Finding the Silver Lining....

This is an email that I just got from Abby, a mom of a classmate:  "I keep meaning to tell you, too, how much Walker likes Parker - especially because Parker taught him to make "pee pee bubbles." Awesome. :) Every time he does make "pee pee bubbles" he says, "I made pee pee bubbles! Just like Parker! He's my school friend." :)"

Massage, Clown & Superbowl

Happy Sunday everyone!  I slept until 10am (toot-toot!) but sadly I felt terrible when I finally got out of bed. Sleeping in is just not as fun as it use to be.  Superbowl TV watching was already underway and the living room was a wreck, which means both boys were in good spirits :)

Bryan had a massage scheduled for noon (given to him by his lovely bride for our EIGHT year anniversary) and Parker and I had a circus birthday party to attend.  Our first encounter with a clown, too.  

BooCoos was the funniest clown ever!  Parker continued his "in public mood" so he sat in my lap the entire time and looked stone-faced :(  Another Mom asked if he is always this serious.  I think that was her way of asking something else.....  The clown was a huge hit with all of the kids but I think the parents liked him more!  Regular circus food was served and as we were leaving, we received a bag of THE best cotton candy.  Another first for Parker today :)

Back home we got the full run down on the massage from Bryan, had a quiet time and prepared for the Ravens and 49ers to duke it out.  I cooked gumbo because the 48th Superbowl is in New Orleans :)  An early bedtime for the boy, blogging for me and commercial watching for the husband.  

Another weeks starts tomorrow and I have piles of laundry to do.  The next few weeks will be busy for Bryan at work and we are still trying to perfect 3, as in the age ;)  

Friday, Oh Fabulous Friday

Bryan is back.

There are two cars parked in the garage.

One more parent to help out with a certain 3 year old.

Everything is good in our world today.

Bryan worked from home today and even took Parker to Little Leonardos at the science museum this morning.  Life is REALLY good :)  I took my time grocery shopping and cleaning out the fridge.  Bryan called after class and asked if I wanted to meet them for lunch.  We tried a new place, Qdoba, that Bryan eats at while in Missouri on business.  I was not a fan but Bryan likes it a lot!  Next time I will have to try something else ;)  

After we returned home, Bryan worked and Parker played.  I sat and watched :)  It was soooo beautiful outside, a little chilly but the sun warmed us up quickly.  

The picture of Bryan cracks me up!  He is working hard, seriously, he was into it.  But since his feet were cold, he brought the floor heater outside.  It was good to get some sun, relax and get the weekend off to a good start!!!

A Tea Party with Maelyn Grace!

Meet Miss Maelyn Grace Taylor!  Our neighbors Matt & Carrie welcomed Miss Maelyn into this world a few days after Christmas and I finally had the pleasure of meeting this sweet baby girl :)  We met at Chocolate Angel Tea Room and filled our bellies with some good food.  I like to think Carrie and I are a lot alike (she might have a different opinion {wink, wink}) so we had lots to talk about.  She is a NICU nurse so I was interested to hear how motherhood was treating her.  Since she takes care of sick little babies all the time, she had a head start in the first mother department.  But I was so surprised that some of the same thoughts, feelings and emotions that I felt in the first 4 months of Parker's life were very similar to what she is thinking, feeling and pondering currently.  I love listening to new moms!!!

As I drove from lunch to pick up Parker, I thanked God that our paths crossed three years ago.  Carrie is an amazing believer in God.  A special lunch to celebrate Maelyn's first month of life turned into a conversation about God and how he has paved a life path for her that has not been free from hurt and trying times but rather moments that has lead her closer to God!  I love that....and her.  Her testimony made me thankful for my life and the relationship I have with God!!!

6:15 is the New Black!

As in a.m.  Why does it happen every single day?  And he doesn't even need to go to the bathroom.  It really is hard to be perky that early in the morning.  A simple "hi" is what he has been getting rather than the chipper, "good morning" he is accustomed to.  Anyway, Bryan is off to the Cape until Thursday night, Parker had MDO, I skipped MOPS to catch up on some things that were neglected while we were gone this past weekend.

