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!