Life With the Parks

2 Months Old

2012-01-14T13:24:00.000-06:00

Happy 2 Month Birthday, Ellory!

On January 2nd, Ellory turned two months old! She is going to school now and has the same teachers that Jemma had in that room which is a big comfort for us. School wore her out the first few days and she was so sleepy when she got home but I think that she is getting more used to it.

At her 9 week doctor's appointment, she weighed 9 pounds 2 ounces and was 22 inches long (she is in the 10th percentile). By comparison, at Jemma's 9 week appointment, she was 10 pounds 11 ounces so Ellory is definitely our little bit! She is still in 3 months size clothing, eats about 20 ounces of formula per day and sleeps from about 9 pm until 6:30 am. She loves to be swaddled and still is not a fan of being cold. She has such a sweet face and we love snuggling with her! She is such a joy!

8 Weeks Old

2012-01-01T10:56:00.000-06:00

Last week was Ellory's 8 week birthday which means that going back to work is just around the corner for me. . quite literally, tomorrow. I am so sad to leave her but am glad that Tae will be home with her for another week before she starts going to school. She is still swimming in most of her 0-3 month clothes and we'll find out her actual height and weight this week at her doctor's appointment. She wears size 1 diaper and eats about every 3 - 4 hours during the day. She goes to bed around 10 pm and wakes up around 6-7:00 usually. She loves to be swaddled at night and still hates to be cold. She is starting to smile a lot more and make sweet cooing noises. She is just so precious!

A Day at the Zoo

2011-12-28T12:39:00.000-06:00

The Tuesday after Christmas we decided to pack up and head to the Houston Zoo for what would be the girls' first outing there. For Ellory this makes sense, but we couldn't really figure out why Jemma had been deprived so far! A superstar has to look her best at all times!

Momo and Pop met us there and we got all bundled up for the day. Well, I might have been the bad mom that forgot Jemma's coat but luckily Pop lent her his to wrap around her in the wagon. She loved seeing all of the animals and spent a lot of time marveling over them (even if sometimes she got just as excited over regular birds just flying around in the zoo).

She and Daddy ventured into a pygmy house in the new African exhibit.

And while we paid to feed lettuce to the giraffe, she wasn't too keen on him. She preferred riding this camel instead!

She also liked brushing the goats in the petting zoo and each goat needed his or her own brush and then got exactly one swipe before moving on.

Ellory also enjoyed her time at the zoo sleeping in her stroller but needed to get out to see the elephants before we left!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-27T16:32:00.001-06:00

Now that Christmas has come and gone in normal whirlwind fashion, here are some of our highlights. I made these for Jemma's teachers (source: Skip to My Lou) and made a few cookie trays for friends and her school. It wasn't the normal cookie production around here but Ellory was a good helper!

We made gingerbread houses with some friends. . .

even if Jemma was only interested in eating off the candy!

We made some cookies for Christmas Eve and Jemma loved stirring the batter. I kept having to monitor her to make sure she didn't sample them along the way!

Here are the cookies we made for Santa.

On Christmas Eve, we had our traditional sopapillas which Jemma thought were really yummy!

Both of the girls were really good during church!

Santa brought Jemma a kitchen which she immediately tried to use to wash her hands and was a little disappointed when it didn't turn on. We'll have to work on our pretend hand washing. After a breakfast of Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls, we drove to my parents' house for about a million presents and some fun with them and my Aunt Robin. We had a great meal of beef tenderloin and lots of other great things! Thanks so much for having us and for all of the sweet generous gifts!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

7 Weeks Old

2011-12-27T15:11:00.000-06:00

This cutie mini Mrs. Claus spent her 7 week birthday shopping with Mommy and Momo!

It was a fun day but it wore her out! She needed to take a rest on her zebra.

No Santa

2011-12-19T20:43:00.001-06:00

Last week we waited for Tae to get home from work and got all ready to go see Santa. Jemma had gotten pretty excited about seeing him on TV so I thought it might go better than the hysterical event of last year. Oh, how wrong I was.

She was so enjoying Santa's village and made it through the line unscathed. . .and then it happened. I picked her up to put her on Santa's lap, her body went completely stiff and she started screaming like a banshee. The only thing that was missing was Santa kicking her in the forehead with his boot a la A Christmas Story (Ho . .Ho . . Ho). At that point we tried several more times but she just kept saying "No Santa, no Santa!"

Maybe next year. . .

Saturday we visited the Old Katy Christmas Festival that had 175,000 pounds of snow or something like that. The small patch of "snow" didn't seem like that much but who am I to doubt their measurement? Jemma enjoyed picking up the snow and chunking it into the enclosure.

And going back a night, we drove to Alvin to see the Christmas train. A church down there has a camp and they set up a train through lights. . .I think they boast 175,000 lights. . .yes, like the 175,000 pounds of snow . . . maybe I'm getting my numbers confused . . .who knows?! Anyway, Jemma and her cousin Ethan thought the train was fun!

She had her golden ticket and was ready to hop on!

Choo Choo, All Aboard!

Ellory and I bundled up in the seat in front and, to be honest, I think I saw 12 of the 175,000 lights because I was taking pictures of this sweet face! Sweet Christmas memories!

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

2011-12-16T12:35:00.000-06:00

I like to think that I'm pretty crafty but when it comes to sewing I come to a grinding halt. I think it just intimidates me but watch out for this year's New Year's resolutions because I am determined to conquer the sewing machine. Anywho, I hand sewed some ornaments this year and thought they were pretty cute!

Tilt your head to the left. I swear that I rotated it before I added it and it still won't work, sorry!

Six Weeks Old

2011-12-14T14:29:00.000-06:00

Our precious little bit is six weeks old today!! Where is the time going?!?

Today is Tae's day that he goes to a meeting much closer to home so I woke up at 7:30 this morning and he had just gotten up and both kids were still asleep (that's right, Ellory slept from 10:30-7:30!!). We were so excited that she slept all night, and we'll see if that sticks :)

This cutie was a blur for the camera this morning and this was actually the best picture we could get.

And another pic of Miss Ellory. I know that most of you will think it looks just like the first one, but her facial expression looks different to me!

Pajama Breakfast

2011-12-10T13:28:00.000-06:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year! There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and . . . sweet girls in their pajamas! That's right, it's the annual Christmas pajama breakfast post!

This year the food included chocolate peppermint marshmallow hot chocolate stirrers, hot chocolate (of course), coffee, mimosas, breakfast casserole, blueberry crescents, cheese blintzes, Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls, and cinnamon roll french toast bake.

The table was adorned with traditional Christmas red and green and lots of polka dots.

And I had some festive platters (thanks Aunt Robin for the newest addition)!

This year's party favor was a Christmas tree kitchen towel that my mom and I made. My job was cutting and pinning and hers was the actual sewing. Maybe this coming year will be the year that I actually learn to use my sewing machine!

I also used my Silhouette to make a Christmas banner and some fun food tags.

Three lucky girls won fun prizes, including mommy and me aprons and baking gadgets and cookbook, a fun Christmas baking pan and other baking essentials, and Christmas mugs and plates.

I didn't get very many pictures this year because I was having so much fun talking to sweet friends but here are a few partygoers.. .

And, of course, the shot of all of us. I am getting {somewhat} better with the self timer (notice I didn't include the first blurry one, girls.) We missed those who couldn't make it this year!

I love all of you girls. Thanks for making this tradition so fun!

5 Weeks Old

2011-12-10T13:00:00.000-06:00

This precious little one is now 5 weeks old! She eats 3.5 ounces of formula every 4ish hours and can sometimes go 5-6 hour stretches at night. She is such a precious little bit!

And the parade of Christmas outfits continues. . . sometimes with funny faces . . .

Yesterday we visited the animals at church that are "performing" in this year's Christmas pageant and Jemma finally worked up the courage to somewhat pet the goat. She was also pretty fascinated by the donkey.

Lately she has been so funny with her vocabulary. For instance, when we were watching The Santa Clause about a week ago she saw the little boy and said "That's a boy. I like him. . . . Dude" . .umm, random?!

She also saw a package of two toothbrushes that I bought her and said "This one's Jemma, the blue one's for boys."

I call Ellory "punkin" a lot and the other night she said "Don't cry punkins".

And, the same night she yelled "Oh my gosh!". . umm, maybe I say that too much??

What a funny girl :)

One Month Old and Christmas Prep

2011-12-05T16:25:00.000-06:00

We have been in Christmas countdown mode here and the Christmas outfits have begun. Tae took this picture before school last week and doesn't she just look like a Miss Priss?!

I decorated a small tree for the girls upstairs. What is it about trees that it's so hard to get a good picture? Maybe it's just me! It is a cute pink themed tree with precious ornamnents that my mom picked up at Nutcracker Market for me.

This cutie turned a week old on Friday and we tried a photo shoot. Bless her heart, I forget that she can't sit up yet so she inevitably slumps over onto the sheep :)

And the photo shoot definitely wore her out!

This weekend Jemma got to wear another of her cute outfits. I may have gone a little overboard with Christmas outfits, especially since she can't play in most of them at school. At least she looks cute when we take advantage of them!

This sweet snuggler went to the doctor today and she now weighs 8 pounds 2 ounces. (She was 6 pounds 14 ounces 2 weeks ago!)

And there is lots of sisterly love already. . sometimes a little too much. Jemma's phrase anytime she gets near Ellory is "don't touch head?" She definitely loves her though!

Elf on the Shelf

2011-11-30T13:06:00.000-06:00

Last weekend the Elf on the Shelf made his appearance at our house for the first time of the Christmas season. Our friends Cade and Ella ~~bought~~ adopted Sunni the Elf for us for Jemma's first Christmas and we were excited to see him make his appearance. This year he also brought his friend Buddy with him for a special breakfast.

The elves brought special notes all the way from the North Pole and brought some books for the kiddos along with some special breakfast food!

These little ones had a really great time eating breakfast and watching the Elf on the Shelf movie!

They were also entranced when the letters from the elves were read aloud!

This was so fun and will hopefully continue to be a tradition!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2011-11-28T10:23:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving (a little bit late, yes, I know!) from our family! We had a great time at Momo and Pop's house for turkey day and this little one enjoyed playing outside with the kitties and anything else she could get into. It was relatively cold so Ellory was NOT a huge fan of outside!

Umm, this is not a good sign of trying to get pics of all 4 of us. Ellory is sad, Jemma is trying to escape. . the other "cute one" had Ellory's headband bow covering her eyes!

We also took a pumpkin picture of Miss Ellory. Did you know that stores stop selling pumpkins after Halloween? What if I had wanted to be industrious and roast my own pumpkin for a pie? No, I used the canned stuff like everyone else, but it's the principle of it. Luckily, my parents' pumpkin was still in good condition (unlike ours which had deterioriated into a nasty mess . .I don't even want to talk about the cleanup of that!).

