Parker's Baptism

We are so proud of Parker for making the decision to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What a special day for him and us. We were blessed to have a lot of family and friends come and support us. The weather was beautiful outside and the day was really nice. The program went as follows:

Saturday November 2, 2013

                                                                        10:00 AM.
                                                      Blackfoot East Stake Center

Baptism of Parker Matthew Christiansen

 Opening Song: I Like My Birthdays

 Chorister: Erika Christiansen

 Pianist: Great Grandma, Sharon Williams

 Opening Prayer: Grandpa, Paul Yancey

 Talk on Baptism: Grandma, Serena Yancey

 Baptism of Parker by his father, Matthew Christiansen

 Talk on the Holy Ghost:  Erika Christiansen

 Confirmation of Parker by his Father, Matthew Christiansen

 Bishopric Remarks

 Blessing of Pieper by her father Matthew Christiansen

 Closing Song: The Holy Ghost

 Closing Prayer: Grandma Linda Christiansen

Parker's 8th Birthday

My oldest turned 8 on the 1st!! Holy cow! I am getting old! Matt and I are still in shock that we have an 8 year old, we can't even remember what life was like when it was just the two of us before we had kids. We sure love Parker and all the wild and crazy excitement he adds to our family. He is a great kid and we are so proud of him. For his birthday I sent boxed rice crispy treats to school, I was so overwhelmed with his birthday, Halloween, his baptism, and Pieper's blessing that I didn't want to have to worry about getting to his school to drop off treats. And with Halloween being the day before the kids were all probably still on a sugar high anyway. I felt a little guilty for not making him something homemade that he chose, but only for a little while. After he got home from school and Matt got home from working, we met my parents, Grandpa and Grandma Yancey, for Pizza at Mr. Pizza. It was delicious! I love their cheese breadsticks, I could eat them for dinner all by themselves! Parker wanted pizza and at first he chose Little Ceasers, but I convinced him that Mr. Pizza was better and that we needed to go there. It was great and I didn't have to cook!! We came back to the house for cake and gifts. Parker wanted an Army (camouflage) cake this year. It turned out great and he loved it. When he came home from school and saw it, he was so excited and immediately told me how much he loved it. I was glad I could at least do that for him to make his day special. He got a cub scout shirt, neckerchief, and scout book from Matt and I, along with a baptism book and towel. Grandma Yancey made him a quilt for his bed and a scrapbook about his baptism. Grandpa Yancey got him a remote control truck. He was quite excited for a new remote control vehicle. (Grandpa & Grandma Christiansen were out of town on Parker's birthday weekend but they got him a new church outfit with a white shirt, tie, and tie tack and he looked so handsome in his new clothes!). After gifts we had cake and then called it a night. We had a big day to get ready for the next day!

Parker 2nd Grade

Our oldest started 2nd grade this year!! What??!! I can't believe he is that big, having a little newborn in the home again brings back all the memories of each other child and when they were that age. It doesn't seem like that long ago we were bringing Parker home from the hospital, so excited and clueless as to what was in store for us. And here we are almost 8 years later!! Parker was very excited to be starting 2nd grade. He has Mrs. Taylor this year, and we are thrilled about that. She has been quite a while and I know she is a wonderful teacher, so Parker is in good hands this year. We are hoping that he really excels this year and that he grasps some of the concepts that were hard for him last year. He has come a long way and it almost to the point that he enjoys some of the parts of school. He was really excited when he learned that a bunch of kids from his 1st grade class have Mrs. Taylor as well so he had friends in the class with him. When we woke him up in the morning for his first day, he just got right back into the routine we had last year and was ready to go in record time. I think he was pretty excited. When he came home from school he was so excited that there would be no homework for the first week because it was also fair week. This kids hates homework, and so does this mother, so I was a little excited as well that there wouldn't be homework to worry about. I am still adjusting to life as a mom of 4!

