During Chase's Tuesday afternoon speech we play at the elementary school playground. This afternoon I overheard Kai at the top of a tall, blue, bumpy slide repeating, "I think I can" to himself! He bravely slid down and proudly gave it another try. This time at the very top he said, "I can do it!" Yes you can Kai Kai!
I want to remember how cute Felicity and Kai looked sitting happily side by side on the playground stairs each with their Happy Meal dinners. So precious! Love these littles!
1/31/18
1/26/18
Kids Say
Beautiful, Compassionate, Smart, Kind, Helpful Mackenzi helped us remember some funny things kids have said in our family that we don't want to forget by writing them down.
Here they are! Thank you Mackenzi!
Chase: "Kiweed" - kiwi
Kai: "Hippos" - meatballs
Chase: "Penee Butter" - peanut butter
Mom: "Chase, be nice."
Chase: "It's not Christmas anymore! I don't have to be nice!"
Mom: "Chase, where is your sticker?"
Chase: "I put it on you!"
Dad: "Kai, sing 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.'"
Kai: "No! It's too crazy!"
Kai: "ABCD's"
Here they are! Thank you Mackenzi!
Chase: "Kiweed" - kiwi
Kai: "Hippos" - meatballs
Chase: "Penee Butter" - peanut butter
Mom: "Chase, be nice."
Chase: "It's not Christmas anymore! I don't have to be nice!"
Mom: "Chase, where is your sticker?"
Chase: "I put it on you!"
Dad: "Kai, sing 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.'"
Kai: "No! It's too crazy!"
Kai: "ABCD's"
12/31/17
Dax
Welcome Baby Dax!
My heart is overflowing with gratitude that our tiniest miracle has joined our family. He is healthy! He is beautiful. He is perfect. And oh so tiny. One cannot look at him and not see God's hand and God's love and God's blessings.
Dax arrived at 36 weeks 1 day. Early! We were anticipating 2 weeks early perhaps and prepared for him to arrive on his own time schedule but are super surprised and overjoyed that he chose to come a month early! He is here to join our family for Christmas. What an incredible surprise! Such happiness to have him in our home.
I was dilated to a 3 at my Monday appointment with the one and only delightfully amazing Dr. Bethany Peterson. I was treated to an ultrasound at the same appointment and all looked great! Measuring just about 7 pounds. Hooray!
I lost my mucus plug the next morning on Tuesday. It was a busy day getting Mackenzi, Lydia and Kai off to school followed by Chase. Then I took Felicity with me to teach a Tinkergarten trial class. I had a feeling he might come soon. Let Jared know via text that maybe I am super crazy but maybe he would come soon. Not sure when. Maybe late tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe a couple days. But perhaps soon. I had an especially wonderful morning laughing and enjoying being at Willow Fork Park with Felicity leading the Frozen Nature Treasures trial class with food colored balloon shaped ice eggs as the magic of the class. It was great to enjoy being just the 2 of us - me and my baby girl. We got home in plenty of time to welcome Kai off his bus - hooray for not being rushed to make it on time!
Michelle Mower came over to help me finish making over our downstairs! Part of me thinks Dax knew how much I wanted our home to be ready for him so he purposely waited until this meeting. We arranged the picture gallery wall frames. We put the decor on the shelves. We spray painted the coffee table. I paid her. Super love our home and this newly designed gorgeous space for our family to be cozy together and spend countless hours enjoying.
I felt the need to pack my hospital bag this afternoon while Kai and Felicity napped among a few last minute house projects such as velcro attaching pictures on the wall that had long been on the to-do list. I was scatterbrained. Throw in my new floral silk robe, baby's new baby GAP cozy coming home outfit, velcro the girls' "dream" mirror letters, add my coming home outfit to the hospital bag, velcro up the kids' artwork boards above the stairs, throw 3 nausea helping sprite cans in the hospital bag, etc.
