Family Night

Because I know that Preston (and John Cole, for that matter) will only experience the true magic and wonder of Christmas for a short time--P asked tonight if that was the REAL Santa--I want to make the most out of this Christmas season :)  So we had a holiday family night out in Jonesboro/Hodge.  About 3 times a year I CRAVE fried fish/hush puppies/french fries....GREASE!  Like I said it's not often but when I do my family is game so we went to the Catfish Inn in Hodge for dinner.  When we were all stuffed--especially John Cole who consumed at least 7 popcorn shrimp, 10 or so fries, probably half a hush puppy AND ice cream--we headed to J-town to see the lights and Santa. What a surprise to also find the pony and carriage ride too!  All in all we had fun, boys are tired and another to do is marked off my Christmas list :)  Hope you are getting into the spirit......

**SANTA report***
John Cole was not at all afraid of Santa!  YAY! Now, I say that and he will prolly scream next time but he was quite intrigued with his beard tonight.  Preston came up with a NEW WANT tonight..a remote control boat? ? ? ?   Maybe Santa is going to wait and see if that request comes up again....more later...

Kansas City Southern Comes to Town!

My pics aren't the best, but they do I think give you a glimpse of our afternoon welcoming the KCS Santa train to town!

The plan I had was to kill some time after I picked up Preston at 2:45, so I got my car washed and leisurely meandered downtown fully planning to go grab a cupcake with the boys at SocialBites before we went to see the train.  BUT, when I pulled up to my strategic parking spot South of the track at 3:10 and saw the line with about 50 people we changed plans and got in line!

So, we were IN LINE at 3:15.  John Cole was a PRINCE in his stroller for well over an hour while we waited. Santa actually rolled in at 4:00 and the train wasn't ready til about 4:20 so P even got to visit with him before our tour.  I didn't attempt a pic with Santa with both kids because a) they weren't even dressed that cute b) after an hour in the stroller I could just about guarantee John Cole's reaction to him and c) I didn't know how much time we had before train line rolled.  (Think I'm just trying to justify no pic with John Cole....)  Preston could only remember one thing he wants from Santa--a remote control helicopter.  He was quite stricken with the man in the red suit but I told him not to worry he would have other chances......

Now we get to get on the TRAIN!  I will say I was impressed mostly with the extremely friendly "elves" KCS brought on the train.  They even rolled my stroller to the end of the line while we toured the train.  Little touches that made this a great time.  The elves heaved P onto the train and the rest was just magical.  Every square inch was filled with snow, tinsel, ornaments, figurines....yep pretty gaudy but the kiddo set LOVED it.  And the train room was next to none.  I really wish we would have had more time to explore but they were shuttling us through pretty fast.  They even handed out favor bags at the end and the boys bathed with their Christmas rubber duckys tonight.  All in all it was a great time.  Love, love this time of year :)

**PS**  K-K Preston told ALL the people in line with us about his letter from Santa :)

Thanksgiving in Winnfield

The Parkers have had a whirlwind few days that culminated with a wonderful family Thanksgiving celebration today in Winnfield!  Thanks again, Nana and Pop!  We all had a blast :)

John Cole's Big Day!

I will save my official reflections for your actual birthday, John Cole, but wanted to document how much fun YOU had at your first birthday party today!  We had a low turnout from the baby set, but you loved having your Mom and Dad, big brother, Nana and Pop, Resa, Grandfather and Gran-Gran and KK and Kevin there to celebrate!  Mom is glad she got the balloons because you LOVED playing with them.  You even got one to stick on your head with static like your brother was doing.  You didn't eat altogether that much of your cake--which REALLY surprised me--but it may be because you were diagnosed with an ear infection yesterday and are just not yourself.  HOPEFULLY, you, your brother AND your Mom and Dad are going to be well for awhile...hopefully!

Thanks fam for coming out!  John Cole loves you all VERY MUCH!

Thanksgiving Feast

Oops!  Just realized that none of my pics from the actual "feast" turned out but when Preston is in silly face mode you have to take what you can get :)

Loved going with Jeff to the LPECC for this special day.  Preston was quite sad that Pilgrims did not eat Lunchables thus he did not have his regular lunch fare.  We all enjoyed our meal--really, it wasn't that bad--and spending time together.  Of course, Preston and Remy could not stay apart for long, and were wearing their hats backwards clowning around as soon as they got through eating....

P is on day 3 of Augmentin because he was diagnosed with strep throat Monday.  Poor thing was pretty sickly but is ALMOST back to his normal self. Please pray John Cole's CONSTANT runny nose stays just that...a runny nose...an does not turn into a bacterial infection.  He needs to be well for his first birthday bash Saturday!

Hope you are all doing well...it's chilly out there!

Halloween Hijinks

Well, another (and John Cole's FIRST!) Halloween has come and gone and 2012 goes down as one to remember!  I will say that getting good pics of BOTH of the boys has become difficult if not impossible, so I hope these "real life" shots will provide a glimpse of our evening :)

This year for Halloween Preston was the San Diego Zoo "Zookeeper"--costume a Christmas gift from sweet Miss Paige--and John Cole was monkey.  Now, Preston wanted to be the zookeeper so that's why John Cole was a monkey but Jeff and I knew we could not hold him all night thus the idea for the "cage."  I casually mentioned the idea to Grandfather one night and the next thing I know he was here to measure the wagon :)  Thanks, Grandfather, for helping make trick-or-treating a little easier and making us the BIGGEST hit!  Everyone LOVED the monkey in the cage...but I just happen to think it was because of the super cute monkey...

We were not able to go to as many houses as last year,because both boys were SUPER tired, but all in all our night was a HUGE success.  Have to give yet another shout out to Nana for all her help.  Also, I'm grateful to Jeff for being a good sport.

Until next year....