Miles William Parker

Baby Miles was blessed this morning in church by his Daddy. Bishop Staufer and his two counselors stood in as well. It was really strange to have this happen today and not have Miles' grandfathers or uncles here. Miles was perfectly behaved during the blessing, unlike his sibblings. Jake gave a wonderful blessing, although I only heard half of it. Somewhere in the middle, Lucy decided she needed to be up there with Dad and bolted for the front. I spent the next several minutes convincing her to stay by me and when I looked up again, Jake was sitting back down by us. Miles looked dashing in his custom made baby suit from "Big Tubby Babies" (Thank you Nana). It's made out of very fine waled corduroy. She was going to use Italian Moleskin but she could only find Russian Moles and they're much harder to skin.

Rise and Shine

I think everyone should have the pleasure of seeing the Parkers at their very best: in the morning. There's a Smith family trait that I share with two of my brothers, Reid and Chase, and I've successfully passed it on to at least two of my kids. It's called Magic Hair. We inherited it from my mother, the Queen of Magic Hair, but I'm sure if I posted a picture of her sporting that dazzling do, she'd cut me out of the will. The basic idea is that a person can go to bed with perfectly normal hair and wake up several hours later, having been transformed into Don King with no effort at all.

While the rest of the world may not see the value in such a talent, it has supplied us with countless hours of fun.
I'm thinking of starting a points system like in the Olympics. Height would obviously be a major part of the points, but style and movement would have to be factored in as well. That's right, movement. A really good Magic Hair will move on its own. Like the soft fleshy mass that most elderly women wear on their tricep area (also known as Flarms for flabby arms; thank you Eric) that continues to move of its own free will after a really good wave, Magic Hair will also nod good morning long after its owner's head has ceased to move.



We'd need commentators in our sport. "Wow, did you see that, Bob? I haven't seen a double dipptity do that good in months!" or "He really outdid himself this morning; a two sided shark fin with a twist."
Only the really and truly talented can compete in this sport. Jake, for instance, tried but will only ever be a spectator.

"Guys"

If there is anything in this world that might possibly hold a higher position in Tate's life than his mother and father it is his bucket of "guys". Not action figures or superheroes; simply "guys". Anything that is made of plastic or metal and has two legs can fall under the category of guys, but an animal or two has been known to sneak into the category for role playing purposes(such as a taun taun when Uncle Eric sent him Darth Vader and Obi Won guys). It doesn't matter if the guy cost nothing (we found one on the sidewalk once.) or if it cost $14 (Cyborg from Teen Titans). All guys are created equal and superior to family members. Since Tate was 18 months old and got his first Buzz Lightyear, he has had at least one guy in his hand at all times. He takes one to bed, into the bath, to church (has to stay in his pocket), to the doctor, to the grocery store, and a whole bag full to Grandma's.

Tate set up a portion of his guys in rank and file as a sorting activity on our living room floor. He was gracious enough to let the princesses in to appease his sister, but notice how they're made to stand off to one side.



A special guy might be called for if that particular cartoon is on, such as the incredibles or toy story. The same goes for book; if Tate's reading his dad's superhero comic books, superman and batman must be present as well.

There's no doubt about it, Tate loves his guys!

Thank you Kyra Swain

Thank you Kyra Swain for this lovely wool sweater. Today was Miles' first time to wear it and as we left for church this morning, the temp. was not quite up to 30 degrees yet. He was nice and toasty warm, and looked might dapper too.

"Especially large" Miles

I took Miles in for his two month check up last Friday and the doctor pronounced him a very healthy baby. Very healthy. Maybe a little too healthy. He weighs 15 1/2 pounds and is off the chart for height and weight. Then the doctor asked me, "Are you having trouble fitting him into his car seat?". Well, as a matter of fact, I had been having trouble squeezing him into it, but it's supposed to last a year. For the love of Pete, he's only 2 months old! Then Dr. Schiz says, "You know, they make a special car seat for especially large babies. You're going to need one and probably within the next month or two." and I thought Tate was a fat baby!
So here's a picture for comparison. By the way, no they were not all smiling at the same time. This is by the grace of Photoshop.


Here's Tate (almost 5 years old) holding Miles. Well, maybe not so much holding him as much as trapped under him.

The pizza story

Most of the people I know have heard about Tate begging pizza off a stranger in Central Park. Here's a picture of Tate and the germy pizza.

And this is the back of germy Lucy.

Have you ever been kicked out of the Museum of Natural History?

We have! Jake suprised me with a day off (his, not mine) yesterday and we all took a trip into NY City to go to the museum.
We especially liked the giant blue whale hanging from the ceiling and the squid fighting with the sperm whale. And we fit right in with all the primates.

Everything was going great until we got up to the dinosaur floor. While I sat on a bench to feed Miles, the big kids (ha ha) all went to see the dinosaurs. Well, apparently, they're not as well behaved for Jake as they are for me and things got a bit out of hand.

Lots of screaming and running and shouting and climbing led to the Parker family expulsion from the museum. It was rather humiliating.
Other than that, the day was a success. When we left the house, it was a balmy 12 degrees but it warmed up to about 24 in the afternoon. Just right for walking around New York City with three kids! The subway was Lucy's favorite part.

Christmas Pictures

The kids got to open one present on Christmas Eve. Tate got a robe and slippers:


And Lucy got a night gown and Elmo slippers:



Princess Lucy on Christmas day. Nana gave her this getup. I'd say she liked it.

Every princess needs her beauty sleep:


Christmas was a little foggy in the morning:


Miles was just happy to have made it through the day.

Hey everybody, we finally got around to setting this blog up. I think it will be a faster easier way to keep you all updated than the things we did in the past. So, let's get started with some new pictures of Miles:








And here's Tate and Lucy in the bubble bath.