wordless{ish} wednesday: parker + presents.

last year we went all out for p-ray's birthday.  a bbq, friends, family, decorations... all of it!  it was a blast & i love that we did it.  this year we went for a much more tone-downed approach... we did cupcakes, presents {yes, that's christmas wrap} & just the three of us.  our san diego vacay was a pretty big celebration of him turning two {our last big trip while he's free to fly!} and i don't think his big day was forgotten by any means, i just think the next huge birthday party will be when he's old enough to pick the theme & invite his own friends... so, maybe next year?  haha.

i just can't believe the day has come & gone & i am the mom of a two year old.

it's exhausting being two.

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemon, the paper mama, jenni from the blog & a little king & i}

hey parker... it's your birthday!

but we're postponing further celebrations.  i know, i know... not fun!  

today you're sick, little monster.  i can hear you coughing back in your bed as i type this & it makes my heart hurt to know there's not much more i can do than turn up your humidifier, rub vicks on your feet & hope for the best.

but don't worry... we've already done lots of fun things to celebrate!  we took you to a padres game while we were in san diego & you had so. much. fun.  you clapped & cheered & waved & walked around the whole entire stadium all by yourself.  you were in awe of the lights & the stadium organ & you kept yelling out "baseball!" when you looked at the field.  

an usher thought you were cute & gave you a little plush baseball with the san diego padres "SD" logo on it.  you spent the rest of vacation holding on to that baseball & taking it everywhere you went.  heaven forbid you lose sight of it for five minutes!  

your mom & dad love watching you have fun, parker.  we stayed for fireworks at the end of the game & a week later, you are still talking about them.  "see fireworks!  boom boom boom! baseball!"  

you are such a fun little boy.

and today you are two.  

two years have gone by since we met you face to face.  two years of holding you in my arms & calling you my baby.  you've made me happy beyond anything i ever thought possible & continue to do so everyday.  you're my little boy & even though you get bigger everyday & will someday not fit in my arms or on my lap, you'll always be my little boy.  

and now you get to be a big brother.  i can't wait to see you with your little brother... you're going to have so much fun with him.  you love babies & think it's so funny when they do anything.  i'm so excited for you to meet him!

we love you so much parker & can't imagine our lives without you.  actually, we can't even remember what life was like without you... it must have been so boring!  our lives as a family of three began on this day two years ago & nothing has been the same since.  thank you so much for being such a good little boy & giving us the best two years of our lives.  

happy birthday, little monster.

it's your birthday, luvah-boy.

so when i started writing sam's birthday post, i set out to write a random fact about him for every year old that he is.  but the problem is, he's a couple years over thirty & it started making for a really long post {he's old} that he probably wouldn't even read all the way through.  so i scrapped that & decided to keep it short{ish} & sweet.  

i don't write a whole lot exclusively about sam & that's the way he likes it.  he doesn't exactly jump in front of my camera begging to be featured, either.  but despite his spotty appearances on the blog, he is no small part in my life.  he's kind of a big deal.  he's my best friend, he's my partner, he's my equal.  he's my baby-daddy. 

and i'm not just saying this stuff to sound cool.  i mean it when i say that when i met sam, it was like meeting someone who absolutely matched me & equaled me & fit me in every single way.  we clicked.  it wasn't hard, it wasn't awkward, it was meant to be.  

this is our eighth year of birthday-celebrating together & i love how the years are just flying by.  i love our history together, all the things we've done, all the places we've been, & all the things we've been through.  and although we both graduated from college five years ago & are parents & are totally legit adults, it doesn't feel like we've aged a day.  sam's crazy/spontaneous/travel-loving/game-making-up-ing/adventure-seeking personality makes me feel like we're the same crazy kids we were when we met eight years ago.

so today p-ray & i are gonna spoil sam like he deserves.  we've made cards & we've got gifts & there's a ton of cake just waiting to be eaten.  it has to wait until he gets home from work though.  boo!  no one should have to work on their birthday, right?  but sam will, no matter how many times i tell him to call in sick because that's the kind of stand-up guy he is.  and that's why we like him so much around here.  

happy birthday samm-o.  now hurry home so we can celebrate!

sam said all he wanted for his birthday were your votes for my blog.  true story.

my birthday in {mostly} pictures.

wow.

i had an overwhelmingly wonderful day yesterday.  here's a big ol' thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday via blog, facebook, text, phone call, or in person.  i felt the love & i'm still feeling all warm & fuzzy.  it's nice to know people care, ya know?  and now i know.  so thanks for that!

the whole weekend was dang near perfect.  sam's sister jodi & her husband jason came up from portland saturday night to kick off the celebrations.  there was good food, a movie & lots of fro-yo.  then sunday was all about the bbq, a whole heckuvalotta cake & a walk to the park.  that was one of my only requests... to get outside & enjoy our amazing weather & play in the park.

here are the highlights.

