AOTW #9 Lizzie and the splash park with her BFF

Lizzie had a great time with her BFF Wiamea at the Splash Park in Menifee. The girls loved running around while the water splashed them. Lizzie especially LOVED drinking the water... GROSS!!! I had to keep a close eye or she would have drank the splash park dry. She loved the dragon that sprayed water from its nose.

Thanks Mandi for all the fun!

Diapers, Wipes, and Cake... Oh My!!!

A HUGE thanks to Bethany and Angel for the AMAZING Diaper and Wipes Party!

(Isn't the diaper cake super cute?)
We had a great time playing games and eating yummy food. What could be better right? Thanks to everyone who came... it was great having you there!!! Krislynn will for sure have a clean bum thanks to all of you!

FHE with the Parkers

Well it has been another fun week with the Parkers at FHE. We headed to the Danielson's for yummy burritos and a great time. The kids played in the backyard, while the adults enjoyed playing Wii and tried to beat Kris. The Ontko's came and we got to enjoy more time with our little Delaney. She is just too dang cute! She already has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger.

Here's to the men in our life...

We are grateful for all the wonderful men in our life. They are so loving and always there when we need them. They love Lizzie and are excited for Krislynn to join the bunch. They enjoying spending time with their families and are always giving kisses. Thank you for all you do!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Dashing

Adventurous

Vivacious

Intelligent

Devoted

Virtuous

Energetic

Righteous

Neighborly

Deft

Entertaining

Admirable

Noble

Our Front Yard of ROCKS!!! still under construction...

Since most of you know California is having a water shortage we decided to go GREEN and help out! Since watering a lawn takes gallons of water, and water just went up again out here, we decided to make our front yard more California friendly. Our 1st delivery of rocks came, and we started working on our dried riverbed that will run down the middle of out front yard. Lizzie loved helping her Daddy and Papa throw the rocks into different piles. Our front yard is coming together, we just need to rake up the mulch and lay more plastic down. Then after all the rocks are placed just how we want them the succulent plants will be placed around the yard, and WA-LA we are finished!

Here's to being GREEN!

Delaney Kaye Ontko Is HERE!!!

Delaney Kaye (Josh and Marla's baby) came 10 days early!!! She was born on June 19th, 2009.

Aunt Katrina and Delaney

Uncle David and Delaney

Look how excited Lizzie is to meet her new cousin Delaney

We are so excited she is here, and ready to play with us. Hopefully she gave Krislynn a pep-talk before she left Heaven, and told her to come soon... since we all can't wait to meet her too.

Katrina, Delaney, and Lizzie

We are so excited for you Josh, Marla, Parker, and Lincoln!

NEVER walk out of your house without your keys

So let's just say that I feel like the worst mom ever!!! Today the new neighbors came and knocked on our door since they were storing their ladder in our garage since they didn't want anyone to take it. So I put some shoes on, shut the laundry door behind me, opened the garage door, and walked over to give them their ladder. I was over there for less than a minute and I left Lizzie in the house NOT thinking anything would go wrong.

I WAS SO WRONG!!!!

To my surprise Lizzie knows how to lock dead bolts! I guess she tried opening the door to follow me and she locked herself in the house. After dropping off the ladder I tried to open the door and it was locked. I started to panic realizing that my 18 month old is locked inside, and EVERY door,window, and slider is locked. I run back to the neighbors and ask if I could borrow her cellphone to call David. David asks me a million questions and wonders how she locked the deadbolt. (*sidenote: David carpooled today so he didn't have a car) David calls Papa and they come to our rescue. Meanwhile each set of neighbors are walking around our house trying to get in and trying to figure out how to break the deadbolt. Lizzie decides that our bedroom is the best spot for herself, and since we just got suntex on our windows she could see us, but we couldn't see her. So Charlotte Peel and I pull up some patio chairs and hang out with Lizzie while we wait for David and Papa to get here with the keys. (I didn't want to call 911 since they would have to break a window or ax our door-and we finally just got all of them in) Thirty minutes later David and Papa get here, and David rushes in to find Lizzie in our bedroom with a whirlwind of a mess. Thank goodness she was okay! So the moral of the story is to get copies of our house keys and hide one, plus pass some out to our friends who live in town.

Thanks to everyone who saved the day!

99 Balloons

Have tissues handy when you watch this video. It is amazing!

