Sunday, November 27, 2011

November

So we are all still sickos in our house.  I don't recall ever being sick so much in my entire life.  I am not sure if its because I started working at a hospital and I'm around patients, or if its because my kid is in daycare now and she picks everything up at the preschool there... who knows, but I'm hoping we reached our sick quota for the next few years and we won't have to suffer anymore.
November just whizzed by so I'll post some pics from the past month for your viewing enjoyment :)  I can't believe McKel is almost 1 whole year old now!  Avril loves the snow, and the holidays.  She hasn't stopped talking about Halloween and Thanksgiving, so Christmas is going to be a big hit, I'm sure!

Avril grins proudly at her snowman creation with Papa Spencer

Avril cried when her snowman melted.  It was devastating for her.

My brown-eyed girl, and my blue-eyed beauty, just snuggling on the couch :)

Time for a little sledding!!

Nana pulled the girls in the snow, what fun!

Trish and all her babes on Thanksgiving up at the Parkinson Great Grandparents' house

Olivia helped us make little treat baskets for everyone

And Papa Spencer carved the turkey!

Grandma Joyce busy in the kitchen

Jared with one of the triplet boys... sorry, not gonna try to guess which one!

Olivia cuddles up to her bearded dad

Seems like everyone is holding a baby in these pics

Cousin Brittney and Avril :)

Nana and Papa with Baby McKel

Great Grandpa Parkinson and Gayle

cute couple- Kelly and Trish

Not sure he's a fan of the piano playing... looks like it knocked Kelly out though

More Thanksgiving visitors, the Robert and Tracine Parkinson clan

Great Grandpa Parkinson again

another baby holding pic

...and another... Adrian with one of the triplets

Papa helps McKel enjoy some chocolate pie

Avril is a huge fan of the pumpkin pie!

Arleen and a triplet

Every single person in this pic was born on April 16th.  Crazy, huh?

... and the August 11th birthdays... Olivia and Brittney
Tried to get them to sit still and pose on the stairs but this is the best we could do... Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The Sick House

Once again, been too long since I've hit up bloggerville.  I don't think single parents should be allowed to get sick.  Then again, being sick has forced me to slow down a little and take a sick day from work which is why I'm sitting here updating the blog in the first place.  So I guess I'm glad I got sick?  First Avril had this cold/flu thing... then McKel... and I'm the lucky last one to get it.  I did get a flu shot this year... not that it did me any good.
So here are the updates:
MOM:  I recently was hired for a full time position at the Cache Valley Specialty Hospital.  I have been training for my new job the past week, and there are still a world of things to learn, as I have never had a job quite like this before.  I do enjoy it, because its new, I love to learn, I get to work with awesome people, and I am working with money, which I'm good at :)  I will be in charge of doing the billing for the hospital... which is a VERY busy job, and I'm finding that there are lots of improvements that need to be made in that department.  I have my work cut out for me.  This position will be nice because I can now get benefits, a little bigger paycheck, and more job security.  The downside is that my dream of being at home with my kiddos cannot happen at this point in my life.  I miss my girls terribly every single day.  But, I do have lots of help from friends and family members and we found an excellent daycare/preschool so this is our new life and we are becoming accustomed to it.  I think prayers are being answered... sometimes I have my doubts, I must be honest.  But I keep praying anyway...
AVRIL:  Avril is becoming such a silly little thing.  She is so entertaining.  I cannot imagine how her little brain works.  She says the most random, hilarious things all the time!  She is now in a preschool class at her daycare, which has actually worked out quite well.  Avril is so smart, and she really needs something like that to keep her mind working all the time.  I started hearing her say, "Oh my world!"  This is because Nana says, "Oh my word!"  Its pretty funny to hear :)  Avril had the time of her life at Halloween.  It was just about the happiest I've seen her.  She was squealing with delight as we went trick-or-treating, and she wasn't even shy!  She would say Trick-or-Treat!  And Thank you, and shout out, Happy Halloween!!
MCKEL: McKel is at the stage where she is learning and growing so quickly it is hard to keep up with all the changes.  I feel bad for not being more on top of all the exciting new things happening in her life, the way I was with Avril... but its just so much more difficult with all the working I've been doing lately.  McKel now has 4 teeth...2 up top and 2 on the bottom.  The top two came in within the past month.  The majorly exciting news with McKel is that she is 100% walking now!!  By her 10 month birthday she was already taking several steps.  I need to get a good video of this but I haven't been around with a camera much to catch it.  But she loves to practice walking all over the house, and doesn't mind taking some stumbles along the way.  She just walks around with a big grin on her face.  She is generally such a happy baby girl, as she always has been.  Unfortunately, she did not get to join in on the Trick or Treating this year but we did dress her up for a Halloween party at the daycare.  McKel was sick on Halloween but it gave mommy some alone quality time with Avril so I guess it turned out ok.  McKel's favorite thing to say is "Uh Oh!"  She repeats this over and over.  Usually she will sit at her high chair and drop things over the edge then say, "uh oh!"  (not really an uh oh if you ask me).
So... that's whats new with me and the girls!  Here are some pics:

Avril got in to the cereal cabinet and found some vanilla flavored soy protein powder.  For some reason she thought it would be a good idea to dump it on McKel's head.  McKel didn't seem to mind.
Powdered McKel
My lil punkin Avril...  I have to show a pic from a previous year when we made her a real punkin' :)
Avril Halloween of 2009 as a real punkin!  Love her chunky lil legs :)
We also had a lil watermelon for Halloween this year.  We had many compliments on our cute harvest this year!
Mommy helped Avril make a spider web at her Halloween daycare party.
Love those big baby blues

Nana as Dolly Pardon and our lil punkin girl on Halloween, getting ready for trick-or-treating!
Dolly giving McKel a bath in the sink

McKel loves to stick her tongue out and rub it back and forth across her teeth :)

Mommy and her lil melon going to the party

Could they be any cuter?!!
 



Happy Halloween!  From the Punkin, the Watermelon, and the sick Mama!

A clip showing some McKel's first few steps...