Snow Without the Snow Fall

I don’t know if many of you will recall our family outing to the snow last year. To jog your memories, I have included a link to the post describing our abominable experience.

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This year, we had a much milder snow day experience, thank you Legoland. I didn’t expect there to be snow when we arrived, but it’s Christmas and in Southern CA, snow is a novelty, so why not at a theme park. It was the perfect amount, just enough to make snow balls and do a little sledding, for about 15 minutes, which is about how long my kids last in the snow anyway.

Now of course, I can’t let my kids think that snow comes from Legos, so at some point this year we’ll go for a real snow day in the mountains. But for the week before Christmas, an impromptu romp in the cold white stuff with Grandma and Grandpa was fun enough for the moment.

Happy Birthday to my Little Man

Though it seems it can’t be true, my darling boy is now four years old! Oliver continues to amaze us with his keen observation, his energy and excitement, and his sense of humor.

I was talking to my neighbor about Oliver, and I was telling him how I wish I could hold his little newborn self just once more. The time passes so quickly, it’s hard to even remember what he looked like then. Yes, the pictures take me back to that time, but perhaps if I could do it again I would have cherished the moment more, had I known how soon it would happen that this tiny peanut would turn into a little boy.

My cherishing would be momentary of course, if my return in time relived itself exactly the same way it did the first time. Oliver cried the entire night he was born, and Joe and I have been exhausted ever since! I say this jokingly, but yet with an element on honesty…

We celebrated Oliver’s fourth birthday with dinner and cake at Toni and Avery’s house. Oliver opened a few presents, one of which was a super cool bike from his friends, and then we headed out to see Christmas lights. The City of Temecula does a tour of Christmas lights around town each year. So we hopped on a bus with a bunch of other folks, and drove all around to see the lights and enjoy the season.

Oliver quickly proved to be the life of the party, anxious to answer the tour guide’s riddles, win prizes with his raffle tickets, and make miscellaneous comments that spurred giggles from those around us. On the ride home, our guide was kind enough to indulge Oliver and had the entire bus sing happy birthday to him.

I am hoping that he felt special this night. He is special to Joe and Me, and Henry, and his family, every day and night. Even though he’s growing so fast, I tell him often he’ll always be my baby. He tells me right away, but mommy I want to grow up, or sometimes, it’s “Mom, I’m going to grow into a daddy”… but whether he’s four or forty, he’ll always be my special little man.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Some Good Ole' Boy Time at Christmas

Well after making my boys suffer through shoe shopping with mom, they were able to experience some boy time as its finest. On the way home from mom’s shoe extravaganza, we stopped off at Bass Pro Shops in Rancho Cucamonga to visit with Santa and check out some fishing goods. Oliver loves fish and all aquatic related items more than any other kind of toy, so I figured even if he gets to see the fish tank, he would be excited.

What we did experience though, far exceeded my expectations. In some ways, I felt like we were a scene taken out of the movie, The Christmas Carol, where Ralphie goes to the mall to tell Santa about his ultimate Christmas wish. The ginormous store was complete with carousel, Santa’s Village, games for the kids, and remote control cars and trains, just to name a few of the activities available to engage the excited young mind. However, in our movie scene, Santa didn’t kick my kids down the slide after taking their Christmas wishes.

I honestly think, had I let them, Oliver and Henry might have stayed there all afternoon. Only the lure of happy meals, seeing daddy, and a promise to come back again another day could persuade my kiddos to leave their boy heaven.

Halloween

We're going backwards here for a moment. I never posted Halloween pictures, but the kids are so cute, I can't just let the year slip by without sharing.

Henry was actually old enough to go out trick or treating this year, so he hit up and couple streets, and then headed back with Joe to hand out candy at our house. After going door to door through one side of the neighborhood with me, Oliver went back, switched parents, and hit up the rest of the streets.

Thankfully the kids have moved on from all the candy they gathered, out of sight, out of mind. I'm pretty sure it's still sitting up on the top shelf in the cupboard, waiting for some fresh Christmas and Easter candy to keep it company.

Greetings of Thanks and Giving

I’m a behind on updating our blog with the Parla Family adventures of recent. I have to admit, the reason for this is, I feel I should write a little something about what was special with each thing have done, but when I sat down to put my thoughts to words, I came up blank; so I decided to quit.

