hey girl.

just a little belated valentine from p-ray to you.

{if you haven't seen the ryan gosling "hey girl" meme to see where the heck this is coming from, check out jess's pinterest ryan gosling board HERE to get caught up.  and to probably waste a good 10-15 minutes reading/laughing/drooling.}

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

wordless{ish} wednesday: if you're happy & you know it.

then just SCREAM.  that's what parker does when he gets really excited.  and apparently the playground was really exciting yesterday.

but sixty degrees & sunny in february is definitely something to get really excited about here in the pacific northwest.  so who can blame him?

let it all out p-ray.  let it all out.

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

wordless{ish} wednesday: mom fail?

tell me i'm not the only mom who has taken her kid into a target dressing room to change his diaper & then conned him into not screaming bloody murder by letting him watch movies on her phone & then proceeded to leave him there whilst she tried on clothes.  

anyone?  

ps: p-ray turns eighteen months old TODAY.  whaaaaaat?  i am not sure how this happened, because there's no way that many months have gone by since i birthed him out of my womb.  it's impossible.  monthly update post coming soon.

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

votes rock my world.

wordless{ish} wednesday: busted.

clearly parker wanted to read without being disturbed.  but i thought i could still maybe sneak in a few pictures...

guess i was wrong.

so sorry to interrupt!

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

maybe parker will forgive me if you click twice to vote?  probably.

wordless{ish} wednesday: keepin' it classy.

what?

your kid doesn't stop pushing his cars around in the dirt for a minute in order to admire his finely manicured nails?

mine does.

seems normal, right?

{linking up with wordless wednesday at baby baby lemon, the paper mama, & a little king & i}

two clicks for a baby who knows good nails when he sees them?

wordless{ish} wednesday: parker's senior portrait.

i was not making it up when i said this kid was growing up fast.  but this already?  too soon.

and as promised in yesterday's post, a clip of parker's booty-shakin' moves.  this is totally worth a minute {& thirty-seven seconds} of your time.  promise.



i'd like to see you attempt those moves.  no, seriously just try!  my kid's got wicked skills.

ps:  if you didn't make it all the way through you totally missed his best moves.  just fyi.

pps:  please ignore my messy house, my headless brother-in-law on the couch {no offense jason}, & my awful curtains that i need to update like, yesterday.  mmmk?

ppps:  was your sound on?  because that increases the cute factor too.  i'm just looking out for you here.  ok, i'll leave you alone now!

{linking up wordless wednesday at baby baby lemon, the paper mama, & a little king & i}

click twice to vote? i love ya for it.  no really.  i love you.

wordless{ish} wednesday: blanket-shepherd-boy.

this kid el-oh-vee-ee LOVES his blanket.  they're bffs.  we border on tantrum territory every time he has to say goodbye to his blanket in the car to go into a store.  recently he's learned a super awesome way to have his blanket be a part of every activity in his day.

...by being worn over his head.

i couldn't make this stuff up if i tried, people.  the other day he kept holding up his blanket to the side of his head & signing "please."  i'd drape it over his head & he'd go on his merry way.  it'd fall off & we'd repeat.  i got tired of this process so i did what all good moms do & gerry-rigged a solution... my elastic headband.

problem solved.

and i bet i've watched this video about 500x.  seeing him walk down the hall gets me every single time.  does he not look like a little ewok to you?

and when he goes into his {messy, ahhh!!} room, notice that he signs "please" real quick before he starts whining.  it's the thought that counts.



and if you think for one second that this blanket stuff was my idea, just check out this video & see for yourself how it all came about.  no seriously, you should check out that video, if only to see how cute he is when using sign language.

but seriously?  my kid's crazy.  and i LOVE it.

{linking up with the paper mama, a little king & i, & baby baby lemon's wordless wednesdays!}

vote if you love silly shepherd/mother theresa/ewok babies!  whoo!

wordless{ish} wednesday: p-ray's got game.

"so uh... you come here often?"

oh parker.

{linking up with a little king & i, paper mama, supermom, parenting by dummies, live & love out loud, baby baby lemon, angry julie monday & a beautiful mess.} 


that look definitely deserves a vote... right?  i thought so too.

wordless{ish} wednesday: defiant little boy.

{pic taken with my phone}

so this is where we're at.  p-ray decided he's not a huge fan of the car seat, so he's pulled out some crazy acrobatics to avoid being buckled in.  i wish you all could see how stiff his little body becomes when he does this crazy maneuver.

i can't help but laugh.  silly boy.

