Trains,Cars and Planes

I may officially be the worst blogger ever!  Life has just been crazy!

This year for Parks 2nd birthday we did a Trains, Cars and Planes theme, because these three things are his favorite three things!

It was a wonderful day with family and friends celebrating our little guy and he had an absolute blast!!

Here are a few photos of his party!!!

 he loved the bounce house!  he jumped from around 9am to 9pm, he was very unhappy when they came to pick it up!

As soon as the "Happy Birthday" song began he hid his face and started crying!  Once we were done he dove into his cupcake...this was a first!

2 years

On Saturday, December 1st our sweet baby boy turned two years old.

I am still completely unsure how two years has flown by so quickly, but it has and it has been by far the best two years of my life!

Parker,

I still feel like it was just yesterday that I saw your beautiful face for the very first time.  I was in love at the first sound of your heart beating, but the moment I heard your sweet cry and saw your beautiful face it was over, my heart belonged to you

You have the most amazing little personality.  We have seen it shine through since you were so tiny and today it remains the same!  So laid back, calm and kind (like your daddy), although you for sure have your moments where you become tempermental and want things your way (that may be from me!).  I love your sweet smile and how loving you are to those around you!

It seems like just yesterday that I was carrying you everywhere and feeding you your first bites of food.  You have grown to be so independent and trusting, which makes me so proud and so scared all at the same time.

You entertain your daddy and I all day long (as well as anyone else around)!  You have the best little sense of humor!  Always trying to get others to laugh and always laughing at yourself!  Your laughter is my favorite sound!!

I love watching you learn and grow, everyday you do something new and you always seem to amaze me.

Although you are two, you are still my baby boy and I love you more than you will ever know!!  These have by far been the best two years of my life and my heart has never been so full!!

I love you sweet boy!

End tables + Annie Sloan Chalk Paint = LOVE

So I had heard about Annie Sloan chalk paint through some DIY/home blogs.

I always loved the end results I saw, but always figured that it had to be harder than they made it look.

 

That is until Brandi over at Borchard Birdies started posting on Instagram and her Blog about all of her projects with the Annie Sloan paint and she swore it was really that easy to use!!

You can see her projects here.  She did her bathroom cabinets, kitchen island and a couple other little projects in her home.

 

My Grandmother has recently given me some old Ethan Allen end tables that had been sitting in her garage.  I loved the tables, how sturdy they were, the quality and of course that they were hers.  But I was not in love with the maple color.

 

So of course I instantly think project.  Maple tables need to meet chalk paint!

 

I ventured out to a little shop close by that happens to sell the paint, picked my color and by the next day I had two brand new (to me) end tables!!

 

Believe me, the pictures do not do them justice.

 

This chalk paint allows you to do as little or as much distressing as you choose, but I chose to go a little more subtle in that area for these tables.

No priming or sanding, just paint and wax!

 

 

Pumpkin Patch vol. 2

My parents came in town a couple weekends ago and we actually had some fall weather here in TX, so we decided to make another visit to the pumpkin patch!

 

The slide was still the show stopper for Park!  We had a great time and we even left with pumpkins this time (thanks, Dad!)!!

 

 

While at the slide we saw this kid.  Look at his eyes.  If those are not creepy enough, I asked him where he got them and he said a gas station.  Umm, hello parents...you do not allow your children to put items in their eyes especially items sold in convenient stores.  Some ppl I will never understand!

But I still had to get a pic!

 

Trick or Treat!

We had such a great Halloween!  We have never really been big Halloween people, but it is so much more fun when you have a little one!

 

I was not sure how Parker would do going door to door so I decided to invite some friends and family over for dinner, drinks and trick or treating.  I thought it would be fun for Park to have some other kids to enjoy the festivities with and hopefully follow their lead going door to door!!

 

He spent the majority of the night riding in his wagon, but did get out and trick or treat the last street of houses we visited.  He was more into handing out his candy than collecting.  Which was quite okay with his momma and her thighs!!

 the door, Parks dino pumpkin and my BOO jars

 Drinks for adults and jack-o-lantern pizza for the kids

 

 he wore his hat all day, favors for the big kids , Engineer with a light saber!

all the kiddos before we headed off to bed!

