Beautiful day in the neighborhood!

It was gorgeous gorgeous GORGEOUS this weekend!

We spent a lot of time outside playing with bubbles, riding bikes and just enjoying the weather.
I won't say a lot for these pictures. She's just getting big, she's not my little tiny baby at all. That bubble wand is a bust and doesn't work very well, but she still got a few and she's VERY good at skipping! I'm a proud mama/dance teacher! :)

OH!!! Where have we been since February!!!

Holy smokes.

So busy.

Being a mom, and a dance teacher during competition season makes for a crazy crazy time.

Izze is the sweetest girl you've ever met. Smartest little sassy thing too. She's definitely the epitome of THREENAGER.  And it's fun. She's just about done with preschool and we'll be doing 3 days a week next school year. She's been doing gymnastics and dance and loves them both a lot!

She has been saying she wants to play soccer and I'm thinking we'll take the summer off of dance and gymnastics and we'll do swimming and soccer instead.

The only thing is she wants pink EVERYTHING and the pink soccer stuff is too big for little Punks like her.

Speaking of being small. Izze is very petite. She is the shortest one in her gymnastics class, dance class and preschool class. She's a skinny little thing. But a total power house of energy. Like a little puppy.

She is quite the animal lover and would love to be surrounded by dogs and cats and elephants too.

She loves reading, painting, writing words (with help of course) and riding her big big bike.

Jeremy and I are doing great. We're still loving living in Daybreak and Jeremy's doing great at his store in Tooele.  I'm loving teaching dance, our studio just gets better and better every day! :)

I guess you want pictures.

We're doing just fine.

January is always such a catch up month. I can't take a break yet though.

I'm having surgery on Thursday... after that I'll let you all know what's going on... I don't want to get anyone excited for nothing, you know.

Izze's doing great. She's loving gymnastics more than anything else she does. She's having a fun time at her new preschool and she likes dance a little (mostly because her best friends are there).

She's the cutest kid I've ever met and I've met a lot. (I'm not biased at all).

I'm learning how to sew and have already made a few things. I made a pillowcase top and a skirt for Izze.  I also made a matching pillowcase dress for Izze's doll Amy.

I didn't get very good pictures of the sewing projects, but I'll add the ones from my phone.

This is the pillowcase top and matching one for her doll. I wanted this one to be shorter, so she could wear it with leggings. Izze picked out the fabric... I would never have picked sparkly fairy princess, but Izze loves it and for my first project I'm ok with that.


Then my mom did a better job and made a really cute pillowcase dress with some cute strips of fabric.


A few days later I tried to make a skirt on my own. I didn't do too badly. I need some practice, but I needed to try do make something on my own, without my mom's help.


And since we're on the iPhone pictures roll, I'll post one of Izze's cute bed head the other day.


Such a pretty girl.

I'll update again soon. :)

The year is ending.

2009 wasn't too bad. It had it's downs, but luckily they were outweighed by the ups.

Some highlights.
+Jeremy got his own store.
+I started taking more time for myself.
+Moved to a new home in Daybreak.
+Made a lot of new friends (our whole family made friends).
+We had our first family camping trip (we went several times actually).
+I started teaching two new competition teams at dance.
+Izze started gymnastics.
+We found another preschool closer to home for Izze.
+I learned how to bake things not from a prepackaged mix.
+My mom and sister and I spent a few (very necessary) days in New York City.
+We finally bought a big enough kitchen table to fit more than just the three of us.
+Jer surprised me with a shiny new iMac. :)

Some lowlights.
-Jordan had some runs in with the government...
-We have very poor luck with washers and dryers.

Some inbetweeners.
+/- Izze had to have oral surgery on her front four teeth.
+/- Izze lost one front tooth
+/- My best friend moved to Portland (good for her/ sad for me)
+/- Izze lost the other front tooth
+/- We acquired a second car... that needs some work.

And here is a recap of our year in photos. Each picture is pretty significant to the year.

Closing out the year.

We've had so much fun this holiday season. I can't believe it's over (although I'm glad.) I love Christmas and I love this time of year, but as soon as it's done, I'm ready for the next year to start! I'm really looking forward to 2010. We have a lot of fun things planned for our little threesome and I can't wait to get started.

I guess I'll post pictures of our holidays... just to wrap up the year.

A few days before Christmas we got some more snow and Izze had been begging to go sledding for a while. We took her out that night and she had a blast.













Of course every year Jeremy's grandparents have a big family party. It's fun to see how many new additions the family gets. It just gets bigger and bigger. Izze was really timid this year (last year too actually). She had been sick all day, but perked up a few hours before the party, so we decided to give it a go anyway. Jeremy's grandpa dresses up as Santa (Izze would rather she and Santa maintain a long distance relationship).














On Christmas Eve we ate a big dinner at Jeremy's mom and dad's house. We're definitely coming to have some of our traditions for our little family. When we came home Izze opened her jammies, sprinkled some reindeer dust on our lawn, laid out some carrots for the reindeer and put out some silk nog and cookies for Santa. We bought a movie but it was so late and honestly the movie was on Nick Jr a million times we'd already watched it 3 or more times. I'm praying next year we will have rid our home of Dora (so I returned it!! WIN!!!)





I'm sure Santa was one of the luckiest kids on the planet this Christmas. SHE GOT A DRUM SET!! Santa was very generous! :)






This is "Christmas Face" It is the face you aim for on Christmas morning.



Izze in a "perform for the camera" sandwich. We're those parents!


Now we're really looking forward to a fun New Years Eve party. BRING ON 2010!!!!!!

Izze's Dance Recital.

Santa Baby from Kalli Parkin on Vimeo.


