2012 Thanksgiving Weekend

I always intend to blog about our holidays and never seem to find the time to do so!  I figure it's too late to blog about Halloween, so instead I'll share about our Thanksgiving whirlwind of events!

1.  Wednesday:  We drove up to Yukon late Wednesday afternoon to Greg's aunt's house.  We had time to visit and hang out with family which was fabulous.  Parker entertained everyone with his rock-star glasses (I forgot to take a picture and he broke them yesterday.  Boo!) and guitar.

2.  Thursday:  We enjoyed a fabulous Thanksgiving lunch with our family.  Everything was delicious, but my mouth keeps watering for some more of grandmother's cornbread stuffing that she added bacon too.  Yummy! 


Greg and cousins Harper and Ashley

Me and my cousin Halsey

Parker cracking up his cousins Hillarie and Harper

After Parker's nap we drove to Norman so we could spend a few days at Greg's mom and step-dad's house.  That night after I put Parker down I decided to brave the Black Friday craziness!  The plan was to meet up with some girlfriends, but that didn't last long as we were all in the search of good bargains.  I started out at Target and got the first three Twilight movies for $4 a piece!  Yay!  From there I went to Wal-Mart where I had a lot of success!  I bought the entire Harry Potter DVD collection for a little over $20!  Yay!  I also bought a wii for $95 and a new TV stand for our living room for $87!  Yay!  After I left Wal-Mart I ventured over to Best Buy and braved the cold and the wind standing in line for an hour.  I should have got there sooner because the TV we wanted to buy was already sold out (I walked in the door at 12:15 and the doors opened at 12:00.  They were only letting 50 people in at a time).  Boo!  The guy had a TV that was an inch smaller that he said he would sell to me for $250, but I figured Greg would gripe so I said no.  We were wanting to buy a 40" for $187.  To console myself I bought The Lorax DVD for $4.  We recently rented it for family movie night and Parker loved it so I didn't feel as pissy when I left.  I think I climbed into bed that night morning at 1:30.

3.  Friday:  After we got up and around, Greg, Parker and myself headed to the mall.  I needed some new foundation at MAC, I had to get my wedding ring inspected (and cleaned!) to maintain my warranty, and I wanted to find Parker a pair of Christmas pajama's for his Christmas Eve present.  I got a pair and a sweatshirt for him at The Children's Place for $12!  Yay!  We had a nice lunch at El Chico and then left the mall.  It actually wasn't as packed as the stores were the night before.  From there we braved Toys R Us, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart.  Wal-Mart turned into a major score because Greg has been dying to buy a bike with training wheels for Parker.  We got the last one in his size for $29.  Yay!  Parker was with us and rode it all the way to the check out stand and the whole time he kept saying, "Daddy, I want to take this home".  Poor Greg was ready to give it to him right then and there (and he still says he doesn't want to wait until Christmas), but I told Parker that we were just picking it up as a favor for another little boy's parents. 

From there we went to Best Buy.  Greg told me I was crazy for passing up the TV offer the guy made me the night before.  I was obviously getting sleep deprived because I didn't even think about just buying it and returning it if Greg didn't like it.  Luckily, the same employee who told me about it the night before was still working and they had three left!  There was a sign on them that said $299, so they adjusted it at the register for us.  We are now up with the times with a flat screen TV in our living room!  Yay!  (Is it just me, or are there a lot of "yay's" in this post?)  From there we want back to my in-laws house to relax for about an hour before we met some friends for dinner at Red Lobster.  That night after Parker was already in bed, Greg and I left to go watch the final Twilight movie at the theatre!  It was great and I'm so glad that Greg was such a trooper during the entire Twilight series of movies!

