18 Months (But Who's Counting?)

The only reason I am even aware that eighteen months have passed since Garrett was first placed in my arms has been due to his scheduled doctor's appointment. Time has seemed all a blur. (Really! We're rounding into the holidays again, already?) Well, maybe that is not entirely true. I was watching the calendar on this one. You know, waiting for the blessed day when a squirmy, over-active boy gains admittance into Nursery, thus changing the climate of Sunday worship for the entire family (and for the better, I would add).

So, for the update:

• We're finally beginning to make out a few words like dadda, momma, Brevin, Spencer, Addie, shoes on, pumpkin, cookie, and my personal favorite, NOOOOO!
• Garrett cracks us up with his dainty wave goodbye and when he gives high-fives or an occasional fist bump. 
• His kisses have now evolved from wide-open mouthed to a more agreeable pucker.
• He has given up foods of the Gerber variety altogether. He now eats whatever we eat...sort of.
• Garrett loves to play with the vacuum. We’re talking obsessive, here!
• He loves to push cars around on furniture while providing the proper mix of sound effects.
• He already demonstrates his love for all things sweet, sugary, and sticky.
• He can follow simple, two-sentence commands (like "take the sucker wrapper and put it in the garbage").
• He has discovered that a chair from the kitchen table can be pushed around, and when climbed upon, opens up a whole new world of innocent mischief and mess-making.
• He is really great at acclimating to strangers. This attribute comes in really handy as we leave him in the care of a babysitter or wonderful, dutiful Nursery leaders.

Yes, life is good with Garrett!

 This post authored by Amber

Cupcakes Anyone?

With mentoring and advice from my darling sister-in-law, Jenny (of Whimsy Cupcakes), my sister and I have decided to follow her lead.  We've created a menu, a price list, and a blog all dedicated to the consumption of delightful, gourmet-style cupcakes.  So if you live in Utah County or Southern Utah and you have a notion to treat yourself to a bite of delicious, check us out!

Sweet Indulgence Cupcakes

(sweetindulgencecupcakes.blogspot.com)

This post authored by Amber

A Long Time Coming

Brevin and Spencer have been saving every penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and dollar for the better part of two years. All of that saving has brought the boys to this pivotal moment in their childhood existence. They are now each a proud owner of their very own Nintendo DS. For any who have given money over the years as birthday or Christmas gifts, know that this is where your financial contribution went. Also know that it is a beloved item of acquisition. They were giddy as they emptied their banks and made towers of coins to assist the cashier in the transaction.

While I was not too keen on the idea of them having a Nintendo DS (they were informed that they could not ask Santa for such a high-ticket item last year), I will say that this has been a great learning experience in fiscal management. Not to mention, this long-range financial goal provided many opportunities to practice counting money. They did have some help from Mom and Dad along the way (in the form of cupcake sales and making up the difference so they could get a carrying case to protect their prized possession). Now they can start earning their own money to pay for games...and I can begin the dreadful task of enforcing the rules of how much time will be allotted for playing video games.

This post authored by Amber

We Halloweened

I have to say, I really enjoyed Halloween this year. Because it fell on a Saturday, all the activities were stretched out over the course of the week and I didn't feel rushed or pressured to try and do too much in one day.

We kicked off the celebrating by hosting the annual Park Family Halloween Party in our home on Tuesday night. This was the first opportunity for costume debuts. The boys were superheroes, in all their muscled and sinewy glory. Jason and I sported our homemade concoctions of Asian edible delicacies (well, I don't know if you can consider soy sauce a delicacy, but sashimi sushi fits the bill). Oh, by the way, Jason is sushi.


Wednesday was the scheduled day for Halloween parties at Brevin's school. It was early because Thursday was SEP's, and I guess teachers felt that parents might not take them too seriously if they were wearing silk, leopard-print pajamas with cat features painted on their faces. (That's what Brevin's teacher, Ms. Chatterley, dressed as and it was quite cute!) I had signed up to help with providing a game for the party, so we played the family favorite: Pass the Rat. It's like hot potato, but you pass around a large, plastic rat. When the music stopped, the person holding the rat was eliminated. They were given a consolation prize of a small, stretchy rat as they returned to their desks. The winner received a treat bag with toy prizes. I'm glad Spencer was there to assist with turning the music on and off. After the party, the entire school put on a costume parade for all the parents to see.

Thursday came around, and it was Spencer's turn to have a party at his preschool. See how nice that was! I only had to deal with getting one child dressed in costume each day. Lovely!

Friday found us trick-or-treating on the office floors of Jason's work. We always enjoy it when we run into the CEO's and President of the company. They give out pretty cool treats!

That night we got a babysitter so we could go to an adults only costume party. It was a really fun evening of delicious food, delightful company, and exciting bouts of competition with games like Pictionary and Guesstures. (I will here mention, most humbly, that the team Jason and I were on completely annihilated the competition!)

The actual day of Halloween was spent carving pumpkins and preparing the traditional feast of dinner in a pumpkin. We managed to get away for an hour or so to trick-or-treat at the businesses downtown. That's when Brevin began to complain of being tired. Upon our arrival home, he spiked a fever of 102.9° and had the chills. After dinner and only a few visits to homes close by, he was resigned to let Spencer and Jason go on without him. He stayed with Garrett and I as we handed out every last bag of personal-sized popcorn to eager trick-or-treaters.

Aside from Brevin coming down with a mild case of the flu (he is better, now. It was only a 24-hour thing, so far as we can tell), Halloween was just about perfect this year!

Oh, here is just a sampling of Jason and Brevin's pumpkin handiwork. Jason's is the one on the right, in case you were wondering.To see more, go here.

And if this post was too much writing for your liking, you can go
here for a visual pictorial of all the experiences I just described.

This post authored by Amber

Brush, Brush, Brush Your Teeth

Just in time for Halloween, the boys all had dentist appointments. I questioned my reasoning at first (I mean, why not wait and get teeth cleaned after the candy overload?) but it turned out to be a pretty good idea. With the dental visit fresh on their minds, they are all doing a more thorough job of brushing and flossing. At this rate, their teeth just might survive the heightned state of sugar exposure that they will likely experience over the next week or so.

This happened to be Garrett's first check-up (and that's why I'm posting). He did as well as could be expected for an 18-month-old...no cavities, at least. Now he wants to be like his big brothers and stand at the sink to "brush" his own teeth. I cannot fully describe the horror of the scene that ensued when we tried to get him out of the bathroom and put the toothbrush away. I suppose having a child throw a tantrum about having to stop brushing his teeth might not be such a bad thing in the long run. Gotta take care of that precious smile, you know!

This post authored by Amber