Parker's 1st B-day!

The Birthday Boy!

Words cannot express how much happiness Parker has brought to our families lives this past year. He is the sweetest little guy, and I love being his mommy :)

Parker facts:
*Has 4 top teeth,2 on the bottom- grinds them on occasion :/
*Loves his walker, and he's pretty talented in it!
*Laughs at most anything Skylee does
*Enjoys driving in the car
*Has had 3 little haircuts, and needs another!
*Is a good dancer
*Says "Dada" for just about everything
*He's finally eating solid foods, and likes most things except fruit
*Recently started "cruising" (walking along furniture)
*Splashes like a crazy man in the bath and loves throwing ALL the toys out
*In addition to the last, I loves taking things out of drawers/baskets...
*Gets a kick out of banging things together or throwing things
*Loves being outside
*Doesn't have much patience when it comes to reading books, but we're working on it :)
*Still a major Mama's Boy!
*Learning how to use his teeth, sometimes on Skylee's leg
*Uses his walker as if he were on a skateboard. He'll gain momentum then hold his feet up to glide across the tile.
*Loves making us laugh
*Doesn't like to be inconvenienced: getting dressed, getting his diaper changed...
*Seems to really like "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"
*Likes to brush his teeth
*Has decided to skip crawling, working hard on walking
*Has a slight under-bite
*So SWEET

Things I made for the party:

This B-day banner I covered with coordinating scrapbook paper (not the best pics)

made these pom poms since I slacked on balloons

Made this cupcake stand out of formula canisters, cardboard, ribbon, hot glue, and buttons

Parker's personal cake

Party time:

Didn't do too well taking pics of the actual party, but we had fun. When I get a chance I'll upload the video of him eating his cake :)

Happy Birthday Baby P. We love you sooooooo much!

Easter with the Allens

The week before Easter we took Skylee to an egg hunt on base. There were lots of other little kids, and although we did our best to explain to her what to do, once she was out there on her own she froze. She managed to get 4 eggs, but that wasn't satisfactory to her, she was very upset. I would say "You did a great job honey!" and her reply every time with tears in her eyes was "No, I didn't", broke my heart! She did have fun though, we just told her it was practice for when the Easter Bunny was going to come to our house :)

Skylee wasn't too sure about this Easter Bunny. I think he looks pretty scary too though!

Skylee was so excited to color eggs, and did a great job!

This is the only non-screaming picture of Parker from that night. He was miserable from being tired and teething. Needless to say, I put him straight to bed after this shot. He'll help us out next year :)

Skylee waking up to the basket the Easter Bunny left

I made these hooded towels to throw into the kids baskets, seriously only took a couple minutes. Not too bad for never making one, and going off of memory from what I've seen I guess?
^Ryan's Easter basket included his favorite candies and a bird feeder (He had been wanting one)

The Easter Egg Hunt was on!

Parker just playing with his favorite item in his basket, a red shiny ball :)

General Conference doesn't start here until 12, then at 4pm so we go to enjoy the morning hunting, playing and eating crepes. After Conference (which I just loved) we enjoyed dinner with friends and neighbors. We had a great Easter :) Hope your Easter Sunday was just as wonderful!

Our little Turtle Friend

that's a spinach leave to give you an idea of scale (He's super small)

Here in Southeast Georgia, there are lots of crazy creatures that come right up to our house on a pretty regular basis. In the last year we've encountered snakes(even inside!), crab, scorpions, and turtles to name a few. This little one we've named "Tuck", we found right outside our front door last night as Ryan was leaving for a meeting. He's SO small, we just had to take him inside! After doing some online research (don't you just love the internet?!) I think it's (can't tell the gender yet) a yellow-bellied-slider. We're really not sure what to do with this little guy...let him go, or keep him for a pet? I think this turtle will out grow our home, and I have no idea what to do with a large turtle??? Not sure if I'm up for that :)

It's beginning to look a lot like EASTER!

I realized that I had next to NO Easter decorations for our little home. Last year I practically skipped the holiday since I had just delivered Parker days before, I don't think I really cared or noticed :) Plus, it's been this past year that I've tried to develop my crafting skills. I call myself a "wannabe"...but this is what I came up with on my small budget :)

^ This isn't much, but it adds a burst of "spring"

^For the kitchen table I used spanish moss (from off a tree outside) for the "nest", plastic eggs, flowers,birds and placemats from the dollar store, and the "E" I had on had from Skylee's old room decor (already painted pink too!)

I made this little Easter Tree from branches I spray painted, a cheap bag of plastic eggs, ribbon, then ties these babies on. Skylee loved helping with this one :) You could also paint the egss, but I just don't have the time this year for that, not yet at least (I'm blogging instead!)

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I'm not a huge fan of fake flowers, BUT this is what I had on hand, combine with some of those little eggs again, in a glass vase/container.

Trashy to Flashy...

Classy for a kid's table right?

I forgot to take a before pic, so I took a "in the middle" shot :)

So, for those of you out there that keep in touch with me on FB too...a couple weeks ago I mentioned I went to Lowes to get supplies to build a table and chair set for my kids. I've wanted one for a long time, but buying them new is kinda expensive! 2 days after I bought all the supplies, I found this little beauty on Craigslist for the the same price. That meant I didn't have to build it, just refinish it! I picked it up, and starred at it for a couple more weeks until just yesterday sanded this baby down and painted it! I must admit that I don't love the color, it's not as dark as I wanted it. For now it will have to do, I'll fix it when I get another chance to, but in the meantime Skylee can enjoy having her own little table :) There's just something about doing things yourself, making it YOURS!

Spring has sprung

Yesterday we had the perfect weather, sunny 74 degrees with a light breeze, nothing but blue skies! Ryan also didn't have to work, which is a miracle these days...the man is never home it seems! We took advantage of the two and packed up a lunch picnic, then drove to a lake close to wear Ryan works on base. There was a small park with an old slide and swing set, and a trail that wrapped around the lake where we enjoyed taking the kids on a walk. I couldn't resist taking some pictures of my kids, since recently I've been lacking in that department! I'm always a little biased, but I think they turned out SUPER cute ;)

Male Bonding

(Go ahead and ignore those hideous cords, and clutter of things on my entertainment center for now... )

I'm not a big fan of video games, but Ryan is off of school this month and so this is what he does in his free time. Of course I would rather spend his school-free days doing other, more productive things, but I'll let him enjoy his break. Parker was entertained too, and so it begins...

I'm FREE!

Yesterday we were at the car dealership purchasing our new car (I'll post about that one later). Skylee sees a sign that had the word "FREE" on it in big letters. She asks "What spells E-E-R-F?"
Me: You mean F-R-E-E?
S: Yeah, F-R-E-E!
Me: That says FREE
S: Oh, I'm 3!!!
free/three pronounced the same by her!

Just a moment I wanted to remember :)