a weekend in ellensburg

my boys!

Last weekend we were lucky enough to get to go to Ellensburg to spend the weekend with Trav's family. We got there on Friday evening and went to the fair. The weekend was great and it was nice to catch up and visit. Parker especially had fun playing with cousins Torri and Raylee. He had so much fun walking around the house and chasing Mommy everywhere. He even found and very big Swiffer and was loving it!!! I think that Aunt Rhonda loved having at least a little of the dusting done for her too! Just one less thing to do...what mom doesn't love that??? Torri and Raylee had blown up individual air mattresses to sleep on in the living room and Parker thought it was so much fun to be pulled around on them like they were sleds! It was hilarious to watch.

After we got back from the fair, Travis decided that we should go out and and pet Mark and Rhonda's horses. Parker even sat on one. He wasn't so sure about it!

On Sunday, before we all headed back home we took some family pictures. I think they turned out pretty well!
top row: me, trav, parker, jammi, rhonda, torri, cody
middle: raylee, sue, nan, lee
bottom: tyler, terri, papa, mark, shane

top: me, parker, trav, rhonda, mark, torri, cody
middle: terri, papa, lee, shane, tyler
bottom: raylee, sue, nan, jammi

us!

the orendorffs: cody, mark, rhonda, torri

the duncans: terri, sue, raylee

boys and their toys

Just as a quick update: our little man is now walking! He still gets down and crawls if there is something he wants to get to really quickly (or if he's trying to catch up to his cousins!).

• favorite foods (he's in this phase where one day he loves something and the next day he doesn't...so we have to re-try things every other day right now): blueberry pop-tarts, bananas, grilled ham & cheese sandwiches, tamales, crisp chicken burritos, freeze-dried apples & pears, Honeycombs and toast with jelly on it
• baby signs: "more" (he started out just doing after prompting a couple days ago...but today Nonni gave him a little piece of a chocolate chip cookie and he followed her and did the sign for more a couple times wanting more bites!)
  
• says: "mom" & "dad", and makes a bunch of other noises!
• new things he loves to do: lay his head down on everything, play in the dog water (he really loves to stand with one foot in the dog water dish), try to steal Deacon's food, climb the stairs (and everything else), watch Daddy mow the lawn, ride on the riding lawn mower, cram himself into tight spaces, yank on anything with bars and play with all the shoes in the shoe basket by the door.
• tooth count: Parker now has 4 teeth on the top and 2 teeth on the bottom with 2 more that have just broken through the skin
  

The other day we decided that because Parker loves to play in small spaces so much, that maybe he needs a tunnel toy to play with. We found this one at Toys R Us and he loves it!
{if you look close you can see him in the yellow block on the right}

{it even has a ball pit in the center block}
{he really likes trying to stick his face through these holes}
While we were all sitting around the table eating dinner (Parks had already finished eating), just a couple feet away Parker somehow tipped over one of the dining room chairs after scooting it over to the carpet. He climbed up onto the back of the chair and was peeking over the top at all of us at the table. He knew that he was being funny and kept doing it over and over!
peek-a-boo
Then Drayson came over to play with the tipped over chair too. He thought it was funny to drop his lovie down between the legs and pick it back up again!

Notice all the drool on Park's shirt...yup we are getting two more teeth in! Ahhh...the joy of teething!

Fun at the FAIR!

This adorable act happened this morning. My mom went to Costco the day before yesterday and Parker loves to cram himself into small spaces. He was really enjoying himself. Travis and I got a good chuckle out of it!
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Last night we went to the fair with my parents. We mainly went to watch our nephew Caleb do the Mutton Bustin'! For those of you who do not frequently attend the RODEO it is where little kiddos ride sheep and try to hang on for dear life. He was the first to ride and he stayed on for 10 seconds. I was totally impressed. He did great...then told Chip and Sara that he would not be doing it again next year! He ended up getting 5th out of 13 kids.
here's daddy and parks waiting for caleb to ride
he's about to ridelook at our cowboy all dressed up!daddy and parks with the pigit was a noisy one and parker was not so sure about being his buddy

here's parker and papa on the bus on the way home
parker and his new face...he loves to stick his tongue out...still trying to get used to those teeth

my parents with all three grandboys

caleb went into a little mutton bustin'/fair/10 o'clock at night coma on the bus!

parker's new punch ball from the fair...i think that daddy was enjoying it more than he was!

he was so funny. i can't believe that it was 10 at night and he and drays were still going strong! if only they would have slept in a little this morning!

Parks & The Swiffer

This was too funny not to share! It was while Parks was sick and it was nice to see him having fun and laughing. He was obsessed with the Swiffer Duster and played with it for about a half an hour. His laugh totally fills my heart...all you moms out there know exactly what I'm talking about! The pictures are so cute, but the video He started with just the swiffer...




...then moved on to his book. He played with his book in his favorite "squatting" position.
Next it was the boxing gloves!