Thanksgiving 2012

The Prescott family is hosting Thanksgiving Dinner this year.  While Dave has taken care of most details (like purchasing the turkey) Parker has been busy working at making the table decorations.  I saw an idea online where kids made hand-print turkeys using finger paint.  I thought to myself this would be an easy and cute idea for our Thanksgiving Table. And clearly Parker had fun with the craft project.

And the Finished Project.......

After all the painting and drawing of turkey legs what better way to reward our hard work then with a Turkey Cookie!!

And while we come off our sugar high we are watching a the famous Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Cartoon.  Let's be honest a timeless classic.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!



Marshmallow Test Results

And the answer is.....

Marshmallow Test

Here's a little video we made of Parker last night.

 

July Already?!?!

Well it is almost July 4th and I have not posted any pictures or updates of Parker for almost four months. At this point I am sure most people have gotten to the point of total annoyance and have completely stopped looking at the blog. But for those of you that have held on to a small smidgen of hope and periodically check the blog--- then today you were downright surprised with a new posting!!   So read the new postings below to see what has been consuming Parker’s time.  By the way, I would recommend you not read all postings today because who knows when the next time I will add new pictures to the blog!!

So far I am through March....maybe by August I will have blog postings for April, May, and June!!

Turning the Big 4.....

Parker turned 4 on March 30^th and let me tell you Parker knows how to celebrate in style. 

The last picture taken of Parker when he was three years old.  This picture was taken right before he was going to bed as a three year old.   I sure hope once he turns four I won't get this cheezy smile anymore!!

His day started with helium filled balloons covering his bedroom.  This was one of those “cool” ideas I read on some “how to be a great mom website”.   I must warn anyone that is thinking “oh my what a cool idea, I am going to do that on my son/daughter’s next birthday”  Those balloons you want for one day will be around for a month after their birthday!  I was expecting since I went to the local dollar store we would be lucky to have the balloons stay up overnight.  Nope, finally in May I said I don’t care if the balloons still are floating I am tired of them in his bedroom!!

Of course on your birthday you need start your day with a breakfast donut with sprinkles.

Parker’s birthday was on a Friday so I took the day off of work and took Parker and his two favorite friends – Conner and Grandpa Ron to Sky Zone.  For those of you not familiar with Sky Zone it is indoor Trampoline Park.   It was awesome!  The boys jumped for three hours and were completely exhausted at the end.

Nothing can replenish the lost energy from jumping better than a sugar filled car cookie!   Here is the afternoon snack he was able to enjoy with Makena.

Before I realized Parker was going to have donuts and cookies all day, I had ordered a “small” cake for his birthday.  I just wanted something small for the three of us to celebrate with at supper.  So I called and pre-ordered a Scooby Doo cake with “Happy Birthday Parker”.   As you can see from the picture, the cake was a little smaller than I was expecting.   

February is Hockey Month

I think we spent most of February going to hockey games – Dave’s Hockey Games, Parker’s Hockey Games and the Minnesota Gopher Hockey Games.  Unfortunately, Dave’s hockey games were REALLY late at night.  In most cases Parker and I would be going to bed and Dave would be leaving to go to his hockey game.  Apparently ice time is only available at 11:00pm for “Old Men Hockey”.   But there were a couple of games that we could go watch. 

 Dave is #8 in front of the net

Parker loved watching his Dad on the ice

Parker spent the winter months taking Ice Skating Lessons on Saturday morning.  He definitely improved over the weeks.  Once the skating lessons were over we decided to try indoor-floor hockey through the YMCA.   Parker was definitely the best kid on the floor (and no, that is not his mom bragging!)  I had signed him up for the younger age division (3 year old group) since we were not sure how he would play.   Which technically he was three when the season started but he turned 4 after a couple of weeks into the season.  I think he had a ton of fun and was able to score a lot of goals. 

 He is the one blue guy in the pack of yellow

 Giving the Thumbs Up sign to his fans in the crowd

 Fighting with his own teammate over the ball

In addition to playing Hockey, we had tickets to a couple of  Minnesota Gopher Hockey games again this year.  To our amazement, Goldy came right by our seats to give Parker a High Five!

The Saddest Snowman

Since Minnesota has escaped the normal winter weather (thankfully), Parker hasn't had too many opportunities to play in the snow.  So one night after I picked Parker up from Daycare and we attempted to build a snowman. 

Isn't it the saddest snowman you have ever seen??  I did have a baby carrot in the fridge for his nose, used landscape rocks for the eyes and mouth, bubble wands for the arms, and a pair of Dave's work gloves for the hands.

Unfortunately, Parker lost his balance and fell right on top of the newly built snowman.....

