this town for 3 years) Ok, classified sales then please.
Nice Lady: (sounding very confused) Umm, who are you trying to call?
Me: I'd like to place a classified ad and I got this info from your website...
Nice Lady: Ok,...(pause)...now what is it that you needed? (still sounding confused)
Me: I'd like to talk to someone who can give me information about running a classified ad. (??)
Nice Lady: (sounds of confusion still coming through the phone line as she's trying to decide who to pass my call to)...okay, so you probably want to talk to, well, hmmmm...
Me: (trying a different approach) Maybe you can help me--I'm having a yard sale on Saturday and want to put an ad in the paper about it.
Nice Lady: Ok! (as if to say, why didn't you say so in the beginning?)

Seriously? Why didn't I?? :) -- after this she was very helpful and answered all (well, most) of my questions. :)

Road Trip Fun

2009-08-28T11:58:00.007-04:00

We ended our summer by taking a trip to Utah for business mixed with as much pleasure as possible. We were able to go to Veterans Memorial Park in Provo one afternoon while we were there (Ben wanted to go on the big water slides that he remembered from when he was 3). This time he was excited to be able to go down the slides by himself (and was quite pleased with the fact that he could pass the swimming test in order to do so!). Kylie loved splashing in the shallower water. I'm sure she'll love water slides soon enough. For some reason we didn't really take any pictures until the drive home. Too busy I guess. But anyway, here are some pictures from our drive back home.We took plenty of breaks for stretching, etc. We already knew Ben was a great traveler (he's made this trek many times now!), and Kylie did amazingly well too! There were a couple of times when we put her back in her carseat that she yelled at us and let us know what she thought about being strapped in, but as long as we gave her a book or toy or something to do she was pleasant....until the last hour of the trip! She decided that she was DONE with riding and DID NOT want any more books or toys that she'd played with 100 times already. It was a little funny because we would hand her something and she wouldn't even look at it--just basically grabbed it and tossed it over the other side of her seat (by the door) as if to say, "No way, I'm not reading that book again, get it out of my sight!" She was even done with Jonathan's cell phone and just shook her head when we tried to give it to her! We found a couple of random items in the glove box and other places that we showed her (a headlamp/flashlight, a lock, a map, a duck-call whistle, and other non-toys), but she wasn't even mildly interested in them. Maybe for a few seconds, and definitely would have been under normal circumstances, but not this time! We made it though. I found an oatmeal cookie and gave Kylie pieces of it and it helped. We made it home and Kylie was so happy to be home that she made no protests when we put her in her playpen while we unloaded the truck. In fact, she played happily in the "large" area of space in her playpen for at least an hour!
Kylie drove the whole way across Nebraska. We figured since the roads are pretty flat and straight that it would be fine--good practice in fact. She's growing up way too fast! :)
Ben thought it would be fun to hide from Kylie in the floor of the truck during one of our rest-stops, but she found him and laughed with delight! (He did too!)

During the long drive, a few masterpieces were created....

games were played... and many miles were covered under the care of our safe driver...

What a fun road trip!

Me and My Dad

2009-08-21T13:02:00.008-04:00

Kylie loves her Dad. Here are a few pics showing how she thought about, and then got what she wanted--to snuggle with Da-Da! She looks for him when he's not home and calls his name. Once when she was just a few months old I walked to the front door to look out the window and see if he was home yet. I said something to her like, "Is Daddy home yet? Let's go check." Well, I learned not to offer her Daddy to her without being able to deliver because she was pretty upset when she didn't see him through the window!!

Dancing Queen (and King!)

2009-08-21T10:49:00.004-04:00

Kylie and Ben have both always loved music. Here's a cute clip of Kylie dancing (and there's a shot or two of Ben in the background, showing off some of his moves...). Good times!

Ben's Birthday Party

2009-08-21T09:41:00.011-04:00

Ben turned 7 last month and we celebrated with a pirate-themed party at the park. It was a beautiful day, and not too hot (which also helped that we started the party at 10 AM!).

We had a treasure hunt to find the "loot" and the kids loved it. Kylie helped me hide puzzle pieces/clues earlier in the morning and we got a few strange looks as I was digging in the sand to bury a clue while my baby watched me from her stroller... fortunately no one disturbed any of the clues so the kids were able to have an uninterrupted treasure hunt!

Kylie found herself a new friend as well...
We had hot dogs, chips, cake, cookies -- a 7-year old's dream meal right?! He seemed happy with it though so it was all worth it. Thanks for being in our family for the past 7 years little man!

