pirates, pumpkins and football

I love fall...leaves turning, pumpkins, football, scarves and boots...seriously, what more could you ask for?  For some reason, this weekend finally felt like fall.  Despite being sick (again) all day Friday and most of the weekend (I'm blaming my last whiny post on not feeling well, ha), it was fabulous.  

I really hate being sick, but because I have had three friday nights in the last month where I have been completely out of commission, Brady and Parker have had some awesome quality time together.  Daddy usually treats P to Zac's, and they both get to eat their favorite dinner...cheeseburger and fries...lucky, lucky...I just love these two.

We also had a pirate-themed birthday party...Parker was pretty excited to wear his pirate costume until we realized that he had grown out of the shirt within the last month...oops!

Yep, that is my kid waving at the cameras.

Saturday night we had Matt, Mandy and their girls over for soup and pumpkin carving.  I think the highlight of Brady's weekend was getting to use our recently acquired Rotel and Ranch dressing (thanks mom) to make our favorite taco soup.  We can't buy Rotel here (I had to order it online for $5 a can...excluding shipping) so we haven't had it in a long, long time.   Brady ate it for three meals in a row...seriously.

So, I am a terrible parent and when the kids were ready to carve pumpkins at around 7:30 PM, all of the grown-ups looked at each other and suggested painting instead.  Mat was smart and told the kids they would last longer this way...thank goodness.  I love to carve pumpkins, but it seemed so late for such a big mess.  I should have taken pictures of all of the kids, but I completely forgot...shoot.

And we can't forget football...thank goodness we were able to record the game and get up first thing Sunday morning to watch it before church...what a great way to start a day!!  Great win Wildcats!

The Burning of the Guy

This weekend we attended Sparks in the Park.  It is Norfolk's yearly event to commemorate the failed attempt to burn down the House of Lords.  The people of England have been celebrating in some way or another (usually with fireworks) since November 5, 1605 when he was caught guarding explosives (he was later hung after being tortured to confess).  Sorry, I know this is kind of a weird topic, but it is nothing compared to what we experienced at the park this weekend.  You'll see what I mean as you go through the pictures...

"I so cited to watch fireworks!"

Brady loves my hat...ha.

My boys:)

Watching the fireworks.

Still just normal fireworks...

And the weirdness begins.  Those are paper skeletons and something
resembling a taradactile.  In front of them is a group of people carrying
torches and marching to some type of trumpet music.

This is hard to see, but it is a giant guy and the skeletons are now circling
around him.  The "Guy" is holding the scales of justice.

You can't tell, but this is when they light him on fire.  Ha, I am not kidding.
It was a huge bonfire, and I guess they've been doing this for a while.

Parker getting a little bored...

...finally, a ride!!  I wish I could have gotten the expression on his face.
He LOVED this!

The lighting on the trees looked amazing, but I am pretty sure this is not
the prettiest park during the day.

So ready to go home!!  

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!

Here's what happened since you last saw me!

A lot has happened in the last couple of months! It is amazing how fast babies grow and change! Here are a few of Parker's latest changes:

(Parker eating chocolate for the first time--he grabbed my cake when I wasn't looking!)


Talking, talking, talking--Parker has always been a little talker (I wonder where he gets that from...) but now he is saying all sorts of words: ball (his first word), dog, car, bye bye, hi, momma, dadda, yellow, no no, and his latest...Piper (this sounds a lot more like bi ba, but we know what he means). He is saying a lot in between those words, but we are still getting lost in translation! (This is Parker and Piper waiting for Daddy to come home...Parker's favorite word is dog!)

• He's using a toothbrush!-We started brushing Parker's tooth right after it first came in around 8 months, but now he has five teeth and loves to brush them every night!



• Walking!--Parker is officially a walker (tear). My baby is growing up right before my eyes!! He took his first steps at 11 months and nows prefers walking over crawling.




• Lifting up the toilet seat--I can't believe I am including this one, but it kind of has a huge impact on the way we operate. Before, I could let him play on the bathroom floor while I showered and not worry. No longer, he can now lift it up-touch the water-and then drop it down, usually on his hand. He has also started flushing! (This picture is not of him lifting the toilet seat, but instead is probably why he has so much fun in the bathroom!)

• No more bottles--At around 10 months, he stopped using bottles and now only using sippy cups. He have been practicing with big-boy cups sans lid, but we still have mastered that yet.




• He has learned to love football--I am not kidding...my son jumps up and down yelling, "football, football," anytime football comes on tv. Needless to say, he has gone to all of the home K-State games and loves them!(This is a picture of Parker and Daddy concentrating on the action on the field at a home K-State game.)

• And the big one...He turned ONE!!!--I can't believe it! My babycenter.com e-mails now say, your toddler this week...I have a toddler, holy cow! It has gone by so fast! He now faces forward in his carseat, drinks whole milk, and tests limits:). He had a big birthday bash, but I will post all of those pictures on a different post!