Without me saying it, I’m sure you are aware that every moment spent with my family is special to me. Whether or not I can pinpoint one particular thing about it that was especially wonderful, it’s all still worth sharing because it’s our story. Big event, little day to day things, it all goes together into this amazing life that Joe, the kids, and me all share with each other.

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow, I could make a list of all the things in my life that I am thankful for. I’m sure that many of the things I would include, such as health, income, family, are also on your list. But I think the more important thing to do would be to remember why we have this list of blessings in the first place.

I know that each and every wonderful thing I have in my life is simply because God loved me, so much so, that he would give the life of His son to pay for my transgressions and pull me into an ever-lasting relationship with him. This was the message this past Sunday in church, and as I was listening, I first thought, how many times have I heard this sermon (terrible, I know). But then I started to think, I have two sons. Would I be willing to sacrifice one of them to pay for the sins of others? I don’t know what I could do that.

And so I think to myself, as a recipient of the greatest gift ever given, that being the ultimate love of our Heavenly Father, I hope that in these photos, you may catch a glimpse of even the tiniest shred of the same kind of Godly love being shared between our family and friends. May your homes be warm, your bellies full, your faith strengthened, and your heart joyful in this season to come.



Henry, Oliver, and Avery at Disneyland.



This picture just makes me laugh, my silly boy!

There are lots of good captions for what Kinley might be thinking,
but for some reason Henry was just in tears during this ride on the teacups.

Emily, Oliver, and their daddies, tea cups, Disneyland.

After much objection, Oliver opted to give Dumbo a go. He liked it, as I told him he would.
Someday he'll learn - mother knows best!

The Fall

"Summer is already better, but the best is autumn. It is mature, reasonable and serious, it glows moderately and not frivolously...It cools down, clears up, makes you reasonable..." ~Valentin, Finnish writer

If you live in Temecula, you can understand this quote full well about the coming of Fall. The summers here are hot and I love them because the kids are able to play in the water, wearing maybe just some underpants or a diaper, and stay outside with the neighbors until almost bedtime. But the Fall is so lovely. The heat slowly dies off and the tenseness that I sometimes feel in the deep heat lessens. It gets darker sooner, which gives way to cooler evenings, creative nighttime activities, and warm PJ’s and blankets.

This Fall has been jam packed with pumpkin patches, festivals, and costumed events of all sorts. This year has been especially fun because my once plump little pumpkin Henry, is now a rambunctious toddler, running in and out of mazes, climbing on bales of hay, and getting filthy dirty right alongside his big brother.

About two weeks ago, we went to Corona Pumpkin Farm in Perris, of all places. Thanks to Groupon, we tried something new. At first glance, the hopes for the kind of memories I cherish from the pumpkin patches of the past seemed unlikely. But to my children and their cousins, all they could see was fun to be had. Whether or not there were bounce houses, face painting, hay rides, didn’t matter to them. There were fields to dirty themselves in, pumpkins to pick, and baby chicken to hold. And most importantly, the company of each other, which is truly where the memories originate and permanently attach in our minds and hearts.

Henry checking out the chickens from a safe distance.

A somewhat successful posed picture of all the cousins at the patch.

I love this picture of Michelle and Henry, a special moment captured.

Henry's first love - Avery

Oliver handing out candy to his classmates

Joe and our Neighbor Ryan, with the kids, Bates Nut Farm

Oliver's First Day of School

Oliver had his first day of preschool on September 27, 2011. It was quite an event getting him there on time as the boys and I are used to leisurely mornings of Peppa Pig and pancakes for breakfast. After eating breakfast, I went to get the boys dressed and Oliver decided that he wanted his red monster shirt, since he saw that Henry was going to wear a red shirt that day. Although I had picked out a cute little outfit for him to wear on his big day, I decided to let him wear what he wants. After all, he is a big boy now and the shirt still matched the shorts I picked out, so both of us could be happy with his choice.

Once the boys were in the car, we swung by Joe’s school to pick him up so that he could come with us on Oliver’s adventure. I was running late of course because getting the kids out the door and into the car is no small task. There are toy and movie requests, lingering before planting the bottom in the car seat, etc. Now most moms would have researched where the school was located, but disorganized me did not. When you first pull into Harveston, the neighborhood where Oliver’s preschool is located, there are two buildings that may present themselves to unknowing parents as possible locations for a preschool. Neither of them were the preschool. The nice office ladies in one of the buildings did point us in the right direction though.

