Happy Thanksgiving!

The Parmers want to say Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!! I wanted to start the day with a fun T'giving story. I asked Lydia first thing this morning to tell me one thing she was thankful for,and she replied... "biscuits!" She cracks me up. So, Lydia is thankful for biscuits and we are thankful for so many things, all of our friends and family, good health, but most of all I'm thankful for our Lord and Savior and His unchanging love for me and my family. Let us remember His goodness today! Pics will soon follow.

The Zoo

If you look really close in the background you can see a very large iguana with an orange-colored stomach. We see iguanas here all the time, but they are usually not this big.
Ben took this "bottom" picture, which I thought was pretty hilarious, so I had to post it! In case you are wondering those were two HUGE rhinos!!!

We went to Mayaquez (West Coast) yesterday to go to the zoo. It was so much fun! We went with Bryan and Jennifer Hayes and their four boys. I took Lydia to the B'ham zoo when she was about 3 months old with my niece and my mom, but of course this time around was much more fun. She LOVED it! She woke up at 4:00 this morning saying, "see animals" over and over again. She has talked about it all day.

It was a really fun day and the zoo was awesome. It was not as big as the B'ham or Atlanta zoo, but it was a perfect size for our age kids. The kids had a blast, and I'm so glad we went.

Timmy and Lydi were hanging out watching the rhinos.

We stopped at Burger King on the way, and they gave Lydi this crown. Going to the zoo with five boys definitely made her feel like Queen for the day.

Our Christmas Tree

We put up our Christmas tree last weekend. You might be wondering... why so early? We are leaving in three weeks to go back to AL for the Holidays, so I wanted Lydi to be able to enjoy the tree for a little while. It's nice having it up, and Lydi loves it!!! It was a little strange decorating the tree and sweating at the same time, even though it is getting a little cooler. It was 73 degrees when we got up one morning last week! That's the lowest we've seen. Anyway, I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!!

Pedicures and Playtime

Beth and Margarey or Ray Ree as Lydia calls her came over yesterday afternoon and while they were here they painted Lydi's toenails. Beth had pink polish on her toes and Lydi thought it was the coolest thing. She kept pointing to her toes and saying "pink!" So, Beth asked her if she wanted her toes painted and she responded with an enthusiastic "yes!"

She has been walking around since saying "pink toes...cute." I'm so thankful that we are on a team with others that will do these things with our little girl. I can't even remember the last time I painted my toenails, so needless to say Lydi has never had it done.

She was so excited, so thanks to Beth and Ray Ree!!! Lydi loves her cute pink toes!

Here are some pics of Lydi and TW playing together. He is getting so big, and it's becoming more and more fun for them to interact. He was sitting in his exersaucer and Lydi was playing peek-a-boo with him. He was laughing at her, but of course when I got the camera, they both toned it down. I still managed to get a few cute pics.

Ants!!!

OK, so some of you know that here in PR we have a bit of an ant problem! It may seem weird that Ben took this picture, but he thought (and so do I) that it was pretty amazing how the ants surrounded this piece of candy within minutes of it falling on our floor. Ben was eating a jolly rancher, and a piece of it fell on the floor. He went back to pick it up and this is what he found. Pretty crazy huh?

Our most recent encounter with the ants happened last week when Lydi comes to me holding one of our books from our bookshelves in our dining room. She walks up to me in the kitchen with the book and says "read Bible." I look down and realize that there are tons of ants on the book she was holding. So, of course what do I do? Freak out... I take the book and put it outside as Ben is getting the ants off Lydia (they do bite).

Ben walks over to the book shelf and finds hundreds of ants!!! They were covering one shelf and the books that it held. He begins to move the books, and more ants show up. He took a couple of books off the shelf and tapped the binding of the books, again hundreds of ants come crawling out. AHHHHH!!! This has become such a frustration for me, because both of the kids have had bites on them. I have seen a few even in their beds!

I know that my house is not spotless, but it isn't gross enough to have bugs in my kids beds. Does anyone have a good cure for how to deal with ants in the house? If so, please leave me a comment, because these little pests are driving me crazy! Here is a picture of Thomas' most recent run-in with an ant. I have no idea when it bit him and where he was when it happened...HELP!

Thanks Sweetie

Ben,
I have thought so much today about how blessed I am to have a husband like you, and how blessed our children are to have you as their Daddy. Thank you so much for being such a faithful man to us and to the Lord. We are thankful for you and all that you do for us. I know that I would not be able to walk with God as I do without your constant encouragement! I also know that I would not have been able to survive these past eight months without the hope and perspective you bring to our family. We love you!

G-Mommy and G-Daddy's Visit

G-Daddy and G-Mommy came to visit us this past week. We had so much fun with them, and of course hated to see them go. It's not so bad this time, because we know we'll see them again in a few weeks! So, we had a great time while they were here. We traveled to a new city called Ponce above are some pictures from their time there. WE love you G-Mommy and G-Daddy! (By the way, Lydi came up with those names for Ben's parents) There is a picture of them on our fridge, and we had been calling them Grandmother and Grandaddy, but Lydia decided one day that she would call them G-mommy and G-daddy, it's been that way ever since. Thanks for coming!!!

Trick or Treat

I wanted to post some pictures of our Halloween Weekend. We had so much fun trick or treating with our neighbors. There was a party down at our neighborhood pool, so we joined our neighbors for some Halloween fun. Lydi had fun until the big Kung Fu Panda and Tyrone (from the Backyardigans) showed up. She is still walking around saying "I scared of Tyrone, I scared of bear." I really think she might tell me this 100 times a day. We danced and shared some yummy treats with our friends. Here are some pics...

We were practicing "trick or treat" before we left the house, she was walking around saying it as Ben and I put candy in her pumpkin. As you can see Lydi was an Alabama cheerleader, she walked around saying "Roll Tide", "Go Bama!"

This picture cracks me up, it's like TW is saying "I don't know why my mommy put me in this crazy outfit." Brenda (neighbor) let me borrow this glow-in-the-dark skeleton shirt for Thomas, because I didnt' have a costume for him. Bless his heart!

Lydi has learned to say "cheese" whenever she is having her picture made. She is in mid-"cheese" in this picture. Thomas is still wondering why he's dressed the way he is:)

Lydia and Marcelo playing at Marcelo's casa before we left to go to the party.
What a fun night!!!

Thanks NeNe!

Lydia recently received a package from her NeNe! I'm not sure if I've posted anything recently about Lydi's new favorite friend, but it's Dora!!! So, my mom (Nikki's mom) found her a Dora doll and sent it to her along with a Dora umbrella and Dora stool. She loves her new doll and all that came with it! Thanks again NeNe for the fun package!