The Adventures of Crit and Mary

Mary's B-day Video

2009-05-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

YeS! She has got it!

2009-02-27T07:46:00.000-08:00

Indeed my lil darling is officially a bike rider! So proud! She got it yesterday on "the 26th," of course.

I am in finals week. Plan to do some bloggin over the semester break!

xoxo, critti & magic mary

Utah with the BFFs

2008-12-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

Trip to Utah

Catwalk it...

Halloween

The BFFs...

A Day in the Life of Magic Mary

2008-11-18T19:32:00.000-08:00

(Note: i know i have much to blog. ya, i dont even have Halloween pics up yet. but they are coming- probably w/ my semester break. but be patient- im pretty swamped w/ school. :)

However, I am, for the very first time, blogging the DAY OF. yes, we are so proud! :)

Mary and I "spoon" everyday after she gets off the bus. "How was your day? What did you learn?" type of stuff. Today she announced that Connor wants to marry her! very exciting. So, i play along. i tell her all about how you really really really need to know a lot about the person you marry.
I also add w/ a smirk, "You do realize you two are only 5 years old." Mary replies in her sweet matter-of-fact way, "Um Momma, Connor is actually 6!!"
Oh gosh, my bad! so funny!
I ask "Well, what do you want your husband to be like?"
Mary: "I want him to be cool!"
Me: "What makes Connor so cool?"
Mary: "Um, he has this really cool, freaky shirt w/ one oozing, green eye! its so cool!"
Me "Ok, so he wears cool shirts. Does he like kids?"
Mary: "He is a kid, Momma. So he totally likes em"
Me: "Check. How does he treat his Mom? Is he respectful?"
Mary pauses.... "Um, we're just gonna say YES, ok? Cuz im not sure."

Mary is close to riding her bike w/out training wheels! I bet just a few more days and she'll have it! Here she is tonight w/ Aunt Kimothy.

Mary often sets her clothes out the night before. Tomorrow's outfit: complete w/ stuffed animal in hand. so funny! She has started wearing pants under her skirts. Work your old style, girlfriend!

A few Mary Mckenna Quotes:
This weekend we were laying on the lawn, enjoying our "This is why we live in Arizona" weather as Mary calls it, writing poems. Mary wrote a beautiful poem about sparkling unicorns in the silver fog. I started to write one titled: 'I need a kiss! A kiss from the cutest and the best!' (I often say these words to Mary) Then i asked myself aloud "How does a kiss from the cutest and the best make me feel?" Mary was walking by and simply answered "Fantastic!!" Wish you could hear her lil voice, she is so funny!

Mary the Manipulator:
This kid is good! I mean she should already be receiving credits for Law school w/ her ability to manipulate a situation.
The other day Mary proposed "Mom, lets just have a 'No talk zone' for about a half hour. You can go and do your homework, and I'm going to just give these candycorns some air, ok?"
the proposal meant: i want to eat these candycorns and i dont want you to be able to tell me no! I couldnt help myself and burst out laughing. She laughed at herself too. But, man does she keep em coming!

My Magic Mary:
Mary will often go "Sage" on me. Where she talks, reasons, and understands beyond her years. Her "sage-ness" amazes me daily.
One night while i was putting her to bed she began to explain to me in her "sage" tone. She said "Momma, I should have told you this years ago." (I had no idea what she was referring to, I thought she was going to try and weasel some chocolate milk out of me or something:) "Momma, i should have told you this when i was 3 0r 4." (granted she is only 5 now) I eagerly inquired. Her response was one of the most precious things I have ever heard. "Momma, I have loved you ALL my life. I have ALWAYS loved you. I loved you before I was born."

GodDess Gramamma's 80th Birthday

2008-11-16T08:44:00.000-08:00

So MY Gramamma is a gift to all! she is truly amazing. Easily the GoDdess of Grandmas. And how she is 80 is beyond me. She creates, gives, accomplishes and travels more than someone half her age. :)
Lots of family and friends traveled to her beautiful home in Meridian, ID to help her celebrate 8 decades. Oh i wish i could post the movie my bro Miko made of her Life- holy tears! wow! i'll have Miko work on that for ya.

