Saturday, January 9, 2010

New "do"







I put Evie's hair into pigtails for the first time today and wanted to share a few photos. I also had to include a cute one of Wiley giving her a kiss - so precious! Enjoy!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Words with Wiley

This morning Wiley, Shane and I were hanging out in bed for a few minutes before getting up. These are two of my favorite Wiley quotes from our time together:
* Wiley said, "Mommy, let's give seal kisses!" (He loves to rub his nose on mine for seal kisses in the morning.)
* We were practicing putting sounds together to make words. I was saying, "s . . . at" over and over again and he was guessing what word that made. We had just done cat and hat. As I started saying, "s . . . at, s . . . at" Wiley shouts out his guess, "chummy!" (no idea where that came from:)


When Shane was putting Wiley to bed, they were singing a few songs about God. Wiley then began to sing "Happy Birthday, dear God". Shane told Wiley that God doesn't have a birthday because He has always existed. Wiley said, "Oh, I see." Then they said their bedtime prayers. This was Wiley's prayer, "God, I pray that somebody would give You a birthday." He meant birthday party - he was sad that God doesn't have a birthday.


While Shane was telling Wiley a Star Wars story the other night, he said, "And then the ship came out of hyperspace. And what do you think they did next?"
Wiley replied, "They took off their seatbelts."


Today it was rather warm for a winter day so I took the kids for a walk. Towards the end of our walk, Wiley lay down on the edge of our neighbor's yard and said with a big smile, "Today is a GREAT day!" He then proceeded to get up, come and hug me and Evie and tell us each that he loved us.
(Yes, I must agree, a great day indeed!)


The other day Wiley and I were having a discussion about my engagement ring. I told him that Daddy gave it to me and asked me a question. I said, "What question does a man usually ask a woman when he gets down on his knee in front of her and holds up a ring?"
Wiley's response, "I like it in Who-ville, I like it a lot!" (From Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who)


While playing with Evie today Wiley said, "Evie and I are having a date!"


Most everytime Wiley sees me and Shane hugging, he will ask, "Are ya'll getting married?"


A few nights ago Wiley had the hickups. He wanted to wrestle with Shane before bedtime but Shane told him he couldn't unless his hickups went away. When they began to pray for their bedtime prayers, Wiley prayed, "God, please make my hickups go away so I can wrestle with Daddy." At the end of their prayers, his hickups were gone. Shane asked him if they were all gone. Wiley opened his mouth for a moment and sat there listening for them. Then he nodded his head, smiled, and pointed into his mouth and said, "See, they aren't in my mouth anymore!"
(This has happened a couple of times now and we are so thankful that God has allowed Wiley to see in such a clear way that God hears him when he prays. Needless to say, Wiley and Shane have celebrated afterwards each time and thanked God - then they wrestled!!!)

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Christmas and the New Year

So thankful for the blessing of Christmas and a New Year!

We celebrated Christmas Eve with Lydia's family, Christmas morning at home alone with the kids, and Christmas evening with Shane's parents. We had a great time with all our family and were so thankful to be living near them all this Christmas. (We are still unsure of what job the Lord is going to provide for us and don't know where we will be living come next Christmas so we are thankful for the time we have now to be near our families.) We also got to celebrate Lydia's Grandfather's 95th birthday with him on December 21st and to go visit Shane's Grandmother and extended family the day after Christmas.










We spent a few days at Myrtle Beach before Christmas visiting with Shane's Aunts. Wiley and Evie got to see their cousins and had a blast playing with them. We had a great visit and were so thankful to get to spend this time together with Shane's family.


I had to include these photos of Wiley telling Jed a story (a captive audience) - too cute!
We love you all and we hope you had a great Christmas and New Year! May God richly bless you all in this new year. Love, The Parkers

Evie at 8 and 9 Months

Some fun photos of Evie over the past 2 months











I'm ready for my close up!!!




Evie loves to sit on Daddy's shoulders.






I've tried my hand at some sewing and made this dress for her out of an old maternity shirt I had. I think she looks like one of the girls from Little House on the Prairie. Now all she needs is a little bonnet :)


Our little Christmas Elf!

November and December have shown lots of growth and changes in Evie. She is crawling and cruising all over the place. She has stood on her own a few times for brief periods of time but usually sits right down when she realizes she's standing and seems to be fairly cautious - very different from bigger brother, Wiley. Her hair has grown a bunch and is turning very blond - like her Daddy when he was young. Her bottom two teeth have grown in well but no others yet. She started saying Dada about 2 months ago and Mama just yesterday at 42 weeks of age. She loves to eat, especially her fruits and banana puffs. Evie absolutely ADORES her big brother. Wiley can make Evie laugh like no one else and it makes us so happy to see them laughing and "playing" together. Everyday we are seeing more and more of her precious personality and are so thankful for the sweet spirit God has given her. She is a very quiet and observant little girl. My prayer is that God would remind me every moment that she is always watching me and that I would model for her a "gentle and quiet spirit" which is what the Lord finds beautiful in a woman. Wiley continues to be a loving and protective big brother. (He got a plastic sword for Christmas. One of his favorite things to do everyday is wait for Evie to wake up and then go in with us to get her up. He always brings his sword and goes in and "fights off" all the bad guys and says, "Evie's safe now. I got them all.") He does a good job of teaching Evie new things and sharing with her. We are so thankful for their friendship and the love they have for one another. Praying that above all else, God would grow our children to love Him with all of their heart.