The Parks top 12 in '12

1. We bought a house!  We have been there almost a year and could not be more happy with the house we decided on.  It is small, needs things fixed, and is PERFECT.  Over the year we have done some minor changes, mostly painting, but we have a list of things we would like to do in the future to the house.  We aren't going to live there forever, but it is OURS.  And I am so glad that we were financially stable enough to take on a mortgage all by ourselves like real grown ups...oh wait we are real grown ups.  Sigh. 

2. Bryan has been at his job for a year! He really enjoys working for the City of Bryan and got a very nice bonus recently.  He works very hard to provide for our family and he deserves it.  He did so well on his evaluation, that he got more of a raise than any of his other co-workers! He is a pretty good catch ;)

3.  I have been at my job for 2 years! While this is not what I would like to do forever, I can honestly say that this is the best job I have ever had.  I have the best co-workers and supervisor, we are like one big NSFP family! I have had some very difficult jobs (and by difficult I mean hard people to work with/for) and I can get up everyday and it not suck to go to work.  I had a job for about and year and everyday I woke up and said I hate my job, that was a hard year!! I work with some great student leaders and an awesome student worker.  I am happy to be a part of this wonderful team :)

4. Logan turned ONE! I cannot believe my baby is growing up so fast. This year he started crawling, then walking, gave up the paci, talking more and more, dances, gives hugs and kisses on command, sleeps AWESOME (thanks buddy we really appreciate that!), eats more food, loves animals, and well I could go on and on, but he learned and started doing so much stuff this year! I can't wait to see what he will be doing next year. 

5. Happy 3 years babe! Bryan and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary.  It might seem strange but I love that man more everyday! He is my rock, best friend, soulmate and everything in between.  We had some hard times this year (adjusting to being parents is one thing, but adjusting to having a toddler is a whole other ball game!) but the good outweigh the bad. 

6.  My best friend got married! I was so happy to be a part of her special day.  She looked so beautiful and it was so much fun helping her on her big day! It was perfect. 

7. My dad lost his job.....then found the perfect job! My dad has worked in the oilfield all my life.   Well he worked his way up and those are the people they let go first.  He has been let go about 4 times in the past 30 years and he just keeps right on going and finds another job.  Well he had been with this company 13 years.  13 years! So when he called and told me, I was heartbroken and my first thought was...my dad is 58....what is he going to find?  It is hard to find a job at my age, let alone 58! So he looked.....and applied.....and nothing.  This went on for 10 months.  My Dad did not want to get back in the oilfield because he is so close to retirement.  But that is all he knew.  My Dad is an outdoorsman, he loves to hunt and fish.  His dream job would be working at some sort of Cabella's or Bass Pro Shops, but there is nothing like that in Brenham.  But there is a firearms warehouse in Independence (about 10 miles from Brenham) and I am talking BIG.  They have every kind of gun and ammo you can imagine.  People travel from Houston, College Station and other places just to come get their guns from that store.  So naturally, my Dad called and asked if they needed any help.  He has been working there almost a month and he loves it! It is perfect for him.  And I am so happy he is doing something he loves. 

8. Babies, babies and more babies! This year was the year of babies!! Family, friends, they all decided this year would be the baby boom, I guess I missed the memo. 

1. Hayden Gregory Dodge-my nephew, March 2012
2. Wyatt Gene Brieden-Bryan's cousin's baby, April 2012
3. Rylee Nicole Bearden-Bryan's cousin's baby, April 2012
4. Kelsey Grace Penuel-Bryan's cousin's baby, May 2012
5. Jackson Thomas Gochenour-my best friend's baby, June 2012
6. Tristan Allan Penuel-Bryan's cousin's baby, July 2012
7. Andrew Grant Malnar-my supervisor's baby, October 2012
8. Savannah Rae Kleinpeter-my friend's baby, December 2012

Wow that is a lot of babies....and I do not know of anyone that is pregnant right now...maybe 2014 will be the next boom.....not for us though, ha!   

9. We left Logan overnight for the first time! Yes that might be lame, but it was a big deal to us! In May, my best friend graduated from college and he had a party in Austin.  Logan was 13 months old and this was the first time we BOTH left him overnight with my parents.  He did GREAT and we had a great time being pretending we were still young :)

10.  I got a new car! Well I got it because I was in an awful wreck at the end of the year last year, but I love my Rav! It is so much bigger and we have more room when we go out of town.  It is also SO much easier to put Logan in his carseat.  I will never go back to a car again...I am an SUV mama from here on out!