And here is Miss Ellory's 3 week picture! Wide eyes :)

We also broke all of my holiday rules and decorated for Christmas the weekend before Thanksgiving. It sure made for a nice weekend after though! Here is Jemma helping. . apparently this is what happens when Daddy is in charge of the wardrobe.

And Ellory was too sleepy to help. I had to include this picture though because if anyone remembers Jemma's picture in this outfit, she could barely be squeezed into the onesie and it looked like a leotard! It was humongous on Ellory. I know there is a 5 week differential in there but still :) (You can see that post here. . . http://lifewiththeparks.blogspot.com/2009/11/8-weeks-old.html).

And apparently Christmas decorating was too noisy!

We hope you had a fantastic holiday!

Now I Know My ABCs

2011-11-21T15:01:00.000-06:00

I was looking for ways to "jazz up" our playroom (i.e. half of our upstairs gameroom) and have some educational purpose so I mod podged these letters. . sorry that the picture isn't up close but you get the idea. Each one is a different pattern and it will be a fun way for the girls to learn the alphabet. Miss Jemma can now sing all 26 letters of the alphabet song even though every once in a while we miss a few in the middle ;)

Two Weeks Old

2011-11-16T15:45:00.000-06:00

Miss Ellory is now two weeks old and it is hard to imagine what our lives were like without her. We are all still adjusting to the new schedule but she has really been great and goes 3ish hours between feedings. As you all know, I have a super star husband who takes the feeding before he goes to bed and the one right before he would normally wake up and I take the 2 am(ish) one and it has been working out great so far! She eats 3 ounces of formula at a time and loves her food! The one thing she despises is being cold and cries and cries when she is being changed or taking a bath. Maybe it's good for her that we'll be celebrating an 80 degree Thanksgiving at this rate.

This week she spent a lot of sweet snuggly sleep time,

took her first "real" bath,

tried to appease Mommy for a photo shoot {but was just too cold},

and was just a cute, sweet girl!

One Week Old

2011-11-10T11:12:00.000-06:00

This sweet girl turned one week old yesterday. I spend a lot of time just staring at this sweet sleeping face!

We took a one week picture yesterday. Isn't she so tiny?? When we left the hospital, she was down to six pounds five ounces and when we went to the doctor on Tuesday, she was up to six pounds seven ounces. She is a good eater and sleeps for 3-4 hour stretches. She is just like a certain big sister who loved to be held. And who could say no to this sweet face?

Here is a whole chair shot so you can really see how little she is!

And a Jemma update - she got sent home from school yesterday with a 102 fever so Momo and Pop came to the rescue and she has been nursed back to health by them. We are sooo grateful!

Home Sweet Home

2011-11-07T15:31:00.002-06:00

We went home from the hospital on Saturday and after we got all of our discharge papers and they cut off the electronic monitoring system from Ellory's ankle, we were ready to go. I so vividly remember riding home with Jemma in the backseat, a little bit terrified. We now have two car seats back there so Ellory was on her own but she slept through the entire car ride.

Momo and Jemma had picked out balloons for our door to welcome us home!

She has been spending a lot of time sleeping (I really did forget just how much babies sleep) and is a great eater so far. She is just tiny and precious and we love her so much!

And don't forget about big sister, Jemma, who always says "I want to see" and talks about "baby Ellory". Here she is enjoying her favorite fruit snacks. . .which is always followed by a request for "raisins too." :)

Welcome Miss Ellory Kate

2011-11-04T12:14:00.002-05:00

Ellory Kate Park was scheduled to arrive by C section on November 2, 2011 and we were very lucky that everything went smoothly and as anticipated. We checked in at 7:30 am and they asked the million questions and hooked me up to a (rather painful) IV. After that it was the waiting game until I got to go back for the anesthesia. This was Tae's view until after I was all prepped and ready to go!

Once I was all ready to go and Tae came in, the procedure started immediately and she was here by 9:39 am. They let us know that she was perfect and when they showed her to us, I realized just how tiny she is!! I found out while they were doing all of the post surgery "stuff" that she was 6 pounds 11.5 ounces (very close to my guess on the way to the hospital of 6 pounds 12 ounces) and 18.5 inches long. Her head is only 13 inches - have I mentioned how tiny she seems?!? This might be because her sister was almost a full pound bigger and an inch and a half longer. Yet, it still amazes me that despite how tiny she is that she lived in my tummy for the last 39 weeks and 2 days!

She is precious and we are so in love with her already!

Her big sister made her first visit later in the afternoon. Where is the baby???

Oh, there she is!!

She has been very chilly so we're keeping her all bundled up!!

Thanks so much for all of the well wishes, we love you all!!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T13:47:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween from this cutie patootie!

And from her "cheese" face!!

This year Jemma was a bumblebee and, yes, I'm biased, but I think she made the cutest little bumblebee I've ever seen!

She LOVED trick or treating this year and would say "trick or treat", thank the people for the candy, and then quickly yell "I want some more! More candy!" Umm yeah, I think that she loved it!

She got to go around the neighborhood with two of the other cutest animals I've ever seen - Ella and Cade!

Hope you had a great Halloween too!

Halloween Crafts

2011-10-26T17:26:00.000-05:00

Last week I made a cute Halloween wreath that was basically about a million loops of ribbon attached to a wreath form. After my severe hot glue burn this summer, I was a little apprehensive but I was incident free this time. I think that this would be cute for any holiday with different colored ribbon but you have to block out quite a few hours for gluing. It also helps if you have a toddler enthusiastically say "Mommy did it" after every ribbon you glue on :)

One More Week!

2011-10-26T17:19:00.000-05:00

I have been terrible about taking or posting pictures with this pregnancy. It was just SO hot all summer that I never wanted to have my picture taken in Nike shorts and then I just kept forgetting! Anyway, here is a picture from the end of last week and we are officially one week away from becoming a family of 4.

And here are a few pics of her room. I took these at night so the lighting is terrible but you'll get the general idea. I made a little "artwork" for her table and I made the pink lampshade instead of paying the bazillion dollars for the Pottery Barn one :) She definitely won't have any problem knowing her name as I have it everywhere in there. My sweet mom did a great job on her cute bedding. Can't wait to meet her in a week!

It's a Fairy!!

2011-10-22T19:28:00.001-05:00

We attended such a cute fairy themed party tonight! Our friend Kathlene did such a fantastic job and we had lots of fun!

Each of the girls got fairy wings, a wand, and a tutu (we'd worn a tutu to the party so we saved ours to play with later).

She did a great job decorating and with fairy food!

I made some butterfly cookies for the birthday girl.

And she even made toadstool seats!!

Thanks for having us!!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-22T14:16:00.000-05:00

This sweet girl made her annual visit to the pumpkin patch last weekend and was much more fascinated by picking up pumpkins this time than posing for pictures. We were lucky to get a few good shots though!

Pumpkin Cake

2011-10-07T15:00:00.000-05:00

I made this cake from the Dear Lillie blog yesterday for our small group and it seemed to be a hit so I thought I'd share it!

Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

1 (18.5 oz) yellow cake mix

1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix

1 (15 or 16 oz) can of pumpkin

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup water

3 eggs

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup pecans (optional)

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour either a 10 or 12 cup Bundt Pan. In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients except for pecans. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes, then increase speed to medium/high for another three minutes. If you are adding nuts, stir them in. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool for ten minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.

Glaze

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. butter, softened

2 to 4 Tbsp. milk

In medium bowl, mix sugar, and butter. Gradually add milk until desired consistency. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

2011-09-28T20:05:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday was Jemma's 2nd birthday and it is absolutely unbelievable to me how quickly the time is going. I know I say that constantly but it's absolutely true!

She got lots of fun presents from sweet friends and one of the favorites was from my parents - it's a rocking horse whose tail moves and he whinnies. "My pony, my pony" can be heard often in our house these days!

Here is the birthday girl with her birthday cupcake (thanks Poppy T) in our front yard. She thought it was so funny to hide behind too!

We had a dinner out (where Jemma might have eaten nothing but french fries and tomatoes. . can you say odd appetite?) and Daddy brought a yummy cupcake from Sprinkles with her favorite, marshmallows, under the frosting!

In other news, Jemma has been sleeping in her big girl bed for about 3 weeks now (let me clarify that that means a full size mattress on the floor because her bed frame hasn't come in yet) and she LOVES it. Like in so many things with parents, I was terrified that she wouldn't sleep and that she would hate the transition but she has absolutely thought it was the best thing ever. I guess she loves having the extra room so that her legs don't get stuck in the crib slats. She thinks that room is great and I am SO excited about that!

She is in size 2T clothing for the most part and a size 6 shoe. She is still in a size 4 diaper but we are debating Pull Ups because they prefer them at school. Right now potty training is just an adventure in that she loves to sit on the potty but isn't interested in much else. It will come when she's ready. She sleeps from 7 pm to about 6:30 am during the week when she has to get up for school. She loves fruit and is obsessed with mandarin oranges and raspberries in particular. She loves books, balloons (it was a sad day when she stopped calling them balaloons), and the ABCs. She can sing the entire ABC song and can count to 10 (I can't remember if I've already written about this but she counts to 10 but always skips the 6 - eh, who needs it?). She also loves singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and the bumblebee song (I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee. . . ). After she's done she either says "Hooray" or "I did it."

She likes to do front tumbles (ever since we took gymnastics this summer) and she says "Daddy turn" or "Daddy flip" and then tries to do it with me but she doesn't quite understand that 8 1/2 months pregnant and flipping doesn't work so well.

Her "chore" that she's decided she wants to do is feed Bailey in the mornings. She doesn't always understand to stop at 2 cups but she loves doing it. She is so sweet with hugs and kisses and says "I lub u" to us all the time.

She is such a sweet joy and we are so blessed to be her parents!

Look Whooo is 2

2011-09-17T21:31:00.000-05:00

Jemma's 2nd birthday party was today and it is SO hard to believe that she will be two years old in just a few short days! Her party theme was "Look Whooo is 2" and we had lots of owl details. The party took place at our church's playland and we were so glad it was someplace indoors because we FINALLY got some rain after months and months without so it was nice to have some place for the kids to play out of the elements.

We had lots of owl details, including cupcakes with fondant owl toppers and owl food signs for each of the items. I also made chocolate covered Oreos with chocolate transfer sheets so they each had pink polka dots on top!

Tortilla roll ups were also on the menu, as were Chick Fil A nuggets. I also made toothpick toppers for the guests to pick up their food with ease (personalized with a "J" of course).

Chocolate owl pops were also on the menu (think chocolate Easter bunnies but in the shape of an owl).

And, what is a party without decorated sugar cookies?

This year's paper crafts included laminated water bottle labels,

centerpieces,

treat bags and notes for guests, and the name and pennant banner on the food tables. Tae also made some decorative owls out of styrofoam balls and felt. He's so crafty!

The birthday girl had lots of fun and everyone went home with a precious owl favor bag. Thanks to everyone who attended the festivities!

It's Fall. . .