Summer Catches and Catch-ups

2009-08-04T22:54:00.006-04:00

An assortment of pictures from recent activities... This girl LOVES to read. The part I love best is how she points to words or pictures and either reads out loud or makes a comment. So cute!
We had a family reunion in June and Ben had fun relaxing on the dock with a fishing pole...he didn't catch any food for dinner but it was okay because there was plenty of food (pot luck style) to choose from and we definitely didn't walk away hungry. This next one is a picture from Jonathan's birthday. He didn't want to have a party or anything but Ben and I couldn't just go through the whole day without at least singing to him. He was super tired from a long day at work so we had him sit down as soon as he got home and officially wished him a happy birthday. What a good sport to play along with our games! We love you Dad!

Kylie absolutely loved the slide at Grandmother's house (we went to visit last month); she couldn't get enough of it and especially loved it when Ben went down at the same time. There's a funny story about the shape-sorting box in this picture. I spent about 10 minutes or so helping Kylie pick up the various shaped blocks and putting them into the correct slot to go in the box. She pretty much put all of them in by herself--and I thought she was enjoying it. Maybe she was. But when we were finished I flipped open the lid (hinged on one side) and dumped out the blocks, thinking maybe she would have fun doing it again. Well, I wish I had a picture of the look on her face when I suggested a repeat. It was as if she said, "Oh no way! You've got to be kidding me! I have a MUCH faster and better way to do this." And then she promptly opened up the lid and started scooping up the blocks by the handful and putting them into the box! I don't know if she just didn't want to go through all that again, or if she really was trying to think of a more efficient way to do it! Either way, pure genius!

Hiking Kennesaw Mountain

2009-08-04T22:17:00.005-04:00

Ok so we didn't exactly "hike" the mountain--we drove up to the parking lot near the top so we could hike the last couple hundred feet! We weren't really equipped to hike--Kylie would have never made it and we didn't have the baby backpack with us. But not all of us were wimpy, Ben and Grandmother hiked down the trail and Kylie and I drove back down and met them at the bottom. It was fun, I haven't been there in years and it was a pretty day. We also walked through the visitor's center museum (Ben's idea; I think he was slightly disappointed that the museum didn't have any dinosaur exhibits--how can they call it a museum without dinosaur bones??!).

Kylie's 1st Birthday!!!

2009-06-28T23:24:00.008-04:00

It's hard to believe she's been with us for a year now! Her birthday was actually about a week ago and we celebrated with a party at the park. Here are some pictures of the festivities.

She loves her big brother...who wouldn't love him? He is so nice and loving!

Cousin Katelynn knows some good jokes! (But not better than Ben's jokes, wink wink!)Kylie's friend Lillian.

Kylie wasn't sure why everyone was looking at her and singing--or why there was a flame in front of her--but we're pretty sure she was glad Ben was there to put it out for her!

I made applesauce cupcakes with apple cream cheese frosting for the babies (they were actually quite good!) and once Kylie got a taste of it she ate it up!

Cousin Curtis and his son Connor--they loved the cupcakes too!

"No, I'm not sneaking any ice cream!"

What a fun day!

Rain, rain go away...or not!

2009-06-28T18:40:00.014-04:00

We had a couple of days earlier this month that rained pretty much nonstop. But instead of being bored with not being able to go outside, Ben came up with plenty of fun things to do inside--some were quite creative! At first glance the above picture looks like an ordinary tree, but after taking a closer look you will notice it is actually full of stealth military agents on a mission...

I don't know about Kylie, but I know I had a strange feeling I was being watched everytime I walked into the family room! At least we were safe and protected right?

Ben really wanted to go to the pool--I guess he figured he would at least get to play with the kickboard because he used an old chemistry atom/molecule kit that I have and created this:

Who else other than Ben would have thought of such a fun and creative thing to do with a model kit?! I don't really know exactly what it was, but it sure looked like something incredible!

Ben also created a "Puzzle Museum" complete with a map section (USA and solar system puzzles), a prehistoric section (dinosaur puzzles), a cat area (several kitten puzzles), and a few others. We had just watched the movie Night at the Museum, so I'm sure that was part of the inspiration behind the idea! I thought it was a great idea--and we had lots of fun working puzzles that day. So while Ben was busy with puzzles, etc., Kylie had her own fun exploring and playing. Watching her learn new things and discover things for the first time has been so much fun for me! I am so glad I get to spend so much time with Ben and Kylie right now--I know these years will pass all too soon and I'm doing my best to soak it all up while I can. And when it is not raining you can often find us at the YMCA pool. Ben has really become a confident swimmer this summer and mastered a few new skills--he loves to do cannonballs, dive to the bottom of the pool to retrieve things, and go down the slide. Kylie watches everything Ben does and thinks she can do it too! She flaps her arms and kicks her legs and even puts her face in the water and LOVES it! She thinks she can swim and tries to get out of my arms. Splashing doesn't bother her a bit.

