Stillwater, Oklahoma

This past weekend Amanda and I took a trip to see my friend Alycia in Oklahoma. we took both boys, and it was a 4 hour car drive. we left on Friday afternoon, and both boys fell asleep, and we thought we were going to be so lucky...we were wrong! about an hour or so into our drive they both had a total meltdown for about 20 minutes, they finally calmed down once I kept the overhead light on.I would have done that 19 minutes sooner had I thought of it! they ended up doing good the rest of the way.

we arrived around 8:30 and we stayed up and talked and let the boys play before we made them go to bed. The next morning Parker slept until 8 but he went to be late so he was still pretty grumpy for me. we ended up going to Ross, and boy was that my first mistake. Parker remembered all to well about being in his car seat, so he wasn't happy that he had to get back in the car. He ended up getting tired, which was normal and nothing was going to make him happy. we went out to eat and I figured once we had food he would be ok, nope, the food took a little longer since it was lunch time and they were busy. I took him out side to walk around and he ended up tripping over my foot and biting his tongue. poor thing was so upset and bleeding, I felt awful and started crying myself. I was cursing myself for not just staying in so he could catch up on his much needed rest. the fact that I was exhausted myself didn't help and I think maybe I was just homesick to. the girls ended up getting out food to go instead and we ate and then Parker fell asleep for 3.5 hours. He was so tired. since his schedule was completely off he went to bed later that night and I went into panic mode again because I was having the hardest time getting him to fall asleep that night. the whole purpose of us driving to Oklahoma was to watch One for the Money, they make a book series we all read  and they turned it into a movie.

 

He did finally end up going to bed right before we had to go so it ended up working out well. they movie was really good, we all liked it. glad one thing worked out as planned.

In between all the fussiness, we did have a good time!

we headed home Sunday morning and it was so nice to be back at home with both my boys and in TEXAS!

patrol procedures

Last week Blake learned about Patrol Procedures, so to sum it up, he learned what to do when you pull someone over. His hours have been crazy so when he comes home he's exhausted and ready for bed. I can't give any great stories because i don't get to hear them really. bummer.

He did tell me that one call he took he had to pull someone over and talk in Spanish to them, he did good too! One time he went to pull someone over and when he turned on his lights they took off around the corner and Blake had to find them, when he did they wouldn't give him their license and insurance. rolled up their windows and locked the door and where saying "whatcha going to do now"...lol. the stuff they act out has all really happened to other officers. people are crazy.

this weekend is officer survival. this will be a true test of what he is up aginst. Once he makes it through this week he has ONE week left!

15 months

A quick post to get you caught up on Parker!

He now says cracker, and he even knows where his crackers are and will go get them. He gets very excited when you offer him a cracker, its so cute.

Parker playing with daddy. he is so funny

He has started making a kinds of animal noises. He makes and elephant noise, dog, tiger/lion, monkey and sometimes a cat. He still says WHAT IS THAT all the time. broken record. He is walking all over the place and he is fast. I caught him climbing on his activity table trying to get on the entertainment center, oh boy. He LOVES playing out side but I think he loves playing in the dirt more. I love my monkey more than anything!

where is Parker?!!! peek a boo

what an adorable kid, we are so lucky!

First trip to the ZOO!!!

Well daddy had a four day weekend so we took advantage of the time off and gorgeous weather to take Parker to the zoo. He really likes his books that talk about the zoo, so we thought he would be ready to go. He did have a good time but he wasn't as excited as I thought he would be. Maybe later in the summer or next spring he will be more excited.

as we were walking up to the entrance

we got there early and had to wait to go in... He was tired of waiting.

looking at the gorillas

looking at the giraffes and swan

Blake tired to stand him up on the rock and Parker was scared and started to wine.

he felt better away from the tiger and eating

looking at the tigers

looking at the bear

taking a look at the bear from dad's shoulders

the bird was snapping at him...Parker loved this area

the birds were flying all around us, so cool

hello Kangaroo

playing in the barn, he liked that you could push the button to hear the animal noises

elephant! He can make an elephant noise but we couldn't get him to do it for us

the flamingos and swans were entertaining.

swans going crazy

I had a great time at the zoo!

Put the pedel to the metal

Let me start by saying, I am having a hard time getting my act together for blogging! I blame Parker, he's hit the into everything stage!

