The Long Walk Home

I don't know about anyone else but I have had a sneaking suspicion that I was going to lock my keys in the car one of these days. It's one of those things that I've just known was going to happen to me sooner or later. And I was right.

This morning I brought the kids to Indoor Park and we had a lovely time. Before we headed out the door to go to the van I started fishing around in my diaper bag for my keys and couldn't find them. I had a feeling I should go out and look in the van and that's when I saw them. Not only were my keys locked in the van, they were locked in the van INSIDE THE IGNITION. That's right. You heard me. At that point I looked down at Grace and said as brightly as I could, "We get to walk home today!"

Now luckily for me Grace thought walking home was a fine idea and it didn't take long before I started to enjoy myself despite the circumstances. It wasn't raining and the sun was shining which was a good omen. We saw lots of pretty flowers and stopped often so Grace could put rocks and flower petals in her pockets. We even got to look over the bridge to see the creek which I've never even noticed when driving.

I highly recommend that everyone have as wonderful neighbors as we have. They saved me from making the return trip by having their preteen daughter watch Ethan and Grace (who was napping) while they drove me to the car with spare key in hand. I think I may owe them some cookies :)


Oh, and what I was going to originally blog about today before events turned out otherwise...

Grace had her very first taste of soda pop last night! My Mothers Day treat was a Coke Float and we let Grace have one too. She ate all the ice cream and only drank a little of the liquid, but she had enough to decide it was quite delicious. I hope she enjoyed it because it will be a long while before I relent and let her have some again!

Two Moms I Love

This is my Mom, she's pretty awesome. She has been a great role model for me and I look up to her a lot. She's a great listener which I really appreciate, and she has great advice a lot of the time. I'm not sure what I'd do without you Mom!

This is my Mother in Law, and she's pretty awesome too. I feel so lucky that my husband's Mom is someone I enjoy spending time with and can really talk with. Of course it makes it hard to participate in the "My Mother in Law is crazy" conversations, but I won't complain about having nothing to complain about!

Mother's Day

To my amazing wife - Happy Mother's Day. Thanks for taking care of the house and kids everyday, all day. You are the best partner in the world. Its is as awesome as peanut butter and jelly, which is pretty tasty. Grace and Ethan are pretty lucky to have someone that takes them cool places, reads them cool books, and plays in their world all day. I tip my hat to you today, good madam.

It's coming!

I ordered my Mother's Day present today! David wanted to get me a digital SLR camera but wasn't sure which one I wanted so he let me do the ordering. I ordered the Canon Xti with two lenses and can't wait for it to get here so I can take a million pictures and post every single one of them here. That's no exaggeration!

Meet the Parry Family: Grace

And now for a closer view of our firstborn, Miss Grace!

• Grace was born on July 30, 2005 in Salem, Oregon
• She is 24.5 inches tall and 25.5lbs which puts her squarely in the small and petite side of things
• Her favorite colors are pink and purple
• She loves to play dress up and twirl in dresses
• 
• She "swims like a fish"
• She can put her shoes and socks on all by herself
  
• Her favorite movie is a toss up between Cinderella and Enchanted
  
• She thinks green foods are "icky"
• She is scared of heights which means she rarely goes down slides
• 
• Her current obsession are shoes and birthday parties
• So far she thinks her little brother is alright and brings him toys to play with
• She can sing the "ABC" song
• She named her dolls Pink Baby, Purple Baby, and Blue Baby
• 
• She still drinks whole milk
• She loves to go to Best Buy and Costco
• If she doesn't get a banana or a bagel first thing in the morning it isn't pretty
• 

Grace Got Princess Mail!

As I was looking through our mail yesterday I came across a lavender envelope completely covered by stickers and addressed to Grace. I showed it to Grace who immediately grinned ear to ear and we opened it. Inside we found an invitation to one of her friend's princess themed birthday party and included were princess stickers. At that point Grace was practically vibrating and squealed "It's a celebration!" and immediately wanted every single princess sticker stuck on her shirt. So it looks like we'll be going to a princess party next week and Grace's birthday obsession will be fueled once again.

Happy 7 Month Birthday Ethan!

That's right folks, Ethan is 7 months old today! Take a little gander at what the little guy is up to:

• Eating solid foods, so far he's tasted and approved of sweet potatoes, pears, peas, peaches, and oatmeal. Next up...rice cereal.
• Will fall asleep at night without nursing. I can't even begin to tell you how liberating this one little fact is.
• Wakes up only once at night, and even sleeps through the night on occasion!
• Loves to bounce on his bottom while sitting, sometimes he bounces himself too high and topples forwards.
• Has discovered that standing offers a much better view then even sitting. He can stand leaning next to furniture and can even pull himself to standing by holding onto my fingers.
• Is still super smiley and good natured most of the time which makes him a very fun baby!
• Constantly drools and still spits up a lot.
• Wears 9 month jammies and is between 3-6 and 6-12 month clothing sizes. Seems to outgrow sleeve length way before his pants get short.
• Babbles in his sweet baby boy voice "mamamama" which obviously means "I adore you Mommy!"
• Puts anything and everything into his mouth and tastes everything. He really has no standards when it comes to this which is disturbing.
• Can get up in a crawling position on all fours with some help but seems nowhere close to actually crawling. Perfectly fine by me.
• Takes baths in the big tub with Grace and doesn't cry through any part of the process. It's like we already paid our dues on this one!