At this point I was freaking out and making my family maybe a little nervous because I had envisioned this glorious first day of preschool for Oliver. We would stroll in calmly, meet Oliver’s teachers, check out all the centers, meet some friends, all while capturing the most perfect pictures of the memory taking place. Instead, I was flying through the neighborhood, chirping on two wheels as I took the corner into the driveway of the preschool building, and rushing to the door so that my son wouldn’t be late on his first day. Once we got inside though, most of my hopes and dreams came true as the teachers were not in a hurry to rush the parents out of the classroom on the first day, thankfully.

Oliver found a place at one of the centers and settled in for some play dough fun. We kissed him good bye and although he had expressed some nervousness about me leaving him earlier that morning, he seemed content with being at preschool. As we drove away, I had mixed emotions that varied from being sad that my baby was no longer a baby, to being proud and excited for Oliver. There is part of me that wants to hide him away in my house, but he’s much too smart for me to not give him the opportunity to learn and grow into the fantastic little boy that I am already seeing him become.

Riley's Farms

I am a sucker for environment. By this I mean, give me some old fashioned buildings, people dressed up in clothing for a certain time period, some Irish songs and violins in the background, a barn… I love it all, no matter how re-created or unauthentic it may be.  This past weekend we went to Riley’s Farms with my the grandparents to pick some fruit. Before we arrived, I thought, oh this will be something fun and inexpensive for the kids to for with my parents. Wrong! I should have turned back when I saw the first civil-war era chap greeting at the drive way to tell us where to go. But as I said from the start, I am a sucker for environment, and although we picked the most expensive bag of apples we’ve ever purchased, we were paying for the experience and we had a wonderful afternoon with grandma and grandpa.  

Inspiration From the World Around Us

Choose five things from the natural world that inspire you or make you smile—thank God for these.

This was the application step in my daily devotion today. When I read it, I started thinking about it, and found that writing the five things down would allow me to really take action as directed, rather than just sort of following through on thanking God for the things that popped into my head slightly. As I started to write the five items out, all these ideas and the things the memories that went along with them started flooding my mind and I thought, why not blog about it. So here goes.

1. The wind rustling through the trees
       Last night we were walking into the store with our boys and the wind started to blow, and Oliver asked why the trees were moving. He’s so curious about how the world works these days, the wind, the moon, why it’s day and night. It’s fun, yet challenging to explain these things to him in a way that is understandable to a three year old. I also find that it challenges me to really ponder why things in the world work the way they do sometimes. It’s been a long time since I’ve sat in a science class and studied these things, so the explanations aren’t always fresh in my mind. Luckily my husband teaches science daily, so the answers are ready to go for him, when prompted.
       I am diverging from my thought here. I love when the wind blows. It’s not often that I really stop to observe and watch the physical ways God reveals himself to us in nature. But when the wind blows, silly as it might seem, I feel like God is waving at me, saying “hi, I’m here, don’t forget. Oh and I love you”.

2. The Narrows in Utah
       One of the most amazing experiences I have had with my family is hiking the narrows in Utah. We went last summer with our friends; Oliver was about 2 ½ and Henry was about 4 months old. I strapped Henry onto my chest with the moby and we headed up the river, not knowing really where we were going. But thankfully our friends had done this before, and the river only goes one way, so it would be hard to get lost. The narrows, if you have never heard of them before, are two mountain sides, facing opposite each other, with a river that runs through the middle of them. As you hike further up the narrows, the water gets deeper and the mountain sides get closer and closer together.
       It was so hot the day we had come to Zion National Park, but between those two walls of mountain, the air was cool and the water was refreshing on our legs and feet. It was quiet, except for the sounds of families enjoying the same experience, and the sound of rushing water. It was so beautiful, and in that moment, God felt so real. How wonderful to be experiencing this magnificent creation of His with my family and friends.

3. Bugs
       I hate bugs. When I see them, I want to run away, usually squealing, if not screaming. I think they are ugly and gross. I know some people look at them and see the beauty, but I just think they are plain nasty. But I do understand that they serve a purpose and whether I like it or not, they are a creation of the Lord’s. And so about bugs I think, how incredible that God’s design for this world was so intricate, that even these stinky, little gross creatures play a part in this big universe that God has created. Despite my urge to smash them out of disgust, unless they are the sort that could cause harm to my children, I try to let them pass or remove them from my home with care, realizing they are little living citizens of our planet too.