Here are a few pics of mi GodDess Gma and the BFF- they refused to miss such an event. :) Please reference Suz's blog for more details on that weekend: Surprising Ebeccra & Ezra and the vicious blizzard we encountered on our drive back to UT.
www.susanmilne.blogspot.com

10-4 Good Buddy ~ Brigg Benson Parker ~

2008-11-02T11:02:00.000-08:00

So i have this AMAZING Sister April ("Meine Hermana"as I like to call her, we mix it up w/ German & Spanish)! She had her 4th Baby ~Brigg Benson Parker~ on Oct 4th. We were ALL there when he arrived: Trent, Emi, Chase, Kali, Mary, & Jamie Sue. April is as calm and cool as the... summers are long and hot down here! We are so GRATEFUL that Brigg is so healthy and handsome. But thats typical of April and Trent's kids, of course. :)

Symphony w/ Woods

2008-11-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

Erinela, Ryan, and I took the girls to the Mesa Symphony to give em a lil culture and combat our white trash ways. ; )

kids say the funniest things...

2008-09-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

this is random. but its cute.:)
Mary has been overly protective of her "baby pinkie toes." she absolutely refuses to let me trim them and informs me to just wait until she is asleep to clip her toe nails.
so i finally asked her why she fusses so over her lil toes. she answered in her matter of fact way "Well, moms are just protective about their babies! I just dont want my babies to get hurt. I worry about 'em."

~Tonight she was "helping" me do my homework which translates into sitting on my lap and using every highlighter she can to decorate my papers. :) she is in the phase of writing lowercase letters. "Momma give me your hard words to write! I love hard stuff. I just want to LEARN!"
i'm so proud of her and hope her desire perseveres.

Oh to Aunt Tootie & the Cute Cutes!!

2008-09-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

My sis Jenni Toot has been living w/ us this summer. She just left this a.m. to go back up to BYU-I. I miss her somethun fierce! There is no like her on the planet. She is so beautifully and perfectly free. She has absolutely saved me this semester by taking care of Mary, doing all my grocery shopping, cleaning my room, etc! Mary and I were just discussing Toot's coolness. "Momma, Toot just kills me! She can do ANYTHING... except get out of a tree and her eye is her bathroom." (The "eye bathroom" is in reference to a favorite Jenni story) This is true. Jenni is more musically & physically talented than anyone I know. But she did get stuck in our backyard tree one day.

Note to self: If Toot gets a hold of your camera you get lots of brilliant "self photos."
She is quite the photographer. It is one of her many, many aspirations.

Toot even got the idea of doing a "Rat Calendar" of Parker's dashing pet rat ZoZo.

Jenni has become my clone this summer. Wearing my skirts, magic Jonny bracelets, and our new favorite nail color - BLACK!

Her 24th Birthday Party. My dad had the sweet idea of surprising her. But for the first time since I have known Toot she was EARLY and spoiled the surprise. So funny! :)

Miko is just bein funny..

We decided (well, the Mom didn't know, of course!) to match: pink & white for Renny & Cindy's wedding reception. I tell ya I cant get over how gorgeous the women in mi familia are! I'm just saying. Toot is my Mom. Lucky, lucky girl.

The mustache was Mary's idea. :)

Horseback riding w/ Aunt Tootie and our sweetest Dorothy.

After riding we went swimming in the TMNT pool. Toot, of course, was the only one to catch a full shot of "Tyler" jumping into the pool- we tried for like an hour and Toot got it in minutes!

Mary & I love to play in any fountain we can. We haven't gotten kicked out yet. :)

Aunt Tootie & Mary have enjoyed many "cricket hunts'"this summer. Its so funny! Mary names 'em and keeps 'em as pets. They are all girls, of course.

