Closet Pianist

I am a closet pianist. I grew up playing the piano and it's something that I thoroughly enjoy. In the last 10 years or so, the lack of a piano and apprehension of playing in front of other people has made it so most of my friends have no idea I play the piano. Another little known fact is Jared also plays the piano! When I do get the chance to play, some of my favorite songs to play are piano pieces by Jon Schmidt. I know a lot of people in the LDS world play his songs so it's not all that original. It doesn't really matter to me, though, because there's just something about his songs that are relaxing, therapeutic, and just plain beautiful. I saw this video of Jon Schmidt on someone's facebook today and I LOVED it. I love both of these songs (by Taylor Swift and Coldplay) and just thought I'd share it with you. It's kind of long, but great even as background music. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Hope you're all having a great week!

For some reason this video doesn't load all the way every time. If you're having trouble, here's the link to the actual youtube video:
http://youtu.be/xXtVBJDPs6k

#1 Fan

This little guy:

...is the #1 fan of this little guy:

Let me tell you a little story about Parker man. Today I took Brody to a little day camp at the pre-school he's going to be starting in the fall. It was just for a couple of hours to get him acquainted with his new teacher, make some friends, and have some fun. He absolutely loved it and had a great time! Parker, however, cried for the majority of the two hours Brody was gone. He was crying in the back seat for "Brobo" every time we'd turn a corner. I took him to the park and he didn't know what to do with himself. He wandered around a little bit, went down each slide once, then just sort of looked at me like, "Now what do I do?" He usually just follows Brody around at the park. Eventually he started walking back to the car saying, "Brobo." This is serious business Parker actually WANTING to leave the park as it's his favorite place to go. We got to Brody's teacher's house about 10 minutes early because I was hoping he'd stop crying. I took him out with plans to go for a little walk to kill time but he would have nothing of it. He went and sat in front of the lady's front door and stayed there until it was time for Brody to come out. Occasionally he'd knock a little or try the door knob, but mostly he just paced around the front door or sat in front of it. It was hilarious and sad all at the same time. Pre-school is going to be much harder on Parker than Brody. Here I was hoping it'd be great one on one time with Parker, but clearly I don't rank very high! haha I'm so glad he loves his brother, but it also makes me very sad to see him have such a hard time. I like to see him more like this:

Haha! Just because I think he's cute, here's one more of my Brody boy. This is his sweet face when he's about to tell you he loves you, you're beautiful, etc. He likes to "make Mom's day".  

Anyone have any suggestions on what to do to help my little Parker with this pre-school stuff? 

We LOVE Summer!

 This week has been so much fun for our family. Jared finished his summer class last week and took the first section of the CPA exam on Monday so to say that's he's been stressed is an understatement. We saw my dad a little bit this week and one of the first things he said was, "It's really nice to see Jared smile again!" haha. The last few months have been tough on him. He's such a trooper and we are always grateful for his hard work. 

We celebrated by spending a day at the public pool here where Brody has had swimming lessons the last two weeks. They didn't go great, but he was a good sport for the most part and by the end was doing much better. He wasn't a huge fan of putting his face in the water which sort of creates problems when trying to swim. He'd make a great sea horse, though, as he swims perpendicular to the water fantastically! haha He has great little kickers and is getting better at blowing bubbles in the water. In fact, by the time we ended our 3 hour day at the pool yesterday he was putting his face in the water and trying back floats which is huge for him. Here are some pictures from our pool day. The weather was a perfect 85 degrees and we all got a little sun. It was great for my sweet husband who really, really needed some down time. 

This pool is great because it has a little kid's section that both my boys loved. Brody could do these slides by himself because it was shallow enough at the bottom and he went round and round for about an hour. 

 Notice the little dude right behind him? In Parker's typical fashion of having to do everything Brody does, he also went round and round for about an hour. 

