This blog is getting harder and harder to update because we keep adding cameras and taking more pictures. So now we have our regular camera, our nice Nikon, and we are each taking pictures with our phones since we now have pretty decent cameras on them. That’s a lot of uploading and folders and resizing for me. I start school again tomorrow, though, so we may not be taking as many pictures in the next few weeks if I am really busy. I’ll try to keep this up to date as much as possible!
My 3 weeks of summer have been nice. We spent the middle week in Arizona with my parents. Matt was able to make it out, too, which was fun because he hasn’t seen Parker since Christmas. Parker loved saying “Matt” all week and continued to ask “where Matt go?” once we were home. She, of course, was a great traveller as usual. That was fortunate because we had a lot of trouble with delayed flights and extra waiting time this trip. She got plenty of compliments at the ends of flights on being such a great kid.
We had a great time in Arizona and it was hard to come back. It was nice to be able to get up every morning to the beautiful views and then relax outside with some coffee as long as we wanted. It’s always nice seeing family again. The stars were amazing at night and it is a fun place to watch meteor showers. I don’t think there is too much I need to explain regarding the pictures. My dad has built and designed an amazing basement and we all had fun down there at the bar and in the theater. Parker really loved the waterfall at their house and always pulled us all over saying “where wawa go?” There is a really cute video of her watching a video of herself on Jared’s phone. She must have thought she was pretty hilarious. The video she is watching is the one called “pizza face” and is just of her standing around eating pizza.
This past Friday Parker’s school had a teacher’s work day and was closed so I was home with her all day and Brody was here in the morning. They were so cute together and got along really well. They kept copying eachother and following eachother around. They never fought or anything and were great at sharing. Later that day I met Tami and Lauren at the fountains and let the kids play. Parker warmed up to the water after a while and had fun.
I have 4 different photo galleries now for each camera/phone, but the videos are all in a row. They go out of order whenever you get to a different camera.
Last weekend we made a quick trip to Michigan. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling well most of the weekend so we weren’t able to do much. It was great to see everyone again, though, and we’re so glad we made it up there! I thought I would put these pictures up here while I have time since we will be in Arizona all next week. Parker had so much fun playing “‘side” (outside) all weekend. She was asking to go outside the instant she woke up in the morning. Luckily there was always someone willing to run around with her out there. On Sunday the Jessops had family and friends over and Parker was the center of attention. Hunter was the center of attention for Parker, though, and Parker couldn’t keep her eyes off of her. It was very cute. We left the dogs up there and I can only imagine how much fun they are having running around everyday in that huge yard!
Here are the videos and pictures from the weekend. It’s mostly Parker, but then there are some artistic ones Jared took
Parker is growing up so fast! She is saying so many colors and can at least correctly point to the ones she doesn’t say yet. She says more and more words every day. Her favorite color is blue and if we let her choose her own clothes she will always pick out something blue. She has finally started to put 2 words together and say a “sentence.” She has sort of done it in the past week, but was very slow and hesitant. Then today I took her to see the neighbor and when we walked out she confidently said “bye bye, daddy!” It was so cute. She also went potty on her little potty today!! Yesterday we converted her crib to a big girl bed. She did pretty well with it. First she thought it was pretty funny that she could get into bed all by herself. She slept until 5:30 this morning without waking up so that was better than I was expecting. During the day she is always working on some sort of project and it’s so funny to watch her work. She is so focused and it’s always hard to figure out exactly what she is trying to accomplish.
These pictures are from the last few days of my parent’s visit, Parker playing around a lot showing some of her new favorite games (like hiding in Jared’s shirt and hanging out in a diaper box), a little get-together we had, Grandma Jessop and Uncle Justin’s visit, and some other randoms. She is really starting to enjoy looking at pictures and videos on cameras and playing games on phones and iPods. I can already tell she is going to know a lot more about technology than us very soon! There are some cute ones of her watching Grandpa Schwartz fixing a chair and then finally going over to help. There are also some really cute ones of her and Uncle Justin looking at eachother on the couch. She has started to really like wearing my shirts that she normally just sleeps with like a stuffed animal. She looks so funny when she has them on.
