I was so excited the other day because it was my daddy’s birthday – can’t believe he’s already 21. Anyway, while I was excited to see him in the morning, he had to go out of town for business so mommy and I didn’t get to spend any real time with him. We were all kind of bummed. To make sure he had a little piece of home with him, I gave him one of my stuffed animals – Daddy Lion. He looks a lot like Mama Lion, but there is a distinct difference between the two. Daddy and mommy thought it was so sweet of me to do that – I should probably ask for something big while their defenses are down.
Daddy made sure he didn’t leave Daddy Lion at the hotel so he took pictures for me so I would know he was taken care of.
When daddy came home, mommy and I made sure we celebrated his birthday. We made him a cake and gave him gifts and cards. I think he was happy to see us and we were happy to see him.
The other day we went to the MONSTER JAM (said in my best over-the-top announcer voice) and it was UN….wait for it….BELIEVABLE!! Thundering engines and destruction – just good ‘ol fun. The cool part was that we got there early enough (perhaps way too early – bygones) to go down on the track before the races and see all of the trucks. All of our favorites were there – Grave Digger (my fav), Son-Uva Digger, Monster Mutt Dalmation (mommy’s fav because it looks like a puppy), El Toro Loco (daddy’s fav), Superman, Iron Man, Mohawk Warrior (a lot of kids had their hair in mohawks because of this one), etc.
Now there is more to a Monster Jam than just big trucks rolling over a bunch of cars and doing crazy looking stuff – they actually race. No each of us had our favorite car for the races. Mommy’s Monster Mutt was out of the competition pretty quickly while daddy’s truck and my truck kept advancing. Before we knew it, both of our trucks were in the finals racing against each other. After some smack talk between me and my dad – you’re going down clown….you’re truck is so slow it takes 2 hours to watch 60 Minutes (this one is kind of funny to me since I’m learning how to tell time now) – it was time for our trucks to race. The race was literally a photo finish and the winner was…..GRAVE DIGGER!!!! It couldn’t have been more perfect.
After the races, all the trucks did tricks and jumps and all that cool stuff. Daddy’s truck actually lost a wheel and kept going on 3 wheels – too cool. You can see on the video below. We also saw several of the trucks catch fire which was pretty exciting – being in the stands and not the truck that is.
One of the other cool things about the day was that we got to sign our names to one of the old cars that race between truck rounds. Our car didn’t make it once around the track, but it was cool to write on it at least. Overall, it was great day – kinda loud so you want to bring some ear plugs, but awesome!
I’ve been fortunate to have not lost anyone yet, but some of my friends have. One little boy in my class says his daddy is in Heaven. While I know Heaven is suppose to be a good place, I sure am glad mommy and daddy are still here, not to mention my grannie, nanny, papa(s), and the rest of my family – sure am a lucky kid. Anyway, one of my daddy’s friends wrote and performed this song. The back story is from a post he saw on Facebook from one of his friends. You can read his own words…
A friend of mine that I had not spoken to in years posted this one day and it stuck with me. I had no idea how or when her dad passed away, I just knew the wish was something that many of us experience – a wish for one more conversation with someone we love who is no longer here.
The death of a loved one is probably a time that makes us most willing and open to reach out to God. For some people, this is one of the few times they will “give God a chance.”
The concept of this song is that we will never understand why some things happen on Earth – children dying, loved ones taken way too soon, cancer claiming a young mother or father, leaving behind young children. In those moments, we reach out to God. We want to know why, we want some answer to appear to us because if we can make sense of a tragedy, it might be easier to accept.
This song takes you through a few conversations between those here on Earth and those in Heaven. The first two verses are true stories of actual events. The bridge represents the question you ask yourself when you look into the sky, see the stars and wonder if they can hear you or if they know how much you miss them. The last verse is the response. From Heaven, they too wish Heaven had a telephone. They would talk to us and tell us how it turns out.…. “I was there when Valley was born, we all were, and we were cheering along with you” or “Yes, I did die in the car wreck, but 11 people who were far from God prayed for the very first time. Trust me, it was worth it.”
When you hear this song, and you think of that someone, remember, God is good, always.
Like I said, I sure am a luck kid to not know this reality yet, but I can sure empathize with the emotion. Give the song a chance and download it on iTunes or the group’s site Jeremy Powers & The Empty Chairs.