Beehive Cupcakes

We had our Beehive Birthday and I made these adorable cupcakes. Bethany gave me free range of whatever I wanted to do. So for the past two weeks I have been researching different bee theme cakes and cupcakes. I was going to go all out and make a beehive cake with bees flying all around it, and then I remembered I was 36 weeks pregnant and Lizzie would be at my side. So that idea got thrown out the window. Beth had sent me a picture of these cupcakes and they were fairly easy to make. They just took a long time to decorate, but I can't complain since I still got an hour and a half nap in after I was all done. Thanks Lizzie for letting your Mommy get a couple extra Z's. The party was great and the girls LOVED the cupcakes and the lemon water. What a fun party!

It's Christmas at The Parkers!!!!

Today was one of those days where you are trying to be so patient and waiting for the moment to be totally surprised with what Santa brought you this year. Since you were so GOOD, and you knew it would be something fantastic. Last night I couldn't sleep I kept imagining how the house would look like with BEAUTIFUL screens on EVERY window and how we could open up the house at night, and not be afraid that strange bugs would enter our home uninvited. I only got a couple hours of sleep, but when my alarm went off this morning I was so pumped. I hurry and got breakfast and in the shower I go. The clock strikes 9 and no screen man... I pace back and forth in front of the peephole checking every couple of seconds to see if he is here yet. I get butterflies when I see the screen van pull in front of my house. He is REALLY here!!! I try not to open the door to quickly and scare the man to death, but I have been waiting for this day... we will have been in our house a year the 21st of June and the day is FINALLY here! After an hour of peeking out the windows and admiring the beautiful mesh he is done! Off he drives and I stand inside the house doing the happy dance, since being a good girl really does bring Santa (the screen man) to your house!

Suntex screens on the back of the house-not quite finished

BEAUTIFUL screens on the rest of the house!

FHE with Parker

Josh is 31!

Parker Girl's Night Out

The Pregnant Ladies!!!

The Parker Girls
(Shauna, Masha, Katrina, and Marla)

Presents for Krislynn

Shauna enjoying her smoothie

Saturday Night the girls took me out to dinner at Mimi's to celebrate the coming of Krislynn. I know Mimi's two nights in a row.. what could be better right? Let me just tell you they have the BEST muffin right now it is cinnamon strudel. It is HEAVENLY!!! You definitely need to try it.Well it has been a LONG time since we have been able to get together without the kids, and oh did we have fun! Hours to chat and eat without kids distracting us, what more could you ask for.

Thanks again for the great night!

Krislynn's Name Check

Mimi's Night Out

I'm so grateful for great friends! The girls threw me a little baby shower at Mimi's Cafe to celebrate the coming of Krislynn. We had a great time! I guess we were a little too loud for the older people in the restaurant, and an old man asked the waitress if we were drunk. Later that evening Jenny told the old man we were not drunk, and he abruptly said, "You must be smokin' something good!" Old men say the darnest things!

I guess next time we should go to louder restaurant so everyone can't hear our conversion.

Thanks again girls for the rockin' night!

A Great Father's Day Idea

I found this GREAT Father's Day idea on a blog the other day, and I thought it was perfect! It won't break the bank, plus who doesn't like chocolate? And if they don't like chocolate use a different kinds of candy.

How to Make it:

-1 glass container ( I couldn't find Father's Day mugs)

-shredded paper to fill glass container, and cover foam

-floral foam

-Ribbon

-skewers

-candy

-clear tape

*Use the clear tape to hook the candy onto the skewers. Place your floral foam into the glass container of choice and cover with shredded paper (to get the paper down around the sides of the foam I used a skewer) After the foam is covered start sticking your candy into the foam. Decorate with a bow and you are done!!!

*My friend Carly and I were talking about a spin off of this idea. Use $5.00 gift cards to places he loves (ex: In-N-Out, Del Taco, Jamba Juice) GREAT IDEA HUH?

Lizzie's name check!

When we lived with Oma and Papa I found these cute letters at Michael's and just fell in love. They were painted to match the nursery (brick red, sage, and yellow), but with a couple layers of paint and some TLC they now match the BIG GIRL ROOM!!!!

Lizzie's 1st Nightgown

Okay so I have been super excited about nightgowns for Lizzie since I think they are adorable!!! So here she is in her 1st one! She LOVES it! My girl is getting so big!