 

Thanks to all our family and friends who made Halloween such a fun evening!!!

PaPa's Retirement

 My father in law recently retired as Captain of the Fort Worth Fire Department after 30 years of service.

 

This past weekend, my MIL hosted a suprise retirement party for him to celebrate!

 

He previously stated he did not want a party, but he ended up having a great time and loved getting to see many of his old friends, family and his firefighter family!!

 

Parker and his cousin waiting for PaPa to arrive

the cake

his patch and helmet

he was suprised!!!



being presented a plaque for his service!



Park was so excited for PaPa!

Putting his hat on to for old time sakes...or to entertain Park and Kixton!

"Where's my helmet??"

my inlaws

of course I had to model the helmet!

Such a great day celebrating such a great guy!

We are so proud of you Mike!

Pumpkin Patch

We ventured out to Halls Pumpkin Farm this past weekend.  I wanted to get a few of the obligatory pumpkin patch pictures of course and then some pumpkins for decorating and carving.

Well thanks to a slide at the pumpkin farm and my hubby forgetting to get cash, I left with neither!!

 I lie, I was able to snap a few pics of P after we forced him from the slide, kicking and screaming!!  Oh toddlers, such a joy when they don't get their way!!

 The ramp up to the slides was long and high.  At first P took his time going up, a bigger kid behind him yelled at him to hurry or move.  This momma bear was not happy.  Thank goodness the hubs was there or I may have been on the evening news!!  I may or may not have given his mom the evil eye, control your kids people!

We will head out again this weekend with Nana and Grandpa to visit the pumpkin patch, this time coming home with pumpkins!!!

Silent Auction: Personalized Family Plate

This week I am honored to participate in the silent auction

 benefiting Julee and Preslee Turner.

The item I am auctioning off is a 14" personalized wooden plate.

 You can choose to have it just like the picture or with a monogram. This can always be customized, so if you would like to change up the colors we can do that too!

All plates are hand painted front and back. Front is sealed.

Valued at : $30

How to bid on this package:

• Place your bid in the comments section of this blog post.
• Leave NAME, EMAIL, and BID.
• All bids must be made in $1 increments. If the last bid is $9 then your bid must be $10

Bidding will close on Friday night at 10:00pm(EST)

Highest bidder will be the winner.

Payment will be accepted via PayPal. Winner will be emailed a paypal invoice and once paypal payment has been made, I will process and ship your plate.

PLEASE NOTE: Auction open to US residents only. All payments must be received by October 31, 2012. These payments are not considered tax deductible.

 

Thank you for your support and happy bidding!!

Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness

Today, October 15th is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.

For those of us who have be through these losses first hand, we do not need a special day on the calendar to remember our babies, we think of them everyday.

But I wanted to take today to share my story.

On December 1, 2009 I suffered a miscarriage at 11 weeks 4 days pregnant, that resulted in me having to have a D&C.

It was one of the worst experiences in my life.  It hurt so bad physically and emotionally and it broke my heart and left me constantly asking, why.

Why did I lose my baby?

Why didn't my sweet baby get the chance to live life?

Why did this happen just days before being in the "safe" zone?

Why me, what did I do to deserve this?

Why had my body failed me?

I felt so alone.

Although my sweet husband never left my side and was more than amazing and I knew his heart was broken too, I still felt at times that I was going through it all by myself.

It was not until friends found out what I was going through that people began to come out and share their stories too.  I had no clue that so many had gone through the same thing as I had.  It was so nice to find people to talk to that could actually relate to what I was feeling.

Miscarriages are so common, yet so taboo.

Its almost as if its this secret society and you never know about it until you can become a member.

I feel as though some people do not justify it as a loss because you have never actually held your baby, but that could not be further from the truth.  I have loved both of my babies from the moment I saw the tiny flicker of their hearts beating.

I spent so long asking why, but always trusting in God that it was all apart of his bigger plan.

A few months after our loss we found out we were expecting again.

On December 1, 2010 I gave birth to me sweet baby boy!

One year to the day later.

