And while I was blogging...

Parker was getting ready to go for a drive.  His new favorite pastime is sitting in the front seat of our car, twisting the wheel back and forth, pushing every button and twisting every knob.  So far, we've only had our battery die once from the headlights being left on.  And while it's not my favorite pastime, I usually bring my phone or a book out with me and it's not so bad.  If I've talked with you on the phone in the last month between the hours of 7am and 7pm, there's a good chance I've done it from the passenger seat.  Even when sweat is pouring down his little face (have I mentioned how hot it's been lately?), he cries bloody murder when I make him come inside.  Paul thinks that we should give the Jetta to Parker and we should get a new car. 

GUILTY!

He had eaten at least two cookies and was hoping for a third before I caught him in the act.

19 Months

In honor of Parker hitting the 19 month mark today, I cleaned the peanut butter off our video camera so Parker can show off his new tricks.



In addition to these amazing feats, he can also say these words:

*bye
*hello
*hot
*Elmo
*puppy (pronounced "baba")
*Word World (pronounced "Wuh Wuh")
*night night
*no
*yes
*Where'd it go? (pronounced "uuuuuh go")
*nose
*eyes

5 YEARS

Our anniversary was a week ago (August 25th) and we celebrated by seeing the new Batman movie and having Jack In the Box for dinner. We loved it- both the movie and the food. In the past we've done something a little more exciting, but we figured that Hawaii was part of our anniversary celebration, and possibly birthday/Christmas/Mother's Day/Father's Day/Kwanza/Groundhog Day celebration too.

Here's a few Always and Nevers that we've discovered about each other in the last five years:

PAUL ALWAYS/ COURTNEY NEVER:
* is in charge of anything car related, even though Courtney is primarily the one who uses the car
* cleans the shower
* turns clothes right-side-out before putting them in the laundry basket
* wakes up with Parker in the morning
* prefers savory breakfast over sweet
* is the first to say sorry
* locks up our apartment at night
* washes the dishes that have to be done by hand
* wants to play on Saturday mornings
* watches The Patriot (from CleanFlicks) every 4th of July
* counts down the days to college football
* buys toys with personal money
* gets really excited about celebrating holidays
* reads finance-related articles online
* gets hair cut at home

COURTNEY ALWAYS/ PAUL NEVER:
* measures ingredients when cooking/baking
* kisses Parker goodnight
* falls asleep watching movies started after 9:00pm
* pays the bills
* eats vegetables without being coerced
* does the laundry
* wants to do chores on Saturday morning
* stresses about being on time
* wants to stick to a budget
* is in the process of reading a book
* gets misty watching The Biggest Loser, Mormon Messages, Bambi, and others
* prefers fruity desserts to chocolate
* blogs

Parker's Room

Do you remember Parker's old room?

No more living in a closet for this little nugglet! He'd like to take you on a tour.





Where's Parker??

This is the view from his window. We spend a lot of time at that pool!

Also, please note these awesome blackout curtains that I made:
Here's a picture when the curtains are drawn. It's actually not as dark as this picture makes it out to be, but it still blocks out a lot of light which has been very helpful for naps and sleeping in past 6:00am.

It's Hot!

I've become a softie- anything above 90 degrees makes me melt. At our old apartment we had central AC and discounted utilities, so we had no problem keeping the thermostat set at a comfortable 74 degrees. Aah... those were the good old days! Now we have a wall unit that only cools down the front room, and I think that even if we ran it all day, the temperature in our apartment wouldn't fall below 78. At least we're in a downstairs unit. Most of the time we just leave the AC off and hope that the fans will provide enough relief. We are adapting, though, and have closed off the entrance to the kitchen (which has a big window facing the sun) with our shower curtain and we keep the bathroom door closed too. It helps, but I'm certainly looking forward to cooler days.

Here's Parker beating the heat at one of the local splash pads:

Beach Day

This week Huntington Beach hosted the US Open of Surf and this morning we went to go check out the action. We've been in the past, but always on Saturdays, and it's always been so crowded. Lucky for us, this year we got to go on a Friday (since Paul has Fridays off) and we got front row seats on the beach to watch the surfers. Also lucky for us, we got to see Kelly Slater surf and Paul and Parker got their picture taken with Rob Machado.

Afterward, we went back to our apartment to meet up with our friends Nate and Brittany and then went to Surfside Beach where Nate and Paul caught some waves of their own while Brittany, Parker and I played on the beach.