A fun week

This last week Parker was out of school all week and we did some fun things and it was so nice to just hang out with Parker and not worry about school! Cant wait for Christmas break! On Wednesday we had family pictures with the entire family. Parker looked so cute so we decided to run by the mall and get pictures with Santa.

There was not one single person in line!!

Parker was such a big boy this year. He wanted me to stay in line and he walked up to Santa and sat in his lap and told him he wanted a truck for Christmas!

This is just a sweet picture from last week. We did so many fun things, and he took long naps everyday. He would sleep till 5:30 and I would have to go wake him up for dinner. I just think he is so precious when he is sleeping (arent all kids, though?)

On Saturday, Daddy talked us into going to the world championship duck calling contest in Stuttgart (arent you jealous?). It was much more than just duck calling. We just listened to that in the background while we walked around the festival. It was so much fun! There were rides and yummy "fair" food! Parker was a little scared of the duck but after passing by him a few times he warmed up to him. It was a beautiful day...I am so glad we went =)

He also got to open some of his Christmas pajamas!

This is such a fun time of year! I cant wait to do all the fun Christmas things with Parker. He is such a little boy now and is going to have a blast this Christmas season!

Cookies and Thanksgiving

On Parker's birthday we decided to bake and decorate cookies. I think this is the most fun thing I have ever done with him =)

It was just him and I in the kitchen. He spent so much time and was so careful icing the cookies in yummy cream cheese icing. He really is such a big helper and tries so hard to be clean and neat (How can he be so much like his Daddy??)

He was so meticulous when it came time to put the sprinkles on. He put an equal amount of red and green sprinkles on each cookie.

And of course (after all the decorating was finished) he licked all the icing off the knife (dont worry I supervised and might have done a little licking myself). I have never seen so much icing in one mouth!!

He was so proud when daddy got home from work to show him the cookies he had made. He passed them out to all the visitors we have had this holiday week/weekend. Such a sweet boy! We will definitely be doing this again when he gets off for Christmas break!

Thanksgiving day was great this year. We ate lunch at my grandparents house.

And Tyler was there....

sisters =)
And we made Justin pose for a picture...he is too cool for us most of the time!

Dennis, Parker and I spent the rest of the day at home, with a fire and a few movies. Such a fun, relaxing, family day.

I am so thankful for my family, God has blessed me above and beyond what I deserve!!

Parker is 3!!

My little baby is 3 today! I CAN NOT believe it! This morning when we woke up, Dennis and I were talking about how 3 years ago on this day I was going into labor. It is so weird to think about.

I could have never imagined what these three years would be like, how much Parker would teach me and how much I would love him.

He is such a character, so loving and so fun!

God has blessed our family and it is so fun that Parker's birthday is always the week of Thanksgiving....he is one of the things I am the most thankful for!

Parker on his birthday

Parker's first birthday

He has changed so much, he has grown into a little man!

Happy 3rd birthday Parker!!! We love you so much!

A busy weekend

The past few days have been very busy but so fun, I just love this time of year. Family, friends and lots of yummy food!!
On Friday night we went to see an opera that my sister was in for a class she is taking in college. She is a music major and one of the classes she has to take is opera.

None of my family had every been to an opera so we were (kind of) excited to see what it was like. Well, it was definitely a different experience! It was great to see my sister take part in a project she has been working so hard on for the past couple of months.

Doesnt Dennis look thrilled! There probably arent many operas in our future =)

On Saturday we went to Dennis' cousin's wedding. The bride looked beautiful!!

Parker wasnt being too quiet in the sanctuary (shocking, I know!) so we went to find the nursery area in the church. The picture above is us wasting time till I got a text that says, "they are kissing". Then we made our way to the reception.

Doesnt he look so cute in his cowboy boots?

Here is Parker with his Granny and Pawpaw.

The picture below is Parker in his Indian hat with feathers from his school Thanksgiving feast. He was so proud that he made this.

Oh yeah, and Dennis talked me into going hunting with him VERY early on Saturday morning. We only saw some tiny deer and didnt get to shoot anything. But, dont I look cute in my huting gear!?

On Sunday, we had our annual Thansgiving with Dennis' family. They all come over to our house the weekend before Thanksgiving and we all celebrate together. We found that if we do it before the actual holiday then everyone can come. It is always so fun to see everyone and it gives me an excuse to decorate for Christmas early!

All the little kids are growing up so they can actually play together, and the older kids are growing up so they can babysit =) Its a perfect combo!!

My sweet little family

My growing boy!!

We had such a great weekend, including an exciting Hog win over Mississipi State. This week is going to be great, Parker is off from school all week and it is his 3rd birthday, can you believe it?!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Open Wide!!

