Thumb sucker??

Charlie attacks his fists pretty much all day long. He just recently started putting his thumb in his mouth to suck on (although, at this point, he still prefers his entire fist!!). I think we may have a thumb sucker on our hands!

BEST weekend!

We had the BEST weekend with our little family! It started out on Friday afternoon when I began taking out all our Christmas decorations (and I'm still working on it at 10:00 on Sunday night!!) while both boys were napping. Henry woke up right in the middle of it but was such a good helper! I gave him our Nativity to unpack because the figurines are not breakable (we get a new item for the Nativity from my parents each year- we have quite the set going and luckily my mom thought to get the non-breakable ones even before we had kids!!). He happily played with the "barn" for quite some time. He also insisted on putting a Christmas throw pillow on "my big boy bed." Apparently he needed a little Christmas in his room too! :)

Saturday late morning/early afternoon brought up to "Min-e-a-pooo-les" to the "sky scwapas" to "daddy's off-is" for Tom's kid work party. The had a magician perform and Santa and Mrs. Claus made an appearance. As you can see from the fat lip in the picture, Henry was a bit nervous sitting on Santa's lap. Charlie was a trooper though!

After naps on Saturday afternoon we took the boys out for dinner- something we NEVER do (for obvious reasons!!!). We were nervous about how it would go, but were in the holiday spirit so we gave it a go! Both boys did remarkably well- I don't remember much of the dining experience as we spent the entire time entertaining the boys and shoveling our food in before one of them had a breakdown. I don't think Tom and I even had a conversation, but, hey, I didn't have to cook or clean up the kitchen! :) We then headed to the MOA for the second year in a row to visit the best, if not kooky, Santa! As you can tell from this picture, this Santa is a professional (not just a new guy in the office feeling obliged to play Santa). He had Henry just giggling! And Charlie was quite the trooper again!

Sunday brought lots of time outside! Henry has officially become a Minnesotan and LOVES to play in the snow!

Charlie even got to head out for a bit today!

Henry was showing Charlie the ropes on how to ride in the sled.

Henry and dad made several trips around our yard in the sled. They also shoveled the driveway at least 6 times. Apparently Henry is a big fan of his new snow shovel!

After naps, we went to an old fashioned farm Christmas! Henry thoroughly enjoyed the chickens. We spent most of our time in that stinky coop.

Comet and Cupid were also hanging out at the farm.

After a big of coaxing, Henry agreed to go on a tractor ride. He was a bit of a nervous nelly at first, but thought sitting on a hay bale was pretty cool. Charlie-man slept in his cozy stroller the entire time we were at the farm- again, what a trooper!

I even got some holiday goodies made this afternoon. We are definitely in the Christmas spirit at the Parks' home! :)

Big Bro, Lil' Bro

I put Charlie in his "lil' bro" shirt one morning before Henry got up. After seeing Charlie's shirt, Henry insisted on wearing his "Big Brother" shirt! He's so sweet!

Here's our buddy proudly sporting his Lil' Bro shirt! :)

Annual jammy picture!

Grandma Debbie gets the kids coordinating pajamas every year for an annual picture. Here are the cousins:
Charlie (14 weeks), Brynn (4 1/2), Henry (2), Aubrey (2), Cara (2 1/2), Nolan (3), Emry (5 months)

The "big" girls (and my favorite picture!!)

The "big" boys- these two are going to be in kahoots together, I'm sure of it!

And the babies . . . Emry is trying to show Charlie how to smile for the picture and he wants nothing to do with it!

And the girls, I mean girls and boy, with their baby dolls (who also got special new jammies from Grandma Debbie)! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! We had a great couple of days! We spent Thanksgiving day with Tom's mom and sister. We feasted on a spectacular Thanksgiving meal! On Friday, we made a quick trip down to A-town to celebrate with my family. All in all, an excellent Thanksgiving!

The two people I'm most thankful for . . . my two boys, Henry and Charlie! And their dad, of course! :)

Charlie was a very good boy on his first Thanksgiving! He slept much of the day at Grandma Mary's and at Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Dale's. He thoroughly enjoyed the turkey he had later on too! :)

First Snow!

Henry wasn't so sure about the snow at first. But after helping dad shovel and a few runs around the yard in his sled, he realized how much fun it can be! He did come in crying his first go round after falling on his face. He kept telling me through his sobs, "It told, mom. Fell on face. It told. It told on face."

In honor of his first snowfall, Charlie wore is snowman jammies! :)

Mom got smart!

We attempted paints again. Now that I have some experience, things went much smoother this time! :) First, I placed a paint smock on my two-year-old. A very smart move. Next, I sat next to him while he did the painting. And finally, . . .

. . . I had him "do the dishes" when he was finished. This cleaned him up as well as his paint brushes! Man, I'm getting good at this stay-at-home mom thing! :)