 Just a view of all the fun things at this great pool. The best part was the last day of Brody's swim lessons got rained out so they gave us a $6 voucher to come back. So, for another $6 we all 4 played for an entire afternoon. Take note of the big blue twisty slide in the background. It will come into play in a minute.

 Parker man also tried drinking the water...

 I just love these happy faces:

 Ah, now to the highlight of the day. The big twisty slide. Both the boys were so excited to try this slide. Brody has begged us almost daily since seeing it during swim lessons. Sorry this picture is so grainy. It was tough to take pictures from across the pool, but you can tell Brody is a happy boy! We also did this slide over and over for about an hour and a half. I think the lifeguards thought we were nuts!

 Can you see the excited fists?

  

 Now, Parker's turn. He literally laughed the whole way down every time. Jared and I would take turns taking him just so we could hear him cackle. It was so funny!

 This is Parker signing and saying "more, more, more!" which he did every time! haha!

 My favorite picture of the day. Hands down. That's one very happy, relaxed, non-stressed,  fantastic Dad! 

 Too bad work starts again for him on Monday. We love you Jared and we're so glad we got to spend this week with you even if you didn't know what to do with yourself most the time and actually got bored. :) You're amazing! 

Little Prayers and Parker Songs

One of my favorite things is listening to my kids pray. I want to record a cute little experience that happened a few days ago. We were driving on a busy road and we saw a dog running on the sidewalk. He was clearly lost as he didn't have a leash or an owner anywhere nearby. As we were driving he ran out into the 4 lanes of traffic going the opposite direction of us. Thankfully all the cars stopped and he headed back on the sidewalk. As we got further down the road I saw him in my rear view mirror trying to cross the road again. I have no idea what happened to him because he went behind us and I got too far up the road. As someone who has hit a dog with their car (it's a terrible experience) I was very concerned about this poor dog. I didn't realize it, but Mr. perceptive Brody picked up that I was concerned about this dog and was watching it out his window running on the sidewalk. We got up the road a little and Brody says from the back seat, "Mom we should say a prayer for that doggie so he doesn't get hit by a car." He then proceeded to say the sweetest prayer that  "Jesus would help point the doggie to his home" and that "Heavenly Father would help him not get hurt or hit by a car", etc. After he was finished he then leaned over to Parker to help Parker with the words so he could say his own prayer. It was one of the sweetest experiences I've had as a Mom watching the faith of a little child put into practice. I love this face almost as much as his happy face: 

Parker has decided at family prayer time that he wants to say a prayer to. He tries pretty hard to say what you're trying to help him with. We think it's pretty cute:

Parker man also has discovered singing. He asks for the "Temple" song and the "Missionary Song" every time we put him in bed (in not so many words because he doesn't talk that well yet, but we know what he's talking about as he yells at us if we sing a different song). Now he sings periodically during the day so I tried to catch some on film. At the beginning of this he's telling me that's a "tractor" but I didn't understand him until I watched this after. A lot of his "words" sound the same as others. I also love that he calls me "Mom-I" and at the end that's Brody in the background telling me it's my turn as we were in the middle of playing Candyland. Oops.

I don't know if any of you watch these videos, but I know they make me pretty happy! Have a great Sunday!

The Farmers and the Dragon Slayers

 Last weekend my brother in-law and nephew Brendan came up from Las Vegas to go to my brother in-law's family's house (did you catch all that?) We've been up there once before and it really is so nice to take a break from the norm, enjoy some quiet country surroundings, and let my boys get VERY dirty. Now that I'm thinking about it, this is one of the few places Brody gets filthy and doesn't mind. B, you'll be happy to know that he insisted on wearing his cowboy boots, because that's what you wear to a farm. Brody enjoyed getting to hang out with his cousin that is one week younger than him. They laughed a lot and had a great time!

Brody and Brendan taking a ride on the Mule:

 Meanwhile, Lamar's brother Tyson put together some water balloons for his little boy. Parker stepped right in and loved throwing them to break them.

