Parsons Clan

Abbie's 12th Birthday

2009-02-12T12:39:00.000-08:00

Abbie is into Hello Kitty, so we found a cake that matched her likings.

Abbie decided to go to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga Tennessee for her special birthday event. Here she is in front of the river otter exhibit.

She also got to feed a sting ray. She had a raw shrimp in her fingers, and the ray just swam on top of her hand, and picked the shrimp out of her fingers. It was really cool!

Abbie and her Dad fooling around at the Mellow Mushroom (they make awesome organic,wholesome pizza) yummy!!

This has nothing to do with her birthday, but just last week, we had 3 days of snow. It was cold, wet, and beautiful. The kids loved watching it fall!!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-28T08:53:00.001-08:00

Taylor takes his ususal position during craft time. He can supervise from here!

Abbie and Andrew worked very hard to create the gingerbread tree and house. I think they ate a lot of candy
as well!

Abbie has become a natural with a frosting bag.

Abbie and Andrew all dressed up for the Nutcracker. Taylor and Walter decided not to go this year. I think the ballet
gives them the willies.

Just a picture of some of our Christmas decor. We love all the twinkle and glitter that goes with the season!

B-17 Adventures

2008-11-22T08:51:00.001-08:00

I took the kids to see the living museum for the B-17. It was at the Knoxville airport, and only there for 2 days. Andrew decided his favorite part was the radio room. Imagine that, his favorite part was the room for talking and pushing buttons! Abbie thought it was neat to touch a real part of history.

Taylor was such an expert on the plane, he gave Andrew a personal tour. The people running the exhibit tole Taylor they should hire him to give tours.

Abbie and Taylor, waiting for Taylor's flight.

This is a picture of Taylor on his B-17 flight. He thought it was one of the best experiences of his life. Only a few get to fly in this plane. Unfortunately, soon it will be gone.

Finally, a little fall display. We had fun with this, because everyone in Tennessee does this.

crafty fun and EPCOT

2008-10-10T09:01:00.001-07:00

Andrew decided that he wanted to learn how to sew. We started him out with sewing by hand. I'm not sure my nerves can take him on an sewing machine!

Abbie is putting the finishing touches on her halloween quilt. She is doing yarn knots to speed up the quilting process.

Taylor and Andrew goofing around on a recent trip to EPCOT. It's not often that he loosens up and has fun.

Andrew thought it would be funny to imitate the Beatles' Abbey road cover. They couldn't quite get it together. It was still funny.

We finished out our week at St. Augustine. The kids love coming here because of the history. They seem quite excited about the tourist brochures!

fun stuff

2008-09-26T07:29:00.001-07:00

Turkey anyone? We caught these turkeys wandering through the backyard. I think we found the thieves who are eating our tomatoes!

Abbie decided to crochet herself a headband. She's always looking for quick easy projects to pass the time.

Someone forgot to tell this butterfly that fall was here!

Andrew's 9th Birthday

2008-08-02T13:39:00.001-07:00

Another year older, and Andrew keeps plugging away. This is the yummy Pirates of the Caribbean cake that he picked out this year. I must say I've never eaten a cake with a kraken on it.

Andrew picked, as his present, a trip to his favorite vacation spot Tradewinds resort in St. Pete Beach. They have a 30 foot water slide right on the beach. The kids go on it all day. This is Abbie taking a slide.

Taylor actually loves this place too. He normally plays moody teenager, but not here. He could slide all day, every day.

Finally, there's the birthday boy. This slide was the only reason we drove 11 hours one way to see. He thinks it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

We also had fun digging our toes in the sand at low tide searching for sand dollars. They look a lot different when they are alive. These had little baby crabs on them when we found them. Of course, we released them. They are too sweet to hurt, but neat to study.

Craft time!

2008-06-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

This is a centerpiece on the coffee table that the kids designed. I let them go crazy in the store to see what they could come up with.

We all miss the beach so much, that we decided to bring the beach inside. This was made with candles, and sand with lots of seashells.

We had a string of incredibly hot days, so Abbie decided that she wanted to break out the sewing machine. She loves to keep busy, and had a blast sewing.

This is the finished product. She made a patio dress. You can't see the back, but she criss-crossed the straps to keep them from falling off her shoulders. She loves her creation.

Finally, an activity selected by Andrew, he decided to make fruit kabobs. It was sweet, sticky fun, and the kabobs were yummy.

Taylor's Birthday-the big 15

2008-06-09T07:27:00.001-07:00

This is Taylor celebrating his birthday the way he loves. Here he is flying a Cessna 172 and coming in for a landing.

