The First of many Firsts this week!

Not quite sure yet...but Daddy sure is having fun!

Ok...this seems to be alright. Plus Liz is so cute!

That was fun. I liked the clippers. They tickeled and made me giggle.

I can't believe the time has come to celebrate Parker's first birthday...where has the time gone? This is the first milestone that has really hit me hard. I have becoome really emotional about the fact that my little man is growing up!

Today was the first of many "first" we will have this week and weekend as Parker's first birthday appproaches. We decided it was time for Parker's first "official haircut." Mama and Nana have given him a few trims here and there but this was the real thing...complete with a kid-sized cape and mini- clippers. It was pretty cute to see my little man sitting up there like a big boy. At first he really didn't know what to think...then he kept trying to turn his head every time Liz would start cutting because as usual he wanted to see what was going on. Then he kind of settled in and let her get to work. He loved the clippers- they must have tickeled because he kept giggling! He looks so snazy with his new big boy haircut! Daddy looks good with his new haircut too :)

Easter Weekend at the Lake

Look at my special basket!

Ready to go splash

I love to swing high!

I love Lake Keowee!

Looking so handsome &...innocent

The two boys on Easter

Look at our little Easter Bunny

Parker acts like we never feed him!

Our little "boater"- note his white linen capris

Lake fun with Nana

We had a wonderful Easter weekend out at Nana & Grandpa's house at Lake Keowee. Mother Nature blessed us with PERFECT weather which gave us the chance to get out and enjoy the lake. This time we even took Sadie and she LOVED playing in the lake...along with our little water bug Parker. I think Parker would still be sitting, splashing in the lake right now, a week later if we had let him. This summer is going to be so much fun! So excited we have this little place to get-a-way to for some rest and relaxation. Nana kept him busy with walks along the Lake path, swinging on the swings and sliding down the slide. He just loves life and giggles all the time. So much fun!

This Easter was full of many past and new traditions. Much to Patrick's dismay I decided to dress Parker in his Uncle Drew's Easter bubble. I couldn't resist how cute he looked and it was so special for him to wear this family heirloom. We were excited to see that the Easter Bunny found his way to Parker. His new Easter basket is a special, hand-made tradition thanks to Nana. When I began the search for the best Easter basket I could find I couldn't help going back to the baskets Drew and I grew up with, also hand-made by Mom. I got frustrated that I wasn't finding anything I liked so Nana came to the rescue and as you can tell Parker loves the finished project. He had a blast chasing the plastic eggs all around the house. The bunny also brought him lots of books and his very own sock monkey. Its so hard to believe next week we will be celebrating his 1 year birthday! CRAZY!

Jeepers Creepers!

Miss Issie

Miss Ann

Its official...we are moving on from the infant stage. Last week was Parker's last week in the infant room at Holy Cross Academy. He has moved up to the Creepers Room and is loving every minute of it. We were very sad to leave Miss Issie and Miss Ann behind but know they are just one room away if we need to visit!

The Creeper Room is one of the main reasons we picked Holy Cross- believe it or not most other day care locations we found put babies in that in-between stage along with toddlers that can walk and eat all by themselves. I love that in the Creeper room Parker is with other babies close to his age and close in development too! We are excited to see the things he learns and he continues to change every day. He's walking now with help, learning to paint pictures and eating more and more table food all by himself. Time flies way too fast!

Mardis Gras Madness and Go Team USA!

What a weekend! As Parker gets older we have found ourselves getting back in to the swing of things socially. Its been fun to reconnect with our Farm friends. On Saturday night I headed to our monthly girl's night, which was a Mardis Gras theme. We sipped on hurricanes, earned our beads and had fun catching up! On Sunday we headed to our good friends, the Andersons for some good old fashioned USA vs Canada rivalry. The Andersons and a lot of their friends are from Canada and are huge hockey fans like all of us so it was fun to get together to watch the big game. Parker enjoyed all of the people and the excitement. As you can tell by the picture of Patrick, the celebrating following USA's goal with 30 seconds to go got a bit out of hand! What a fun way to end the weekend!

Parker is 10 months old- watch out world!

Each month our little "baby" gets bigger and bigger and starts looking more and more like a toddler. He is now up to 18 1/2 pounds and is growing out of pants every day is seems. The past few weeks we've been having fun as he continues to get better at crawling and exploring his surroundings! He's even starting to take little steps! Here are a few pictures from his fun time spent with Nana and Grandpa!

Picnic in the Park

What a picture perfect weekend we had here in SC. For a minute there I thought I was back in Sunny CA! Since Patrick was out of town, Parker and I decided to take full advantage of the beautiful weather and headed down to Falls Park to enjoy a picnic in the Park with our good friends Lauren and Mallory! It had been WAY too long since we had gotten together and it was fun to watch the little ones checking each other out. Now that the both of them are on the move we didn't do much relaxing during our lunch but it was so nice to get caught up and just enjoy each other's company! Its times like these that make me wish I was a stay at home mom so I could have more play dates like this! Thank you Mother Nature for such warm weather and thank you Lauren for the break from reality. It was fun!

Our get-a-way to the Daytona 500

Last weekend we had some more special visitors. Grandpa & Grandma Fosdick came from CA to visit and watch Parker over the weekend so Patrick and I could get-a-way down to FL for a trip to the Daytona 500. Their visit started out with a fun dinner with my parents, brother and Patrick's parents all enjoying some good laughter and great food!

We left on Friday for FL and left Parker in the very capable hands of Grandpa & Grandma. While we were gone Mother Nature surprised SC with a beautiful snow storm. Luckily Grandma snapped some pictures of Parker's first snow- she said she even snuck him a taste of snow and he loved it! Parker was spoiled (of course) and we felt just as spoiled to finally get to leave town together for the first time since Parker was born!

As you can see the Daytona 500 was quite an experience. It was the first Nascar event for either of us so we had no idea what to expect! We got to go behind the scenes for a garage tour and pit tour before the big race. It was cool to see everything up close and personal- check out the pictures of us signing the start/finish line! We even had special "track scanners" that alllow you to listen in to your favorite driver and their spotter throughout the race.

We can not thank Grandma and Grandpa Fosdick for coming all that way to watch Parker so we could sneak away. It was great to see them and I know Parker LOVED all the attention! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Weekend with the Halpins

We had some visitors this weekend from MN. If you can't tell from the pictures, Patrick's Dad and Step-mom came to see us and get their Parker fix! We had fun going on walks, eating lots of yummy food and playing games. Patrick's Dad also helped hang a TV in our bathroom so now I can REALLY relax when I take a bath! Parker was happy as ever so Grandma Sue was able to snap lots of smile pictures!

More pictures from our Christmas photo shoot

We finally got the rest of our Christmas card photos back from the photographer. We love them! If any of you here in the upstate need a photographer Julia Cunningham is amazing! Creative, patient, sweet and SO TALENTED!

Parker and Harper sitting in a tree...

On Friday when I picked Parker up I was informed that our little man has a girlfriend! His teacher Ms. Issie said it is so cute because Harper and Parker are always together. They hold hands when sitting next to each other in the jumperoos, they try to "kiss" and even have to have their cookies and juice together every afternoon.

My favorite part of the story was when Ms. Issie told me that when Harper's Daddy comes to pick her up he will look at Parker and shake his finger and say, "Ok Mr. Parker, no more chasing after my daughter." Well, I guess Parker just looks up at him with these innocent little eyes and just grins. Can't you just picture this? Too cute!