WANTED! Have you seen this suspect? She is accused of robbery of one lock box from the home of a noted FBI Special Unit Agent.

She should be easy to find...
Height- 5'5" and wearing 4" heels!
Weight- hmmm...her double chin should say it all
Hair- Blonde (kind of)
Eyes- Blue
Wearing- an ipod on her eggplant/white shirt?
Fingers- all ten tipped with black ink that won't come off!!!!!

If you run across this suspect, beware she is armed and dangerous. Approach the suspect with caution, but get a good look at her right index finger. This finger is the only evidence the FBI has that the suspect ever touched the lock box. Contact agent Parker Golden to report any new information.

Please note: This is a joke, but the fact that Mom's fingers are covered in black ink is completely true!!!!

Godparents!

Today we became the Godparents to miss Zoey! It was a warmer sunny day and almost felt like March instead of January :) Zoey looked beautiful in her little white baptismal dress. She and a couple other little ones were baptized at the church. Zoe went first which kind of made the next little one a bit nervous. She was very calm during the water, but once all of us put our hands on her - she kind of said enough is enough!

We are very proud to be Godparents again and hope that we can continue to be role models that the girls will always enjoy being around and learning from...

It's Friday!

Happy Friday! Where does the time go? We have spent the week keeping warm (California does sound good right now, Tracy!). Working, sleeping and eating seems to keep the rest of our time occupied. Parker finished out his week and nothing really eventful other than his new project to define the word "cascade". He has to use his imagination and the internet to create a project that is sure to amaze his teacher (the grand ideas started flowing last night and just like the waterfall he wants to build...it might all be too big to bring on the bus!)

Steve and I both working this week trying to keep our heads above water. It has just been one of those weeks where anything can distract us from moving forward on the necessary projects. For me today has been one of those printer broke, ipod doesn't work, internet failed, tripped on the leg of the bed (dang that hurts)...kind of days! Once I got through all the accidents today, I was able to sit down and hammer out a newborn shoot (she was such a doll - ie picture) and place the order. Its easy to forget all the mishaps when you get to look at the face of a miracle all day long.

So we head into the weekend and hopefully we will get some warmer sun around here...have a great weekend!

Joyce

Parker learns to hit like a Mauer

What a day for the little twins fan! Parker and Steve went to a two-hour hitting clinic at Hamline on Sunday that was put on by Mauer's Quickswing. The whole Mauer family, plus some local college teams and coaches served as the instructors for the clinic. Jake and Bill Mauer, both former minor-leaguers and current baseball coaches were both there providing instruction, as was their little brother Joe from the Minnesota Twins---Can't go wrong learning how to swing the bat from a guy who's won an MLB batting title!
Take a look at the picture--can you tell which one makes $8 million a year playing ball? (yeah, that's today's going rate for an all-star, but Steve is hoping that will be up to $10 mil. by Parker's time in the spotlight!)

Conference- Good?

Whew! We made it through our second conference for 2nd grade. Parker does well in school and loves his teacher (he thinks she is funnier than Jeff Foxworthy!!!!). Pretty much the same conference we have had for three years...Parker is a smart kid, he just needs to think before he acts when dealing with his friends. He jumped up in his reading ability- we told him practice makes perfect and now we have PROOF that reading everyday makes a difference. He loves math, but doesn't like to be timed for his basic facts. He passed the 12s this week and we hope he gets through his 18s in two minutes really soon...go Parker!

So our goal is just to help him make the best of choices and do the "extra credit" that is offered.

You know the philosophy- if it is "extra" than that means it doesn't have to be done. Definitely his Dads kid here. :) Dad could pass all the tests with great grades and not have to study. Didn't work that way for mom's neurotic study habits!!!!! The best part mom and dad agree with the teacher that Parker is more than capable of taking on a bit extra and challenging himself with a few goals.

School is so much different than when we attended elementary, but Parker is probably a whole lot smarter than we were then too :)

Hope you all enjoy your day!

Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of Grum?

The story and fun behind Parker's picture from Sunday morning only continues with the conversations that ensued. It seems that pirates are known for not only sailing and fighting, but also for drinking. I know--who woulda thunk it?