{did i mention the day included lots of cake?  i wasn't joking.}

{we played some around the world & apparently parker's tactic was to distract the competition by flashing them.  it worked... i was totally thrown off my game.}

{so i may be a year older, but i still got some killer moves.  be jealous.}

{parker loves his auntie.  loves her.  there was a pretty good amount of giggle snorts outta him while they were playing & it pretty much killed me.  deeeeeaad.}

i couldn't have asked for a better day!

but now it's time to shift gears & get ready for another day of celebrating because today is in-between-birthdays-day.  tomorrow is SAM's birthday!  i have a few tricks up my sleeve for the big day & just might even go for round two on the cake.  can you ever have too much birthday cake?  no, no you can't.

and lastly, a bloggity sidenote:  how do ya'll like the new blog design?  i've been wanting to switch things up for a lonnnng time but was having a hard time saying goodbye to the old header.  i'm really loving the simplicity & cleanness of this one though... i think it's much more me.  hope you guys like it!

i'm now accepting your vote clicks as belated birthday presents!

it only happens once a year.

today i turn 29 & i'm pretty ok with it.  it's a little scary going into the last year of my twenties, knowing that the next birthday will be a whole new decade.  but what's it matter... 30 is the new twenty, right?  isn't that what the kids are saying?  heck yes it is.

the 20's have been good to me.  i met the love of my life, i got married, i graduated college, i worked four good years as a full-time career woman, & i birthed the best little boy i could have ever hoped for.  i have one full year left in the 20's & i plan to make it a good one.  i'm working on a 30 by 30 list & hope to have it posted soon.

but today?  today will be spent with friends & family, bbq-ing & eating chocolate cake.  that's pretty much my standing appointment on this day each year.  and also?  i make sure that every year on my birthday everything i eat has no calories.  so there's always that.

it works for you too, so eat a slice of cake on me!

how about a happy birthday vote?

hey parker - it's your birthday!

today my baby boy turns one year old.  

we celebrated last saturday & it was perfect.  i had so so SO much fun planning this & putting all my ideas into action.  with lots of help from sam, our family & our friends, we totally pulled it off.  i think parker had a good time & i'm pretty sure our guests had a good time.  

here are a few details:

{cupcakes, veggie cups, drink bottles, candies.}

{parker's very own smash cake, cupcake toppers, fruit, party utensils.}

{party favor pails.}

{buntings, balloons, banners, & drinks.}

{barbeque.  mmmmm, sam's bbq.}

{friends.}

{opening presents.}

{sam & my present to parker - a bike buggy for family bike rides!  we forgot to bring this out during present time so half our guests didn't even get to see it.  but this is what we gave him.  i can't wait to try it out!}

{p-ray's pre smash-cake moment.}

{checking it out...}

{parker was not happy about getting frosting on his fingers & it was downhill from there.  so we ate his cake & it was delicious.}

{waiting for dad to clean his hands after the smash cake fail.}

{the living room.}

{friends & family.}

{our little family.}

happy birthday baby boy.  i can't believe you are one year old today... where does the time go?  i hope you look back at these pictures years from now & see how much your mom & dad love you & how much we have loved our first year with you.  you are our everything.

vote for parker's b-day?  yes please!

last week recap - {in iPhone pics} w.23

whew what a weekend!  a huge influx of family on friday, parker's party on saturday, then easter festivities all day sunday made for a crazy fun blur of a weekend & left for very little computer time.  which was great.  my parents are still here & are snoring on the air mattress next to me here in the office as i type, so i'm gonna make this short & sweet.

first & foremost:  parker's party was a BLAST.  it went off without a hitch, i was completely stress-free, & everything was just so much fun.  i have approximately three hundred pictures i want to post, so look forward to a photo dump soon.  it may even take a couple of posts.  i mean, this only happens once a year & we took enough pictures to memorialize it forever.  every detail has been preserved & i love it.

like this one:  parker's pre smash-cake moment.  but seriously how cute was p-ray's smash cake?  it was made by sam's sister & fit our theme perfectly.  i DIY'ed the topper & love how it came out.  it was all so much fun.

more to come soon!

and now, a quick recap of last week in iPhotos.   and i mean quick.  i'm exhausted.

post-bath shark baby, sam mows the lawn, & i get crafty cake-topper-style.

p-ray throws back a few while i eat mexican {YUM} with one of my favorite co-workers sophal.

parker woke up clapping on wednesday & didn't stop all day.  it's his new favorite trick.  we picked up three dozen {delicious} chocolate cupcakes for the party, & i baby-wore parker all over costco.

i got my horrible mirror face on at work {seriously, i can't NOT make that face... you have a mirror face too right?}, ate at my favorite burrito bus again, & tackled a huge pile of work while parker stayed at home & got tickled by the babysitter... which he loved.

on friday we got to enjoy a sunny day at stroller strides, parker had a stare-down with his cow-duck & then proceded to look adorable in the shopping cart at fred meyer as we shopped for party food.  no big deal.

hope everyone had a happy easter!

did you take your "week in camera phone" pictures?  link up!

there's only one rule to linking up:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

optional:
grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog .  if you wanna be really cool, post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.  the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

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missed the party?  make it up to us by voting here!  best gift ever.