Mary's Latest "Love"

2008-09-06T07:10:00.001-07:00

Its seems that for a few weeks now Mary is just CrAZy about a handsome boy named Isaiah in her class. I'm surprised one boy has been her favorite for so long. :) So I ask her"What do you like about him?" She answers joyfully "Oh its definitely his smile!"

I have been sick w/ the gunk for a week. Mary has taken wonderful care of me. One day while I was trying to nap she came in and said "Momma I know you dont feel good but youre going to look Fantastic!"
After a short nap I woke up to find Mary holding a mirror. "Look Momma!" She had made me look "Fantastic" indeed. I had a dozen barretts and clips in my hair and plenty of "sparkle princess." She kills me! :)

Mother Earth vs. Jupiter

2008-08-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

I love "spooning" Mary everyday when she gets off the bus. Today was about Michael vs. the Rolley Polley. "Momma, I am never going to put a rolley polley on the ground again! Michael just smashed it! I know all about Mother Earth... But he must not. I think he is from Jupiter!"

There has been no mention of the "oh so handsome Brian." Cameron is her new boy-friend. Mary says he just holds her hand at circle when no one else is holding hands. "He is trying to be my BFF. He is so nice! I think I will start to BFF him back tomorrow." (BFF=Best Friend Forever)

She seems to be adjusting beautifully. I am so grateful she has an awesome teacher and is making friends.

Favorite Dad's 60th Birthday Bash!

2008-08-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

For my favorite Dad's 60th Birthday party we did a "Bubba/White Trash/Nascar" theme. It was a riot! We all took to it very naturally. My Dad is famous for shooting squirrels in his backyard (which, of course, is totally illegal:) They refuse to stay out of my mom's attic... He calls the space between two pine trees "The kill zone!" So we decorated his cake as such.

The following are pics of our "Trashy" fam. Josh's "wife beater" tank top actually said "I love Tony Stewart!" so funny!

Oh so someone gets the grand idea of recommending to the lil girls that it would be even "mo white trash" to take their shirts off too. My sweet lil cousin Kali just nods "no way!" Someone asks Mary "Do you want to take your shirt off?" Mary answers matter of factly "Of course i do!" Yeah! thats just great! ha ha! :)

One of my Dad's Birthday requests was a Mariachi Band.... I love my Dad! He is so funny to me!

Kutest Kindergartener

2008-08-07T21:12:00.000-07:00

Being the Mom of a Kindergartener shocks me! I just cant get over that my lil darling is so big! But Mary continues to reassure me that "Momma, you'll be fine! You're getting use to it! You'll acclimate soon!" ha!

Not so. My shock only digs deeper. :) Today is only day 2 of her "big girl school" career and she announces that she has a.... boyfriend! "Excuse me? What do you mean 'boyfriend'?" I ask. "Well you know how Toot gets dumped by guys? Yeah, like a boyfriend like that. But this one doesn't dump." Are you kidding me?! I struggle to hold back the laughter. She goes on to explain that his name is Brian and that he is "sooo handsome to me!"
Of course I want to know a lil bit more about Brian- "So what do you like about him? What do you know about him?"
Mary just knows that he has really cute blond hair that curls up at the bottom, he loves pizza, always wears a red shirt (yup, this is day 2!), and "we sit right next to eachother... really, really, really close to eachother!"

So it begins. :)

Truly tho, I am so proud of Mary. She has been such a brave, independent lil Kindergartener.
Going to school from 8-3 is quite an adjustment. When I picked her up after the first day she told me that she actually wanted to come home after lunch b/c it was too long. "I didnt tell my teacher tho, I just didnt want to complain." Wow, what a brave girl. She did ask "Do first graders go until it is dark outside? B/c gosh that was so long!"

Mary's First Day of Kindergarten

2008-08-07T18:46:00.000-07:00

Mary on the first day of school.

At the school

Mary posing the second day of school

Jenni taped Mary getting on the bus ... "Jenni style".

This is hilarious! So classic Toot! ha!