Happy Birthday Ethan!

The summer birthday parties continue! Nathan was invited to Ethan's 3rd birthday party. Nathan was a tad bit shy at first, but then let loose, and was having a blast!

He's always the one who wants to eat as many snacks as he can :)

Ethan blowing out his candles.

Nathan couldn't wait to dig into the cookie cake. He's waiting patiently for me to give him the go ahead. Once I did, he dug in...and went back for seconds.

It was a cowboy theme, so every kid was given a cowboy hat and bandana. Nathan would only wear his hat for about 5 seconds...long enough for me to take this picture :)

Cowboy Nate is probably going back for another cookie...or maybe some goldfish...or a juice box!

Nathan's friend, Willow.

Here are two videos of Nathan keeping himself entertained while Ethan opened his presents. Sorry they're sideways...I always forget not to take the videos vertically.

The Parnell Family Reunion

We went to the annual Parnell Family Reunion two weeks ago and had a blast! Last year, Nathan was crawling, and this year, he was running around like a wild man! The reunion was held in Hot Springs, Arkansas, which was a five hour drive from here. Nathan was such a good traveler...it helped that we were in our new car which has a DVD player. Nathan watched Baby Einstein videos, 101 Dalmatians, and The Fox and the Hound. At one point, while he was watching Fox and the Hound, he was laughing and smiling, and then all of a sudden, he burst into tears and started crying. Wayne and I were so surprised and didn't know what had happened. I thought surely he isn't crying about the movie. After a few minutes, he stopped and was enjoying the movie again. On the way home, Nathan was watching his movie again, having fun, and then started crying AGAIN and pointing to the screen. I was driving, so Wayne leaned his chair back to see what was going on in the movie. It turns out that he was crying because he thought the fox, Todd, got hurt in one of the scenes. How sweet is that?! It was the exact same scene that made him cry the first time. He's so sensitive :)


Here is the whole group! Nathan and his cousin Logan aren't in the picture because it was way past their bedtime! We all wore the same shirts but half are red, for the Razorback fans, and half are purple for the LSU fans :) A bunch of us stayed in the "big" house and others stayed in condos. We always met up at the big house for dinner and to visit during the day.


Here is Nathan with Logan (in the back) and Nick (sitting on the bed). What was so wonderful was that there were tons of kids there to keep each other occupied. Nathan had so much fun playing with all of them, and they were so sweet to him. In this picture, they're jumping on Grandmother's blow up mattress!


Nathan and Jake found Grandmother's stash of snacks and helped themselves.

Nathan with his buddies, Jake and Nick. He called them, "The boys." He wanted to be everywhere the boys were. One afternoon, all of the boys were downstairs watching a wrestling video. They were in a row, laying on their stomachs, completely entertained by this movie. When Nathan saw them, he walked right over, plopped himself down on his tummy with his hands under his chin, and watched the movie too! He was trying to be a big boy :)

Here is Logan, Wayne's brother's little boy.

There's nothing like a juice box to make Nathan a happy camper :)

Tiffany, my sister-in-law, and me.

Nathan loved walking down to the lake to throw rocks. We had just walked down there and spent a good 30 minutes throwing, rocks and sticks into the water, but he kept looking out of this fence wanting to go back.

We got to the reunion Thursday night. The guys had a golf tournament Friday while Carrie, Tiffany, Grandmother (Wayne's mom), and I took the kids swimming. Grandmother took Nathan and Logan back to the house for naps while Carrie, Tiffany, and I spent the afternoon in Hot Springs eating lunch and shopping. On Saturday, we all went to Mid America Museum. It's a science museum, and Logan and Nathan loved it. They loved running around and experimenting with all of the different exhibits.

Stuart, Wayne's brother, is helping Logan build an "earthquake" proof house.

And Nathan is going to push the button that starts the quake. The house survived though! Good job Logan!

Nathan with his daddy. We had a great weekend with our family, especially Nathan. He was usually in a great mood, except for the times he threw a few fits when he was tired, hungry, or thought Mommy was leaving him...just going to the bathroom Nathan :) Nathan was the youngest there, so all of the other kids were so sweet to him and liked to "baby" him. They also realized that Nathan will do pretty much anything for treats. One little girl is named Nicole, but everyone calls her Sissy. She really wanted Nathan to say her name so she kept giving him an M&M trying to teach him to say Sissy. He caught on really fast, and was saying Sissy as much as he could to get his M&Ms. Carrie told me that one morning, while I was getting ready, she was downstairs with all of the kids, and saw a trail of pretzels. It turns out that Nick and Jake were making an obstacle course for Nathan! He followed the trail, eating them as he went. I wish I could have seen my little baby going around tables while stuffing pretzels in his mouth!

I do have more pictures, but I may not be able to access them...I accidentally left my memory card out and found Nathan munching on it! Why do things like this always happen to me?! It's bent, but not completely broken. I'm going to see if I can take it to a camera place and get the pictures off of it. Luckily I had already transferred most of them to the computer so there were only a few from the reunion.

Here is a video of Nathan and Jake bouncing on Grandmother's bed!

Aunt Jennifer and Robert

I used to be so good about posting by blog entries right away, but I have somehow gotten WAY behind. It's either because we've been so busy and have so many events to right about, or it's because I've been procrastinating and haven't managed my time well. Or maybe it's a combination of the two. But I am determined to get back on track and not let so much time go by in between my entries.

Three weeks ago (has it really been that long?!) my sister, Jennifer, and my nephew, Robert, came to Dallas for a visit. Robert is so sweet with Nathan, and Nathan completely adores Robert. Now I'm convinced that Nathan needs a brother or sister so he can have a playmate! It was so great because Jen and I could really visit and hang out while Nathan played with Robert.

On this day, Nathan and I drove to Mama and Papa's house and then went swimming with Robert at their neighborhood pool. As soon as we get to my parents' house, Nathan makes himself right at home. He loves to play outside with Cookie, look at the birdies, drink juice boxes, and pretty much do anything he wants. He totally has Mama and Papa wrapped around his finger :)

Nathan and Robert walking to the pool.

The next day, Robert, Jen, and Mama ran a few errands and then headed to my house after Nathan's nap. Robert was so sweet and picked out a new book for Nathan. It's a robot book that lights up and makes sounds. It is definitely Nathan's new favorite book. Thanks "Robbie!" That's Nathan's nickname for Robert :)

We also squeezed in a trip to Hawaiian Falls. It's a water park that is right by my house. I don't know who had more fun...Robert, Nathan, or ME! I love water parks and amusement parks. I just need some kids to take so I have an excuse to ride all of the rides!

Nathan misses his Aunt Jen and Cousin Robert and wants them to come back to visit soon! We love you two and had so much fun together!