Parker's #1 Birthday Party Part 2

We kept it to a small group of family and friends.  Who knew his party would turn out to be so great with a beautiful day with perfect weather!

The festivities looked a little something like this...

It was a "ball themed party" b/c if you have met my kid...you know why.  He can entertain himself with a ball for entirely too long...for a one year old.  Thank you Edgar's for such a yummy cake.

Our party favors were LIGHT-UP, 

bouncy balls

I used Parker's hospital wreath in our decorations

I don't even know what this drink was...
some blue koolaid type stuff with sprite
I just made it up, turned out pretty good.

Pics from his first year

sidenote: that high chair is the one my sis, 

bro and myself used when we were babies.

My sweet friend Holli came up with this...

I found these cute sports themed cards at Hobby Lobby on clearance.  

I think I paid $1.50 for the whole pack.  Wrote our thank you notes on them and included pics of friends and family.

A simple way to personalize it.

now it's time to dig in...

parker's great grandparents made the trip down from Huntsville

justin's family

part of the parker family.  

my parents weren't able to make it, 

which is why we did an early bday celebration with them

we never could get us all together during the festivities but finally got a group shot of the Parker crew before bed.

requested specifically from ra-ra and poppa

too much cuteness!

Parker's Bday part 1

We had a few different celebrations for Parker's first birthday.  The first one was with my parents because they were in town and we weren't sure they would get to come for his actual party.  We decided to get real redneck and have a party in Burger King.  I'm actually cringing as I actually type this.  Just wait for the pics..

yeah buddy...smear it in there good! 

this is right about the time the staff started to notice 

what we were actually doing with our big huge camera 

and three other iphones for backup

That was practice run #1!  I would say he passed with flying colors. 

Then it was time for his actual birthday.  Justin was working out of town, so we had to get creative.  Just for the record, this was the day of the Alabama blizzard.  I got both my kids out in the beginning of it b/c we HAD to get a cupcake for my baby's bday!  Two words...PRIORITIES PEOPLE. We might have driven home at 40mph on the interstate and slid into our driveway, but we got our cupcake dang it!

There is daddy on the ipad so he could see all the action.  

Thank goodness for technology!

Practice run #2 was a success again.  

If I didn't know better...I would say Parker is loving all this practice!

And I can't leave out my other baby.  He isn't complaining about getting to chow down on extra cupcakes either.  (Sidenote: that red streak on his face...is from the marker he got in a fight with earlier).

Don't worry..there is more birthday fun to come!

Happy Birthday Parker

Parker turned one today!  We are so in love with this little guy.  He truly has been the best, sweetest and most fun addition to our family.  Although he took his time getting here and gave mommy lots of bedrest, he has been on the go ever since.  Parker's smile and sweet demeanor is contagious.  Everyone asks if he is always "that happy"...and he definitely is.

Here is a recap of such a fun year with our Parker-man...

Fall Fun

It has been a fun last couple of months and we wanted to share some pics of what we have been doing.

I'm the room mom for Briggs' class and pulled out some creativity for the Halloween and Thanksgiving parties that was pinterest inspired.

Halloween party:

 pumpkin and owl cupcakes

bananas (friendly ghosts)  and cutie oranges (pumpkins)

 the spread complete with cheese slices in the shape of pumpkins 

& pigs in a blanket

 

...it's tricky to get a pic of these two little wiggle worms 

Briggs: football player

Parker: the football

(daddy not pictured b/c he was the photographer)

Thanksgiving Party:

turkey pretzels

edible apple turkey with caramel dip

 

and then my two little handsome guys wearing their turkeys.

 

group shot from Thanksgiving day

Things are going good with our family and we have so many things to be thankful for.  Hope everyone is having a good holiday season.

Week 4 - Whole 30 Challenge and RESULTS

I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!

This was the last week of Whole 30 and got a little interesting over the weekend because we went out of town and there was just a little bit too much good food so I ....CHEATED.  Yep...I did, but oh well. I tried to keep the cheating to a minimum...

Day 22 (Tuesday):

B'fast: sausage and sautéed kale
Lunch: chicken salad (canned chicken) and grapes
Dinner: Chic-fil-a grilled nuggets

Day 23 (Wednesday):
B'fast: fried egg
Lunch: fruit smoothie and cliff bar
Dinner: chipotle steak salad

Day 24 (Thursday):
B'fast: egg, spinach, turkey bacon
Lunch: chicken salad, smoothie, celery and almond butter
Dinner: Roast with sautéed kale and mushrooms

Day 25 (Friday):
B'fast: bacon, zucchini fritter, banana
Lunch: Zaxby's salad
Dinner: Grilled shrimp and salad
Dessert: Cookie...just wait until you see the pics of these things...it was worth every.single.bite.

Day 26-27 (Saturday and Sunday)

Yeeeeeah... the pics are worth a thousand words. and as I said before...I enjoyed every single bite.

I did my best to pick the best of the options.  A lot of the options this weekend were very healthy, just not on the STRICT diet of Whole 30.  Which is another reason I'm so glad it's over b/c it is SO strict!

And honestly I'm all about a challenge but when you're with other people on a weekend getaway...I'm not gonna make the whole weekend about the food I "can't" eat...we just enjoyed each other and I did my best with a few treats.

Monday-Wednesday (Day 28-30):

I continued with things like what you see above....