And here come the fake tears when I told Parker we didn't have time to build a second snowman and needed to go into the house to eat supper and take our bath.  I am hoping the tears were because he wanted to play outside longer not because he doesn't like my cooking!!

Obviously the fake tears worked on mom....here we are the second time around.  However, no picture of the second snowman since he looked worse than the first.  Somehow in the accident we lost his eyes and his carrot nose broke.  

Happy Valentine's Day

Well apparently I have been slacking on my blog postings since I got a nasty text message from Brooke telling me that it has been over a month since I have posted any pictures.

So I decided I would do a simple posting of Parker's Valentine's he made his friends at daycare tonight.

They are small boxes of cereal that say "I CEREALsly like you!"

Parker had more fun playing with the scraps of paper than actually helping me.  So it was good there were only 6 kids to make them for!

Happy Valentine's Day!

  Look for my next blog posting around St Patricks Day!

Weekends are not for the Weak

The past two weekends have been extremely busy for the Prescott Family.  Here is the recap of all the activities we have done.

1. Friday, Dec 2nd - Parker had his annual Daycare Christmas Concert.  There are only 4 kids old enough to participate this year. Robin is amazing.  Besides the 4 kids pictured she also has Shane who is just over 1 and two new babies that are about 3 months old.  Pictured left to right - Ryan, Emma, Conner, and Parker.

After the concert, Ham magically appeared at our house from the North Pole. Ham would be the name that Parker picked out for our Elf on a Shelf.  Now, I know you are thinking he picked the name due to his overwhelming love for salty meat but you would be wrong.  He picked the name after Noah's son in the Bible named Ham (now, honestly how many of you knew that Noah had a son named Ham?  Not me!) But that is the sort of thing Parker learns from Robbie at daycare that makes me feel like my kid is smarter than me.  Parker LOVES hunting for Ham every morning.  And he brings Parker a present for the Advent calendar every day.  Yep, that Ham is one busy guy!

2. Saturday Mornings: Every Saturday morning Parker has ice skating lessons. The first 1/2 hour is the actual lesson and the second 1/2 hour Dave is able to join Parker on the ice for "practice"  I am amazed how much Parker has improved over the 10 week class.  Next Saturday is our last class and we will need to decide if we sign him up for the next session or maybe try floor hockey or indoor soccer through the YMCA.

3. Saturday, December 3rd Santa was in Lakeville!  There was a free holiday celebration in downtown Lakeville.  They had horse drawn sled rides (yes we went on the 10 minute freezing ride), real reindeer, and other fun activities for Parker.  The best was the Secret Santa Store for kids.  We started by making a list of who Parker needed to buy something for (i.e. Mom and Dad); determined his budget (i.e. $20) and then he goes shopping with Santa's helper while mom and dad enjoy cookies in the other room.  They help him wraps the gifts and 20 minutes later Parker comes strolling out of the store with the secret gifts ready to put under the tree.  Parker came out with a HUGE smile on his face and 5 gifts.  (3 for dad and 2 for mom) I have never wanted to open a present as bad as I want to open the one he picked out!  I can't wait to see what he thought was the "perfect" gift for mom.

Then we went to see Santa. (Santa doesn't look too jolly, does he??)

Parker even got his face painted like Rudolf

4. Sunday, December 4th  Christmas Activity #1 
We had tickets to Holidaze at Mystic Lake.  It is a Cirque du Soleil show with a little holiday twist. Parker was not overly entertained by it. Honestly, probably a little too young for the show.  He had more fun with the automatic revolving door while we were waiting for the car.  If I would have known that I would have let him run around in circles while I went to the show.

5. Saturday, December 10th - Christmas Activity #2
I had purchased tickets to the Children's theater in Hopkins for the show Peef.  Parker actually got a kick out of this show.  This was Parker before the show.

After the show, we waited in line to meet the cast.  Here he is with a couple of the elves from the show.

And - here he is with Peef the Bear.

Don't Ask If You Don't Want To Know

I have a funny story to share that happened between mom and Parker today.  I was pulling into Robin’s driveway (his daycare) and there was a lady getting into a car and I asked Parker who’s mom is that?  He said it was Shane’s mom and she is nice.  I figured this would be a good time to ask for a little complement to help me get through the work day – so I asked Parker “Who’s has the best mom” of course thinking he would enthusiastically answer “Parker!”  Oh no, he said “Damon’s mom! She has shiny stuff in her nose and that is cool!”   

I think the lesson of the day is not to ask a three year old a question that you don’t want to really know the answer.  And yes, I am doing a google search to figure out where I can get my nose pierced before I pick him up at 5:00.   

