Cheeseball Numero Dos

Mimi, this post is for you. Hope it brings a smile to your face today :) Remember this ?

The little one has a great cheeseball face also. Maybe even better than Brody's because his cheeks are so much bigger. It makes me laugh and he pulls it out all the time just like Brody did!

We love you!

Such a Busy Week!

First of all, thank you to all of you who enjoyed my videos in the last two posts. I enjoyed some of your comments as much as the videos :) I have hilarious friends. :)

This past week was busy busy! I'll warn you there are a lot of pictures to this post. It started off Monday with the rest of our Valentine's Day festivities. We went to our playgroup Valentine's party and the boys had an absolute blast. I truly can't wait for the day my boys have a yard to play in, because they were in heaven! Parker was figuring out how to play soccer:

He was loving it! He'd laugh every time he kicked the ball. Brody, Parker, and their little buddy Blake did some spying on the dog next door.

Side note: My boys are both really into dogs and I've discovered PetSmart's Doggie Daycare. Megan, you should look and see if there's one in Atlanta and add that to your winter activity ideas if you don't have it already :) Our PetSmart has a daycare that people drop off their dogs to play for the day. Why is that exciting for me since we don't have a dog, you ask? Well, the daycare has full length windows from floor to ceiling that allows spectators to watch the comings and goings of the dogs. They have slides to go on and everything. There's a separate room for small dogs and big dogs and my boys loved getting eye to eye with them. We stayed there for over a half and hour and the store people were so nice. It was very fun, free entertainment :) I look forward to the day I can bring one home for my dog-loving boys and husband!

This area we moved into is pretty funny because the boys far outnumber the girls. Especially in our playgroup. They're cute to watch together. They enjoyed throwing bean bags:

Climbing trees:

The best part was the RACING! (notice Brody has a car in each hand that raced with him) Ready, Set...

Go!

I finally got a halfway decent picture of Brody and Blake. We see Blake usually several times a week and they are really good little friends. Blake even told his Mom this week he wanted his name to be Brody. haha! He's adorable and we sure are grateful Brody has such a sweet little friend. They are 3 months apart and a lot alike so they play really well together :) His Mom is such a cute girl, also, so we have lots of fun!

Tuesday: The high was almost 60 degrees! We took advantage and went with Mr. Blake to the zoo. They rode the jeep:

Just a quick video of Blake and Brody in the penguin house. They do this every time we go and Lisa and I just laugh at them. They both scream when the get excited about something and since the penguins swim back and forth they think it's hilarious to chase them. Since it echoes, it's even better! They end up screaming the whole time and they love it. Thankfully this time of year the zoo is empty so we're usually the only ones in there. However, last week when we went there was a 5 year old boy who joined them in the running and screaming. They're funny boys! (just a warning, I'd turn down your volume a bit....they're not quiet boys)

This particular one had a fascination with Lisa's fingers. It was pretty funny to watch! Parker and Isaac (Blake's little brother) loved watching Brody and Blake even more than the penguins. Pretty soon we'll have 4 of them running and screaming!

They threw leaves:

Fed goats:

Lastly, they hid in a turtle shells. They really are such cute friends!

Wednesday--We hung out at home most the day because that's the day Jared is gone from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and I am without a car. Poor Jared had a long week to!

Quick Brody story. He likes to drink his drinks with a straw. He started that a while back because he kept getting mad when his drink spilled. Anyway, he always picks out a particular color to go with whatever he's drinking. This day he had one and ran off saying, "Wait Mom!" He got 3 more yellow straws (they have to be the same of course....Mr. Particular) and said, "Look, it needed it's family!" So his family of four enjoyed some milk :)

Parker hasn't been as into movies as Brody was. The only thing Brody ever really watched at Parker's age was baby Einstein but Parker still has really not been real interested. He likes to get down and move more. Well, I put on a Baby Einstein and Parker finally decided it was worth about 10 minutes of his time this time! In the zone...

If anyone ever wonders why I can't get all my chores done until my kids are in bed, I'll give you an example. This was what doing dishes was like on Wed. I had a helper playing cars on the dishwasher door:

...and I had another little helper pretending it was a tunnel and hiding underneath. Note that he's playing cars under there as well.