2011-09-15T07:44:00.000-05:00

. . .at my house, at least! My friend Lindy and I have a very important rule that states that you can start putting up fall decorations on September 1. Now I realize that the actual beginning of fall is September 22 - another very important birthday in our house - but I like to believe that it comes a little earlier. Living in Texas my whole life, you would think that I would now understand that it will not be cool when fall officially arrives, nor will it really be cool on my birthday at the end of October, and, God willing, I won't have to wear shorts on Thanksgiving, but in my head, I like to think that September hits and it's nice outside. We have been lucky to have a break from the 108 degree temperatures (which this 8 months pregnant lady would like to send up a big hallelujah for) at least!

Fall means so many fun things. . .

Beautiful colors

Cute sweaters and boots

Yummy drinks

Frito pie dinners

and my fall addiction of pumpkin related food . .most specifically right now. . .

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

1/2 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. canned pumpkin
1 egg (I left this out on the first post-sorry!!!)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
2 1/2 c. flour
1 small bag chocolate chips

Cream the shortening and sugar, add vanilla and pumpkin, mix well. Add dry ingredients with flour last. Mix in chocolate chips.
{I realize that most recipes would tell you to mix all of the dry things first then add slowly, but does anyone ever actually do that?}
Bake on a greased cookie sheet (or parchment paper) at 375 for 10 minutes.

**Disclaimer: Tae also really liked the addition of pecans but I was iffy about it - you decide what you like best!

What do you like best about fall?

A is for ...Artichoke?

2011-09-03T13:52:00.001-05:00

This week we had a social for our small group and we visited the new Black Walnut Cafe. If you have been to the Rice Village location, the one out here is much bigger so it's nice to not worry about seating. All of our food was great and Jemma became friends with food....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Photo Previews

2011-08-29T10:41:00.000-05:00

Our amazing photographer, Lisa Woods, sent us our photo sneak peeks last week and they sure are precious! If you're ever in Austin (or decide to leave your house at 5:00 am to take pics and be back for a 1:00 school meeting), she's totally worth it!!

Someone had her sassy face on that day!

I didn't necessarily want bare "belly shots" but it appears that a certain little someone didn't mind!

. . .and a little close-up of Miss Ellory :)

Lisa's photo website is http://www.nowandthenphotography.com/.

First Day of School

2011-08-23T19:44:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my first day of school and Jemma's first day in the "big kid" classroom. She moved up and joined a lot of kids that had been in her earlier rooms but had moved earlier. She has absolutely loved it so far and I cannot believe how fast she is growing up. She has napped without the paci (one thing we've learned is that she's all about peer pressure so she hasn't decided to give it up at bedtime yet) and is so sweet and helpful. Her teachers in the other room were sad to see her go because they said she was such a good helper; I'm hoping that will bode well when the baby comes!

She is such a cute girl! One of my favorite things that she says right now is "balaloon" for balloon and she loves some balaloons! One of my other favorite things that she says is "come on" to Tae or I and "1,2,3. . jump". She also still loves "turns" and always says "Mommy's turn, Daddy's turn, Jemma's turn" to do everything. She is at such a fun age!

Water Baby

2011-08-14T07:10:00.001-05:00

This weekend we had our annual reunion with some of Tae's friends from college. 8 adults, 6 kids and the number keeps growing. We missed everyone who couldn't attend and want to thank our host family!

One thing is for sure...this little one loves the water!

She had a fishing lesson

and spent lots of time floating with Daddy!

And now it's back to school for Jemma and I!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Water Fun

2011-08-10T10:35:00.001-05:00

Here's one way to cool off this summer!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

22 Months

2011-08-08T15:54:00.000-05:00

Jemma is 22 months old and so absolutely precious. She melts my heart every day with her sweet kisses and loving nature. She loves to give kisses to us, her toys, and even the pictures in her books. Her favorite thing right now is "turns". When she's taking a bath, she'll say "Mommy turn" and rub my arm with soap and the same with Tae. She also loves to tumble so she'll say "Daddy turn" and wait for him to do a flip before she does hers. She sings "Twinkle Twinkle," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," and the "ABCs". Granted, some of them are missing some words here and there, but she's pretty good! She is adorable and I am so in love with her!!

She also has a very "distinct" cheese face :)

She can also put on her own shoes . .even on the correct feet . . .better than me sometimes!

It is hard to believe that she is almost 2! What a blessing she is every day!

Forecast: Sprinkle

2011-08-08T15:30:00.000-05:00

It might have been almost 200 days since we've had significant rain in Houston (or some other ridiculously long amount of time), but the forecast last Saturday was definitely "sprinkle." Five of my sweet, amazing friends got together and hosted a sprinkle for me (and baby girl #2).

**For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it is a "shower" for a second or subsequent child . .cute, huh?

The party was at my dear friend Courtney's house and everything was decorated beautifully! The girls did such an amazing job with all of the details!

These truffles were unbelievably detailed; it's hard to see from my bad photo but there is a baby on top of one, shoes, umbrellas, etc. and some of them even had her name on them! This lady is so talented!

The sweet girls dressed for "sprinkle" weather.

I got so many amazingly cute gifts, many of them personalized, and all of them SO cute and tiny!! It's so hard to believe we'll have another baby that small in about 12 weeks.

Thank you to everyone who attended this special event!

Winnie the Pooh

2011-07-22T12:45:00.001-05:00

...because he's Winnie the Pooh, silly lil' cubbie all stuffed with fluff....

This little one loved her first movie date with her friend Mazie and, surprisingly (to me), sat through the whole thing and loved it!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Playing Catch Up

2011-07-11T12:51:00.000-05:00

My computer is back in my hands and is working great (knock on wood) after some minor hiccups and a few trips back and forth to the computer repair shop. I might have baked them a cake at the end because they ended up having to really look for one of my viruses that was redirecting every page I visited. They told me I had hundreds of viruses and spyware; apparently my antivirus was a fake corrupt something or other. Who knows?!?

Anyway, I realized that because my computer had some issues, I haven't really put pics up since March!! I will not bore you with every single event that happened between then and now but here are a few of my faves! That being said, this is a bit of a picture overload, so get ready :)

Bluebonnets in Liberty

The Easter Bunny came to visit this cute girl!

Froggies like to swim . .a lot!

. . .we promptly lost these cute glasses but she was a superstar while they lasted

We had some sweet friends over for Memorial Day and they had a great time playing in the water and eating hamburgers and macaroni and cheese.

Pigtails. Need I say more?!?

Tae's parents brought these for Jemma at some point. The ears/bow/whatever they are light up and she thinks they're hilarious!

If you're happy and you know it. . .

Daddy's girl for sure!

Thanks for visiting our last few months in quick review!!

Junior Firefighter

2011-07-06T15:29:00.001-05:00

A few weekends ago we went to a friend's very cute 3rd birthday party at the fire museum in downtown Houston. Our sweet friend Kathlene did a great job (as always) and everything was precious!

The kids got to try on firefighter gear, play in a firetruck, and hear all about fire safety.

Jemma had so much fun!

I love this picture because I feel like she's looking at me like I've said something really interesting. Pretty sure I told her to say "cheese"....not so profound.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

6 years

2011-07-05T15:48:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago Tae and I celebrated our six year anniversary. His brother and his wife kept Jemma for the day and we went out to eat, shopping, and to dinner. It was really a day full of eating!!

Tae also had 6 envelopes for me and there were choices along the way (so that I could open 3). The first was a wood item (traditional 6 year gift), the second was a night out, and the third was a designer purse-so fun!

Did I mention that all we did was eat?? Seriously, we went to Pappa's Burger....

Sprinkles...

And dinner at Brenner's where I was so full I could only order macaroni and cheese and didn't eat most of it. They really have great mac and cheese though.

Meanwhile, this cutie spent the day with her cousin at the Hermann Park train, eating ice cream, and going to the splash pad.

...and then she slept until after 9 am the next day!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

MIA

2011-07-05T15:32:00.001-05:00

I know it seems as though I've fallen off the face of the earth, but my computer has been broken. I picked it up from being repaired and it's still broken so it's going back today. I am going to attempt to use this app to get caught up:)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Decorating Dilemmas

2011-06-08T14:00:00.001-05:00

If it's summer at our house, it can mean only one thing...too much free time to look at decorating and craft blogs. I am currently trying to decide how to decorate Jemma's big girl room and am trying to decide between pink, gray, and white or purple, gray, and white. So many decisions! What are your thoughts?

It's A.......

2011-05-29T15:40:00.000-05:00

We are excited to announce that we will be welcoming a {healthy} baby girl in November!! that's right, Jemma will have a sister in just a few short months.

Let me start off by saying that healthy is obviously huge for us and go on to say that I have really debated whether or not to share what I am about to but have decided to post it because I wish that I had someone else's experience to go on through the last few weeks. Let me also say to our friends and family who have had no idea this was going on, please do not be upset with us with the lack of information. I literally could not bring myself to talk about it for those 3 weeks.

After my 12 week ultra screen and blood test, about a week went by and I hadn't heard the results so I figured everything was okay and kind of forgot about it. On a Wednesday afternoon close to 5:00 (on a night where I was making breakfast for about 70 students for our AP exam), I got a call from my OB. She proceeded to tell me that we had a 1:91 chance of Down syndrome and the cutoff for a "negative screen" is somewhere around 1:230. I immediately started sobbing and called Tae and then one of my very best friends who is a genetic counselor. She talked me off the ledge and started explaining that it was just an increased risk, not anything definitive. She also explained that meant there was a 99% chance that everything would be fine. The other reassuring information for us was that the nuchal translucency numbers were normal. As time went on, we were scheduled for genetic counseling, a higher level ultrasound, and an amniocentesis. The bad part (besides the fear)? I would have to wait 3 weeks for the test.

The time finally came and I had the procedure done and then waited anxiously for the results. The ultrasound results were normal so we were just waiting on the actual amnio results. The call came this last Thursday that everything is "normal" from the chromosomal results and that it is a girl. I came back into my 4th period on the verge of tears and told them the gender. Then I realized I told them before Tae so we called and they left him a group voicemail.

We are so grateful for the good news and thankful for our friends in the genetic world who provided so much valuable information. Most of all, we are grateful that God is gracing us with another healthy girl.

Now we're on the name hunt! We'll keep you updated!!

Jemma Would Like to Announce . . .

2011-05-09T19:09:00.007-05:00

. . .that there is a bun in the oven!

That's right ladies and gentlemen, a new Park baby will be making an appearance in November 2011.

Photo idea courtesy of my sweet friend Annalee.

Aquarium Fun

2011-03-13T21:02:00.003-05:00

This weekend Tae was supposed to take a boys' trip but ended up having a last minute change of plans. We were excited to have him home and decided to take a trip the Aquarium. Jemma loves making fish faces so we thought she would think it was fun and we were right!

She was prepared in her fishy dress and ready to go!!

She loved waving at all of the fish and saying "Hi" while making fish faces!

How priceless is this look on her face?!

