A month with my niece

It has been a busy summer in our little casa, which is why I've been MIA for awhile now.  Sorry!  We had the honor and privilege of having one of our nieces come stay with us for a month this summer!  Having always wanted to have a little sister, I was so excited for her to come so we could stay up late, braid each others hair, try out new make-up techniques, and gossip about boys!  OK, just kidding!  Although that is what I thought life with a little sister would be like.  In reality we:  watched a lot of movies, went out on the boat, went to the beach, went shopping, took a trip to the zoo, made a few visits to my mom's house, got sick, drove around on the golf cart, and she even shadowed me at the real estate office a few times.  We had a lot of fun, but I will admit, I spent a lot of time worrying that she was going to be bored.  After all, I am a working mom and wife, so I knew I couldn't devote all of my attention to her.  Luckily, she knows how to keep herself entertained (by texting)! 

These are a few things I learned by spending the month with my 13 year old niece:

1.  Teens text.  A LOT!
2.  Even though I think I'm pretty savvy about music for my age.....I am not.  She even let me listen to a song by one of my favorite bands that I didn't even know existed! 
3.  She knows way more about fixing her hair and make up than I did at her age.
4.  Teens have much better fashion sense now than when I was growing up.
5.  They eat a lot of pickles!
6.  They are more than happy to show you a cool dance move if you don't already know it.

Playing with Parker in a bounce house at the mall.

Swimming in Lake Texoma.

Tackling a pinterest project: fingernail polish with newspaper ink on top.

Our nails!

A trip to the amazing Warren Theatre.

Eager to watch Snow White and the Huntsman.

A trip to the zoo with more of her cousins!

Aunt and Niece.

Our only "family" shot before we said our good-byes.

Braylee, we had a great time with you this summer, and hope you had fun as well.  My only regret is not taking more pictures! (*TAQUITOS!*)  We love you!  (*Do you need anything from The Home Depot?*)  (*Sorry, inside jokes, I couldn't help myself!*)

30th Birthday Mourning

This past weekend I was so excited to attend one of my friends 30th birthday mournings.  Say what?  I kid you not...this was her invitation.

She obviously didn't feel the way I did when I turned 30!  Luckily, she decided to surround herself with friends to help her bring in the new decade of her life.  Remember the pinterest inspriation I had for her gift?  Here's my version of it!

This is about as crafty as I get!  Unfortunately if you picked it up by the handles it dumped over!

The party was a dinner held at the historic Skirvin Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City.  I had never been there before but it was gorgeous!  The hotel has been around since Oklahoma became a state and it under went an extensive renovation several years ago.





Back to the party.  Every one was instructed to wear black.  Here's a  pic of Greg and I before we left.

Picture Perfect!

I was so excited to see so many of my favorite friends!  Most of which I hadn't in a few years, when I took these pictures.

With the Birthday Girl!!

One of my BFF's (and Parker's God Mother!)  She lives in Wichita, KS and I don't get to see her very often :(

My Byng-a-lings!  They all went to school at Byng...but that was a looong time ago so I should really quit calling them that!

Photo Opp!

The whole group

It was a great evening full of food, laughter, catching-up, and photo taking.  I have to give an extra big THANK YOU shout out to my in-laws who let us stay with them and they baby-sat Parker so Greg and I could have a night out on the town.  It was the first time any one had ever put him to bed (his Great Aunt Jackie did one time, but that was at our house, so this was a little different).  He wasn't feeling too great that day, and considering those circumstances he did awesome (from what I'm told!)  It had been years since the majority of our "group" had gotten together and we are hoping to plan a get-together this summer.  I hope it happens!

Tons of Fun!

I would guess that is how Parker would have described this past Monday.  I was determined for my little boy to see Santa Claus, even though the closest mall is an hour away.  Luckily we needed a few items at Home Depot, so Greg was able to be persuaded to go on a day trip.  First, we had a delicious lunch at Cheddars.  We sat right under neath the cool big fan that seems to be the trademark at any of the Cheddars I've ever ate at.  Parker saw it and said, "Ohhhh!"  Our table also happened to be near a big fish tank.  Parker was fascinated by all the fish and was constantly leaning over in his high chair so he could see them. 

After our yummy lunch we headed over to Home Depot to get the few items we needed.  From there we were off to the mall!  I didn't have plans to do any shopping, I really just wanted Parker to see Santa and that was all.  We arrived at the Santa station a little after 1:00, only to find a sign that read, "Santa will be feeding the reindeer's from 1-2:30.  That didn't go over too well with Greg.  He instantly began naming off all the things he could be doing instead of walking around a mall.  I suggested that we just walk around and see what stores were in the mall to kill some time.  Sadly, there are not many stores in that mall at all, but we did come across one "store" that caught our interest. 

It was one of those kids arcade type places.  The bonus was that they had a huge room full of several different inflatable bounce houses (the kind I always hated when I was little).  Greg instantly turned into a kid again and said, "I don't mind killing some time in there.  Parker will have fun in the bounce houses."  We asked how much it cost to get in and were stoked when we found out that kids under 2 were half price, and adults got in for free.

Parker hadn't had a nap yet (and this is the kid I keep on a tight schedule, so being up at 1:30 with no nap is not normal for him!) so when we first placed him in a bounce house and Greg and I jumped up and down he looked at us like we were crazy.  That is, until Greg took him down a big inflatable slide!

Look at that smile!

From there, it was game on!  We ran, jumped, climbed, and went down lots of slides.  They had one of those big jungle gym type things that you see at Chuck-E-Cheese's.  Basically there is a lot of climbing and crawling to finally get to a big slide.  We did that several times.  Obviously I wouldn't let Parker do it be his self, so either Greg or I would be in the lead, then Parker would be in the middle, and the other adult would bring up the rear to help push Parker up if he needed a boost.



He loved climbing!  This is when he was getting tired and needed some help from daddy.

After climbing on the jungle gym for what seemed like hours (but in reality was only about 30 minutes) we went back to tackle the bounce houses again.  We found one with an itty bitty steep slide in it and Parker LOVED it!  Greg and I would take turns as to who would be at the bottom of the slide so we could each see his huge smile.  Once he would reach the bottom he was instantly signing "again" and we were more than happy to accommodate! 

Towards the end we showed him that not only could he slide in the bounce house, but that he could JUMP!  Parker has never tried to jump at home, but he did great in the bounce house!



Look at that grin!  PRICELESS!

We left shortly after so Parker could see Santa.  We were tired, happy, and agreed that it was by far the best $4.00 we've probably ever spent!  It's safe to say that we'll be going back.

By the time Parker got to sit on Santa's lap, he was one tired little boy. And rightfully so, since it was 3:30!

So tired he could barely keep his eyes open!

I actually expected him to cry when we sat him on Santa's lap since he was so tired.  The picture that I was given to take home with us has him looking at the camera, but he looks totally spaced out!  I'm OK with it, though!
 

                                                              MERRY CHRISTMAS!