OK, back to Blake. Last week he only worked four days and then had a FOUR day weekend! He was in driving school and the first two days they were at the Texas Motor Speedway, and then the following two days in Grand bury at Cresson track.


The first two days they just had to drive in and out of cones driving at different speeds. The way they make them drive makes it hard, and it looks re tarted. They tell them to drive that way because they have better control of the car when they are in high speed chases. On day two Blake actually broke a car and it had to towed off. He ran over a cone and it got stuck under the car, when he pulled it out the fuel line busted. way to go Blake!

Day three was a really long day for Blake. He had to work from 9am to 12 am. Blake was pretty vague on telling me all what they did, i guess he was so tired he didn't feel like elaborating. He did tell me they had to drive through courses at 40mph in and out of cones, talking on a radio, and saying what direction they were going and they had to dodge a few things. He said he had a blast and it was way more fun than the gun range.

IF you want to know more you definitely need to ask Blake about this experience. He has told me things and I don't really know how to write about it with out it sounding all wonky.

and THE COUNT DOWN BEGINS!!!

HIP HIP HOORAY, only one more month in the academy!

I haven't been keeping very good track of whats been going on in the academy, must not have been exciting or I would have remembered and posted about his experience.

This next month will be a very busy, Just this past week, on Monday he took his Academy mid-term and got a 97.3 on it.

On Tuesday, they did red man scenarios all day. They pretty much had to do fake call senerios. the instuctors would tell Blake what the call was and he would go into the room and have to handle it the best way he knew how. They had no clue what they would be walking into. The swat guys were acting as the other officer on the scene and the victims. They practiced drawing their guns and fighting with them if they resisted arrest. Blake did really well. The instuctors told him he has the fighting down, he just needs to remember to keep an eye out on his surroundings.

 On Wednesday he sent the day at the gun-range. They practiced tactical shooting and had to qualify again. He qualified with a 90.6. The month that he was in the gun range he qualified with a 97.1. He still did great and anything above 85 is GREAT! Good job Blake.

Thursday and Friday he learned about finger printing and patrol procedures. He even now has his own finger print kit. They put in all their prints into the system. friday all day they had a full day of what to do when you pull someone over.

Next week is driving school! They will actuallly be up at Texas Motor speedway. They give him a squad car and let him drive as fast as he wants. sounds fun. They have also been teaching him how to drive with his hands at the bottom of the stearing wheel. They say you have better control of the car when involved in high speed chases. If you ask me he seems to drive worse, I guess thats why cops are bad drivers! He's been practicing when he drives because he has to get use to it, or he will fail driving school.

He has some very crazy hours this next month. One day he will be working 9 am to midnight, and one week he only works nights. I will be sure to blog about the rest of this month since they are going to be learning some fun stuff!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012!

this video isn't from New Years but I had to post it

We didn't do anything exciting to welcome the New Year. We hung out at our home with our friends from church, The Newman's. We just made some snacks and played games. We played our Kinect, and almost all adults had  go at it before Hannah and Rachel took over. Our night ended at 8:30. Yup, we are BORING!

We got a hair cut today! I think I am getting better.

Let me move on to Parker! There is always something exciting going on with that kid!

Let me back up to December 29th, the day I declared Parker as WALKING! Yay for Parker. He started standing up on his own or at least for the first time that I saw. He was a walking maniac that day and he has been going strong since then.

Back to the New Year, well 3 days into the new year I got a nice surprise in Parker's diaper. First let me say...We hung out with our cousins Heather, Roger, and Niko on the 2nd at their house. Niko is almost 7 so he has a ton of toys that are not Parker approved! I guess Parker was eating Nikos toys because when I changed his diaper I found a battleship piece. surprise! We have a vacuum on our hands. If you house needs cleaning you know who to call!

I am really excited to see what 2012 bring us! We had a pretty great 2011, even with its ups and downs! I am really excited about Blake graduation in a little over a month! He is doing so good at the Academy! I love my boys very much!

Enjoy a few pictures!

This is one of my favorite pictures. I am so sad is a bit blurry.

silly boys sitting on his daddy's face...he didn't want to go to bed

this is the train my parents bought him for Christmas. His favorite gift so far.

He loves reading!