Swimming Lessons

Both Parker and Paige took 2 sessions of swimming lessons again this summer. Parker was in level 3 the first session and Paige was in level 2. They both did really well, but needed some things to improve before they were passed onto the next level. So the next 2 weeks they both worked hard in their classes and Parker was able to pass level 3 and move onto level 4. Poor little Paige worked hard, but she is still so small that she had a hard time in the depth of the water. She is able to swim short distances, but has a hard time putting her face in the water and keeping afloat in the deeper water, so she will be repeating level 2 again next summer. I tried not to look at the cost of the lessons and the kids having to repeat the same class over and over. I just want the kids to be good swimmers and to be safe and have fun while they are in the water. They love to go swimming so at least it has given them the confidence to be in the water. They are growing up and turning into such big kids, I can hardly believe where the time has gone!

Kids Weekend part 2

On Sunday, the last day of our kids weekend, we took the kids to Hogle Zoo. It was in the 90's that day and it sure felt like it, but the kids were pretty good about not complaing and we had a fun time see all the different animals. Our favorites were the Elephants, Giraffes, and Monkeys. Parker love the snake area and Paxten seemed to be fascinated by everything. There were a lot of areas in the park that were under construction/renovation which was disappointing, but will give us an excuse to come back next year when it is all done. We packed a picnic again this day into the zoo and the kids rode the merry go round inside the zoo.  After we had seen all there was to see, each of the kids picked a souvenier from the gift shop and we got in the van to head home. All of the kids were asleep in no time, we wore them out! We had such a fun time together. It is great to have a sister to do these fun things with and I think we may have to make this a tradition! The kids loved being together and doing something out of the ordinary, we only wish that Matt would have been able to go with us as well.

Kids Weekend of Fun

Charyn and I thought it would be fun to take the kids on a fun weekend to Utah after school got out. The kids were most excited about sleeping in a Hotel and swimming in the hotel pool! We left on the Friday school got out, after Parker got home. We drove to Layton and stopped for dinner at McDonalds (this is after all a kids weekend, right!) Then we went to Hobby Lobby, our choice, to look around and find a few home furnishings and scrapbook supplies. The kids started to become restless in the store and we knew we had pushed our luck, so we made our way to our hotel. The kids immediately wanted to get into the pool. So we did! They swam for over an hour and had a blast! after swimming we had popcorn and watched TV until they finally fell asleep close to 11! The next day we had plans to visit Scheel's, go to the park for a picnic, and then to Boondocks for miniature golf. The kids rode the ferris wheel in Scheels and looked at the huge aquarium. They ran around at a nearby park and we had a fun picnic. Then in the afternoon we went to Boondocks to play mini golf. I am not sure what Charyn and I were thinking taking 4 kids and 2 strollers to go play miniature golf. The kids were everywhere, except by us! I think Charyn and I managed to actually play a total of 4 holes, which was a waste of money, because we were trying to keep caught up with the kids. It was extremely hot outside so the kids were fussy and whining! We did manage to make it through all 18 holes and then went inside to play some video games. Zander and Paxten had fun playing whack a mole and Parker and Paige liked the ski ball machine. We ended up getting only about 100 tickets, which didn't get very much in return, but the kids had fun. After a long morning and afternoon, we decided to go back to the hotel and let the kids swim some more and order in Pizza. It sure is fun to eat pizza in a hotel room! The kids were exhausted and fell asleep before 10 that night!

Parker's Award

Parker received an award on the last day of school for the most improved stufent in his class. This award was given out by the Blackfoot Elks Club and he recieved a cool medal and I was so proud and pleased with him and how much he has advanced this year. He has had some struggles, but has worked hard to overcome them and to do his very best and that is what makes me so proud. He had completed the 50 in a minute challenge for the first grade and has excelled in math. He has also worked super hard, especially the last few weeks of school on his reading so that he could get to 100 AR points before the end of the year. I was about in years one morning when Mrs. Hunt called me to tell me Parker had good news, when he told me that he reached 100 AR points I about started crying! Yay!! He was thrilled to finally accomplish this goal as well. So I felt like this award that he received at the end of the school year summed it up pretty well. Parker has improved so much and I hope that he continues to work hard and have successes in school! I love this kid!