My beautiful Punky did a wonderful job at her recital today. She was a bit more unfazed by the whole thing this year. Last year, she ran up to me and waved, she didn't stop shaking her butt. This year, she acted like she knew the whole thing, but she didn't quite know it all. Come to think of it, she was probably a little tired. I love my baby girl so much. I'm so proud of her. I think this is my favorite costume I've picked out this year too.


Next week, all our classes are Christmas parties and after that?? IT'S CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!!!!! I can't wait!


I'm so excited for Christmas. :)


Edit!! I had to change the video a little bit, the sound is different now. :)

Christmastime is here. Happiness and cheer!

First of all... did you know Izze is missing her two front teeth? She had a lot of teeth issues this year, poor thing. She chipped one and her dentist filled it in and just the next day she walked up to me and was literally missing most of her tooth. Her dentist said if he tried to put a cap on it, it probably wouldn't last very long and I'd have to bring her back in and possibly traumatize her even more than I already had that day. So he suggested we pull it. It was sad, but it actually looks better having both teeth missing than just the one. She's pretty darling.




All she wants for Christmas, is her two front teeth!!


We took her to Santa... she hates him.




I had to crop myself out... she would only sit on my lap.



The highlight of visiting the mall. :)



She was a bit tuckered out after all that excitement/ anxiety.


We actually took her to see Santa Claus at The Festival of Trees, but I forgot my camera. Mrs. Claus was there too. Luckily. She sat on Mrs. Claus' lap, but refused to as much as touch Santa. When Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she nervously started singing, "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!!!!!" Santa said, that made his entire day!


I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmastime. We sure are. We're about to go sledding, so I'll have more pictures to post soon. :)

Izze loves Santa

Izze loves Santa from Kalli Parkin on Vimeo.

Celebrating Izze turning 3!

I can't believe my little Punk is almost 3 years old. Sometimes it's weird to think she could be that old, she's still pretty small and still my little baby in so many ways, but other times, she's so mature and kind and compassionate and smart... she could be turning 5!
Izze can write her name and can spell out both Izze and Isadora. She can recognize, all the letters in her name, the letters J,K,M and O. She can count to 15 by herself and 20 with help. She loves to paint and color and learn. She'll ask me to teach her about things she's interested in. Lately it's bees and babies. She is very nurturing and loves babies. She loves playing in her kitchen and playing games. She absolutely loves to read. We read more than 10 books a day! She can play on the computer. She does chin ups in gymnastics. She can do a cartwheel and an arch up... she is incredible. Something I didn't know about three year olds... their snuggles get better and better!

Izze's birthday isn't until Saturday... a very cold snowy Halloween birthday! We celebrated her birthday last Saturday. And my mom took her to Build-A-Bear on Thursday night.

Izze has been talking about going since Owen turned 4 in August. Honestly, this was the worst time we've had a BABW. They didn't even acknowledge Izze's birthday at all... she was terrified of the girl stuffing her bear. We made it fun though. Stuffing Pedal Giving her "Sparkly Snow Leopard" a bath. She almost chose a turkey. But mostly she was torn between the Kooky Spooky Kitty and The Sparkly Snow Leopard. Considering she has like 30+ Build-a-Bears, there were few to pick. Chilling with Lainey at Gymboree. Move onto Friday, Izze's party. It really went well. This is the "Barbie Witch Cake" exactly how Izze wanted it too. Jeremy's mom helped Izze to decorate it, just the way she wanted it. I really couldn't do this. I stayed far far away from the cake baking/decorating process! Haha! Casey and Shannon made a second cake for Izze. I'm glad they did. It was chocolate mousse cake. Izze LOOOVES Skelanimals too. We made necklaces with Halloween charms. I'm actually really glad we did this activity. It wasn't expensive and it was fun. Avery. Izze's cousin, she just turned 5 at the beginning of the month. Izze's cousin, Parker, almost 7. Izze's cousins Ammon, 5 (Mr. Incredible) and Carson, 6 (Zorro) didn't break character most of the party. Izze's closest cousin, Ella, 2 and-a-half. Checking each other out. Playing "Pumpkin Patch" balloons filled with loot to take home. Filling the 100 or so balloons gave me the worst blisters ever. I'm talking they're about an inch long... Note to self... mini notebooks aren't mini enough to fit in balloons. Opening presents. Each present was this good. She also naturally thanked everyone by name after she opened their gift. Good girl. Pause for a moment. Izze's cousin threw a pretty heavy gift at Izze's forehead. She was just trying to help. Singing Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday to you. We had so much fun and Izze got quite the haul!
Heidi's family gave her two puzzles to help write her letters and numbers.


Stacy's family got her a Fancy Nancy dress. She would wear it every where if she could.


Casey and Shannon made her that chocolate cake and got her a Hello Kitty fortune cookie maker.


Our neighbors Briseis and Aurora got her Elefun and a Skelanimals stuffed animal.


Jordan got Izze Monsters Vs. Aliens


Parker, Avery and Kyson got Izze a Ni Hao Kai-Lan game.


Grandma and Grandpa Parkin gave her a hand carved Noah's Ark


Grandma Hansen gave her a nightgown


Great Aunt Sheila & Great Grandma Parkin gave her some money.


Grandma and Grandpa Halliday gave her a cradle, a view finder, the build a bear, some cute clothes and boots.


We got her an art desk and chair, Fancy Nancy phone, Fancy Nancy Frenchy dog, Snow White, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, A Yo Gabba Gabba game and some clothes. We still haven't given her some Fancy Nancy books and we're taking her to the store on her birthday to pick out something else.


She was totally spoiled. What a lucky lady!