Ms. Cranky Pants and Mr. Goofball

The personality of Brenner and Nola could not be more different. And, when you really evaluate them you get to see which of your traits (good and bad) that they have acquired. Generally speaking, Brenner is like me in a lot of ways - early bird, impatient, problem solver - to name a few. Nola is typically like Matt - laid back, bed lounger in the mornings, lots of smiles. This week, there has been a change in Nola's personality - she is grouchy!!!! She won't eat, says "No!!!!" to almost everything, has been pinching/scratching, and hits. What is going on?!?!?! My guess is a growth spurt so let's hope this era ends soon :) Brenner has been very helpful this week despite being a bit under the weather. He was fascinated by some dark brown tights I was wearing one morning. When I was kneeled down helping him to get dressed he observed "Hey - your tights are running out of brown" around my knees! He also "read" Brown Bear, Brown Bear to Nola - he has it memorized and only missed a few verbs.
Nola enjoying a piece of bread for breakfast. She looks so sweet, right?! We love her no matter what! She did amaze us this week by pointing to her chest and saying "No-lah". Way to go!!!!!

Nola doesn't enjoy bows in her hair even though without them her hair hangs in her face. So, Brenner decided to sport the red bow one day this week.

Nola playing dinosaurs - she loves saying "roooarrrr"!

Brenner pointing to a scratch courtesy of his sister - he also has one next to his ear. Nola has a strong little grip!

Nola and Mommy reading Mr Brown Can Moo, Can you? This is one of her favorite. Shortly after, Mommy left for a massage and girl day with Aunt Mellie! It was fabulous. Carlos, the massage therapist, could tell by the way that I stood that my shoulders were out of balance and my neck was a bit out of place....any guess why?

Brenner got the camera a few times this week. Here he snapped Grandma and Simba!

BHP also took this family picture. It is okay buddy - Papa doesn't need his full head in the picture!

A week without Papa

Matt was in Vegas this week for a gun show, so it was the kids and mama. We had a great time - even got them in bed by 7:30 most nights. Yeah, me! We had a couple of humorous scenarios. First, Brenner has some squishy lizards that he loves to play with but we found out Nola does not like the feel of them. If you put one close to her, she squirms away and says "No!". Nola also loves to wash her hands...alot...everytime you turn around she is pulling up her sleeve and rubbing her hands together. She also loves to point and say "nose" so that she can wipe her own nose. Other new words are "OOO" (Hello), "Bam-bi", "meow", "moo", "eee" (elephant), "Moe" (Elmo), "bear", "wee" (read) to name a few. She will try to repeat words - the other day I heard her and papa saying "newt". Nola can also point correctly to her ears, eyes, nose, chin, hands, fingers, belly button, feet, and toes - good girl! Brenner was excellent this week until Papa got home and then it was a competition for attention. Some memorable Brennerisms this week were "I can do whatever I want" and "I am having a hoooorrrid day". The little stinker continues to be resourceful.....he will get a butter knife or flathead screwdriver to unlock doors. This is not good.....
Aunt Lynnie and Nola having a fun time playing at Grandma's house!

Grandma reading Brenner a story about Donald Duck and pizza, one of which was a sardine and pineapple pizza. So when we order pizza later that day, we had to get a chicken "sardine" and pineapple pizza for Brenner :)

We had a super special treat - we got to listen to Colten (back row, middle trombone) in all district band! Way to go, CoCo Bean Dip! We are proud of you!

The band played a song called "The Snake Charmer" - both kids loved it, but Nola went nuts. She raised her arms like she was conducting, hummed along (somewhat in tune), and dance to the rhythm! It was so fun to watch - you can see her leaning forward in her dance moves in the picture.

Brenner also loved this song (and hanging out with Krystee).

Grandma Val, Aunt Lynnie, Nola, Colten, and Mikala (Colten's girlfriend who played the clarinet). Brenner was trying to get some boys to throw him a football and couldn't be bothered by a picture :)

This is what Brenner drew at Sunday school. It is suppose to be what he wants to be when he grows up. When I asked him what it was, BHP responded a "Ninja Plant". Not for sure what that is, but he was adamant about it!

Nola playing with her music table (must have been channeling Colten from the night before). Although the look seems to be saying "what do you want, mom?".

A visit with Grammy!!!!

We had a super busy weekend and were fortunate enough to have Grammy Vo come for a visit. It was great fun! We also had parent-teacher conferences today for Brenner. Brenner is doing very well despite being the youngest in his class - he can count higher than all but one other kiddo, is always asking for more books, and is always making the teachers laugh with his questions and comments. We are very proud of him! A cute story...we were watching Toy Story 3 (for the 100th time) and BHP would hide his head during the "romantic scenes" (Ken and Barbie flirting, Buzz and Jesse dancing). I asked him why he was doing that and he just got red in the face and shook his head!
We head to our friends Shawn and Steph to celebrate their daughter Charlee's 12th birthday. Brenner had a ball rolling in the tissue paper!

Nola, Papa, and Uncle Shawn!

Grammy Vo came to visit Sunday after church. It was cold and windy, but we still managed some outside time. Nola loves riding on Brenner's trike.