Easter Morning

The kids were once again spoiled by the Easter Bunny. They each got an assortment of candy and prizes in their baskets and were eager to play with them and eat the treats.

Easter Party at Aunt Marilyn's

It has become a tradition that our family looks forward to every year, Easter party at Aunt Marilyn's. The kids were all excited to go and play with cousins and go on an Easter egg hunt. It was beautiful weather that day and we all enjoyed being outside in the sunshine. The kids were egg hunting pros and all filled their baskets with goodies and they each got a prize out of Marilyn's prize basket. I'd say the day with a success and so much fun. I have the greatest family and I an so lucky to have so much fun when we get together!

Math Award

Parker recieved an award at school for completing the 50 in a minute for first grade. He has accomplished sums to 5, differences from 5, sums to 10, differences from 10 and sums to 18. He passed off the first and moved on to the next until he had completed all that was required for 1st grade. He got a medal at a school assembly (Which also happened to by crazy hair day, the wig). I am so proud of him for working so hard and being such a great mathematician. He really is good at math, now if we can just get him better at his reading.....

Parker's Science Project

Parker participated in his first science project this year. I had a hard time coming up with something that I felt like he could explain all on his own in his classroom. We tried one project that had to do with density of liquids and the different liquids were supposed to stay separated in a jar displaying the different density of each, well we must have done something wrong because they all mixed making one big jar of mud looking liquids. So we went with plan "B" and inflated a ballon by mixing baking soda and vinegar. Parker liked it and it fascinated him, so I guess it passed the first grader test. He was prestty excited to present it to his class, when I got there to help him one of the balloons got a hole in it and didn't inflate properly, luckily I brought a back up, but I must not have rinsed the bottle out well enough because it didn't inflate like it should have either. So it was kinda bummer, but the kids in his class got the idea, and had even seen it earlier because another student did the same project. I think Parker had a fun time with science and now I know what to expect and can be thinking of something really cool for next year.

Parker's Award

On the 4th of January Parker received an award at school and I was able to attend to see him get his award. Each month the school has an assembly and 3-4 students from each class are acknowledged for their achievements in their classes. I think this is wonderful for the other students to see what they peers are accomplishing and it sure makes the honored student feel great. Parker was so excited to finally be one of the kids that got an award. His teacher, Mrs Hunt, is wonderful and I think she looks for the best in each of her students. Parker is really lucky to have her. She picked Parker for the month to receive the "Personal Successs Award" for spending extra time practicing his reading and for being a magnificent mathematician. He received a "star" necklace, a gift certificate to Wingers, and the certificate with his picture on it. I was really proud of him and his hard work to get his award. He really is good at math and it seems like the numbers come to him pretty naturally. I hope he continues to enjoy math adn excell at it as he gets older.

Parker's School Program

Parker had his 1st grade Christmas Program on Monday. He was so excited to be performing at the performing arts center for us. They had 2  programs, one at 1:00 in the afternoon and one at 6:00 in the evening. There weren't very many people at the afternoon one, but Grandma Yancey and I were able to make it to watch Parker and his class sing their songs. The evening performance was huge, there were close to 1000 people there to watch the 1-3 grades perform. They all did a great job, but the first grade was the best! (I can say that) Parker actually sang, which is a bug improvement from his Kindergarten program. He is loving being in 1st grade and loves his wonderful teacher.

Family Photos

I like to take a few family snapshots at Thanksgiving time each year. These are the ones that I was able to get in the short amount of time the kids would cooperate. Notice there isn't an individual of Paxten, because he would not stand by himself to let me take a picture. He is at that age, and I didn't want to fight him for a bad picture of him crying. It was freezing cold, so Parker and Paige didn't last long outside either. Nevertheless, we got a few good ones! Matt 30, Erika 30, Parker 7, Paige 4.5, Paxten 20 months.

