Chuck E Chesse!!

I'm teaching him good roller-coaster habits now.

We went to Chuck E Cheese today and had a blast!! He kept asking for quarters and tokens and wanted to play the game and go on the rides. He sure loved it. I thought I would update with a few of the pictures that I were able to take. We had more fun running around playing games, eating pizza, spending time with Cadence and her 3 friends, Tate, Kavi, & Kimaya. They all had so much fun too. I even played the games. I lost him a lot in the building and then would find him trying to "play" a new game without tokens. One littel boy who looked like he was not more than 5-6 years old gave Aidan a token for a ride and helped him ride the ride. So cute. Anyhow, hope you enjoy the photos!! Love to all!!

He loves fire trucks and such.

He wasn't much of a fan when the truck "went up a hill" and needed to hold my hand...silly boy.

He was climbing in the game before I showed him how to do it....again....

The bicycle flying thingy.

Flying in the bike thingy again. He loved it.

Aidan is officially in Preschool!!

Aidan and his "acceptance letter"

SO....the big news for today is that we got our "acceptance" letter from Best Beginnings Preschool!! It's a good thing because I mentioned that I went on a tour of that school at the end of January and ever since Aidan will say go by my school and "hi ool, bye ool" when we drive by. Ool being school to him. I am so excited for him. I toured 2 preschools BUT this was the one that I got warm fuzzies from. The other preschool, not so much. I never tried to find another one because he was SO set on this school. He is excited too.

The only downfall is that we have to be potty-trained by September 8th, his first day. When I remind him that he can't go to school unless he is in big boy underroo's and going potty all by himself and on the toilet not in his pants, he will run in his room and take the diaper off and put on underroo's!!! My child is brilliant!! He does really well too. We aren't pushing it to hard right now because our week's are so jam packed that we are waiting until May when he will be 3 and when I will only have my nanny job and SO much more time in my day to help remind him and not always on the go. At the rate he is going I will have a potty-trained boy by his 3rd birthday!!! Woo hoo. I couldn't be a prouder mommy right about now!!

There is one other minor downfall, which is he is in afternoon preschool instead of morning. The problem with that is that he is still showing us that he still REALLY needs his nap. I guess we will have to see where he is in September. So far my plan is waking up and having our morning routine (on Tuesday's its working from 6-9am) coming home and having quite time watching a movie and hopefully getting him to nap from 10-11:30am or so. Then get up and eat a quick lunch and go to school!! On Thursday's, (oh yea he goes on Tuesday and Thursday's) we have Guardian's & Angels so we will see if I can go every week this next year. It will depend on Aidan and how he does without naps 2 times a week. I am a MAJOR planner and have to figure these things out now even though I have no control over them. Oh well.

I am so excited for buddy!! Keep your fingers crossed that he makes a smooth transition into preschool and that he is fully potty-trained by then!!

Here he is looking at his "acceptance letter"

Lack of work...

So for the last 2 weeks John has worked 2 days (today being one of them). This is VERY frustrating for him as well as myself. We have been able to spend much more time together as a family that we would typically only get during the weekends or on his vacations (which is AFTER his seniority date in mid-October). I wouldn't care so much except for the fact that he NEEDS to work for us to survive. He knows that and I know that. I pay the bills so I see it on a near daily basis when I sit down to go over our bills and budget.

He technically was "laid off" (UPS terms not mine) for today but then got a call at 8:57am saying that they needed him to work. HOORAY!! Aidan and I were coming home from my nanny job anxious for a yummy breakfast fixed by John when we got home we didn't see his car and he wasn't home. When we called him we found out he WAS working. Thank goodness. Aid and I made pancakes together instead, his with chocolate chips and mine plain, and now we are vegging and watching Finding Nemo hoping that he will crash. He was up at 3:30am this morning and only snoozed lightly until 5:15am this morning when I got up. Boy was he energetic. Silly boy. I hope he snoozes.

