Late Holiday Update

So we had a really good holiday with all of Jill's family in town. We had Hotel Peterson in full effect this year but although it was crowded it supplied a good amount of memories for the future. Every year we are here in Arizona for Christmas I appreciate the warmth versus the frigid winters. For some reason the sunny blue skys and 70 degrees is nice. We were able to be out and about for the holidays and have fun with family.

This may look funny, but a human hamster ball is a great workout!

Every family needs a superman!
Our little Christmas Claus

Getting out of Town

I had a break in school this last week so Jill and I took the kids and headed down to California to play for a few days. We spent a day at Sea World and a couple more at Disneyland. It's been over 20 years since I had been to Disney and it was fun for both the kids, Jill and I. We found that Abby is a big fan of roller coasters. She said that her favorite ride was the Tower of Terror, whereas Parker was more of a fan of the Carousels. We were lucky to have great weather but the better part was we didn't have to wait in any lines. We found the perfect week to go. Literally we only waited a few minutes for all the rides if that. My brother Jack and Mel met us down at Disney so that was fun to hang out with them and see their little Jack as well. It was a much needed break even though it was go go go the whole time. It'll be a little while before we do that again but certainly a lot of good memories were made.
Abby had a little time with all the princesses as she and Jill had lunch


Parker was scared of most the characters at first but then got used to charging them with a big bear hug.
Yeah, we're a little nerdy looking before the Toy Story ride but they gave us cool glasses and we got to shoot stuff, what else could we ask for?

Mia loves the piano!

(thank you gramma suzee for the matching shirts!

abby LOVES to match mia!)

Code Yellow

Parker has been a climber from a very young age. If I remember correctly, he was a proficient stair climber at 9 months old and he started climbing out of his crib at 18 months old (and was quickly moved into a toddler bed). My point in telling you this is so you will realize that cribs and shopping carts are not much different when it comes to getting out.

Shortly after Mia was born (April maybe?) I was shopping the Target baby section while Abby was at preschool. I had Mia in the car seat and Parker in the big shopping cart basket. He climbed out quite a few times and kept running away like it was a game. I would chase him down and put him back in and tell him in my most loving way not to get out. Okay so really I just told him in a way as to not attract attention to myself from the other shoppers.

Parker got out and ran away again while I was deciding on an item. I turned around and he was gone. Completely nowhere. I tried to listen for him giggling and running but heard nothing. I looked for a few minutes up and down the aisles around the baby section (he loved hiding behind the stroller and car seat displays).

I saw a Target employee and thought gosh this would be so much easier to find him with another set of eyes looking.

"Sir, would you mind helping me look for my little boy? I don't know where he went." and that was the beginning of the code yellow...

He says to me "Okay can you describe him?"

"Yes he's almost 3 years old with blonde hair and is wearing a red shirt and shorts today."

He took out his radio ... "Code yellow, code yellow, code yellow, who's blocking the exits?"

After a few exchanges over the radio they had all Target employees in entire store looking for Parker. They were asking all of the moms and shoppers in the store if anyone had seen him. They had all but one of the cashiers shut down their registers to come look. They had a Target employee stationed at each door.

SO EMBARRASSING! This has been blown way out of proportion. I just wanted one little person to help me look since it was a game to Parker. If he saw me then he'd run away giggling.
After about 4 minutes of code yellow, I walked down the center aisle and looked left and this is what I saw--about 8 Target employees standing in a circle around Parker, asking him what his name was. He was just shyly standing there in the middle of them not saying anything. Then he saw me and broke through the crowd just like in the movies, running to me saying "MOMMMMYYYYY!" with the biggest smile.

No tears. Not scared. Parker! Seriously! I was speechless really. I was wishing that Parker would have at least cried a little bit, but nooooo. He just got happier with all the attention. Is this what "middle child syndrome" is? All the acting out and the I need attention?

I gave him a big hug and picked him up, putting him in the cart again. But I really didn't know what I was supposed to say to him. What did all those employees expect to see me do? What did other moms in my shoes do? I could have yelled at him, I could have had a big talk with him right there in front of everyone, I could have cried with tears of joys (the tears really would have been tears of embarrassment), I could have spanked him (okay then they probably would have taken him back from me for CPS), so in my indecisiveness on how to react I just politely said my Thank You's and headed straight for checkout... we'd talk about this later over chocolate chip cookies and milk.

Oh good I thought. That's over with. Let's leave this store as quickly as possible. I only had a few things to buy, so I went straight to the checkout where the nice older cashier lady took one look at Parker and asked "Are you that little lost boy?"

It would be a month before I would return to that same store, diaper bag full of Smarties to bribe Parker into staying with me... the end.

Thank you Target for finding Parker. But I'm not sure he learned a lesson that day. I think instead he got to have his very own big boy version of hide and go seek.

Mia's 6 month photo shoot!

Mia was a superstar for her photoshoot today, which happened to be right when she usually takes her morning nap. Go Mia! Thanks for smiling baby girl! I love you!

Abby's Testimony

Abby bore her testimony for the first time on Sunday in Sacrament Meeting. She talked about doing it for 3 days and practiced what she was going to say. I discussed with her what was appropriate to talk about and what was not. I told her that she could only talk about church stuff, not about preschool or her Baby Rae. I also told her that she could not be shy. She had to talk clearly and big and loud into the microphone. So Sacrament Meeting started and there were 2 baby blessings which meant it was crowded. There were at least 200 in attendance. She was so excited to do it, that I decided we had to be the first ones up there if we were going to do it. So we got up there first and Abby did amazing. She stood up on the step, and talked very clearly into the microphone. She was not intimidated or shy. I just knelt down beside her but she knew exactly what she wanted to say and didn’t wait for me to prompt her. This is about what she said. “I’m here to bearing my testimony. I love my primary and teachers. I know when I be quiet the Holy Ghost will come to me. Thank you for Primary. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.” I know there’s one more little line that she said that I’m forgetting, but I was awestruck that she said what she wanted to say completely. When we sat down, the first words out of Parker’s mouth was “Mommy I want to go up there Mommy!” The funny thing is that for the rest of the testimony meeting, she kept leaning over and telling me, “Mommy, that girl isn’t talking about church stuff.” Or “Mommy, why isn’t she talking about church things?” So then I had to explain how helping a boy in a wheel chair is making Jesus happy, etc. I wonder if this was a 1 time thing or if it will continue next month… we’ll see!

Mr. Parker Man

Parker is a mama's boy lately. He loves for me to hold him and cuddle with him and absolutely insists that I carry him down the stairs every morning when he wakes up. He is the best eater in the house, next to his father. Parker is not picky about colors, textures, shapes, new flavors, etc. unless every once in a while he copy's what his older sister says, like having to have it cut into little triangles instead of big ones. I can deal with that. This boys loves oatmeal for breakfast! Oatmeal with raisins or craisins in it. Oatmeal! Ok that is my dad's and my grandpa's favorite breakfast. He gets it from them but oddly has never actually eaten it with them. So there's saying something about genetics and tastebuds, right?

Disneyland/Seaworld/California Adventure

We're planning our first trip, so anyone with things to do and not do, tips, etc. on how to make our trip a success please comment so we can take all of your advice! We're really excited. We'll be going the 1st week of november when Jon has school off...