This is the point where I almost can breathe again. He is even closer to his landing. He loves to fly!!

This is Taylor, with his instructor Dan, taxiing the plane to its parking place.

That is the smile of a very happy boy. If he could fly everyday, he would be in heaven, and we would be broke, ha-ha!! I'm glad he's able to do what he loves.

Here's the birthday boy, tearing up my kitchen floor with the scooters. He's showing off that he can ride 2 at once. I'm so proud (sarcasm)

Here's the 3 angels, laughing and having fun, while Taylor is opening his presents. We had to take them with us to Florida, since we were not going to be home (the presents that is, the kids are always with us ha-ha)

This is Taylor and Abbie out in front of the Chinese theater at EPCOT. We spent a lot of time there since that is where Taylor had his birthday dinner.

This is the whole brood in front of Germany. We stop there for beer and pretzels. The kids also love the toy shop and the Christmas shop, with all the hand blown glass ornaments. I must say that they have good taste!

Finally, this is right before dinner in China. The kids are happy and healthy, and that's all a mother can ask for. I think that Taylor's birthday was a smashing success. It's not often you see a smile on a teenager's face!!

Walter's Birthday Extravaganza!

2008-05-13T08:02:00.001-07:00

My crazy husband bought himself a little birthday present. Of course, Uncle Mike is fooling around in it!

Here's the birthday boy and the kids at EPCOT. He likes to wander around out there. It's great fun and wonderful exercise.

We had dinner in Morocco, where I surprised him with a gift basket delivered to our dinner table, and they made him wear a fez! He loved that ha-ha.

The boys were saddened by the fact that they were not asked to belly dance with the pretty girls. Abbie was asked, and to my surprise, she went. I thought she was too shy for that, I guess I thought wrong.

click on play to see a brief video of her dancing!

Spring planting

2008-04-15T17:39:00.000-07:00

The first part of spring planting, is a plan. Abbie carefully planned out when each seed needed to be planted, and how long the germination period was.

Abbie planting her seeds into a mini greenhouse.

She is very careful with the seeds, because some of them are very, very tiny.

Walter, and the boys, were working on Algebra and multiplication, while Abbie was planting.

Here, Abbie and Andrew, are planting their bulbs for summer blooms. They worked hard, since the ground is mostly clay and rock.

Easter Fun

2008-03-30T07:29:00.001-07:00

This is the result of an evening of egg decorating fun. Each child got bored with the process after egg 3. I guess they give all their creative energy to the first few, then they declare themselves done. Abbie is the only one who will decorate until the cows come home.

Here, Abbie is well underway searching for her eggs. Her dad is very good at hiding them.

Not to be outdone, cowboy Andrew shows some of his prize eggs. We don't hide real eggs anymore. With the cost of eggs now, it's too wasteful.

Taylor is equally happy about his finds too. He still thinks he's too old for this stuff, but it's all part of being a family and doing stuff together!

The prize inside the eggs was confetti! They got to cover each other in paper confetti, and being outside, I didn't have to sweep it all up.

AHHHH Spring

2008-03-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

Abbie is less than amused when I took pictures of her putting on her play shoes to play outside on this lovely day.

Andrew is a bit more cooperative. He loves to have his picture taken.

This is Taylor riding his mountain bike through the bike path in the woods on our property. He feels it is a great work out for CAP.

Andrew is concentrating very hard on making the perfect walking stick. First, he has to rid the stick of all its bark. He is such a funny kid.

Taylor, trying to hide from the camera, is busy working on the gears on his bike to make his ride easier! Downhill is easy, uphill is hard!

Snow Day

2008-02-29T15:39:00.001-08:00

Yeah! We awakened to a beautiful blanket of snow today. This was the view from the back door.

This is the first time Taylor has been in snow since he was 3 years old. He tried very hard not to look like he was having fun.

This is Andrew's first snow. He thought it was the greatest. He thought it was funny to get all bundled up. When he realized how cold and wet snow was, he was glad for the warmth.

Here Abbie is trying to teach Andrew the fine art of the snowball. This will soon prove to be a problem.

Andrew received more snowballs than he threw. I guess the older ones thought it was funny to bombard him! It was all in good fun, and no injuries! All in all, it was a successful snow day and they can't wait for the next one.

Abbie's 11th birthday

2008-02-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it finally happened, Abbie turned 11. The long awaited, highly anticipated event finally occurred. She picked out an ice cream cake to make her birthday wishes upon.

For her special birthday activity, she chose horseback riding. Woohoo! This is Abbie on her horse. They made the younger 2 wear helmets to protect their big brains.

I was riding behind the kids and took the pictures of their back sides! Taylor is right in front of me, and he is less than thrilled the with days activities.