So, the week has been BEAUTIFUL and we have been taking full advantage of it. Today is overcast but the sun is trying to peak out. If it stays nice, I am planning to go out and ride his bike or kick the ball around a bit this afternoon. Oh and we had to buy Aidan ANOTHER bike helmet. He outgrew last year's helmet that we bought him. His head keeps growing and he keeps getting smarter!! So, with that being said, I'm going to close and snuggle up with my little man and watch Finding Nemo or better referred to as Nemo. Have a glorious day!

A Wonderful Beautiful week!!!

Wow, what a week this has been. It all started last weekend with a beautiful weekend with the sun out ALL weekend and thus continuing into the week. We are so blessed that the rain decided to hold off for yet another week so that we could get outside and get our wiggles out.

Since the sun has been out and the weather has been warmer, we have decided to take Aid's bike out for the first time since last fall. What a treat!! He now asks to ride it every day all day. He is asking to go outside CONSTANTLY!! We are all in better spirits because we aren't stuck inside our 976 sq foot apartment. How great it is to stretch our legs and to be outside and not HAVE to come in after 10 minutes because it is cold out.

John only worked one day this past week which has been stressful but I just think that it could have been a week that was filled with rain and miserable and ugly out. Instead it was a great week for him to be off to spend with Aidan outside. I have been letting the two of them have daddy and son time all week and Aidan LOVES it. John was wondering why I wasn't playing with Aidan this week, but I told him that he never gets opportunities like this and I do every day all year so I was letting him experience play time and being outdoors with Aidan and such. I think he got it.

Well, today is also beautiful and Aidan is napping so I think I better go finish some chores so that we can either go ride bikes or play out in the courtyard or better yet go to the park when he awakes!! Enjoy this BEAUTIFUL day!!

Weekend with the Schulars

Riding Mazi!! Aidan SO loved this. John was happy as a clam to be behind the camera's on this one of course. He was a bit out of his element. Me on the other hand, I was on cloud 9!! How I miss riding!

So, as many of you know I nanny for the Schular family. Aidan and I are there Tuesday and Friday mornings from 6-9am. Super early for me since I would rather sleep but we love the family so much that the days that we don't go due to illness or vacation seems weird and sad.

Aidan riding his bike!! He still doesn't pedal. We are trying to get him to. But no success.

Aidan loves waking up Na-Na (Nathan) and Emmy (Emily-her name is slowly getting closer to sounding like it should). So, this past weekend we spent the weekend there, Valentine's weekend while Mr & Mrs Schular went to Leavenworth, WA. Aidan spent the night in each of the kids room's and played played played all weekend. We were outside a majority of time and played games such as kickball, basketball, jumped on the trampoline, and Aidan even got to ride Mazi!! Mazi is Emily's horse and Aidan was in heaven. He loves horse's, just like his Momma, so we gave him a ride. We took video of it that we will upload to our dropshots account later, http://www.dropshots.com/megaleemoo. We will put a bunch of photos soon. John is trying to figure out how to make a DVD of video's and pics for us to mail to Uncle Ryan

So, the weekend finally ended way to early. We wanted to stay longer and play. The last day we even went for a walk on the pipeline and saw where Mommy rode horses and took lessons when she was younger. The memories sure came flooding back when we walked by. Aidan was being goofy and didn't want to walk down the hill's so John did most of the carrying of Aidan on his shoulders until Aidan had a super major breakdown. He cried the whole way home from the end of the neighborhood by the pipeline to the Schular's home. He was hungry and tired. We got home and put our feet up since the weekend had been fairly busy and had JUST started. But what a fun weekend we had had! Thought I would share!!

Aidan helping to put up a "jump" for Ollie, Emily is trying to do agility with their dog.

John shooting hoops and trying to stay warm... Good form babe!!

Something fun I thought I would post!!

