~~~Parkinson's Pleasures~~~

For those who don't know, Santa left a note on our Christmas tree (in December) saying he had another present, but it didn't fit in his sleigh, he would have to bring it later.

Well on Friday the 16th, we found a mysterious note on our door...who was it from..Santa of course. He left us a note telling us what needed to happen before he could bring that one last gift. We (the kids) had to:

• Clean their room
• Keep their toys cleaned up
• Take apart their beds
• Have fun at the Primary Activity the next day
• Do 5 jumping jacks
• Obey Mom and Dad
• Leave him a special treat

Kind of strange list...but we obeyed: Saturday after the Primary activity, we had to "run a few errands." Luckily, the kids all fell asleep in the van on our way to hang out at Target and get lunch (that took about 1 1/2 hours). Then we had to go in the store and get lunch (an hour---they had really cool straws so the kids just kept drinking.) Then we had to walk around and make sure we saw everything we could in the store (another 1 1/2 hours). Pretty soon we found out that Dad "was on his way home" so we thought we'd head home too. (For those wondering, yes the kids were still in their pj's---from the activity.) We got home and decided to make sure we had the whole list done. We took the beds apart the night before, all the toys were cleaned up, they obeyed and had fun...they just had to make a special treat. Sterling had been saving his last red vitamin for Santa for 3 months...he was very excited to add that his treat bag. After hair cuts and baths, the kids realized their treat bags were missing. We set off to find them...and lo and behold we found: So they are done. We are super excited about them. A few things:

• They are solid black walnut
• The 4 stairs have drawers in them
• There are 3 drawers underneath the full bed (bottom bunk)
• We will probably put shelves in the space under the stairs, but for now it's just open
• There are adjustable shelves in the headboards
• There are trapdoors in the headboards too...why have wasted space beneath the headboard.
• They even came with removable labels so the kids know which drawers which cloths go in.
• We will put caps on the tops of the posts, but we had to wait until we got our new tool to do that...more to come on that later. Ü (if this smile could get any bigger...it would be!)
• And most importantly....they are completely reversible. The underneath drawers can go on the other side, and the opening to climb from the stairs to the top bunk can be switched around.

How do you make something like this you might ask...a lot of cutting, sanding, and lacquering, with a lot of nails, sandpaper, and leftover sawdust...a little extra patience was helpful too. Here is the poem Santa left with the beds. We had so much writing it, we wish we knew someone who illustrated and would help us make it into a book (any takers...we'll pay you.) There are a lot of hints about how the progress of the beds are going and the time that had passed. See if you can pick up on any of them.

We had the perfect gift

Planned for you last year

But as we went to load the sleigh

We had to say “oh dear!”

Your gift was just too big

To fit inside the sleigh

We knew deep inside our hearts

We had to find another way

We made a plan to get the gift to you

as quickly as could be

And hitch a trailer behind my sleigh

Oh what a sight to see.

The Reindeer pulled and strained and stressed

And gave it all they had

But realized they couldn’t do it alone;

Oh they felt so bad.

So, we all joined in and hoped our strength

Would give the needed nudge

But try as we might that sight of ours

Just would not even budge.

We called a special meeting

of all the Legendary Figures we could find

And talked through the ideas

That popped into their mind.

“The Cold North Wind” said Mother Nature,

“could drop right down there.”

But we thought your Christmas gift

Need extra special care.

The Easter Bunny wanted to

hide its parts in Eggs ‘round town.

But that idea was quickly stopped

and unanimously shot down.

Cupids wild idea was filled with hearts

and flowers and chocolates too

but we had no idea how it would work

to get your gift to you.

The Leprechauns tried to play a trick

to keep it for themselves.

But their plan was foiled by our

quick and witty elves

We continued thinking and

We thought we had been beat.

But the reindeer soon devised a plan

Which was a welcomed treat.

They figured they could find some help

At the annual Reindeer Games

So they set a big booth inside

And took down all the names.

They held all sorts of tryouts

To find the strongest in the bunch;

Then they got right down to business

As they rehearsed their plan o'er lunch.

We all came back together

And hooked all the reindeer to the sleigh

And with the added strength they found

They were able to make it on their way.

We headed straight to you house

Thinking everything was grand

But our delay in coming,

made for warmer weather than we planned.

So, we headed back to the North pole

To trade our runners for some wheels

And quickly fixed up all their squeaks

And all their little squeals.

And once again we headed out

To your home today.

And everything was going good

We hoped it’d stay that way.

Your lights were off, the doors were locked

Our timing was just right

We got your gift unloaded

and went to work with all our might.

We finally got it placed,

In the best and most perfect way.

And decided to leave this special story

of how it got to you today.

We hope you had a Merry Christmas

And will forgive us our delay.

We hope you will enjoy your gift

on this beautiful April Day.

From: Santa and his 8 flying Reindeer.

With the help of their friends

Speedy, Tuff, Little Toot and Moe.

We hope you enjoyed our adventure as much as we did...sorry it's so long...at least I learned how to do collages so I didn't have to add every single picture on here. Ü (Thanks Crystal!)

Just to let everyone know we will be taking our blog private...not sure when I'll actually get around to it (technically could be months down the road with everything I want to do right now)...but just as a heads up. Make sure to give us your address...you can leave it as a comment (will get it removed as soon as possible) or you can email it to us too (snsparkinson@hotmail.com, snsparkinson@gmail.com) We'd love to be added to your blog as well. Hope you're all having a great day!

We're happy to welcome all 9 lbs and 21 inches of the newest member of our family. Heston Jonathan was born Sunday the 7th at 10:10 pm. He wasn't in a big hurry to make an appearance (1 week late and mom was in labor for 17 hours), but he finally gave in. First bath: First Birthday (Zero B-day party):We're very excited to have him in our home and the other kids absolutely love him. Every day they are a little more excited about him. They are starting to want to hold him and kiss him and tickle his feet when he falls asleep eating (this is a regular occurrence---he will hate being tickled as he gets older.) Proud big brother: Proud big sister:He hates getting dressed, getting his diaper changed and getting baths (even with warm water and a heater going nearby). He gets possessive about his food and "eyes" anyone who gets to close or makes to much noise while he's eating (imagine the look on a hungry dog that just got a bone to chew on--and doesn't want any other dog to take it.) Super long fingernails at birth: He's a good eater and sleeper...now we just need to get them at the right time of the day. 6 hour naps in the afternoon are great if mom wants to get a shower and spend time with the other kids, but not if she wants to sleep that night.We'll get some "awake" pictures soon. No, we didn't name him after Charleton Heston or Hesston Farm equipment, but his name does have reference to farming. We have tried to name our kids something significant in our and their lives...with both of us coming from farming families, it seemed fitting to name one of our kids something to do with it...(Heston means farm or homestead). His middle name, Jonathan, is after Spence's good friend growing up who passed away nearly 10 year ago. His name (Jonathan) was actually after the best friend of David (David and Goliath). We'll post some more pictures later, but thought we would let everyone know about and see our new bundle of joy.