And after some intense playing she's perfectly content to lounge in her stroller by the pool while Ben plays for as long as he can. Sometimes she even gets a good nap.

It doesn't get much better than this!

Soccer Celebrations and Awards

2009-06-09T22:31:00.007-04:00

Ben's soccer season was fun to watch this spring--his skills really improved as the concepts seemed to click and we all enjoyed the excitement. We could see his growing confidence with each game, especially as he stepped in to get the ball away from other players that were bigger than him. At the beginning of the season he backed off when the other players got closer, but by the end of the season he was right there with the ball whenever he could and even managed to turn quite a few balls around to get them headed in the right direction for his team to score.

Here's a shot of a pre-game huddle where they got a good pep talk and discussed strategy...

Here's our little soccer girl--she loved all of it! She even got into it when everyone was cheering and shouting at the players to kick the ball. Her face would light up and she'd clap her hands enthusiastically, sometimes even shout words of encouragement of her own (or at least we think that's what she was saying!).

Team picture--they all had a fun time!

The next couple of pictures are from the awards day celebration. There was a parade where all the teams from each age group marched from the downtown courthouse to the YMCA and then got their trophies, ran around the YMCA gym, and even got a couple slices of pizza. What could be better?!

This video is a very short clip from the parade. The kids were more excited about getting to carry the team flag than anything else, and they each had a turn for the big honor. All in all it was a great season and Ben had a blast (mission accomplished!).

Partners in Crime

2009-05-30T15:09:00.003-04:00

Kylie wants to use the computer every time I do, so I dragged out my old dinosaur laptop from college the other day and let her have at it. Of course, Ben had to "show" her how to use it since he's the expert. This computer was top of the line in its day...but now it can barely handle the math game we loaded onto it for Ben to play. Look how thick it is! Anyway, she loved it and definitely knew exactly what to do as she lunged toward it! She is so lucky to have a big brother like Ben who absolutely adores her and patiently lets her join in on the fun.

Cousins reunited at last!!!

2009-05-30T14:41:00.004-04:00

Ben counted down the days/minutes/seconds to get to see his cousins a few weeks ago and they had so much fun playing that we didn't even have time to take many pictures. My sister Gina and her family drove south from Vermont for a quick visit to Grandmother's house and the kids had a blast. Ben has definitely missed getting to play with Lana now that she lives so far away. We used to be able to meet up at Grandmother's house for fun weekends (when my sister lived in Alabama), so the kids did their best to make up for lost time this trip! In fact, they played so hard that the water in the bathtub needed to be drained and refilled, and it still looked dirty!

This picture was taken just before a prayer for safe travel home...notice how Lana and Ben were ready to pray appropriately with their eyes closed, Luke was peeking, and Kylie was oblivious to it all. I'm sure this is how it was during the actual prayer too--but who knows for sure? I had my eyes closed... :)

I'd like some additional reading material please!

2009-05-28T10:32:00.005-04:00

Kylie loves to read--anything she can get her hands on! Since we've been reading pretty regularly with Ben his whole life, it was easy to include Kylie in our routine when she came to our family. In fact, Ben does most of the reading now and she just loves it when he reads to her. I love it too! I am so pleased with his progress and that he enjoys it so much. He also loves to read anything he can get his hands on--no more secret lists/notes/messages with him around! He's also reading the Book of Mormon a little at a time, and has a goal to finish it before he gets baptized (just a little over a year away). I think he's going to finish it long before then since he's such a good reader. Keep up the good work Ben!

Happy Girl

2009-05-28T09:52:00.007-04:00

I am so glad that I get to spend my days with this happy little girl! And after tomorrow (last day of school), I will also get to spend my days with her happy big brother!

Who needs a passifier?

