10 and 11 months

O---kaaay, hurry and snap your pic, mom....
 

Lexi at 10 months!



11 months:

Getting a picture of her by these cute signs that my sweet friend Lichelle emailed me has gotten next to impossible. I have about a 3 second window to take a picture before she tackles them! She is definitely an on-the-go, busy little girl!

Still a thumbsucker (like her big sis!) and still a tiny little miss! I'm hoping that by her 1 year appt she'll be at least 15 lbs, but with her never-ceasing crawl strolls, (and the fact that she's - and our whole household-  been super sick this week and she doesn't want to eat), I'm afraid she's not going to hit the mark.
 Maybe if she eats her whole birthday cupcake here in a few weeks...but it's going to be close! :)
 

(wearing one of Emmie's old dresses)

 These pics (above) catch a tiny glimpse of her cute, irresistable personality. Her countenance is such a sweet one, but she's also got such funny little sense of humor. She is constantly teasing me and trying to make me laugh! I crave to be with her when I'm home away without her.
She is a constant jabberer and loves to be heard. Whether it's baby babble or actual words, she likes to put her two cents in. In her 10th and 11th months she has added a few new words to her vocab..."Baby"-she loves to point out other babies (even when they are older "babies" than her) and looves baby dolls. "Dake do" (thank you), "Nigh-nigh", "Eyes" (as she pokes her own eye out or whomever is holding her), & she signs "more" for food. She is still constantly repeating "doddy" for the dog (every time she hears the dog bark or sees an animal it's a "doddy"), and her cheerful high-pitched greeting of "Hieeee", each time she sees someone never gets old. She rolls her tongue when she cries, making a vibrating noise. Parker made a similar noise when he was a baby.

She waves "Bye bye", and loooooves to play peek a boo. She isn't standing on her own yet but will stand up against a couch or the crib with some help.

Sisters!!! How lucky are they to have each other?!?!

 

 

And this cute threesome... I love these babies so so much!

This  last year has flown by.
Honestly, I can't keep up and I can't believe this pic was just a year ago:

 I'm still spinning from the whirl wind it was.

 It seems like this was just last month that I had those

big round cheeks and big round belly.

And now, in just 2 weeks, my cute baby turns 1!

Ahoy Mateys! P's 6th Birthday party!

 Right after his dinosaur birthday party last year, Parker reported to me that for his sixth bday party he wanted a PIRATE PARTY.
 And so, from that moment, the planning began.
A year ago.
 Er, better phrasing might be "the party pestering" began. We would be at a store, and Parker would say, "Moooom, why aren't you buying stuff for my pirate party? We need to get stuff for my party!". Or we'd be at home and he'd ask, "Mooooom, why aren't you making my pirate party decorations?". I would gently remind him that we still had a good 7,8, even 9 months to go until his birthday...
but he was on the countdown and he had grand plans for his big event!
Alas, July eventually rolled around and it really was time to get moving on the party plans.
No pressure, right?!



First went out the invitations.
To say he was ecstatic to deliver them would be an understatement.
Presenting...


CAPTAIN PARKER!
The day had finally arrived and he couldn't wait!

Here he is with his 11 member crew! I have to say they were just about the cutest pirate buccaneers around. Buuuut, I might be biased. :)
 First off we read one of Parker's favorite books, "How I Became A Pirate", and with an exagerrated and chorused "ARGHH!" here and an "AYE" there, they really got into their new identities! They were quite impressive! :)

The pirate attire!
As all the guests arrived, they transformed into mini Jack Sparrows with a bandana, an eye patch, and a sash to hold their swords (the swords had nametags so we could keep them straight). Yo Ho, Yo Ho A Pirates Life for Me was playing in the background. :)

 

Parker requested (months in advance) that pizza be served as the grub.
Aye, aye, Captain!
They also had canon balls (cheese balls), the Catch of the Day (swedish fish), Shark's blood (red Squeeze It's) and Pirate's Rope (Twizzlers). Very well rounded meal. It was okay though, because, afterall, they were PIRATES!

Of course they had to go on a treasure hunt!
 We are so lucky to have so many of P's buddies live right by us - as in both sides next door, and right across the street! So for the treasure hunt, the clues led them to some of the friend's yards, which made it much more exciting. I have to say, it was pretty darn cute seeing this crew run excitedly in character from clue to clue with their swords drawn and eye patches in place.
I love these little boys pirates!
 They were pretty thrilled to actually dig up the buried treasure (hidden in a pile of dirt that we happened to have on the side of our house).
 

Next up was an obstacle course complete with tunnels, walking the plank, blowing  paper boats across the water, a spinning stunt and a soccer goal. Emmie and Aunt B (who was sooo nice to help us out that day! Thank you thank you!), were the hungry crocodiles (I found croc hats at the dollar store!) waiting for unfortunate mateys to lose their balance on the planks.

Last of all, we had presents, a pinata (a must for my kids) and, of course, cake! (Thanks Costco! I owe the cute bakery lady for doing such an awesome job and making this cake custom at my pleading request..)

The matey's all took home these party favors
(plus their "treasures" and pinata bags).

 

Honestly, the party went great! I was sooo grateful that it all came together, for how smoothly it went, that the kiddos had fun, and most importantly of all that my cute little Pirate Captain had a great swashbuckling time at his much-anticipated event!
As for me, I needed a nap for the following 3 weeks, but hey, I would do it all again to make my sweet Pirate happy! Happy Birthday my Cute Pirate Parker!

 

Let the parties begin...

The birthday extravaganzas are finally coming to a close around here....
For a minute.
So now that I HAVE a minute, it seems like a good time to catch up on recording some of them! :)
The day after Parker's friend party, ( post of which is coming soon!), we had the Hansens over for a little celebration.
We surprised the Birthday Boy with this that day:


He had worn out his Buzz Light Year (ahem, piece of junk) bike from the year before, so this was his birthday request. His only requirement was that it be his favorite color, RED (2nd choice was orange). It took some serious searching around for a good quality RED bike, & thankfully Chris found this one at the last minute.
 It was a hit!
After racing it up and down the street for a few minutes, I asked him if he liked it.
He told me, "NO, I LOVE it!!!".  

I didn't do much for this party...all my birthday efforts went into his party the day before and I was just ready for a nap by the time this one rolled around! Apparently a few others were ready for one too... hence the THREE nappers in the pics above. Ha! I love it. I don't blame them, I would have been snoozing too if I could have. Parker loves this crew. They were nice to come out in honor of his bday. We barbequed and I even reused the 2/3 leftover cake from his friend party the day before. Call me tacky. I don't even care. :) Why make more to just be wasted?
 No thanks...

And since we all happened to have coordinating outfits on we had to take a family picture!

The next morning was Parker's actual birthday. Here he is opening his gifts in his jams before Dad had to run to work and the rest of us were off to church. 

That night we were off to Grandpa Todd's for yet another birthday celebration, complete with new Baby Jack in attendance, a Spiderman cake, and the the dart game!

Just a few of his awesome gifts... I love the girl's faces - they say it all!

On Monday, Chris' day off, we went on our family birthday outting. For the past few years, we have gone to Boondocks for P's big day, but this year we decided to try out a  new place - Planet Play. It was pretty fun and the mini bowling was a hit!

Yep, we pretty much celebrated his birthday for four days straight! We might be crazy. And tired. :) But, he looks forward to his birthday all year so I don't mind making a big deal out of it. After all HE IS a big deal.
I can't believe he is SIX!
We are so blessed to have him in our family & we love him so much!