Oh, How Pinteresting!

Its been awhile, but I'm linking up again for Oh, How Pinteresting, Wednesday!  Yay!



I had these when we went to Colorado a few weeks ago (blog on that coming up soon!) and they were sooo yummy that I had to make them myself!  I made a batch on Sunday and yesterday we finished them off!  The hardest part is just un-wrapping all the hugs!  I also made mine with only one m&m because I figured that would make them less fattening.  ;)

Source: beckyhiggins.com via Felicia on Pinterest

We will begin remodeling our hall bathroom soon and I thought this was so cute!  However, my mom AND my husband were not impressed.  I guess their sense of humor is not as awesome as mine.  ;)

Source: nattynook.net via Felicia on Pinterest

I love finding stuff like this on pinterest!  So simple, yet purely genius!  *Note to self:  buy tic-tac's soon!*

Source: simplyfrugal.ca via Felicia on Pinterest

This would be such a fun activity for Parker, and then a fun game to play with afterwards!  The fact that it will cost next-to-nothing is a bonus!

Source: alittlelearningfortwo.blogspot.com via Felicia on Pinterest

I have such an obsession with jewelry made from spoons and forks!  Beautiful!

Source: wanelo.com via Felicia on Pinterest

Until next time, happy pinning!

Day Care!

Parker's first day of day care was yesterday.  And no, I didn't break down into a sobbing mess.  I actually didn't worry about him at all!  Mainly because I knew he would have a BLAST!  Parker is such a social butterfly and he loves kids!  The director of the day care was so impressed with how well he did when I picked him up.  She praised how much he talks and repeatedly said how smart he is.  Talk about a proud mommy moment!  She said that he loved the slides and every time they went into a new room, if there was a slide in it, he had to go down it.  This was no surprise to me and I am currently on the hunt to find a cheap used toddler slide on craigslist.  The only thing I was worried about was nap time.  Parker takes excellent naps, but he is always confined to his crib.  At day care the kids sleep on mats, so I didn't know how that would fly.  The director texted Greg last night and said the cutest thing was when Parker saw one of the workers patting one of the childs back, he got up and patted the other childs back.  How sweet is that!



Parker's first art project

In case you're wondering why the director was texting my husband, the answer to that is because they communicate by text fairly often.  Why?  Because this day care just opened it's doors to the public yesterday.  Prior to that, the owners hired Texoma Remodeling, LLC to do their remodel!  This was Greg's first commercial remodel with his business.  Here are some before and afters:



Before

After

 

Before:  Reception Area/Front Door

After:  Reception Area/Front Door

 

Before:  Reception Area

Before:  Reception Area

After:  Reception Area

After:  Reception Area (still needs trim around counter top)

Before:  Media Room

Before:  Media Room and a peek into the Pre-School Room

After:  Media Room (Hard to see, but there is new sheet rock/texture/paint/trim)

After:  Preschool Room

Greg and his helpers did a great job on this remodel!  The owners of the day care are so sweet and relieved that after 5 contractors accepted the job and were no-shows, Greg finally entered the picture.  They had a small chip on their shoulders after having been burned by so many other contractors, but eventually Greg won them over.  I'd say it was a job well done and I know they are already planning on hiring Texoma Remodeling, LLC to add an additional bathroom to the facility.

22 Months Old!

Parker turned 22 months old on Monday!  I've been so busy with work life, that I feel like I've really been slacking in the mommy department.  So, I'll basically post all the pictures I took of him since there aren't that many (bad mommy!)

After finding a stash of swim diapers under his crib, he repeatedly pulls them out and puts them on his head and proudly exclaims, "hat!"

Hard. Core. Playing.

Blueberry Bruises!

A tractor ride from one of our neighbors.  Parker loves him!

It's still too big for him....hopefully it fits next winter!

Dashing out the door with daddy; his favorite thing to do.

Another make-shift hat!

Discovering curly fries....and actually liking them!  (The child does NOT like potatoes.)

Taking his new booster seat for a test drive.

Sheer delight in terrifying our dog, Shady, whom Parker refers to as, "Bella!"



Daddy's Boots!

The main thing that sticks out in my mind about this past month was Parker's new found obsession:  The Carebears.  Oh my word.....his grams bought him a Carebears movie for Christmas and ever since I've put that in, he thinks he has to watch it multiple times per day.  The sad thing is, he will actually watch the whole thing (it's 82 minutes long!)  I'm afraid I may be turning my son into a TV addict.  *sigh*  If he asks for it and I say, "no", which I do A LOT, he has a complete melt down. 