Daddy claims he bought the movie for mommy, but he was like one of the first ones (adults anyway) to put a deposit down on the pre-order. He says it was just about convenience, but come on dude – I was there when you were putting the deposit down and asking how soon the movie was going to be available – your voice 2 octaves higher because of the excitement – smiling from the anticipation, etc. The one thing I can say is at least he didn’t go to the midnight release of the video Saturday night (Sunday morning) and he waited until Sunday morning to pick up his her copy.. That would have been a little creepy, right…..please tell me you didn’t do that daddy.
Oh well, I see plenty of vampires and werewolves in my future….
Wow, has it really been over a month since I posted last??? That means I didn’t keep one of my New Year’s resolutions for even a day. My bad. It’s probably because I got an iPad and have been busy with Angry Birds and Words with Friends – I feel you Alec!!
So this past weekend, mommy had a girlie day with her best friend who is getting married and the rest of the bridal party (mommy is the matron of honor so she rules). Since she was doing the girlie stuff, I got my crew (daddy) together and we got our tough on by going to see Beauty and the Beast – thug life, baby. Yes, I have that movie at home, but what I don’t have is that movie in 3D and stadium seating. I’m usually out on the whole 3D thing, but this movie was definitely worth it for me. All the dancing dishes, candles, furniture, etc. was the bomb, especially when they were singing “Be Our Guest” – I saw daddy dancing in his chair to that one. Things got real intense with the action scenes because it was like the wolves were jumping right out at me – so cool. I would highly recommend this movie in 3D to any other boys and girls out there.
So now starts a new resolution to be better at posting.
I haven’t had time to write because I’ve been so busy with seeing family, enjoying the season, and PLAYING WITH ALL MY PRESENTS! Santa is either a forgiving soul or he doesn’t do a lot of research when determining who has been naughty or nice. I mean I was like 90% nice and all, but I did have my moments of shall we say less than nice. But Santa sure did treat me good. Bicycles, dinosaurs, super heroes, AND a pretty little kitty. I was totally hoping I would get a kitty and Santa came through for me. I know what you’re probably thinking – I should have asked for a pony. If I had known it was going to be that easy, I probably would have. There are still more Christmases in my future so I need to practice saying giddy-up!
On a somewhat sad note, I had to say goodbye to Buddy – my elf on the shelf. Santa said that he would check in on me from time to time to say hi and see how I’m doing. I sure was hoping he could stick around forever because I really liked trying to find him every morning.
I got to ride on my first real train the other night on the North Pole Express. Mommy, daddy, and I went to the North Pole on the train. It was kind of strange that we had to go to Grapevine first, but I guess every train has to start somewhere. Anyway, Grapevine fancies itself as the Christmas Capital of Texas. And their claim is pretty legit – the whole downtown strip is decorated nicely and they have a place by the train that you can “ice” skate, get hot chocolate, and ornaments. The funny thing is that I wore my pajamas when I went there because the kids were suppose to wear them. That sounded cool to start, but it sure was cold – still a silly good time.
On the train we had someone singing Christmas songs the whole time – she was kind of silly. When we finally got to the North Pole, Santa came on board. The whole train went wild when they saw him – I mean Justin Bieber doesn’t have anything on this old classic. So Santa came on the train and wished everyone a Merry Christmas and then he went from kid to kid giving them a very special gift. I wasn’t quite sure what the gift was, but I know I wasn’t about to pass it up even though I don’t like getting my picture taken with Santa. This time I had to give a little on that one. So when he came to me, he extended his hand with a very special bell and I reached out and grabbed it from him (nicely, of course) – that was such magical moment. I mean last time I was that close to Santa was when I was 2 and I was screaming to get out of his death grip.
The bell is a special bell because whenever I ring it and angel gets its wings. I’ve been ringing it a lot so you’re welcome angels – just remember that and make sure you look after me a just a little more than usual…..Parker’s Angels has a ring to it, don’t you think?
1783 – George Washington returned home to Mount Vernon, after the disbanding of his army following the Revolutionary War.
1788 – Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the seat of the national government. About two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia.
1823 – The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (“‘Twas the night before Christmas”), written by either Clement C. Moore or Maj. Henry Livingston, Jr., was published in the Troy Sentinel of New York.
1888 – Van Gogh chopped his ear off
1972 – The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders 13-7 in an NFL playoff game on a last-second play that was dubbed the “Immaculate Reception.” Pittsburgh’s Franco Harris caught a deflected pass and ran it in for the winning touchdown.
And sometime “long” after any of these events (let’s just say gas was $0.36/gal and bread was $0.25/loaf), my mommy was born. I love her soooo much. Thank you for all you do. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Parksway's Blog 