4. The stars on a dark, clear night
       I’ve only been to Montana once when I was a teenager, and I remember when my dad said we were going there, I thought, who goes to Montana for vacation?! I don’t remember everything about that trip, but I do recall it being so much more fun than I anticipated. I am a sucker for ghost towns and Montana is packed full of them. But one thing that stood out to me was the starry sky during the dark evenings. Montana’s nickname is Big Sky County, and that it is. Looking out, all you see is darkness and twinkly, shining stars.
       Living in Temecula, there isn’t as much light pollution as there is in bigger cities. On a nice clear night, especially after a rain, we sometimes get an evening where you can clearly see the lights way out in the universe, shining back at us. It’s no night time in Montana, but it’s still lovely. It’s very cool to think that all over this giant world, people I’ll never know have gazed at these same stars at some point, and maybe pondered the same thoughts. We don’t know each other, but we probably share a lot of the same struggles, in different forms of course, but looking up at the stars, we forget about our troubles for a moment, realizing how small we are, and how big God really is.

5. The Great Oak
       This tree on the Pechanga Indian Reservation is one of the most amazing natural things I have ever seen in my life. The Great Oak is the largest natural-growing, indigenous coast live oak in the United States and is estimated to be between 800 – 1500 years old (Thank you Pechanga website for those facts and figures). I have been working for Pechanga for about three years, and I have wanted so much to experience this tree, but had never had the time or opportunity to do so. Well a couple months ago I finally made it there, with some of the girls I work with, and the tree was everything I had imagined and more.
       I had made mention in my talk about the wind earlier, that I don’t always notice God revealing himself in a physical way. Well standing under the branches of this very old oak tree, there is now way to deny God’s presence. The branches of this tree grow out from its trunk, down into the ground, and back out again. The shade and the covering provided by its leaves is a shelter from the world outside of this massive tree. Placing a hand on the trunk, there is an energy radiating from it. Perhaps it is just my imagination, but I like to think that considering the history that this tree carries within itself encourages life and energy for the people standing around it to this day.
       This tree is much like the God we know and love. Strong, enduring, peaceful, offering rest and reprieve, continually present.

Bounce Houses, Who Knew!

Bounce houses, who knew they are such a work out. I took Oliver and Henry to free play at Pump It Up, thinking, eh they’ll run around and play together and I can just watch. Oh no, I was crawling up and over and through those darn bounce houses with the kids. At one point Oliver had crawled all the way to the top of one of the obstacle courses, and then flipped out when he realized the only way down was to slide. He’s not a big fan of slides so I had to go in and get him.

Henry on the other hand, wanted me to carry him through to get to the slides. So I hoisted him onto the hip, pulled myself up those walls, and we slid to our hearts content. But man, when I woke up this morning, my body was so sore. So apparently instead of getting a gym membership, I’m going to pay for the $50 free play pass and run in and out of those bounce houses. I might get some strange looks when people realize my kids aren’t with me though, ha ha!

My Boys, the Models...

Chantelois In the House!

Par for the course in the Parla world, we had another busy weekend. My dad and his wife Ruth came to visit from Wisconsin and we took a mini whirlwind tour of some Southern California fun.

On Saturday, we went up to Idyllwild. For the past couple years, we have at least once a year spent a couple days at Cabin #5 at the Idyllwild Inn, but it has been some time since we have gone up there. My dad and Ruth own a Christian book store and coffee shop, so of course my dad needed to check out ever gift and coffee shop to see if there were any new ideas he could implement in his own store. The kids had fun eating their sandwiches on the lawn and trying out candy dots for the first time.

Knott’s Berry Farm was our destination on Monday. I do recall going to Knott’s a couple time in college; my roommate in fact, got engaged at a school dance that happened there. But we haven’t been back since so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The kids loved Camp Snoopy and all of the rides were at least Henry sized, so he didn’t have to just watch big brother get to have all the fun.

I must say, Oliver has surprised me so much this summer. He has always been a little skeptical about trying new things, but adventure is his middle name lately. He has taught himself to swim, despite months of resisting lessons, and at Knott’s, he challenged himself to be a brave boy and ride some of the rides I never thought he would go on. Oliver certainly is growing up quickly!

We had a really nice visit with my dad and Ruth. It was fun to share our crazy lives with them for a couple days and let them experience the joy (and chaos at times) that my little guys bring to me and Joe so often.