Thursday--We woke up to this outside the window:

Isn't that a beautiful sight to wake up to?! This winter has been a strange one here. It snowed A TON over November and December but hasn't snowed since. Remember where we were November and December? Yep, not here. California. Which means we missed all of it. I normally would be okay with that but Brody's been so excited to play in the snow. I keep telling him it's bound to snow here pretty soon and I was starting to get worried it was going to pass us by this winter and we were going to have to drive somewhere to find the snow. Thankfully it did come to us. It was a fluffy snow so we couldn't build anything with it but Brody loved playing in it anyway. In fact the rest of the day he stood at the window yelling at the snow to "Stop Melting Snow!" By night time it was all gone. Sad day for Brody.

Parker on the other hand, wasn't sure about this white, fluffy, cold stuff. I put him on the sled and as soon as I pulled him outside he face planted off the side into the cold stuff. Not a great start.

Brody showed him how to throw it...

..and then he decided it wasn't too bad.

The best part? You can eat it!

So, yesterday (Friday) I was feeling pretty tired and wondering why I was so exhausted. After blogging about this week I see why! It was very fun, but also very busy. Next week is shaping up to be a busy one to, so I suppose we all better take our day of rest to do some serious relaxing! On that note, I finally took a little video of Parker saying is favorite word:

"Jesus" continues to be his favorite constant word. He's getting better at animal noises, though, as he's added a roar, ruff, and snorting and snuffing like the rhino in "Moo, Baa, La La La." He also pretends to sleep and has added a cheeseball smile to his expressions. He also had his 15 months appointment last week where he weighed 25 pounds (60th percentile) and was 32.5 inches tall (90th percentile) which is actually taller than Brody at this age if you can believe it. I'm going to be outgrown way too soon. Anyway, sorry that was such a ridiculously long post. Apparently I need to start blogging daily so I don't get so behind. Have a great Sunday!

Okay, sorry one more video I finally figured out how to load. Just thought the Grandma's and Grandpa's would like this one. :) It's one of my new favorites.

Because You Asked For It...

(see previous post...it's the better video!) If you'd like to waste 5 minutes of your life at the expense of yours truly, then here you go: (excuse the first 30 seconds of technical difficulties)



Not sure why leotards were our outfits of choice and even more confusing is why M.C. Hammer was ever popular. That may be the most annoying song ever. Oh my poor parents! They literally sat through hours and hours of this business. I love them, though, because they still say they never minded. Thank you for the comments, also :) Hope you're all having a great day!

Next Stop: So You Think You Can Dance...

...Maybe 15 years ago.

Wow, am I really old enough to say something like that?! To lighten the mood this week my sister Ashley has been going through our old family videos. Oh the treasures! Since this has been a long week not only for us (I happen to know a cute friend of mine with two young men with double ear infections...hope they're doing better!) I decided to post this for a good laugh. I had permission from Ashley to post it. Laughter really is the best medicine, right?! I will warn you that this video was taken around 1993-1994 when my sister and I were about 9 and 10 or 10 and 11ish. I think it was when she had cancer the second time around so she's bald (but sporting a very cute hat) and has the little puffy body brought to her by prednisone--a steroid used to treat leukemia and lymphoma (she had both) among other types of cancer. Reminds me to be grateful for my currently healthy, beautiful sister! Here goes. So, what do you get when you have a family full of girls, two sisters 19 months apart, and 9 years of cancer that kept us indoors a lot?

A whole lotta this:

It's no wonder our older sister is a professional choreographer. We all had lots of practice! My parents are very patient people. Anyone up for a re-make? Ash is trying to talk me into it. Not sure the whole backbend thing would be a great idea. I'll let you know :) P.S. Part of me can't believe I'm actually going to post this. At least I spared you from the 5 minute long M.C. Hammer video. Anyone else have sisters that did this or were we just odd? :) Just laugh for me, okay?!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I have a feeling our day is going to be full of too much sugar. We've been busy making these...

..and these...

..and some other treats that have already been consumed by Jared :) In case the anticipation is killing you...

...Keep a watch on the sweets...

...and then steal one and run away as fast as you can.

It worked for my kids. Hope it works for you to. Have a great day!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Today was a rough day for my family. We got some news that we've been fearing and so it was a pretty long day. My Mom in particular and since I can't be there to give her a hug, I thought I'd post a rather long post to cheer her up. So, Mom, this post is for you :) I apologize to the rest of you that read my blog as there are going to be quite a few pictures is this one :)

First off a video I took of my boys yesterday. I like to call this Parker's "Dinner Theater"--or breakfast in this case. Parker eats, Brody entertains while he's supposed to be eating. Such is life in the Musick house.