11. I voted for the first time!  And no, I did not vote for Obama. I am a republican and believe in the values and morals that go along with that.  I do not think he did anything great for us the last 4 years.  BUT America voted, and he won.  I can only HOPE that our nation can come together and we can somehow keep our head above water and get out of the mess we are in.  I can only pray that in 2016 we will be a strong country and make a better decision. 

12. We are healthy! This year has been hard on Bryan with his allergies, but he finally got some good medicine and is feeling better.  Logan had LOTS of ear infections this year (7 I think) but he has not had one in 8 months! We think we are over them, which is great.  All in all, we are healthy and THAT is plenty. 

2012, so much has happened this year, and we have lots to be thankful for!
But I cannot wait to see what 2013 has in store for our family! We are truly blessed,
Happy New Year everyone!

Little boy haircut

My baby has been a little baldy up until he was about a year old, he started to get some "fuzz" but not much.  Well he went from this:

13 months

to this:

15 months

and finally to this:

18 months

But once he hit 18 months, man those blonde locks came in! See the cute little flip of a curl on the side?  It was time for a little boy haircut.  Bryan and I had been discussing it for a while and last weekend we just said ok we are doing it, at 20 months, it is time! We headed up to Sports Clips and the lady was so nice and patient.  We tried to get Logan in the chair....nope not having it.  So he sat on Daddy's lap while the lady attempted to cut his hair.  He cried mostly, but then got distracted with the TV. 

I had her cut off that little curl and put it in a baggie for me (yea, I am that mom).
I he survived his first haircut! And now looks like such a big kid.  (I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he will be 2 in 4 months!!)  

Santa Visit@ Christmas at the Creek

I was so excited about Logan seeing Santa this year! Last year he was so small and he really enjoyed sitting by Santa and playing with his beard.  Here is last year:

And this year....

Needless to say, Santa was pretty traumatic for a toddler.  He wanted nothing to do with Santa at all! He even gave him a candy cane and Logan snatched it from Santa, and kept on crying! So I just snapped this picture, laughed and thought,well this will be one for the books, here is to hoping next year we might get a good one!

After the meltdown, we enjoyed the rest of Christmas at the Creek! Lights, hayrides, a petting zoo and live nativity, Logan's night turned right around! He danced with Rudolph, ate a sugar cookie and he really loved the camel, but got a little scared when it stood up!

Fall family photo shoot

So last month we attempted to do a fall family shoot.  Well with a cranky toddler, this was the best we got! There are a few cute ones for sure, but Logan did not want ANYTHING to do with taking pictures (much like the ones with Santa this past weekend, but that is a whole other post!)
Here are the few my wonderful friend captured!
I love the last one...Christmas card maybe??

THIS is actually TRUE TO LIFE!

Turkey Day 2012 Recap

Turkey Day has come and gone.  Seriously how fast did this year go by?  Sheesh. 

This year we went over to my sister's house in the Woodlands for some family and LOTS of food! It was my parents, my sister, her hubby and 2 kids, my Uncle and his 2 girls and my Memaw and of course the Parks family of 3.  So it was a nice group and we had plenty of laughs and stuffed ourselves. I even made a pumpkn roll, which I had NEVER done before and everyone commented on how tasty it was! We had a nice day just relaxing and talking, it was nice family time.  Everyone left that evening but we were staying until Saturday so I got some good quality time with my nephews! Hunter is getting so big and all he wanted to do was play Hangman and Candyland, but that was alright with me. And my sweet Hayden is a chubby bubby and just mostly wanted to be crawling around on the floor and getting into stuff.   The weekend was great (although myself and Bryan caught a nasty stomach bug....ugh.) Here are some pictures from the weekend, hope everyone had a great Turkey Day!

The Family! Thanksgiving 2012!

This was the best picture of the 3 of them!

Love my seester!

Paw Paw getting Hayden's toes!

Itsy Bitsy Spider with Grams!

Going shopping for the turkey!

Love my Daddy!

My Uncle JB and his girls, Sydney and Anne

MeMaw and her grand-daughters

Hunter-man and Logan (this one melts my heart!)

Hayden aka Chubb Chubb on his first turkey day!

Single Mom

...just for the weekend! And let me tell you after this weekend, BIG props to all the single moms out there.  Logan is in a very difficult stage so it is nice when Bryan comes home for me to have a "break".   Let's be real, the "break" is cooking, washing dishes or putting away clothes!

Bryan went to the A&M game in Mississippi on Friday with 2 of his very close friends.  He has not had a guys weekend probably since Logan was born, so I was excited for him.  And the Aggies won! Gig 'Em!

