Girl's Night Out

This past Friday night, several of my college friends took Emily and I out for our birthday. We ate at Joe T. Garcia's and it was great to have a night off. Thanks to my friends for a great night out and thanks to Cory for keeping the kids so that I could get away for a while.

Happy Birthday Mommy and Aunt Emily

Today Emily and I celebrated our 32nd birthday. I could not have asked for a better day with my family. We did nothing out of the ordinary and it was perfect! I was excited when I found out that my birthday fell on a Thursday this year because that is Cory's day off, which meant I got to spend the whole day with him and the kids. We started off the morning with pancakes and presents. (Cory is worse than a 5 year old so I had already opened my present by 7:45 this morning!) We ran errands, ate brownies for lunch (thanks Emily M.), took naps, and then headed over to Mansfield for dinner with my sisters, brother-in-law and nieces. Dinner was great and the cake and ice cream were yummy. The kids had fun playing together and my niece Addison even learned how to say "Happy Birthday, Amy"! It was a great day and I was sad to see it end. I am looking forward to seeing what the next year has in store for me. Thanks to everyone who made me feel special today!

Opening presents (Notice that we are all still in our pajamas and I had just gotten out of the shower)

Our cake- Check out the writing on the cake.

Note: If you can write like a first grader, you too can get a job at Central Market decorating cakes!!!!

Happy Birthday Em! I feel so blessed that I get to share my birthday with you!

Toddler Time

Today we drove to Mansfield to spend the day with my sister and her 2 girls. We took the kids to the Mansfield Activity Center for Toddler Time. It was held in a gym that was filled with lots of things that the kids could play with, such as a bounce house, foam building blocks, and lots of balls for the kids to throw around. It was nice because it was only for 2-4 year olds so there were no big kids to intimidate them.

Parker had a great time! He started the morning screaming to get out of the bounce house, but after a little help from Aunt Emily, he ended up loving it! Parker is NOT a risk taker and I was so proud of him by the end because he went in and jumped all by himself.

After the bounce house, he played with balls and bounced on the trampoline for a while.

Then Parker and Addison played with the foam blocks while Eden and Aubrey hung out on the mats.

We had a great day and are so glad that Emily and her family live so close now. It's so fun watching our kids grow up together. We can't wait to go over and go to Toddler Time with them again soon.

Splish Splash!

Eden had her first big girl bath today. I was in a hurry and needed to get both kids bathed quickly. Eden has been sitting up by herself for almost 2 months now, so I felt comfortable letting her sit in the big tub with Parker. They both LOVED it! Parker kept saying "Yeah, Eden!" and had fun sharing his bath toys with her.

One funny thing that happened... when Eden gets excited, she flaps her arms like a bird. As I put her in the tub she got very excited and started flapping, which caused water to splash everywhere. Parker thought she was splashing just to have fun so he quickly started splashing too! By the end of the bath, there was water all over the floor and all over me! So much for what I thought would be a quick, in-and-out bath!

In the Driver's Seat

Parker has always had a love of anything with wheels (cars, trucks, trains, baby doll strollers!). He has also had a love for keys since he was old enough to hold things. Cory and I even got him his own set of keys that includes uncut keys from Walmart, his own key fob, and several cool keychains. Lately, he begs to "drive" everytime we go somewhere. He will sit in the driver's seat for as long as I let him being perfectly content to steer the wheel or push buttons. Today, he went and found his keys and tried for at least 30 minutes to start the car with his keys. He knows exactly where the key goes but can't figure out why it won't start my car!









He also loves to sit and "drive" his daddy's riding lawn mower. As soon as we go into the garage, he makes a beeline to the mower and sits on it while I put Eden in her carseat. The only way I can get him off of it is to tell him that he can drive it again when we get back home. I can only imagine what he will be like when he turns 16!

Eden's First Tooth

Eden cut her first tooth yesterday. I could see it underneath her gums for a few days, and it finally broke through yesterday morning. She made cutting teeth look so easy with very little fussiness or crankiness. One of the only ways I knew she was getting close was that any time I put her in the high chair, she would gnaw on the rim of the tray. Apparently, this was much more soothing on her sore gums than any of the fancy teethers I had been offering her. I hope the rest of her teeth come in this easy!

To stitch or not to stitch...

That was the question about 7 o'clock tonight.

I was getting Eden situated on her playmat in the living room when I heard a big THUD and instant crying. Parker cries easily so I didn't think much of it, but got up to go comfort him anyway. I immediately saw blood everywhere and called for Cory to come help me. Parker's entire face was covered with blood and it was also coming out of his mouth. We got him cleaned up and came to the conclusion that it was one gash on his forehead that was causing all of the bleeding. We finally got the bleeding to stop and thank goodness no stitches were needed.

I still have no idea how he fell. He wasn't running so he must have hit at just the right angle to make such a big gash. I have a feeling this will not be the last time we almost have to have stitches!