Casey at the Bat

So...we're pretty lucky...really lucky...not only do we have amazing parents and friends, but our friends have amazing parents too.  Karen Norton is one of the most amazing people I know and lucky for us, she lives in Wichita and will usually try to stop by and say hello if we are in town.  This time was a real treat.  She had read how much P loves Casey at the Bat and brought the book with her to read.  Oh, and she recorded it so that I could keep it...so sweet.  She posted the video on her blog and you can see it here.  It definitely gives you an idea of just how many times he's heard this poem!

Thank you so much Karen!!

**just so you know...I didn't realize it was recording at the time...luckily I don't have a chest so you don't get too much of a show, ha!

A few realizations...

So, we're back!!  We had an amazing, exhausting, emotional, and fulfilling trip back to good 'ol Kansas.  One of my oldest and best friends, Wendy, got married and P and I were both in the wedding. I can't tell you how blessed I felt to be a part of her day.  

As always, I came to a few realizations while we were home...

1.  Have 'gator' will travel.  P loves his 'gator' at my parents' house (I am not really sure why we started calling it this).  He could ride on it every day, all day.  He even convinced my mom to push him all the way to the park once.

2.  Seeing my whole family does my heart good.  My brother came home for a few days...unfortunately, it was the same weekend as the wedding and our time was limited, but definitely better than nothing.  He also brought his beautiful girlfriend home and I am so glad I was able to meet her!!

3.  Sometimes it is necessary to refuel on friendship.  I never get to see everyone I want to see when I am home...it just gets too hard to spend time with family and see friends when you aren't home very often.  However, my best friend, Jamie, drove down from KC (yeah, I know...she is an AMAZING friend)  for a quick girls lunch with one of my other good friends, Heather.  I didn't realize how much I needed to be around friends who knew me before I was Brady's wife or Parker's mom.  I know it sounds silly, but just going to lunch re-charged my spirit.

4.  P loves salad...and ketchup...especially together

5.  P finally tamed the beast (my parents' dog, millie)...she actually let him pet her...numerous times...crazy

6.  I have definitely missed this other little man, Greyson.  He is Lindsey's son...she is one of my absolute favorite people which makes him one of my favorite little guys.  I swear we did not mean to dress them alike!

7.  P should not see his cousins on less than 8 hours of sleep.  As you can tell from the picture below, he was not exactly awake and totally missed out on the fun because he was a walking zombie.  Too bad...he woke up the next morning asking to see Kyler and Kamden...shoot!!

8.  We need to see cows more often...P loves animals...Papa Marvin even waited to herd the heffers and their calves until we got there...it was pretty awesome, but P thought they were too loud, ha.

9.  P loves goats...seriously.  Last year at this time he was terrified and this year, he saw them on three different occasions and loved it.  My favorite 'P' quote from the petting zoo, surrounded by goats, was, 'hey guys, excuse me...excuse me guys.'

10.  All a boy needs is a club...my dad took P golfing...he even found a putter that could be either right or left (because P swings with his left and throws with his right so we're still not sure) and cut it down to size.  P was in heaven.  This was G-Dawg/ Parker time and I don't have any pictures...shoot.

11.  Never underestimate the power of 'baseball socks'...P was growing a little weary of shopping and I when I had to open a pair of black socks to try on some black shoes for the wedding, his mood instantly lifted...'baseball socks, yay!'

 12.  A good neighbor is hard to find...luckily the bride and groom are also good friends with our old neighbors, Cate and Brian.  This means I got to see a lot of them while we were home.  I seriously miss them so much!!

13.  Old friends never get old...I had the pleasure of hanging out with my two best friends from high school for almost three days straight.  It always amazes me how quickly we can pick up where we left off and always reminds me of how lucky I am to have them in my life.

14.  When your date is wearing a three-piece suit, it doesn't matter how tall he is...seriously, how cute is he!!

15.  Watching a good friend find the love of her life never gets old...so happy!!

16.  If you agree to let your son have a Woody (the toy)...always ask if it talks first!

17.  It takes a village...it never fails, every time we come back, I wonder if we've done the right thing.  I see how P is with our parents and I wonder how we can possibly raise him without them.  They are so amazing and always seem to think of something to teach him that I have forgotten.  I love that he is so close to them and that there is never any time lost between them.  I am so grateful for all they do.

18.  Home is sweet...even though being far away is hard and I love going back to see family and friends, I love coming home to see Brady even more (it doesn't hurt when the house is clean and flowers are on the table:).  I know that I am so lucky that he lets P and I come back without him and I am so grateful.  We are so very blessed.

FACE!!

I am so glad that P got to see Uncle Landon while we were back in Wichita.  However, my darling brother thought it was a brilliant idea to teach P to say, 'face' and stick out his hand every time someone is frustrated.  Before he left, Landon was a little disappointed that Parker wasn't really very interested.

Well, last night, Parker would not stay in bed and I was starting to get really frustrated.  Parker stopped, looked at me, stuck out his hand, and said, "face!"  I wish I could have gotten it on video because he does it in a super low voice with his lips pursed...I couldn't help but smile:)

Uncle Landon was so proud!

today P bought a tall giraffe...

Today P bought a tall giraffe...I told him he could only have it if he saved his money.  It took him three weeks of putting random loose change in his jar, but he did it.  We walked to the bookstore, he picked up the giraffe (and only the giraffe...no small feat), and paid for it himself...he even gave me the right coins when I asked for them.  I was so proud.

Today I let him wear his football uniform because let's face it, I've been busy packing and running errands and didn't have the energy to argue...because of this, when he tripped and fell at the Gap, he looked like he had played in an actual game.   

Today I took Parker to a coffee shop looking like this (see above) while I wore workout clothes...I'm pretty sure I gave Americans a bad name.