I cancelled Chase's Tuesday afternoon speech appointment at Nottingham Country Elementary because the fear of possibly having my water break while driving on the freeway 30 minutes from home with all 5 of my kids gave me second thoughts. Feeling ready and prepared and trying to keep life stress free.
Enjoyed a quiet afternoon with all the kids home after school.
Served simple tacos for dinner for the kids.
Kids worked hard to clean bedrooms to be ready for carpet cleaning when Daddy got home. I rushed around like crazy getting the kitchen cleaned up downstairs.
Jared stopped after work to rent a carpet cleaner from Kroger because one of the last things on my "before baby comes to-do list" was to get our carpets clean from Kai's potty training and a previous vomiting sick night.
When he got home I left with Mackenzi to the church building to lead Activity Days. We made #lighttheworld glow in the dark jars. Love this dream calling, especially since I serve Mackenzi and soon Lydia as well.
Afterward I was so thrilled to run to Hobby Lobby which was open until 9pm for the holiday hours to grab an "Explore" sign to make Dax and Felicity's nursery more gender neutral and also supplies for Lydia's Christmas party playdate coming up on Friday. We got exactly what we needed and checked out 5 minutes before the store closed.
When we got home it was bedtime for the littles. As Jared and I were finishing with the big girls I started to feel some strong regular contractions. Could it be? I pondered that I had felt some pressure from baby today at least a couple times quite strongly. Were these really contractions. Yes, I knew they were. But surely he wasn't coming already right? Hmmm...the contractions kept coming a little closer together. Were they 5 minutes apart? Really?! Oh my goodness. I looked at Jared as he was about to read the nightly chapter of Fablehaven to the girls as I put some laundry away in their closet and said with big intent eyes, "We may have a baby tonight."
Jared sweetly came downstairs with me to help me prepare to possibly go and also have our home ready for our kids and babysitter while we were gone. I threw in some laundry, Jared cleared the piles on the stairs, I emptied the dishwasher, Jared had already finished the carpets - thank you!
I had Samantha Wood as a plan A if baby arrived over Christmas break which started in 3 days. But school was still in session. Who could we ask for help with the kids? A neighbor? Please don't make me have to wake them and separate them into houses. I remembered my good friend Emily Clark had said at Tinkergarten that morning I could call her to ask for help until she left on Friday for Christmas break. I texted her to see if she was still up and that maybe I was in labor and could I ask her to sleep on our couch until her husband left for work in the morning? Thank goodness she was still up! She was just about to plug her phone in the bathroom and go to bed when she got my message and bless her, she was happy to help. Thank you, Emily! I waited 20 minutes to be sure I was really having contractions. Yes, this is actually happening. Wow! I asked Emily to please come in about 20 minutes and thank you so much!
She happily came. Bless her!
Contractions continued. What a happy miracle! Baby boy arriving soon! So excited to meet him! Throw clothes in laundry! Hooray - the cycle finished! Pack the kids' lunches for tomorrow. Line up their jackets and shoes and backpacks so the morning can run smoothly. Cancel VIPKID classes for the morning and next few days I was planning to teach. Confirm we were covered with the kids until 6:30 a.m., grab the hospital bag and my purse and buckle in Jared's red car. Make sure Jared is aware of where the infant car seat is for when he picks me up from hospital. Thank Emily. Head to Memorial Hermann Katy.
Oh my goodness! Can you believe he is coming soon!?
Main entrance is dark and locked as we expected. Its 11:30p.m. and it locks at 9p.m. We head to the Emergency 24 hour access and check in. My belly has long been peeking our of my maternity shirts and I look very ready to have a baby according to the very nice ER check-in staff.
We wait excitedly. Contractions are consistent 4-5 minutes. A nurse comes with a wheelchair. Jared runs to grab his phone he forgot in the car. We head to the labor and delivery floor. Yay!!!!
