The Parry Family Blog

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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 ...

A few months ago the Parry Family hit up the "The California Academy of Sciences in SF" for a day of sight seeing... it was overcast but a gorgeous day in the city. Its always hard travelling with kids and nap schedules. We tried our best to get the boys in the car right before naps so they could sleep during the hour car ride there... well that was a great idea but I ruined it. Aunti Jo had sent the boys a "Tom and Jerry DVD box set". We hadn't watched it yet so we loaded it into the car DVD player and hit the road. I did not know that LJ would laugh HYSTERICALLY (i am not joking) for an hour straight. I mean, I was like, Neil he's gonna barf he's laughing so much. I kept looking back and seeing him crack up. So when we got to the museum he was already tired, grouchy and he had burnt his energy during the car ride laughing his a** off. He even got a bad case of the hiccups from laughing so hard. It was adorable I have to admit but the whole time my momm...

The other day I thought I'd use my free car wash at the gas station and make an event of it with the boys. I was fired up and got a movie on for the boys (bambi) and pulled into the car wash and LJ was thrilled.... he was thrilled until the car wash started. Neither of the boys were happy about my particular CAR WASH outing idea. In fast, as you can see in the video...Kian was pissed while his older (much braver) brother just froze with his hand covering his mouth. This took place during the entire car wash. I was cracking up and after we were done, I pulled out of the car wash and believe it or not LJ yells AGAIN! I love my boys.

My dear dear dear boy Kianoosh is 9 months TODAY!! The past 9 months have been incredible. I've enjoyed each and every moment with my 2nd born and we cannot imagine our life and our family without him. He is the sweetest, kindest and most gentle boy. He loves to smile, giggle and cuddle and as of March 27, he loves to crawl!! I want to cry my eyes out right now because I'm so sad that the time of his infancy is flying by however at the same time I am so excited to see what lies ahead. Kianoosh has really completed our lives and he is the perfect boy! Kianoosh, I LOVE YOU! Happy 9 month birthday babycakes! Here's to millions of more months of excitement, happiness, joy and success. ....and sorry for the shots you are about to get at the doctor's office today. Its for your own good and you'll thank me later :)

As we enter our 3rd week of life and living in Sacramento, here's a clip of the boys and I driving around town running errands and getting ourselves familiar with our new surroundings... Its about 5pm and we had just gotten a call from Neil (aka Daddy) and he was HOME! The boys, hungry and missing daddy, were both ready to get back home. Its been a fast paced few weeks here. I haven't had much time to sit and dwell on the fact that I'm so far from everyone I know. Mostly because life with 2 boys is non-stop. Either you get on the train or you get run over :) we've been on a bullet train and its going high speed full throttle... why am I using so many train analogies??!! Well it could be that I live, eat and breath trains with LJ and his passion for trains. On Sunday we actually entered into another level of train heaven and visited the TRAIN MUSEUM . This is not a hokey pokey train museum, its the REAL DEAL. No people, I'm serious. They've got this place create...

All of this rain is NUTS!! who though we'd be having to dear with storm upon storm in late March! What happened to Spring? Did mother nature not get the MEMO??!!! I'm going nuts here. The wind is so bad in our yard that our heat lamp and BBQ pit are getting blown around and knocked down. My home office overlooks our yard (2 windows) and its as if I'm sitting in my car and driving through a car wash. The rain is hitting the windows so hard because of the wind! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!!! I feel we are just moments from a power outage so I better type fast and get this post LIVE! Anyways, stay safe in this monstrosity and let's all hope next week brings lots of sunshine. Ciao

Our family is moved in and almost fully unpacked... things are going lovely in our new home and I am slowly beginning to realize that I am not in san jose...especially when I step outside and get into my car and the first thing I do is enter an address into the NAVIGATION because I HAVE no idea where to go. This is my first *real* time moving to a city completely new to me. I have no idea where anything is and I basically lived in San Jose for 85% of my life. I like to think of new chapters of my life beginning when a big change (good or bad) happens in my life... one that has an impact large enough to be an entirely new chapter. So this chapter is called "THE BIG MOVE" :) As a family, Neil and I had prepared fully for this move. We knew that our goal was to have him coach at the collegiate level and in having that goal, our lives were going to be impacted in many ways, some good... some not so good. Moving is very bittersweet for me. I love new places, new opportunities and ...

Here is a quick little clip of the Parry Brothers hanging out at the park, chillaxing on the grass. Kian 7.5 months / Leonidus 28 months i <3 these cutie pies!

been packing since thursday... today was the garage. boy was that rough. box after box after box. I typically like to throw things away and Neil... god bless his memory lane trips, he's a keeper type of person. typical convo for us this weekend 'babe whats this' -neil: oh that's my t-shirt from stanislaus state championship in 1996 'ok i'm going to throw it away, i can see through the t-shirt' -neil: NO WAY! i'm keeping that for the boys! we also had a bit of fun leaving things on the curb and marking it "FREE"... it was interested seeing how much random (useless) stuff people picked up!!! I started getting addicted to the game and would just look for crap to put on the curb and wait and see who'd come get it. I left an old mac computer monitor outside and this hoodlum looking guy comes by, pulls his car in front of the stuff and then grabs the monitor and takes off like he was stealing it. I'm like, UH HELLO!!! its free you idiot! i h...

THE MOVE... The Parry's are moving. Neil recently got a job coaching football at UC Davis so we are moving to Natomas (West Sacramento Area) in support of Neil's coaching career. Its bitter sweet because the bay area is all I know and I seriously love LOVE LOVE it here. I love the weather, I love the people, I love being around my family and my lifelong friends and I especially love being in the center of California with access to snow and the beach with a short drive. With that said, I do welcome change in my life with a positive outlook. As long as we make the right decision for our kids, I know we can accomplish anything. I hear a lot of good things about UC Davis and the Davis area in general so I'm looking forward to doing some sightseeing and getting to know the west sacramento/davis area. I've never lived away from my family and I talk to my mom and dad and aunts and uncles several times a week if not everyday. My life revolves around family here so moving to...