Each morning I am woken by the little voice of Parker standing at his bedroom door saying “Hi Mommy!, Hi Mommy!…” with great enthusiasm. He carries that enthusiasm into the world with a fearless zest for exploration. Parker recently began singing songs like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or the Itsy Bitsy Spider, performing most (but not all) of the words correctly. Parker continues to love his books and wants to read them multiple times so he can memorize the words. For the past few months, Parker has been obsessed with Mickey Mouse. For nine months Parker was sad every morning when I said goodbye at preschool. And then last week he started saying “I got to school alone” = I don’t cry anymore. He is a social butterfly. In addition to classmates, Parker greets all of the teachers in the building by name telling them Hi and Bye. And every day we have to visit the birds in the school cafeteria to tell them goodbye before we can leave.

Parker turned 2 years old on July 1st and enjoyed an Olaf themed party. Prior to his birthday if we had a candle burning Parker would say “Say Hi to the candle.” So I would pick him up to say “Hi.” And a candle does move like a living thing. So with this love of candles, a birthday candle on a cupcake was super exciting for him. For weeks afterward Parker asked for a birthday candle to blow out every day.

We enjoyed several fun Texas outings over the summer. In Dallas we went to the Lego Discovery Center, the Dallas Arboretum, and the Crayola Experience. One day we took a roadtrip to the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory. On an overnight trip to Galveston we visited an aquarium at Moody Gardens and our first waterpark. The boys enjoyed being in the area swimming pools throughout the long hot (it is still 90 degrees) summer and early fall. Closer to home we attended an Astros game in September. Both boys really enjoyed the experience and impressed me by staying content and interested throughout the whole game. Last month we also took a day trip to the Rosenburg Railroad Museum and the boys attended their first Circus.

This fall Tucker and Parker began attending the Montessori school 5 days a week instead of 3 days. Tucker has really enjoyed having a shorter nap time followed by the opportunity to participate in Pre-K activities. He has become a lot more confident in his classroom socially over the past 12 months. Now he talks a lot to his teacher and to his peers (shy like Mom but talks a lot more than I did at 4!!). Tucker likes counting to 100 and recently told me all the number combinations which add up to 6. He started writing his name over the summer. And now he is interested in reading words. Tucker has been carrying around novels and “reading” (making up a story) aloud to himself. He told me that he is “going to Book Club.” Tucker was very proud to make a map of the Earth at school and learn the names of the continents. His gymnastics coach says that Tucker leads by example in his class (and he is the youngest!).

Our family grew in July with the addition of Poppy Tess Arizona Flowers. She is an Irish Cream Golden Retriever. We still miss Bobby and Darby everyday and this sweet girl is helping to heal our broken hearts. Lucy really loves having a baby sister and plays with Poppy all the time.

We've had a wonderful Spring starting with a trip to Arkansas in March. Tucker was very excited to ride on an airplane, after a 2 year hiatus. And we introduced Parker to Arkansas for the first time. We had lovely visits in Little Rock and Mountain Home. I learned that traveling with two children is actually a lot easier than having one baby! Tucker is an awesome big brother and was a huge helper for me.

Easter brought the usual round of multiple egg hunts, and egg dyeing. Parker has discovered a new love for candy and walked around the house asking for "chocolate bunny"!

In May we went on our early summer vacation to visit with friends in Long Beach, CA. When Tucker heard we were going to California he said, "That's were Lightning McQueen lives!" So the highlight of the trip was a day spent at California Adventure Park where we were able to visit Cars Land.

Parker started attending the Montessori preschool with Tucker in January. He has become the "class greeter", saying hello to everyone who comes into the room. Parker is very social and greets his classmates by name as well. His language skills at 22 months continue to amaze me. Everything is complete sentences now like "I do it" or "I need help." Parker also articulates very clearly and he loves reading books. And he still prefers the outdoors, continually escaping to the backyard through the doggie door. Lately Parker keeps going into the trampoline but then stands there calling for his brother to join him. "Tucker!! Tucker!!"

Tucker just finished a full year of gymnastics and has been promoted twice to more challenging classes. His ear for music amazes me too. He can correctly guess many children's songs from just the first few notes or musical phrase. Tucker is full of imagination and wonderful ideas. Now he is making up games for himself and Parker to play. I love that they can actually play together while I cook or do housework. And they generally get along extremely well. I feel so blessed to have such sweet delightful souls here to play with me.