This is when they had to adjust Taylor's stirrups because they didn't realize how tall he is. He still is less than impressed with the whole ordeal.

Abbie also chose lunch at her favorite restaurant, the Old Mill, where the kids fed the ducks after we ate. That was a lot of fun, and didn't hurt as much as the horseback riding. All in all, she had a great birthday.

New House Fun

2008-01-14T14:17:00.001-08:00

I know, I know.....I haven't blogged in a while. It's been crazy around here with the holidays, and trying to get moved 3 states away. We went to the new house to have some furniture delivered. This is the kids killing the boredom of furniture waiting.

This is the entrance to the woods on our property. A path has been cut through the woods and it goes all over with twists and turns.

This is a tree swing hidden in the woods. Abbie calls this place her secret garden. The kids absolutely love this place.

Andrew really wasn't too sure about the swing. He would just rather play football!

Company Christmas Party 2007

2007-12-11T07:14:00.001-08:00

Taylor thinks he's too big to sit on Santa's lap. I think he still had fun!

Abbie loved Santa. He was super sweet and his beard was very soft.

Andrew talked Santa's ear off. At least he gave mine a rest for a minute!

The kids at our table for our party we gave for the company's employees. The kids spent months helping me plan and decorate for this party. I think it came off beautifully.

I had to get a picture of this. Andrew hates to wear a belt and tuck in. I think they look like gentlemen here.

Christmas Decor

2007-12-02T07:16:00.001-08:00

We have started our annual decorating frenzy. This is the pass through from the kitchen to the family room.

This is our blue, silver and white tree. I like to theme the trees as we go along.

This is our red and gold tree. I'll post more trees as I get them set up.

I took the kids to a decorating class, and we did this huge gingerbread house. They had a tremendous amount of fun. The best part is, the school had to do the clean up, not me!!!

This is the front yard of our house. It smells as yummy as it looks!

This is a village that Abbie made out of heavy card stock paper. She then dusted the roof tops with a very fine white glitter. When it's dark outside, and the lights on the tree are on, it sparkles and is beautiful!

Veteran's Day

2007-11-15T09:26:00.001-08:00

We decided on Monday, to trek downtown to see the Veteran's Day Parade. We all dressed up in our red, white, and blue ensembles and took off. We had a great time. The parade was full of veterans, bands, and future soldiers. We felt it was very important to show our support for our troops.

After the parade, we returned home and Abbie decided to knit some more of her teddy bear that she is making. She really gets into these projects!

air show 2007

2007-11-05T07:43:00.001-08:00

We had an exciting weekend! This was our annual air show. Since we live on the beach, the planes flew right in front of our balcony. We didn't have to leave the house. This is a picture of planes 5 and 6 of the Blue Angels.

We had 2 days of excitement and got to see the Blue Angels both days!!! It was the greatest time ever and the kids totally loved it!

This is the other 4 of the 6 planes. They flew so close together. It was the most amazing thing we had ever seen!!

Here's where they flew by with 2 flying right side up, and the other 2 flying upside down! AWESOME!!!!!

We had the best weekend ever. It was great fun for us and the kids. The Blue Angels Rock!!!

Autumn Leaves

2007-10-30T08:32:00.001-07:00

My husband had some business in Tennessee over the weekend, so we decided to pack up the kids and go to the mountains. This is the view off the balcony of our log cabin. Abbie and Andrew decided to make use of the swing on the porch.

Taylor is doing his favorite hobby, door holder and smarty pants teenager!

The weather was so beautiful that we decided to putt putt golf. This is Andrew trying desperately to get a hole in one!

All three of the innocent angels at the putt putt course. It's amazing how they look so sweet!

This is Abbie on hole 1. I think she came very, very close to a hole in one on this hole!

Colonial Williamsburg

2007-10-23T06:55:00.001-07:00

We took the children to Colonial Williamsburg because we felt that was the best way to teach this era, go and experience it. We hired a private tour guide to take us through the area. He had the kids re-enact the last battle of Captain Blackbeard. Blackbeard was performed by Taylor and Andrew was one of the soldiers who finished him off.

Abbie also got into the act and also played a soldier who stabbed and shot Blackbeard several times, failing to kill him immediately. She thought the whole thing was a hoot.

The guide also told the children several stories about our forefathers and how the Revolutionary War affected the town.

This is one of the houses on the main road through town. I was amazed at the sturdiness of old fashioned construction.

We also let them have a little fun. We took them to Busch Gardens Virginia. It was not as good as the Busch Gardens in Tampa, but it was there, so we can say that we have been there!

