A Bounding We Will Go!

 “DisneyBounding is a way to express your love for Disney through fashion. It uses clothes to recreate the outfits of your favorite Disney characters without being costume-y. You could go to school or the mall in a DisneyBound and not get pegged for being in costume.” - Leslie Kay.

(although in the parks it does lean heavily towards costume-y, but not all the way because costumes for adults are not permitted).

Here are a few of our favorites - enjoy when you need a brain break!

The Enchanted Tiki Room & It's a Small World ride

Sleeping Beauty Fairies

Merryweather, Maleficent, Fauna, and Flora

Dapper Dans Barbershop Quartet

Star Wars Fun

Encanto - The Family Madrigal

Newest Parker In The Works

Welcome to a first peek of the newest Parker-to-Be. Look for his or her arrival in September.

Hello!

View from the Other Side

Beware the Dementions

Now that I have more time, combined with a desire to keep my editing pencil sharp, I find myself proofreading my environment. Starting with this post from ebay classifieds:

Tile Top Table and Chairs

I'm sure dementions appear with great frequency over at You Suck At Craiglist.

This made me smile almost as much as an advertisement for a nearby fleamarket, scheduled to open soon:

Fleamarket!

New and trendy merchandise!

Inports and Exports!

(Because of course if you're going to have "Ex" ports, you've got to have "In" ports. Or is that "Out" ports and "In" ports? Not sure).

'Night

Corbin and the Cot

Corbin is getting ready to transition from his Infant classroom to Toddler at "school". To transition he needs to 1. Sleep in a cot 2. Drink from a non-sippy cup (no lid). No luck on the non-sippy cup ("No! Put lid on! Put lid on NOW!), but he's doing well with the cot. Here's a note from his teacher:

Just wanted to drop a little note about Corbin. We tried a cot for the first time today! He did great. I was sitting next to him, patting his back for a few minutes before he fell asleep. We talked for a little bit before he fell asleep; Corbin said "Elizabeth's cot," and "Ana on cot." I took a few pictures too.

The first one, he is just looking at me saying "picture, Corbin's picture."

Just before the second picture, I said, "Corbin, try to go to sleep," so he closed his eyes really tight and smiled!

'Night

Play That Funky Music

From Daddy's car ride to work......

On the way to school, I had sports talk radio on.

Corbin - "Liten Mudit".

Me - "What's that buddy"?

Corbin - "Liten Mudit".

Me - Ohhh....Listen to music. (Check station - commercial, Check station - commercial, Check station - commercial)

Corbin - "Turn it off".

Me - Don't worry, we'll find some music.

Corbin - "Turn it off!"

Me - Here you go - (switch to CD out of exasperation).

Corbin - "MUSIC!" (happy)

'Night

Adventures in Snow

Ready to Go!

What a beautiful snow we had on Friday - deep, brilliant and perfect for making snowpeople. So nice to come home on Friday evening to this wonderful surprise from our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. S.

Hi Corbin

It was also perfect snow for sledding...

Wheeeeeee

Dusk

Hope you are enjoying the weather in your corner of the world.

'Night

I LOVE Skyline

Christmas Morning

Santa's Been Here!

Wonder

Helping Mommy

Post-Opening

Daddy's New Hats

'Night

Cookies Cookies Cookies

Poinsettia Rich Rolls

Each year, Gramma, Aunt D. and I get together for a cookie baking marathon. This year was my sister's year to host, so Gramma and Mommy headed north to Cleveland with Corbin riding along.

Sprinkles!

Just One...Please?

We all had a great time - playing with the train under the tree, acting as audience to J. and K.'s disco boogeying, and making 50+ dozen cookies. Corbin had an extra special treat too, playing with all of Aunt D.'s "little people" toys. Some even made it into the trunk for the trip home!

Little People

Next year, we're at Gramma's - but no more 48-hour baking marathons. Debra made us sign an affidavit swearing we would each commit to pre-baking so we could have one day in the kitchen and one having non-cookie fun!

Little Reindeer

I've Been Good, Santa Claus

Please Bring a Pony!

Every year, the good elves in our neighborhood put up a mailbox for letters to Santa. It was so special this year that Corbin was able to drop the letter in the box himself - even though he needed a little help writing it!

Then, a few weeks later, Santa Claus dropped by! Although we had talked about Santa for weeks, when Corbin saw him at the door he did not want to visit AT ALL. No sitting on Santa's lap, no smiling, no hellos - until the candy cane came out. Even then, Corbin just gave a little grin.

Shortly after Santa went onto the next house, Lee ran out to pick up dinner. Upon returning, he ran the doorbell. Immediately, Corbin shouted out "Santa Closet" and ran excitedly to the door, only to be disappointed. From then on, well into January, Santa Closet came up frequently in conversation especially when the subject was presents!

Santa Closet Visits Corbin

See you next year, Santa Closet!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Continuing our horsey-themed holiday adventures, Gramma, Daddy, Mommy and Corbin headed out to the Log Cabin Tree Farm to cut down our Christmas tree. But first we had a yummy German lunch at the Clay House in Somerset Ohio.