Room is prepared for me. I get to change right into a gown and lay on the bed. I am hooked up to check for contractions. Yup, consistent. Every 5 minutes. Every 2-3 minutes. Dilated to a 4. I am more than 37 weeks early (36.1) so doctors and nurses don't want to rush baby. No pitocin, great! Receive special injection via IV and bum shot to help develop baby's lungs. We want at least 4 hours before his arrival for it to take affect. I get epidural. Awesome. Thanks! Contractions slow to 8 minutes. Dr. Peterson is called. She arrives around 6:30 a.m. She checks me. Dilated to 6. She waits another hour or so and breaks my water. Left leg numb. Right leg has feeling. Feeling contractions at about a pain level of 7. We pump in more epidural, feel cold numbing, adjust side. Pain subsides. Isn't this a wonderful morning?! Baby boy is coming!!! Feeling somewhat nauseous. Get medicine, helps right away. We were hoping he would come in 2017 and thought perhaps between Christmas and New Year's. But here he is!
Nurses said to tell them when I feel pressure in my bum. I start to feel it and immediately call them in. Nurse checks me! Yup! Baby's head! At a 10! Hooray! Jared gets to suit up and glove up. He joins Dr. Peterson and catches our baby boy! I get to see his head in mirror. Wow. So incredible. I wonder how he breathes. Dr. Peterson reminds me of the umbilical cord so he doesn't breathe yet. Two pushes and he is out. So easy. So smooth. So miraculous. Jared places our incredible miracle on me. There is no comparison for the joy a new mother feels to have her brand new heavenly baby placed in her arms. I love his precious cry. He is alive. He is born! He is healthy! Nicu team on site in case needed as a preterm infant. 7 pounds, 2 ounces. Perfectly healthy. 9.9 apgar score. Perfect baby boy.
Dax Hinckley Parkinson is born at 9:49 on December 13th, 2017.
We are blessed. So happy to have him join our family. Our hearts are swelling with happiness and gratitude and peace and love. So very blessed to hold him. Thank you Heavenly Father for sharing this sweet boy with us. We cherish him.
Jared picks up all 5 kids. They arrive to meet our baby. They all do great and are interested and loving to him. Photographer captured maternity photo shoot just 4 days before he arrived, came to the hospital the day he was born to capture his perfect tininess and the introduction of siblings and fit in time for his newborn photo shoot before leaving for Christmas vacation. So thankful for the many offers from incredible friends we trust and love to help care for our kids. Babysitter Sam didn't have a morning final and came to relieve Emily so she could get her boys off to school. Sam took care of breakfast and off to school time. My kids love her! What a relief for me to know someone Kai would behave for was at the house to get him on his bus. Jenni Detton drove my carpool morning and picked up Chase and drove him to Grace. She let Felicity buckle up too and dropped her off at Kaytryn's home. What a blessing to have thoughtful friends I can trust my kids to. I so appreciated the many genuine offers from friends I love. Thank you friends!!! Emily came back to our home with Logan to greet Kai off his bus and let him play at her home until her son had preschool. Then she drove him to join Felicity at Kaytryn's. Felicity was sweet for Kaytryn - oh hooray! Jared scooped up the 2 little ones from Kaytryn, checked Mackenzi and Lydia out of school early, drove to get Chase from Grace just a little before pick-up time, and brought the crew to the hospital. How blessed we are with our amazing children. We are a beautiful family. I love our family! Friends signed up to bring us meals all the way from Wednesday through Monday evenings - WOW! What a blessing that was to not worry about dinner at the end of the day. So grateful.
Nana was prepared to come help us and got on an early flight Wednesday morning to come to Texas! We told her we were headed to the hospital Tuesday night and she is so selfless and loving to book a ticket as soon as she knew baby was arriving regardless of her schedule of flight cost. Wow. We are really blessed. Such a gift of love. The big kids were really looking forward to seeing her! She had an entire suitcase of surprises to give the children. They loved it! She arrived via shuttle on Wednesday evening and jumped right in with helping kids with bedtime. She woke up early and helped kids get off to school. Helped change Felicity and entertained her. What a blessing!
