Allie's bed gets princessified

We bought this canopy to go over Allie's bed when we bought her bed but felt she was too small for it then. Lately she has asked to have her dad put up her, "princess." We got it done over the weekend and she loves it. I even had a nap in it with her the other day. It is super cool. What little girl wouldn't love this.

Video series

Sunday Sept 26th was a busy day in our house. The girls were just alive with excitement-Brailie walking and walking with her train, Allie singing and wanting to play the piano and this little gem-Allie chatting away in her rocking chair. In case you can't understand she is saying, "she sells sea shells by the seashore." We asked her where she learned how to say that. She said, "owl on TV taught me." And they say your kids can't learn anything from TV.

Brailie walking with her train

Brailie walking with her train. This was the first time she had ever done this. She did 2 laps around the couch. She was nothing but smiles.

I am a Child of God by Allie

Here is another piano deut/solo by Allie and mommy.

Brailie's First Steps

Here is Brailie taking some of her first steps. It's short so don't blink.

Allie quote

This morning I was feeding the girls breakfast and Brailie was screeching as she normally does when she is not getting food fast enough and I have been telling her not to scream at the table and this morning I was getting particularly annoyed and told her she would be turned around for a time out if she kept screaming. Allie piped in, "stop that screaming Brailie-or you will have a time out." I said to her, "don't be bossy-you are not the mother here," and she said, "no, I'm the dad."

Life with a 2 year old

Wed night Allie woke up 3 times in the night-the third time ending up in our bed at 5:37am to be exact. We were not impressed and have avoided having her sleep with us at all costs but recently with storms she has been scared and has ended up in our bed a few too many times. Anyway she ended up in between us and I said as soon as she laid down, "shh-no talking go to sleep." She leans over to Greg and whispers, "I love you."
When we "woke up" in the morning for good Greg asked how I slept through the night and I said, "about the same as you, " and he said, "no-you didn't have a foot down your underwear for the last hour." The joys of parenthood.

New Bike

When I went to Provo I also stopped in at DI and was praying that I would be able to find a bike for Allie. I saw this one and it was not exactly what I wanted but it was $5.00 so I thought that was a great deal and got it. I had no idea what a great bike it really was. It has a push handle so that we don't have to bend way down to push her, it has a little bar that pops down so she can rest her feet if we are pushing her and the seat adjusts forward for her short legs so she can actually reach the pedals and learn to pedal by herself. She LOVES it. She always wants to go "super fast." It is so perfect for her.

Doing Berscriptions

I don't have a clue what Berscriptions are but Allie does them alot. She'll get some random thing (a box, a pen, her little cash register, a book) and tell me she is doing "berscriptions." Today (sept 20) it happened to be in this box.

Melon Days

We made it-we made it to Melon Days and through Melon Days. Melon Days equals Stress Days if you are member of the Parsons Family-though this year it seemed like the stress was taken down a whole notch so we just might be getting the hang of things. I of course had no real sleep for the week prior to the big event nor during the big event but I have slept like a rock ever since. Allie was super excited because it meant the cousins would be coming and the only way I could get her to not bug me to death all day Friday as I was trying to get things ready for my booth and wait until we could go to the baseball game was to tell her the cousins were still sleeping. She was perfectly fine with that answer and waited very patiently until Friday night to play with her cousins. She had a blast.

This is Friday's Melon outfit (courtesy of Canada-we have found something cute there for 3 years now).
Showing what is on her shirt.

Before her hair got totally messed up at the baseball game.

An attempt at a picture of the girls together

Not so much luck. Friday was crazy. I took the girls for a walk to the bank to get change for my Melon Days booth and lost it on my way home from the bank. $65.00 gone some place in the 2 blocks between the bank and our house. I ran back and forth between the two 4 times but could not find the money. Allie helped me look and Greg but we had no luck. I was absolutely sick. Allie prayed at lunch we would find the money and prayed even on Sunday still that we could find the money but we have been unsuccessful. Hopefully it went to someone that really needed it. That afternoon we went to the baseball game at the High School. Greg's team won both of their games and Brailie helped mow the lawns via her fists and mouth (she makes a good little lawn mower). After that we went to the park for a bit and got to watch the square dancers. That was my favorite part and Allie really loved them too. Brailie liked sucking on the rusty fence. Following that we went to Grandma and Grandpa's and ate with the family where a miracle took place...Brailie let Grandpa hold her and she didn't cry. She played and smiled and had fun and didn't even look for me once. I was ready to pack my bags for Hawaii right then. She played on the floor with cousins too. Could this be the beginning of the end of stranger anxiety????????