Not So Scary Halloween Party

2007-10-18T05:51:00.000-07:00

This is Abbie as a Japanese girl. We went to Japan and bought an authentic kimono and obe (oh-bay) and with her face painting. She looked beautiful. We got more compliments on her appearance than when she used to dress like a disney princess.

Not to be outdone, Andrew had to be a ninja. Of course, the sword was confiscated due to injuries to the rest of his family. But, he still thought he looked tough.

Here is Taylor in his flight suit. He went as a pilot. Big shocker there!

This is all three in front of Toon Town. We take them to the special parties at Disney so they can trick or treat, and I don't have to worry about the candy. We started going when Taylor was little, and now it's a tradition. Of course, I went without Walter, he's not so big on the trick or treating!

This was over by the riverboat. They had a scary trick or treat trail with fog and creepy costumed guys on the boat. It was pretty terrific. We were all exhausted and got lots of candy. Of course, the candy will last a while, since they can only have one small piece per day.

Food and Wine Festival

2007-10-16T06:59:00.000-07:00

This is Abbie in Mexico at EPCOT. She loves the folk art animals that are hand carved and hand painted by different artisans from several regions in Mexico.

Taylor the Viking. Need I say more?!

Abbie had her face painted with cherry blossoms. She loved it and wouldn't take it off for 2 days. She had to save it so her dad, who was out of town at the time, could see it.

This is Taylor in Japan with his favorite food in the world, spicy tuna rolls. EWW, raw fish, but he really loves it!

This is all three little darlings in front of Italy. We had to stop there so they could eat their pirogies and kielbasa from a booth representing Poland. They were eating their way around the world.

Finally, here's Andrew with his favorite-lamb chops. I personally don't like lamb, but his father does, and he ate one in honor of his dad, so I had to take a picture of it!

finished products!

2007-10-10T08:54:00.001-07:00

This is Andrew's finished haunted house. He was very proud of it.

Abbie finished her graveyard. She added black glitter for extra spooky creepiness.

Of course, not to be outdone, Taylor finished his coffin with spider webbing and creepy bones!

After all that hard work, Andrew decided to learn how to make brownies for his Dad and brother and sister. He actually did a great job and they were delicious!

Science Time!

2007-10-05T11:42:00.001-07:00

We are working on electricity, and different means of conducting it.

Taylor is trying to help Andrew with a science kit from National Geographic. It's really neat. They are making a clock run on only water. Lots of Fun!

The boys really dig the sciences. What better way to teach to boys than with hands on experiments!

Being the brighter child, Abbie decided to work on the computer away from the danger zone!

Glider flights

2007-10-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

Taylor after receiving a promotion to Airman from Airman Basic in the Civil Air Patrol. He worked very hard for that!

Poor Abbie and Andrew had to watch movies in the car while waiting on Taylor to take a glider flight with CAP. Walter was out of town, so I had to bring the whole shebang!!

We got out of the car when he actually took off. It was easier to see him from outside.

This is Taylor at take off. He was only about 20 yards off the ground at this point.

This is the point that I get nervous. This is when the tow plane lets the rope go, and he glides down to the ground without an engine! Luckily he landed in one piece!

Rainy Day Crafts

2007-10-01T09:03:00.001-07:00

Taylor creating his creepy Halloween table decorations.

This is my silly Andrew with the famed wax lips of doom!

This is all three of my angels quietly working on Halloween decorations to be placed on the table as a centerpiece!

This is a small portion of our halloween village. As you can tell, we are crazy for Halloween decorations!

This is how our day looked outside. That's why we decided to break out all the craft stuff. It sure is more fun than looking at a tv screen all day!

Educational Trip?

2007-09-28T07:22:00.001-07:00

This is the kids at EPCOT. We love to go there for little educational field trips. The kids don't mind learning when it's disguised as fun!

This is a rare appearance of me, with Abbie and Andrew. This is in front of the fairy garden in EPCOT.

Here's Taylor, Abbie, and Andrew in the archway that is the entrance to Fairy Garden. Don't my little flowers look cute?

Lastly, this is Abbie and Andrew in front of a garden display. These are all fruit bearing plants being grown in recycled materials. It's always good to learn alternate ways to do normal things.

2007-09-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

This is my son Taylor, as you can see, he is in the Civil Air Patrol Cadet program, he is also taking flying lessons with his dad.

Taylor, along with Abbie and Andrew, are all taking tennis lessons together.

This is Abbie getting ready for her dance class.

Our new plane

2007-09-27T07:01:00.001-07:00

Boys and their toys! My husband just got his first new airplane for business. He and my son are taking flight lessons together. You can't wipe the smiles off their faces!