Ok, so I thought that this would be fun to do!! Hope you enjoy!! Some fun things about the love of my life!!

What is his name? John Gregory Parkinson



How long have you been together? we've known each other for 10 years!! dated since '99 and got married in '04.



How long did you date? we dated for just shy of 5 years



How old his he? he just turned 28 a few weeks ago!!



Who eats more? he does



Who said i love you first? he did!!



Who is taller? he is!!! I like that way but he also likes it when I wear 3 inch heels and am more on his level!! =)



Who can sing better? I don't like to sing so I will say him



Who is smarter? we both are smart, just in different subjects etc. This is why we are so great together



Who does the laundry? ha!! me and am an really anal about it!!! this drives him INSANE!!! Oh well. he helps out sometimes with putting the laundry in the washer though



Who pays the bills? me, that's more my speciality than it is his, he brings the bacon and I spend it!! HA



Who sleeps on the right side? if you are looking at the bed then I do if you are laying in the bed then he does.



Who mows the lawn? what lawn but I think we both would if we had one because that's what we both grew up doing at our parents houses



Who cooks dinner? mainly me but when he is home, he does. If he doesnt work then he does and I REALLY enjoy the break!!



Who drives? usualy him unless he is to tired or had to much to drink



Who is more stubborn? we both are pretty darn stubborn



Who kissed who first? he kept trying to kiss me while we were dating but I dont kiss unless we are exclusive so he couldn't actually kiss me until we were exclusive, so he kissed me almost immediately after we "talked" about if we were boyfriend girlfrien or not.



Who asked who out first? he started calling while I was in Ohio and kept getting my aunt and mom telling him that I was out of town. Finally when we got back I returned his call (after forgetting a few times) and he asked me to the movies, then a few days later I asked him to "hang out" after I got off work and we went and through a football around and had dinner with my family. So a little bit of both but mainly him. =)



Who proposed? LOL, I wanted him to SO bad that I think I did a few times before he actaully did. I know of 2 times when I asjed and he said no. Then he proposed. Just like it should be. We are pretty traditional but I was getting impatient. Have I mentioned that patients isnt my thing??



Who has more friends? at this point, I see mine more because I am at home and have more time to see them, but a lot of our friends are each other's friends so I would say equal for the most part.



Who is more sensitive? me



Who has more siblings? me



Who wears the pants? we both do, on different topics/subjects. It all depends. Mainly him but I do on some issues too!!

Hope you enjoyed getting to know my love a little bit more!!! Not the best self-portrait of us but whatever you get the point!!!

Our Valentine's Day

Family photo....well sort of.

Ok, so I know its the day after Valentine's day but we had a really BUSY day yesterday. What did we do you might ask?? Aidan and I worked at 6am and had a lot of fun as usual. I laughed a lot watching Aidan and Nathan running around and chasing each other downstairs. Nathan is 9 and and LOVES Na-Na. In fact if Nathan doesn't sit in the back seat with Aidan than that can cause a fit.

After we got Emily to school at 8am and Nathan to the bus at 8:45pm we went to the party store to pick up 20 balloons!! Yes, my car with 20 balloons in it was a bit insane. I had them hitting me in the head, couldn't see out anything but my side mirrors and only could hear Aidan. On top of that, I can't stand latex balloons. He kept batting them around and I kept yelling to him the back seat to stop hitting the balloons, just to hear him laugh!! So not fun.

We got to St. Jude and took 16 of the balloons into Guardians and Angels. All the kiddos sure did love bringing home a balloon at the end of our party!! I'll do it again in a heartbeat, but hopefully I can pick them up in Redmond this time instead of Woodinville. A 5 minute drive is so much less stressful than a 15 minute drive. After GA we went home for lunch of pb&j. Aid didn't eat much. He ate more of the cookies than anything. Oh well. It was a special day.

