Happy 1st Birthday Parker!

I can't believe that fall and Parker's 1st Birthday snuck up on us so fast. It doesn't seem like it was a whole year ago that we brought him home with us and our lives changed forever. I notice all these things now that he is doing just in the last week and he seems to have grown up so much so quickly! He is "talking" all the time and copying everything that we do. He is also a climbing machine.

I love how quickly he can go from this:

to this:

Such a big guy playing outside with his cousin Drayson

Parker's 1st Birthday Party
We had Parker's party on Saturday the 17th. It turned out to be a great day and we were lucky to have so many family members there. Look at how grown up Parks looks in his little rugby polo and jeans. You'll notice that by the end of the day he is in a different shirt (frosting was all over this one).
We are now proud parents of a 1 year old boy...who we fondly refer to as Dr. Destructo!The CupcakeParker started picking each individual sprinkle off the top of his cupcake...only our child would do that. Most kids would have mushed the cupcake onto their faces by now!So happy post-cupcake!

Presents!
Thanks to everyone who came and to those who couldn't make it and sent gifts for our little man. He has been busy loving them all!!! We really appreciate you "sharin' the love" on his special day!



*We want to send out a special thanks to Papa Kev-O and Nonni Donna for letting us have Parker's party at their house and for all the amazing food. You are two in a million and we couldn't be more lucky to have you in our lives!*

Birthday Breakfast!

On Parker's actual birthday we went out to breakfast with Gpa Lee and Gma Jammi. After a very yummy breakfast (thanks Gpa and Gma) we headed back to their hotel room to hang out with them before they drove back to Snohomish. Parker has a strange love of hotel rooms! He, for some strange reason, finds them fascinating!
What is this strange thing with a cord???

When we got back home Parker found an empty box...so of course he had to climb on in!!!


Doctor Appointment Stats:

• Height: 30 1/2 in. (75th percentile)
  
• Weight: 22 lbs. 10 oz. (50th percentile)
  

A Long Time Coming

Check out our big guy. I can't believe he will be one year old next weekend (well...Sunday the 18th). He loves to rock in this chair. It is just his size!

Sorry folks!!! I have been totally neglecting the blog. I know that those of you who regularly check the blog for a new update have probably given up hope by now! For that I apologize. Lots has been going on lately and I have been either crazy busy with work or too sick to even think about posting a new blog.

In mid September I went back to work. I haven't worked since a month before Parkster was born and it has been so much fun. It was time to head back now that we have moved and tried to get back into some sort of routine. Travis became "stay-at-home-Daddy" and I went back to substitute teaching. As of yet I haven't subbed in an elementary school (my area that I know and love) but have spent all my time in middle schools. It is actually starting to grow on me. It is a whole different world than elementary and is a bit of a culture shock at first. Especially when you are used to first graders!!! My first sub job back was a 1-week job with 8th graders...yikes! It eneded up being a real learning experience for me and I loved the staff at the school. I just got to go back and sub in that room again about a week ago and had fun. It was nice to know the student's names this time around! I have been getting requests from the middle schools and I really am enjoying it. It is not the same as being at home with my little man...but I know that it is good for Trav to have that time at home with him. Especially because I have already gotten my chance while Trav was at work! Anyway...I am adjusting to being back at work and away from Parker.
My mom and I just found these cars a couple weeks ago. The one he's playing with is a Sheriff's car...I thought it was pretty fitting because that is what his Daddy wants to do! They are from the movie Cars.

Parker was chasing around the patch of sun that was coming in the window the other day. It was too funny! I wish I was that easily entertained!
Parker has gotten so big and is walking better and better all the time. He is a dancing fool and loves to shake his booty whenever he hears a beat! It is too funny to watch. He has also started climbing everything...and I do mean everything!!! We have to watch him every second to make sure he isn't going to hurt himself too bad.
Check out our "helper"--Unloading the dishwasher, dusting the floor, and helping mow the lawn!