See God did have a plan for us.  Without our suffering we would never have had our sweet boy!

Take a moment and pray for those who has suffered the loss of an infant or pregnancy.

Prayers

 

 

 

I have followed Julee's blog for the past couple years.

 

My heart broke for her when I heard Sunday that she had lost her husband, Matt.

 

Julee and her sweet miracle, Preslee have been in my thoughts and prayers all week.  My heart hurts for them.

 

Please pray for Julee, Preslee and their famiy.  For their strength today and all of the days ahead.

 

 

Trains, planes and automobiles!

Little man is currently OBSESSED with "things that go"!

 

The excitement that comes over his face when he sees a plane fly over, a truck next to us on the road or the school bus picking up the kids on our street is priceless. 

 

I knew boys loved this stuff, just never knew how much!!

 

Across the street from his school is a train track.  They can hear the trains as they pass and his teacher said that no matter what is going on, when Park hears the train he is racing to the window to watch it pass!!

 

So there has been no question in my mind that his 2nd birthday party would revolve around this love.

 

Here is a sneek peek of this years invite!

 

created by Amanda's Parties To Go
 

Isn't it precious!?!

Let the party planning begin!!!

22 months (and 2 days)

I cannot believe I will have a two year old in 2 short months!!

All the men in my family have always asked why women (moms) always talk about their kids in months at this age...they are very relieved to know that all that will end shortly!

Honestly for me the only reason I talk in months is because it makes him sound younger.  If he is 22 months, he is not 2, he is still a baby!!

I have been so bad about blogging in general and keeping up with Parks monthly post.  Life has just gotten so busy with MDO, Southern Accent Design (my etsy shop), play dates, park visits and finally living close to family and friends, we have been pretty much non stop.  I plan to get better, I promise.  But with the upcoming holiday seasons, I just dont know how well I will do!

Now back to my little man!!

Parker at 22 months!

-You are still my little picky eater but you get better with each day.  For some reason you really only like to try new things with you are with your Nana.  MiMi has gotten you to eat a carrot too.

You still love your waffles, pancakes, bananas, grapes, raisins, cheerios, pb sandwiches, veggie dogs and your new fav is grilled cheese.

-You are still my amazing little sleeper.  You take a 2.5-3.5 hour nap everyday and sleep from about 730/8-8/830 each night.  You go down without a fight (most nights) and wake up in the best mood.  Mornings are my favorite time of the day because of your sweet smile!!

- You are saying new words each day!  I love seeing you learning and watching recognize and name things!

We have also been working on your colors, numbers and shapes!  It amazes me each day how much you absorb and understand.

You know all of your farm animals and all of their noises and a good amount of the zoo animals and their sounds.

 color matching game we play, that Parker loves

shape/color flash cards

-You continue to love your MDO class.  Your eyes light up as you run in and I get the dirtiest little looks when I come in to pick you up, because you are never ready to go!!

- We have not even attempted potty training, but in the past two weeks you have been coming to tell me when you have to poo poo.  I am assuming this is something you picked up from school but you are always right.  When you tell me, you have either just gone or you go immediately after.  I am just proud that you are understanding what is going on.  So I have ordered a little potty and we will see how it goes, but I am not pushing anything!

 - Your 4 canine teeth have finally made their way in.  I am pretty sure most of your molars are in too, but it takes an army to get a good look in your mouth!!

- We have gone through a couple months here recently of some serious tantrums.  There have been days where I have even cried.  You were really testing your mommy's patience (which there is not much to test) and really doing your best to find out what you could and could not get away with.  I have started reading a book on discipline, Love and Logic that was recommended by a friend.  I have not yet finished but have seen some great improvements so far in your behavior (KNOCK ON WOOD!)

-your favorite things right now are: trucks, trains, planes, riding your tricycle (its a push one), wagon rides, the park, reading books, puzzles, golf cart rides, bubble guppies and mickey mouse.  Anything you do you would prefer it be outside and you would prefer to be barefoot!!

Parker, you are one amazing little boy!

Your Daddy and I are so proud of you and feel so blessed to get to watch you grow and learn each day!!

We love you!