The tire swing with mommy is fun too!

When it was time for bed, Brenner and Nola wanted Grammy to read. These kids love books...Grammy read so many that we should have given her a glass of water to prevent a dry throat!

Matt has decided to teach Brenner the bones of the human body. I had to check it out as Matt was doing this strange British accent and talking about "phalanges, femurs, and fibulas". Brenner informed me that the "femur is the strongest bone in the human body". Matt also cracked me up when he showed us his 4 goldfish in his classroom. Three are the same color and one is different....so he named them the Three Norms and the Outlier. Haha - what a dork!

I wanted to buy Nola some tennis shoes the other day and when I saw these pink converse I had to get them so that she could match Grammy! They were so cute walking around the house!

Today after Grammy left, we took a walk as it was in the 60s!!!!! Here are the Parker boys looking handsome!
Look at this beautiful girl! Nola really had fun playing with the chalk.

Action photo - quick draw as fast as you can!

This is hard to see - but BHP drew green lines on the concrete and told me that they were claw marks. Since getting the Lion King DVD for Christmas, he loves to play Simba and Scar, which entails him (Simba) coming up and pouncing on you (Scar).....it can hurt if he catches you off guard.

Weeds

Our kids are growing like weeds - physically and mentally. I am truly amazed every day at what they do and say. Nola had her 15 month checkup and wowed Dr. Swofford with her smile. Nola weighed 20 lbs 10 oz and was 30.5 inches long - that is 2 inches longer than at 12 months. Nola also says many words but hasn't started to put them together yet except for "peek boo". However, she can say "NO!" wild adamantly shaking her head back and forth :) Brenner is one sharp little cookie - we really have to watch what we say and how we say. He gets the inflection just right some times to be a smart-you-know-what. This week while I was putting him to bed, Brenner announced he wanted to change his name to "Brenner Maverick" (this is after Cody Maverick from his Surf's Up book). I said ok :) Brenner also told me to remember God's promise. I asked what is his promise and he said that he will see Jesus before he dies to take him to heaven. I know he doesn't get all of this stuff, but he does "get" a lot of it.
Can you believe how big Nola is? The weather was nice so we went for a stroll on Sunday, and the walk ended with this sleeping beauty!

My handsome boys!

We also took a little time on Sunday to draw some pictures. I don't remember what Brenner was saying but I am sure I was thinking "Wow, what an imagination!"

Nola got in on the action of coloring too, but she was more interested in carrying around the crayon box and putting the crayons back in. She even snuck off to the bathroom to do this but I caught her!

Brenner's masterpiece - A volcano with shooting lava. Matt asked him what the name of his volcano was to which BHP said "Mount Cody Maverick".....one track mind sometimes!

Out little Milky Way according to Matt! Nola for these constellation jammies from Aunta-ta Theresa and Uncle Chuck for Christmas. They glow in the dark which is really cool! I love the way Nola's hair is starting to curl in the back!

The kids snacking on some grapes. Grandma Val managed to snap this picture with both their mouths open!

A new year...

I think we have all probably said - where did the year go?! It certainly flew by for us, but we welcome 2012. No one else in my family does resolutions - but I do. And I am not afraid to share them. My first resolution is to answer the call of my children when they say "Will you play with me or can you do this with me?" Time goes too quickly not to answer these direct requests. My second resolution is to be more positive. I want to be more like my friend Emily, who always makes you feel better after talking with her.
Nola has a particular way that she likes to sit and read books - in between your arms. Yes - this makes it hard to read - switching back and forth on either side of her head. Nola is certainly more into books these days - her favorites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear; Elmo's Animal Alphabet; Pat the Bunny. When it is time for bed, I turn off her light, hold her while singing a couple of songs, and talk for a few minutes. Nola is fine with all of this...then comes "Now I lay me down to sleep....", her bottom lip comes out and starts to quiver and she starts whimpering which then turns into full on cry. Who would have known that our goodnight prayer would be so traumatic! But she knows - Mommy is going to put me in that crib and walk away!!!!

What is Superman doing in Spiderman's bed?!

Brenner loves his new LeapPad from Grandma Val. Aunt-ta Theresa - he loves the Dinosaur Dig game that you sent!!!!!

A rare moment of silence and sharing........

We opened stockings at Grandma Val's on New Years Day. Our stockings usually have a variety of candy and practical items. Once we got home, Brenner said that he would "help" me sort the bounty. His pile on the right has all of the candy and toothpaste. My pile has the postage stamps, hand lotion, socks, and floss. Papa's pile had mouthwash. Not sure of the origin of that system!

For the past several years, my sister and I along with the hubbys have a New Year's Eve tradition of eating sushi at Siki in Lee's Summit - yum!!!! (My favorites are the spicy crab salad and daikon maki roll) This year we also went to the movies and Target - yes - we do live on the wild side.

After our sushi fest - we headed back to Grandma Val's and arrived around 10:30. Both kids were still up (yikes!). Brenner was wound for sound so I let him stay up for a while while the adults played Mad Libs (I told you we were crazy!). BHP decided that he needed my scarf on his head...not sure why but it was a funny picture!