Milestones

I am starting to believe that we throw parties for our children – especially first birthday parties – not for them, but for us. It’s a great time to get everyone together and share some quality time with the people who mean most to you because they have been there for your little family and all of your milestones. Baby Parker is no longer a baby. He’s 1 now making him officially a toddler. I talked with my Mom this weekend and was telling her about smash cakes because apparently, our parents never did silly things like letting your child create the biggest mess known to man on purpose. And while Parker did not make the mess he could have…he has some great Aunts and Uncles that helped make it bigger for him! He got a bath immediately following cake time – but that was the last thing on the to-do list for the party. It really was a great day, with great friends, and I’m so proud to be this little guy’s Auntie. I’m very excited to watch all my little babies grow up – it means more smash cakes, hugs and kisses, milestones, and love to share.

Oh man! This cake is SOO good!

Here Dad! You try it!

WANT MORE CAKE!

Parker destroyed that bad boy.

Obligatory Sunset

I liked the colors. That’s about it. I know we can all take this picture…but it’s still nice to look at!

The sunsetting over Columbia on Sunday, January 15, 2012. I was very afraid that a beautiful sunset like this was going to lead to a blizzard on Monday like it did in Seattle.

Goodbye walks

I spent Sunday afternoon watching the Fitzgerald girls while Jess and Travis packed the trailer. They left today for Colorado Springs and new adventures, but Sunday, I got one last adventure with Kira. I can’t believe this girl is only 3! We took a walk to the playground and it was a beautiful day with lovely light so picture taking was a must. I’m sad to see them go, but I’m excited for their new adventure and a good excuse to visit Colorado!

Puddle jumping!

Kira loves to hop scotch!

Kira raced ahead to go climb the monkey bars.

Kira in the gazebo on our walk.

Baby Drums

I know you remember pots and pans as drums. I do. And so did Adam. He decided while we were babysitting that he was going to teach Parker how to play drums for Nikki. He was interested a little…I think he liked my phone better.

Adam decided that while babysitting this week, we were going to teach Parker how to play the drums old school.

Family Time with the Fitzgeralds

Some of my babies are moving! So I went to spend a little time with the Fitzgerald family tonight. Jess got to pack a little while Travis cleaned and I played with the kiddos. Kira is so excited to be moving to Colorado. She asked me if I was going to come to and I said that it would be a lot of fun, but I had to work. And she said, well you can come after work. She’s getting so tall and so smart! Also included in tonight’s post, a photo of me made by Ms. Kira. She’ll be famous someday.

Bridgette has a new camera toy that she likes to chew on instead of take pictures with.

Bridgette with her camera toy.

This photo is compliments of Kira. She's only 4, btw. And she says to me tonight, "Can I try?" And I said, "Sure, but let's put this camera strap around your neck." And sure enough, once I put her finger on the right button, she lined that up and this was the result. She's gonna be good I think.

After a busy play night filled with princess dresses, running around the living room with bubble wrap, and taking pictures, she was a little tuckered out.

Play time with Parker

Family Dinner night! I brought my camera out because Parker-pod just keeps getting bigger and doing cooler things every time I see him. He’s turning into quite the little toddler. He shows off for Grandma when she comes to visit, and I think he does the same for us when we come over too. He’s walking more and more and tonight want climbing and crawling all over everything. We had a camp chair out for dinner and he decided it would be fun to crawl through the criss-crossed legs on the bottom and then played the throw the toy over the arm to the floor game. He found it hilarious. He also figured out how to fit his head through the arm openings. I think he thought it would be the easiest way to get on DaDa’s lap. Sadly no, we just giggled and him which makes him giggle and makes me want to take pictures.

Parker is quite the explorer. The camp chair was quite the play toy tonight at dinner.

I swear we feed him... I guess the chair just tastes better than the chicken?

Peek-a-boo is our new favorite game. Baby giggles are the best.

STL: Mirror Mirror

My trip to St Louis this week was very productive. While we had grand plans and adventures in mind like taking me to the Arch, we ended up in traffic and on a search for boots. We went to 4 different stores before finding THE pair. Sadly, that store didn’t have my size. So they called around, found them, and an adventurous drive later, I had new brown boots. And they are awesome. Moral of the picture is, this is Kristen driving. And I would have taken other photos that day, but we drove. And I like that she has 2 faces in the mirror. There are so many more opportunities to take pictures when you are the navigator instead of the driver!

Kristen driving.

Gingerbread House

Apparently gingerbread house making is not a common thing here in Missouri. We made them in school as kids and then one year when Grandma came to visit, we made a real one too. Olive and Adam had found a kit at Sam’s Club, and we thought it would be fun to put together with the boys. The Clark family came out from St. Louis for our New Year’s Eve party and the boys jumped right in on the making of the house. They were all so excited – and I think even more so when they were done and thought they could eat it.

The Clark boys making their first gingerbread house with Uncle Adam.

NYE Babies

I haven’t really gotten to see Parker interact with kiddos his own age until last night. Baby Landon came over to play for NYE. He’s about 2 months older than Parker and they are funny together. Sorry about all the baby posts, but these kids just keep getting better and funnier!

Parker and Landon playing together on New Year's Eve.

Baby Landon came for a visit to the Schwartz house for NYE.

Parker's sweet suspenders onesie. Yeah, I bought him that.

2011 blog in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,100 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.