Homemade Tamales with Sasha

Let me just start off this post by saying I have a GREAT friend named Sasha that loves me so much! At Christmas time Sasha and her family brought me over Homemade Tamales when I wasn't feeling so good. They were so yummy! The other day we got talking, and I asked if she would teach me how to make tamales since I just LOVE them. She agreed and we made a date! I learned everything I will ever have to know about tamales, and the best part... eating them! So tamales take a LONG time to make, but they are so worth it. We ended up with 6 huge gallon sized zip lock baggies of pork, and 2 bags of green chile's and cheese. Thank goodness Sasha's sister was there to help or we would have been rolling tamales all day, plus she always remind me when I was rolling the tamales backwards.

Maybe I will be adventurous at Christmas time and try making tamales by myself... I know your mouth is watering, and you all ready want some!

Thanks again Sasha for the great day, and teaching me how to be a FANTASTIC homemaker!

I bet you are guessing what these pictures are of? RIGHT? Well Lizzie and Sammy the other naked kid in the picture decided they were going to go and play in the bathroom (the toilet) Sasha and I thought the kids were in the living room playing since their voices sounded so close...

WE WERE SO WRONG!

Sasha had a feeling that the kids were getting into the trouble and they were all right. The floor was covered in toilet water and they were both soaked. So here is a picture of them getting ready to get a quick bath in the sink. (Lizzie loves to eat her bath time lotion, so here she is eating liquid soap) The kids couldn't have been happier... They were so proud of their mess!

Later that day as we were finishing up Sasha made the kids lunch. Here is Sammy feeding Lizzie grapes. Aren't they the cutest? They are such great little buddies!

Rainy days are here again!!!

Don't you just LOVE rainy days? Well I do especially being pregnant, and not having to deal with the heat.I wish I could find this red bench and just go sit in the rain, and ponder about all the beautiful things our Heavenly Father has blessed me with. Doesn't the picture just make you want to go out and sit in the rain?

I love listening to the thunder and laying in bed. I just want to go snuggle up in bed and read a good book, and enjoy the tapping melody of the rain hitting my roof.

ENJOY THE RAIN!!!

Our Trip to Lemoore,CA

Last weekend we decided that is was FINALLY time to visit The Evans Family in Lemoore, CA. So I called up my great friend Amy, and told her we were coming to visit. We had a great visit with them and the girls had a great time playing with one another. I didn't get any pictures of the girls, but I did get some of our hot date in Fresno!!! Jason's parents were kind enough to watch the girls for us and we were able to have some ALONE time! We drove to Fresno and ate at an Italian Restaurant that looked and made us feel like we were in Vegas. The bathrooms had mirrored walls and dimmed lighting the only thing you needed was a bed and you were set! Then we drove over to visit the Fresno Temple, and for dessert we headed to the Cheesecake Factory, and oh was it good!!! Thanks Jason,Amy, Michelle, and Chloe for the great weekend!

David and I enjoying the ride to Fresno

The Italian Restaurant

David, Jason, Amy, and Me at the Fresno Temple

Our model shot!

P.s. Well we can't blog without talking about Busy Lizzie right? Well as you know we have been working on getting her to sleep in her BIG Girl Bed, and she has been doing great. Well with the trip I didn't know how she would do. She got to sleep in a toddler bed so I thought what the heck... this will totally work out! RIGHT????

WRONG!!!

The 1st night she fell asleep within 10 mins and I thought man she is loving not being in a crib. David and I didn't go to bed till around 2 AM since we were visiting and playing Rock Band. When I walked into the room that we were staying in I noticed Lizzie's legs were hanging off the bed, and if she moved again she would fall out of bed. So the SMART mom I am I got out of bed and lightly lifted her legs back into bed. Lizzie FREAKED OUT and was WIDE AWAKE!!!! You have to remember it is 2 am and I still haven't gotten any sleep. David and I switch taking turns with her, and trying to get her back asleep. After 2 hours and no luck I went out on the couch to get some sleep, and David can sleep though anything.. so she played all night long. Finally around 7 am I went into the room to find it a DISASTER!!! Lizzie had emptied out our suitcase and all the toys from the girls shelving unit. The floor was covered; you could barely open the door wide enough to get in. Lizzie was so proud of her accomplishment, but all weekend I was looking for different things Lizzie had hid throughout the room that I needed from our suitcase. David went and played basketball and he for sure thought Lizzie would have crashed by the time he got back. Yeah right! We went swimming and enjoyed the day. She did really well but I think the swimming finally got to her, and when she hit the car seat she was OUT!