The first 2 albums are our cameras and then the 3rd is from my parents. The videos are in the same order (although I’m sure it’s too hard to tell which is which)
Last weekend was a busy one and we got a LOT of pictures and videos. On Friday we went up to Birkdale to listen to the live music with Jackson, Lauren, and Matthew. While up there Parker got her first haircut! We finally got rid of the mullet.
On Saturday night we went up to Mooresville for a 4th of July celebration. We didn’t stay for the fireworks, but Parker had fun while there. She was too afraid to ride the ponies, but she almost did. Jackson really liked it.
Sunday we went to Birkdale for a 4th of July parade. Parker had a lot of fun. She got balloons and flags and necklaces. She got to play with Jackson and we ran into the Rigglemans. Later that night we went to Tami and Dart’s. The kids got to play in the pool (even though we didn’t bring a suit for P) then played out on the deck the rest of the night. There were a lot of fireworks in the neighborhood and they really scared Parker. She came around later and was able to play with some sparklers.
One of our neighbors gave us some more toys for her. We got a wagon that she loves and an easel that she really likes to use. She is such a little artist.
Jared and I got to go to Asheville this weekend to get away from home for a while. Grammy and grandpa are here to take care of Parker. She adores them. We had a fun time at a little bed and breakfast. It was really nice to get away and not have to worry about chasing a toddler. It’s definitely nice to be back home with Parker, though.
Here are pictures and videos from the past 3 weeks. She was dancing really cute to Lady Gaga in the car last night and I started to get a video, but then ran out of memory on the camera. That’s why that video is so short. There are some randoms of Parker playing with “baby” and “Bongo”, some with friends, some from Vanessa’s first bday party, and lots from the 4th of July weekend.
I don’t have much time to update this right now, but I’ve had all these pictures and videos ready since last weekend so I want to just get them out there. Parker is learning her colors now and talking a LOT. She keeps getting pinkeye and had her second ear infection so that has been rough. Other than that we are all great!
Here are some pics from the first 3 weeks of June. The ones of her belly were from a project I had to do for class. We needed a picture of a kid’s belly and after searching the internet forever, I had the genius idea to take one of Parker!
We haven’t been doing much during the week now that I’m back in school but our weekends have stayed pretty busy. This past weekend we had a few parties. On Saturday we went to Brody’s 1st birthday party and Parker had a great time. It was good for her to see all her old friends again. Brody has a kid’s pool that they filled with balls and once Parker discovered it she stayed in there pretty much the rest of the time we were there. That night I took Parker to my friend’s house for her birthday and Parker was charming everyone. She laughed for everyone and let them all hold her. She really enjoyed herself. On Sunday we had some friends over to grill out since it was such a nice day. Tami’s sister and her little family were in town so they came by, too. Parker seemed to be so excited that her friends were over at her house. She shared her pool and chalk with them and even shared her bubbles! I got a really cute video of Parker and Jackson sitting on our adirondack chairs together. Whenever Parker isn’t sitting all the way down on them we keep telling her to sit and do the sign for it. Well that day Jackson wasn’t sitting down far enough for Parker so she starts yelling at him and signing “sit” over and over. It’s really cute:)
Also, on a random note, anyone who has visited us has probably tried Bullzeye pizza. We always loved it because it tasted so much like Jets pizza in Michigan. Well Bullzeye closed down and now has reopened as the first Jets pizza place in North Carolina!!! We were very excited! So now you can come visit us AND eat Jets!!!
As usual we have a bunch of pictures and videos from each camera so they are separated:
I had a nice couple weeks off school. The Jessops came for a weekend. Parker and Grandma planted some daisies. Parker got a new pool and a bike and a table. She loves them all! She is so cute at her table. She likes for other people to sit with her and have tea parties with them.
On Mothers Day we let Parker have another egg hunt to get candy and then ate downtown and took her to Discovery Place. She loooooved Discovery Place. There was so much for her to play with. She was like a little scientist. She didn’t like the 3D movie there, though. It was her first movie theater experience:) She lasted about 5 minutes.
