Happy Birthday Brett!

we're staying at my parents while they are on one last 'hurrah' trip before my brother takes off for the Air Force Academy. it's actually been so refreshing, cooking in the kitchen i grew up in, the one i'm familiar with. parker is able to play his little heart out in the backyard and we don't have to worry about golfballs falling on our heads! yesterday we were able to celebrate bretts birthday, eat yummy food and hang out with our dearest friends! it's so weird to be staying here by ourselves though without my family. i find myself wanting to keep things in order here. i swept my parents fire pit patio while parker was playing in his pool, i'm usually the type of person to just relax when parker finds himself something to do on his own, yet the busy work has made me feel more productive. i probably should be doing more of that! enough of that talk, here are some photos from our small birthday party! 

 peek-a-boo mama! i can't get over how quickly the time goes. they always tell you it flies by but wow, i'm experiencing that now! he's already telling people he is 3 so i might as well embrace it (although he still has a few more months of being 2)

he would play some type of sport game all day if he could. he hates coloring or any type of activity that involves sitting or being still. he is always asking if he can play 'basketball team' when he gets bigger. there are no sports programs in our area for children under the age of 3 so he'll have to wait until next summer. 

dr pepper cupcakes! brett loves dr pepper so i did a little pinteresting and sloshed a couple recipes together. i'm not a huge cake fan so we still have about 18 cupcakes just sitting in the kitchen even after i had brett take a dozen to work! anyway, i'll be honest i wasn't very happy with the lack of dr pepper flavor they had. in the frosting you could taste it a very little bit, but it didnt hold up and just ran over the sides of the cupcakes. oh well, next time i'll go for a different recipe. they still looked cute!

look at that juice! this boy loves pineapple! 

brett requested a steak dinner for his special day. my parents have a treager grill so i had to look up how to grill a steak! surprisingly, they turned out really good! mine was even cooked to medium, which is how i like my steak. he requested twice baked potatoes, asparagus and bread. not too difficult to please, i guess! 

those eyes! i really do love this little guy a bunch! 

so thankful for the goofiest of good friends! also photo by parker! 

another click by parker. i had to delete quite a few but the ones that turned out are of course my favorite pictures of the evening! 

Happy Birthday Daddy! we love you a million billion! 

Parkerisms

having an 18 month old is a lot of fun, most of the time. at the begining of fall he'll be 2 so I think he just realizes that it's probably a good time to start shedding a ray of light into what it's ACTAULLY going to be like when he does turn 2. but gosh, i do love this boy! here are a few things we're getting quite a kick out of lately:

this kid is seriously a never ending hunger pit! except when we actually sit down for meals… then he wants usually nothing to do with what we're eating, unless its 'wice' (rice). anyone else have kids like that? maybe we need to cut the snacks out? how can you say no to puppy eyes that pleeeead for 'a bite' or a 'nak'??

another thing he has picked up on is the tragic realization of people leaving our house. i'm telling you people, it's the end of the world! we have to deal with the most dramatic boy i've ever seen when people have to go 'bye-eye' 

he's also into frozen, like every seven year old girl out there. he barely sits for the movie but every day he'll occasionally belt out 'GOOOOO!!!!!' in his best singing voice. in fact, a few times i've heard him on the monitor singing himself to sleep. its called fwoen around here though. 

some kids are just born with sports in their blood. and i got one of them. 'bat, ball, beeball, booball, hotey, frow, hit' are all words we use about 1,000,000 times a day. he is constantly bringing anyone a bat and a ball to play with him. what's the age for putting your kids in sports? we're seriously in trouble if its anything past what he'll turn tomorrow. 

'she-side' is the greatest place on earth. he stands at the backdoor and pleads for someone to take him out there. he will explore for hours on end outside playing in dirt, eating dirt, putting dirt down his shirt.  whatever floats your boat kid. but dont bring it back in the house! 

im absolutely positive there is no geater joy in the world than the joy your kiddos bring you. i smile and laugh and appreciate life way more than i ever have before. thanks for opening up my heart to a whole new level of love P-man!