Oddly enough, the Aquarium also has a tiger exhibit. Jemma liked watching the tiger walk back and forth until it jumped up on the glass and scared the begeezus out of all of the people watching!

Afterwards we rode the carousel, took a train through the shark exhibit, and she and Tae rode the ferris wheel. She thought that was so fun; she is much more of a daredevil than her mom!

Afterwards we ate at a place called Beaver's recommended by our friend Annalee. I have to say that they had some pretty good macaroni and cheese! We'd definitely recommend the restaurant!

We are excited about this week of Spring Break!

What a Big Girl!

2011-02-28T17:57:00.002-06:00

Jemma is getting to be such a big girl!

She loves Chick-Fil-A waffle fries!

Her hair is long enough for some pig tails!
And she's all ready for the rodeo!

The Help

2011-02-23T11:49:00.003-06:00

Recently a book club that I am involved in read The Help by Katheryn Stockett. I really enjoyed the book and found these discussion questions, some of which we covered in our group.

1. Who was your favorite character? Why?

I would say that this would be a tie between Celia and Johnny because she was so sweet to Minny and tried so hard. She struggled with being popular and never feeling like she was good enough because of the horrible mistreatment by all of the girls in the cliques. As if that wasn't enough, she couldn't have children and felt like a disappointment but her husband just wanted her to be happy. I also really appreciated the way that she treated Minny, primarily because she was her only real friend, something that was hard for Minny to understand because she wasn't used to a white person wanting to be her friend. Her husband was so supportive and sweet to Celia throughout the book and even to Minny (who he knew about all along).

2. What do you think motivated Hilly? On the one hand, she was terribly cruel to Aibileen and her own help, as well as to Skeeter once she realizes that she can't control her. Yet she's a wonderful mother. Do you think that someone can be a good mother and, at the same time, a very flawed person?

I really disliked Hilly throughout the book so it was hard for me to even say that she was a good mother. Yes, she was one of the only characters who cared to spend time with her children in a positive way (especially in comparison with Elizabeth), but she was so unbelievably bigoted that I do not believe that she would set a good example for her children. I felt like she was just a younger version of Skeeter's mother. When Skeeter's mother banned Constantine from speaking to her daughter, she set forth a terrible example and, ultimately, lost some of her daughter's respect.

3. How much of a person's character would you say is shaped by the times in which they live?

I think that a great deal of a person's character is shaped by the time in which they live. In my English classes we just completed Frankenstein and we discuss nature versus nurture, cloning, and several other hot button issues. One of the things that we discussed a lot is that even if you clone someone, he or she is going to be a completely different person because the time frame in which he live will provide completely different influences.

In reference to The Help, it would be interesting to see if Skeeter would still be the type of person who would stand up for the right thing in such a remarkable way if these were not the types of obstacles that she saw. In addition, I believe that characters like Hilly would still seek to gain control of those around her in order to make her feel better about herself by putting others down.

4. Did it bother you that Skeeter was willing to overlook so many of Stuart's faults so that she can get married, and it's not until he literally gets up and walks away that the engagement falls apart?

In true romantic fashion, this did not bother me because I, like Skeeter, was hoping that he would change and that he wouldn't really be just like his father and that his love for her would overcome his prejudices. In the end, he was, just as his ex-fiancee said, more concerned about his father's image than his own happiness. I certainly hope that Skeeter found someone in New York who was more willing to accept her for who she really was!

5. Do you think that if Aibileen had continued to work for Elizabeth that Mae Mobley would have grown up to be racist like her mother? Do you think racism is inherent or taught?

I would like to think that she would not have grown up to be a racist. I believe that Elizabeth was a racist, but more than that, she was very much influenced by her friends. The scene in which the reporter discusses the book on television doesn't resonate with her about the racism at all but she is extremely concerned about the woman's appearance and style of dress. Aibileen did everything that she could to convince Mae Mobley of her self worth and ultimate potential. I like to think that she would be a little more like Skeeter, especially because she would grow up in the time of racism but also in a great time of change. Aibileen, however, felt as though this always happened to her charges which is why she bounced around from family to family. She hated to see them grow up to be like their narrow minded parents.

6. The author manages to paint Aibileen with a quiet grace and an aura of wisdom about her. How do you think she does this?

Aibileen is wise beyond her years and is always quick to listen instead of blurting out her thoughts. There is a point in the book in which she has a discussion with Minny about her relationship/job with Celia and she does an excellent job of explaining to her why she should be grateful for her job without ever lecturing her or sounding superior. She is a woman of prayer and decency and a woman of great strength, especially when one thinks about what she has endured (particularly with Treelore). She is never concerned about herself but only with what she can do to help others.

I'd love to hear what those of you who have read the book think!

2011-02-15T17:39:00.003-06:00

Almost nine years ago I walked into Pappasito's with a new boyfriend, nervous to meet his friends. She walked in with cute red shoes and was one of the nicest people I'd ever met. Little did I know that we would become best friends, she would be one of my bridesmaids. . . .

. . . I would get to be there the day she got engaged . . .

. . .and I'd get to serve as one of her bridesmaids.

Marianna is such a sweet friend and she and Ben are going to be an incredible mommy and daddy to Miss Reese! I got to help host a shower for her this weekend and was so glad to get to do it!

Here is her diaper cake with a bunny lovey.

There was lots and lots of pink and the menu consisted of pasta salad, some yummy sandwiches, mini quiche, peanut butter kiss cookies, cupcakes, and, of course, onesie sugar cookies.

The backdrop for the table and a personalized sign.

The hostesses: Christina (her sweet sister), Jen, and me

Here's to so many more years of wonderful friendship and to the most amazing time of your life! We can't wait to meet you, Reese!!

Bathroom Makeover

2011-02-08T19:45:00.003-06:00

I made over this bathroom SEVERAL months ago but never remembered to post about it, so, here it is . . .

Before

It was a blue color with black accents and these white shelves that I did love at the beginning until one of them came apart from the wall and the picture frames parted with their glass :(

After

I decided to repaint it to a light tan color which made a HUGE difference because it made this tiny half bath look so much bigger!

I learned all about the wonders of spray paint and was inspired by a lot of ideas I had seen with walls of letters lately. I spray painted all of the "P"s and the towel hooks (super cheap from Hobby Lobby). I got all of the picture frames from Aaron Brothers framing (buy one get one for a penny sale). I also made the Ps out of scrapbook paper, burlap, wood letters, etc. I am very pleased with how it turned out!

Coming Soon to a Mailbox Near You

2011-02-07T12:39:00.004-06:00

Last week our sweet friend Annalee hosted her annual Valentine making party and I was thrilled to get a chance to go this year! I might have been the nerd that brought her own supplies. . .
It was fun getting to have a get together to craft and hang out. Can't wait until next year!

16 Months Old

2011-01-30T19:13:00.004-06:00

Our little girl is already 16 months old and this is such a fun age!

She weighs 25 pounds, 10 ounces and we're a little iffy on her height. When she went to the pediatrician this week, he was pretty sure that the nurse measured her incorrectly and we forgot to have them remeasure her. She is in the 80th percentile for weight and she seems very tall when compared with kids her age so that's my best mommy percentile.

She runs everywhere. She chases Bailey constantly and definitely gives her a run for her money.

She says mama, dada, babay (Bailey), mo, peese, ball, buh (bird), whoa, uh oh, and she actually said her own name today but it was fleeting. She can do the signs for more, please, all done, milk, and I'm sure she can do others but we don't know all of them.

She laughs and laughs when you tickle her, tell her you're going to get her, or smell her feet and pretend that they're stinky (ok, sometimes you don't have to pretend).

She loves fruit and vegetables and would rather eat that than anything else (ok, she also loves cookies, but who doesn't?!?). She loves apple juice and milk and has gotten very independent with her eating and rarely will let you feed her anything. In fact, she even spoon feeds herself and it makes for some very messy meals. Bailey loves and hates her because she torments her but also feeds her quite a bit!

We are so in love with this precious little face!

Welcoming Liam

2011-01-22T14:44:00.005-06:00

Last weekend I helped to host a baby shower for my college roommate and their baby William {Liam} who they are expecting in March. My contribution was a few decorations, some cookies, and cupcakes with onesie adornments.

It was a great time and she got lots of fun presents. We can't wait to meet Liam in a few short months.

Accessorizing

2011-01-22T14:35:00.003-06:00

"The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize."

~Clairee Eatenton

Steel Magnolias

. . . But I Don't Wanna . . .

2011-01-13T10:48:00.003-06:00

There is an episode of Seinfeld in which, through some calamity or another, Jerry is forced to wear a puffy shirts on television. He tells Kramer, "but I don't wanna be a pirate," a tagline that Tae and I have adopted for many things that we don't feel like doing. Today, I don't wanna sleep on the floor! Yes, that's right.

Last night I put Jemma to bed at her normal time and at 3:00 I heard her start crying. I gave it a minute or two and it continued. I went up to soothe her and gave her some more medicine (she has a double ear infection). That might have worked but then the upstairs TV turned itself on (not the first time, people, not the first time) and started blaring a static noise. After about 2 whole minutes I finally figured out what the scary noise was and turned it off. Then I decided to get her some milk. . .finished it . . . more crying.

I then decided to lie down on her floor and she was quiet. Now normally you can do this for a few minutes, she's out, you leave. NO SUCH LUCK! Nope, she woke up and started sobbing every time I tried to sneak out the door. I finally got a pillow and blanket and slept up there for about an hour.

Don't worry, when I got up at 6:00, not a peep!

Let's hope there's not a repeat tonight!

Resolutions?

2011-01-11T19:41:00.005-06:00

I read a blog post over at The Sweetest Occasion a few weeks ago that inspired me to start thinking about what I want to accomplish this year. I'm not so sure that they're resolutions as much as goals and I'm not sure that I completely understand the delineation (I know, bad for an English teacher to admit), but I'm still leaning toward goals.

Learn calligraphy . . yes, I've always wanted to learn!
Update the blog more often. . . I have been a super blog slacker despite my best attempts.
Become healthier . . . I think I read somewhere lately that cookie dough and queso are not actually that good for you ;)
Open an Etsy store . . though I'm not sure exactly what all I want to sell yet.
Learn to sew. . . that machine my mom bought me isn't getting me much use yet but I have faith that I have a pillowcase dress in my future.
Be intentional and try to put others before myself.
Take lots and lots of pictures and videos of our sweet Jemmabear . .she is growing up TOO fast!

Whatever this year holds, I hope that I can look back at the end of the year and see that it was a success!

What are your goals for the year?