On top of busy schedules Parker and I have been pretty sick. It is hard enough to be sick on your own, but those moms out there know that it is even worse with a sick kiddo!!! His voice is so rhaspy and his cough sounds terribly painful. It is also hard to have to lay him back down when he wakes up in the middle of the night. He is so little that there isn't anything we can give him for his cough either. Our room smells like Vick's Vapor Rub all the time and I don't really know how long it will take to get the smell to go away!!! I'm sure Travis will be thrilled when it does though. I am feeling better and Parker seems to be feeling a little better too. He is also teething while he is sick which is even worse...yikes. He bit my sholder for the first time the other day and it brought tears to my eyes it hurt so bad! Right now he is also HATING the word NO! He gets this super sad face and whines while squatting down and it is too funny!
He has been so snuggly while he hasn't been feeling well...he even sat still long enough to take a picture with Mommy!

Hopefully this will hold you all over for a little while! Happy Fall! It is dang cold outside now!!!
Parks and Drays love to put on these fake glasses! They know that they are funny when then put them on. So cute!

a weekend in ellensburg

my boys!

Last weekend we were lucky enough to get to go to Ellensburg to spend the weekend with Trav's family. We got there on Friday evening and went to the fair. The weekend was great and it was nice to catch up and visit. Parker especially had fun playing with cousins Torri and Raylee. He had so much fun walking around the house and chasing Mommy everywhere. He even found and very big Swiffer and was loving it!!! I think that Aunt Rhonda loved having at least a little of the dusting done for her too! Just one less thing to do...what mom doesn't love that??? Torri and Raylee had blown up individual air mattresses to sleep on in the living room and Parker thought it was so much fun to be pulled around on them like they were sleds! It was hilarious to watch.

After we got back from the fair, Travis decided that we should go out and and pet Mark and Rhonda's horses. Parker even sat on one. He wasn't so sure about it!

On Sunday, before we all headed back home we took some family pictures. I think they turned out pretty well!
top row: me, trav, parker, jammi, rhonda, torri, cody
middle: raylee, sue, nan, lee
bottom: tyler, terri, papa, mark, shane

top: me, parker, trav, rhonda, mark, torri, cody
middle: terri, papa, lee, shane, tyler
bottom: raylee, sue, nan, jammi

us!

the orendorffs: cody, mark, rhonda, torri

the duncans: terri, sue, raylee

boys and their toys

Just as a quick update: our little man is now walking! He still gets down and crawls if there is something he wants to get to really quickly (or if he's trying to catch up to his cousins!).

• favorite foods (he's in this phase where one day he loves something and the next day he doesn't...so we have to re-try things every other day right now): blueberry pop-tarts, bananas, grilled ham & cheese sandwiches, tamales, crisp chicken burritos, freeze-dried apples & pears, Honeycombs and toast with jelly on it
• baby signs: "more" (he started out just doing after prompting a couple days ago...but today Nonni gave him a little piece of a chocolate chip cookie and he followed her and did the sign for more a couple times wanting more bites!)
  
• says: "mom" & "dad", and makes a bunch of other noises!
• new things he loves to do: lay his head down on everything, play in the dog water (he really loves to stand with one foot in the dog water dish), try to steal Deacon's food, climb the stairs (and everything else), watch Daddy mow the lawn, ride on the riding lawn mower, cram himself into tight spaces, yank on anything with bars and play with all the shoes in the shoe basket by the door.
• tooth count: Parker now has 4 teeth on the top and 2 teeth on the bottom with 2 more that have just broken through the skin
  

The other day we decided that because Parker loves to play in small spaces so much, that maybe he needs a tunnel toy to play with. We found this one at Toys R Us and he loves it!
{if you look close you can see him in the yellow block on the right}

{it even has a ball pit in the center block}
{he really likes trying to stick his face through these holes}
While we were all sitting around the table eating dinner (Parks had already finished eating), just a couple feet away Parker somehow tipped over one of the dining room chairs after scooting it over to the carpet. He climbed up onto the back of the chair and was peeking over the top at all of us at the table. He knew that he was being funny and kept doing it over and over!
peek-a-boo
Then Drayson came over to play with the tipped over chair too. He thought it was funny to drop his lovie down between the legs and pick it back up again!

Notice all the drool on Park's shirt...yup we are getting two more teeth in! Ahhh...the joy of teething!