Parks Winter Vacation 2009 in Review

Here are some pictures from how we spent the rest of our holiday break...

Here we are headed to take our birthday/holiday pictures.

The morning after the kids' birthday, Terry realized that there was a UCF basketball game that evening. The Parks and Crawfords packed in the truck and headed to Orlando.

We had a great time at the game...

as did The Crawfords.

As we were walking to the game we discovered that Light Up UCF was going on right outside of the UCF Arena. The Arena was covered with Christmas lights, festive Christmas music was playing, there was an ice skating rink, ferris wheel, carousel and other fun stuff going on. It was really hard for Star to bypass this and head into the game, but we got her in;) After the game, although a little chilly and late, we were able to take the kids on their first carousel ride. As you can see they enjoyed it:)

We enjoyed several pancake and waffle breakfasts that the kids, especially Olivia, enjoyed. She is quite a fan of pancakes/waffles with syrup. Here is Olivia sharing her pancakes with TJ.

The kids had so much fun with Star and Travis during their visit with us.

The Crawfords cooked a wonderful New Year's dinner complete with the traditional black eyed peas, collard greens as well as some spectacularly seasoned cornish hens. Mmmm...mmm...good!

Needless to say we were very sad to see them leave...and sad to see the winter vacation end.

Happy New Year!

Parks Twins Turn 3!

Here are some pictures from this year's Backyardigans themed birthday "party". After a wonderful visit to the pediatrician (no shots!...yay!!!!!), we had a low-key party at the house complete with yummy cupcakes, compliments of Star, and gift-opening. Good times...

Birthday Girl - Olivia

The Birthday Boy - TJ..looking a little skeptical of the Backyardigans tablecloth.

Blowing out the birthday candles

Mommy with the birthday boy and birthday girl

The Parks Family

Our party guests, Mr. and Mrs. Crawford

Opening gifts

Olivia and I opening her Dora card

TJ trying out their stethoscope on Olivia

Olivia and her Daddy...she insisted that her hard hat was put on facing backwards...

Olivia with ALL of her Dora stickers on her shirt and Fireman TJ

Next up...a little bit of this and a little bit of that from the rest of the 2009/beginning of 2010.

Feliz Navidad!

Parks/Johnson Christmas 2009...SO. MUCH. FUN! This was the first Christmas where the kids really got into the Christmas spirit. They loved seeing all the Christmas lights, "Christmas socks" (aka stockings), singing Christmas carols and Sanwanta (aka Santa). As has been the tradition since the Christmas the kids were born, we spent Christmas in Palm Bay and the family came to us. My grandma, mom, dad and sister were all under one roof for Christmas, which is always a treat. I managed to not be in ONE picture the entire day, but here are a few pictures from Christmas day...I PROMISE I was there!

These are the cutest little cots from Grandma and Grandpa in Columbus. They fold up into a little bag just like the tailgating chairs. The kids loved these so much, they even took their naps on them.

Opening their stockings...

This is Olivia with her glasses, mittens and slinky that she got out of her stocking...

TJ with the three OJ's. (Otis Johnson, the original "OJ"; Tara, aka"Otis Jr."- nickname given to my sister by her high school coach b/c she couldn't pronounced her real name "Quetara"; and Olivia Janae.)

The kids' first skates. They loved putting on all the gear.

Olivia caught on pretty quickly and wanted to "skate" on her own...they were confined to the carpet for my sanity.

One thing that was especially fun was that Olivia REALLY got into the act of opening gifts. I don't know that any adult actually opened their own gift except my grandma. Everyone else was handed their gifts one by one by Olivia and given the "do you mind if I open this one" look.

TJ was busy trying to put anything and everything into Elmo's mouth every time it opened. Silly kids!

Next up, our Christmas hairdo. I scheduled their holiday/birthday (mainly birthday) pictures for the day after Christmas so, as always, Gma had to made sure Olivia had a fresh 'do. She always does such a fantastic job with Olivia's braids. Thanks Gma!

After a wonderful Christmas day full of good food and fellowship it was time for everyone to leave :(

Coming up...Parks twins turn three!!

Extreme Makeover - Parks Home Edition

I am pretty sad that the my much anticipated holiday break is coming to an end. It has been a wonderful break filled with family, friends, relaxation, and not-so-relaxing moments. Since I haven't posted in ages (with the exception of their holiday/birthday photos), I will do a medley of posts that covers all of December...here we go!

We painted our house. After 3 years and 1 month of living in our home, we finally got tired of the white walls. Thanks to Terry's wonderful basketball team full of able bodied young men, we were able to get 5 rooms painted in preparation for some new furniture...aka our Christmas present to each other.

The kids "helped" as well...

Olivia was particularly interested in "masking" the corners.

With the family room painted, we were finally able to put up our Christmas tree. It was especially fun this year because the kids "helped" decorate. My best decorated tree to date:)

As you can see, all of the ornaments were 3 feet and below:)

So out went our old furniture...

...and in with the new! The kids love their new "bench"!

My sister was also able to come and spend the week with us and keep the kids while Terry and I worked. (Ahhhh, the joys of having school teachers in the family who don't have to work the week of Christmas.) The kids loved "Johnson Montessori", as she calls it. They got to spend quality time with their Ti-Ti...playing, reading and even perfecting their golf swing.

Next up...Christmas!!!!!