Thanksgiving 2011

We went to Iowa on Wednesday afternoon to spend the Thanksgiving Holiday with my family.  We left on Wednesday afternoon in hopes of beating the holiday traffic on the roads.  However, in our rush to leave the house we forgot the camera.  Actually we forgot the camera plugged into the wall, charging so we would have full battery to take the overwhelming number of Thanksgiving pictures.  Luckily, Brooke had her camera and shared a few photos with me.

Traditional Thanksgiving Baseball game between the Pilgrims and Indians.

It was absolutely beautiful in Iowa.  So the only Snowman around that didn't melt were the plastic ones in the city park.

Of course, had to get the annual Prescott Family picture sitting on the fireplace at my parent's cabin. Thankfully, Brooke always makes us take a family shot at holidays.  Without her, I doubt we would have any family pictures.

Does this picture make you want to start singing....

"We Are The Three Best Friends Anyone Could Ever Have"

How about this pictrure?

Unfortunately, Parker didn't seem to be feeling all that well, so we decided to cut our trip short and come back home on Thursday night.  We got home around midnight which was just in time for me to head out to the stores to be part of the Black Friday magic! (or is pure chaos a better description than magic?)  Either way, I love being part of the insane madness so I did go out shopping for a few hours on Friday. 

I need to make my list and check it twice but I think I am almost done with our Christmas Shopping!!  YIPPEE!  Now I just need to start wrapping the gifts!   SIGH!

Dad's Birthday and Pumpkin Carving

Dave’s birthday was the Saturday before Halloween, commonly referred to as October 29^th on the modern day calendar.  Dave is not a big cake eater and if he does have cake he likes chocolate.  I like cake but only white cake.  Obviously a major dilemma in the Prescott house, do I make a chocolate cake that Dave will only eat a couple of pieces and I throw the rest away or do I make a white cake in which I will eat the entire thing and gain unwanted pounds?  Obviously not a good solution either way so I decided to avoid cake altogether.  Parker and I made a surprise trip to Dairy Queen to get Dave his favorite ice cream treat…a Peanut Buster Parfait.  I am not exactly sure how much Dave really loves them.  I think he mentioned it once back in ancient times when we were “just dating”.  So either I am a fantastic wife for remembering his likes and dislikes or it was just a random comment he said back when he was still trying to impress me.  Either way, Dave was nice enough to share his Birthday treat with Parker.

I think Parker was worried that Dave was eating more than his fair share so he was trying to take as big of bites as he could.

 O
k mom…enough with the pictures!  My ice cream is melting!  

On Sunday, we decided it time to carve pumpkins for Halloween.  I bought a Halloween Pirate  Mr. Potato Head that instead of carving a pumpkin you simply stick them into the pumpkin.  Definitely easier and without the pumpkin gut mess.  Parker had fun helping Dave strategically place the pieces.   

If this picture came with sound, you would hear Parker in his best pirate voice saying….”Argh Matey”

Then we decided to go the old fashion method of carving a pumpkin.   So we get all the supplies:  newspapers covering the table, assortment of sharp knives, and pumpkin from the front step.  I am cutting the top off the pumpkin and Parker says to me….”Mom, I am kind of tired of doing this can I go play with my toys now?  SERIOUSLY?!?  Come on kid, I am trying to make lifetime holiday memories with you!  So no, you can’t go play with your toys you are going to stay here and help me carve a pumpkin and bye-golly we are going to have fun doing it too!! 

By the time I finished carving the pumkin, Parker was long gone so we don't have a final product picture but just imagine the most professional, Martha Stewart looking pumpkin and that will give you a close idea to what our pumpkin looked like.

Sunday Comics

Perfect Sunday Morning.....

Apple Jacks, Juice, and The Sunday Comics.

Have a great week!

Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires

Last week the Lakeville Fire Department had an open house for fire prevention month.  Since the fire station is just down the street and it was a nice night we decided to take Parker to see the fire trucks up close.  He had a great time.

He got his picture taken with Smokey The Bear's Friend The Firefighting Dog!?  Ok, so I have no idea who this character is but it was a cute picture of Parker.

He did like seeing the fire trucks up close and thought it was fun to actually sit inside!  Nevermind the sharp ax in the background of the picture!

He even got to sit inside the back of a police car.  Very cute picture when he is 3 let's hope it will be his first and only time inside the back of a police car.  Won't be such a cute picture when he is 16 years old.

They even did a car fire demonstration.  Which as you can see we got a front row seat.  Dave thought it was really cool but Parker got a little scared.  He kept thinking his hair was going to start on fire.

All in all a fun (and free) way to spend a Wednesday night.