2012 Year in Review

I stole the idea from Shealy, but I created a new header each month.  I have loved looking at how much Parker has changed over the year.  Here are our headers, and a year in review with the headers...

* January was a pretty calm month.  We spent a lot of time around the house (probably because Drew was on night shift).  We played with all of Parker's new toys and walked her baby in circles around the house. We danced and danced to Parker's new boom box, and helped with laundry.  Parker also cut a few new teeth and we spent some time outside on mild days.

* February was spent much the same way.  We spent a lot of time outside (especially for this time of year).  Parker officially became a walker!!! We continued to play with our baby, spent Valentine's Day (and several others) home sick, went to Parker's first baseball game and really started getting curls.

* March brought even more outside time as the weather warmed up.  Parker got some special time with Daddy while I interviewed for teaching vacancies at school.  March brought a love of pizza and sweet tea, as well as a fun Spring Break with mom!  We took Parker's first visit to the zoo in Birmingham during Spring Break.

* April brought time with friends and family.  The Easter Bunny came to visit Parker during a fun, family weekend and Parker attend her first wedding when my college roommate Ashley got married in Birmingham.

* May brought weather warm enough to pull out the baby pool on the deck.  We spent Mother's Day weekend together.  May was Parker's first car wash experience, time with the neighbors and Parker's first Aubie experience at one of Aunt Mal's initiations. We had Parker's pictures taken by some good friends.  We also celebrated the end of school/beginning of summer with a pretty eventful Memorial Day weekend at the beach/Opp.  Parker HATED the sand/water and we had a blown tire.

* June was pretty low-key.  We celebrated Father's Day and Parker's half-birthday.  We went swimming and played outside a lot.  Parker spent time playing with friends and enjoyed Momma being home for the summer.

* July was busy, busy, busy.   Bentley joined the family.  We spent the Fourth at the beach.  Parker looked like a diva this time in her baby pool, but eventually decided that the sand and ocean weren't that bad.  We visited with friends and family while we were there.  Parker and I made a trip north to Scottsboro for a long weekend while Drew had to work.  Then Parker had a first airplane trip to Houston to visit Uncle Jager and Parker's first aquarium trip.  Mix in time at home and fun with friends, and I'm not sure how we fit it all in.

* We slowed down a lot in August.  Probably because school was starting back for me.  We did manage to spend time with friends and celebrate Drew's birthday.  Parker also had her first day in her new class at school.

* September brought football season, and Drew's busy season.  It also brought a little Miss independent to our house.  Parker really began wanting to feed herself, and do other things independently.  Parker went to her first tailgate, and wore all of her cute Auburn clothes!  September also brought another visit to the zoo for Parker.  This time we visited the Montgomery Zoo.

* October was full of family fun and sickness.  Parker was sick most of the month.  She had a horrible cough, and would recover from one cold and immediately have another.  Parker and I made the trip to Scottsboro to visit with Uncle Jager (and the rest of the family) who was in town for a triathlon.  Parker and I also went to the lake one weekend and rode the boat.  Parker and I also made the trip to Birmingham for John and Will's birthday parties.  We visited the pumpkin patch with Daddy and also went to Family Fun Night at my school.  We ended October with a fun-filled night of Trick or Treating with friends downtown.

* During November, I took Parker to her first Auburn game.  Drew and I took her to the Football Fans and Feathers event put on by the raptor center, and we took her to Toomer's Corner to celebrate one of our very few victories.  We celebrated my birthday, Parker got really sick and we celebrated Thanksgiving in Birmingham.  We ended November with a big change.... potty training!

* December was a big month around our house!  We started the month off with a family day (an early birthday celebration of sorts).  We spent a weekend celebrating Aunt Mal's graduation from Auburn.  Someone special turned two on the 15th and we celebrated with friends and family at her monkey birthday. We also went to the Auburn Christmas parade on her birthday.  We had a big Christmas and traveled all over the state before spending New Years Eve with our friends back in Auburn.  

