The Party Planning Has Begun....

 Yes, my child's birthday isn`t for another 4 months, but you can never start getting stuff too early! The theme for Parker's first birthday is County Fair/Huckleberry Fin. Since his birthday is in the middle of the summer I thought it would be a fun theme. I saw on Pinterest someone pinned Shop Sweet Lulu. They have some great party supplies! So I went ahead and grabbed a few things!

     

The bags for the favors for the kids. They are going to "go fishing" for them.

The cups for the candy at the General Store.

The spoons for the Mason Jars with icecream in them.

The straws for everyone's drinks.

These are my favorite! They are milk jar glasses (these are plastic) for the kids to drink from!

I`m so excited for this party. I`m hoping if I start getting stuff here & there it won`t all pile up right before!

Craft Day & a Baby Hat

Yesterday I decided to finally do some craft stuff I have been wanting to do. So I went to Wal-Mart, got some supplies.

The first craft I did was from Infarrantly Creative. You turn empty wipe containers into plastic bag holders (but that are cute!) You need to have an empty wipe container, plastic bags, fabric, Mod Podge, a brush, scissors, adhesive spray, & ruler.

First you place the bags out & roll them up. If you click on their link they give you a detailed description of how to roll. I only had 4 bags, they say have 12.

Once you roll them, put them into the wipe container.

Then you take the Mod Podge & brush it on the fabric.

Then once the fabirc is dry, spray the container & place fabric on the container.

It really turned out cute!

Now I won`t have a pile of plastic bags in my pantry!

The next craft I did was The Cart Before The Horse. You need a blank canvas ( I did two), fabric cut up, Mod Podge & a brush.

You just brush the Mod Podge on & stick on the fabric.

It is super easy & great if you have tons of fabric just sitting around not being used! I did brown, blue & green fabrics.

I then attached green ribbon to the canvas so I could hang them in my den. I think they turned out great!

I just had to throw in these pictures of Parker. He is wearing the hat he worn in the hospital when he was born. It was so big then we could barely keep it on his head! Now it barely fit because he is too big!

I`m also working on another craft but I`m not done yet. I just have really been in the mood to sew & craft for some reason. I have two quilts also I started in Kentucky that I`m going to finish soon. Hopefully I can post pictures of my other projects when they are done.

Valentine's & Garlic Ranch Chicken

A late Happy Valentine's Day to yall! Mr. Parker had a great first Valentine's Day. His daddy wasn`t too sure when I said I was making a V-Day applique shirt, but I assured him it would be boyish.

I mean what could be more boyish then a dump truck?

Parker was invited to a Valentine's Day party that morning. As you can see from the picture, he had a lot of Valentine's! The little girl who is right in the middle (Red & white top w/ white bow) is Parker's birthday twin, Ansley.

On to The Parker Report, we have now moved into our big boy seat. He is still not too sure about it. Every time now I go to put him in it, he cries. But he is now getting use to falling asleep in it, so that is good. We are still rear facing though, and will be I guess they say now till 2 years old.

This is the week before we put it in. I was trying to get him use to it.

If you look very close (sorry it is a blurry photo) you can see Mr. Parker's first tooth! As of last night the second one has broke through right next to it, but you can`t really see it yet.

I just like this photo because I love me some baby feet!

On to the Garlic Ranch Chicken. My sisters, Mother & I are doing a Freezer Dinner exchange today. Each person picks a dinner, prepares it, puts it in some type of freezer safe container, & then gives one to each family. So I will have my meal & then 3 other freezer meals. The food is not cooked, you still have to take it out to thaw & then cook it. But the step of having to prepare the meal is already done. We prepared meals for 5 families (your own family included). This is our first go at it. From what I have read,  a lot of groups do this once a month. I got my recipe from Fabulessly Frugal.

What you need:
For each family - 4 chicken breast, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of mayo, 1 packet of Ranch dressing mix, & 2 Tablespoons of minced garlic. You will also need gallon sized freezer bags & a sandwich size bag.

Since I did 5 families I timed everything by 5 (20 chicken breast, 5 cups of milk, etc.)

I combined all the ingredients (except the chicken) in a bowl.

Then you take 1/2 cup of the mixture & place it in the sandwich size bag.

Next I put 4 chicken breast in the gallon bag & poured reaming mix into the bag. Lastly you put the sandwich bag into the gallon bag with the chicken & mix. Yes, sounds funny but you put the sandwich bag inside of it. The first time I read it I was like, "ummmm"?? Then stick it in the freezer for later!

I wrote on each gallon sized bag what you do to cook it. Thaw, remove the sandwich bag & stick in fridge. Broil or grill the chicken. Take the mix from the sandwich bag & brush the chicken with it about 5 min. before cook time is up. I`ll show pictures when I actually cook it.


Exciting news for myself, I finally bought SewWhatPro! Matt gave me my embroidery/sewing machine for my 25th birthday. For those who do not embroider I`ll explain a short way. When I wanted to put Parker's name on a shirt I would have to embroider each letter by it's self. Then I would have to make sure I calculated where each letter went. If I was off his name could be not centered or crooked. Really hard & really annoying! The SewWhatPro is going to make my life sooooo much easier! I go on the program & do it all right there, no headache!! So, needless to say, Parker is going to be sporting all my appliques finally I bought for him!

Larry the Cable Guy

http://www.history.com/shows/only-in-america-with-larry-the-cable-guy/episodes/

Above is the link for Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy episode guide. On this episode the Lightsey's ranch is being featured. Their angle is that Central Florida is an unlikely place for a cattle ranch. Which if you are from here, isn`t strange at all. But we have to remember everyone thinks that Florida is just Disney and the beaches.

Anyways, my father, Dr. Gukich (a vet), should be appearing on the episode. I think he shows Larry how to get sperm from a bull or something of that gross nature! It airs Feb. 22nd at 9:00pm, so check it out!

A Pillow, a Wagon & a Bucket

I`m officially now a "working mom".....well kind of. I started subbing the week before and I really do like it. Now I do not like leaving my son & the night before the first day leaving him I was balling my eyes out. My husband reminded me that I won`t be working everyday so it really isn't that bad. I really do enjoy it & I hope one day to have a class of my own, but for now subbing will do.

The Pillow....Parker really is sitting up all by himself now. He does fall back every now & then. This week he started "soft" falling to the side so we are getting better. So, the pillow is still there just in case.

A wagon......the other weekend we headed up to North Florida to see Matt's Grandmother (aka Butter) be honored at their local school's homecoming for teaching 35 years (I might be off on the years). Matt & I both love going up there. It is a 6 hour drive so we don`t get to go as much as we like.

Parker in the wagon before homecoming

Butter & Papa at the homecoming game

Get ready for an over load of photos of Parker in a wagon!

A Bucket.......last weekend I headed over to my parents to lay out by the pool. It was nice & warm outside but the water in the pool isn`t quite warm enough. So we put some water in a bucket, threw in some toys & let Parker go to town.

Well I have been horrible with his watch me grow pictures. He is now 7 months & I still haven`t taken his 5 months. So we are just going to toss that one off as a loss! So I`ll just update yall now. At Parker's six month check up he was 28 1/2 in. & 22.6 lbs. He is off the chart on both his height & weight. My baby is huge! We measured him the other day because once they hit 30 lbs or 30 in. they should move up to the next car seat. Parker is 30/ 31 inches! Thank goodness Matt's mother bought us his big boy seat already so it is going in the car this week. Sometimes I wonder if they gave me the right baby when I left the hospital!