Thank Yous, Ramblings, and Prayers

2011-01-05T19:56:00.006-06:00

I cannot begin to say enough thank yous for those of you who have found out about my grandmother passing away and have been so unbelievably supportive, offering so much friendship and care. I am unsure of what to even say, hence the title of rambling, in a case like this except that I am so thankful that she was a believer and that my mom, Jemma, and I were able to go to see her last week and spend a late Christmas with her. I look at this picture of she and Jemma from the summer and wish that Jemma had gotten the opportunity to really know her . . this picture reminds me of one that she and I have from a road trip across Texas to visit family when I was a kid. She is where I get my love of entertaining, dishes (yes, I come by my obsession honestly), and where I sadly did not get the artistic sense. She was a commercial artist before the times of photos in newspapers (how cool is that?!?) . . . and yet I can't draw a stick figure ;) When I was a kid, I would visit my grandparents over the summer and I have many memories of zoo trips, restaurant outings, and, yes, weirdly, one of my favorite things to do was Soft Scrub the sinks at her house . .yes, Soft Scrub. . .

Thanks again to sweet friends who have been extremely supportive over the last few days. I am more grateful to you than I can explain.

I also wanted to ask for a prayer for my XO pledge sister Tiffanie and her family (www.pineapples-n-pickles.blogspot.com) whose 2 day old (tomorrow) baby will be having open heart surgery on Thursday at 7 am. Please say a prayer for wisdom for the doctors and peace for she and her husband.

Jemma's 2nd Christmas

2010-12-29T10:32:00.005-06:00

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse . . .

We went for our annual trip for Christmas Eve sopapillas and then went to church with sweet friends and their family.

On Christmas morning a cute girl woke up to evidence that Santa had been there . .apparently he enjoyed the pecan chocolate chip cookies.

He left lots of nice gifts! (I really did try to get a better picture of the tree than this but couldn't seem to make it work.)

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care. . .and this cute little face couldn't wait to see what was in there!

After breakfast at home and some time playing with new toys, we headed to my parents' house for some more fun and SO many presents!

My parents found the rocking chair that was my aunt's, my mom's, and mine. It was very special to share this with her! She really did like it despite this look on her face.

One of her favorite presents was a hat from my Aunt Robin. She would bring it to us over and over again to put on her head!

That night we were all very tired (or, as Hokey Pokey Elmo would say, pooped) so Jemma and I were ready for bed in our matching owl jammies!

Kids Crazy Christmas

2010-12-29T10:28:00.003-06:00

Last week we went to the Kids Crazy Christmas show at Second Baptist and Jemma had SO much fun! It is a show put on primarily by high school students in which they put the Christmas story into popular songs of today. There is tons of dancing, puppets, flashing lights, and for one cute little girl . .dancing! She is such a dance machine and likes to shake her booty at all opportunities. She danced through the entire thing and absolutely loved it!!

Thanks for inviting us Langs and Kessners!

There's Still Time . . .

2010-12-24T12:44:00.004-06:00

. . .before Christmas to head to the store to get the ingredients for Pioneer Woman's yummy cinnamon rolls!

cinnamon rolls:

1 quart whole milk

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

2 packages active dry yeast

8 cups (plus one cup separated) all-purpose flour

1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

1 scant teaspoon baking soda

1 heaping Tablespoon salt

melted butter

2 cups sugar

cinnamon

frosting:

1 bag powdered sugar

2 teaspoons maple flavoring

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup brewed coffee

1/8 teaspoon salt

All of the great detailed instructions are over at Ree's website but here are a few of my pictures.

Once you have mixed all of the ingredients, it will look something like this. I would recommend using the mixer instead of doing it by hand like I tried to do because it looked a little lumpy. Cover and let your dough rise for about an hour.

Then flour your counter and roll out the dough into a rectangle (ish) shape.

Pour about a half of a cup or more of melted butter on top (feel a little bit like Paula Deen at this point, don't you?)

Pour cinnamon and sugar on top.

Roll into a jelly roll shape and pinch at the seams.

Cut into half inch rounds. {Here is where I think I may have gotten off recipe a little. I think mine were a little bit bigger because it only made 5 pans whereas the Pioneer Woman said it would make 7.}

Remind yourself of how much you love your sweet friends because your counter is now pretty gross! Tell yourself that next time you will do all of this on waxed paper to save yourself a step. {Reminder: cleaner and flour make quite a paste. . . }

Make frosting while the rolls are baking in the oven and pour it over the top of the warm rolls. Package up and deliver to your friends, making sure to save at least a few for yourself!

Yum!

There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting. . .

2010-12-20T20:11:00.003-06:00

. . .ok, maybe not any caroling in the snow, but it did get chilly enough for frito pies and s'mores.. YUM!

Little friends played together so well!

Cade, Ella, and Jemma were the best of friends and at one point we all went into the kitchen and realized no one was watching the kids (keep in mind, the kitchen is about 6 steps from where they were playing). When we walked over, they were all just being sweet and playing together! They are already best friends like their parents!

It was lots of fun and we look forward to doing it again soon!

This weekend was also our annual Christmas "dinner" out. (Where does the time go? I feel like I was just posting about last year's outing!) We made a return trip to Brenner's this year and it was just as good as we remembered. This year, though, we went for brunch and everything was wonderful. I highly recommend the creme brulee!

We are so grateful for such amazing friends! Ben and Marianna have been our friends for . .ever. . .long story but Tae has known them since college and I have been lucky enough to have Marianna as a best friend since 2002. We are so excited about the new little girl that they will be welcoming later this spring.

Mean Face?!?

2010-12-14T21:43:00.002-06:00

Who couldn't love this little face?!?!

We also have a certain love for this face. A few months ago Jemma started making a "mean face" and it cracks us up!!

Advent Calendar

2010-12-14T21:27:00.003-06:00

This year I decided to make homemade gifts for Jemma's friends! I saw this idea on Tater Tots and Jello over the summer and decided to try it out. I don't really have pictures of the project along the way but I can walk you through it.

First, buy a cookie sheet (a cheap one, not a good non-stick one because the paint will stick better). Spray paint it your color of choice. I picked red for all three of the ones that I made but there are so many color options that would work with Christmas scrapbooking paper.

Next, cut a solid sheet of paper to fit the inside of the cookie sheet and get your husband who is a meticulous engineer to draw the grid on there for you. . .or those of you who can draw a straight line can do it yourselves. Then cut out a sheet of paper to fit inside and cut it in half so that you can use it on the top and bottom (you could also use two different patterns). I then used my Silhouette to cut out the letters and used Mod Podge to adhere it all to the cookie sheet and then to adhere the letters to the paper.

The original calendar had the numbers on the magnet pieces but I decided to stick them on the actual grid. That is totally just a personal choice. Put a coat of Mod Podge over the top to protect the paper.

Next, find 25 pieces that you want to use as the advent "days". I picked gift tags, scrapbooking pieces, buttons, and other odds and ends in the Christmas sections of the stores. I disregarded the advice of other bloggers to not use the magnets that come on a roll and you cut to fit. This was a huge mistake because I ended up having to take them all off and glue the strong magnets to the back. Pay the extra $2 or whatever the cost for the individual magnets!

Stick all of the magnets on and the kids can either add them on each day or take them off. Either way, you can store the magnets on the back of the cookie sheet. Glue a ribbon "handle" to the top and hang for the cute little kids in your house!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2010-12-14T21:00:00.004-06:00

One of my favorite things about this time of year, and the year in general, is my annual pajama breakfast. It is such a fun time to get close friends together and just lounge around in our PJs and have a fun time together.

This year's food included French breakfast puffs (a la The Pioneer Woman), sausage breakfast casserole, blueberry crescent pockets, pumpkin cream cheese rolls, and snowman sugar cookies (a breakfast essential, I know).

In the last few years I have added door prizes to the mix! My mom made super cute aprons and Courtney won the leopard Santa one and Marianna won the owl one (it was amazing how these two won such fitting prizes). Annalee also won some fun Christmas kitchen items!

The party favor this year was a Christmas ornament that I made. Can I say again how much I love my Silhouette?

It was a great time with so many amazing friends!. . some of whom wore matching jammies! Can you stand what a cute pregnant lady she is? Me either! So precious!

I can't wait until next year, ladies!! Merry Christmas!

Santa's Wonderland

2010-12-12T15:47:00.005-06:00

What do you get when 6 cute little faces (5 shown here) and 9 adults travel a little over an hour and a half on a cold winter night?

LOTS of fun and Christmas excitement!

Last weekend we visited Santa's Wonderland and had so much fun at Santa's Town where they have live musical entertainment (provided by my sweet friend Courtney's dad and a few others) and lots of other fun treats!

We were all bundled up!!

Santa's Town had some fine culinary offerings . .like corn dogs and funnel cake (YUM!)Santa's Wonderland boasts something like a million lights and this little one was absolutely fascinated!
We can't wait to go back again next year!

Peacocks Galore

2010-12-05T16:04:00.005-06:00

Last week I took part in a church event that allowed several friends and I to decorate a table at a dinner event. We decided to go with a peacock theme and had so much fun doing it! A special thanks to Lindy and Tiffani for doing all of the legwork that day!

As you can see, everything had a teal, green, and purple theme.

I made some peacock cookies!

And a great time was had by all!

Happy Halloween

2010-11-02T19:34:00.002-05:00

Trick or Treat . . .

from the cutest little zebra in the whole world!

The Big 3-0

2010-11-02T19:05:00.006-05:00

Last week I turned the big 3-0 and my sweet husband planned a fantastic party. . with some very fun help from my friends! We had dinner in the private room at Perry's and there was lots of yummy food, fun conversations, and tons of laughs!

Lots of sweet friends and their husbands were in attendance. Each of these people means so much to me and I was so grateful to have them all there!

Sweet Lindy helped to decorate the tables and everything looked great!

Tae highlighted events that happened in each year of my 30 years and we found out things like when post-its were invented, the year that ET was a hit, and all of the words to Ice, Ice Baby. Several friends participated in skits to reenact movies and songs from different years and give me clues. When I was able to guess the correct answer I was rewarded with a prize. All of the skits were hilarious and I had SUCH a good time. Have I mentioned what a sweet and thoughtful husband and friends I have?!

Thanks to everyone for making my birthday so very special!

Ho Ho Holiday

2010-10-28T19:30:00.011-05:00

Today at school the kids' warm-up was to write about their dream job, realistic job, and least desirable job. Let's just say that we got a lot of amusing (and sometimes frightening) answers. I love my job as a teacher and have something to laugh about nearly every day but I would also love to be a party planner. I mean, how fun would it be to just plan other people's special moments and get to be crafty all the time?!?

I also LOVE stationery . .that's right ladies and gentlemen, let's take a moment to remember that it's stationery with an "e" because the word "letter" has an "e" in it. Ok. . off the grammar soapbox.

All that being said, I am not a party planner but I do love a good holiday event. I especially love sending out cards of our cute girl so I use Shutterfly all the time to send updates to our friends and family.

I love the invitations that we used for Miss Jemma's first birthday but how cute would these be so that you could showcase the first 12 months?!?

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birthday-invitations

They have so many cute cards for Thanksgiving. . .

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/thanksgiving-cards

. . and Christmas. . .

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

I have such a hard time narrowing down which Christmas card I want to send every year because there are so many cute ones! These are my favorites this year.

. . .and the one that I think is my absolute favorite this year. . .