Parker Turns 7

Parker turned 7 on the 1st of November! How did that happen. I can't believe that I became a mother 7 years ago. It really has flown by quickly (I think I say that after every birthday, anniversary, year!) Parker took brownie cupcakes to school for his birthday treat. I tried to convince him to take cheese and crackers or something like that, since Halloween is the day before and kids have had so much sweet stuff. But that is what he wanted. For his birthday dinner we went to the China Buffet here in town and had Grandpa and Grandma Christiansen with us as well as Grandpa and Grandma Yancey. We all ate until we were stuffed with good chinese food and then went home to open gifts and have cake and ice cream. When we got home from dinner we had the neighbors, the Billings, over for cake and ice cream as well. Parker wanted an Angry Birds cake this year. I decided to make it easy on myself and I bought an Angry Birds game and used it as decoration on the cake. It turned out pretty good. I only had to fix it once when all the blocks tipped over. Parker loved it and that it what counts! He was spoiled as usual and received a lot of great gifts. He got some nerf bullets, angry bird shirts, a remote control car, cowboy guns, a slingshot sort of toy, star wars books, lego set, money, wallet, and three angry birds games. He loved everything he got and felt very special. We had cake and ice cream and then called it a night, since it was a school night! I hope Parker had a great birthday and knows how much we love him and how glad we were that he is part of our family. We are looking forward to next year when he will turn 8 and be baptized!! 

Parker's Spook Parade

This is Parker's first year attending Stoddard Elementary and so it was also his first Spook Parade at the school. Paige, Paxten and I arrived a few minutes before the parade was to start and got one of the last seats in the gym. After waiting for 30 minutes and still no sign of the "spooky" kids, I was beginning to wonder if it was going to happen. Then in walked the Principal, Mr. Wilson. Follwed by Parker's wonderful teacher Mrs. Hunt. Parker is number 6 in his class so he was right at the front of the line. He was very excited to see us there and to be wearing his costume, a Clone Wars guys, complete with a light saber. (Can you tell I am not a Star Wars fan, I don't even really know what he was!) It was an easy costume for him to put on all by himself at school, because they did not allow the kids wo wear their costumes to school in the morning, they had to put them on after lunch before the Spook Parade and class parties. Parker also took as a treat to his class a bag of Pumpkin Poop (Cheese Balls) to share with his classmates. I think he had a fun day at school celebrating Halloween.

Shoe Tying

Parker came home with a note at the beginning of the month from his teacher. She said, please help your kids learn to tie their shoes, I cannot tie 24 kids shoes all day long. So we immediately started practicing. It seems so simple to me, but it can be quite a difficult thing to learn. Parker has been practicing and can pretty much do it by himself now, he just needs to work on getting it tighter so it will stay in longer. This is just another sigh if him growing up. He will be 7 in less than a week!! 7!! I can't believe I became a mother that long ago. The time just goes to quickly. I love this boy and love the person he is becoming. He loves school and loves his teacher and has improved significantly in his letters and numbers since school has started this year. He is still rambunctious and roudy, but I am beginning to understand that that is just how boys are

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Parker's 1st Day of 1st Grade

Parker started school on Wednesday, the 5th. It seems a little late this year, but here it is already. He was really excited about going and making new friends, he was really excited to know that he already knew a few kids in his class, which will make making new friends easier. He didn't seem to have any hesitation about riding the bus this year and we didn't have any bus drama on the ride home either this year. We are all hoping that Parker has a fantastic year, and is able to learn and grow and enjoy it in the process. Happy first day Parker!!

Parker's New Clothes

Parker wasn't quite as excited as Paige was about getting new clothes, but I made him try them each on and model for me as well. Parker will be in 1st grade this year and he is so excited about going. He was excited to have a few new things to wear, especially jeans that don't have holes in the knees!