On a more positive note, he is continuing to say new words, and has even begun saying two words together!  Mainly when he is telling someone bye-bye.  As in, "bye-bye daddy" or "bye-bye Bella".  Other words that I can think of that he has learned are:  bear (beh), soup (sou), and.....I know there are probably a ton more but my mind is drawing a blank.  One thing that I've noticed for  awhile now that I've never wrote about is that he pronounces all of his "c's" as a "d".  So, a cat is a dat, and a car is a dar. 

I'm still teaching him animals and what sounds they make.  He now knows that a frog says "ribbit".  I have a book for him that is an alphabet book with animals.  If we flip through the book and ask him to point to a specific animal, he knows the whole book!  Proud parent moment the day we realized that!

He has really got into talking on the phone.  Now if he actually talks to a real person on the phone he will say hello (lo) and bye-bye.  He will often use an every day object and pretend it's  a phone.  It's so cute!

He's learning how to jump!

We love him dearly and he is such a joy to be around!

I am 22 months old!  I weigh 26.6 pounds!

He's very independent and has recently decided he doesn't like "help" when he takes drinks.  I'm always nervous he's going to dump it in his lap!

Unexpected Blessings

I've been a little MIA in all things social networking related lately because things in our casa have been CRAZY!!!! 

A few weeks ago we received several answered prayers all within a matter of days.

1.  We sold our truck!  We had passively been trying to sell it on craigslist since August.  There was nothing wrong with it, but it was a diesel and very hard to work on (meaning even an oil change required a trip to the dealership) and since we already had another truck as well...why not sell?  Now that we are both self-employed and have been slowly plowing our way through our savings, this was a nice way to give us a little bit of a financial sigh of relief!

2.  Greg's business is rockin' and rollin'.  Have you ever heard the expression, "from your lips to Gods ears"?  Greg had literally just told me that he wished he had enough jobs lined up to keep him backed up for a month or two.  Within a few days time, he had a handful of different jobs!  To date, he has at least six jobs that I know of waiting for him to tackle.  Again, since we have jumped in head first in having jobs that don't guarantee a bi-weekly paycheck, it is a nice feeling.  Not to mention, he's pretty dang good at what he does!!!

3.  I got a kick-start in my career.  I think I mentioned in one other post that the real estate office I work at is quite small.  In fact, it's just me, my broker, and one other Realtor.  My broker called me at the beginning of January and informed me that the other Realtor was retiring....and that she was giving me all of her listings.  All 60 of them.  No, that wasn't a type-o!  Now, I'm not the type of girl who cries very easily, but this news literally brought me to tears.  I have gone from trying to break into a market where I don't know very many people, to a huge opportunity!  Granted, half of these listings are for individual lots, but the exposure of having my name plastered on signs is incredible!  In fact, I've already gained few new potential buyers.  I'm trying to market these properties better than the other Realtor (not to diss her, I'm just trying to do things differently), so I'm adding each one to websites like facebook, craigslist, and a few others.  It's extremely time consuming and I still haven't made a dent in my list.  I've also been spending a lot of time visiting each property to become familiar with them and am adding more directional arrows towards where the listings are located.  I've even been adding pin-wheels to all of my signs.  I think it makes them stick out and am curious if any other Realtors in the area begin to copy me!  They're metallic, so when the sun catches them they make the signs look like they're blinking!

Because of the reasons listed above, my house seems to be in a total disaster mode, I've already given up hope about not eating out more than 75 times in a year, and poor Parker is so sick of his car seat, I haven't bothered to spend time doing anything to my hair other than throw it up in a bun every morning (yay for spin pins!), but I am so thankful for all these blessings that the Lord has showered us with!

And, just so no one reading this wonders why I'm taking time to blog all of this...well, I hinted about this on facebook a long time ago, so I've been bursting to tell my news about my listings!  Once Parker is asleep I like to have "me" time...as in loosing myself in a TV show, book, or movie.  However, my beloved "Revenge" is on re-run tonight so I decided to blog!!

Now, I can't guarantee that Parker's next "month old" posting will be on time.....so don't hold your breath!

21 Months Old

This past month my little boy has become an imitating sponge!  We have noticed a BIG change in Parker developmentally these past few weeks.  It's quite amazing actually!  Here are some of the awesome things he's begun doing:

• He makes animal sounds for:  horse, cow, sheep, goat, cat, dog, pig, and duck.
• If you ask him what a train says he'll say, "Choo-Choo!"
• He began nodding his head yes.
• He imitates things that we do.  Sometimes we do silly stuff on purpose because we know he'll do it too!
• He now tries to repeat words back to us. 
• New words that I can think of are:  down (I don't really like that word though because he always says it when he wants out of his high chair or out of our grasp!), ready, fork (ork), spoon (ewn), elbow (belbow), that, plane (lane), bed (be), cow, horse (hor), turtle, room (roo), play (pay)
• He is trying to learn how to jump.  He's quite good at it on our bed!
• He began using his step stool at the bathroom sink.  He loves placing it in front of the vanity and then back in it's spot where it belongs when he's finished.
• He can put together a wooden puzzle with not much help.  Sometimes I'll have to say, "turn it around" and he does what I tell him.

It astounds me how much he really knows.  Sometimes I will ask him a question and he'll answer me or point at what I'm talking about.  I'm always shocked that he knows what I'm telling him.  Those of you who are seasoned mothers are probably laughing at me right about now!

This past month we also celebrated Christmas.  I wanted to post a blog about it, but time got away from me.  He totally grasped the concept of unwrapping a present and he had a blast with it.  One of his favorite gifts was a singing dancing snowman.  He loved pressing the button to make it dance and he would run around the room and dance along with it.  He also received a Little People Runway that he loves playing with.

Speaking of playing, he has very recently grasped the concept of being able to play in his room with his toys.  His Grams was here the past few days and I would constantly hear him tell her, "roo.  pay."  He desperately wanted her in his room playing with him!

He loves having simple tasks to perform.  I can say to him, "go put this in your room/mommy's room."  And he will!  He loves to help me load the washer as well and he likes it when I make my bed (mainly because he climbs up on it and falls onto the pillows).

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating, my little guy loves to DANCE!!!  He can shake his hips like you wouldn't believe!  I have it on video and hopefully I can upload a video on here soon.  It's a hoot!

Parker has always had the most amazing eyes.  When he was born they were a dark navy blue.  Eventually they turned to a shade of gray.  Now I'm fairly certain that they are actually GREEN!  They are really different than any eye color I've ever seen before.  They are beautiful!

He got his 4th hair cut.  And the hair dresser totally botched it.  It was so dark in the house (yup, you read that right) that I took him too that I didn't notice how crappy of a job it was until I was in some better light.  I know not to let her near his hair again.  At least in pictures it doesn't look bad!
I think I may have touched on this issue on my last post about Parker, but he has become quite the expert at throwing tantrums.  If he doesn't get his way he will let you know fast.  He bursts into tears and will hold his hands up and if I don't pick him up he doubles over at the waist and is down on the ground on all fours.  In a crazy way they're kind of cute.

To make up for all those tantrums, he does some pretty cute things.  For instance, he'll pick up a book and as he's flipping through the pages he says, "read, read, read, read".  I guess he's really "reading" his book!

I am 21 months old.  I weigh 25 pounds and am 31 1/2" tall!

Full of mischief!

A Great Blog Giveaway!

There's not much time left, but click here to enter an awesome blog giveaway!!!!  And, check my blog later for a post about Parker!

And the list keeps getting longer...

I was in such a hurry to post my 2012 goals that I forgot these few that have been weighing heavily on my mind.  To check out my other goals click here.

1. Write a will. I think Greg and I have learned the hard way that a will is a very important document for a parent to have. I think this would just be a responsible thing for us to do.
2. Open a Savings Account for Parker. Sometimes Parker receives money from various family members and I like to put it aside for him to use when he's older. It only makes sense to protect this money in a savings account.
3. Go to a concert. Greg and I love going to concerts but we haven't been to one in years. I'm hoping we can go to a concert that we will both mutually enjoy, and not my husbands beloved Jason Boland *gag*.
4. Begin working on my Brokers license. I really think that this is a goal that most Realtors hope to achieve. I would like to start doing my classes this year.
5. Become active in the community. I don't really know how I'm going to do this yet, but I keep having an urge to give back in some way. Plus, it will be a good way to meet people!
6. Learn CPR. Way back when we owned a home that came with a swimming pool I thought it would be in my best interest to learn how to do CPR. But, I procrastinated and never learned. I also have this weird theory that all parents should know how to do CPR. Am I one of those parents myself? No. Which means I'm a pretty big hypocrite. I don't necessarily care about being "certified", just as long as I would know how to do it in case of an emergency.