So blessed with our perfect newborn. No jaundice or weight concerns. Great blood sugar levels. Latched and incredible eater right from birth! Mama didn't tear, fantastic quick healing. Feeling so great. He burps! He lets us put him down nice and swaddled to sleep on his back. Great circumcision recovery. A truly perfect baby boy. Our tiniest guy dropping to 6 pounds 13 ounces. I love him and can't get over how little he is!!!
Jared came to pick us up on Friday around 10:45am. We waited for my lunch to arrive at 11:15 as we packed up the room and baby boy. I got to have double portions with my meals! And a chocolate cupcake, chocolate milk, and hot chocolate. The hospital and nurses and doctors were so good to be it was truly a spa like experience at the hospital delivering our last baby. I got to relax and heal and enjoy my brand new baby while being served delicious food and watch a show here and there. It was beautiful. Love HGTV.
We are home as a family of 8. It feels so good. Nana will leave tomorrow and will be greatly missed. Thank you for your service and love. We needed you! But we can do real life now. We can do it! I can be a mama to 6 incredible kids. A great mama because heaven is here to help me. Jared leads our family of 8 and provides for us above and beyond. We can be a strong family and enjoy life together. We have Christmas to look forward to in our beautiful home. We are healthy. We can pay our bills. We have Christmas surprises ready to go. With the Lord's help, we can live a beautiful life each day. Welcome Dax. We are thrilled you have joined us on our earthly journey. We love you!
With each new baby I tend to receive a special message from heaven. With Dax's pregnancy the message I feel impressed with is "we belong together." Heavenly Father is giving us the special gift of Dax because he is purposely meant to be a part of our eternal family. Each one of our children has been chosen by God to be placed in our family. There are things only we can teach Dax. There are things only Dax can help us understand. We help one another and belong with one another. We are an intentional family.
My heart is overflowing with gratitude that our tiniest miracle has joined our family. He is healthy! He is beautiful. He is perfect. And oh so tiny. One cannot look at him and not see God's hand and God's love and God's blessings.
Dax arrived at 36 weeks 1 day. Early! We were anticipating 2 weeks early perhaps and prepared for him to arrive on his own time schedule but are super surprised and overjoyed that he chose to come a month early! He is here to join our family for Christmas. What an incredible surprise! Such happiness to have him in our home.
I was dilated to a 3 at my Monday appointment with the one and only delightfully amazing Dr. Bethany Peterson. I was treated to an ultrasound at the same appointment and all looked great! Measuring just about 7 pounds. Hooray!
I lost my mucus plug the next morning on Tuesday. It was a busy day getting Mackenzi, Lydia and Kai off to school followed by Chase. Then I took Felicity with me to teach a Tinkergarten trial class. I had a feeling he might come soon. Let Jared know via text that maybe I am super crazy but maybe he would come soon. Not sure when. Maybe late tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe a couple days. But perhaps soon. I had an especially wonderful morning laughing and enjoying being at Willow Fork Park with Felicity leading the Frozen Nature Treasures trial class with food colored balloon shaped ice eggs as the magic of the class. It was great to enjoy being just the 2 of us - me and my baby girl. We got home in plenty of time to welcome Kai off his bus - hooray for not being rushed to make it on time!
Michelle Mower came over to help me finish making over our downstairs! Part of me thinks Dax knew how much I wanted our home to be ready for him so he purposely waited until this meeting. We arranged the picture gallery wall frames. We put the decor on the shelves. We spray painted the coffee table. I paid her. Super love our home and this newly designed gorgeous space for our family to be cozy together and spend countless hours enjoying.