I was honestly, very DONE with the whole process.  This has been an incredibly time consuming project of taking pics, meal planning, grocery shopping, blog posting...

I'm not complaining and I'm not bitter...it had just been a really long 30 days for me.  I have mentioned before...but both the boys were sick pretty much the entire time.  They would alternate, one would get sick and then the other.  Which means they would alternate on who wasn't sleeping at night.  So I was a little sleep deprived on top of a lot of extra work.

Once I got through week two, it did get much easier to meal plan and cook.  I was able to just rotate through things I knew I could eat.  We hardly ever went out to eat b/c it was just too challenging for me to figure out how to stay on the meal plan.  So we made it work and I was really happy with my results.  Now to figure out where to go from here.  I promise to update with the progress.

Finally..the results are:
I lost 7.5 #. 4.5 inches in my waist and 3inces in my hips.  Then I improved my time from the baseline workout by 3:25.

The biggest success from the whole month..I'm back in my pre-baby clothes.  That was honestly my ultimate goal and I made it.  I still have some fine-tuning to make, but I know I can do it and feel great!

Week 3 - Whole 30 Challenge

This week got a little interesting with two sick kids and to be honest...just a little tired of being so restricted.  I even went back and forth in my head...is this really a good thing for me to be doing?  I guess I just wonder how to transition off of this "diet" and back into the real world.

After some thinking on the subject...I've decided to continue through the challenge as best I can.  The other thing that kills me, I haven't talked to one single person who hasn't cheated.  That makes it even more of a mind game.  Just because other people are cheating, sure does make it hard to stay so committed.  My blog has helped me to stay more accountable, but for the love...don't judge me if I eat a little cheese.

Day 15 (Tuesday):

 

B'fast: bacon, egg omelet
Lunch: egg salad on lettuce wrap with fruit
Dinner: turkey burgers, sauteed squash and zucchini


Day 16 (Wednesday):

B'fast: egg salad
Lunch: hand full of roast beef and cliff bar
*I was out shopping with both kiddos and had to make a game time decision.  I was super hungry and instead of making a bad decision like goldfish and fruit snacks...that was all I could come up with quickly with two fussy kids
Second Lunch: roast beef lettuce wrap and grapes (once we got home)
Dinner: Turkey burger, sauteed kale

Day 17 (Thursday):

B'fast: egg omelet with bacon
Lunch: Tazikis greek salad with fruit
*I was out running errands today and knew I would be by tazikis.  To give myself a little break from cooking and meal prep...I decided to get a salad.  I did eat a little bit of dressing on it for taste.  I've said all along, I've been strict on myself especially on the things I struggle with but salad dressing (and a little bit) makes  a salad more edible, it's not a huge "cheat" for me
Dinner: sausage and veggie bake

Day 18 (Friday):

B'fast: banana and almond butter
Lunch: roast beef lettuce wrap with clementines
Dinner: leftover sausage and veggie bake

Day 19 (Saturday):

 

B'fast: eggs and canadia bacon
Lunch: roast beef, turkey, avocado and tomato lettuce wrap
Dinner: Baked fish and sauteed kale (mashed potatoes for the boys)
*This was a really hard dinner.  Because we are eating so clean, I had nothing boxed to whip up quick.  I wasn't on my "A" game with meal planning and nothing really sounded good.  I almost threw in the towel and just said...order a pizza!  Instead I pulled it together...defrosted some fish real quick in a sink of cold water, got some potatoes boiling (for mashed potatoes) and got some kale cooking.  In about 20 minutes we had us a healthy dinner.

I just want to put this thought out there...it took me 30 min max to get the meal pulled together and it would have taken that long, if not longer to order a pizza and either go get it or have it delivered.  Just sayin...

Day 20 (Sunday):

B'fast: egg with mushrooms and spinach and grapes
Lunch: chipotle salad bowl with steak, guacamole, lettuce and a little bit of cheese
Snack: fruit and nuts
Dinner: chipotle salad bowl with steak, guacamole, lettuce and a little bit of cheese
Yes...we ate at the same place twice today...it was just SO GOOD the first time!

* This was a super long day.  We left the house this morning at 8am and didn't get home until 5.  We had lots of fun things packed in our day...church, grocery store, picnic at the park and a baby dedication....WHERE THERE WAS A SUPER YUMMY CAKE and I passed without wanting to gnaw my arm off.  I would say that is a testament to progress!  Oh and I got to wear my PRE-BABY jeans again...woop woop!

Day 21 (Monday):

B'fast: sausage and egg scramble with onion, mushroom and spinach
Lunch: Turkey rolled up, grapes, olives and banana with almond butter
Dinner: Roast with steamed broccoli

Ok..so this week was super challenging.  We had some really busy days.  I have actually been really intentional about keeping our weeks more simple during this 30 days, in order to give myself a better opportunity for success.  Both of our kids got sick, so we were at the doctor some, sleepless nights and I still made it to the gym every day.

Good news...WE MADE IT, and without too many "cheats".  Which I'm not a huge fan of that word because I didn't eat anything that was horrible.  If I ate something that wasn't "approved", I tried to make sure it was something that would fill me up. 

One more week to go and I'm feeling really strong.  We are going out of town next weekend so I'm not sure how that will go.  I'm going to go ahead and prep everyone...my aunt is an ahhhhh-mazing cook so there is probably going to be something on the menu that doesn't fit in the Whole 30 rules, but oh well...yolo!