I later had to wake up Aidan to go pick up Emily from school. I felt badly since he was so tired and didn't want to wake up. Oh well, we went to Nana's and gave her her chocolates, card and balloon we picked out for her. She loved it!! We made more cards that we still need to send to people. Oops, Oh well.

Nana & Aidan snuggling on the couch after making Valentine's day cards. It was hard work...

We waited for John to be home from dinner that night and enjoyed a yummy salad, soda (milk for bubba), a heart shaped pepperoni pizza, and some chocolates for dessert. Aidan got a fun doggie from Hallmark from my mom, I got candles (more like votive) from her too. John got me the Fergie CD that I have been wanting. He kind of cheated while at Target last night he called and was like what do you want so I named a bunch of DVD's and CD's that he could possible get. He even bought a card!! I was so impressed!! John got Night at the Museum DVD and Aidan got a new Bob the Builder DVD. They both got candy too. John and I put Aidan to bed and then crawled into bed and watched the movie "Why did I get Married?" We both really enjoyed it. I actually fell asleep at the very end of the movie and didn't wake up until this morning. I guess I was tired. It was a nice relaxing evening. It felt like Friday or Saturday night almost.

Today John worked again!! The whole week!! Thank heavens. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it continues. If it doesn't than life will be even more stressful, again. Aidan ate some breakfast with John and then crawled back into bed with me. I slept until 10am while he watched Curious George and woke up to find little man fast asleep. I got up and was up for 20 minutes when he came out to cuddle with me. Turns out he has a bit of a cold. I think it is the same one that Emily had on Tuesday. No good, but she was lots better within 2 days so I am hoping that a low key weekend will cure him. So, that was our last 2 days. Today is just going to be a lazy relaxing day of staying home, making a quick trip to Costco to pick up some prints and to clear a few memory cards, and making yummy Tuna casserole for dinner. No meat on Fridays is tricky to get use to sometimes. I almost forgot at lunch time. Oh well. So we will post more after our weekend!! Take care and hope your Valentine's day was as wonderful as ours!!

Here is our Valentine's Day pizza in the shape of a heart!! Isn't it cute!

Happy Valentine's Day....almost

Well, tomorrow is Valentine's day and we have nothing planned. In years past we would have had a plan and be doing something either tomorrow or the next day. Not this year. Instead we are going to see what happens. Aidan and I work at 6am and then have Guardian's and Angels at 9:30am. At GA we have our Valentine's party and that should be lots of fun. We get to pick up 16 balloons at the party store on our way to St. Jude.

After our naps we are going to go to Nana's house to visit her. We actually got our gifts today, but I thought it would be more special to get them tomorrow on the actual day. Aidan loved his and thankfully forgot that he was playing with it and we were able to leave without a fight. We went over to make Valentine's cards today with Nana and Uncle Mike. We had so much fun!!

So, tomorrow we are hoping John will be working that way Aidan and I can make a special card for him and put together a special dinner of pizza and salad and maybe some cookies for dessert!! Or rather cookie dough for daddy. One of John's favorite things. We'll see. This weekend I am doing an overnight babysitting job for the family that I nanny for and Aidan and John are joining me!! We all are very excited. So are the kiddo's. They are 12 and 9 so it won't be to hard. Lots of Wii, movies, going to the barn to help out with the horses, playing with the dog, cats and maybe even the bunny!! The best thing is that we will have so much more room to roam around since they are in a house nad we are in a tiny apartment.

So, as of now, we have no plans to celebrate Valentine's day, just another day, but maybe just by acknowlodging it that will make it more than "just another day." We'll see I have been talking to John for a few weeks now but haven't gotten any thing other than a grunt or whatever, we'll see answer from him. Today he said he had no plans and was wondering when Aidan was spending the night. I reminded him that we never figured what we were doing so I never made overnight plans for buddy. Oh well, I guess we still have a day or so before I nanny to figure out something.

