The Parks

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Happy Birthday, Ashlee!

Following this morning's holiday parade we headed straight to a 4th birthday party for one of the kids' classmates. The kids had so. much. fun. They started out with balloon animals and hats...

They bounced in the bounce houses and slides. This is Olivia bouncing with the birthday girl...her elder by about 2.5 weeks. She is either a very petite 4 year old or my child is a giant. Take your pick.

They took a hay ride...

Played on the playground...

Ate pizza, snacks, got a special visit from the ice cream man and, of course, ate lots of cake.

Played some more on the playground...

Made some crafts...

And played one more time with the hay from the hay ride...

Although we live about 1 mile from the party, this was the sight of the kids by the time we made it home.

I can't wait to do the same! Good night!

Holiday Parade

We participated in our first holiday parade as a family with the kids' school this morning. After a long day of parades and birthday parties, I am too tired to write a big blog about it...instead I will let the pictures do the talking. The kids dressed as presents, costumes that they also wore a few days ago in their first Christmas Play. The kids and I enjoyed the company of the students, teachers and parents from the school. We all had a blast and can't wait to do it again next year!

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving-Christmas 2010

Here are some pictures from this year's Thanksgiving trip to Columbus and Auburn. We had a wonderful time visiting with the Parks Family, Columbus friends and Auburn friends.

Since we will not see this set of grandparents on Christmas we decided to do Christmas during Thanksgiving this year so that they could see Olivia and TJ open and enjoy their gifts. Here are a few pictures from our Columbus Thanksgiving/ Christmas:

In addition to spending quality time with family, we were both able to visit with our friends...including Brian who is pictured here...

Here I am with Star in front of the new Auburn Arena on campus.

I enjoyed a nice campus tour on this trip, something that I've been wanting to do for years. Even though we go to Columbus annually, I never seem to get on campus in the daylight to see all of the new buildings. All I have to say is WOW. Great job Auburn University. The kids enjoyed the tour as well. We were able to drive by Toomer's Corner, their first experience, which was filled with toilet paper from the Bama game celebration. Oddly enough, with all of the new buildings and beautiful sights of Auburn, as we road by Momma Goldberg's Olivia said "Oh mom, that's beautiful". Go figure. LOL.

Here are the kids sitting outside of Wilmore before our campus tour.

Here are the kids with my line sister, Ashley. She enjoyed spending a little time with her fellow twin siblings. It was the first time that she and her twin sister Allison were able to meet Olivia and TJ. Too bad they were in the middle of setting up for a big event. We couldn't spend too much time with her, but I'm glad that we got a chance to see her this trip.

Don't know why this is underlined...oh well. We ended our trip with a nice lunch with Kamilah at Brick Oven. Ms. Johnson was even able to stop by although I don't have a picture to document it. We had such a great time, as always...can't wait to see her again.

Overall, it was another wonderful trip. Looking forward to our next!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween 2010

So we rounded out the Halloween weekend with a trunk or treat at a local church. I tried my hardest to get TJ to finally dress up in his pirate costume, but he just wasn't into it. Olivia, who wasn't happy that she had to "be a ladybug again?!?!", immediately jumped at the opportunity to be a pirate in place of TJ. This happens to be another perk of having two kids the same age. Rejected, but already purchased, Halloween costumes do not go to waste!!!). The kids had a blast at the event. Here are some pictures:

Pirate Olivia