Today P got his hair cut...never tell a man you want to keep some of the curls...he pretty much cut them all off (tear)...

Today I realized that no matter how excited I am to go home and see our family, I am so, so sad to leave Brady.  I hate traveling without him and two weeks seems like an eternity.  He is my rock and I am going to miss him like crazy!

Easter Sunday

Lord you are so wonderful
And deserve our love and praise
I cannot express just how I feel
When I think of your saving grace

To think of what you went through
That day upon the cross
And in the moments leading up to it
When soldiers spat and scoffed

And beat you with no mercy
Making sport and having fun
You said not a word in your defence
Even though you were God's son

You bore it all out of your love
For the lost and dying souls
To give us a hope we can hold on to
For a future yet to unfold

It's such a beautiful description Lord
Of what your grace can do
For no one's exempt from your saving grace
But it's a gift freely given from you

MS Lowndes

Happy Easter!

Love the Alexanders

egg hunt

What a great way to start the Easter weekend...lunch with friends, plenty of playground time and a fantastic  egg hunt.  Easter is one of my favorite holidays and I am so glad we have friends to help us feel more at home.  

P was finally able to test out the new swingset that Brady helped build and he loved it...so much so, that even when we did a flip off the swing (pictured below...I managed to get his feet falling on camera), he cried for only a minute and was ready to go again.

I love watching P look for eggs...and open them...he can hardly contain himself...even if his mom is a huge nerd and puts things like wooden numbers and letter stickers inside (I put a few pieces of chocolate, toy story stickers and modeling clay too...:)  Thank goodness he is so easy to please!

We even got a Tom Cruise-esque performance later before bedtime...I should have recorded it, but you get the idea ... such a good day!

egg-tastic!

The girls came over to decorate eggs and bunny masks.  P is always excited to see them and they had a ton of fun crafting.  Parker preferred the game of seeing how many eggs he could get in one glass, but we still managed to get some great eggs to hide tomorrow...how I love holidays.

oh boy, big boy!

Last night I had a dream that P started pre-school...I think I was having an anxiety attack by the time I woke...worrying that I had missed time with him and that he was already old enough to go.  Unfortunately, my dream wasn't too far off from reality.  P is exactly 2 and a half today and in just a few short months, I will be taking him to preschool.  I know that I say this a lot, but I just can't believe how fast time goes.  Every day, he amazes me.  Whether he is learning to climb the rope ladder at the playground by himself, or using a word that I didn't even know I used, my baby is growing up.  This post is just for us to try to make time stand still, if only for a minute, so we will always remember what he is like right now.

Parker, you are the best part of me and your daddy and we love you more than you will ever know!

'Can you say'...For some reason, you like to tell us how to say things and what to call you.  For instance, if we say, 'Parker, can you come here?'  you will say, "Mommy, can you say, 'come here P-Diddy.'"  We hear variations of this using , 'big guy' 'big man' etc.  If you are hurt or tired and want to be held or carried, you always refer to yourself as a little guy..."can you carry me mommy, I'm just a little guy."  Even though I know you are just trying to get what you want, I am a sucker for a little snuggle time.

Alphabet...you know all of your uppercase letters and a good number of your lowercase (I kind of forgot to work on the lowercase ones until last week...oops).  I love walking around town and hearing you yell out  letters you see (literally).

Counting...you are finally starting to count actual objects.  Instead of just counting to count, you point and assign a number...finally.  When you are just counting, you are almost up to 30...almost:).

Reading...you can 'read' along with all of your favorite stories and I catch you sometimes 'reading' them to yourself from memory.  You just make my day.  You have so many favorite books and stories that I don't think I can list them all, but one of your absolute favorites is Casey at the Bat.  I just love when you 'lightly doff your hat' just like Casey.

'I can't wipe it off!'...recently, you have learned how to cross your eyes when you make your serious face...you think it is hilarious, but Daddy and I think it is a little scary.  When you are tired, you make the serious face over and over again and then wipe your eyes and say..."I can't wipe my serious face off!"

'What's the big idea?'...I think I have Donald Duck to thank for this one...you have recently started saying, "what's the big idea," "I've got some bad news," and 'I just have one more problem."  Usually, when I ask you what your bad news is, you'll say, 'Daddy has to go to work today.'  Silly boy.

'What does that mean?'...I think I answer this question about a thousand times a day.  Anything new (and sometimes when talking about things I know you understand) you will say, 'what does that mean?'  Tonight we read a book about sheep (no joke, it was more like a reference book) and it took us 40 minutes to explain everything you ever wanted to know about sheep.  I love that you are so curious.

Dancing...you absolutely LOVE to dance and sing.  It doesn't matter whether we are walking in city centre and hear a street performer or standing in line to buy something, if you hear something you like, you just can't help yourself.  You have pretty good rhythm too (better than me at least...thank goodness!).  You still say that Firework is 'your' song, but you call it "baby fire go to work."  You also regularly request Forget You and love Rolling in the Deep and Marry You.

Sports...you adore sports, all sports.  You even showed me a book about cricket the other day, and called it cricket...I didn't even know you knew what cricket was.  We are constantly, throwing, catching, kicking and shooting balls.  I love that you love sports...especially K-State sports (although I'm a little sad I will no longer get to hear you say, "Frank Martin looks mad mommy!").

Hugs and Kisses...you are such a lover.  Anytime either one of us is going somewhere (and sometimes even skyping), you say, "I need some hugs and kisses."  You just melt my heart.

Sometimes I just look at you and feel like my heart is so full it could burst.  You make absolutely every day worth waking up for and constantly remind us of how blessed we are.  I just want you to know that you are the very best thing to ever happen to us and Daddy and I love you so much...to the moon and back:).