insert clever blog title here

don't know why, but i can't move my pictures, so here they are, all clumped together.

my boys

sweetie girl

me and my boyfriend. note to self: work on posture.

silly boys

so, life is good here in the parker house. just thought i would give an update on how things are going...

-our community group finished up the truth project last night. i really have enjoyed getting together with our friends once a week, and i have learned a lot thru the series. it would be hard for me to list the things i've learned, but it has been great.

- the small group that i meet with on wednesday mornings finished up last week, too. i will miss meeting with those ladies once a week, too.

- i am quickly realizing that i may have a love/hate relationship with my summer. love not having much to do, yet hate not having anything to do. welcome to my crazy.

- ellen accidentally took six steps while trying to put a shirt on herself this morning. she will be walking for reals soon. it is really hard to believe!

- i have been exercising lately. oh, don't be confused, this is still angie's blog. i am ready to be healthy, etc. so i started one dvd program and really liked it, but then started doing the 30 day shred. i am on day 9 (i skipped mother's day- i was too busy eating humongous chocolate chip cookies to exercise). it has been pretty rough, but i am seeing results and am able to do a few pushups and i haven't punched the tv yet, so progress is being made. i am also thankful for the accountability of doing this 'with' a friend. i am really motivated by accountability, for sure!

- i still haven't read a book this year. it is a wonder that my mind hasn't turned to mush. joel got me a short-ish book for mother's day, so it will be my first attempt. :)

- loving not watching tons of tv. hate moving the stupid antenna around to try to get pbs for my kids to watch. the kids are champs and don't even complain anymore when the picture breaks up and the sound goes out. poor little things with bad tv reception.

- needing to do a re-declutter. i am feeling stressed about all of our junk. a little fearful that my stuff will bury me alive now that i don't HAVE to clean up since small group won't be meeting here every week.

- doing pretty good on not eating between meals. i really am learning about my eating habits. if i feel down or upset in 30 seconds flat i am standing in front of the cabinet looking for something to eat.

- have learned to stop buying raisinettes and donettes. (you know that there is a problem when your two big snack weaknesses end in -ettes. good grief.)

- was convicted at church yesterday because of my lack of consistency in parenting. i need to be consistent because my God is consistent.

- haven't been in the Word much at all. due to the fact that i am a fan of accountability, i wonder what will happen now that i am not meeting with community group or my small group for the summer. don't want to get even lazier.

- joel and i are gearing up for our happy 10 years of blissful marriage anniversary trip in june! we are going to jackson hole, wyoming. i am super excited and have been looking into buying bear sized pepper spray. one day when i was exercising, davis said "mom, i know why you are exercising." i said "oh, you know that mom wants to be healthy, now, right?" he said, "no, you just want to be as fast as me so you can run faster than a bear on your trip." hence, the pepper spray search on google.

- lane has been talking a lot, and what do you know? he is really a funny kid. always doing something crazy to make us all laugh.

- davis is gearing up for kindergarten. i am wanting to savor every minute of the summer with him!

goodness, this is long! hey, mom! (that was because you are probably the only one still reading this. :) )

ellen is ONE! yay!

well, i really had a fun time at our sweet girl's party. it was a good time with friends, and i really think that ellen felt special. she seemed to have a great time. she likes the attention, to be sure. we have one hundred eighty something pictures, but you won't have to look at that many (whew!) and i am too tired to figure out how to do a slideshow, so here goes...


she looked super cute in her cutesy cloths tu tu! my friend michelle made her birthday outfit and it was just perfect! it really exceeded my expectations. go right now and order something from her website! or you could at least finish reading this and then order. :) thanks, michelle, for doing such a great job. her cutie outfit was a hit!

present time!! the big kids were at the ready to watch, or um 'help' ellen open her presents...


she got these pretty butterfly wings from the simmons for a gift! cute! she got this baby doll from her grandma. she 'opened' it first and did not care about much else after that. i love to see the girly side coming out in her. she really is such a sweetie. she held the baby up to her shoulder and carried her around.
we got her this shopping cart, so that she could use it to help her walk. she pushed it around everywhere. i guess since i haven't been great at updating things here on the blog, i could take the opportunity to let you know that she is able to stand by herself, but she isn't quite ready to move once she is in the standing position. she has taken a step or two, but i am thinking that was accidental. :) she got 120 pieces of various food items from her dee dee to fill up her shopping cart. i think i have picked up all 120 pieces 120 times since last night. i exaggerate- maybe 117.

cupcake time!! you will all be glad to know that we averted disaster by not letting the cupcake anywhere within her reach while we sang to her!! :) a lot of you probably don't know that for lane's first birthday, we put his cupcake (with the candle in it) on the tray of his highchair, and while we were singing happy birthday to him, he squelched? extinguished? put out? the fire with his fingers. his tiny one year old fingers. all at once, i was thinking WHO PUTS AN OPEN FLAME IN FRONT OF A BABY?! I AM THE WORST MOTHER EVER!! and also screaming PHIL!! to our friend phil, who is a doctor. because, you know, it was a medical emergency and all. don't worry, he was okay, no really, phil said so- but he is a little uneasy around fire and i take the blame, because i will go ahead save him the counseling bills...it really is all my fault. sorry, big tangent there... notice that joel is holding the candle far away from our birthday girl! lesson learned!

she had been crying and unfortunately, like her mom, she gets all blotchy when upset. one taste of that yummy icing and all was better. unfortunately, yummy icing is what helps all of her mom's problems, too, but another blog for another time... :)

she ate almost the whole thing! notice her cutesy cloths bib that matches her outfit! michelle is a sewing genius!