2009-05-22T10:22:00.007-04:00

Who needs a passifier? NOT Kylie! This is how she gets herself to sleep. Usually she has a blanket handy, but if not then Dad's shirt (or any available cloth-like item) works well too. We tried giving her passifiers, but she is not interested in them. We think it is so funny! We used to go in her room a few minutes after we laid her down to pull out the yardage she managed to stuff inside her mouth, but we found out that she would just stuff it back in (or else wake up). So I guess its okay, she breathes through her nose right? Just keep your fingers crossed that she never has a stuffy nose while trying to sleep!

Family Reunion and Mother's Day

2009-05-12T21:26:00.006-04:00

We've had a busy travel schedule over the past couple of weekends with Easter, a trip to Grandmother's, the annual family reunion on Jonathan's Dad's side of the family, Mother's Day at Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw's house, and another trip to Grandmother's coming up this next weekend. These are pictures of some of the highlights.

The Moms got to sit and relax while Mother's Day dinner preparations were completed; then everyone got to relax after the delicious meal.

The family reunion was fun too--at first it looked like it was going to rain but it turned out to be a beautiful day.

"May I try on your sunglasses please?"

Intense game of checkers between father and son--no mercy here!

Just posing for the camera...

Strawberries and Bananas

2009-05-07T15:50:00.007-04:00

I had to post these pictures because they are so darn cute! She loves to feed herself (and MUST have her own spoon that she gets to hold while she's being fed something that she can't hold in her hands). She also makes "mmmmm" sounds while she eats so I think she enjoys it!

I have many more pictures (because I can't resist snapping pics of her cute expressions), these were a few highlights. Of course, Ben didn't want to be left out so here's one of him dipping a graham cracker in some milk (he'd already finished his strawberries...).

Something a little more reverent

2009-05-05T19:25:00.002-04:00

I was putting away the leftover food last night after dinner when Ben came into the kitchen to tell me he was ready for family night. We try to have “family night” at least once a week…some weeks are better than others. Anyway, last night was the night for this week and it’s usually pretty casual/informal. I didn’t know it but Ben had other plans for the night! He announced that he had decided to put on something “a little more reverent” and that everyone should probably change their clothes too… So I looked over at him and was a little surprised to see him in his Sunday shirt and a tie that is too little for him now! Just wanted to note this down since its always precious to us when Ben reminds us in his subtle ways about what is most important. Plus I wanted to be sure to get a picture so I can show it to him a few years from now in case he needs to be reminded! :) What did we do for family night last night? We talked about the baptism of Jesus (headed up by Ben, hence the "more reverent" attire, as he read the story from his children's New Testament book), sang a few songs (Kylie loves music!), and had ice cream cones. The best part for us was just being together.

Monkey in the Middle

2009-05-05T11:24:00.000-04:00

Ben's school had a field trip last week to the Edventure Children's Museum (in Columbia, SC) and I was very impressed by the exhibits. Ben loves Curious George (so naturally Kylie does too!) and there was a Curious George exhibit complete with dress-up, mini-golf, hand shadows, an elaborate pulley-system to build a block wall and more.
There was a farm area where the kids could check out a tractor, pick peaches from a tree, plant vegetables in a garden, or even milk a cow. Wow. I thought that part was a bit much (not really milk, just water, but it came out into the bucket just the same). Gross! I wouldn't let Ben try it out because it didn't seem like the most sanitary activity. Not that anything else was any better with hundreds of other kids putting their hands all over everything and each other--needless to say I kept a bottle of hand sanitizer flowing all day to anyone nearby. Hopefully we didn't pick up too many extra germs (or swine flu!).

There was a mini-grocery store where the kids could shop for real-looking groceries, load up their carts, and even take them through the check-out. Ben made some very healthy choices (just for you grandmother!), you'd be proud! Ben also enjoyed dressing up as a firefighter, climbing on a fire truck, and crawling around in a tunnel "under the smoke" of a fire. Perhaps the most fun for the kids was playing inside of the largest 10-year-old in the world, Eddie. The kids could climb around inside of Eddie (up and down his spine) and check out his brain, his heart, his stomach and slide around his intestines--crazy! Kylie was content just hanging out in her stroller next to the giant shoe. But she also had cheerios, which are much more appealing to her than slides at the moment! All in all, it was a fun day for everyone.

