Gymboree Halloween Party

Today at Gymboree, all of the kids came dressed in their Halloween costumes. It was so much fun and all of the kids looked so cute. Well, they looked really cute at the beginning of class, but by the end, most of the kids were a little disheveled :)

Nathan is a big, scary, lion this year! Can you tell that he loves wearing the head part?

He actually wore the hood for a long time in the beginning but then kept trying to pull it off. His little fingers would end up pulling the yarn loops out of his mane. So I gave him a break from the hat for a while.

Here are Nathan's friends: Thorne the golfer, Lauren the fairy, and Nate the lion

I know Lauren and Nathan are only 14 months old, but they sure do like each other and seem a little flirty at times :)

"So...Lauren...would you want to go get a Happy Meal together...I mean if your mommy and my mommy say it's OK?"

It was so funny to watch Nathan trying to navigate his way up and down the slides and on all of the play equipment. Half the time his lion head would be down over his eyes, and he kept running into everything (and kids)!

Thorne's outfit cracked me up!

Guess which two kiddos snuck away from the group to rummage through cabinets and drawers????


"Lauren, will you marry me in 28 years?"

"Of course, my little Nater-Tot."

Pumpkin Patch

Last week while Nathan and I were visiting Mama, we found a pumpkin patch near her house and decided to stop for a visit. Nathan was so excited to see all of the "balls." Anything that is halfway round is a ball according to him.


"This one is just the right size!"


"Who needs squash???"


I swear, Nathan inspected just about every pumpkin there was. We were lucky to get him to sit still for this picture!

After looking at the smaller pumpkins, we took Nathan for a ride in the to pick out a larger one for our porch.

He was so cute in the wagon! Now I want to get him one! He stayed sitting down as long as we were pulling him, but as soon as we stopped he popped right up.

"You're doing a good job maneuvering through all of these pumpkins Mama, keep it up."

Nathan picked out this pumpkin for us to take home and, as you can see, he is very proud of it :)

Visiting Grandmother

Last weekend was very exciting for the Parnell family. We went to El Dorado to visit Grandmother and to get her house ready to sell! She's moving to Dallas! Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed that her house sells soon so that Nathan can be with both sets of grandparents whenever he wants...and whenever Wayne and I want :)


Grandmother, Nathan, and Daddy swinging on the back porch. Sorry about the shadows on Helen and Wayne, but I guess you could say that Nathan is stealing the spotlight :)


"Daddy, I can't wait for Grandmother to move! I'd help pack, but it's more fun for me to take everything OUT of boxes, not put stuff in."


While Wayne and Helen were planning her move, Nathan and I went around town to visit some friends. Our first stop was my friend, Kerri's house. We went to high school together and still keep in touch. This is her daughter, Caroline, on the right and her friend.


Nathan made himself right at home in Caroline's tree house. He even took a little snack break while Kerri talked to him.


Nathan never met a dog he didn't like, and this one was the perfect size for him!


"I wonder when Daddy will build me a tree house?"

"Mommy, let's go back to Miss Kerri's house for some more snacks."

After we played at Kerri's house, Nathan went home to take a nap and then we went to visit more friends. Here is Nathan with Linda Hall, one of my mom's friends from El Dorado.

Me, Nate, Sarah, and Laura. Sarah and I also went to high school together, and she is expecting a baby soon! It just happened that we were all home at the same time visiting our families! Nathan was so cute and was in the best mood. He was his usual, happy self! It was really fun to be able to see Grandmother and show Nathan off to my friends.

Nathan couldn't get enough of this swing! Plus, he wanted to be everywhere Grandmother was. We can't wait to have her with us for good!!!

Texas State Fair

Last Thursday, the three of us met our friends Dan, Haewon, and Reece at the state fair. Wayne and Dan got off of work early so we spent the evening seeing all of the sights and eating WAY too much food! I told Wayne that as long as I get a corn dog and funnel cake, I'll be happy. Well, we had both of those plus nachos, cheese fries, and a fried banana split!


Nathan read his book on the way down there. He babbles and points to the words and pictures the way we read to him. Every once in a while he throws in words he knows like dog and ball. It's so cute!


"Are we there yet?"


Nathan and his friend, Reece


Getting corn dogs was first on our list, then we decided to let the boys go on their first fair ride. It was actually very bumpy and a little rougher than we expected.


"I'm not so sure about this!"


After strolling around, we let the boys stretch their legs while we waited for the laser light show and fireworks.


Reece, Haewon, me, and Nathan


Nathan and Reece loved the show!


What a cute family :)


Nathan was so tired after the show and almost fell asleep, but we had one more activity to do...


The daddies had to try to win their sons a prize. And we were just talking about what a waste of money these games are!


Wayne got lucky on his first game and won Nate a Texas basketball.


Nathan and Reece played their own game. All they had to do was pick up a duck to win. Nathan got his duck and won a little teddy bear.


So Daddy couldn't stop at one game. He had to win one more prize for his baby.
"Here Daddy, I rubbed it for good luck."


All he had to do was break the plates to win...easier said than done. Daddy didn't win anything.


But I guess the vendor felt sorry for Nathan and went ahead and gave him a big stuffed dog and a Nemo fish!

We had so much fun! But we're going to be completely broke when Nathan is old enough to want to ride all the rides, play the games, and eat the food!

Misc. Pictures of Nathan

Here are some various pictures from last week that I am just now uploading.


Nathan with Grandma at our weekly visit. When we got to Grandma's apartment, she and the other residents were in the dining room having lunch. As soon as Nathan saw all of Grandma's friends smiling at him, he let go of my hand and went from table to table to say hi! He was not shy at all and even loved playing with the women's bracelets! Grandma was very proud of him!

Nathan's new favorite snack is raisins.

"Mommy, I can't believe you finally gave in and let me hold the box all by myself! I promise I'll be careful with them." Yeah, right!


"It's a little tricky to get my chubby hand in this little box."


"Ohhhhhhh, I've got a big handful!"


"Yummy for my tummy...3 in my mouth, 5 in my car seat."


"Ok Mommy, enough of the raisin pictures." Needless to say, there were tons of raisins in his seat and on the floor, but oh well, he had fun holding his own box :)

Here's a little clip of Nathan blowing a kiss. I've been trying to teach this to him, but as you can see he's put his own twist on it. He blows in his hand (in this case, it's the raisin box) to make the noise. He thinks it's so funny.

And in these next pictures, Nathan entertained himself for a good 20 minutes climbing under the bar stools.

"Peekaboo! Can you see me?"

"Now, how am I going to get out of here? It's not as easy as it looks."


"Seriously Mommy, I'm getting claustrophobic."