parker comes for his first overnight visit {alone}.

this weekend parker came for an overnight visit with us - his very first time at our house away from mommy and daddy.  we had a great time!

friday night we spent time playing and then hopped in a bath before bedtime.  parker absolutely loves the water.  uncle vit loves this little munchkin so much, it's hard for me to get any quality time with him.  ;) 
i started running a bath for parker in the sink, and the next thing i knew travis had parker in the water, washing his hair and taking such good care of him.

cuddle time with auntie rhiannon! such a hap, happy boy!  

 
he slept pretty well throughout the night.  i didn't get up with him right away the first time, but got up to check on him and vit -- they were in the office and vit had parker held close to him on his shoulder and was rocking him back to sleep.  melted.my.heart.  i tried to tag-team the night feedings, but travis was loving being an uncle and there was little i could do.  the very last feeding of the night (which was really around 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning) was my time with our sweet boy.  i fed him, rocked him, and sang him a few lullabies, and he slept for just a little bit longer.  when he was up for the day, i started getting his breakfast ready, and vit introduced parker to the wonderful world of scooby-dooby-do -- he loved it!

we spent the day keeping him on his eating and napping schedule and managed to squeeze in some fun time, too.  since he enjoyed the slip-n-slide so much the other day, and likes being in the water so much, we took him out in the yard with the boys.  mom had brought by a little tub with toys, and we threw in a few measuring cups, and took him outside for a little fun in the sun.

we didn't have a high chair at our house for him {and i think he may still be too small for one}, but we found he ate his food much better while he was distracted by playing the water.  he loved it so much, we had to add more warm water to his bucket a couple of times. conor was super protective of conor the whole time he was outside and stayed right by his side.  when we did finally pull parker out of the water, he loved cuddling with vit and checking out the pups.

we may have done this same activity yesterday on the porch ... and we may or may not have been scrambling {and cracking up} when he pooped in the little tub.  oopsie!

it was a great weekend with our favorite little guy.  we can't wait until the next time.

two birthdays {sue + america}.

the first couple of years travis and i were together, we spent the fourth of july at his parents' house setting off fireworks.  the past several years, we've gone to edmond for sue's birthday.  this year, everyone celebrated sue's birthday and the fourth at the lears'. 

happy birthday, sue!

the amazing seana helped us out with yet another beauty of a cake.  she complains that the icing cracked a little more than she would have liked, but everyone thought it was beautiful. i think it adds to the antique-y vibe of the cake.  aren't those vintage buttons gorgeous?  and completely edible.  sue is a chocoholic, so instead of the typical chocolate that we usually get from seana (which is far, far from typical), we purchased a delicious double-fudge cake.  it was incredibly rich, but excellent for all your dark chocolate fudge lovers.  since my mom shares a birthday with a holiday, i try to be sensitive to sue's birthday as well, and make sure that her portion of the day is special and doesn't truly compete with the red, white, and blue of the holiday.

in addition to the birthday celebration, we had a great cookout in the backyard to celebrate the stars & stripes and our independence day.  justin had to work, but lindsay and parker came to visit and parker's sweet smile quickly stole the hearts of everyone.

parker loves his uncle vit (and vit is pretty smitten as well).  these two guys have become fast friends, and grow a little closer all the time.  i love it.

 

there were lots of fun slip and slide pictures too, but i believe they are on our phones.  i'll have to try to upload those later.

happy birthday, aunt sue!  we love you and can't imagine our lives without you and your family.

happy birthday, america!  a special thanks to all our troops who work so hard and sacrifice to much so we can continue to enjoy the freedoms and independence we have.  we can't thank you enough and there will never be enough words to express how much you mean to us.

{and thanks to phillips 66 for giving us yesterday and today off work to celebrate!}