Weekend at Grandmother's House

2009-04-27T09:59:00.001-04:00

We just got back from a fun-filled weekend at Grandmother's house. The weather was perfect and the kids had fun playing outside. Grandmother's yard is so fun for Ben. She built a super-long slide into a man-made dirt mound/small hill and he always enjoys sliding down it. For some reason I didn't take a picture of it, but here's one from a few years ago. I also enjoyed going to some yard sales and picked up a box of wooden train track pieces (I think its called Brio) for just a few bucks. Here's a picture of the amazing creation Ben made using those pieces. There were also a few lincoln logs mixed in with the train track blocks so he included a log cabin in the forest. The best part about it was when we let Kylie loose right next to the "park" (the collection of trees and people on the right side of the track). She was so excited to get her hands (and feet) on it and did her best to destroy as much as possible before we picked her up and ended the fun. The shrieks of absolute excitement were hilarious (too bad I didn't have a video camera handy!). I told Ben that I was sorry but Godzilla was loose in the park and destroyed it. He's such a great big brother that he didn't even care--I think that whole fun of it for him is building it and not so much as playing with it when he's done. This is a very good thing since she's already shown her intentions of destruction with other things he's built. All he had to say about it was to grin and say, "That's okay--at least we already got a picture of it." He's going to be a famous builder or architect one day and I'm going to have a collection of his early masterpieces. Ben also made some amazing structures out of blocks in kindergarten last year and his teacher has her own collection of pictures to prove that she knew about his talent way back when... My mom also has another toy that is good for the imagination, I have no idea what it is called but here's a picture of something Ben made out of it using all the pieces. He's made robots and animals and all sorts of things out of it in the past. After a fun weekend of playing Kylie needed to unwind in a relaxing bath. It must have been relaxing because she slept most of the way home. She's a pretty good traveler, but a sleeping baby is always better when you're stuck in a vehicle for a long drive. Ben has ALWAYS been a great traveler. His first road trip was when he was just about 3 months old and we moved across the country from SC to UT. He was especially good and really didn't cry much the entire drive. I have pictures from that trip and he was just grinning and happy as can be. I guess that's why we've done so many road trips with him (trips to Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, several cross-country between UT and SC/GA). One summer we were in our truck with the camper top on the back and the air conditioning went out. We drove with the windows down but it was still HOT. We did NOT have a DVD player then, he was 2 years old, but he was very pleasant and just looked at books or played happily, not complaining at all. We usually just eat on the road during our travels but this particular trip we stopped at an Applebee's just to go in and enjoy some AC. I remember Ben sitting in his high chair and when the waitress came over to take our order he knew exactly what he wanted. He held up one finger and said, "French fries...crayons." She took him very seriously and even wrote it down on her tablet. He loved it! You could tell it made him feel very important! The waitress said something to the effect of, "That's what I like. Someone who knows exactly what they want!" Anyway, point of this wandering thought was just to mention how good of a traveler that Ben is and how grateful we are of this or else we probably would not have enjoyed so many fun trips. Kylie is not as cheerful as Ben while traveling--but she isn't bad, just have to plan a little better and bring along the Baby Einstein shows! The pre-trip bath definitely helped and Kylie loved it.

We can't wait to go back to visit again. Thanks Mom for the fun weekend, accomodations, and food (and juices)!

Easter with family

2009-04-20T16:13:00.000-04:00

We went to "Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw's" house for the traditional Easter dinner this year--complete with an Easter-egg hunt for the kids. Ben and Kylie are the only grandchildren on the Parris side that are under 16 years, but there are two great-grandchildren so they at least had some company. And there's another great-grandchild on the way so next year will be even more fun!

Here's a picture of Kylie with Aunt Denise--such a serious expression on her face!

We had fun visiting with everyone. We do get to see almost everyone on the Parris side pretty frequently since they all live in North or South Carolina, but I think this was the first family get-together in awhile where everyone was able to come. Probably should have taken more pictures!

Soccer Fun

2009-04-18T12:30:00.000-04:00

So today was Ben's first soccer game for the season. Here is a picture with some of his teammates and their coach (Thanks to Jenny, fellow soccer mom, for taking the pics!).

Kylie enjoyed the game too...at least we think so. She didn't really have much to say about it. She mostly just loves to be outside! This will be Ben's third year playing soccer at the YMCA--and his skills are definitely improving. Last year the major milestone was getting the ball going toward the correct goal! I think this year's target will be not being afraid to get the ball away from someone on the other team. (He's just so polite not wanting to take the ball away from someone else! It's almost like he steps aside and says, "Go ahead, you go first.")

Jumping in...

2009-04-18T11:19:00.001-04:00

Since everyone else is doing it I guess we will too... blogging that is! Looks like a fun way to keep in touch with family/friends, and it might even help us to keep up with the family journal we've been trying to be more diligent about writing. So here goes!