The Parry Family Blog

Having your kids on a schedule means that you get screwed on weekends. My boys typically nap between the hours of 12-2pm. Sometimes more or less... A few Saturday's ago I invited my dad often referred to in my posts as Pappajoon and his gf Nicole to join us for a day of soccer and an airshow. On Saturday mornings, Leonidus has soccer in a cute gym in Davis. Coach Steve is INCREDIBLE with kids. He moved LJ up into the 3.5-4.5 year old class because of his size (and he was a tidbit aggressive for his age group). Leave it to my son... sigh :) Pappajoon met us at soccer and LJ was PUMPED to see he had an entire fan section watching from the glass viewing room above. He would run and look up.. not paying attention to what he was doing but just continuously checking to make sure WE were all WATCHING him! bahahaa... After soccer (which ended around 10:30am) the sacramento area heat was already heading towards the 90's. I dread the heat here. I actually hate it. Oh well.. We got ...

I am in need of a whole lotta shopping and while some of it can be done ONLINE, some of it (i.e. Clothes shopping) I prefer to do in person. With work, NEIL never ever being here and my boys, I have no time at all. You think I'm kidding? No. ZERO time. I have a list that's growing and can't address any of it. Boy do I wish I was granted a 2 hour trip to the mall followed by a mani/pedi. That sounds grand right now :) On another note, I am having a glorious labor day weekend with my boys. My mom and aunt came to visit from the bay area and we spend Saturday and most of Sunday together doing all kinds of fun stuff around town. I really enjoyed having them here and I especially love my QUALITY time with the boys. I swear, every day is more and more hilarious and fun with my munchkins. I miss those infant years but hanging out, joking with them and getting lots of bear hugs and kisses is MY FAVE! I am sad that Neil is missing a lot of stuff due to football. He seriously sees us...

Well the Parry boys have been up to a lot this summer. Unfortunately while I continue my quest in researching which camera I should by, I have some random (very random) iphone pics I took the past couple of days and figured I'd post them. I have a bunch of pics of my canon rebel but I can't get them downloaded bc my camera is so jacked up. If anyone in blog land is reading this and just bought a camera they love, comment me :) geo trax... the new cool toy future musician... most def Kian my lil walker! LJ playing :)

AS of last week, Mommy's car was the only car that had the boys car seats in it. Kian (14 month old) and LJ (2.5 year old) were each riding in a Britax Marathon CS. Since we needed to have another car seat for LJ (Daddy takes LJ to preschool in the mornings) we had to buy a new car seat so that we wouldn't have to constantly juggle and shuffle car seats in and out of cars. Its not hard but its NOT EASY AND can make you break a sweat and have to be in all kinds of awkward positions. OK. so it basically sucks having to move around car seats. It was time to go shopping. ONLINE SHOPPING THAT IS! We decided we would get LJ a booster car seat. His weight and height are well above his age so he fit the requirements. We finally chose one. Why am I saying we? ME. Daddy did not help in the research department. Which is fine by me. I love making decisions :) I spent 3 days doing research. Safety, Price, Durability...Basically I read so many REVIEWS that I was dreaming about car seats....

Being a working mom and wife of a football coach who's working 15-18 hour days, a lot of the daily chores become very difficult when you don't have both parents around. Especially in the evenings when dinner, dishes, baths and cleanup come into play. After 2 weeks of having to learn how to juggle two boys and the evening routine, I think I'm finally at a point where I'm comfortable and got a relatively good flow going. Watch I probably just jinxed the crap out of myself for tonight but oh well. When boys get hungry, its no joke. If I don't have dinner ready by 5-5:30pm, all hell breaks loose in the Parry House. I have two crazy boys screaming and the screaming makes momma tense and nervous and a clutz. To avoid making nasty meals due to the time crunch (and yes I have had to throw some meals away because they were yucky) I have tried to plan evening meals with more organization and planning. Boy I am learning a lot about cooking as a mom, its totally different t...

Last week the UC Davis Aggie football coaching staff and players held a clinic for all the women who follow aggies football, moms of the football players, wives/girlfriends of the coaches and anyone else who wanted to pay to attend! The festivities had 2 awesome things: We got to play football and we got to play football WHILE drinking unlimited quantities of wine and beer. A group of us girls (coaches wives) got together for the event. Below is a short 3 minute clip from the event. My girl Valerie and I made the cut and although I get schooled by her, its still pretty funny. Check it out: http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/allaccess/?media=258993 Overall I was drunk for most of the event but I honestly had SO SO SO much fun playing football. I loved hitting and jumping and doing a touchdown dance. What I found to be hard was wearing the helmet and trying to throw the ball. THAT WAS SO FREAKING HARD. Guess I have a whole new respect or players and helmets! haha... Enjoy the pics belo...

My posts are sporatic and today's post is well overdue. So whats new with the parry clan. Well lots of exciting stuff going on... First the most exciting news: Kian is walking! My little moosh moosh is chuggin along all over the house, making it known that he's now a fully functioning WALKER! He gets frustrated when I try to push him to sitting position and he gets so excited sometimes he stumbles (and cries). I'm not sure how Leonidus feels about his little brothers new found ability. He has mixed emotions. Sometimes I see him excited and say "LOOK KIAN IS WALKING" and other times I catch him pushing him (or trying to get him to crawl). I guess its natural to feel confused but I find my boys interactions to be oh so fascinating (and sometimes frustrating). In other news I am still trying to learn how to cope and emphasize with a growing, active and opinionated 2.5 year old toddler. Leonidus is a fun-loving toddler boy most of the time. I absolutely LOVE this ...

Back in the good ole days, our families schedule allowed us a nice wake up call... usually around 7-8:30am. But lately, with the many changes upon us with Neil in the heart of football, myself and my new job/schedule and LJ starting preschool come fall, our sleep has been significantly impacted For the past 2 weeks, we have been waking up around 6am...average I'd say 6:30am. With this new time, our days seem like FOREVER. Honestly its amazing how much more you can get done when you wake up that early! I am liking it but I am getting SO sleepy by the time 10pm rolls around. I could barely keep my eyes open during big brother lastnight!! haha... my favorite show! Today LJ woke up at 4:30am and he did not want to go back to bed. He wanted noodles and meatballs by 9am (theoretically this would be his lunch) and was in bed by 11:30am for his nap (normally between 12:30-1pm). Kian was very similar but since he's 1, he slept in until 7am which was nice. On average my kids sleep...

For original article, click here . 2010 Record: (6-5, 3-1) 2010 Postseason: none Coach: Bob Biggs (136-71-1, 136-71-1 overall) Returning Leaders: Rushing: Nick Aprile, FB, 389 yards Passing: Randy Wright, QB, 2,432 yards Receiving: Anthony Soto, WR, 344 yards Tackles: Jordan Glass, LB, 66 Sacks: Byron Gruendl, LB, 2.5 Interceptions: Byron Gruendl, LB, 2; Jonathan Perkins, CB, 2 There should be some pretty high expectations at UC Davis after the Aggies fought through a tough schedule in 2010 and ended up with a winning record. Eight starters return on each side of the ball and Coach Bob Biggs is looking to make UC Davis’ last year in the Great West a memorable one. The Aggies, along with fellow current Great West members Cal Poly, Southern Utah and North Dakota, will all move to the Big Sky in 2012. Strengths: There are plenty of talented players on both sides of the ball, but it is the offense that garners the most excitement. Quarterback Randy Wright had a great fres...

Last night the UCDavis football team hosted "Senior BBQ" at Coach Bigg's house. The event was small, just coaches, football staff, senior players and all of the wives/girlfriends. The event was "no kids" so finding a babysitter where we know very few people proved to be difficult. One of the coaches knew a trusted babysitter and so myself and two other coaches wives/mom's left their kids with this sitter. I was super nervous because not only had I not left the kids with "your typical teen babysitter" but my boys both had diarrhea for the past 3+ days. After changing my 20th diaper of the day, I was a bit looking forward to 1-2 hours of adult time. I just prayed that they wouldn't have too many blowouts during their time with the sitter. Since double days are in full swing all the coaches were going straight from the practice facility to the BBQ. The backyard get together was nice and coach's yard was gorgeous. It was so nice finally mee...

I was never one to nap but today... I heart naps. Why? Well both Kian and Leonidus slept for 3 hours. Its hard to predict and prepare yourself for days like this. I had plans to go to a 4:30 class at the gym but the boys got up around 3:45... by the time i fed them a snack which is a must before we go to the gym and got them dressed, it would be too late. So now, I am allowing them snack time and then we will be OFF to the gym for some kidsclub for the kids and some cardio and weights for mommy! Speaking of working out, I am loving my new membership at California Family fitness. The gym is really cool. They have an awesome KidsClub with a mini basketball court and playground for kids and activities all the time. The people that work there are SOOOO nice and make me feel better when I leave my boys there (and Kian is screaming crying for me). I recently spoke to one of my friends who's a personal trainer and a badass body builder. She gave me some tips on losing weight and build...

After getting our new playroom area setup for the boys the past week, we decided to move the small TV in the playroom. This TV is not connected to cable (on purpose) and has a DVD player and XBOX. While we are planning to buy the kinect for our XBOX, as soon as we assembled the XBOB to the TV, Leonidus and his daddy have been playing TIGER WOODS GOLF. The kinect offers more wii-like games so I am thinking once we buy it, that'll serve more fun and useful for the kids. For now, we think tiger woods golf is filling his little heart with lots of joy :) As most of you know our son Leonidus (2.5 years old) is obsessed with golf. He became a fan at the ripe age of 15 months old, swinging his toy clubs all around the house. Since sacramento is so HOT, we can't take LJ to the local driving range until well past his bedtime. Neil does take him but now that he's going to start college football, there won't be anytime. I researched age and video games all over... There's ...

As most of our closest friends and family know, we had to move to sacramento about 5 months ago because Neil got a coaching gig at UC Davis. Our time in sacramento, while the duration is unknown, is beginning to wear on me. Yes the cost of living is MUCH cheaper. But that's pretty much the ONLY benefit to here when compared to living in the AWESOME AMAZING bay area. I was just down in Los Gatos visiting my dad with the boys. We spent the day at vesona (this was our usual stop almost every other day when we lived down in the bay), we rode the train, got ice cream, walked around downtown LG... all of this in the middle of summer in perfect 85 degree weather. In sacramento, on the same day, it was a BLAZING 95+ degrees and with 2 small kids, there is BARELY anything to do here. I swear if you were to ask me to list things to do in the bay area with 2 small boys, the list would be at least 10-20 items long. living here, SHOOOOOOT, I can hardly make the list 5 points long. With th...

In August, my hubby and I will mark our 10 year anniversary of dating. We just celebrated our 3 year anniversary on July 22 in Cabo San Lucas. We had a great time and spent the day golfing together, one of our most favorite things to do together. Like all college sweethearts, we had our share of ups and downs but my life changed when I met him and I cannot imagine being with anyone else! He is my best friend, my biggest motivator and the absolute love of my life. He's given me two of the sweetest boys and I am so freaking pumped about our future together. One thing that I still feel like we have unfinished is that we never had a wedding. After we got engaged, I had a 20 stack pile of wedding magazines, excel spreadsheets with wedding plans and a wedding folder but all things stopped when we found out that I was BLESSED with Leonidus in my belly. We decided that having our baby was top priority and felt that financially it was best to put a hold on the wedding plans. We are alw...

I have been the owner of the Canon Rebel since 2005. I bought the camera because I LOVE taking pictures and I wanted to have a camera with a fast enough shutter speed so we can take good pictures during Josh (Neil's Brother) NFL football games. At the time he was playing for the Philadelphia Eagles and then went onto play his last season with the Seattle Seahawks. Since 2005, camera's have COME A LOOOOOONG WAY!!!!! My measly 8MegaPixel camera is ancient. The pictures do not come out as clear and sharp as I'd like and its unmotivating me to want to take more pictures. I recently splurged on an Sony HD Video Camera back in 2009. Its been great to take film of my boys growing up but sharing video is not as easy and uploading/editing it takes forever. I also just have a better attraction to my camera. With that said, I need help. If you have a camera that you love, please message me privatly or in the comment field and let me know the make, the model and why you love it. ...

We are finalizing our preschool paperwork and our son Leonidus will be attending school this Fall for his first time. He is attending a school that we were waitlisted on for MONTHS so being accepted is a huge deal here in the parry home. The school is nestled in the city of Davis and has a very unique feel to it. The education is playbased and the school teaches everything in both spanish and english. Their goal is to have the kids completely fluent in both languages. At home, we are teaching our boys farsi so having 3 languages under their belt will only help them in their future. I am a firm believer that the spanish language is a MUST for kids. I am surprised that all schools, both private and public, don't teach both of them in the lesson plan. Its just mind boggling to me. Leonidus will be turning 3 soon and will be attending school full time. I had a hard time figuring out the best balance between school, our jobs and giving the best to our kids. In the end, I realized that...

One of my hobbies since highschool has been selling stuff on eBay... I have had the same account since 1996 and have been selling random stuff online using eBay since. Being such a fan of the company, I attended eBay live in Las Vegas in 2005 and 2006. I seriously love everything about eBay and NOW, well as of August 8, I will be their newest Research and Development Project Manager! Woot Woot. That's right. I accepted my offer and will be starting as an eBay employee and I'm ecstatic about the new opportunity and my next phase in my career. There have been 5 companies I've always kept in my radar over the past few years and this has been one of them so you can imagine that I'm pumped about it. I have worked so hard since 2000 building my career and this move is an exciting one for my family and I. Let the new chapter begin!!!

Kian my littlest mooshie recently had his 1 year checkup. We took him down to our FAVORITE pediatrician in san jose Almaden Pediatrics. The family and I packed up the car and drove from sacramento to san jose early friday for our visit. We met with Dr. Michelle since Dr. Pete was out on Friday. Kian is healthy as can be. What more can we as parents ask for right? His measurements were as follows: Height: 32.5 inches (95%tile) Weight: 23.5 (50-75%tile) Head Circumference: 47.5 (75%tile) Both of our boys measure similarly in their milestone checkups. In fact, I would say they are close to identical! Crazy huh? It looks like they are going to be taller than their mom (5'1) since they are already half my size and they aren't even out of their toddler stage! I blame my shortness on gymnastics. DAMN YOU NADIA! As for other fun and exciting things Kian is now doing.. he has become quiet the chatter box. He can say MOM, DAD, BALL and make train, car and airplane noises! Its freaking s...

On July 9, 2011 we celebrated the 1 year birthday party of our beautiful Mooshie Kian. Our boy blessed us on July 6, 2010 at 9:56am and our lives changed for the better ever since. He has been the most wonderful addition to our family and he has the most kind and gentle (and loving) soul! He is truly a joy to be around and his brother LJ and him have grown so close! We love his contagious smile, his spirit for life and most of all his kisses! We celebrated Kian's 1st birthday at Pappajoons House in los gatos. My dad's house overlooks the gorgeous Vesona lake and the weather for the party was JUST RIGHT. No I'm serious you could not ask for better conditions! Pappajoon took the boys to the train on Saturday morning while Neil and I setup for the party. I had the tables, bounce house and chairs delivered early in the morning and the food was going to be ready for pickup around 2pm. The day was planned meticulously so everything was moving along as planned. We picked up the ...