Saturday:  I'm not sure if any one has noticed, but I added some new items to my Bucket List recently.  On Saturday, I had the pleasure of marking another item off of that list!  We went to the OU football game!  And not just any game, it was the Bedlam Game!  I know a lot of my family on the East coast may be reading this and wonder what all the excitement is.  Well, Oklahoma doesn't have a pro football team.  Instead, our state either roots for the University of Oklahoma (OU) or Oklahoma State University (OSU).  Bedlam game is OU vs. OSU.  So, it's a pretty big deal!  One of my best friends from high school has 4 season tickets and they invited Greg and I to join them.  We were thrilled!  It was a great game that ended with an OT Sooner win!  BOOMER SOONER!

 

After the game, Greg was anxious to drive the two hours back home.  He is in the middle of fifty million different projects at our house (OK, more like six or seven, but they are all big under takings!) and was ready to go home so he could knock some of the projects off his list on Sunday.  We got home tired and exhausted around 10:30 that night, but were happy to be home with all of our goodies!

Sunday:  I went grocery shopping, cooked lunch and dinner, and tried to complete all of the un-packing (I failed).  Greg and I both put together our new TV stand and then he installed our new TV, along with hooking up our surround sound and the new wii.  All I can say is I was even more excited than usual to watch Revenge and 666 Park Ave that night!

I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

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!*)

He made the list!

The "nice" list, that is!

At least, that's according to Parker's sweet niece, Zoe, which means it must be true!

19 Months Old!

Parker is officially 19 months old! And I'm pretty impressed with myself that I'm getting this post written on the actual day he turns 19 months! Sadly I realized that I forgot to take a picture of him today (Opps!) but oh well, I'll try to take one tomorrow and add it then. And, I just realized I forgot to meausre and weigh him. I'll add that to tomorrow's list as well! I'm sure he won't change that much in a day! The eighteenth month was pretty fun for Parker. I started working full days at the office twice a week, which means Greg watches him those days. I can tell that Parker really loves those special days when he has his daddy's full attention. He is such a daddy's boy!

I wrote in my 18 month old post that I did the CIO method to get him to sleep through the night. A few days after writting that post I decided I also needed to let him CIO before he went to bed. I'm so glad I did! Prior to that I would spend at least thirty mintues leaned over his crib, patting his back until he fell asleep. The first night I laid him in bed and left the room he cried for maybe five minutes. The following night it was about 30 seconds. He continued with the 30 second cry for the next few nights, until one night he just magically didn't cry when I left the room. Horray!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I was pretty pumped about this little feat! The down side is that I really have no idea when he wakes up in the morning. Since he figured out I don't run into his room anymore when he cries, I think he lays awake until he absolutely can't stand it and then he wimpers. There have been numerous times that I would go into his room around 7 and peek at him, only to have him pop up and start talking to me. Other times I'll hear him rolling around and I know that he's up. He got to spend lots of time with family again this past month (another bonus for moving back to Oklahoma!) His grams came and watched him a few days while Greg and I were both working. Then, we went to Norman and stayed at his Papa and Nana's for a long weekend. While we were there his grandma (technically his great grandma C), granny (his great grandma L), and grams (my mom) came to visit him as well.

While we were there he got to go trick or treating for the first time! He was a little handyman! I was so excited about the outfit that I created for him: a shirt I ordered from cafepress and a toolbelt from etsy. Sadly, Greg made fun of the toolbelt, saying it looked more like a waitress apron. And, I have to admit, he's right. Oh well! The best picture I have of him is with him wearing this witch hat. I did have a construction hat for him to wear, but it was too big and he kept taking it off. He had a blast and loved hanging out with his cousins!

I don't know if I've mentioned this in other blogs, but Parker loves to dance! It all started with a toy guitar that he has that he will "play" and he dances to it. I love it and hope he continues to love dancing! His favorite dance is when Greg imitates the music to Michael Jacksons "Smooth Criminal". Parker LOVES other kids. If he's around his cousin Zoe, or his friend Braxton, he is constantly going up to them and hugging them. Granted, both kids are older than Parker and after awhile they get tired of it. It's still pretty adorable to witness.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I took him to a pumpkin patch. It was a fun outing for my cute little toddler.

