20 months old

when I say, "smile for the camera" I get the following:

bruise on his face... typical

two walks a day... always wants to push his "Mickey Bus"

posing at the aquarium - only because he saw a big kid do it first.  he saw a young girl stand in front of a life-size whale and have her parents take a picture.  when she was done, parker rushed over and stood there and then called out to me to come over.  i asked him if he wanted his picture taken and he said yes, but he seemed very confused.  he stood there waiting patiently as a i got out my phone to snap a photo.  i love the face he is giving... so perplexed as to why he is standing there, but knows that if the big kids are doing it - it must be cool.

Backyard

It has taken over a year to finish our backyard, but it's finally complete.   We would not have been able to do it without our parents - all three sets of them have helped in some way!

Here is what we were starting with.

First, Jake and his step-dad put in some grass for Roxy to use.  Then came sprinklers and a retaining wall.

Look at all those blocks!  Keep in mind it was July 2011 and was very hot!  (Yes, it took us almost six months just to get to this step... we had a newborn...)

What a wall!  I helped with the middle row.... Jake might have gone back to fix it...

Next, was the huge dilemma of how to go about laying concrete or paving stones.  Given the 100 degree heat and the amount of time it took Jake just to complete a wall, I urged him to hire people!  I finally won (barely) and they got started around August 2011.  The first thing they did was level the ground... all the dirt needed to go somewhere while they worked...

When Jake got home from work the first day and saw how much dirt needed to be removed he was so grateful I made him hire people.

Parker (8 or 9 months?) playing in the sand for the pavers.  I can't get over how different he looks. 

Almost ready for the paving stones...

Ahhh... all finished... we got a large canopy thing to block the sun and also the neighbors... we kind of live in a fishbowl and this helps.

Green stuff!!!  More help from the in-laws this weekend (February 2012... yes, a year after we moved in).

Sandbox for Parker!

Finally outside for the cold months...

Now it's hot again and we've made the sandbox a mini pool for Parker.  He also loves playing with the hose, walking along the retaining wall (which makes me nervous), and helping tend to all our plants.  He'll find the flowers and help water them from his bucket, but mostly just dig in the dirt. 

I realized while writing all of this and looking at pictures I didn't have any recent photos.  So, I ran outside while Parker was enjoying a snack (his latest word, by the way) and snapped some pics.  There were toys everywhere and I thought about picking them up... but, that just wouldn't give you a real idea of what our backyard is like.  Let's be honest, there are toys scattered out there all the time. 

Done.  So thank you to all of our family who helped us with this huge project.  We couldn't have done it without you!

Happy Birthday, Sister!

love my sis...