I felt the need to pack my hospital bag this afternoon while Kai and Felicity napped among a few last minute house projects such as velcro attaching pictures on the wall that had long been on the to-do list. I was scatterbrained. Throw in my new floral silk robe, baby's new baby GAP cozy coming home outfit, velcro the girls' "dream" mirror letters, add my coming home outfit to the hospital bag, velcro up the kids' artwork boards above the stairs, throw 3 nausea helping sprite cans in the hospital bag, etc.
I cancelled Chase's Tuesday afternoon speech appointment at Nottingham Country Elementary because the fear of possibly having my water break while driving on the freeway 30 minutes from home with all 5 of my kids gave me second thoughts. Feeling ready and prepared and trying to keep life stress free.
Enjoyed a quiet afternoon with all the kids home after school.
Served simple tacos for dinner for the kids.
Kids worked hard to clean bedrooms to be ready for carpet cleaning when Daddy got home. I rushed around like crazy getting the kitchen cleaned up downstairs.
Jared stopped after work to rent a carpet cleaner from Kroger because one of the last things on my "before baby comes to-do list" was to get our carpets clean from Kai's potty training and a previous vomiting sick night.
When he got home I left with Mackenzi to the church building to lead Activity Days. We made #lighttheworld glow in the dark jars. Love this dream calling, especially since I serve Mackenzi and soon Lydia as well.
Afterward I was so thrilled to run to Hobby Lobby which was open until 9pm for the holiday hours to grab an "Explore" sign to make Dax and Felicity's nursery more gender neutral and also supplies for Lydia's Christmas party playdate coming up on Friday. We got exactly what we needed and checked out 5 minutes before the store closed.
When we got home it was bedtime for the littles. As Jared and I were finishing with the big girls I started to feel some strong regular contractions. Could it be? I pondered that I had felt some pressure from baby today at least a couple times quite strongly. Were these really contractions. Yes, I knew they were. But surely he wasn't coming already right? Hmmm...the contractions kept coming a little closer together. Were they 5 minutes apart? Really?! Oh my goodness. I looked at Jared as he was about to read the nightly chapter of Fablehaven to the girls as I put some laundry away in their closet and said with big intent eyes, "We may have a baby tonight."
Jared sweetly came downstairs with me to help me prepare to possibly go and also have our home ready for our kids and babysitter while we were gone. I threw in some laundry, Jared cleared the piles on the stairs, I emptied the dishwasher, Jared had already finished the carpets - thank you!
I had Samantha Wood as a plan A if baby arrived over Christmas break which started in 3 days. But school was still in session. Who could we ask for help with the kids? A neighbor? Please don't make me have to wake them and separate them into houses. I remembered my good friend Emily Clark had said at Tinkergarten that morning I could call her to ask for help until she left on Friday for Christmas break. I texted her to see if she was still up and that maybe I was in labor and could I ask her to sleep on our couch until her husband left for work in the morning? Thank goodness she was still up! She was just about to plug her phone in the bathroom and go to bed when she got my message and bless her, she was happy to help. Thank you, Emily! I waited 20 minutes to be sure I was really having contractions. Yes, this is actually happening. Wow! I asked Emily to please come in about 20 minutes and thank you so much!
She happily came. Bless her!
Contractions continued. What a happy miracle! Baby boy arriving soon! So excited to meet him! Throw clothes in laundry! Hooray - the cycle finished! Pack the kids' lunches for tomorrow. Line up their jackets and shoes and backpacks so the morning can run smoothly. Cancel VIPKID classes for the morning and next few days I was planning to teach. Confirm we were covered with the kids until 6:30 a.m., grab the hospital bag and my purse and buckle in Jared's red car. Make sure Jared is aware of where the infant car seat is for when he picks me up from hospital. Thank Emily. Head to Memorial Hermann Katy.
Oh my goodness! Can you believe he is coming soon!?
Main entrance is dark and locked as we expected. Its 11:30p.m. and it locks at 9p.m. We head to the Emergency 24 hour access and check in. My belly has long been peeking our of my maternity shirts and I look very ready to have a baby according to the very nice ER check-in staff.
