Thanksgiving Recap

Ok, so I am super, super, super late with these posts. I thought about not posting at all, but in reality, I post for myself and to have a online record of milestone's in Parker's life. I just feel so blessed that I have such an amazing little family with an incredible extended family.

This past Thanksgiving we visited Brady's family in Mankato and my family went to Dallas to see my brother. I was reminded of how fun it is to see Parker grow up and inherit traits of different family members. I love that he thinks before he speaks like his daddy (for all of you wondering...yes, I am aware that I do not always do that:), and has the beginnings of a sense of humor like GDawg and Uncle Landon. I hope that he inherits his grammy Deb's and grandpa Marvin's work ethic and his gram gram Kim's heart. He will also hopefully get Uncle Cortney and Uncle Landon's smarts (ok, and maybe know how to have fun like they do, but not too much fun:). I can't wait to watch him grow into a little person! I am so blessed and pray every day that we can make a positive impact on the person he becomes!

This is a picture taken right before Thanksgiving of Parker's new high chair. Papa George and GG refinished George's high chair from when he was a baby...how neat!

All of us at the farm!

At the K-State/North Texas game in Dallas.

Happy Halloween!

What is the only day of the year that you can dress like an idiot and not feel like an idiot...Halloween! I love dressing up! For four years, Brady and I, and most of our friends, had the privilege of dressing in random costumes and outfits for a number of date parties...how I miss those days! I have decided that I am now going to use Halloween, and my desire to be a fun parent, as my excuse to dress up with Parker. From now on, we are going to have a yearly family theme--do you think he will still let me do this when he is in middle school?

My first idea was to go as the Wizard of Oz. I was going to be Dorothy, Brady the Scarecrow, Parker the Lion, and Piper Toto. Well, because I do not have time to make a costume--eh, ok, so maybe I don't have the talent either-- I went on a hunt for a Dorothy costume. That is when I discovered that the only Dorothy costumes under $40 are slutty. I don't understand the need for women to use Halloween as an excuse to dress slutty--sorry, sorry, that is an entirely different topic. Because of this, and the fact that I had waited until the last minute, I had to find something that was fast and easy. So.....we went as bananas and Parker was our monkey! I waited so long that I had to buy a kids costume for myself, but it worked out pretty well!


Brady is such a good sport!

No more pictures, mom!

Parker and my friend, Andrea's son, Cayman. So cute!

At my friend, Erika's halloween party!

We had such a fun Halloween and next year, I know I need to start thinking of ideas in September!

Parker's Birthday!

Our little bug is ONE (ok, you caught me, now he is 13 months, but lets pretend I posted these sooner)! For Parker's birthday, we knew we had to include either football or golf in the theme. He is his father's child and those are his two favorite things. Golf won! He carries his little putter all over the house and says, "ga cub" which we take to mean, golf club. Plus, I was pretty excited to use a play on words with a "hole-in-ONE" party!

Here is his invitation...
Because this was a golf party, I couldn't resist using tee flags everywhere (including with his initials on the front porch).

Here is his sand trap...:) And his cake, and golf ball cookies...I wanted Parker to wear his little golf outfit, but it was colder than I expected. Here, he is playing with golf clubs out of the party favor sets!I bought Parker a little smash cake for him to dive into--and he did. I decided to buy chocolate because if I like chocolate cake, Parker will too, right? Wrong, he does not like chocolate cake! He did like the frosting though!Sooo, right before it was time to blow out the candles, I lost the "1" candle. We had to use a votive (it was all I had). I later discovered the birthday candle in the refrigerator. Let's just call it "mommy brain."Pretty good...eh?Want some?

Yes, I am that parent that left my child in only his diaper for the rest of the day...what can I say? Plus, he looked so much more comfortable to open presents.

This chair was one of his first gifts and he loved it so much he decided to stay there to open the rest!


If you haven't already guessed, Parker loves balls. He had to show everyone his new baseballs grammy gave him!


And yes, I am raising a ham. I wonder where he gets that from? :)



We spent a good portion of the day saying "no no" everytime Parker got near the party favors for the kids--as you can see from the earlier picture, we are still working on no.

It was a wonderful day and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who came and helped us celebrate! Parker has brought more joy to Brady and I in the last year than we ever could have imagined! Happy Birthday Baby Bug!