This weekend, Logan and I played lots outside, bubbles, bathtub paint, and watched a movie or two.  He was actually pretty good and VERY clingy...which he never is. 
Saturday night we ventured out with some friends to the carnival that was in town. Logan had never been to a carnival so I thought it would be fun to walk around and maybe ride a ride or two.  We got there and he seemed to be intrigued by all the lights and sounds.  I figured there was 2 rides we could go on, so I went and bought tickets.  We first went on the carousel.  He seemed pretty happy---until the ride actually started.  He cried the whole time, poor baby.  After the carnival, we decided to go to Chick Fil A and let the kiddos play in the play area.  Logan had lots more fun there than the carnival!
Guess he was not ready for the carnival--maybe next year. 

Before the ride started

Playing with Makenna at Chick Fil A.  Logan's hand placement and face cracks me up in this picture!

Bryan came home on Sunday evening and Logan was so happy to see him....as was I!

Halloween 2012 Recap

Last year Logan was a little small to partipate in all of the fun Halloween activities but I was so excited for this year! But I mean come on how freakin cute was he last year?! Omg.  I die. 

Well this year I had already planned (yes I am a planner!) that he was going to be a parrot! Bryan and I had some old pirate costumes from like 4 years ago (we are broke people, we aren't paying for new costumes.) We got them out of the attic and whooo hooo, it still fit me, boo-yah, go me.  My plan was to make him one so I would not spend a lot of money, but then I found a really cute one for $12 so I snatched it up!  I would have spent that much to make it and well let's be honest I am not too crafty.  I am the one that pins things on pinterest and thinks oh I could do that, and never actually do it. I am not sure if he liked it at first....

We first attended Logan's fall party at school.  I made rice krispy treat pumkins and all the kiddos had lots of sugar-y stuff so they were all hyped up by the time I got there.  It was open for parents to come but me and Bryan were the only ones (out of 4 other parents) that did.  Oh well, it was my baby's first party at school, I was there and being a mamarazzi!

We had some good friends over that night and we carved pumpkins.  Logan thought the insides were gross, but by the end, he was wanting to reach in and grab the seeds and put them in his mouth. Yuk.  He had fun and sat there while we carved for about 45 minutes!

We cooked ribs and I made a super yummy Pinterest dessert.  Cookie dough brownie peanut butter cup brownies....Wow.  They were great but really rich.  I did not take a picture because they were GONE as soon as I put them out!

Recipe:
I roll of cookie dough
12 individual wrapped Reeses peanut butter cups
Brownie mix

Place wax paper on 9 x 13 glass pan.  Spread the cookie dough on the bottom. 
Place rows of peanut butter cups (3 rows of 12) on top of the cookie dough
Mix up brownie mix and pour it over the top
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes
You can cut them into squares and each person gets their own peanut butter cup!

We went to our church fall festival the Sunday before Halloween.  There was so much stuff for the kiddos to do, but not too much for the little ones.  They had a petting zoo which Logan loved and a train to ride.  Some of the games I helped him play. He had fun (although he thought the train ride was a little fast, so did mommy!) He also played on the church playground and has some of Daddy's sno-cone. 

Trick or treating! I was so excited for him to actually go and walk up to the doors and put candy in his bag.  Who cares he can't say trick or treat? We met up with friends that we went with last year, I think it is tradition now.  Their little girl is 3 and she loves her "Yogan".  This was them last year. 

And this year....

This is the best picture you can get with a 19 month old a 3 year old!

Yes, after Makenna saw that Logan was a pumpkin last year that is all she talked about being was a pumpkin like "Yogan".  It was too cute.  I hope these 2 grow up to be great friends!

We headed out and Logan was pretty good for the first 5 houses or so.  We let him walk because he is Mr. Independent and I knew if we took the wagon he would be out of it in 2.5 seconds.  He saw Makenna walking by herself so he wanted to also.  But he wanted to RUN.  So he had a few meltdowns while Mommy tried to explain to him that we have to hold hands.  That worked for a little bit.  Logan had a candy bag, but as soon as the person would put the candy in his bag, he would have to take it out, look at it and HE wanted to put it in the bag. Sure, not worth the fight on that one. 
We got mixed reactions as to what Logan was.  Rio, Tucan Sam, an Angry Bird and a penguin...really??!! I thought our outfits totally made sense.  But most people said he was just an adorable little parrot and of course I would have to agree!
We trick or treated for about 30-45 minutes and by the end, he was done.  We let Makenna go to a few more houses but we held our little "angry bird".  We made it home around 9:30 and our parrot was tuckered out! What a great night and we can't wait until next year!

Notice the DEATH GRIP on the candy?!

End of the night!