Today was Parker's first dentist appointment! I was very nervous because he really hates to get his teeth brushed. I mean HATES!! But he was so great!

The dentist office we went to was only for kids and the waiting room was so neat!! They had a huge tree in the middle of the waiting room and in the middle of the tree trunk was a bench and a tv with a fun movie playing. There were dump trunks and video games. Parker had so much fun! The actual exam room was even fun...they had tvs with cartoons playing in the ceiling so that when the kids lay back they can watch a movie (and hopefully be distracted). Parker was so excited to climb up in the chair but got kind scared when they leaned it back. You can see in the picture that he is holding on for dear life! He never cried or got upset! What a big boy!

He had a great report, his teeth look good and we will go back in 6 months to have an actual cleaning (Yikes!).

A little funny story: For the past week I have been telling Parker he is going to the dentist and what will happen. Everytime I told him he was going to the dentist he would say, "Mom, dont say that! Its daddy!" I realized that he thought I was saying "Dennis" instead of "dentist" and he did not like that I was calling Daddy by his real name! ...... and yes, Parker started calling me Mom, so sad =(

Happy Veteran's Day

8 years ago (in March) my boyfriend (a Marine) of 8 months got a call that changed our lives forever. I will never forget that day....he showed up at my house after work, just like he did every day, but this time he had a funny look on his face and he was acting strange. He pulled me into the living room and he didnt have to say a single word...I knew that he had gotten "the call"...he was going to Iraq. I asked how long and he told me that he was leaving in 8 days. That night a huge snow and ice storm came to Little Rock, we lost power and no one could get anywhere. I didnt see him for 5 days after that!! That meant that I only had 2 days with him before he had to report for duty.

At this time war hadn't been declared yet and no one knew what was happening. I remember trying not watch the news but in March war was declared and Dennis was there. After he left the states I didnt hear from him for 3 months. The first time I heard from him was on a satelite phone with a 10 second delay. He had 120 seconds to talk to me. The entire time I could here men yelling out how much time they had left (30 SECONDS!!). I got a call like that once a month (I was so grateful for those calls). The main way we communicated was through letters. I probably didnt receive a letter for about 2 months after he left. We learned so much about each other during that time. We allowed this hard time to make our relationship stronger but so many relationships around us were crumbling.

The day he came home was an amazing day and I will never forget that hug!

That year of our lives changed us and really made us who we are and made our relationship what it is. There are so many families that have gone through this countless times and continue to serve this country. Those men and women are amazing and our country is so blessed to have them.

Dennis is an amazing man and he truely is my hero.

Thank a veteran today!

3rd Birthday Party

I can not believe that my little baby is almost three. We had his party early this year because his "real" birthday is the week of Thanksgiving and we thought it would be less crazy this way. The party was a cars/bouncy house theme. I think Parker was a little overwhelmed! He had so much fun!! I think his favorite part was that his friends from school were there.

Mom and I plan each year what kind of cake we are going to make. I was pretty proud of our creation this year! It turned out great. It is so fun that my mom and I continued the tradition of baking and decorating my sons birthday cakes every year. He was so excited to see Lightning McQueen!!

Dennis made two cars to look like Lightning Mcqueen from the movie "Cars". The kids had races in them....they were a big hit!

Thank you to everyone who helped with the party!! SOO many people came and it was so fun!!! Parker will be talking about this party for a very long time =) Mission accomplished!!! I love my boy and cant believe that he is THREE!!

I have some catching up to do....

WOW! It has been a really long time since I have blogged. I stopped for so long that it seemed like so much work to get started again. I decided to just do a catch up post with a few pictures from the last few weeks. We have been busier than I ever thought possible! Work and school has been crazy for Dennis and I. A few weekend ago, Dennis and I were able to go to a Razorback game in Fayetteville and it was a much needed break!

We have had a few weeks where the weather was beautiful and all Parker wanted to do was play outside! Now it is starting to get cold and dark earlier =(

Last weekend was Halloween. I got Parker a cheap and easy costume to wear to school. He was spiderman. I could not believe that he kept that mask on all day!! Here he is showing his muscles.

For halloween parker was a dragon, but he said he was a dinasour. We also got to play with this cute lady bug!!

We stopped by Brittani's house to trick or treat and then headed to the church for trunk or treat. Parker got to shoot a gun!!
Then we made our way to my grandmothers house.

We finished the evening with trick or treating in our neighborhood (I just love the back of Parker's costume!) and then headed over to the neighborhood Halloween party.

This is Spencer, Parker's new best friend. He lives one house down (how nice is that?!!) and they just figured out a few weeks ago that they are best friends.

So much more has happened over the last few weeks, but that pretty much sums it up. I promise I am going to do better.

We have a big event this weekend....Parker's 3rd bday party!!