Parker requested fro-yo with toppings after school:

We spent some time at Trader Joe's using the kid-sized shopping carts and collecting some new, fun items.  Mangos were at the top of the list, which is Parker's new favorite fruit.  We spent the evening having dinner, playing Space Adventure (a new game made up by Parker in which we live in a shuttle and visit all the planets) and Skyping with Bryan :)

Quick Post!

The days have been long this week so I am a few days behind so this post will be short and sweet :)

After Parker was off to school and Bryan was off to work, I got dressed and made my way to Willow Bend Mall to pick up a gift for the lovely Renee.  I then joined Renee and Johnna at Maximo's for lunch to celebrate Renee's 40th birthday!!!  As discussed tonight at dinner, Maximo's is my new favorite place to eat and we must frequent there more than every 6 months.  The pineapple salsa is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!  Anyway, after our meal, they brought out this:

Afterwards I made my way to get Parker.  Oh, cranky Parker!  Because he has (said with an attitude!) to nap at school now and because he basically only has an hour to sleep and because he doesn't wake up on his own, I get to take home a very crabby boy!  Today was no different.  He about went into orbit when I told him that we had some errands to run.  Wowzer...  He didn't say much on the way to Walmart to get my oil changed so I wasn't exactly sure how his day went at school.  I decided to take his nap mat into the store so he could rest and maybe shake the moodiness:

He stayed this way until about 5 minutes before the car was ready at which time I am pretty sure everyone in the store knew PARKER LEE VESELKA was in the building!!!  For reals people, crazy-town ;)  

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent playing outside, grilling our dinner outside (it was in the mid-70s today) and battling a three year old to:  take a bath, put away his toys, go to bed, stay in the bed....  Must I go on??!!  I will note that while we are having a tough time in general with minding and transitioning, he is being more and more cuddly and loving, especially towards me!  Lots of hugs, lots of kisses and lots of "don't worry Mom, I will protect you".  He is a handful but there is not another little boy that I love more than him!!!

Grapevine Mills Mall & Sea Life with Friends

Enjoying all of the sea creatures:

Building Lego guys:

 Spinning with Charlee:

Collecting some new germs:

A fun lunch picture:

Let this post note that we had a great day, the boy was very good and I thanked Bryan several times for letting me stay home with Parker and allowing us to go and do fun things, like this, time after time, day after day!!!  LOVE him :)

A Peaceful Photo Shoot

It was the most beautiful day today.  Perfect for a drive in the country.  And perfect for a three year old to have his photos taken by our favorite photographer, Tom!  He must know us well, or at least me :)  Take us to the country, where you can't hear the noises of a busy city and where the train tracks are only used for these types of things:

We decided that we wanted Parker to look like Parker!  No bowties (even though they are cute) no "clown suites" and no uncomfortable button down shirts.  So jeans, a cotton (orange) shirt with a pullover-type jacket....that's it!  And it was perfect for the rugged setting we were in.  After about 30 minutes of running on the tracks, tossing rocks and smiling a lot, we were done.  We must be the easiest customers he has.  Tom left and we stayed a while and explored the country.

And this afternoon, Tom sent me this :)

The rest of our day was spent playing outside, building with the new Legos, I took a cat-nap and made some fresh fruit pancakes for the week, Bryan and Parker Skyped with Mimi & Grandpa and an early bedtime for the boy.  Since both of the boys are off tomorrow from work and school, we are going to spend another day together, enjoying some, fingers crossed, nice weather!

Baaaaad Day with Some Perks!

5am - "Mom, you said you were going to tell me a story."  Bryan and I tried to ignore him because I was NOT going to get up at this time of "night"!  Sometimes when he is having a hard time going to sleep, I will tell him that I will check on him every 10 minutes.  Well last night was no different and he pleaded for me to tell him a story when I checked on him the next time.  He fell asleep before the 10 minutes were up.  And of course he doesn't forget anything ;)  

6:45am - "Mommy, I thought you were going to tell me a story." and "I'm ready to get up."  SIGH!  And that is how our day started.  He, of course, did not have near enough sleep!  We ate cereal together for breakfast while Bryan ran some errands and then we got ready for Miss Violet's FIRST birthday party!