We like the Log Cabin Tree Farm because, after enjoying free hot apple cider, everyone piles onto an open flat wagon pulled by draft horses - Percherons this year - and is dropped off at the tree type of their choice.

More Really Big Horses

It was very very cold and Corbin's boots were a little big, so he relaxed while Gramma and Mommy scoped the perfect tree and Daddy sawed it down.

I Love Nature!

Heading Back to the Cabin

It took us a bit of time (10 days) to get the tree up with lights. Corbin was a big help this year decorating. He called every ornament "reindeers" and asked every day after the tree went up if he could put more "reindeers" on the tree - with Daddy and Mommy's help of course!

Decorating the Tree

Welcoming Christmas in Lebanon

Lebanon Christmas Parade

The Parkers kicked off the Christmas holiday season by heading down to Lebanon, Ohio for our traditional visit to the annual horse-drawn Christmas parade. The most exciting aspect for Mommy and Daddy? It was Corbin's first! It was mighty cold and a long walk from the car (we almost missed the 1 p.m. parade) but my, it was fun to watch the wonder on Corbin's face as each carriage passed - variously pulled by draft horses, mules, donkeys, gaited horses and miniature horses.

Corbin Catches Sight of First Carriage



Aunt Panda's Favorite

We took in all our favorites - the Paso Fino gaited horse demo, shopping at Broadway Antique Mall and Oh Susanna! and dining at the Village Ice Cream Parlor. Corbin had fun toddling up and down Broadway and spent 15-plus minutes popping into and out of this sale sign.

Thinking about it....

I'm Hiding!

Surprise!

We also took advantage of the free wagon ride - can't believe we hadn't done that before - and Corbin wasn't sure what to make of the VERY big draft horses.

Hello?!

We decided to leave before the evening parade, but lost our car! After 40 minutes of wandering through the cold and darkened streets of Lebanon, with tears from both Corbin and Mommy, we were hungry and popped into Bob Evans for a late night dinner.

While waiting for a table, we got confirmation from our waitress about a story we had been hearing all day. There was a deadly barn fire early that morning at the Lebanon Raceway, a harness racing track. Two groomers and 43 horses perished. My heart hurt as we drove out of town. On a day that celebrates the horse and people who love horses it was a sad counterpoint.

Thanksgiving Weekend in the Heartland

Ohio Amish County

It seems so long ago now - coming off of eight weeks of rotating viral infections, Corbin's transition to daycare, Christmas celebrations and two big snows - but Lee, Corbin and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We celebrated with PopPop's family and enjoyed catching up with his sister and her family.

Then, for the weekend, we headed north to Amish country to meet my sister and our niece and nephew. I had never been to Amish country, but with her usual attention to detail and eye for adventure, my sister planned a fun and packed day.

The drive up through Chillicothe was beautiful - crisp (a little cold) and blue skies as a backdrop to the fall colors. The view as we traveled over the rolling hills and through the winding country roads reminded me of the reasons I love Ohio. And how exciting to crest a little hill and come upon our first Amish buggy right in front of us!

After a hearty if chaotic (three hungry kids) lunch and some antique browsing, we headed to Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center. The highlight of the center is Behalt Cyclorama - a indoor 265 foot mural in the round. It was moderately well-executed if a bit melodramatic. WARNING: Not for faint of heart or the very young! The mural tells the story of the Anabaptist people who were persecuted for centuries for their beliefs. As such, the moral contains many and various images of church leaders being martyred. The tour guide spoke for about an hour and described said images in detail. Corbin, of course, is precociously verbal and has giant ears. At about the mid-point of the tour, while the tour guide was commenting that the beheading image she had paused on was just a singular example intended to represent the countless acts of violence perpetrated on the Anabaptists Corbin enthusiastically called out "Violence!!!". So - you are warned.

Next we toured the other featured stops at the Heritage Center.

The schoolhouse, where reading primers used stories about learning to drive carriages to teach grammar and spelling -

Yes Ma'am!

- then the barn and the Conestoga Wagon (invented by an Amish pioneer - who knew!).

Outside the Barn

Next we headed to Lehman's , a giant general store full of old-fashioned goodies. Just the wooden toys and the clothesline supplies sent my heart atwitter! It makes my top three list for funky, rambling, unique but giant shopping adventures, right up there withJungle Jim's and Powell's Books.

Shopping at Lehman's


Little Amish Guy

Next, more yummy comfort food and a quick trip up to Victorian House in Millersburg, Ohio. It was one of the best architectural restorations I've toured - all done by historical society volunteers and even including the basement. Unfortunately, as the house had gone through several hands, very little of the furniture is original but each room contained different antique treasures from throughout Millersburg and many rooms were splendidly decorated for the holidays with too many Christmas trees to count. If you are a fan of historic homes definitely put this one on your list. At a minimum, take the virtual tour on their website.

We left the Millersburg under cover of darkness, with Corbin asleep in the backseat, footy pjs and all.

'Night