Trip to Denver and Julie's Wedding

After we spent some time in Loveland with Mamaw, we made our way down to Denver to see some friends and for Julie's wedding. For those of you who didn't know Elizabeth was a flower girl in the wedding. We had a crazy, fun and very busy week while we were there. We were trying to see everyone and spend some time with the Miller's while helping them with wedding stuff and taking care of our two girls. We made it, the girls were troopers and we got to see most everyone. Whew!

As far as the wedding went, it was beautiful and very well organized and thought out. And if you were wondering...Elizabeth did NOT walk down the aisle. She did great at the rehearsal and was all prepped and ready but once she saw all those people starring at her and cameras flashing she decided that she didn't want to go. Richard carried her most of the way and then she walked the rest of the way to me. I tried everything to coax her down the aisle but none of my tricks worked. Oh well, I suppose that is what you get with a two year old. Thankfully Julie was well aware that might happen and was more than okay with it. In the midst of it all Elizabeth looked cute as ever and ended up having tons of fun dancing at the reception (I don't have any pictures of it though...bummer). She was in the center of the circle dancing and everyone was cheering her on, she probably could have danced all night, but we figured we would avoid a melt down and get the girls home and to bed. (Besides we had to leave early in the morning to head home.)

Elizabeth's Second Birthday

We once again split Elizabeth's birthday into two celebrations. We were at home and celebrated with Gigi and our neighbor's before we had to head off to Colorado. It was all about Mickey Mouse at Gigi's house, and Elizabeth just started to realize what it all meant. Then all she could talk about for a few weeks was "birthday cake", she thought her birthday should go on and on forever. Here are a few pictures from the first celebration.

Then we packed up and headed back to the beautiful mountains of Colorado! Oh how we miss it!! We drove through the night to get there hoping that the girls would sleep all night. Well...that was an adventure. Elizabeth is so used to sleeping in her own room that she was too distracted with the fact that Mommy and Daddy were right there. So she slept off and on through the night. Not too mention it was really hard for us to sleep when we weren't driving and hard to stay awake when we were. We opted for a daytime drive on the way back. Anyway, we got to Loveland to spend the weekend with Richard's mom (Mamaw) and the girls loved their time with her (and I think she enjoyed it too). We had another birthday celebration there with family, and let's just say that Elizabeth is in baby doll heaven. She got everything she needs so she can take care of her baby doll just the way Mommy takes care of Sarah. Here are a few pics from this celebration...

Sisters and Smiles

All smiles and a visit from Papa

Well, we are starting to settle into more of a routine with 2 kiddos. I don't think I realized how much of an adjustment it would be. Of course most of the time they both want/need something at the same time inevitably, so we are all learning patience. Elizabeth really is doing great. She loves her baby sister and is constantly kissing on her and asking to pick her up and then she tries to do it, and says she is "heavy". Of course you have to keep in mind that she evens says her books are heavy sometimes. I often say that 95% of the time Elizabeth loves her sister and wants to play with her. However there are sometimes that she tells me "sister, down" or "sister, bouncy seat" she wants me to put her down so that I can play with her. I find myself almost longing for the times that they can play together. I imagine that Elizabeth is just going to light up when Sarah starts responding to her.

Sarah is a joy and starting to "talk" more and more and her smiles are wonderful. We are still trying to capture a good one when she has her tongue all the way out and smiling at the same time. She is now starting to sleep through the night more. I don't count on it yet, but when it happens, I count my blessings! Of course, last week when she slept through the night 3 nights in a row, Elizabeth was up, ARGH!!! Here are some pictures for you to see the girls.

Visit from Grandma Parkes aka Mamaw

Shortly after Sarah was born Richard's Mom came to spend some time with her granddaughters and to help out. This was a great time for Elizabeth, she loved having her Mamaw here and playing with her. She is really starting to understand family and who everyone is in her life which is so much fun. Here are a few pics from that time.

Sarah Marie's Grand Entrance

SARAH MARIE PARKES
JULY 3, 2008
10:04 AM
8 LBS 1 OZ
20 INCHES

After much long awaited anticipation, she made her entrance in only 3 hours of labor. Much different from her big sister (18 hours)! Elizabeth is doing great with her and just trying to adjust to not having Mommy all to herself. She loves to give Sarah kisses and always goes to find her when she is crying.

Summertime Fun

We have been trying to really be out and enjoy things so far this summer. Once this baby comes we are not sure how much we are going to be able to do. We have made a trip to the zoo with some friends from church, Richard and Elizabeth have gone on a bike ride, we have had a couple of days at the pool and Elizabeth has decided that she is going to be like her Daddy and start reading some BIG books.

Richard was sitting on the couch reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Elizabeth decided she wanted to get up there and sit next to him. She said "book, read" to him so he read to her a little bit and stopped and then she asked for more. So he read a little more. He closed the book and she took it, opened it and started to read it for herself. It was quite entertaining.