 As you can see from this picture, he had one or two break upon contact with the top of his head. It would break, he'd get soaked and surprised and then look behind him to see what happened to the balloon. He was keeping us all quite entertained!

 The boys built roads in the dirt with the hoes: (Notice Parker lurking around)

 As soon as Brody and Brendan vacated the premises, Parker seized his opportunity and grabbed a hoe. He tries to do everything the big boys do.

 Brody did some heavy lifting...

 Parker enjoyed poking at a worm:

 Lamar's dad was so sweet and explained all about potatoes to a very captivated audience:

 The boys got yummy popsicles. Every time Brody tells someone about the farm he mentions the silly popsicles that had two sticks. haha! 

 Getting ready to watch some fireworks:

 Brody LOVED the fireworks and was pretty sad when they were all done. Love this face:

 What that face was looking at:

 Brody taught Parker how to cover his ears:

 That's it from the farm. That was the majority of our 4th of July celebration! We did a few things on the actual 4th but I didn't take any pictures. I hope you all had a great time! Now, on to a few random things from around our house. Brody has started to "read" Parker books. Parker brings him books all the time and Brody tells him stories based on the pictures he sees. I love it and so do the boys. 

 I took this picture of Brody during his nap time today. I'd like to draw your attention to his left hand. I love that even in his sleep his cars are important to him. 

 On to the favorite new game in our house. Dragon slaying...First, we practice against our brother's sword:

 Then we lie in wait...

 ...and slay the dragon outside the window (this one was a big, hairy, green one I believe)

 And because Dragon Slayers get pretty dirty, bath time is a MUST...

 For tonight, we leave you with a "smack kiss". This is Parker's new thing. He gives really good kisses with a good smack to them. When we were talking about this earlier, Brody says, "Here, I want to give you a smack kiss." He then goes to Jared, pretends to backhand his face and gives him a kiss on the cheek. He's hilarious. 

 Hope you had a great 4th and if you ever have a dragon in your house, you know who to call!

Happiness

My kids make me laugh. Really really make me laugh. I love to see what they find that makes them happy. For Brody it's usually cars, playing with his friend Blake, his Dad, Parker, playing catch, running, golf, swimming, books, dogs, singing songs, baths, fishing, action figures, swords, throwing rocks, and more cars. For Parker it's every one of the above things minus fishing maybe because he hasn't been yet. Parker also loves looking at pictures, silly little games like Mommy pretending to eat his frog, popsicles, bubbles, coloring, and playing in the toilet water (though he's starting to get the idea with what's supposed to be done in the toilet as he took one of his soiled diapers and threw it in there earlier this week....yuck)  We can also add pouring as much food as possible in his hair and rubbing it in to Parker's list. My friend Katrena and I were chatting on the phone while I was feeding my kids lunch. I went in the kitchen and when I came back this is what I found. I think I said, "Seriously, Parker?!" and then all I could do was laugh. My favorite part of these pictures, however, is the fact that my husband literally can't look at them. It grosses him out so much that he looks away every time. Anyone ever wondered why Brody hates to be dirty? He has a lot of Jared genes. :)

I'm thinking he didn't like the mango applesauce and thought he had a better use for it?

 One of the things that makes me the happiest these days is watching my boys be friends. They are really starting to play so cute together and they often hold hands to walk places now. I'll try and get a picture some day because it is just to cute. They definitely have a love/hate relationship but I'm glad they are developing a relationship. Since Parker has to do everything Brody does this was what I found waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs today as we were getting ready to leave. 

 I can't help but smile at these two faces. 

Just a little video that makes me laugh. When we get home from running, one of my boys' favorite things to do is stretch with me. I just love how Parker tries so hard to make his body do what ours is doing. Brody does a great job! I also tried to get a little of Parker's talking. He says so many words now that it deserves its own post, but here's a little preview. Enjoy!

Well, that's it for now. I hope you all have a very happy and safe 4th of July weekend!