Monday, July 30, 2012

Parker's 2nd Birthday Party

Parker's 2nd Birthday Party was over three months ago and I'm just now blogging about it...which is proof that the two's keep a working mom BUSY!  I showed my inspiration for his party on this post.  Here's how the party turned out:

Party favors!  The train shaped crayons were purchased at Red Elm Designs.

Snack Station.

Marshmellows AKA Choo Choo Smoke!

Choo Choo Fuel was delicious Almond Tea Punch.

The party favor bags.

His custom birthday shirt made by Great Stitch

The concrete was slightly damp, so my train tracks didn't last through the afternoon :(


Parker's train birthday cake made by my friends from Two Sweet Sisters

Playing with one of his favorite cousins, Hillarie.

Enjoying a piece of choo-choo smoke!


Present time!

He was going through a major train phase, and he loved this travel sized Thomas the Train!

Where's my cake?  I'm ready!




The wonder in his eyes speaks volumes!


Trying hard to blow out his birthday candles.


Enjoying his first bite!


Dig in, everyone!

Cake brings everyone together!

Hitching a ride from his friend, Braxton.

Outside play time at its finest!

Trying out his new toys.


These two cousins are crazy about each other!


Post Birthday Party Dinner:  He was beyond tired and wouldn't even eat!


Monday, June 18, 2012

Flip Flops!

One of Parker's favorite activities is to walk around in mommy or daddy's shoes.  Literally!  He especially loves walking in our flip flops.  I had asked him on multiple occasions if he wanted a pair of flip flops and he would always say yes.  While grocery shopping in Wal-Mart on Saturday I wandered over to the toddler shoe aisle with hopes of finding a pair of flip flops for Parker.  Either none of the sizes fit correctly or they were just plain ugly (as in neon green).  Luckily he didn't break down crying when we left the shoe aisle without a pair of flip flops in the shopping basket.

Yesterday we went to Old Navy because I just knew they would have a pair of flip flops that would fit him well.  I was right!  Parker was over the moon at the sight of the whole wall of flip flops!  After trying on the pair that fit, I asked him if he wanted to wear them or put his sandals back on. His response was a joyful, "yes!"  All day long he would proudly look down at his feet and exclaim, "flip flop"!

Last night, as soon as he got out of the bathtub, he was asking for his flip flops. I explained to him that he couldn't wear his flip flops because he had to put his jammies on, but I assured him that he could wear them when he woke up the next morning.

This morning when I heard him calling my name on the monitor, I went and rescued him from his crib.  I took him to my room and sat down on my bed with him and asked him if he wanted to lay down on mommy's bed.  He said no, which is rare.  He then proceeded to get down off of my lap and he went and sat on his alphabet train.  Thinking he was content, I went back into my bathroom to finish fixing my hair.  Next thing I knew I could hear Parker talking.  I poked my head into my room to see what he was doing (since his dad was still sound asleep!) but he was nowhere to be found.  I then realized that I was hearing him over the monitor that I still had in the bathroom.  He had gone into his room (which had the door shut, because his cousin was sound asleep on his bedroom floor) and as I approached his room, he came running out the door with two objects in his hands: his flip flops!  Apparently he remembered that he could wear them in the morning (the memory of a 2 year old never ceases to amaze me)!

He tried to immediately put them on, but I told him he had to take his jammies off, first.  He hesitated a second (this is usually a morning routine battle), said "OK", and immediately began taking his jammies off.  Once he was down to his (saggy) diaper he sat down and put his flip flops on.  I tried to help, but he stubbornly yelled, "I do it!" when I tried to lend a hand.  And, he did just that.  I would have taken a picture then and there, but then he began saying he wanted a shirt, and I was afraid if I took the time to search for my camera, the saggy diaper would be whipped off and I would have a large puddle of pee somewhere other than inside the toilet.

Off we went for Parker to go pee-pee in the potty wearing only his shirt and flip flops!  Shortly after I finished getting him dressed, I snapped this picture of him sporting his new flip flops.  Now I'm starting to think I should have bought more than one pair!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Oh, How Pinteresting...The Food Files




I'm still worried that in a few short days my blog may disappear to never-never land, but I figured I'd link up for Wednesday's blog party anyway!

