2010

In 2010 we...

-Celebrated 8 birthdays

-Took 1 beach trip to Edisto

-Finished 1 year of teaching (Wes and Kait)

-Celebrated 3 wedding anniversaries

-Enjoyed 1 SC Blizzard (and another mini blizzard last weekend)

-Finished 1 year of college (Anna)

-Hosted 1 old friend, Bub, from Philadelphia

-Buried 2 dogs

-Took 1 camping trip

-Held 1st ever (and probably only) Parker Costume Party

-Ran 1 marathon (Wes & Sara)

-Took 2 trips to Africa (Dad, then Dad & Mom)

-Bought 1 house (Kent & Kait) 

-Worked on 1 family house 

-Put 1 house on the market

Are we missing anything?

In a Nutshell

You've seen our Christmas pictures, but this really captures....

The Joy of Christmas 

and the

The Peace of Christmas 

Road Trip

Christmas afternoon we made the trek to Gran (Dad's Mom) and Uncle Ron's house. Mom rented a minivan so we could take fun pictures like this one. Sure you can take these pictures in a regular car, but it's not as much fun. We never had the honor (Oh yes, honor) of owning a minivan. We drove these. And we longed for a minivan. 

 We met Toby, Gran's 6 month old poodle. 

 Aunt Martha showed her brother how to use The Droid.  

 Here we have Chuck (the Baby of the family!!), Aunt Martha, Uncle Ron (who looks a whole lot like Tom Coughlin, the Giants coach) and Gran. Uncle Mike (the oldest Parker) lives in California so we don't see him much (like, ever). 

So This is Christmas

We always have breakfast together after we open our gifts. Ma makes the best breakfast casserole EVER. She used to make it in a 9X13 dish, but this year the dish was smaller...what's up with that, Mom?? 

 K & K's 2nd Christmas together. 3 cheers for festive PJ's!! (Not Kent...lame)

 A mini homily/bible reading from the Pastor

 Ahhhhhhhh

 The kids

 Feel the love

Ma & Pa 

 Dad got Mom an African dress & camping hat. We can tell where his thoughts are these days... 

 Presents

 more presents 

 and more presents 

 the presents just keep coming 

 Let's take one more good look at the dress. It's one size fits all. 

 Mom got Dad a laptop! He took it right to his room and put in on his dresser for safe keeping. 

 The dress in action! Saaweeeet. 

Christmas Eve

Ben did the honors of carving the turkey for our Christmas Eve dinner. Mom invited our church friends, Jim & Charlotte. We ate and then sang some Christmas songs by the tree. It was precious. 

Patch has male bonding time with Grandpappy. 

Ma has cool glasses for the 12 days of Christmas, but when she bought them (or trash picked them? Not sure), there were only 11 days. So, the most people that we can have on Christmas Eve is 11 :) 

Christmas Christmas Christmas! 

No Joke

And you thought we were kidding... 

Eagles

We were ready for the Eagles game on Sunday, but it was postponed because of snow (Lame). Anna was decked out with her socks, pants, t-shirt, fleece and blanket. We're pulling it all out again tonight for the game. GO EAGLES. The plan is to cheer and eat Ma's (delish) sausage dip. 

Togetherness

We got together last Tuesday and decided it JUST WASN'T ENOUGH. So, we got together again on Wednesday. Note: the pictures are in random order... 

Here we have 4 on a couch. 

 We played a game after dinner and Anna learned that Bon Jovi and Bono are 2 different guys. Check out Dad's expression in this picture... yikes. Please note: Sara just came from work. She doesn't usually sport such a snazzy outfit. 

 Finished sugar cookies! YumO. 

 The first Suits fire. A fire and shorts... it's December in SC! 

 Anna iced cookies by herself. 

 Cookies in the making 

 Dad came to read his bible and show people clips of the Marshall Tucker Band. 

 Making cookies! Told ya these were in random order. 

Away in a Manger

We found our Baby Jesus on the tree skirt last night. It gives new meaning to the song "Away in a Manger"...

He usually sits in his nativity scene which is really a laundry scooper. Gotta love homemade ornaments! Thanks, Anna. We had a lovely Christmas & we hope you did as well. The pictures are scattered in 3 different cameras. They'll be posted soon! 

Pre-Christmas

You usually only see the finished product of a family picture. Like this one. Parker Christmas 2010. Everybody stand behind their date! 

What you don't see is the "Everybody get ready to take a picture" picture. Like this one. 

Robin's in town and she brought her famous candy and chocolate covered pretzels. Woot! 

Ma wears snazzy Christmas sweaters! 

 Wes roots for Carolina! 

Dad was on call and was around for only 1/2 of the Pre-Christmas Party. Hey, somebody's gotta fund the party. Thanks, Pops. 

They're off to Sara's side of the family! 

Shots

Here are some Christmas shots from around the house. Tonight we will enjoy a family gathering as we celebrate pre-Christmas with the Parker II's before they head to Sara's family.

 From top: Ben, Kent, Kait, Sara, Wes, Anna & Robin 

 Anna's one of the many chefs for the "snacky dinner" tonight. 

Chili for Chile

A group of men from our church are going to Chile in January for a missions trip. They're going to work with a family that we knew up in Philly (it's a small world). Today, after church, the men in our church had a Chili for Chile cook off. A bunch of the men made chili and there were 2 judges. Look at all those crockpots! Neither Dad, nor Kent won, but it was fun times and we got to sample a whole lotta chili. A love offering was taken up and the team gained about $1,800 for their trip. PTL. Here's Dad checking out the chili that Ma chose. And yes, Charles wears jeans and a Phillies hoodie to church. You gotta shake these churches up. Actually, some churches need to be shook up, but ours is already pretty shaken :) 

PS: The lady in the blue shirt doesn't normally wear sunglasses to Chili Cook Offs. She just had eye surgery.