We ventured out into the warm 40 degree weather the other day to go to the park. This was the first time Parker has been since he's been walking and oh wow. He would take off just walking through the fields with no real end destination in mind, just wanted to roam. He laughed and laughed at all the slides and LOVED the park. He tried to keep up with Brody as best as he could and thought he should be able to do all the things Brody did. I have to watch him very carefully however as he kept trying to go head first down the slides. He's not big into the put-your-legs-out-in-front-of-you before sliding down thing. He likes the dive-down-the-slide-as-soon-as-I-get-to-the-top thing. Makes his Mom nervous! Oh so fun to watch, though.

Sorry, there are a lot of them, but I just LOVE these faces!

This was the only one I could get Brody to hold still long enough for. I know, what did I expect, right?!

He was mesmerized by a group of boys playing football:

Okay, now on to a few our their activities the last couple of days. Look who's discovered Brody's favorite thing and figured out a way to make it his:

"If I lay on it he can't take it away!"

Paker also likes to climb in my ottoman and spend quality time reading in there.

One of their favorite new games. While Brody goes to the bathroom he likes to hold out the toilet paper holder. He puts it under the door and Parker chases it back and forth and laughs hysterically.

Yesterday as I was making some cookies I heard Parker wake up. I told Brody to run upstairs and hand Parker a book while I was taking them out of the oven. I came up like 2 minutes later to find this:

They crack me up! Lastly, I realized I never posted that I had actually finished my marathon project and got it off in the mail. I didn't quite make it by Mickey's birthday because of the massive snow storms that were happening between here and there. I've never been so nervous of UPS losing my package in my life. As I tracked it there were 5 days gaps where all it said was, "Adverse Weather Conditions". Thankfully it did get to Virginia and I breathed a huge sigh of relief :) This is my final project: It's not made for a King Size bed, but you get the idea.

I just needed to share this picture because my sweet husband is such a good sport. My arms aren't as long as his, so I had him hang it over the balcony for me so I could get a picture. He sure loves me :)

One last picture and then you'll never see this quilt on my blog again. I just liked how the sun caught the shimmer of the fabric. Not sure if you can really see it or not, but it's there. I learned a lot, it's not perfect, but it's an accomplishment that I'm really glad I finished. I'm grateful it has a new home :) Christmas in February's not bad, right?!

Well, that's it. Mom, I hope this cheered you up some. I love you guys, miss you, and wish Ash-a-Bash a Happy early Birthday for me. Muah!!

January Happenings

This post is going to be more stories than pictures, but there's a few things I want to write down so I remember them. I took this picture a few weeks ago but never posted it for some reason. Mr. Parker is always busy while I make dinner. Usually it's in his tupperware drawer or the refrigerator magnets but one day he branched out to the pantry. This is now another favorite Parker activity. I gave up trying to organize my pantry as I end up restocking on a daily basis.

A new family tradition has been born this semester. Brody and Parker really love having Dad around so we've made Friday night movie/popcorn night. We used to do this sometimes but I think now it's become more of a requirement. It's something Brody looks forward to after having missed his Dad most of the week. One of the most funny things about this is that Parker is a popcorn monster. He steals it right out of Jared's mouth sometimes and shovels it down. It's hilarious to watch and we get a kick out it. We usually have to take the bowl away so he doesn't shove so much in that he chokes. He's a silly and apparently always hungry baby :)

Very intent on the movie, though :)

One day last week Brody kept coming out of his room when he was supposed to be going to sleep for whatever reason. He finally tucked himself back in and when we went upstairs we thought it was very cute. Jared's Grandma made Brody this Car quilt for Christmas. He's decided he has to sleep with it every night and is particular about what side goes on top that he needs to look at while trying to go to sleep. I still love how sweet he looks when he sleeps.

Now, Parker. I'm always afraid to take sleeping pictures of him because I really do fear waking him up. Tonight I needed to wake him up anyway so I snuck a picture. I love watching my kids sleep because it reminds me of what they were like as newborns. Their faces change but for some reason when they're asleep the look like they did when they were first born and it makes me happy. Okay, sappiness over, but seriously how cute is this?