How cute are the little snowpeople?!? And how cute would it look with a little Jemma face in it?!? :)
Which ones are your favorites from their website?? http://www.shutterfly.com/

Happy Shopping!

Boo Apothecary Jars

2010-10-26T20:31:00.003-05:00

These BOO Apothecary jars also came from blogland and I couldn't wait to recreate them for our Halloween party! They would also be really cute filled with red candy for Christmas!

First, the supplies:

3 unfinished candlesticks

3 finials

3 glass jars

6 round discs

black craft paint

hot glue

black vinyl

Paint all of the pieces black, at least 2 coats (I also would advise sanding down the pieces just to make it a little easier to paint).

Next, hot glue the disks to the bottom and top of the candlestick. Glue the finial to the lid of the glass container. Then, glue the glass container to the top of the candlestick base (pretend like I didn't forget to glue the bottom disk on in this picture).

Then, I got to use my Silhouette craft cutter for the first time to cut out the "BOO" letters and may I mention how in love I am with that machine?!?

Fill with candy corn, tie on some cute ribbons, and display!

Boo Sign!

2010-10-26T20:05:00.005-05:00

I saw this idea several places in blogland using frames with mats with multiple openings so I decided to try it out for Halloween. I made a few modifications because of the frame I bought but I think it turned out pretty cute.

First, get unfinished wooden letters, paint, Mod Podge, a frame, and scrapbook paper. Second, realize that the letters are too thick to fit inside the frame so throw out the glass :)

Paint the letters orange and then once they dry, paint with Mod Podge and glitter them.

Cover the back of the frame with scrapbook paper.

Find a cute little friend to admire your work!

Once the letters have dried, glue them to the back of the frame and display on an easel!

Costume Party

2010-10-25T19:26:00.008-05:00

This weekend this cute little zebra hosted a costume party for all of her friends!

Thanks, Adelaide for letting me borrow your costume!

There was mask making and pumpkin bowling. . .

. . .lots of super heroes. . . .

. . . a very cute cast of mini characters. . . .

. . . Woody, Jessie Girl, and Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. . .
(and might I add that super mom Annalee even made Woody's shirt with dye and a very skilled job with a sharpie! His shoe even had "Andy" written on the bottom.)

. . .precious girls chatted about their Halloween plans . . .

. . .and Minnie Mouse had many cute boy chauffeurs. . .

. . .a monkey and banana made an appearance. . . (isn't that the cutest monkey?!? Unfortunately, Jemma was terrified of her Uncle Banana.)

. . . jungle animals abounded. . .

. . and there were lots of treats, like spider caramel apple suckers. . .

creepy cupcakes, spooky sugar cookies, spiderweb seven layer dip, candy corn parfaits, chocolate toffee crunch popcorn, and mummy dogs.

And all the guests left with witch's shoes filled with candy (aren't those so cute?!? Tae and I had lots of fun making them.)

And all the kiddos got homemade pumpkin play doh, a mini rolling pin, and cookie cutter.

Eat, Drink, and Be Scary this Halloween season!

Thanks to everyone for coming!

Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch

2010-10-25T17:01:00.005-05:00

We have visited our local pumpkin patch a few times this month to get some choice shots of our sweet friends. . . .

and precious little girl!

It's hard to believe that this tiny baby was our Halloween photo last year!

. . .and now she is this sweet big girl!

And a Happy Halloween wish from our princess chair!

San Francisco

2010-10-19T16:15:00.011-05:00

Whatever happened to predictability, the milkman, the paper boy, and evening TV? We miss our old familiar friends waiting just around the bend. . . .

Yep, those are the Painted Ladies where Danny Tanner and the gang had a picnic in the opening scene of Full House.

A few weeks ago we took a trip to San Francisco with two of our best friends sans kiddos! It was our first trip away from Miss Jemma but she had a good time at grandparent camp! It was the first time that I had been to California and we had such a great time sightseeing, eating, and enjoying all of the local highlights!

One of the biggest things that you hear about when people talk about San Francisco is Pier 39 and the massive amount of sea lions. According to the sign we read, the sea lions visit Pier 39 to come to the warmer waters of the south in the winter and there are TONS of them! (argh, argh)

Pretty much the entire trip, it was difficult to get taxis and once we started walking, Tae would say "it's just over this hill". This was one that I thought we wouldn't make it over! It is SO much steeper than it looks in this picture!

This was the view once we finally made it to the top of Lombard Street. . .

. . .the windiest street in the USA? World? Anyway, it was very curvy!

One of the things that we did while waiting for dinner the first night was the toy museum; a place that had arcade games from the beginning of games through relatively recent ones. Think the movie Big and you have an idea of some of the creepy things that were in there. We had fun playing skee ball, timidly putting money in something called Jolly Jack (I might still be having nightmares. . .), and several other fun games.

We got to go to a Giants game and it was very close to the end of their regular season (if they had won that night, they would've clinched the West but they didn't win until that Sunday). The fans were NUTS but we had such a good time. I am definitely rooting for them in the World Series (Tae is from Dallas . .need I say more about that?! :)

We ate at Empress of China in Chinatown and then visited a place where they make fortune cookies and allow you to insert your own message!

Tae and I also ate at a place called Mama's where we waited in this line for over an hour just to get a table. The food was yummy but wow, what a wait!

We also visited Ghirardelli Square where they, sadly, don't make the chocolate anymore. They do make great chocolate ice cream in their shop though.

Matt and Tae had some serious Irish coffee at the Buena Vista!

On our last full day there (sorry, these are very out of order), we went to the Ferry Building Market and it was awesome!

We had such wonderful fruits and vegetables and then, once inside, I found this pumpkin gelato - YUM!

You can't visit San Francisco without a ride on a trolley!

We also visited Sausalito after a day at the wineries! Gorgeous!

This was our little economy car that did us proud on those GIGANTIC hills while driving around San Francisco. I definitely laughed until I cried so many times in this car that night!

We visited two wineries in Napa. The Domain Chandon was definitely the more commercial winery.

We also visited the Cade Winery which was at the top of Howell Mountain. The views were unbelievable, we had a very small group (6 people) for our tasting, and really enjoyed it! It is a must if you are visiting Napa.

We had a great time!!

Teddy Bear Picnic

2010-09-25T21:46:00.007-05:00

If you go out in the woods today, you're sure for a big surprise,

If you go out in the woods today, you'd better be in disguise,

For every bear that ever was will gather there for certain because

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

Invitation by Design Roots

Jemma's first birthday theme (because we call her Jemmabear) was a teddy bear picnic.

I spent several summer days working on random paper crafts for the party including cupcake flags, scalloped cupcake wrappers, and name and photo banners.

This photo banner had a photo from each of her monthly "birthdays". . .it was crazy to see how much she's grown (see the post below for that trip through memory lane)!!

I also made teddy bear straws for people to drink their lemonade out of.

This banner says "Happy Birthday Jemmabear"!

The menu consisted of bear sugar cookies, beary good turkey and cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and straw"bear"y jelly sandwiches, straw"bear"y lemonade, "bear"y fruit skewers, and gummy bears and teddy grahams.

We had so many great friends and family members in attendance to celebrate this special day! Everyone was so generous and gave her sweet presents of clothing, books, and toys and she was OBSESSED with these wooden spoons and wouldn't stop playing with them all day!

There was also a game for the older kids to throw bean bags through a bear friend (thanks Mom) and Tae got very crafty and made us a picnic table . .from scratch!!

Each child received a party favor that had bubbles, miniature coloring pages, crayons, and special Oreos that I made to have bear faces shaped out of chocolate on them.

My sweet friend Lindy's dad made us this cupcake to put in our yard!! (See how she wouldn't put down the spoons?)

Thank you to all of our friends and family for making this such a special day!! Happy Birthday sweet Jemma!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Jemma!

2010-09-25T17:31:00.007-05:00

(You can double click to make the photo collage a little easier to see!)

Jemma turned one this week and if I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times . .where has the time gone?!! It is hard to believe that just a year ago this sweet girl came into the world weighing 7 pounds 8 ounces and was just perfect! Now she weighs 22 pounds, is on the verge of walking (and is quite the speed demon at crawling - today she decided to crawl all the way up our stairs in a matter of seconds. . time for a baby gate). She is drinking mostly out of a sippy cup and is transitioning really well to whole milk (even though she thinks it is so cold). She says "mama" and "dada" and all other kinds of things that she understands in her own little language. She loves to bang objects together and standing at her toy basket taking everything out one by one. She still hates bows and gives them back to me every time I put them in her hair but I'm still trying!

She has completely changed our lives and we love her more than we ever thought was possible to love anyone. We are so grateful for her and blessed by her each and every day and we look forward to all of the amazing years ahead with her!

Gig Em Aggies . . .

2010-09-18T14:20:00.003-05:00

from the class of 2031 or so. . . .

We went to the first A&M game versus my alma mater, SFA. Let's just say that it wasn't much of a match up as the SFA players went down like flies throughout the game. It was fun anyway and Jemma stayed with her aunt and uncle and rooted the team on from there! Good luck this season Aggies!

Breakfast With Besties

2010-09-18T14:10:00.005-05:00

A few weekends ago we had Jemma's two best friends over for a pancake breakfast (and their sweet parents who happen to also be our besties). We didn't just have regular pancakes but I thought it would be a good time to use my super cool Williams Sonoma farm animal pancake molds. It took a little practice (and some help from my talented husband) but we finally got a cute cow pancake.

These cute little faces had banana sour cream, regular, and chocolate chip pancakes.

And this cute little face watched the bigger kids and waited for her chance to eat pancakes in a few months!

We can't wait to do it again soon!

Cutest Ever!

2010-09-16T17:19:00.002-05:00

I forgot to post the link to this website but here is the sneak peek to the professional photos that we had taken of our family about a month ago. We are obsessed with the photographer and would definitely recommend her! Her name is Lisa Woods and here is our sneak peek. . .

http://www.nowandthenphotography.com/blog/?p=472

Sick

2010-08-29T07:48:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago Jemma came down with a stomach bug and, unfortunately, passed it to me. Tae eventually got it too but he did such a good job taking care of us!

Pretty soon she was back to normal!

Thanks Daddy!

Look Who is 11 Months Old!

2010-08-29T07:21:00.006-05:00

Me!!!
Jemma turned 11 months old last weekend and I say this every single time but time has flown by and I cannot believe that we will have a one year old in less than a month. She is SO much fun and it is hard to believe that this time last year we didn't have her in our arms. She crawls everywhere and still "walks" around the furniture. She can now stand on her own for about 20 seconds and then she realizes what she's doing and takes a quick seat. She walks behind her push toy and will walk with you while you hold her hands but she's not quite ready to do it on her own yet. She still has 8 teeth which she uses to eat yogurt, all varieties of baby food, puffs, mum-mums, and anything she can convince us to give her while we're eating. Her favorites are fajita meat, strawberries, bread, and green beans. She also for us to give her water out of a straw like a little bird. She even shrieks with excitement! She still drinks about 21 ounces of formula and will drink her water and occasional juice out of a sippy cup but loves the bottle for formula. It's so funny because when she is done, she throws the bottle to the floor!

