pumpkins

even though it was cold and rainy, we still had a great time at the mcgarrah pumpkin patch last week!
aww what a cutie

"look, mom, i am eating the straw. i eat everything!!"

ooooh a big one!

can't wait to go again next year!

and just because, here is a picture of some pumpkin bread i made. it was actually edible (and delicious!!) love yall. have a great week!

team china

i am really happy tonight. after years of supporting our husbands at rec. basketball games, my girlfriends and i officially signed up for a city volleyball league! it is our husbands' turn to come and watch us play :).

i've struggled the last couple of years with having a consistent group of girl friends to hang out with. in high school, our friends were so close and i am incredibly thankful for our friendships that continue today, but everyone is spread out accross the country. in college i was blessed to constantly be surrounded by great girls, as living together breeds deep relationships, but most of the girls don't live close and the ones that do are at different stages of life.

after getting married (and having a kid), i've struggled with finding my group. don't get me wrong--i have a many friends and even friends who know me very well and i can always count on here, but just not a good group. the hardest part is deciding what group i want to be in. i have my work friends. we enjoy happy hours, go out to lunch for each others' birthdays, throw wedding and baby showers, but sometimes i wonder if our connecting thread is simply working for the same company and we don't share many interests outside of work.

then i have my mom friends. i enjoy hanging out with them and talking all things baby. but most of them are stay at home moms and get together during the day for play groups and bible studies, and i don't feel like i would ever fully be part of the intimate group without staying at home.

james and i also have many, many couple friends, but couple friends just aren't the same as girl friends. plus, i think most of our couple friends like to hang out more with james than me and i just get invited because i'm his wife :). j/k...sorta.

anyway, this is all why i am so excited to play volleyball. it is all about the girls, doing something we love, getting a little exercising and building relationships. i don't know if i will ever have such close girlfriends again now that i am a wife, mother, sister, etc. and girl friend, but here's to hoping. love yall!

p.s. college friends accross the country--miss you!

christmas pics

my friend jen came through town this past weekend and was kind enough to take a few pictures of the dees and us! i am excited to get an early start on christmas cards this year. here are a few of the shots (i used http://www.picnik.com/ to edit them. i love that website--and it is free!)

hopefully my blog will undergo a fall/christmas makeover soon. love yall!

6 months

dear parker,

we are a couple of days late this month, but congrats on the lil' birthday! 6 months! the best age yet. you did so well with your immunizations today. you are officially 20lbs (90%) and 28.25 inches (95%). go parks! dr. foster said you are going to be a big boy :). i constantly get comments on what a chunk you are. it's kinda funny--most of the time i don't care (babies are supposed to be chubby, right?), but when the nursery worker at church said "look at those FAT thighs" it got to me. chubby, chunky, big, round, festively plump, etc--those words are semi-acceptable, but fat? my son is not fat, dangit! 90% for weight and 95% for height--perfectly proportioned!

i digress. parker you are awesome. the nursery worker almost made up for her comment by saying how wonderful you are and never cry. that makes me extremely happy--you are such a content baby. you are happy playing by yourself but love getting attention from others.

we have "stations" for you at home to help your development. you rotate between the jumperoo, exersaucer, playard (kick machine), bumbo, boppy (sitting up), tummy time, reading and playing with mom and dad. we try to play with you and give you as much tummy time as possible because mom read that that jumpers are the leading cause of developmental delay. now that you can sit up all by yourself we are working diligently on the crawl. dad says to give you two more weeks and you will be scurrying across the room.

you went on your first plane ride this month. you, grandma betty and mom had a great time in florida. here you are in front of the 17th green at the sawgrass players club.

i love your age right now so much. you babble, you squeal and you are so happy.

the sun was in your eyes at the beach, but here is a great shot of your chubby little thighs :)
we still can't figure out the color of your eyes. dad says they are blue-ish, brown-ish, green-ish.

even though pool season is over and it is getting cold, we have football to keep us entertained every weekend. go pack! (and jayhawks, razorbacks and do i dare say it...chiefs!)

until next month, love you little guy!!!
love,
momma

p.s. last weekend we went to jbu's homecoming and were blessed to meet melissa m, chat at the soccer game with melissa c and see many other old friends like the girls from the spankers flag football team pictured below. good times!