Happy Birthday to Omi and Honey!

Omi's birthday was on August 19th, and we celebrated on the 18th because I was gone on her actual birthday.  Honey's birthday was just a couple of days ago on the 29th.  I figured I would share the few pictures I took that turned out okay.  We really enjoyed both celebrations which involved a nice meal and celebrating with cake a presents with each respective family.  I love our families and spending time with them so much.  

Mozart cake from Sugar Plum--yes, it was absolutely delicious!

Making a wish!

He likes to help.

Having a serious discussion about art!  Or Grammie.

Beautiful Haley and 5 o'clock shadow Ryan at Black Angus.

Lisa, the birthday girl, Bryan and Lulu.

Our family plus my crazy hair.  Apparently my child does not like to look into the camera lens.  See below photo for further evidence.

Parker and his cousins.  Ian looks a little scared-ish?

Honey and her little Honey.

Chocolate Mousse cake from Sugar Plum.  Yes, it was fantastic, too.

The next birthday celebration isn't happening until Ryan and Bryan's birthday on October 24th.  I am already looking forward to it!

18 Months

Well, Parker, you are now officially 18 months old.  That's a year and a half.  Three quarters of the way to two.  It seems like your personality changes every day and you find new ways to make us laugh.  You are so fun.  You're more fun than I ever thought you could be (and I knew that you would be pretty fun, so that's saying a lot)!  Here's what's up with you lately:

• You are wearing a size 18-24 months in most of your shorts and the same size in shirts.  In some shirts you'll wear a 2T.  Your shoe size is about a 7 or 7.5.  Whether or not you are a Wide is up for debate.  You still wear a size 5 diaper.  

• Your food situation has not changed much.  The only extra thing you eat that I can think of is bread with peanut butter smeared on it.  Everything else is the same!

• I mentioned before that every night when we put you to bed, we go through everyone's names.  Now, at the end of the names, I ask you to give us a kiss.  You give each of us a super-sweet kiss and then lay your head down on my chest for a couple of minutes before I lay you in the crib.  This is one of my favorite parts of every day.

• We have started getting you to sit on the potty.  I've tried to get you to sit on it for a couple of months now, but usually you would just stand right up.  For about a week now, you will actually sit there for a little bit.  So far, we haven't had any success with actually going potty, but I think we will soon.

• You are starting to blow your nose on your own.  If you sneeze and I wipe your nose with a tissue,  you will usually blow once and then you don't want to anymore.  You will also randomly blow your nose without a tissue kind of with your fists.  It is hilarious and makes both of us laugh so hard.  You make the loudest noise when you do it and then usually laugh at yourself.  

• We have started playing with sidewalk chalk more often lately.  You don't really care too much about actually drawing with the chalk.  You'll usually just make a mark here and there and then toss the chalk as far as you can.  You really do like to throw anything you can get your hands on and seem to have a pretty good arm! 

• We had an 5.8 magnitude earthquake this week.  You and I were in the den together.  I was sitting on the couch and you were playing on the floor.  I could definitely feel it, but you didn't seem fazed.  I have never experienced this before and hope that I never do again!  

• You love Reese, and you love to tell Reese to "be quiet!"  You will come up to him while he's in his bed or sniffing around the kitchen and very gently pat his head or let him lick your hand--it is so sweet! You will also jump on the bandwagon when we are telling Reese to "hush up" or "be quiet."  You make this grunting noise and gesture your hand to him like you're telling him "no."  It is so funny because you get so serious when you do it and it is pure imitation!  I guess we reallllllly need to start watching what we say and do around you.

• I've been giving you Flintstones vitamins almost every day and you love them.  I ask you if you want a piece of candy and you come running over for a bite.  You stand there and chew so diligently.  It's so cute!

I can't wait for all the fun we're going to have in the fall, but I am certainly going to miss the fun we've had this summer.  When I write your 19 month post, it will almost be October!  This year seems like it's flying by--I think it's because we've had such a good time.  I love you more each day and am looking forward to seeing what the next month holds.  

Happy 18 Month Birthday!

To Transition....

Let this post serve as a transition from non-blogging to blogging.

Since the last post, I spent my evenings doing various things like preparing a photo book, Omi's birthday, and traveling to Atlanta for work.  I haven't taken many pictures until today because we've just been so busy.  It's time for Parker's 18 month post, but I had to post these pictures outside of that post because they're just too funny.

I just couldn't resist.  My baby had some serious bed-head today after his nap.  He's got his Momma's hair and I love it!

Sidewalk Paint Playdate

Wyatt and Amy came over for a super-fun playdate last Wednesday.  Unfortunately, I am just now writing about it!  Oh well, things have been busy the last few days with last-minute photo book making, movie-watching, and visits with our good good friend, Chris.