Reading Daddy's book

Zoo with Baker and Mindy

Bike ride with Daddy

Vacation to Branson

Back about a month ago we took a little trip to Branson to see my Dad and just to get away a little bit. We had a really good time. We went to Silver Dollar City with my friend Stephanie and her 2 girls and just explored things a little. This was a much needed get away after having our house struck by lightning and before the baby comes. Elizabeth had a lot of fun with her Papa and wanted to always make sure he was in her sights. If he wasn't she got a little worried and just kept asking for him. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

WATER

This spring and summer we have discovered that one of Elizabeth's favorite things is to play in the water. Any water really. It doesn't matter if it is a puddle or a drip from a faucet, once she sees it you can't pull her away. So enjoy the pictures of her water times. It is almost a nightly ritual now.

LIGHTNING...ARGH!!!

Well for those of you who haven't heard, we were officially welcomed to Oklahoma and the weather that comes with it. On May 2nd at about 2:30am we were awakened to an awful sound. For those of you who haven't ever heard what lightning sounds like...I hope you never do. However, at the time we didn't think much else of it because everything appeared to be working just fine. Then Richard went to leave for work and found it...our house had been struck by lightning.



Thankfully, our house is still standing and when you think about what could have happened, we were very blessed! It hit above our garage and that is just attic, so we didn't have to move out of our house. It blew out our garage door opener, security system, upstairs heat/ac, one light switch, and it did something to our phone line/internet (still trying to get that one resolved). We also has it blow out tons of drywall in the garage and there were bricks everywhere. Other than that we were fine, and we have insurance!!!

Suprise shower

Last week I planned on having some friends from church over with their kids for breakfast. Much to my surprise it became much more than that. They had planned to have a surprise baby shower for me. Needless to say, I was very surprised. come to find out, Richard was in on it the whole time. They got some inside info from him and I was very blessed. We are stocked up on diapers for a while now so that is always a good thing.

Elizabeth had her 18 month check up and the doctor just confirmed what we already knew, that she is doing wonderful and her vocabulary is advanced for her age. She is doing great and just continues to be a blast to have around. We went to Denver a couple of weeks ago and she got to see both Grandma's and lots of other fun people. We also found out that come October she is going to be a flower girl for Julie Miller's wedding...we are so excited for that.

We're all Easter

Well, we have had an eventful last week. Our house back in Denver sold so that consumed a lot of time just getting everything finalized, but it also gave us a lot of reasons to celebrate. Easter was a lot of fun. It is a blast to see Elizabeth get excited about these things. We had an easter egg hunt at our church and that was right up her alley. We have recently discovered that she is a cleaner and an organizer, so she had a blast cleaning up the field of eggs. At one point we thought she was done, but I think she just needed a break and then she decided to completely clean up an area of about 8' x 8', when she was done there wasn't an egg left on the ground, and when her basket was full, she decided to put the eggs in her diaper bag.

Easter morning she got her basket with Elmo, Ernie, Oscar and Cookie Monster in it and has not been able to separate from them since. We went to church and then out neighbors had us over for Easter lunch. All in all it was a great time. Here are a few pictures...

Bubbles

Just in case you were wondering what things Elizabeth likes these days...this video should answer a few of those questions for you.

These boots were made for walkin'

This is a video I meant to post earlier and didn't get to it. It was the beginning of March and you have to keep in mind that she was definitely ready for a nap when she was doing this.

Getting Around

Here are the video clips that I promised. Elizabeth is just enjoying her new modes of transportation. I wish I would have caught the first moments with each of these because that is when she was showing the most excitement.

IT"S ANOTHER GIRL!!!

Well, I have been meaning to put up a new post for a while now to let everyone know that we found out we are having another girl. As much as we would love to have a boy, we are also very excited to have another little girl and for Elizabeth to have a sister. I suppose we will just have to try again for a boy...at some point!

Things here are going pretty good. We are really starting to feel more and more settled. We have found a church and are really getting plugged in there. I have been doing a Bible Study that meets on Tuesday mornings and also getting together with some other women and kiddos on Wednesday mornings. Richard has been going to a men's breakfast and Bible study on Wednesday mornings before work and we are starting to get involved with a small group. It is making quite a difference for us here. Not to say that we don't still miss our relationships that we left behind in Denver.

Elizabeth is more and more fun everyday. Here is a funny story...yesterday morning we were at one of the breakfasts that I have been doing on Wednesday's with other Moms and kids and I guess Elizabeth was hungry or something. She was asking one of the Moms for some of her "roll" (anything that is bread is a roll to Elizabeth) and she gave her some. The next time she had more roll in her hand and it was within reach, Elizabeth just went over and grabbed it out of her hand. You would think we never feed her or something. Here are some fun pictures of her. I also have some video that I need to down load and I will get that on here too.

All bundled up for a brisk winter walk

Whose boats are these?

Having a blast!

More from Christmas

Sorry it has taken so long to get this together, but here it is...These are a few fun moments from Christmas. Elizabeth had a blast with all the excitement. The one portion that might need a little explanation is the part when she decided it would be fun to run around with her eyes closed. Amazingly, she has only run into a couple of things...I am pretty sure she peeks.

She is almost 16 months old and is a lot of fun. She is learning new words almost daily, and unfortunately has hit a stubborn streak. Most of that is shown when she wants to take the lid off of everything and put it back on. If we don't let her she throws a little fit, and we just ignore it. The other thing that gets to her is when she can't pick up all of her treasures and carry them with her. She usually likes to be carrying atleast 3 things at a time. Overall, she is a joy and we still think she is a keeper.