I'm ok if we just sit at home and watch a movie together at a decent hour (not at 11pm or midnight) at home. What it boils down to is as long as we are together I will be happy. All I want is a kiss, a hug, a card (homemade is perfect) and some good ole cuddle time while watching a movie after Aidan has gone to bed. A girl can always dream. I am hoping for the best and that John gets home at a decent hour so that this can be a reality. Wish me luck. And to all of those out there. Happy Valentine's Day and I will post pictures of our day tomorrow and our card making fun today later.

Parkinson Look-alike Meter

Ok, so Aidan DOES look like me!!! =) I ALWAYS get people saying that Aidan is the spitting image of John. I occasionally and I mean OCCASIONALLY get that he also looks like me!!! I love to hear that. I know that I gave birth to him so I know he is ours but I still thought it would be fun to see who he looks more like and by how much!! Hope you enjoy!!

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

What a week this has been so far....

We just got over the stomach flu this week. Aidan had it and so that made for a long few days for all of us. He only would get sick in the middle of the night but was still really tired and running a fever for about 1-2 days. Poor buddy. I ended up calling and not working the day he was sick, which was weird because I have never called in sick to any of my jobs EVER!!! He is still not feeling 100% and is tired and going to bed early but we are definately on the mend. Today is the first day that he has been REALLY interested in eating food. He wanted chocolate milk and a cheesburger even for lunch!! Crazy. He hasn't really eaten much of anything since Monday evening, so I am happy he is getting nutrients but at the same time I am a bit apprehensive because I don't want him to be sick again or something to be to rich for him and make him sick. We had a nice day just relaxing and taking it easy and staying in bed unitl 1pm watching movies and just trying to feel better.

Here's Aidan asleep the other night with his head in his "blah" bucket that we put next to him....just in case. It was to cute.

John is working more. He has worked every day this week so far and we're hoping that he works tomorrow. Things are getting a bit hairy around here with him not working. I LOVE having him around but right now we need him to work for our finances. Oh well, another bump in the road of life. I have adopted this saying for us as we are facing the trails of having John work sporadically. So, hope everyone else is well and we will post soon!!

A new year and lots going on.

Well hello to you all! I promised more frequent updates so here you go. At least it wasn't a few months between updates right? Our New Year was fun!! Aidan spent the night with his Grandma and Grandpa Parkinson and John and I went out to some friends house to ring in the New Year. What fun!

This last month was a good one, we celebrated many birthdays and actually had Daddy home for the last two weeks. We had Grandma Parkinson's birthday on January 17th, and then cousin Alexis' 2nd birthday on January 20th and then Daddy's birthday on January 23rd. We haven't celebrated John's or Alexis' with my family yet because Alexis decided for her birthday she wanted to go visit her grandparents in Colorado and have her birthday there!! They had a great time, except that they all came down with the flu while there and brought it home with them. So, needless to say we haven't gotten together yet. We didn't want to get sick.

So, today we are going to Katie and Dave's house in Lake Stevens to celebrate both Alexis and John, albeit a bit late. Better late than never I guess.

John has been home for the last two weeks which has been fun to have him around more, but at the same time he isn't bringing in income while home and our rent just went up this month. There just hasn't been ANY work for him. He usually recieves a call from the center around 7:45am to let him know not to come in. It's frustrating, but we are trusting our patients. We actually have had a very nice week doing family things and hanging out. Including playing on the big boat at Bel Square and going to Ikea one day.

We hope that John works more this next month because otherwise we aren't to sure what will happen. The passes have been impassable so that's why he hasn't been working. Guys that have been there for the teen's of years were "laid off" for a few days this past week even. That tells you how lite the center was this past week due to the pass being closed and trucks not being able to get to the center. They all eventually make it just on alternate routes.

So, I know I didn't post any pics, they will come soon. I am still learning how to download onto our new computer so once I do....Anyhow, hope you all enjoyed your January and you stayed warm even though its been so cold outside with snow and such. Until next time....