Sat morning after an extremely rough night of sleep with miss Brailie we were ready to go once again. Here is Allie decked out in her outfit.

I had a melon dress for Brai too but it was too froofy for this day so I saved it until Sunday.

Here we are at the parade. All the cousins that were there.

Getting ready for the parade to start. She wasn't sure what to expect. This is only her 3rd parade she can remember. What an odd thing a parade must be to a child. "Why are there all these loud cars and people throwing things at me and everyone is cheering and clapping?"

Brailie was exhausted but hung in as long as she could.

We needed the freezies even at 10AM.

Daddy was a good helper to get candy.

The craziness

My booth of baby stuff. I forgot to take a picture right away cause it actually was pretty busy for a quite a while but got this picture in the afternoon.

I love this picture. My happy baby after a nap and some food.

Poor cousin Rylee was a sick little girl all day but she still tried her best to play.

Bless the golf cart for entertaining the children most of the time. I need to get me one of these in the backyard. Doesn't even need to work. Who needs a playground. Just an old golf cart to climb on will do.

I have no idea where this crown came from but I am thinking some pageants are in her future.

What a fun time. We had a great weekend and a good visit with family. I really enjoyed myself. Like I say the stress level was down a notch and I think that really made a difference. What every we did this year Parsons lets repeat it next year.

Friends

It is rare to have a post just about me because it is rare that I get to do something that is just for me but on Thursday the 16th Greg took the day off work so he could watch the girls and I could go to Provo to do some last minute shopping for stuff for my Melon Days booth and get together with some of my best friends from my college days. We haven't all been together for I don't know how long. It was too short but soooooo fun. We had lunch and visited. It was so nice to have a little break and have some girl talk. Being in Provo and driving around BYU campus to pick up Rachel took me back to my college days and almost made me want to cry. It was a really great day.

Here we have Brian (Jills son), Jill, Rachel and I
Jill, Me, and Tali

Rachel, me and Tali.

Thanks ladies for a wonderful afternoon. I love you all.

Playing in the Sand

I think this happened on Wed Sept 15th. I decided to take the girls out to the sandbox while I pulled a few weeds in the flower beds in the backyard. Up until this point I had not let Brailie be in the sandbox on her own- knowing full well that the human vacuum that she is would not do well in a free for all of dirt and sand but I wanted to do some minimal weeding so I thought, "what the heck-lets just see what happens." She was timid at first-but people that only lasted for a few seconds. Before I knew it she was inhaling fist fulls of sand as fast as she could-as if it were a really good dessert. I thought about trying to stop her but she was not going to be stopped so I just let it go. She soon moved on to just playing in the sand and had a wonderful time as you can see from the pictures. I was thrilled at the 15 minutes of weed pulling peace I had and the blast the girls had. I almost wished there had been more weeds just so they could have played longer.

This is my favorite picture. It says it all.

Even Allie just played and played (ahhhh what a great moment).

Look at her little feet covered in sand.

Playing-actually playing together.

Pictures before church

I took a minute to snap some picture before church this morning-because they would actually let me.
Look-two cheesy grins for the camera at the same time, sitting side by side, not blurry-MIRACULOUS

And then there is some of this. Brailie looks like she is ready to thump Allie.

This is the usual reaction when we ask her to pose these days. Oh well she is still sweet.

I love this one. What a natural little cutey. Please never grow up into a grouchy teenager.

Helping with dinner

Encourage them to help, don't tell them no. Allie wanted to help roll the dough for the homemade tortillas. I didn't know she had to be undercover to do so. Always an actress.