Tori

Tori has become such a big girl. Yesterday was the Primary Sacrament Meeting. She was so excited. We have been practicing the songs FOREVER. She gave her one line like a champ. The only thing that annoyed her was that the Senior Primary sang more songs than the Junior Primary. She really wanted to be able to sing all of the song. She did not think that it was quite fair... Oh smart children.

Speaking of smart. We have a behavior modification chart that we do with Tori. When she earns five stickers she can go to the Dollar Store, ride the bus, go to the movies, etc. I was talking with her about going to the movies with her dad if she did well for her Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation. She told me that sounded great, but she had a better ides. "How about I ride the bus with dad to the movie theatre." Smart kid combine two treats for the price of one. Needless to say she did go the movies, but not on the bus.

Tori likes to cook. Today she made her first sandwich. She is proud if you come over she will make you one too. Bologna and cheese...yum! (yuck). She LOVES to make food for people.


Tori has also become a good friend. I like how she introduces people. Yesterday she introduced me to her friend, Charles. "Charles, this is Laurie, Laurie this is Charles." I was impressed that she realized that Charles would not call me mommy.

Each day I wonder when did my baby grow up? I am so proud of her. I love watching her grow and develop into a warm, caring and loving person.

Friendship

I had the opportunity to see some friends from high school today. I cannot believe how many years have gone by since I last saw them. It has been so many years that I refuse to actually say the number out loud. It makes me feel too old. It is amazing how easily we reconnected. I am so glad that we had the chance to see one another again. I loved meeting their families. I think what surprised me the most was Tori. Tori really enjoyed playing with their children. The whole way home Tori told us that she wanted to see her new friends again. Thank you Nicole and Ranae for coordinating the day.

Thursday night Tori and I went to Disney On Ice. She dressed up as Ariel (red wig and all). She loved going to Energy Solutions Arena. Everyone told her she was adorable dressed as Ariel. Tori of course agreed with their opinion. She was a little disappointed that the ONLY princess who did not attend was Sleeping Beauty. We had terrific seats (7th row center). At the end of the show she and I went down to the ice and she got to shake the hands of the princesses. She looked up at me with her huge brown eyes and said "Ariel, my sister, really loves me." Oh to be four-years-old again. When life is magical.

Where did my baby go?

I don't know when it happened, but my baby is now a toddler. He is so big and proud of his new accomplishments, and while I am proud of him sometimes I miss my baby boy.

I put him down for a nap he took off his shirt. He was playing in their room and climbed up on the dresser and pulled his sister's32 CD player down on his nose. If you look closely you can see the cut in his nose.

Climbing Dad got him down.

Climbing again.

Isn't she BEAUTIFUL. I think so not because she is my daughter.

Halloween

Not one of my favorite holidays. It is usually cold, wet, snowing, did I say cold. Well, this year it was BEAUTIFUL! Utah was beautiful and warm...Ariel was very happy. The kids had a great time! Although in our house every day is a dress up day. Here are a few pictures. Tori could not decide between Ariel or Tinkerbell so for Pre-School she was Tinkerbell and for Trick-or-Treating she was Ariel.

Mundane

I honestly can say that life in the Parrotti household has been a little slow and mundane, which is good. Trust me I enjoy life when it is predictable. Now I have probably jinxed myself, but oh well. There is not very much new and exciting. Unless you count the fact that my house looks as if a tornado has struck. My mom said that a TORInado has struck..she is right. I love my little girl, but she LOVES to be messy. She is polite she does thank me for helping when I help her clean up. Mikey and Tori continue to grow and learn new things daily. Tori is becoming a very good reader and Mikey is learning new words and phrases every day. So I leave you with a few cute pictures of two of my favorite people.

Tori's Halloween Costume

Isn't he adorable?

She is getting is SO big

She is beautiful

Mikey's latest trick...pushing his sister out of the way

Just Words Continued... Mikey Milestones

Jared is still gone with the camara which is sad because Mikey has reached a few milestones today. This all happened BEFORE 11:30am

• Was FINALLY successful (he has his dad's short Italian legs) able to climb up onto the kitchen chair.
• Promptly went from the chair to the kitchen table to dance in the middle of the table...pure delight.
• I changed the sheets on his bed. I put him down for his morning nap. Instead of sleeping he removed his diaper and PEED all over his bed...GROSS

We went out. I had had enough of his milestones. Upon our return.

• he learned that he can reach whatever he wants with the assistance of the kitchen chair (ie he can now reach the power button to the golden calf) again...pure delight
• he threw spaghetti around the kitchen for dinner, and put spaghetti in his hair
• likes to pull his sister's hair so that he can take the toy that she is playing with...she screams in pain, he screams in delight

He is one happy boy. I have not even been upset. It was a good day. Active, busy, slightly challenging, but a good day to be a mom.

Just Words and Random Thoughts

Jared is in New York with the camara and the computer, hence, all of the pictures since the last post. This past month has been busy. Grandma Judi came for a much anticipated visit. It was one of the BEST week's of Tori's life. Mikey is not a Grandma Judi fan...yet. That worked well for Tori. As I have said before Tori and my mom are the same person, and it is almost frightening. Tori and Grandma Judi had a sleepover a a hotel, or as Tori calls it the show and tell. They swam, watched television, played video games and raided the snack area and vending machine multiple times. Did I mentioned they shopped and called people on the cell phone (Tori is proficient at using the cell phone and calls people on a whim)? In fact one day I caught her with my cell phone explaining to her brother that if "you just press 3 you can talk to Grandma Judi" (speed dial). She is cute. She is a little annoyed with me right now because I won't teach her how to text "I can read and write" (she can). However, let's be honest I cannot text. It is so frustrating and quite frankly I think texting makes me feel old because I get so frustrated. Futhermore why does a 4 year-old need to text??? In short the week with Grandma Judi was WONDERFUL, and we miss her. I wish you would just live closer.

It appears as though fall is upon us. We are in the middle of October already! Jared will be done with school in eight short weeks. We are so excited. Where are we going from here? Hopefully to New York, time will tell in the very near future.

As I mentioned earlier Jared is gone. One day down only five more to go. As I dread doing the parenting thing alone (Jared is a great Dad, but you already know that), I think of my friend and sister-in-law (she will always be my sister-in-law even if she is no longer married to Jared's brother and has remarried another man) whose husband just left for his deployment to Iraq, and I remember six days really is not that long. It is all about keeping perspective.

I am now a converted fan of Facebook. I joined Facebook two years ago when I became a Hall Advisor at BYU as a way to connect with my residents. Over the course of the last two years I have found Facebook as a very useful tool. Frequently my residents send me a message. Recently Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with some of my high school friends. It has been great to see what is going on in their lives. I have really enjoyed reconnecting with some very dear friends. I lost track of a lot of people when my parents divorced six years ago and moved from my hometown. Divorce brings with it so many residual losses that you do not anticipate (that is a blog for another day, or better yet probably a topic for a LONG overdue therapy session).

I have been awake since 4am and I am tired. I apologize for the randomness of my thoughts. I will probably edit this in the morning.