about to eat cupcake pops! yum!

ellen's friend audrey turned one about a month ago. her mom, lee (who is also my friend :)) made her a tu tu for her birthday. she brought it to e's party so we could get a picture of them looking cute.
here she is walking with julia and thinking "this is the happiest day of my life! thanks mom and dad for the wonderful party! i will always be a good girl and never slam my bedroom door or tell my friends that you are lame!" or something along those lines, i'm sure.

a great time was had by all. we are so blessed with people that the Lord has placed in our lives that love our girl (and the rest of us). thanks, Lord for the fun time and for delighting in our baby girl. that is all, the end.

ellen's party- the details

sweet ellen turned one on thursday! i can't believe how quickly this year has gone!! here are some pictures of the details of the party for our family that couldn't be with us. more pictures coming...

here is the food table. (the rice crispies were about to go on the empty plate.) i really liked the way everything turned out! of course, the boys had to be in a picture with the table.

the gift table, little candy bar favors, ellen's jones' soda:

i made cupcakes with my friend amy's icing (so yummy!), and i made these cupcake pops from the bakerella blog. they were so fun to make!

actual pictures of the birthday girl coming up next!

spring fun

our good friends the greenes stopped in town for a quick visit on their way to florida. it was so good to see them! here are a couple of pictures of the kids.

we have been loving the warm weather. (of course, today it is cold and windy, but anyway...) the boys really play well together outside.

playing on the swings...

a couple of pics of our sweet ellen. she is 11 months old now!

oh, my. this one cracks me up. he just had to be like his big brother!

mmm... doughnuts

i've been feeling crafty, so i made these for ellen for a little birthday gift. i thought they turned out so cute, i am giving some to little audrey for her birthday, too. (don't tell her :)) they definitely show my lack of sewing ability, but they were really fun to make. and they are a LOT less calories than the real ones. too bad i had to purchase a couple of real doughnuts before i asked for a box. how can you resist them when they are hot fresh now?

(oh, i got the idea from a blog called skip to my lou.)

march. it's a long month.

so, i was trying to remember what all we've done this month and i could barely remember the beginning...

it snowed again. this time joel was able to stay home for a little while and play with the boys. ellen and i decided to stay inside this time. the boys had a ball, though.

ellen turned 10 months old. i was a little late taking her 10 month old picture (hence the 10ish blocks). i will blame it on the fact that february doesn't have a 30th.

davis finished his upwards basketball season. his last game he had lots of friends come to cheer him on and scored 3 goals. he was very proud (and so were his mom and dad). he had such a fun time playing, and really got so much better as the season went on.

we went for a hike in the mountains. one saturday this month was so pretty, we headed to blowing rock to play at the park, eat pizza and go for a hike. we discovered a big patch of snow along the hike and had fun throwing snowballs at each other on the 70 degree day.

february, we hardly knew ye.

february just went by too quickly. i can't believe that it is march. i can't wait for warmer weather!! hooty-hoo! and daylight savings time! and forsythias! and my one or two bulbs that survived out of the 50+ we planted 6 years ago! bring on spring!

by all means, let me get on with this post and let you know about the happenings at the parker house:

d:
-he is taller than he has ever been. (he is growing....)
-he made his first goal in an upwards game this past saturday. i teared up. he was so cool about it, but you could tell he was very proud.
-it has been interesting and so good to see him interact with the players on his team. i have been very proud- he is such a kindhearted boy.
- we are in the midst (i am procrastinating filling out the forms) of registering him for kindergarten. hard to believe!
-a lot of times when i say something to him, his reply is "that's unusual."
-he is not loving homeschooling as much as he used to.
-he is learning that mom and dad do not know all and do not see all.
-he is a collector of stuff. the lid to our old mr. bubble bubble bath bottle, rocks, papers, pipe cleaners, empty puffs containers, shoe boxes, pretend credit cards, old lincoln logs found in the church parking lot.....
-he is always thinking. and like his mom, he feels the need to share every single thought.

l:
-he puts an unnecessary "t" on the end of most words. ellen used to be "ane" like lane without the l. now he says "ane-t". you and i would pronounce it a'int. phonet. bowlingt. lightning mcqueent. and so ont.
-he is really talking a lot and has little catch phrases that he uses a lot and often incorrectly. yesterday i put him in his car seat and he said "whoa, that was a close one!" he also says things using funny voices, especially if he thinks it will keep him from getting in trouble.
-he loves loves basketball.
-he and d like to play boxing on the wii. it has progressed to just plain ol' boxing each other. when he punched me once, we told him he is not allowed to punch girls. now he runs around saying "punch boys" and hits either d or joel.
-he all of the sudden loves having his picture taken.

e:
-today at target i bought her first easter dress. wheee! the madness begins.
-started figuring out how to drink from a sippy.
-really has been exploring. continues to put everything in her mouth. (except her toys.) pulls up on whatever she can.
-has learned that her brothers laugh and her mother scowls when she spits baby food out of her mouth at meal times.
-her current love language is touch, or smacking people in the face (to be more specific).
-has said bye bye, momma, and dada. sort of.
-loves to groove, just like her big brother, d.

so, we are doing well. it feels like we have been too busy. we are in the final stages of deciding where to go for our 10 year anniversary trip. (maybe i should have a big announcement when we decide) i have been trying to get back on track with my new years resolutions, since having shingles derailed me. tv situation? great! homeschooling? not so great. time in the word? so-so, not where it should be. reading? nope. exercising? what's that. eating? did you know that steroids sometimes make you want to eat 8 tacos in one sitting, so you do? saving money? good! shutting up? let's do that one now and call it a success for today.