What a busy fall we’ve had.  Even with Lauren, Parker, and Dave being sick for a week we still managed to have fun.  Thankfully Brent and I stayed well.  Lauren felt better just in time for us to go to Disney on Ice.  What a great show!  We also went to the zoo with my step-sister and her 3 boys.  That was a lot of fun too.  We’ve attended 2 fall festivals, one at church and one at Lauren’s school.  The weather has been interesting, but we’ve been able to play outside some and we visited a local nursery to look at pumpkins.  We had a wet Halloween this year, but Dave took Lauren (brunette Alice in Wonderland) and Parker (who showed no interest in dressing up) around in the van and they had so much fun trick-or-treating.  Brent decided there was too much football to watch to venture out this year, but Lauren promised to share her candy with him.  Stephanie came over to watch Hocus Pocus with me and helped give out candy.

Dave continues to stay busy at work and has done some overnight traveling, but nothing too exciting.  He’ll have a lot of trips to Minneapolis working with the Northwest people merging to the Delta world over the next few months.  We miss him when he is gone, but are so thankful for his job.

Brent and Lauren are doing so well in school.  Brent brought home 3 A’s and 1 B on his report card.  His Advanced Chemistry teacher called us to let us know how much he appreciated the good learning attitude Brent brought to class and told us how well he was doing.  We were very pleased with the good report.  So, I finally decided to let Brent drive the van and he did very well.  I’m so proud of him.  I just can’t believe how grown up he is getting.

Lauren absolutely loves school and she received excellent marks on her report card.  She actually wishes she could go to school on Saturdays and Sundays.  I hope she always likes school this much.  She’s made some great friends and I’ve really enjoyed helping out in the classroom.

Parker is growing like a weed and is talking so much.  He’s moved to a big boy bed and loves it!  We are actively potty training too.  He’ll come to us and say “I potty tee-tee” which means I need to go, and most of the time he’ll go.  Of course we aren’t ready for big boy underwear yet, but it’s a start and we are so proud of him.

                         Mommy & Lauren                                                                    Disney on Ice

                                            Jonathan, Matthew, Jacob, Parker, and Lauren

                                                                    Zoo Atlanta

               Parker making Halloween cookies                                                          Yummy!

            Lauren making Halloween cookies                                           Baking a cake for the Fall Festival

                                    Lauren and Parker Trunk-or-Treat at the church Fall Festival

                               Mommy, Parker, and Lauren cake walk at church Fall Festival

                    Brent (cake walk)                                                         Parker and Daddy

                                Lauren                                                                                 Parker

                                                 Lauren and Parker at Country Gardens

                                                           Parker says Happy Halloween!!!

                                                                       Mommy & Parker

                   Alice in Wonderland Lauren                                                                  Trick-or-Treat

                              Aunt Stephanie and Mommy "helping" Lauren and Parker with their candy

Lauren lost her first tooth today and was so excited about it all evening.  I ended up pulling it which was an accomplishment in itself.  As a child I never pulled my own teeth, so I was really proud of both of us.  She is so happy she gets to put her name on the “Look who lost a tooth” section of their class bulletin board. 

We’ve had a wonderful July with lots of hot weather, but somehow we’ve managed to keep cool. 

We kicked off the month with a fun filled 4^th of July weekend.  Brent spent his holiday weekend (plus a few extra days) in the Pacific Northwest with the McCoy/Robinson families.  Dave had to work on Friday the 3^rd, but that didn’t keep Lauren, Parker, and I from spending the day on the lake with my step-brother and his family.  We had so much fun.  On Saturday the 4^th Lauren and I played at Meme’s pool while Daddy and Parker napped.  Later that afternoon we made cookies, then Meme, Granny, and Stephanie came over for a cookout.  Once it started getting dark the kids lit some sparklers.  Lauren was able to stay up later than Parker, so she got to do some after dark too.

Brent got home from his trip on the 12^th and we were so happy to see him.  Parker and Lauren stayed up late so they could ride to the airport to pick him up.  A few days later the long awaited results of the AP Human Geography exam Brent took in May arrived.  He scored 2 out of 5 which means he possibly qualifies for college credit of this course.  From what I understand (and I need to look in to it a little more) we could have the exam reviewed to determine if Brent would get credit, but either way we are really proud of him.

Lauren and Parker have enjoyed lots of play dates with my good friend Cyndi and her two girls.  We’ve visited the library, the park to feed the ducks, and we’ve taken turns playing at each others house.

Lauren survived her eye surgery and is recovering nicely.  She’s had some mild swelling and her eye has been pretty red, but they said all of that is normal.  Her eye is actually going to heal like a bruise and turn different colors before it heals completely.  We’ll follow up with the doctor in late August.

Our little Monkey, Parker, has defiantly entered his terrible two’s.  He’s cut more teeth and has learned the most popular word in a toddler’s vocabulary.  NO!  We’ve suffer through a few meltdowns, some worse than others, but when he’s happy he is so sweet and is learning lots of good things in spite of himself.

I had a great birthday on the 29^th.  I think Lauren was more excited about it than I was.

For now we are trying to enjoy what’s left of our summer vacation.  It’s gone by way too fast, but it’s been a great one.  We even managed to squeeze in another trip to the lake and this time Dave got to go.  It was so much fun.  Brent was busy playing golf that day.  He’s working hard so he can make the school team next year.  Here are some pictures from our fun filled July.

                                                                      Lauren at the lake 

           Parker playing at the "beach" at the lake                                  Lauren ~ Mommy ~ Parker

                                                              Happy 4th of July

                                               Lauren                                                                Parker

                                                                        Sparklers!!!

                 Dave riding the Jet Ski                                                            Lauren & Daddy

                                                        Turning 30 for the 3rd time!!