We wait excitedly. Contractions are consistent 4-5 minutes. A nurse comes with a wheelchair. Jared runs to grab his phone he forgot in the car. We head to the labor and delivery floor. Yay!!!!
Room is prepared for me. I get to change right into a gown and lay on the bed. I am hooked up to check for contractions. Yup, consistent. Every 5 minutes. Every 2-3 minutes. Dilated to a 4. I am more than 37 weeks early (36.1) so doctors and nurses don't want to rush baby. No pitocin, great! Receive special injection via IV and bum shot to help develop baby's lungs. We want at least 4 hours before his arrival for it to take affect. I get epidural. Awesome. Thanks! Contractions slow to 8 minutes. Dr. Peterson is called. She arrives around 6:30 a.m. She checks me. Dilated to 6. She waits another hour or so and breaks my water. Left leg numb. Right leg has feeling. Feeling contractions at about a pain level of 7. We pump in more epidural, feel cold numbing, adjust side. Pain subsides. Isn't this a wonderful morning?! Baby boy is coming!!! Feeling somewhat nauseous. Get medicine, helps right away. We were hoping he would come in 2017 and thought perhaps between Christmas and New Year's. But here he is!
Nurses said to tell them when I feel pressure in my bum. I start to feel it and immediately call them in. Nurse checks me! Yup! Baby's head! At a 10! Hooray! Jared gets to suit up and glove up. He joins Dr. Peterson and catches our baby boy! I get to see his head in mirror. Wow. So incredible. I wonder how he breathes. Dr. Peterson reminds me of the umbilical cord so he doesn't breathe yet. Two pushes and he is out. So easy. So smooth. So miraculous. Jared places our incredible miracle on me. There is no comparison for the joy a new mother feels to have her brand new heavenly baby placed in her arms. I love his precious cry. He is alive. He is born! He is healthy! Nicu team on site in case needed as a preterm infant. 7 pounds, 2 ounces. Perfectly healthy. 9.9 apgar score. Perfect baby boy.
Dax Hinckley Parkinson is born at 9:49 on December 13th, 2017.
We are blessed. So happy to have him join our family. Our hearts are swelling with happiness and gratitude and peace and love. So very blessed to hold him. Thank you Heavenly Father for sharing this sweet boy with us. We cherish him.
Jared picks up all 5 kids. They arrive to meet our baby. They all do great and are interested and loving to him. Photographer captured maternity photo shoot just 4 days before he arrived, came to the hospital the day he was born to capture his perfect tininess and the introduction of siblings and fit in time for his newborn photo shoot before leaving for Christmas vacation. So thankful for the many offers from incredible friends we trust and love to help care for our kids. Babysitter Sam didn't have a morning final and came to relieve Emily so she could get her boys off to school. Sam took care of breakfast and off to school time. My kids love her! What a relief for me to know someone Kai would behave for was at the house to get him on his bus. Jenni Detton drove my carpool morning and picked up Chase and drove him to Grace. She let Felicity buckle up too and dropped her off at Kaytryn's home. What a blessing to have thoughtful friends I can trust my kids to. I so appreciated the many genuine offers from friends I love. Thank you friends!!! Emily came back to our home with Logan to greet Kai off his bus and let him play at her home until her son had preschool. Then she drove him to join Felicity at Kaytryn's. Felicity was sweet for Kaytryn - oh hooray! Jared scooped up the 2 little ones from Kaytryn, checked Mackenzi and Lydia out of school early, drove to get Chase from Grace just a little before pick-up time, and brought the crew to the hospital. How blessed we are with our amazing children. We are a beautiful family. I love our family! Friends signed up to bring us meals all the way from Wednesday through Monday evenings - WOW! What a blessing that was to not worry about dinner at the end of the day. So grateful.