All of that nutrition must be making her very strong!

She is still a good night time sleeper and is on a good nap schedule when she is home with us. At school, however, she is not back on a good schedule yet and has only been taking one 45 minute nap all day. Can you say CRANKY?!

She and Bailey love each other and when she sees her first thing in the morning she says "da!" Apparently "D" is her favorite letter because although she has said "mama" a few times, "dada" is still her absolute favorite thing to say. She sure does love her daddy!

She wears 12 month clothes except for pajamas and swimsuits which we've had to buy a size up and we are trying to get her in shoes more and she is just now fitting into a size 3.

She hates bows no matter how many times I try to get her to wear them. She immediately snatches it out and hands it back to me. We had professional photos taken of her yesterday and it was a miracle that she kept the bow in the whole time. . she must have known it was important!

Her new favorite toy is a Scout dog (thanks Emily for telling us about Scout and Violet). It is a stuffed puppy that you hook up to the computer and download information into so it can sing songs about your child's name, favorite food, favorite color, and favorite animal. She loves to hear him sing to her! When we tip the toy basket over in our living room, she will sit and take out every single toy and stay occupied for quite a while.

She is so sweet and fun and we love her so much!

Our Bakery

2010-08-29T07:15:00.004-05:00

Well, it seems as though I've been a very behind blogger lately but perhaps it's been due to one of my many projects. . .likely it's the baking. (Those of you who know me know that I will have a million things to do and decide to bake cookies instead . .and it might only get worse now that I have classes to bake for again . .more about that later.) I have gotten to do quite a few things for people's parties lately and have had a lot of fun doing it!! I recently made my first quinceanera cookies. The party was princess themed so I made lots of crowns. . .. . . and got to make some cupcakes for a very cute 2 year old tutu party.

I also made some barn cookies this weekend but forgot to take pics of those. I did, however, get some rough pictures of a cute banner I made for a barnyard themed party. I will have to post a pic of it hanging later

I almost forgot! I am also a mentor at work this year to a new teacher on our team. She is great and I am super excited that we get to help each other out this year! I made this cute box of trinkets for her first day. I could definitely spend hours in the office supply store. . .who knew that they had this many cool types of binder clips?!?

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes (and Cookie Combo)

2010-08-09T11:42:00.006-05:00

These little cupcake cookie combos are really tasty and seemed to be a hit when I shared them with some friends recently. I didn't take a picture so pretend that they looked like these . . . .ok, ok so they didn't really but I'll explain what happened. I got this recipe from the Bakerella website which she tweaked from the Queen of Crafty, Martha Stewart.

Simply make the cupcakes, frost, and add a cookie on top. Now here's where mine varied. Martha recommends using her 7 minute frosting but Bakerella wasn't a huge fan of the meringue type frosting and, quite frankly, neither am I. I decided to use buttercream instead but accidentally made the type with butter and shortening instead of straight shortening so it was runny. Therefore, mine did not have the cute dollop on top of the cookie but I don't think it mattered so go ahead and frost them with whatever makes you happy!

Cupcake Recipe (from Bakerella site - she says this will make 12 big cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes . .I found that it only made 12 big cupcakes. . maybe my cupcakes are very big!):

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup softened unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time, add vanilla. Add flour mixture (flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon) alternately with milk Fill baking cups 3/4 full and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Snickerdoodle Recipe (from the Martha website):

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 stick softened unsalted buter

1/2 cup pure vegetable shortening

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 T. cinnamon

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream together 1 1/2 cups of sugar and butter. Add eggs. Add dry ingredients and beat to combine. Roll cookies into balls the size of a walnut, roll in the leftover 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon mixed together, and place 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes. They will be set in the center and begin to crack but will not brown.

*Martha recommends turning these 5 minutes in but I skipped that step. I wouldn't advise baking them for more than 10 minutes because they firm up quickly once out of the oven.

Lake Weekend

2010-08-08T16:56:00.002-05:00

We had our annual lake weekend a few weeks ago and this year we opted for a change of scenery. We went to a friend's private lake and had such a good time. It was a smaller group this year as some friends couldn't make it and one couple was days away from bringing the newest member of our group into the world. We can't wait to meet you baby Anderson!

This was Jemma's first lake weekend. She is such a water baby and had fun playing with the other two older kids.

She and Hadley became fast friends.

She had some baby pool time.

We tried to hide from the sun a little!

And she loved every minute of it!
We can't wait for next year!

Revelation

2010-07-30T15:00:00.002-05:00

This post is probably not for the faint of heart and most of the regular readers will certaintly think it is gross. So for you regulars, don't fret my pet . . . not that you're my pet nor are you intimate enough to me for me to have a pet name for you . . . . . . ummm, it's a Steve Urkel phrase that used to be cool back in my day. Anyway, please don't delete this blog from your Favorites because of this one post, you're just taking a peek into what goes around in this mind (I'm Tae, Ashley's husband).

I had a startling revelation yesterday.

Yesterday, While I was holding our 10 month old, Jemma decided to fill up her diaper with the most un-natural, against everything that is good, hide your babies and pets, bootie creation in human history. So much so that it started to peek out and say hello on her back and thighs. It was so happy to see me that it took a stroll onto my forearm and wrist (possibly face too, but I couldn't see that).

I immediately took her to the bathroom and laid her down on the tub. I turned the water on and instead of letting the water come down on the faucet, I started the overhead spray, so that the rain would pour down from the sky, cleansing Jemma with each drop, forcing the unwanted guest back to where it belonged, the sewer. After she tried to keep some of the dark forces within her grasp, I had to intervend and completed her rebirth. Before I finshed her bath, I had to wash off Jemma's personal creation off my wrist and arm . . . . like a normal, sane person would do. Done, my arm and wrist was clean, smelled like Irish Spring, and sparkled.

Well, through out the bath, every time I turned my head to the right, I smelled a faint wiff of the charming beast. I thought it might have been on Jemma somewhere and I didn't clean her off well enough, so I analyzed. Nothing on her, clean as a baby's bottom. *note: Is this the right phrase? It is when translated in Korean.* So I wrapped her in a towel, took into her room and lotioned her up (yes ladies, some men do do this).

Every 10 seconds or so, that familar smell kept rounding third and scored into my nose. After wrestling with Jemma during the lotion slathering, I looked down on my forearm and saw that the Wicked Witch of the Sewer had made its way back!!! Almost about to faint, I looked at my bare stomach and saw that Harry Pooper had made its way there too!!! I scream for Ashley and had her finish getting Jemma ready for bed. I didn't want her to have nightmares by staring intensely into Winnie the Poo's eyes.

Here is where it gets bad and where I had my revelation. I went into my bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. Apparently, my stomach and forearm were not the only locations of Mr. Howdy Doodie. 2 inches below my right gripple (for you sensitive type. If you don't get it, replace grrrrr with 'n'), there was an iPhone (the new one, the old one is so yesterday) size splatter of poo. I didn't see it because . . . . . because . . . . . . wait for it . . . . . so embarrassing . . . . I'm closing my eyes . . . . . because . . . . . . I'm starting to develop MAN BOOBS!!! It was like an army solider hiding on the other side of the hill ready to attack the enemy that dares to come over. It was the great hide and go seek location since the refrigerator that Punky Brewster found her friend in.

I'm getting fat and starting to develop man boobs. Who am I? I'm losing it.

So that is my revelation and I have Jemma and her alarming digestive system to thanks for it.

So that you must know, I got up this morning at 5:45 and worked out before I left for work. I will fight for my right . . . . my right to not have a full blown man boob and have the need for a Bro or the Mansier. I will fight to the end.

This is the dark side of the Life with the Parks . . . . . .

Highlights of a Dallas Road Trip

2010-07-27T08:59:00.006-05:00

This weekend we traveled to Dallas for a wedding and a chance to see our families. We stayed with Tae's parents and Miss Jemma got some good grandparent time there. We also got to see my aunt, grandmother, and mom so it was fun to get 4 generations together!

We also had a mini photo shoot with the princess!

Jamie, my sweet friend and Irving wedding buddy! (Hi to Tana in the back!) And thanks to Courtney for persuading me to buy this dress :)

Great college friends!

On the way home from our trip, we had to make a stop and happened upon the little town of Fairfield. I had seen the billboard for this place a million times but never really realized what it was. Cooper Farms Peaches is a little store that has fresh produce, a variety of pies, cobblers, and breads, salsas, jellies, and the YUMMIEST soft serve peach ice cream. As if the ice cream isn't good enough, they put warm cobbler filling on top of it. It's a must if you are driving on I-45! Imagine the yummy filling and pretend that I hadn't already eaten it off when I remembered to take the picture!

It was a great weekend but must have been very tiring!

10 Months Old!

2010-07-25T17:02:00.003-05:00

Jemma is 10 months old now and is starting to already be such a little girl instead of a baby. I keep wondering where the time is going! She is still crawling everywhere and pulling up on things like furniture, my leg, etc. She still has 8 teeth but we think that she might be teething because she is a drool monster all of a sudden. She is a good sleeper at night and, for the most part, has been a good napper besides a few hiccups here and there.

Everything is "dadadada" whether she's talking to me, Tae, Bailey, or her toys. She shrieks with joy when she sees one of us or the dog or when the phone rings. She also loves looking at pictures of herself and still loves that pretty girl in the mirror.

She loves to clap and will do it on command. She still wants to eat magazines and books and has now realized that cabinet doors open! Her hair is getting thicker and longer but she still hates bows. Sometimes I can sneak one in there though!

She is so much fun and I am loving getting to be home with her this summer as she does so many new things!

Ballerina in Training

2010-07-20T19:18:00.003-05:00

"Mom, what are we doing??"

"Oh, we're eating jewelry!"

"You want me to smile? Okay!"

"Modeling is such hard work!"

Uh Oh!

2010-07-15T09:43:00.004-05:00

Last week Jemma had put Tae's phone in her mouth and it wasn't really working so he was trying to clean it off to make the buttons work again. He realized that she was being very quiet and looked around for her only to find this . . .

She had opened the Puffs container, spilled them all out, and was furiously eating them. Bailey soon joined her and when Tae got the vacuum out she started sobbing because she was so sad that they were going away. What a funny girl!

Tae, the Graduate

2010-07-15T09:29:00.003-05:00

As most people know, Tae has been pursuing his MBA from the University of Texas. He begrudgingly associated himself with "TU" for this amazing opportunity at an MBA :)

He began two summers ago and will be an official graduate on Saturday night. We are so proud of him and while we have missed him on days that he's had class and group projects, we are so excited about his successes! Last Saturday night we had a dinner out at Benjy's with some of our closest friends to celebrate him!!
Congratulations!!

Jemma Loves

2010-07-09T21:31:00.005-05:00

Jemma is so fun right now and so busy! She gets into everything as she pulls up, crawls so quickly, and opens any cabinet she can reach.

