Parker Opens His Presents:)

Parker with all his presents.
He loved his big number 1 balloon.

He was proud of himself when he ripped the paper.

Baylor was a big helper.

Parker worked really hard.

He got so many nice gifts. Lots of fun new toys and great new books.

Parker is lucky to have two big brothers who are always there to help.

He loves all of his new presents!

After a big nap Parker was ready to open his presents. He was excited about all the colorful paper, bags, and tissue paper. He had fun opening them with the help of his big brothers. He loved all of his new toys and had fun playing with them.

Parker's First Birthday Party

The sweet birthday boy with his banner.
He liked the reindeer hat.

I am so thankful for him!

Our family on Parker's special day.

Yummy!

Wearing his party hat.

We celebrated Parker's first birthday today. It was such a fun and special day for our little one who is turning one. When we woke up this morning everything was covered in white and was so pretty. Thankfully the roads were not too bad and everyone was still able to come and celebrate with us. Since Parker's birthday is so close to Christmas we had it a little early. It was a reindeer/gingerbread theme and it all turned out so cute. We had an elf do face painting. The kids got Rudolph noses, antlers, or Santa faces painted. They looked so cute. She also made great balloons for them. I loved the reindeer hats and the Santa beards. For lunch we had Kopper Kettle and it was quite delicious. Our boys were very happy with chicken legs. After lunch the elf did a little magic show that the kids loved. They also made a few Christmas crafts and played three games. Parker was so cute with his cake. At first he wasn't quite sure, but once he took a taste he was smacking his lips and digging in. He was smashing his fingers all through the cake and had it everywhere. He had his own little smash cake that he truly did destroy. His big cake was so adorable. I loved it!!! We had a great time celebrating Parker and his sweet first year of life. He is such a blessing and truly brings us so much joy. We are so thankful for him and feel so blessed to have him in our family. It was so nice to be able to celebrate him with our family and friends. He was tired by the end of the party so we took his presents home. He fell asleep on the short drive home and did not wake up until after 5:00 pm. A first birthday party is hard work when you are the birthday boy!

Christmas Pics Round Two

We originally had our Christmas pictures taken earlier in November. When we got the pictures back I was really disappointed with our choices for Christmas pictures. I loved the outside shots but they looked like fall and not very much like Christmas at all. Thankfully my talented friend Rachel was able to get us in two days later and we took pictures at her studio and a Christmas tree farm. They turned out so cute! I am so glad we tried again. Rachel is a great photographer and is great with the kids. Cooper had a great time and was all smiles. He is the hard one to get in the picture right now and she has some adorable ones of him. Here are a few I love! If you are wanting to get pictures taken I would definitely recommend Rachel. Check out her blog at rachelhuffmanphotography.blogspot.com.

Tyler's Birthday Party at That Fun Place

The laser tag team. Hayley was the winner and beat all the boys!
Don't they look scary:).

Parker sat in his high chair and watched and played with Mammaw and Pappaw the whole time.

Baylor, Cody, and Tyler.

Eating pizza.

Coop won all these tickets at once.

Baylor and Katie.

We have lots of December birthdays in our family and there is always lots to do. We were glad we were able to celebrate with Tyler and Tom's family at That Fun Place. All of the cousins had a great time playing games together. The boys had a wonderful time. All the big kids along with Uncle Joe, Daddy, and Pappaw did laser tag again which was a big hit. They all had a blast. Cooper stayed with me and played games with Aunt Anne and had fun. Happy Birthday Tyler!

Run Run as Fast as you Can...

Baylor and the gingerbread man.
Coop ran right up to him.

Baylor's finished gingerbread house.

He worked so hard and did it all by himself.

This craft was hard for Coop because he wanted to eat all the candy, cereal, pretzels, etc. for the house. I think I told him it wasn't to eat fifty times.

We love the big nutcrackers.

We really love Mimi!!!!

Baylor loved the green castle.

Parker loved the Little People house.

How cute is this!

Mimi and I loved the Queen of Hearts and her castle.

After school we headed to Conner Prairie for a gingerbread man class. All of the gingerbread houses are on display so we checked them all out before class. They are so amazing! There are so many neat ones this year. The boys loved the Little People house and the big cup of hot chocolate. In class we read a story, made a gingerbread house, did a little puppet game, sang and danced with the gingerbread man, and had a snack. When class was over all the kids went to look at the houses and vote on their favorites. It was a great class that was really sweet:).

Baylor's First Time to See the Nutcracker Ballet

Baylor held his Nutcracker during the show.

He was a little shy to get his picture taken with the Sugarplum Fairy and Nutcracker Prince. I think he would've preferred to have the Mouse King and Nutcracker.

Mimi and Baylor with his new blue nutcracker.

My date for the night.

He was excited to wear his nutcracker shirt.

Baylor by the big tree.

One of Mimi's favorite things to do during the holiday season is to go see the Nutcracker Ballet. Lucky for me I usually get to go with her. She has been waiting to be able to take Baylor and this was his year to get to go. He loves nutcrackers and has quite the collection. Baylor and Cooper like to pretend at home to be the nutcracker and the mouse king and battle. They love to listen to the nutcracker music and watch Tom and Jerry Nutcracker. Baylor loves to play the music on the nutcracker ornaments and dance to them. He was so excited to go and it was a special treat to have Mimi and Mommy all to himself for the night. He did great through the show and loved it. His favorite part was when the Nutcracker and Mouse king fight, he loved the swords. He said he wants to go back every year. Mimi brought him a special present which was a glitter nutcracker and she bought him one there too. We all enjoyed the show and had fun together.

Circus Fun with Friends

We were all ready.

Baylor as a clown.

Miss Gigi is so funny and absolutely adorable.

Parker was a big fan of the cotton candy.

The blue icee really turned their lips blue, we had to scrub to get it off.

Daddy and Baylor.

All five kiddos at intermission.

Parker loved the circus. He was dancing and waving and did great the entire time.

Coop sat by Gigi part of the time. She was nice enough to share her popcorn with him.

Andi is such a great friend!

It was a great show!

A few years ago Andi and I decided instead of continuing to buy gifts for all the kids our families would do something fun together. This year the circus was in town in December so we decided to all go together. The kids have such a great time together and loved the circus. It was a great night and so much fun to be with great friends. Thanks Andi, Baron, Addi, and Gigi for a great time at the greatest show on earth.