Nana was prepared to come help us and got on an early flight Wednesday morning to come to Texas! We told her we were headed to the hospital Tuesday night and she is so selfless and loving to book a ticket as soon as she knew baby was arriving regardless of her schedule of flight cost. Wow. We are really blessed. Such a gift of love. The big kids were really looking forward to seeing her! She had an entire suitcase of surprises to give the children. They loved it! She arrived via shuttle on Wednesday evening and jumped right in with helping kids with bedtime. She woke up early and helped kids get off to school. Helped change Felicity and entertained her. What a blessing!
So blessed with our perfect newborn. No jaundice or weight concerns. Great blood sugar levels. Latched and incredible eater right from birth! Mama didn't tear, fantastic quick healing. Feeling so great. He burps! He lets us put him down nice and swaddled to sleep on his back. Great circumcision recovery. A truly perfect baby boy. Our tiniest guy dropping to 6 pounds 13 ounces. I love him and can't get over how little he is!!!
Jared came to pick us up on Friday around 10:45am. We waited for my lunch to arrive at 11:15 as we packed up the room and baby boy. I got to have double portions with my meals! And a chocolate cupcake, chocolate milk, and hot chocolate. The hospital and nurses and doctors were so good to be it was truly a spa like experience at the hospital delivering our last baby. I got to relax and heal and enjoy my brand new baby while being served delicious food and watch a show here and there. It was beautiful. Love HGTV.
We are home as a family of 8. It feels so good. Nana will leave tomorrow and will be greatly missed. Thank you for your service and love. We needed you! But we can do real life now. We can do it! I can be a mama to 6 incredible kids. A great mama because heaven is here to help me. Jared leads our family of 8 and provides for us above and beyond. We can be a strong family and enjoy life together. We have Christmas to look forward to in our beautiful home. We are healthy. We can pay our bills. We have Christmas surprises ready to go. With the Lord's help, we can live a beautiful life each day. Welcome Dax. We are thrilled you have joined us on our earthly journey. We love you!
With each new baby I tend to receive a special message from heaven. With Dax's pregnancy the message I feel impressed with is "we belong together." Heavenly Father is giving us the special gift of Dax because he is purposely meant to be a part of our eternal family. Each one of our children has been chosen by God to be placed in our family. There are things only we can teach Dax. There are things only Dax can help us understand. We help one another and belong with one another. We are an intentional family.
12/30/17
Spring Break 2017 Staycation Adventures
Monday-Zumba at Kingdom Wheels. Fun indoor playground! Beautiful Mackenzi babysat Felicity and little Felicity stood up on her own for the first time unsupported! Bowling. With a ramp and bumpers. Kai threw balls whenever, wherever. Darling little bowling shoes. All were ready to be done halfway through the game. Chase spent afternoon at Tanner's house. Girls discovered show called Miraculous on Netflix. Hosted Lizzie Richardson for a Mackenzi planned darling "Just Add Magic" evening play date!
Tuesday-Zumba again. Exploration park - incredible park, gorgeous day! Tanner spent the afternoon at our home happily playing rescue bots and hot wheels with Chase and Kai. Went to library to pick up reserved books, mostly "Magic Treehouse" series.
Wednesday-Zumba at Kingdom Wheels again. Drove right to children's museum in Sugar Land. Love that place! Easy membership. Busy day but didn't get in our way one bit. Met Tanner's family there. Love the craft stations, new bubble gum themed science room, and of course the mini city stations. Mackenzi was invited to activity day party get-together at Winnie Ashton's. Lydia hosted play date with Natalia Ward who loved the guinea pigs. Lydia's first swim lesson at Texas Swim Academy - she loves it!
Thursday - Speech for Chase with Ms. Lauren. Love that angel teacher. Then to Chick Fil A. Let kids go inside - huge deal for us! Lovely morning playing in playground. Felicity wanted to climb up too! Played at Altitude Indoor Trampoline Park for the first time. Mackenzi ADORED it and sweetly took Chase to big kid section. They were awesome! Lydia enjoyed for about 20 minutes until all she wanted was water. Kai loved the little guy tramp section for 30 minutes and then was just so tired. Felicity adored every minute and was a party animal - so mad at me for taking her away! Forgot Lydia's swim lesson today, bummer.