One of my most despised house-hold tasks is to come up with a menu each week.  Luckily, pinterest has proved to be a wealth of inspiration and (most of the time) yummy recipes!  Here are pins of all the recipes I've tried and fallen in love with:
























To get any of these delicious recipe's just click on the picture!  You will need a pinterest account to do so.  Don't have a pinterest account?  Comment me your email addy and I'll send you an invite! 





'Til next time, Happy Pinning!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

I need blog help!!!

To my fellow bloggers:  I got an email saying I needed to switch over my legacy blogger account to a google account by May 31st, or my blog would be lost (or something like that).  I did the change, but it didn't swap over my blog.....My new "blog" has none of my old post, or the blogs I follow.  Has anyone else had to do this?

I tried looking for help but Google is not very helpful...Just wondering...I really don't want to loose all my old blog posts  :(

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The Big T-W-O!

I can't believe my sweet angel is TWO!  Where did the time go?  It seemed like the previous month really showed me how much he is learning and growing!  Almost anything I ask him to try to say, he will!  Which also means we have to be very careful about what we say, too.

One of the best highlights of the month was this little conversation we had on the couch:

Me:  Who's this?  (pointing to Greg)

Parker:  Dada

Me:  Who am I?  (pointing to myself)

Parker:  Mama

Me:  Who are you?  (pointing to Parker...obviously)

Parker:  Parker

Me & Greg:  *GASP*

Prior to that, I had never asked him what his name was, and I hadn't ever tried to get him to say it, either.  It was a pleasant surprise.  Now I can ask him, "What's your name?"  and he'll say, "Parker".  It's adorable.

Once he got his name down, I figured he better learn how old he was.  I didn't want to confuse him by teaching him "one", and then a week later telling him he was two.  Luckily, he learned quickly, and on his birthday if someone asked  him, "How old are you?"  He could say, "two".  Granted, that doesn't mean he answers every time!

Some fun things that happened this past month for him were:

He began potty training!

He went to the circus!

He saw a real live turtle for the first time!


The easter bunny visited him!

Money he found in an egg left by the Easter Bunny.


He got to play in the rain!




A neighbor gave him all kinds of "new" outside toys...we put this one up in storage because it's too big for him still, but I love this pic of him!



Parker is still sleeping really well!  He takes naps in the afternoon and at night he never fights me about going to bed.  Although he has never tried to climb out of his crib, I plan on converting it to his "toddler bed" in the very near future.  We'll see how things go once that happens!

He still has the combination of straight and curly hair, which is sometimes a little wild-man looking, but I love it!

At some point this past month, he began getting his back top molar in.

Parker's favorite things are:  bubbles, trains, running, playing outside, and chips!!  (Not too proud about the last one, but oh well!)

On his actual birthday we went up to Norman to stay at Parker's Nana and Papa's house.  We had his birthday party there the following day (post to come!).  We had a celebratory lunch at Braums on the way there, complete with Birthday Cake ice cream!  He was out cold for the entire journey there.



One interesting thing that happened shortly after our arrival was that we had to take shelter in my in-laws storm shelter.  A tornado touched down a mile away from the house, but luckily we were safe and no damage was done.  How many kids can say they got to turn two in a storm shelter?!

HAPPY SECOND BIRTHDAY, PARKER!  I love you more than you'll ever know.  There are days when I'm ready to tear my hair out, but then you can look at me with a huge grin and a loud laugh, and I'm reminded again of how precious you really are.  You are smart, sweet, energetic, and so fun to be around! 

I am TWO!  I am 26 pounds!




Thursday, April 12, 2012

My Past Three Weeks

Have involved the following:



He likes to place his stickers on top of each other!


 

I have been dreading potty training for the past two years.  Luckily, it's not as bad as I thought it would be.  Parker is no where near completely potty trained, but he totally has the concept down.  Unfortunately I think the "fun" has wore off and the past few weeks we've had more instances of him standing in front of the potty and peeing all over the floor instead of sitting down first(fun times).  He also doesn't usually let me know before he pees,  but we're working on it.  I still have him in diapers, but am about to switch him over to pull ups once we use the last diaper from the batch he's currently using.  It's a big milestone, and hopefully the process will be finished sooner rather than later!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Oh, How Pinteresting! Birthday Party Ideas!

I'm linking up for today's blog party!


Saturday is Parker's 2nd Birthday Party.  I have no idea how I would have planned his party without pinterest or etsy!  Here's my inspiration for his party:


Source: flickr.com via Felicia on Pinterest













Source: etsy.com via Felicia on Pinterest