This past Friday Parker had a “spring fling” at her school. There were games, an obstacle course, a moonwalk, a clown, and food. She had fun and even got her first tattoo!
Saturday we went to our friends, Tami and Dart’s, house. Parker had a lot of fun with her friends. Then she was so tired she put their upside down dog bowls in the corner and laid her head down on them to go to sleep. I got a couple pictures before we put her into a real bed.
We’ve been working on our back patio. We sold our old bar set and bought a new table and chairs. Then we got a chiminea and planted a little herb/vegetable garden. Jared stained the back stairs and they look really nice. It’s fun seeing everything start to come together!
I completely forgot to add the Jessops’ pictures and videos on here so I will have to upload everything later when I have time.
First, pictures from the regular camera and then some from the new one:
The first 6 or so videos are from one camera and the rest are from the other so the videos may not all be in chronological order. Remember to click on “Read the rest of this entry” after the first video to see them all:
It’s been getting so hot lately here. But that means the fun of summer is starting. Parker has been enjoying playing outside a LOT. She colors with her chalk, plays with bubbles, goes to the park, etc.
These past couple weeks have been kind of packed. I finished up my semester which meant I had a lot of tests. We got a new camera and have been having fun taking pictures with it and learning all about it. We planted a bunch of trees and are in the process of starting a vegetable garden.
Our friends’ son, Cooper, turned 3 and we went to his birthday party the other day. It was at a place called Bounce U and was filled with blown up slides and obstacle courses. Parker was terrified until about 5 minutes before we had to leave when she suddenly loved it.
Parker and I both had last Friday off so we got to spend the day together like old times. She has changed a LOT since I used to spend every day alone with her and is now a handful. She gets into EVERYTHING. And now she’s constantly testing us which means if she finds out we don’t want her to do something….that’s exactly what she is going to do over and over. She does it with the sweetest smile, though, so it’s hard to say no to her:)
She says and signs a lot more words now (learning more everyday). She makes all sorts of animal noises. She still hasn’t learned the word “no” (knock on wood), but I’m sure that one is coming soon. She is really into putting shoes on. It started with her obsession with going outside and she would bring us our shoes and her shoes and try to put them all on. Now she really tries hard to put her own shoes and socks on and uses the little tricks we’ve taught her. She’s getting better! Not quite there yet, but it’s awesome to see her try so hard and never give up.
So here are the pictures and videos from the past 2 weeks. The ones from the new camera wouldn’t work at all last night so I got rid of a bunch and uploaded the rest in 2 parts. It seems to be working now…. So first are the old camera pictures, then 2 sets from the new camera, then videos from the old camera, then a few from the new.
It’s been a great couple of weeks with Parker. As usual, she is doing more and more every day. She is constantly trying to repeat everything we say and is doing a really good job! She is getting better at spoon-feeding herself and has now been using a regular cup (in addition to her sippy cup). She still loves to read all the time. We had our first parent-teacher conference and her teacher had only great things to say. She said Parker is a very easy kid to have in the class and is very easy-going. She is “motherly” and brings toys to her friends when they cry or gives them hugs. Sounds like she’s doing great:) Unfortunately we found out at her 15 month check up that she has her first ear infection. I’m happy we made it this long without one, but the first one is still hard.
Grammy and grandpa Schwartz came to visit when Jared went up to Michigan. We had a great time with them! Parker loved having them around and warmed right up to them, even though she hadn’t seen them since Christmas. There are some pictures of Parker having fun with them and opening her Easter gift from them. She wore her Tigers shirt on opening day even though she couldn’t be up there in Detroit with Jared.
There are also pictures from a Spring Brunch we went to at a friend’s house. It was nice to see everyone from the old playgroup again and for Parker to see her old friends.
Yesterday was beautiful and we went up to Birkdale to walk around. We ended up seeing Parker’s best friend from school, Julianna, so I tried to get some pictures of the 2 of them playing together. Parker was kind of off in her own world and Julianna followed her around a little bit. Not much playing. They were very cute, though.
Here are the videos and pictures from the last 2 weeks:
Our pictures:
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