My Mom...

Is hard to get a picture of. Last Christmas...seriously? 

I need to work on that...

Getting back on track...

She's going to be a nurse!

She got accepted into nursing school & is now getting ready to enter this spring.

Yay for my mom!!

Now if she could just get her shot records straight. It's not easy when both your parents & your pediatrician are no longer living. :(

She'll get it. She always takes care of business.

Way to go, mom. We're so very proud of you & can't wait to see what this next chapter holds for you! Yay!! Now we need to get you some orange crocs...

My Aunt Sha has a post about my mom on her blog, too. Click here to go read it.

Or you can click on the Firmly Planted link on the right.

The State Fair

Can't believe it's already that time of year again.

It's always so crazy when the Fair rolls around again.

We go almost every year. I always have. Since I was a little kid.

I have memories of eating frito pies, corny dogs, cotton candy, & buying those plastic necklaces with all the big plastic charms on it. Watching the dog shows, the birds, the parade, and hanging out with Big Tex.

Mitchel has lots of State Fair memories too. Mostly of food.

Which makes it all the more fun to take our girl.

Making new memories for her is really special, & it's fun sharing our old one's with her too.

We always start with lunch from home....I'm cheap.

Don't worry....after lunch, the ticket spending game is on!

And look what we ate our lunch next to:

It was a fascinating experience for Parker.

First time to ever see cotton candy, much less eat it.

And....it was PINK.

She was giddy.

See?

Neither of us noticed her purse on her shoulder until looking at these pictures later.

She's so darn cute.

Then she had to learn how to eat it:).

That first bite was very interesting.

She figured it out...

Then it was off to the petting zoo.

This guy was my FAVORITE.

Who wouldn't love an adorable baby giraffe?

I wanted to squeeze him.

I refrained.

This one just made me laugh.

Parker had 2 big highlights of her fair day.

This was the first.

She was SO excited about the pigs. Then she got to pet them.

"My touch them!! My touch the piggie!"

Told me over & over, even though I was sitting right there.

It was very thrilling.

They were really cute too.

Parker saying hi to Elsie.

Apparently it was her birthday this year.

Not sure how old. Just happened to catch that.

So, Happy Birthday Elsie Cow:).

At the fountains.

Mitchel getting some 2 year old lovin'.

The sweetest kind...

And here's highlight #2.

I think she loves him. Or just can't figure out what he is.

She waved her little heart out to Big Tex.

Then she just stared at him. Every time she heard a man's voice all day long, she'd say,

"My hear Big Tex!" & "Oh, there he is."

Big Tex, you have a very cute 2 year old wrapped around your finger.

Too bad you're not real.

Can you read the steering wheel?

Yep.

Camaro.

Oh Mitchel...

Nice.

I was choking on Root Beer.

After Mitchel took the picture, he laughed & said what were you doing? Like I was making the face on purpose.

Then, he kept the picture.

I thought I'd put it to use here.

That makes me nervous...

End of the day.

We were pooped.

Why is it that the walk back out to your car seems to take an eternity when you leave the Fair?

I thought I might lay down & die before we got there. Then I apologized for being dramatic.

I made it. We all did. It was so much fun, but I'm glad I have a year to go before having to eat cotton candy, corny dogs, funnel cakes, ice cream bars, tater twisters, chocolate milk (yeah, I know)....again. It'll take me that long to work it all off. Just kidding...

I'll end with this:

Good times together.

I really, really love these guys.

A giveaway :)

Well one of my favorite blogs is having a giveaway I couldn't pass up:).

I even thought some of you girls might appreciate this...

I had a picture of her daughter, Vivi Jo :), wearing a dress made by an etsy lady who has donated a dress for the giveaway. 

Lots of cute stuff. Click here to see her retro dresses. 

Then the picture messed up, so I took it off. Sorry...

Anyway...click here to head to Vivi's mom's blog to read the rules for the giveaway & to enter yourself:).

Even if I don't win....isn't her little girl super cute:)?

Just sweet

I love them so much.

I could just squeeze them.

Both of them.

Just so darn sweet...

Wonder if this next baby will match them?

Makes me smile to think about having another little Mitchel.

He deserves it:).

Just P & Dad

Think she has her future cut out for her? :)

He played, she sang, he sang, and I was only allowed to watch...

probably for good reason. Ha!

This girl was given to the right family.

The music moves her....

and cracks us up. 

Sunday

We had a busy weekend.

Then came Sunday.

At church until 3.

We got home, put Parker down for her nap.

She woke up a good 3 hours later, & I walked in to get her.

She hoists her leg over the side of her crib:

"My get outta here."

She says almost out of breath.

I say, "what?" (mostly because I just wanted to hear her say it again.)

"My get outta here, mom!"

I cracked up & made her wait until I had the camera.

She makes me laugh.

After I rescued my child from her bed:), she decided to climb up into Mitchel's chair, and relax a while with a good book. The glasses. That's what did me in.

Cracked up again.

She was reading one of her Bibles.

She had just found the Noah's Ark story, & was yelling,

"A ef-a-fent! A ef-a-fent mama!"

I'm not sure how she could see the "ef-a-fent."

Her glasses had a sticker on each lens.

She was very proud of herself.

And I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Gotta love that kid.

Florida: Our last days...

And the last day in Florida brought rain & clouds. So, we spent our day shopping, packing up, and hanging out. We did head out to dinner one last time, to AJ's. It's a fun restaurant with a harbor back behind it. The ocean sitting right outside the window never gets old either, and this place has it too:).

The ceiling. I wanted to bring a few of those back with me...

Ha. What's the deal with my eyes??

We were seated really quickly & our waitress was good, but we had all had enough eating out. Parker was NOT into coloring, and really just wanted to run around. Mitchel & I were just bummed to be leaving the next day. But, once the food came all was well.

Then, we paid & headed out to see the boats in the harbor & to feed the fish.

No words for this one...

Don't you just want to squeeze her:)?

On the dock looking back at the restaurant. You can buy fish food on the harbor, so there are tons fish all in the water. Parker had her bag of goldfish with her, so all 3 of us were quite entertained feeding those things. They were crazy!

Yes, we ate out again:). It's vacation....

We hit the Donut Hole one last time on our way out.

Our sweet friends, the Dobberstein's, who ate there with us the time before, introduced Miss P to the world of "splinkle" donuts. She didn't have one the 1st time, but she tried really hard this time to get one out of us. And, after all, it was vacation, so who could resist:)?

She loved it.

Oh, and I loved mine too...

And, 13 hours later....we were home.

I still miss it. Family vacations are good. I like having them all to myself.

But it's nice to be back, too. 

Just wish the beach were right outside my window....