Our Little Artist

Ice Cream

Parker got a special treat the other night.

He got to eat some ice cream right out of the container!

Yesterday he helped me make ice cream for Aunt Noelle's birthday.

My Love

I love my husband more than words can say! He is incredible! My parents watch Parker for us each week so we can go out on a date. They are incredible too! I love our time together. He just got back from a school conference in Atlanta. Parker and I missed him so much. I don't think we will let him leave again without us!

These are the flowers he surprised me with at school last week!

Big Boy Bed

I snuck in and took a few pictures of our precious boy the other night.

We moved Parker into his big boy bed earlier this month. He was a little sad to see his crib go because we had to take it apart right in front of him. We thought we could just roll it out of his room, but it didn't fit through the door. He is loving his new bed now! We make sure and tell him how proud we are of him! It makes me a little sad because it is another sign that he is growing up, but I know he has to and there are so many fun things about his age right now! I sure do love him!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Metzger Visit

Brady, Julie & Owen came to visit this weekend!

This was after Owen gave Parker a hug.

It was very sweet, but Parker thought it was "owie".

These little boys had so much fun playing together!
So did the big boys! Here's the super group shot we got.

Sweet boys in their jammies.

Zoo Boise

I have the best mother-in-law in the world! One of our Christmas gifts from her this year was an annual pass to Zoo Boise! My goal is to go at least once a month. I'm sure we will go more than that. We tried to go in January, but it was too cold. So we'll have to go a few times in February. After I went to coffee with my sisters on Saturday I was driving home and it was super sunny and I thought it would be a great afternoon to take Parker to the zoo. We had the best time! It was not crowded at all so I could let Parker run around without worrying about him getting lost in the crowd. So many animals were out and about. It's not a big zoo, but it's the perfect size for a 2 1/2 year old. Here are some pictures of our time there.

We spent a lot of time watching the penguins swim around.
It was so cool to be so close to the lions. Parker really wanted to be in there with them, but I told him we were safer on this side of the glass.
He enjoyed driving the jeep. Beep beep!

Here's a picture of my big boy climbing to the top of the giraffe slide. He wanted to go up all by himself (snif, snif).

"I did it Mommy!" He was so proud of himself and I was proud of him too of course!

We enjoyed being prairie dogs for a while. I'm pretty sure he was trying to pick his nose while I was taking this picture.

Superbowl

This picture reminds me of what a great big brother Parker will be someday. :)

A year ago during our Superbowl party I remember telling my family that I was going off of birth control. Jeff and I decided that we were open to having another baby and that's kind of hard to do when you are on birth control. We didn't know if it would happen right away or not. It took us about four month to get pregnant with Parker. So here we are, a year later and still not pregnant. I have had my ups and downs with it. We have been blessed with an amazing little boy and I don't want to miss out on my time right now with him because I am so focused on having another baby. Our desire is to have more children. I loved growing up with my sisters and they are still such a huge part of my life...my best friends. Sometimes I feel like this is something I have to struggle through silently. Like getting pregnant is supposed to be this easy thing. But the thing is, I think there are a lot of people who struggle with it. Why does it have to be a silent struggle? We are having trouble getting pregnant. There. I said it. Now it's out there for the few people who read my blog. :) My doctor has been great and is being very proactive in helping us in this process. I am very thankful for that. Even though I get down about it sometimes, I mostly have peace about it right now. I'm not bitter towards people who are currently pregnant. I am so happy for the friends I know who are expecting. Hopefully I will be joining them soon. But if not, I want to make the most of the time I have with my sweet little family. If you made it to the end of this post you will realize that it wasn't really about the Superbowl at all. Although I did enjoy dancing with Parker and my sisters during the halftime show! :)

My Boys...

I start each day thanking God for my boys (as in Jeff and Parker, not Buzz and Woody just in case you were confused)! I cannot imagine my life without them. Jeff is my dream come true. So loving, encouraging, giving and fun. Parker is the greatest. He is so full of life, energy, love and hugs. The world is a better place because these boys are a part of it.

I know it's cliche, but they grow up so fast!!
Parker got stuck in his tunnel one day. It's cool though...he had his snacks in there so he made it until I came to rescue him. Is it bad that I always stop to take pictures before helping him?!

Yummy chocolate cupcakes. :)

Belly stickers...and his cheese face!

Parker's Fort

I like to be organized. This should not surprise you if you know me well. I have an organized home, classroom and car. I know this can be a bad thing sometimes, but mostly I look at it as one of my strengths. I also get a little antsy when I have free time and don't have some type of project to be working on. During Christmas break I was trying to figure out how to organize Parker's toys. The idea struck me to turn our closet underneath our stairs into Parker's fort. I'm always up for a good challenge and my goal was to complete this project before Christmas since I knew he would be blessed with new toys from his family and Santa. So thanks to Costco we found a shelf that fit perfectly and clear tubs that fit perfectly on the shelf. But first I had to clear out the things that used to be in there. I forgot to take a before picture, but of course it was organized before. It just had a bunch of stuff that we didn't use very often like sleeping bags, etc. I found new spots for the previous closet items in our guest room, closet and garage. This wasn't a difficult task since all of those places are organized too. :) I had so much fun turning this closet into a fort for Parker! He loves it! Sometimes he will go in and close the door and play. It is the perfect size for him. We can also pull tubs out and play in the living room. Once the day is done, we can sing the clean up song and put the toys away. We spend the majority of our time downstairs, so it just made more sense to find a special place for him down there instead of using his bedroom upstairs.

The desk he got for Christmas from my family fits perfectly!

I had to stage this picture with his cell phone and laptop. :)

So all of this organizing got me thinking that maybe someday I will start a professional organizing business. I would love to help people declutter their lives and get organized! So if you're looking for some organization, let me know. :)