what you didn't get to see...

A few weeks ago, my family was photographed by Heidi Mitchell while she was up visiting. As always, she did a great job and I really love my photos. For this shoot, I was really hoping to make it to a corn field. Why? I don't know. I think was imagining the beautiful golden-toned lighting with my hair blowing in the breeze while Parker ran through the rows of corn. Ok, so it was unrealistic, but the pictures could have been pretty cute. Maybe next year. Good thing my back-up plan turned out beautiful. We headed up to Fort Hill in Charleston where David proposed to me. The beauty of the the valley beneath combined with a super fun tree and the sentiment of the location created photos I love and can't wait to display in my home.

Parker was in a great mood and cooperated so well. Graham? Not a chance. He was in a fowl, non-smiley-can't-wait-to-be-done-with-this-crap kind of mood. Oh well, so is life. I hired my babysitter, Annyssa (the best in the world), to help with baby Lincoln so Heidi could do her job and to help corral my crazy critters. What a smooth move on my part, and I'm not being facetious. Thanks Annyssa for your help!

I was planning on posting my favorite pictures on here last week, but I was having some issues with Blogger and chose to put the pictures up on Facebook instead. You all were sooooooo nice with your comments. Thanks so much for all of your kind words. Since there is no need for duplication, I'll show you a more realistic view of how the session went since all of you have commented on how great the pictures turned out. This is what Heidi really had to deal with while taking the 2010 Dunn family photos.

First, there are those dreaded double chins from a few extra unnecessary pounds.

 And the baby constipated face complete with shut eyes.

Then there is the ticked-off baby whose trying to escape Daddy's death grip picture.

As well as the famous fish lips.

Getting Graham to hold Parker's hand was like asking him to touch scalding water. At first it was fun for Parker to get to squeeze his brothers hand with permission...

...and then it ticked him off. Graham didn't care.

At first, Graham was only concerned about standing in tall grass by himself.

 Then, he started getting a bit worried.

 His worry then turned to down-right mad.

Poor Heidi had to deal with my embarrassing cheesiness.

 My one-year old's mild depression looks, and

spastic faces like this from Little P.

See, there you have it. That's how our shoots really go. Thanks for tolerating us, Heidi, and for somehow managing beautiful photos of my crazy 'lil crew. 

Fantastically Fun Fall Festivities

Like I've mentioned five billion times before, Fall makes me nervous because of what follows it. However, if I separate the mild antecedent from the horrid snow-producing successor, Fall is brilliant. I adore the temperatures, clothing options, football, and holidays wrapped up in Fall. 

Recently, we took Parker to the Milton Corn Maize. Though completely redneck, we embrace it. We go every year, but Parker really enjoyed it this year. I can't believe it's been a year already since our last trip through the maize. Heidi came with me last year while baby Lincoln was only in his first trimester of development in her belly. Can't believe he's almost 5 months now. Our friends, the Hargraves, came with us this year. We had to be sure to keep out eyes on the boys because they wanted to just take off together in the maize. Luckily, if they were to have gotten lost, listening would have been all we needed to do to find Parker. The boys also picked a pumpkin from the patch to indulge in the festiveness and took a ride on the "cow" train as well. These photos aren't such great quality as true for most of my blog photos, but fun nonetheless. (Lynsey, don't be mad that I cropped Dylan out, his eyes were closed and he was holding his jimmy dog in the only shot I had of them in the maize.)

David and I love Smores. Who doesn't? Anyway, we had a craving for smores two weeks ago and decided to go get a burn pit for the fall. Great decision...we're enjoying the coziness of the fire and deliciousness of chocolate marshmallows.

It's kind of a tradition for us to carve pumpkins at my in-laws house each year. Usually we make a grand party of it, but we kept it small and simple this year with just a few of us. I couldn't decide what to carve, so when in doubt, pick something you love. OK, then...a shoe it is. Fun, I know. Wouldn't that fancy heel be so hot with my frumpy hoodie?

Parker helped us get the "gook" out of the middle for a short while. When asked to smile at the camera, this is what I got. Whatever.