Parker was happy to talk me through just such a sequence of events on his pirate movie, and then he grabbed his bottle of "grum". He took a swig, and explained to me that each pirate has his very own bottle of grum, and after they fight, they drink.

A bit later, I overheard him telling his mother a similar story, detailing how each bottle gets wrapped in a brown paper bag.

One thing rings true in this example of the innocence of a child...he has no idea what "grum" actually is--and for that matter, neither do I!

Power Rangers never take a Sunday Morning Off!

OK, sometimes he scares us too! Sunday mornings are famous dress-up/role play mornings for Parker. They usually start much earlier than we adults care to have them, but Parker has learned to adapt and let his extremely tired parents sleep while he plays. To entertain himself he usually dresses up as one of his many rough and tough heros. This morning no different. Steve got up briefly to check and found Parker dressed as Jack Sparrow sitting on his chair watching Pirates of the Caribbean on his little TV. Steve snuck back in bed to tell me of the "new member of the family", to which I said "grab the camera and take a picture". Sometimes we forget that our son is young with great hearing because as soon as Steve showed up with the camera the pirate cap was off and the swords/lasers were out. We still find it funny that in his shirt from yesterday, boxers and socks he is comfortable enough to pose for an action shot!
He may no longer believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny, but he truly believes he is a Power Ranger!

A Golden Family Tradition

Many people might not know, but Steve makes the best Rice Krispie Bars ever!!!! Just ask Zoey (our 21 month old niece). It is a tradition when Janice, Brianna and Zoey are visiting on the weekends, you will often see Steve in the kitchen whipping up a batch. His secret used to be to open the bag of "big" marshmallows and eat just one for the correct mix of marshmallow and Rice Krispies, but it has changed now that Parker knows the secret, the "golden family" recipe calls for 2 less marshmallows from the bag :)

This Friday night, the tradition continued...the difference...Janice and I like the bars warm right out of the pan. This is not the safest time for Zoey to enjoy them, so after being told to wait a few times she hung out right over the pan of bars with her arms folded and the look of longing on her face...smelling all the delicious bites that we were taking. The little "I got to have just one" grin on her face was too cute to resist a photo. Don't think that we were too mean to make her wait until they were too cool- she enjoyed her share as soon as the camera clicked three times!

Between the six of us, there is always a tiny bit leftover for the next day. But even then it is a race to who gets to them first. Steve has been known to hide them in his briefcase or me in the pantry for breakfast!!!! This usually prompts the mid day call to brag about our treat or to ask "where did the leftover Rice Krispie bars go?". The funny thing is we ask the question (not because we are unkowing of the anwer), but to see if the person who scored the treat is willing to admit to winning the "race"! Shameless guilt trips never hurt anyone, right?

Parker's Ridemakerz Car

Here is Parker's Ridemakerz car in action. We love the green lights under the car! He has decided to have his 8th birthday party at the Mall of America Ridemakerz on Friday, February 29th. He is only able to invite 7 friends (because as you can guess building a car for each child is not cheap), but we can't wait to see everyone's creations!!!

Stay tune for more birthday news as our baby turns eight this March...

The Results are in!

Yep, officially he did very well or "perfect" as he says! +10/10 and he even spelled picture right!

Pictures!

Bet it's easy to imagine us with a blog full of pictures. What gets me is how much fun it is to see them as we come across them and enjoy the memories.

Today's a special picture day for our family--Parker has the word "picture" on his spelling test in school. Stay tuned to see how well he can spell!

Happy New Year!

We are so excited to be in 2008. We made our resolutions and so far so good. Our biggest family resolution is to spend 10 minutes every day each of us organizing a part of the house. We really picked up on this and once one thing was done it was just so easy to head to the next. Our house has never been so organized and on it's way to being more organized by the day. :)

Parker is back at school and loves it! We have finally made his 2007 holiday photo shoot public. You can view it at Flickr.com by clicking the link "happy new year" on the top of this post.

We have enjoyed all the comments on our holiday card and hope that everyone has a great 2008!