Upon entering the party establishment (their house), Parker burst into tears and ran from the house.  And of course everyone at the party was starring at us.  Boo!   After a few minutes, we re-entered the house with a grouchy, sour-faced little boy who shouted, "I don't like birthday parties!".  It was the beginning of the end :(

The art-themed party was so much fun, even though Mr. Grouchy Pants was not into it!  There was an AMAZING face painter lady who also did some cool balloon art.  Since Parker did not want anything to do with the face painting, I had a rocket ship painted on my hand.  Cute stuff :)  Our hostess also had finger paints and canvasses out for the kids.

After snacking, playing, eating cupcakes and collecting our sidewalk chalk party favor, we made a quick exit!  On the way home, we encountered screaming, crying (with tears!), kicking and thrashing, very similar to a possessed child.  Oh my y'all, it was the worst tantrum-meltdown episode ever seen by these two parents!  Naptime wasn't much better but after being in his room for an hour, he fell asleep for maybe 45 minutes.  Not near enough time for me to get rid of my headache!  We had an early dinner, got the boy a real haircut (I will spare you the details of this but it resembled the scenario above) and then headed to Stonebriar Mall for some retail therapy ;)

While there, Parker enjoyed his FIRST trip to the Lego Store.

This looooong day ended with a bath, some Lego building and DVR-watching with my main man :)  Being three is tough these days y'all.  Please say a little prayer for my little boy, he's trying really hard to be good these days but without sleep, he's not that sweet ;)

Hugs,

Carey

Little Leonardo's @ The Perot Museum

First and foremost, Parker woke without a fever!  You all may think I am weird and off my rocker when I say this but I swear by it.....Parker tends to run a fever when he is very tired and is not getting good sleep.  I was really afraid that he was coming down with the flu.  Not only because I immediately go to the worst place possible but also because the flu is going around at school.  

Now, onto the fun stuff from today!  As you know, we've done Scribbles & Dribbles several times since Parker was a year old.  Now that he is three, he can attend the Little Leonardo's class.  This class combines art and science together for a great experience :)  Today was our first day and the theme for this semester is Dinosaurs:

 Making a dinosaur out of clay....see the details in the teeth, long tail and big head :)

 "D" is for dinosaur and for those who know Spanish, you can read the second sentence!

And the lovely Ms. Margie reading "Dinosaurs Love Underpants".

Lacing!

Eating a GIANT cookie after lunch :)

There is an exhibit across from the children's play area which displays all of the blueprints, before/after pictures, etc. of the museum while being built.  There is an area where you can write down on a post-it note what you like about the museum and so forth.  Sooooo, Parker wanted to write down that he" likes the children's part and the bathrooms" :)  Oh to be three!

And last but not least, the sand area.  Outside. In the cold.  Brrrr!  I let him play until his hands were so cold he couldn't feel them!

After FIVE hours of being at the museum, we collected our gift shop purchases, coats and tired legs and went home :)  He fell asleep in the car on the way home and so I sat in the car, in the garage and surfed the web ;)  Our evening was complete with dinner at Mi Cocina (which is a rare eating place for us!) and a soccer kick-off.

Thankful that we are all well tonight and {happy, happy, happy} that tomorrow is suppose to be beautiful!!!

IKEA, Fever & No Mommy-Time!