Get out there and enjoy this beautiful, fun season before the winter begins to ravage your mood :)

Dunn Updates

1. Preschool. I am excited to announce that all is quiet on the preschool front. Well, for now. Parker has seemed to regain is confidence and LOVES going to school. When I am loading him up in his car seat in the mornings, he jibber-jabbers about seeing his teachers and friends. I have figured out from my brilliant deductive reasoning skills that the teachers give out stickers at the end of the day if the students have avoided going to time-out too many times during the day. Parker has popped in our car at the end of each day with a sticker all but one day. Pretty good in my opinion. On top of that, when I have asked him the past few days if he has gone to time out at all, he has said no. Now, he could be fibbing, but my radar says he's not. He's usually pretty honest about his misbehavior. He did, however, tell me about all the other student's infractions. Jack hit Bob and Jill pushed Sally. (Yes, the names are made up.) I'd be lying if there wasn't a little hint of happiness that other kids are being "bad." Not that I want their parents to feel as I did at the beginning, but it's just nice to know that the attention is off of my kid. I am so excited for the next few months of school. There is a book fair, Halloween party, and Thanksgiving play. Will Parker be an indian or a Pilgrim? Hmmm. They better go with indian for noise reasons. Can't wait!

2. Baby Graham. He's changing so much right now. Everything from his nap schedule to his speech development is turning upside down. Last week, he said his first word other than "Dada." While David was holding him and running back and forth through the yard with Parker, Graham yelled, "GOOOO!" It was high pitched, but go nonetheless. Cute as ever. Then, while in the kitchen earlier this week, a stink bug crawled across the ceiling. I pointed to it and said, "bug." He then pointed to it and said, "Buuu." He left off the "g" but it was definitely an attempt to say bug. He repeated himself a couple times and still walks around pointing to spots calling them bugs. I love year two with babies because it's the language explosion year. So much fun. Here's a clip of Graham in the kitchen.

3. My Phone. Just so you know, I am cool now. I have an iPhone. Because I didn't want to be one of those people who sacrifice all to have the newest, fanciest cell phone out there, I've been carrying around a little $9.99 flip phone for the past few years. You know what I'm talking about. You've seen those folks who get out of a 20 year old vehicle in their ratted up pj's. They then proceed to Walmart to purchase things with food stamps. Right before they leave the store with their case of Budweiser and cigarettes, their phone rings and they bust out a new 4G iPhone. Let's get an understanding here. I have no issues (well, few anyway) with old cars, food stamps, and Wal-mart, but it just doesn't seem right to have other people paying for things for you when you sport the latest and greatest unnecessary miniature computer. I'm really not mean-spirited, I promise. Anyway. I love my phone and I'm glad I waited until now to buy it. I am soooo thankful for all it's jazz. It's like having everything I need in the palm of my hand. Well, maybe not everything, but it's pretty encompassing. I'll leave you with some pictures from my new phone. I'm kind of addicted to the free Shakeit app that turns your pictures into Polaroids. I'm sure it has little to do with how they visually turn out and much to do with the fact I get to shake my phone to make the picture appear. Love it.

So be it.

After my post about Parker's first day in preschool and how smooth it went, the whole situation headed South and proved to be a challenge for both of us. The second day, Parker got in trouble for "touching people" as the teacher put it. I doubt it was as innocent as it sounds. I mean, if he was just placing his hand on peoples' shoulders to pray for them or give them a little hug, I doubt there would have been an adverse reaction from the other children and teacher towards Parker.

After the third day, David and I realized just how hard of time he was truly having obeying other authorities other than the two of us. So, for a few reasons, we decided to submerge him a little more in the pre-school scene hoping it would help him adapt to his new environment a little better. I called the director and she agreed it would be good to have him go three days a week instead of two.

 The next time he went, Parker's end of the day behavior report from the teacher was much improved, however the morning drop-off couldn't have been more dramatic. My independent kid who has never had any anxiety about leaving me, started crying and saying how he didn't want me to leave and that he really needed me. Eye yi yi. The next few school days went like this, but he was always happy and excited to see me at the end of the day with positive things to say about school.  Finally, on Monday of this week, he ran to see his teacher with no apprehension when I dropped him off at school.

I thought everything was going to be smooth from that point on...not so much. When I picked him up, I was handed a plastic bad with a note on top explaining how I need to work with Parker about going poo in the potty. Really? He hasn't had an accident since Christmas when he was potty trained. Apparently he has issues with the restroom there at the school and decided to try to hold it. When he wasn't able, the result was disgusting.

You want to know what has been the hardest thing about all of this for me? My hurt pride. It was embarrassing to be told about my kid's issues. I really thought I'd get complemented on his funny whit or his intelligence, not reprimanded for his disobedience and lack of self-control. However, the staff at Parker's preschool has been really great and I have to realize they don't know me from Joe Shmoe down the street. They haven't witnessed my efforts to discipline and potty train, so I shouldn't be offended at a note asking my to do a better job with both. It doesn't really matter that Parker knows his 50 states or that he's already mastered the alphabet, the teachers want a well-behaved child who respects authority. I know that he is a really good kid who is simply struggling with a new transition in life. After some prayer and self-reflecting, I've decided that I will ignore my pride and allow myself to be humbled.

The truth is, Parker is a good boy. He is generally obedient, but he is also a 3 year old little boy. I will take responsibility for his misbehavior and work diligently to train him to respect authority better. I will tackle these minor trials as they come and quit being so worried about justifying myself and my child. Who knew preschool would be such a journey for us? Things look as though they are on the up swing. Parker is regaining his confidence and I am learning to be a better mother. If getting my pride hurt is what it takes to get to this point, then so be it.

(Here's a little peek at a near future post. The adorable baby Lincoln came to stay with me at my house, and he even brought his momma. Such a great weekend!)

Fancy Fall Frame

Thanks to all the fabulous Oaks around our house, we are gifted with loads of acorns. Might as well put them to some good use. I saw a magazine article with this cute little idea, so I sent Parker on a search and rescue mission to recover some whole acorns. After removing their cute little tops, we glued them on an old frame. Viola! I let Parker pick the picture and our first fall project was complete. I can't decided whether it's ugly or seasonally cute, but either way, the two of us had fun making it together.

Return to Tennis

My friend, Lynsey, mentioned the other day about playing tennis with her son and I realized that though Parker received a racket for Christmas last year, I had never taken him out to play. Why? Oh, maybe because I have a one year old and the thought of playing tennis with both Parker and Graham seems a bit un-fun. Anyway, I decided that the lack of tennis in our household had to change. I love the sport and I would love for my kids to enjoy it as well. So, David and I took both boys to the courts on Monday. We had a grand time, but I would have to say that Parker has more "bad" skills than mad skills. Oh well, there's still hope since he's three. He had a blast, but I'm afraid he might have a bit of a temper on the court. I'm pretty sure he threw his racket once or twice after missing the ball. I'll have to work on that before he can win the US open.

Cutest ball boy ever.

Preschool is Underway

I dropped Parker off at preschool for the first time last Thursday. Absolutely no tears were shed...from either of us. It was so exciting. I've been waiting since April when I decided to which school I would send him. Call me unsentimental, but I'm not going to fake sadness as my first born baby walked his confident little self into a classroom of strangers and told me he was fine. I was proud of his independence. As for me, though I cherished many moments of Parker's early life, I LOVE all the "activities" he is old enough to get involved with now. I have my moments where I cry thinking of how small he use to be and how he's lessening his dependency on me, but he still lets me hold him on my lap and kiss his face, so I haven't much to complain about yet. Though it's slightly hard to let someone else have control over my little man, I know he's in God's hands.

When I picked Parker up, he said he had a great day and that he wished he could stay all day. I'll let him happily entertaining that thought now because in about 10 years he's going to wish he could only go to school for 3 hours. I asked my little P if he had gotten in trouble at all while at school. He admitted to two offenses. He poked people because he wanted to and he ran in the classroom. I cracked up hearing him tell the story of how the teacher "held his hand" when he got in trouble. He said she wouldn't let him go for a little while. Ha! Considering Parker's capabilities, I'll call the first day a success. I just hope that I'm not the first mom to be called in for a parent/teacher conference for my preschooler. Fingers crossed. He really is a good little boy, but he's also a handful and a little "special" as I like to call him. I would love to be a fly on the wall to see him interact without the presence of his momma, but part of the fun is hearing from him about his day.

He was so handsome his first day. I know, I'm very biased.