Saturday, November 26, 2011

Cousins

Parker got to spend some time with his cousin Connor who is closest in age to him (Connor is 4 months older). Parker outweighs Connor by a few pounds! We got a few photos of them together at Grandma and Grandpa's house.


Here they are both walking using Parker's walker toy. Before this photo they both walked a ways with it. Too bad I didn't have the camera ready then because it was really cute.


 Here Connor walked too fast for Parker and Parker fell to his knees but still held on!



It will be fun to see these two grow up together!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving 2011

This year Grandma Barb, Grandpa Steve and Uncle Louie came to our house for Thanksgiving dinner. Shane had to work but thankfully got home at 4pm and we all got to spend the whole evening together. A couple of weeks ago Seth made a turkey handprint t-shirt during one of my Moms group meetings. He put brown fabric paint on his palm and thumb and orange paint on his fingers, then put his painted hand on the t-shirt to make the imprint. Then we drew legs, an eye and a beak and decorated it with his name and year. A couple of days before Thanksgiving, Isabelle and Parker got to make handprint t-shirts at home. They all came out really well!


The kids got to play around with Uncle Louie.

 



We filled up on turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, green bean casserole (G.B.C. as Uncle Louie calls it), sweet potato casserole, cranberries, pumpkin roll, pumpkin pie and apple pie - whew!




After dinner was all played one of our favorite card games, Trick Your Neighbor. Grandma won the first game (Seth came in second) and Grandpa won the second game.

Parker had a good time. We learned he likes turkey and corn.





We're so thankful to have such a great family!


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Parker's First Birthday Party

Parker's first birthday party was delayed until November 12 due to Shane's work schedule. But Parker didn't mind! Our attendees were both sets of grandparents, Aunt Cathy, Uncle Steve and cousins Jessica, Jennifer and Jacob. We all had a good time. Parker kept taking steps on his own and he learned that when he stops and claps, everyone else claps with him. He loved that!



Balloons for Parker
Opening presents with help from Daddy and cousin Jacob
Happy 1 year old



Winter hat from Grandma Diane and Grandpa Clyde

First cake: Happy Birthday Parker Pie

"Happy Birthday To You!"

Wondering about this icing stuff

Yeah for me!



Monday, November 7, 2011

Parker's First Birthday and 12-Month Snapshot

Wow, he's a year old already!



My Parker Pie is such a cutie and I'm so glad he's right in the center of my life. I've been so fortunate to be able to stay at home with this little guy for the first year of his life. The smiles and giggles I get from Parker everyday are priceless.

On his birthday, Grandma Barb and Grandpa Steve visited. We had pizza for dinner and cupcakes for dessert. We were anticipating Parker digging into his cupcake and making a fun mess, but he really didn't want anything to do with the cupcake, the candle or the singing of "Happy Birthday". Maybe he's saving all the excitement for his birthday party this coming weekend.

Parker's 12-month checkup was on Friday. He weighs 27 pounds, 1 ounce which is in the 92nd percentile for weight. At his 9-month checkup, he was 26 pounds, 3 ounces and in the 97th percentile. So with his mobility and less formula, he's slimming down just a bit. His height is 31 inches which is in the 50th percentile. The doctor said he will grow 5 inches from now until age 2. So if it's true that kids will grow up to be twice their height at age 2, Parker will be 6-foot tall as an adult!

**Side note: I checked Seth's and Isabelle's height records from when they turned 2. Seth should grow up to be 5 foot 10 inches, and Isabelle should grow to be 5 foot 6 inches. So we'll have the youngest boy be the tallest and the oldest girl be the shortest, and Seth in the middle!**

Also at Parker's 12-month checkup he got the chicken pox vaccine. Of course he wasn't happy about it, but he only cried for about 1 minute and was totally fine by the time we left the office. Yay for only 1 shot this time!

Favorite foods include bananas, yogurt, cereals, breads and crackers. We haven't really been too adventurous with giving him all kinds of foods. It's just more convenient to stick to the small snacks he can pick up on his own. He says "Ba" for banana, which also has a few other meanings depending on the context. Sometimes "Ba" means bottle and sometimes it means ball.

Parker can crawl up the stairs with no problem. He hasn't figured out how to get back down yet. He walks really quickly with his toy walker and can manuever it like a pro. We think he'll be walking on his own in a few weeks. We've seen him stand and hold an object for about 15 seconds at a time before he grabs to hold on to something for support. He still makes a mad dash for the cat food when he sees in on the floor and I'm sure he's eaten several pieces before we got to it. He's the only one of the kids who, as a baby, figured out how to open the toilet lids. Hopefully we won't find a toy in there! He still likes to play with the ball popper and the Weeble Wobbles. We set up Seth's Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash track and Parker loves to watch the cars go round and round and he throws cars onto the track (maybe he thinks that's how they get on there). He still loves to be outside and we take him on walks when the weather isn't too cold or windy. He says "Ga" for "go outside".

Here are some photos from his birthday. Look for more to come after his party this weekend!







Dumped the cat food out of the bowl. Yum, yum.
Birthday cupcakes. Seth put candy corn on his own cupcake.

Opening presents

Old MacDonald Had a Farm book from Grandma Barb and Grandpa Steve
Stackable, musical trucks from Grandma & Grandpa. Love Isabelle's face!
Musical helicopter from Uncle Louie and Sonya

First birthday candle

Not impressed with the cupcake

Eating the cake part of the cupcake, he didn't like the icing

Us! Parker is chewing a pink eraser

Bath time on my birthday!


I love baths!!

And I love having my picture taken!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET PARKER!!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

More Halloween Fun

We baked and decorated Halloween cookies. The baking was on Oct. 31 but the icing wasn't until Nov. 1, so we were a little late to actually have them on Halloween. Seth and Isabelle helped roll out the dough and then they cut out all the cookies.




Parker had some snacks and supervised!


Here are the finished cookies! Ghosts, witches, broomsticks, moons, tombstones, cauldrons, pumpkins, leaves, cats and bats!


Seth wanted a picture of his favorite cookie, candy corn.


This is a house decorated by Isabelle.



Seth tried on his lion costume that he wore for his first Halloween.


Isabelle and Seth spent the weekend before Halloween at Grandma Diane's and Grandpa Clyde's house. They got to go to Logan's Halloween Parade and trick or treat. Isabelle won 2nd place for prettiest costume and had her photo in the Logan Daily News!

Winners in the Prettiest 5-10 year category (from left) are: Gracie Dye (first place), Isabelle Campbell (second) and Adrian McGlothlin (third).