He now has a new favorite food: bananas. Anytime I open the pantry he immediately points to the bananas (even if we're out he points at where they are normally kept) and says, "nana". He also has a new found love of ICE. One habit my husband has that drives me bonkers is that he loves to chew ice. I'm afraid I may have a son who has inherited that habit as well. This is what Parker usually does when he completes a meal.

He calls it a hat. Silly boy! Parker still loves dogs. One really exciting event that has happened in our house is that we finally have our dog, Shady, back! Our awesome granny was dog-sitting her for the last six months, since the cabin we were staying in in Texas didn't allow pets. We brought her home two weeks ago and Parker is over the moon to have a dog to "play" with. I use the word play lightly because Shady is old and doesn't play. However, if she's inside, I can often find Parker snuggled up next to her on her pillow. His new favorite game is to chase her around the kitchen island with his popper toy while I'm making dinner. Hopefully I can catch that on video soon. Prior to bringing Shady home there was a neighborhood dog that continually made an appearance in our front yard. Her name was Billa, which is a name that Parker quickly learned. According to Parker, Shady's name is also Billa.

Other words that Parker began saying this past month were: banana (sounds like Nana, and it's funny to watch him say it because his tongue gets in the way), luckily that made it easy to teach him the word Nana (Greg's mom), and he also began saying PaPa while we were at their house. He also began saying "mower". In case you're wondering why he says mower it's because before we got a golf cart (a required item in a lake community!) Greg would give him rides on the riding lawn mower. He also says ice (eye) and boot (boo). I'm sure there are several other words but they are escaping me at the moment. Parker loves books! In fact, the other day I spied him in his room doing this:

He had received the boots in the above picture at Christmas last year. They are finally the size that he can wear so I put them on him for the first time last week. It was a struggle to get them on him, but I finally got his feet in. I was kind of apprehensive about putting them on him because I am in no way a cowgirl, but they are sooo cute on him! While I was at work that day, Greg had to put them back on him after his nap. He taught Parker to push (complete with a loud grunt) and it makes it so much easier to put them on. In fact he thinks it's a game and begins signing "again" after we put the first boot on! Parker has finally perfected the kiss. He will randomly come up to me or Greg making a loud "mmmmm" sound and his little mouth will be puckered up. What's cute is when he knows one of us is leaving the house, he will pucker up and expect a kiss (and rightfully so!) before we walk out of the door. Stay tuned; I'll post a pic of him soon! *side note-I just began using Bloggers new settings and for some reason it didn't save my paragraphs...sorry! And, if anyone can tell me how to fix it I'd love to know! Here is my 19 month and 1 day old little boy! He weighed 23.3 pounds!

Family Pictures

Last month I got to do something with my husband that we've never done before. We took family pictures!!! For those of you who are on our Christmas card list (probably the only people who actually read this blog!) I know that you have been receiving photo cards from us for the last few years. I can assure you that none of those photos have been taken by a professional photographer. This really was a first! I had been planning our outfits for months! (Yes, I am such a girl). You see, when I knew we were going to be remodeling our (beach) house I wanted to have accents of aqua, turquoise, green, and orange. I also knew that whenever we took our family pictures, they had to be taken on the beach, and those colors had to be incorporated! I am determined to have a "traditional" family photo hanging on the wall behind our couch, so the colors in our clothing had to match our decor. Making sense now?

I know I've mentioned my friend Misty on this blog before, but she recently began doing photography (and I'm jealous...it's always been a hobby I would love to get into as well). Lucky for me I got the best friend discount, but I assure anyone reading this who may live in South East Oklahoma, she is a great photographer and her rates are very reasonable! Be sure to check her out and like her on facebook here. (And tell her I sent you!)

These pictures were taken at Lake Texoma, just a short walk away from my house (jealous?) Sadly the lake is closed right now due to blue green algae in the lake from lack of rain. The upside is that meant we had a deserted beach! Thank you, blue green algae!

With that being said, here are a few (OK, more than a few) of my favorite pictures: