Parker is 12!!

Just LOOK at this handsome boy!
(Don't tell him he looks like Justin Bieber...he will run away screaming.)
For his birthday. we wanted to do something different.

The day before his birthday, we hiked up to the Great Falls of the Potomac River
with Parker's grandparents, Adam & Heather.

It was gorgeous!

Adam & Parker on an outcropping of rocks built on Olmstead Island,
smack in the middle of the Potomac.

Parker and his new aunt, Heather

Who needs a haircut?

After the hike, we invaded Adam & Heather's apartment for the official birthday celebration.

Oh the JOY! The RAPTURE!

He was pretty thrilled by the gifts-Legos, model cars, and an art porfolio.
Thank you G&G Williams, G&G Hancock, and Aunt Rachel!

A MONSTER cupcake with 12 green candles...the BEST color ever,
as maintained by Parker.

On the morning of Parker's birthday, we attended the Sunday morning performance
of Jeremy's music group, Polaris. Jeremy had a surprise musical number
for Parker--an acoustic performance of "Always," which was a lullaby
he wrote for Parker after we found out he was going to be a boy.
He sang that song to Parker every night for YEARS after he was born.
It's always been a special song, and it brought tears to all of us when he sang it.

THEN we stopped by the BEST local donut shop EVER
and stocked up on all the different flavors.
Birthdays are pretty much the only time
Parker comes in close contact with THAT much sugar.

The next day (after sleeping off a sugar high) was the FIRST DAY of school!
Even though he was wearing the "coolest" shirt ever
(although anything with lime green and black have earned this distinction),
he was NOT happy about starting 7th grade.
So far, it has turned out to be much better than he anticipated.
He has a new, bigger locker, nice teachers, and new and old friends.

 The next weekend, he had a sleepover with his best friends, Kyle (left) and Michael (right).
He had a growth spurt over the summer, and now he is taller than his buds!
He is now towering over them at 5'2" and 102 lbs.

Earthquake/Birthday/Hurricane

You all heard about the earthquake in Virginia.
It was really a non-event in our household...I didn't feel it
because I was driving a huge SUV at the time,
and Parker was jumping on a trampoline.
Jeremy was at home, oddly enough, because he is never home.
He said the house was wiggling.

Apparently we all got over it,
because two days later it was Jeremy's birthday
and we went out to eat at his favorite place ever, Texas de Brazil,
i.e., the Festival of Meats.

YAY BIRTHDAY!
Actually, Jeremy doesn't get excited about birthdays.

But he was pretty excited about getting a knife, Bose headphones, and lots of attention.

I was pretty excited about the CAKE!

This was the best present, though.

How awesome is this?!?!

All the awesomeness of the Festival of Meats, the cake, the knife,
and the attention were soon forgotten, however,
when the HURRICANE blasted through.

It was a total drag losing power when the hurricane came through.
Our neighbor rushed over in the middle of the lashing wind and rain
to tell us his generator was running,
and he and Jeremy rigged up about 5 extension cords
to get power from his backyard to ours.
We plugged in a single power strip so we could run the fridge and
could alternately plug in a lamp, OR the toaster, OR a fan.

For six days, we endured numerous tripping hazards.
And yes, that is a PLASTIC SPIKE on one of the extension cords.
We wanted to keep it interesting.

Luckily, no giant branches or trees fell on the house.
But it was a mess out there.

Look how HUGE this branch is! And it just SNAPPED OFF!
(No, that is not a ghost's foot--it is mine.)

It fell into our neighbor's yard. Yeah, the one with the generator.
Coincidentally also the one with the chainsaw.

The first day the power was out, we kind of thought it would be "fun."
We had prepared to be out for days,
so we stocked up on charcoal, ice, batteries, and non-perishables.

This is us having "fun" before we were attacked by bugs and had to move inside.

It was a long six days without air conditioning, internet, cable,
a dishwasher, a stove, or a microwave.
We took Parker to his grandparents' house after a couple days
and took ourselves to work everyday
and tried not to think about how hot and humid
the house would be when we got home.
But we survived, and didn't have to throw out
everything in the fridge like so many other people had to.
That power strip was just enough juice to enable us
to live somewhat like civilized people, and it was enough.