Yesterday it had been quiet up in the boy's room for a little while. I was making dinner and I knew Parker had gone upstairs but I wasn't sure what Brody was doing. I snuck in there to find that Brody had brought his markers and dot-to-dot book up in Parker's room to be with him while he read. He likes to read Parker books also and really has been looking out for him a lot lately. I'm glad they're becoming friends! Most of the time...

Brody has also decided that he likes to take pictures. I often pick up my camera and find pictures of his toys, outside, etc. that he's taken. He does pretty good centering subjects, though! Aunt B will be proud :) This picture is courtesy of the Brody:

We've learned to give hugs to our brother this week. I tried to get a better picture, but this is the best I got!

Now just a few funny stories from the week. Sorry to those of you that are my friends on Facebook because you might hear some of these stories twice. For one, Brody has been coming up with the funniest sayings lately:

1. His new favorite is, "Holy cow guacamole!" Yesterday it was followed by,

2. "I need to eat breakfast so my belly stops melting!"

3. He calls sidewalks "walking streets"

4. Licorice is "ticklish"

5. He's going to be "big and big and big like Daddy, but Mommy is going to stay small" when he grows up

6. He wanted to know where my "tail" went after he watched the chiropractor explain how my vertebrae were out of line using the fake spine.

7. We went to an eye Dr. appt. with Jared. When the Dr. was performing his eye test Brody started telling him what the letters on the wall were. He then got very upset when we told him he couldn't help Daddy. When we were leaving he said, "Is it my turn for the letters yet?" When we got home I made him his own eye chart and we "tested" Brody's eyes with a wooden spoon covering one at a time and solved the problem.

8. When talking to him about his new baby girl cousin that's coming he says, "I'll be her friend, but I DON'T like girl kisses." Remember that when you're 16, okay buddy?

9. When we came home tonight he knew Jared was already home. As he's walking up the stairs he says, "Dad, are you SO excited that I'm home?!" He then proceeds to pepper Jared with, "How was school today Dad? Did you go to work today Dad? Was it cold on your bike Dad? Blake was really sad when he had to go home today Dad." I'm not sure if he took a breathe and I'm not sure if Jared was ever able to respond. He just likes to talk to him about anything and everything. He's hilarious

10. My new favorite is that he asks, "Can you please step out for a minute" when he's doing some business in the bathroom. Sorry for the TMI, but it takes me back every time I hear it.

11. He's also been heard telling Parker this week, "Parker, you're going to lose your privilege if you don't make a good choice." Why do the things I say sound so funny coming out of his mouth?!

12. In the morning when he wakes up he takes one of our cell phones and uses it as a flashlight to navigate through the dark into Parker's room where his clothes are. (His bed is currently in our room since we've abandoned the boys sharing a room and waking each other up all night routine temporarily....that could use it's own post but I'll spare you) He stays very quiet and gets big boy underwear and changes his own pull-up and pants, which have been dry the last several nights! Hooray Brody! He's getting to be such a big boy :)

13. He was wearing his sweatshirt the other day and decided to put one arm up through the neck whole so he had an arm and shoulder exposed (if that makes sense). He comes running in and says, "Look Mom! I'm Jesus!" Apparently the only pictures of Christ he's seen He's wearing robes over one shoulder? Not really sure where that one came from but it gave us a good laugh.

Not the best picture of Brody, but this post is lacking in Brody pictures so here's one from last week:

Now on to my final story of the day. Mr. Parker. Oh, Mr. Parker. I think he's officially decided it's his life mission to mess with his brother. Having a particular sibling is going to be a little too much fun for this guy. Yesterday I watched Parker walk all around the house while Brody was playing cars on the couch. Brody was in a mood and not really letting Parker play with his cars. Parker waited until Brody wasn't watching and stole one of the cars he was playing with. He then made a bee line for the bathroom. I'm not kidding, it's like he'd already devised this plan in his head. He goes to the toilet with Brody close behind him as he quickly realized his car was gone. Parker goes right to the toilet and starts driving it around on the inside of the bowl like it was a track. Brody was obviously very upset by this whole scenario. He was upset and Parker just started laughing. It was hilarious! We then went into the kitchen to clean off his car. Brody opened the fridge to get his milk and Parker grabbed the applesauce and turned around and threw it in the trash. It was like he was on a 15 minute mission to be as mischievous as possible. I truly get a kick out of what he comes up with. How could I be mad at this face?!

My kids make me laugh and I have some cute pictures coming. I have to wait to post them, though, because they are for Valentine's Day! Have a great weekend!