Right now she loves. . .

playing with plastic bottles

eating. . err, reading books

pulling every book off of her shelf to find the perfect one

standing in her crib and banging on the side when she wakes up from a nap
reading all of the cereal boxes to see which one sounds best

drinking water out of her sippy cup

and clapping!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-09T21:22:00.004-05:00

Jemma's first 4th of July was spent hanging out at home this year and then her grandparents came to visit which she loved because it meant tons of attention heaped on her!

Here she is with her cousin Ethan. She's still not quite sure what she thinks of him!

Miss Cool!

She loves eating puffs!

5 Years!

2010-07-09T21:07:00.004-05:00

In June, Tae and I celebrated our five year anniversary! My mom came to stay with Miss Jemma and Tae and I had a day of fun! I woke up to a wonderful breakfast and some beautiful flowers. We spent the morning at a spa and a man who was working there suggested a venue for lunch in the Woodlands. He told us about their amazing steak and lobster club sandwiches and we were sold.

When we got inside, we decided that it was a little bit like Central Market because there were several cases to choose from. We couldn't figure out where the menu items that we had been told about might have been and we looked around and finally just decided on sandwiches. They were very good and I went back inside to get a lemon tart (my favorite) when we ran into the man who had recommended the restaurant to us. At that point he said, "Oh, you came! Did you eat in the restaurant or out in the market?" The restaurant?!? It was hidden behind the wine room and we had never seen it . .apparently that's where the steak and lobster sandwiches are. So if you are ever searching for a place to eat in the Woodlands, we hear their restaurant is great. . .we, unfortunately, don't know!

Afterwards, we drove to a winery called the Bernhardt Winery and did a little tasting.

And, most of all, we were excited that we got to come home to this cute little face and go to a dinner for three!

Roll Back to the '80s!

2010-07-09T20:47:00.003-05:00

The '80s . . .a time of

slap bracelets

leg warmers

bright blue eye shadow

side ponytails

t-shirt rings

Miami Vice

rubix cubes

California Raisins

Madonna

Smurfs

Pac Man

Tom Selleck is Magnum PI

. . . and so many more

A few weekends ago we got to celebrate the 30th birthday of one of my very best friends, Marianna! It was a totally rad party that they called "Roll Back to the '80s" because, you guessed it, it was at a local roller rink. Everyone was encouraged to dress in '80s attire and there were so many fun/funny outfits! It was a great time!

Here I am with the birthday girl!

They had Razzles and Capri Suns.

Some of the boys sporting their best '80s gear.

What are your favorite memories of the '80s??

S'more Cookies

2010-07-03T14:39:00.004-05:00

I am addicted to a new cookie recipe that I found on Picky Palate. It is a recipe for S'mores Cookies and I made them twice in the last 3 days . . and I may or may not have already eaten two of them today.

I made a few tweaks from her original recipe. She recommended using large marshmallows and cutting them up which I did the first time but I found that it saved a lot of time just using mini marshmallows. I also think that it would be fun to use the mini Hershey bars that are on the baking aisle if you can find them. Another thought would be to use Golden Grahams instead of graham crackers but I haven't tried that experiment yet. She also recommended cooking these in the muffin top pan but I haven't found one yet so I just flattened them a little on a cookie sheet instead. I hope to try them in the muffin top pan soon!

I hope that you LOVE these as much as we have!

2 sticks softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla

4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1-1/2 cups chocolate chips

3 regular size Hershey bars

3 full graham crackers

mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine butter and sugars and mix until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs until well combined.

Add dry ingredients. Mix until combined and then add in chocolate chips. Scoop 1/4 cup of cookie dough onto a baking sheet then press chocolate bars, marshmallows, and graham cracker pieces onto the tops of dough. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until edges are just turning brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire cooling rack. Enjoy!

Thoughts on Sprinkles

2010-06-25T11:41:00.003-05:00

This week the famous cupcake chain Sprinkles opened up in Houston. I, being the cupcake conoisseur that I have proclaimed myself (I mean, we did walk hours and hours just to get to Magnolia Bakery, right Lindy?), decided that I should check it out as quickly as possible! Min and Heidi came to babysit Jemma on Thursday night while I went to a Junior League Ad Sales meeting (note to the 3 people who still read this blog . .if you know anyone who might be interested in buying an ad or you'd like more info, let me know . .just a quick plug). I was running a few minutes early and I was in the general vicinity so I decided to see what the hype was all about.

First things first, don't really expect to eat there . .they do give you the option of "dine in" but there are about 4 stools and enough room for probably 12 people to fit in the place comfortably . .it's tiny. After working my way up to the front of the line (where I started outside and apparently the line has been much longer for the last few days), I ordered a vanilla, mocha, dark chocolate, and red velvet cupcake and stashed them in a shaded place in my car with the hope that they would not melt through the meeting.

Vanilla is my standby in most things in order to judge them but I must say that I am more of a "white" cake girl instead of vanilla. It wasn't bad but it was very vanilla-y. However, Min gave me a bite of his dark chocolate cupcake and it was great but then I had a bite of Tae's mocha cupcake and can you say AMAZING?!? I am going to spend the rest of the summer trying to replicate that wonderfulness . . . it might take a few runs to Sprinkles just to test out the competition . . .

Fruity Pebble Treats

2010-06-24T14:00:00.003-05:00

For those of you who live inside the box like me . . .

I never thought of venturing out from regular Rice Krispie Treats but I found out that you can make Fruity Pebble Treats too - YUM! What an easy, fun summer dessert!!

3 T butter

1 bag of large marshmallows

6 cups of Fruity Pebbles

Melt butter, mix in marshmallows until it becomes gooey, then mix in Fruity Pebbles. Then you could cut them into cute shapes like this photo I found!

You could also do it with Cocoa Pebbles, and other yummy cereals!!

9 Months Old!

2010-06-23T09:25:00.004-05:00

Guess who is already 9 months old?!?!

She has 8 teeth and is getting a lot more hair. She loves eating all kinds of baby food, puffs, and some real food here and there. She likes snow cones and was recently obsessed with tiny pieces of Lupe Tortilla fajita meat (hmm . .sound like anyone else you know?)

She loves drinking water out of a straw and shrieks with delight when you give it to her!

She is such a fast crawler and is all over the place terrorizing . .err petting Bailey. She pulls up on all of the furniture and her favorite thing to play with is the door stops (they make such fun music to her).

She "talks" now and says dadadadada . .often quite loudly so that people turn to look at her :) She loves yelling that when she wakes up in the morning. She is so precious in the morning when you get into her room and she's standing in the crib and smiling!

The next thing we know she will be typing the posts herself!

We also celebrated Tae's first Father's Day this week. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and daddy!

Summer Lovin' . . .

2010-06-14T15:56:00.009-05:00

. . . or things I'm loving this summer.

I'll admit it, I'm not always a big fan of summer. Fall and winter are more my seasons, primarily because in Texas it is sort of like living in an oven for the summer. We have already had days with the "feels like" temperature going over 100. Yet somehow it is still not as miserable as it was being pregnant last summer when I was convinced it was hotter than it had ever been! A little overdramatic? Probably!

This summer though, I'm actually enjoying a lot of things! First and foremost, I am staying home with this cute little face this summer.

She enjoyed swimming in the baby pool that my mom brought her a few weeks ago!

Other things I'm loving are. . .

The Houstonian Pool

I got to spend some time here a few weekends ago and it was fabulous!

Sweet friends

Fun summer cookies

Jemma loving the "real" swimming pool. . .

. . .her buddy Cade

. . .and the swing.

Oh, and how could I forget?!? One of the things that I am loving this summer is my gold Sperrys!! I ordered them in January and waited for them until April and I am obsessed with them!! Apparently the Pioneer Woman is too . . http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2010/05/remember-these

8 months old!

2010-05-30T16:58:00.005-05:00

Jemma turned 8 months old a few weeks ago and is learning to do so many new things each and every day. She is eating fruit and veggie baby food and a little meat here and there. She is a good sleeper and mostly sleeps through the night with only a few nights of waking up here and there. She has such a fun personality and is starting to get into EVERYTHING- she is definitely about to be very busy!

The photo shoots aren't quite as easy now that she's more mobile and crawling everywhere!

She has 7 teeth - 4 on the top and 3 on the bottom!

Here is a reenactment of what we found in her crib a few days ago - yep, she learned to pull herself up and was leaning over the side of her crib. Needless to say, we lowered the mattress that night.

Empty boxes are way more fun than any toy!
She loves to go up to people and stick her tongue out and go plghhhhh (yes, it's very hard to describe but I think you can imagine it). And her new favorite thing in the world is magazines. . she LOVES to crawl to them and rip the pages out. Where does she learn these things??

Mother's Day

2010-05-14T20:39:00.002-05:00

This year I got to celebrate my first Mother's Day. It was a wonderful day and I am so lucky to get to be a mom to sweet Miss Jemma and to have the most amazing husband to spoil me on not just this day, but every day. I woke up to these beautiful flowers and great gifts.

Jemma had some breakfast and then we went to church.

Afterwards we had a yummy lunch at Pappasito's!
We are now a table for 7!!

Mommies to sweet girls!!

We're Still Here!

2010-05-14T17:55:00.005-05:00

I know that people were probably beginning to think that we'd fallen off the face of the earth but I've just been a terrible blogger lately. Work has been exceptionally busy and we've been playing with Miss Jemma with all of our other free time I guess. Here are a few highlights from my blogging absence!

Did you miss me??

She has 3 teeth on the bottom (sort of visible in this picture) and is getting a few on the top!!

She now has a fake smile face that she gets when I get out the camera. She squints her eyes and gives a big cheese face. What a ham!

She attended a fun birthday party with a three ring circus theme! I made some of the cookies as party favors. It was so fun!! (Sorry you have to turn your head sideways for the lion cookies!)

She turned 7 months old (and was very excited about it!!)

She learned to crawl backwards and can sort of do the caterpillar forward.

She has taken some walks in the umbrella stroller!

And a few weeks ago she was in this really cute outfit with butterfly pockets on the back so I asked Tae to take some pictures of her before she went to school. He got this really cute one . . .

. . .and one where she is apparently terrified of Tae's pants?!?

Jemma's First Easter

2010-04-06T21:15:00.007-05:00

The week before Easter, Jemma wore lots of precious Easter outfits to help get her into the spirit!

On Sunday, we got up and went to church with Min and Heidi and then drove to my parents house to celebrate Easter with them. It was like Christmas part 2 with so many cute Easter baskets and presents for our little bear. She got lots of sweet bunnies, books, and other goodies. We ate lots of great food and everyone had a great time playing with Jemma. Her favorite thing is big smiles right now and we can't get enough of them!

I made cupcakes with tulip cookies on top and some Easter egg sugar cookies.

What a cute Easter basket!

Sweet family photos . . .

. . .with one silly goose!

We hope that you had a wonderful Easter too!!