Friday - Hosted cupcake day! Yum! Strawberry cupcakes, Oreo Cupcakes, and Rainbow Cupcakes! Each with own frosting! Mmm! Everyone had great morning playing and baking. Lydia swim lesson. Drove to La Grange to Jared's work. Bluebonnet pictures. Ate dinner out in La Grange. Home for bed.
Saturday - Family bike ride around lake! Beautiful moment! Stopped at park to play. Love these kids! Love family time!
Tuesday-Zumba again. Exploration park - incredible park, gorgeous day! Tanner spent the afternoon at our home happily playing rescue bots and hot wheels with Chase and Kai. Went to library to pick up reserved books, mostly "Magic Treehouse" series.
Wednesday-Zumba at Kingdom Wheels again. Drove right to children's museum in Sugar Land. Love that place! Easy membership. Busy day but didn't get in our way one bit. Met Tanner's family there. Love the craft stations, new bubble gum themed science room, and of course the mini city stations. Mackenzi was invited to activity day party get-together at Winnie Ashton's. Lydia hosted play date with Natalia Ward who loved the guinea pigs. Lydia's first swim lesson at Texas Swim Academy - she loves it!
Thursday - Speech for Chase with Ms. Lauren. Love that angel teacher. Then to Chick Fil A. Let kids go inside - huge deal for us! Lovely morning playing in playground. Felicity wanted to climb up too! Played at Altitude Indoor Trampoline Park for the first time. Mackenzi ADORED it and sweetly took Chase to big kid section. They were awesome! Lydia enjoyed for about 20 minutes until all she wanted was water. Kai loved the little guy tramp section for 30 minutes and then was just so tired. Felicity adored every minute and was a party animal - so mad at me for taking her away! Forgot Lydia's swim lesson today, bummer.
Friday - Hosted cupcake day! Yum! Strawberry cupcakes, Oreo Cupcakes, and Rainbow Cupcakes! Each with own frosting! Mmm! Everyone had great morning playing and baking. Lydia swim lesson. Drove to La Grange to Jared's work. Bluebonnet pictures. Ate dinner out in La Grange. Home for bed.
Saturday - Family bike ride around lake! Beautiful moment! Stopped at park to play. Love these kids! Love family time!
12/21/17
Parkinson Kids
San Antonio, Texas with the Bernhofts!
We are so blessed and loved that the Bernhofts all flew to San Antonio to spend our yearly reunion together. What a sacrifice it is to travel with little ones on an airplane. Thank you dear family! We chose San Antonio instead of Katy or Houston because we thought it would awesome to spend a day at Sea World. It was - although Heather naively encouraged everyone to sit in the wet zone for the whale show. Oops! When we traveled to San Antonio years before we had sat in the wet zone on a day the whales were not obeying their commands and we didn't get wet. This was another story! We were drenched! I felt so bad for these little ones. Jared somehow magically kept baby Felicity dry! New shirts were purchased. Poor papa got sick from being soggy for hours. Brady's family headed back to the hotel with their wet littles and pregnant Kirsten. We did have a wonderful morning and afternoon though! We stayed for the evening wet and adventurous and enjoyed the Pet Show but we were all happy to head back to our wonderful hotel. We enjoyed the hotel fire pit and hotel pool. Some walked to the movie theater. We brought a suitcase of legos to play with in our hotel room to chat as littles played. We spent a terrific day at the San Antonio Doseum - what an amazing and beautiful place to play! Especially the kid river! Some went to tour the Alamo. We also enjoyed an outing on a riverwalk boat, fantastic riverwalk restaurant lunch, and a great playground nearby. We love our family! What a great visit between Christmas and New Year's and a perfect way to sprinkle off a blessed 2016.
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