One year ago...exactly...

My life was changed forever.  My baby is ONE today!  My baby is ONE right now.

We have liftoff!

5 Amazing Years!

It was 5 years ago on Tuesday that Jimmy and I went on our first date.  We were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend and never looked back.  I could have only dreamed where that day would take us.  Here is a quick look at the places this journey took us to.

One of the first pictures, December 2007

Home ownership, January 2009

Marriage, March 2009

Jamaica, March 2009

Atlanta, November 2009

New York, March 2010

Chicago, October 2010

Italy, February 2011

San Francisco, June 2011

My favorite place, Parenthood, November 2011

Back to the same Caribou where it all began.
November 20th, 2012

Can't wait to see where the next 5 years will take us!

Friendsgiving

We gathered with a bunch of friends today to celebrate Thanksgiving.  I have been getting excited for the holidays because Thanksgiving is the last of Parker's firsts.  Thanks to a great idea from Pinterest, I made this super cute onesie!

Now that a lot of us have kids it seems like it can be harder to make time to get together.  There were close to 20 adults and 5 kids (aged 5-18 months.)  It was great to see all the little ones playing together.

It was a potluck, so there was SO many tasty options to choose from!

A fabulous time was had by all!  I hope we do this again next year!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

My dad's birthday was this week so my whole family celebrated.  On Friday we went out to eat at The Wild Boar in Hopkins (another Minneapolis suburb.)  They have quite the eclectic menu: burgers, mexican, BBQ, etc.  It was really fun, other than the fact that they only had one set of lower tables (that were taken) and the rest were high-tops.  A high chair was pretty much pointless since he would be sitting 2 feet below the table, but we made it work!  After dinner, we all headed back to our house for dessert and presents!

My dad's all-time favorite cake is german chocolate with coconut pecan frosting!  Luckily most of us also like this option!

He was playing on the floor with Parker when the cupcakes came in!

Make a wish!

Nana and Grandpa

Nana got Grandpa tickets to the Gopher-Husker Basketball game!

He even borrowed Parker's blocks to mark the occasion!

Happy Birthday Dad!  I hope you had a great time!

Festive

Parker made his first handprint turkey at ECFE last night! I helped with the markers, but the body was all his! Can't wait for more of these!

Election Watch!

It's Parker's first election!  I was hoping to get an "I Voted" sticker to give to Parker, but our polling site doesn't give them out.  All we get is a sign saying we can go to City Hall and get one...  Since it is projected to be a close race we watched a lot of the coverage on CNN tonight.

With so many odd "predictors" out there, I thought it would be fun to see what Parker would predict.

So, that didn't turn out as I had hoped.  He hit the blue block, but didn't pick it up.  After reviewing the lego choice he clearly picked up the red one first so I guess we will say he is predicting that Romney will win.  I guess we will wait and see!

11 Months (a week late!)

Last week was so busy with Halloween and other stuff so this post has been a bit delayed.  I can't believe my baby is almost a year old!  It is getting harder and harder to get fun pictures because he is so curious and mobile.  Here are some fun stats for this month:

- His first words seem to be "mama" and "dada."  It is hard to say which was first because he has been saying them for a while, but they seem directed at Jimmy and myself more intentionally now
- 6 teeth (4 top, 2 bottom)
- Exhibiting more separation anxiety and "stranger danger" behavior
- Not quite walking yet.  He seems very content to just cruise along furniture.  He is relying less and less on objects when standing though
- Still hates haircuts!

Here is what I got for pictures!

This was taken on 10-30, he was NOT in a good mood at this point

But I got him to smile!

Does Parker like baths?

You be the judge...

Halloween!

We kept it pretty low key this year since parker can't really eat any candy yet.  But, I did want to dress him up!  The 2 other little boys in the neighborhood stopped by and we took some pictures of them together!

It's-a Me, Mario!

Parker, Kasa and Rollie

MMM...Candy!