Anyway, Wednesday Amy and Wy came over for another early-morning playdate at our house.  I had recently pinned a recipe on Pinterest for homemade sidewalk paint using corn starch, water and food coloring.  It worked pretty well--I'm sure it was not as well as Crayola paint maybe would have been, but when Wyatt put the paintbrush in his mouth, I felt a little better about it.

Playing together!  What a concept!!

Wyatt proclaiming something like, "I love to paint!"  Or, "Painting is good, painting is fun, painting is cool for everyone!"  Or...what he was really thinking, "Why are they making me do this?  Painting is lame!"  Haha.

Can you see the toes?  I mean, seriously.  Come on.

Wyatt wasn't too majorly crazy about the painting.

He was pretty excited about the cars in the driveway!

Parker was very into the paint.  He wasn't actually painting for the most part, though.  He just dipped the brush in the cup and then would let it drip onto the pavement.

Wyatt decided that it would be a great time to practice his sumo-wrestling moves.

This was inevitable but super-cute.

Wyatt also decided that even touching the "pretty" flowers would be more fun than the paint!  Basically every single activity available to him in or near our front yard was more exciting than the paint.  But I'm glad he had fun nonetheless!

Wyatt decided that he had hit his limit with the paint and apparently with the rest of us.

I pretty much just cannot get enough pictures of this child in his diaper squatting down on the ground.  Or this child in his diaper doing anything.  Or this child in full clothes doing nothing.  My heart just fills with love and wants to burst.  Sappy, but true.

I'm ready for sidewalk paint again.  I think Parker really enjoyed it and it was something a little different.  This could easily become a new weekly activity for the rest of the summer!  We have to take advantage of it while we can......

Watermelon Granita

Parker and I had a great day today!  We started the day off right by going to Trader Joes this morning!  I love that store.  I could spend hours in there looking at all of the different food they sell.  All in all, I think we were probably in there an hour.  I needed a few of my "freezer staples" as well as a few "pantry staples."  I also got a few new things to try, so I am excited about those.

When we got home, I laid Parker down for a nap and did some pantry/cabinet reorganization.  This is very exciting to me because I feel like our pantry is always a mess and SO FULL.  I moved a few things to cabinets nearby and it seems to have helped a little.  We'll see how long it can stay as neat as it is now....

After Parker woke up, I feel like all I did was cook and wash dishes for the rest of the day!  I started off by making our lunch, which was simple and normal but still required some "cooking" and then dishwashing.  After this, I made macaroni salad, a corn casserole,  beef tacos, and watermelon granita.  I have found myself cooking a lot more lately since I've been working two days a week.  My new love, Pinterest, enables this activity because I am finding so many new recipes to try!  I keep saying to different people that I can see why there are a lot of people that don't even want to deal with cooking because of the mess it makes--there are always SO MANY dishes when you cook.  I guess it's the price you pay for good food!

Anyway, like I said, one of the things I made was the watermelon granita from Pioneer Woman.  It is SO GOOD!  It was so super easy to make, too.  I just had to throw some watermelon, lime juice and sugar in my seriously super crappy blender and then stick the juice in the freezer.  It's a very refreshing treat that I am sure I will make again soon.  Parker tried the granita and was not too crazy about it, but he sure does love to eat watermelon!

He does pretty good with keeping away from the rind--most of the time.

Sharing with Momma.  He was very intense about it, as you can see.

"Eat the watermelon NOW, Mom!"

PS--Don't you love the crazy beach hair?  We went to the bay this evening again, and it was wonderful.  The water was so calm and warm.  He is so fearless when it comes to the water and waves--it makes me very happy!  

Side note:  I am sad that there is less and less daylight in each day--having to use the camera flash to avoid blurry pictures=no fun.  Natural light (not the beer, but actual natural light) is the best!

It's Official: We're Bay People

We've gone to the beach only a few times so far this year.  I wish I could say that it's been more than a few, but it really hasn't.  It's a shame because we live so close to the beach.  We've been to the oceanfront a couple of times, and as of last night, we've gone to the bay twice.  Verdict?  The bay is THE BOMB! 

 

Basically, Parker loves the beach.  He loves to play in the sand, so that part doesn't really matter.  The water difference is huge though.  The ocean has bigger, louder, stronger waves.  The bay's waves are much calmer and the water feels so much warmer.  Parker is a little, shall we say, intimidated by the ocean, but he has no problem charging right into the water of the Chesapeake Bay.

Last night, we ate a super-quick dinner and went to the bay for some evening playtime in the sand and water.  Parker had a blast, and Ryan could not stop saying how warm the water was.  I think many more trips to the bay are in our future before the summer is done--I am definitely ready.  Fall will be here before we know it and we need to take advantage of the weather while we can!

Running to Daddy!  

So excited--both of them!

I realize that he's a child and definitely does not care about the sand, but really?  This is straight up wallowing. Sand is my least favorite part of the beach.

Did I ever tell you I'm a sucker for a silhouette?  Because I am.

Something else I am?  Officially in love with the bay!