2012 was a good year.  It had its ups and downs.  Can't wait to see what 2013 holds for us!

Christmas Part 2

After opening our presents Christmas morning, we loaded up and headed out to see the family.  Our first stop was Birmingham.  We visited with Mimi and her side of the family Christmas afternoon.  Parker had a great time playing with her new toys (thanks guys, for spoiling her!) and her cousins.

The next morning, we headed over to Memom and Dedad's house.  It was snowing, so we took a picture outside of Parker's first snow.  Parker played with Linley, then we ate breakfast and opened presents before hitting the road again.

We headed up to Huntsville to visit Dad and Sandra and the rest of the families.  Parker had a great time with Daddy Steve's hat, and with Hatley.  She gave out lots of love while we were there.

Lastly, we headed south to Opp for Christmas with YaYa and the rest of the family down there.  Parker enjoyed playing with her new baby (dubbed baby Caroline), her grocery cart and her princess fairy set. She had to try on each pair of pants she opened (hence the pictures below that could belong on "People of Walmart").  She really enjoyed Trey and Caroline (and Mal Mal and Josh!) while we were there.

Christmas 2012 was a whirlwind!  Everyone went above and beyond, and while were exhausted we enjoyed ourselves and had a great time visiting with everyone.

Christmas Part 1

On December 23rd, Parker and I decorated cookies for Santa.  She had an absolute blast "painting" the cookies.  Then, even more fun once we added the sprinkles!  The may not have been the prettiest cookies, but it was so much fun for her.

On Christmas Eve, we spent the day wrapping the last of the presents, and then packing up presents for our trip to visit the rest of the family.  Me-Merri was at our house and helped us wrap and pack.  We got ready for church, and Miss Priss insisted upon wearing her rain boots.... so we let her (until we got to church).

After church, we sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn for Rudolph and his friends, 

set out our cookies for Santa (along with some milk), 

and waved bye bye to Ellie the Elf. (Ellie mainly just hung out in the tree and in Parker's stocking this year...)

We went to bed hoping that Santa would remember to stop by our house.... and never fear he did!  When we told Parker on Christmas morning that Santa had brought her presents she was a little scared that he was still in her house.  Once we reassured her that he was not there, she took off running to see what he brought.  

Santa decided that Parker didn't need too much because she had just had a big birthday, so he brought her a doll cradle for "baby" with bedding, some diapers for baby and a puppy dog lovey for baby, too.  Santa also brought Parker the Jesus Storybook Bible.

After exploring her goods, Parker passed out our stockings and further explored her own.

We ate some yummy French Toast Casserole, then it was on to more presents.

We had to try out a few of our new dress up toys...

And never fear, Santa brought Bentley, aka BB some treats too!

Two Year Pictures

We had Parker's two year pictures, as will as Christmas Card Pictures made in late November.  We used Brandon and Amy Henderson with Auburn Heritage Photography again and we LOVED our pictures... Here are just a few!

Parker's School Party

Parker's school Christmas party was on Friday, December 21st.  They also had PJ/Polar Express Day that day...  I was able to leave work a few minutes early to go to her party, and I am so thankful that I was able to be there.  Drew even got to stop by for a few minutes.  

Happy Birthday Parker!

Parker's birthday fell on a Saturday, so we decided to have her party that afternoon.  Little did we know when we planned it that two couples would want to look at our house that morning!  It was a little crazy being out of the house for a few hours the morning of the party, but it all worked out and Parker had a great party!

Decorations and Food:

Our sweet girl had a wonderful time at her party.  She was precious opening presents.  Sometimes getting the people who gave them to her to help her...Letting Kate help her.  She was really funny showing off her presents and telling everyone "tank oo".

We actually had to take a cake break.  She loved her cakes and everyone singing to her.  She even tries to blow out any candles/fires we see now!  If you look closely below, you can see her trying to sneak a taste of the cake....

Thank you to all of our family and friends who came to Parker's party and spoiled our girl.  She had a great time, and loved being the center of attention.