Parker is 4!

I cannot believe that my little man is 4!  I'm not quite sure where the time goes...but it sure flies by quickly.  I feel like it was only yesterday that we were at the hospital waiting to be induced with Parks and now he is so big!  There are no words to express how much we love this boy.

travis, parker, & i...our first picture of the 3 of us!

Now Parker is so independent.  He wants to do everything himself...and actually does them well!  He impresses us all the time with his ability to learn new things quickly...as long as he wants to!  If he doesn't feel like it...our stubborn boy will have nothing to do with it.  I suppose I would rather have a strong-willed and confident child as opposed to a meek one...but there are days that it tests my patience!  Parker learned how to ride his bike all by himself (without training wheels) months ago.  He just decided one day that he wanted to, and that was all it took!  Travis and I are going to have to get bikes when he gets back from his deployment so that we can keep up and not have to jog to keep up with him!

Parker is the "man of the house" right now because Travis is deployed.  He has been testing all patience and all rules from the day Daddy left...but we will adjust and we will figure out how to cope with him being away.  He will be gone for 6 months.  We miss him terribly, but are being strong to support our Airman!  We are a proud Air Force family and know that this is just one of the sacrifices necessary to keep our country safe. 

For Parker's birthday we went to Andy Alligator's before Travis left to have a day of fun since Travis would be missing the actual birthday.  We had a blast!

This was the frog hopper...I thought it was simply going to go to the ceiling and drop, but it didn't just drop, it bounced up and down along the way...hence the name, I suppose!  Daddy lucked out and Mommy got to do this one with him!

For his actual birthday, I tried my best to make it extra special with Daddy being away.  I am hoping that he would look back on it and think I did a pretty good job!  The morning started with a crepe paper and balloon wall on his door.  The night before I set it all up...trying my hardest to be quiet and not wake him up while doing it.  Then I lay in fear all night that he would have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and the whole thing would be ruined...it wasn't!

 Then we had some green pancakes...with sprinkles, of course!  Can you see the theme/Parker's favorite color???  All green...all the time!

 Next was a trip to McDonald's for lunch and to play!  They both had a blast...please note the color of shirt he picked out...green...SHOCKING!

I think I did a pretty good job on the cake...and yes, the cake itself is green!  Like the Hulk {Parker is also totally Avengers obsessed!}

 Lighting the candles...he was so excited to blow them out!

 

Please note Parker singing in the video...so hilarious!  He is so used to singing it for other people!

 Presents!!!

We are SO thankful to our Air Force family for making it such a special day and helping us to enjoy the day even though Travis was not here to share it with us.  He was there on FaceTime for a fair amount of it though!  Thank goodness for technology!

Parker and his best friend Tara putting together one of his talking dinos!

 Talking dinos & Iron Man...what more does a little boy need???

ROAR!

Here are some other pictures of things that Parker has been up to:

we are so impressed with how well he writes his name...no help from us!

he had his first eye appointment and did great!

he helped dad make mommy's birthday cake...they did great!

made funny faces with mom!

went bowling for brady's birthday

got in some quality snuggle time with dad

played with sissy

gave sissy kisses

made some more silly faces

went on some walks

...and tormented his sister!  This last one is a better account of daily life here in the Guion house!!!

our first christmas away from family

This was the first year that we were not able to spend Christmas with family. It was sad because we wanted to see everyone and we wished everyone could have spent some time with the kids. Although, it was nice to have a quiet Christmas...just the 4 of us because we know that Travis will probably be deployed sometime this year and won't be able to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with us this year.

It was our first Christmas as a family of 4 as well. We are loving having a new addition and are glad that our family is finally complete! I couldn't imagine my life without Parker and Delainey and they just make everything more fun!

Thanks to everyone that sent gifts for us and the kiddos...they were all greatly appreciated and enjoyed and it warmed our hearts to know that you were thinking of us this Christmas while we were away. Our kids were definitely spoiled this year...hopefully they don't think they will have that many presents every year! (Because they won't!)

This year we opened presents from the Guion side on Christmas Eve. It was nice to get to chat with everyone on the phone!
{Parks--ready to open his gifts from Grandpa Lee & Grandma Jammi, Uncle Tyler & Amber, and Uncle Shane}
{we were all anxious to see what this gift was...the UPS man said it had been "talking to him" while he was making his deliveries and was glad to be rid of it}

{it's Mater & McQueen!!!...and boy are they noisy...thanks Uncle Tyler and Amber...payback's a, well you know the rest!}
{thanks for the new chew toy...I mean hat and gloves Grandpa Lee and Grandma Jammi!}
{new teether from Uncle Shane}

On Christmas morning we opened our gifts from "Santa" and us to the kids and emptied out our stockings. Then in the afternoon (our time) and morning (Washington time) we "Face-Timed" with my parents and my sister's family while opening gifts from them! It is so great to get to see everyone...even if it is on the phone! I love technology and it sure does make being far away so much easier to bear! At night we were able to Skype with the McCue/Parker clan. It was so nice to feel like we were there...even though we weren't really.
{Christmas morning in the jammies...they are too cute}


{a HUGE thanks to Papa Kevin and Nonni Donna for the tractor...he loves it, especially because it is "just like Papa's"}


{oh...the sock monkey hat! For those of you who don't already know, I have a strange fear of sock monkeys...I'm not sure why, I just do! My dad is fully aware of this irrational fear and decided that he would take a break from being a mechanic and be a comedian instead...he saw this hat and of course thought it would be an amazing idea to get it for Parks! I have to admit...he looks super cute in it!}
{putting together and taking apart his Napa engine from Auntie Sara and Uncle Chipper}
{cute as ever in her new shirt}

{I LOVE THIS PICTURE...this is a picture my sister took on Christmas night...obviously in Washington, at my parent's house! If you can't tell, that's Parker on the computer screen, we were on Skype with them!}