Our morning started early....like 7:15am!  No more sleeping until 8:30am.  Those days are long gone I guess :(  We grabbed breakfast and headed to IKEA to get some items.  Since we arrived right at 10am, we were among the first TEN people in the entire store.  And that is why we go during the week and not on the weekends.  That place is CRAZY on the weekends :)  We spent an entire hour just browsing....testing out the couches, playing in the kid area, pretending we lived in one of the teeny tiny apartments they have set up and of course, checking out all the mirrors:

Funny stuff!  Two hours and $70 later, we headed home for a nap.  The boy told me that he did not get enough sleep in the night so he was very sleepy.  BUT he wanted nothing to do with a nap.  He insisted on a quiet time in our bed, with the iPad.  I was able to catch up on some blog reading so I was not going to argue.  While resting, Parker complained that he was hot.  His cheeks were beat red.  His temp was 100 and he moped around until Bryan got home.  The evening activities were cut short and he was in bed early.  As I type, he is resting and does not have any other symptoms so I guess we'll see how things go during the night and tomorrow morning.  

And as I type, Bryan is still working!  He has a big release tonight so it might be a long night for him.  I was suppose to meet Patty and Blackmon for coffee and dessert but that didn't work out.  I was afraid of having a sick kid and a husband on a conference call at the same time.  Those two things don't mix!  I am very sad to be missing my best girls tonight though!!!

Praying for a healthy boy in the morning!

Carey

P.S. - my blogging is not flowing naturally for me these days but give it some time, I will reconnect soon ;)

Wandering Wednesday

Mid-week is here and we are dragging around like it's still Monday!  The weather this morning was in the mid-20s but no ice or snow to report.  Bryan had an early meeting so he left before the roosters were up which left me snuggling with Parker, feeding him breakfast (a blueberry smoothie was requested) and taking him to school.  Bryan, for the most part, takes Parker to school every morning so I guess I should have prepared myself for the drama that started as we were headed to the garage to get in the car.  The "I don't want to leave my house", and "it's too cold to be outside", or "where's Daddy?" continued as we made our way to school and proceeded to his classroom.  However, once he saw the activity tables in his class, I was old news :)  This week at school they are learning about outer space so you can imagine all of the items the teachers had out for the kids to play with!

Once the boy was safely in his classroom, I made my way home to catch up on some emails, make some calls, fold the laundry and make the beds.  I had nothing on my calendar for the morning so I was just wandering around the house at my own pace.  Bryan planned to pick Parker up from school because I had a scheduled doctor's appointment but the appointment needed to be rescheduled because some lady just had to go into labor ;)  Anyway, Bryan still got the boy from school and then "worked from home" the rest of the day.  I cooked something new....yes, a Pinterest recipe....Cashew Chicken and it was delish!  Everyone gave it a thumbs up!

Bath and bed time was, well, the usual and nothing like this:

That picture is from two years ago this month when he loved taking baths.  Not so much now ;)

An uneventful day for us with no new pictures today.  I did promise to blog so I guess there will be days like this....no new pics, no real news, etc.  A fun day planned tomorrow should generate some pictures and maybe a funny story or two!

Until then,
Carey

Hello {2013}

An entire year has passed now since I went on a blog-strike.  I am not sure why I stopped blogging but it pains me a great deal to know that so many memories have passed that I might or might not ever remember.  I will not remember little sayings, or details, or even the dates of said memories....ugh!  The guilt is only making  this transition back into blogging worse :(  However, guilt does NOT rule my life and I choose to live each day for that day and that day only.  Period.  So, I will blog for today and if the mood strikes me, I will "back-blog".

So, hello 2013!  At the Veselka house we are healthy, happy and trying to make our day-to-day life fun and full of memories that will last a lifetime :)  2013 will {hopefully} be known as the year that we became:

STRONGER

HEALTHIER

JOYFUL

And more like CHRIST!!!

I hope that your new year is off to a great start!  And even though we are 16 days into January and we don't drink, let's toast to an amazing year!  

XOXO,

Carey

Another Day at the Dallas Zoo

Do you get tired of seeing our posts from the zoo?  I feel like we share the same pictures over and over :)  Well the boy doesn't ever get tired of going to the zoo with his friends especially on this beautiful, 70-degree day in January!  I am so glad we got out and enjoyed the sun:

Disclaimer:  A couple of these pictures were taken with my cell phone because my camera battery died :(