I'm So Slack!!!!

I'm so sorry, to those of you who actually look at our family blog, for all of the time I've let pass without updating this! It's kind of been a crazy few months. So to make up for it, I've posted several new updates below. Enjoy! We love you all and hope you had wonderful holidays!!!!!

Big Boy Bed!

Wiley has officially made the move to a big boy bed. He's been sleeping in it since January 12th - almost 2 weeks. He has not fallen out of the bed at all (knock on wood) and has done an AMAZING job of staying on his bed and not getting up during naps and at night. He loves it and is very proud to show it off to each family member who comes over. We are so proud of him for making this move so well. Our little baby is growing up!

Precious Moments!

(Sorry for the bad photos - sometimes I only have time to use my camera phone!)

Snow and Motty!

Our first snow of the year was on January 20th. That morning Shane flew to Denver for a missions conference and will be back the end of the month. We are missing him bunches but keeping busy. Shane's mom has been here this week and we've been having fun together. She came over later that morning and played with Wiley in the snow. He made 2 little snowmen and one of them had a carrot nose and a real corncob pipe. Unfortunately he annihilated the bigger snowman before we could finish taking pictures. I know all you guys who don't live in SC are thinking, "What snow?" Trust me, we did have a light dusting on the ground before these photos. Thankfully Shane's car had a good bit on it that we could use. Hey! For South Carolina this is big time!!!! The next day Mott and I took Wiley to Chuck E Cheese where he enjoyed getting to choose just how he wanted to spend his tokens. There was this one game that he played literally over and over again before we could get him distracted enough to move on to something else! The next night I had a childbirth class so Motty came over and kept Wiley. She and Shane's dad had gotten Wiley a play kitchen a few weeks ago and they spent a lot of the night "cooking". We've had a blast with you this week, Motty! We love you!

Wiley's crazy hat hair after coming inside! And our beautiful snowman before a certain somebody demolished him!

Christmas

This was the first Christmas since getting married in 1999 that Shane and I did not have to travel at Christmas! What a blessing! I can honestly say this was probably our most relaxing Christmas together so far!

On Christmas Eve, my family came over and we celebrated together. (Last year my family began a new tradition of having the adults each draw a name and only buy for that person. We still all get the kids gifts but this sure saves a lot of time and money since my family is so large. We each match the amount we spent on our person and we combine that money together. On Christmas Eve after opening all the gifts, we total up the money and decide on a way to use it for the Lord. This year we decided to send it through World Venture to help their missionaries buy supplies for those in the Congo who are being greatly affected by the genecide. - Please be praying for these individuals. Regardless of what the news is reporting, they are indeed suffering and being murdered each day! - I'm so glad our children will be growing up with this wonderful tradition of giving gifts for the Lord. Shane and I hope to add many more moments like this in our kids lives where they are taught to seek to meet the needs and wants of others before their own - of course this is an area Mom and Dad still need lots of work on too!)

Christmas morning we woke up and had a wonderful time together as a family. Wiley's big gift this year was a drum set (actually two drum sets but of course the first one was broken by lunch!) He has been having a blast with his drums and shows a lot of natural talent. I'm sure our neighbors have really loved us since then! That evening Shane's parents came over and we had our Christmas dinner together and opened gifts. Wiley had so much fun showing off his new musical instruments and playing with his "band", aka - Motty and Poppy. I'm not sure though if he had more fun playing with his new toys or Poppy's new golf "toys".

Overall, we really enjoyed our time together and with our families. God has so richly blessed us beyond what we will ever deserve!

Belly Shot on Christmas Eve! 27 weeks Pregnant!

November - December for the Parkers

So to try and play catch up...

November and December were busy months for us. Shane was busy wrapping up his classes at Toccoa Falls College in Georgia and finishing a book he was co-writing with a friend. It should be published next spring. Here's a few of the highlights during this time for us:

We are loving being back home and for the first time were able to "host" the holidays at our house! My family came over Thanksgiving day and we had our Thanksgiving lunch. I finally cooked my first turkey (I know married almost a decade - first turkey - what!!!) with mom's help and had a blast. The boys enjoyed football outside. On Friday, we drove down to Edisto to spend the weekend with Shane's folks. We had a blast! Wiley spent his time at Motty and Poppy's house playing a new guitar they gave him and Motty's make-shift drums - I'm sure the neighbors loved us! We attended a Christmas party while we were there and Wiley had a blast running around, making his own cookies, doing crafts, and eating hotdogs. Santa didn't get to come b/c he got a call from his other job - fireman - but we had fun anyways. While we were there we got to attend the annual Edisto Christmas Parade. This was Wiley's first parade and he loved it!

In mid December our church put on a Christmas play and Wiley got to be in it as a sheep. He followed the shepherds onto the stage (even though he wasn't supposed to) and had a blast rocking the "Baby Jesus" back and forth. I'm not sure how much fun the poor baby had. We were afraid Wiley was going to rock him right out of his car seat carrier. He also enjoyed taking the presents the wise men brought to baby Jesus. Overall, though a crazy couple of months, we were able to make some wonderful memories.