{linking up with a little king & i, paper mama, supermom, parenting by dummies, live & love out loud, baby baby lemon, angry julie monday & a beautiful mess.}


c'mon. a crazy p-ray maneuver like that deserves a couple clicks right? right.

like father, like son.

i can't stop laughing at this picture.

we hit up red robin last weekend for some burgers & bottomless steak fries.  {wow, i've really gotta start eating better}.  apparently our waitress didn't bring the food fast enough, because this pretty much reflects the vibe at our booth until the food showed up.  even p-ray shot a couple glares her way.

my guys don't do well on empty stomachs.

after burgers & a couple baskets of steak fries, it was all smiles & giggles from that side of the table.  problem solved.


i'm all smiles & giggles when you vote for our blog.  not joking.

wordless{ish} wednesday: outtakes

{click to enlarge. seriously, do it.}

i get pretty lucky with lots of cute parker pictures, but there are always a few that just don't turn out.  here are six of my favorite p-ray outtakes.  six pictures that make me laugh every single time i look at 'em.

oh, & please pay close attention to the top left one... it might be my favorite.


votes are also my favorite.  just sayin'.

black friday - four deals & a laugh

it's black friday & i have some deals to pass on to you.  who doesn't appreciate a good deal, right?

{except for when you're shopping at macy's & you find the perfect brown riding boots to wear over skinny jeans & they're even 50% off & then it turns out the only size they have in stock are a six & a half, & then you curse black friday all the way home.  just me?}

alright then, moving on:

{LilyBaby}



20% off + free shipping now through December 8th.  type the code "P-Ray" in the seller notes & jamie will refund you, same day.

{weeds & wildflowers}



download free word art HERE.  just use checkout code "thankful4U" at checkout.
also, be sure to look around the shoppe as there are tons of items marked down for black friday.

{turtle & rye}



25% off everything in the shop... even custom orders, today only!  use checkout code "turtlefriday".  there are tons of super cute animals & color choices to choose from.  check it out.

{seven slings}

remember that sling i wore in my last steppin' out post?  well they've just given me another code for a free sling, & now i'm passing it on to you.  get one free sling per transaction using the code "Thanksgiving".  all you pay is shipping!

not looking for some awesome deals? 

ok then, how about a laugh?  so i'm at my in-law's for the weekend, & my sister in law showed me this video.  i might be the last one in the world to have seen this, which is often the case, but i thought i'd share it just the same.  it cracks me up.  if you like cute kids with cute accents, that alone is gonna make you love it.

be sure to watch all the way to the end for maximum english accent cuteness.  



do you think if i only talked to parker with an english accent he would grow up talking like this little boy?it's totally worth a try.


guess what it costs to vote for us? absolutely free! best deal of the day muh friends.

photo challenge & tonight's random laugh

in case you were all wondering, the crock pot chili turned out alright.  it was just "alright" because turns out today was sunny & not rainy at all.  who wants to eat chili on a day like that?  you win some you lose some.

so i'm entering a picture into this week's paper mama photo challenge.  sorry the clarity isn't up to par on this one, it was taken with photobooth on the imac so i had to enlarge it a bit.  this week's theme is "me & mama."

this is one of my favorite pics of me & my little man.  it was taken when he was only two months old, & already you can tell he's super embarrassed by mom smooches.  ya better get used to it kid!

to see more pictures of cute babies & their mamas, check out the paper mama's site here:



time for some randomness.

my sister brought this blog to my attention.  it narrates the lives of the people that are living in your catalogs, & it's aptly named "catalog living."  here's a taste:

it made me laugh anyway... but i'm into that sort of thing, ie: things that are random & funny.

and now for some bloggity related business

first off, i would like to direct your attention to my updated "blog love" page.  some of my links weren't working & the buttons were all unorganized & my ocd nature was not ok with that.  seriously, the hairs on the back of my neck would rise every time i went to that eyesore of a page.  well don't worry friends, it's fixed.

if i missed your blog, let me know! i'd love to put you up.  it's a work in progress, fo sho.

and lastly, i couldn't get enough of p-ray in his new skeleton pj's with his zebra friend so i made a seasonal halloween button out of it.  feel free to grab it in all its festive glory!

copy & paste me:

<a href="http://www.agoodlifeblog.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i55.tinypic.com/2emlg1e.jpg" border="0" /></a>

he'd like that.  go on... do it for the baby.



know what i'd like?  a vote! two clicks & you're done.  click. click. wasn't that easy?

back-up plan

we have pretty big hopes & dreams for parker when he grows up.  maybe a star in the nba, a doctor, lawyer, engineer like his dad, or an ecologist like his mom.  who knows?  the sky's the limit, & of course just like most parents, we think our kid's destined for something great.

but you always have to have a back up plan. 

i think i found my back-up plan for parker... enter: hand dancing. 

have you seen this video yet?  has it been circulating the world-wide-web & i'm among the last to see it?  nonetheless, i think it's pretty cool/weird/interesting/mind-boggling that this stuff is out there.  gotta love youtube.


saw this posted on the rockstar diaries.  if you haven't checked out naomi's blog, you should.  it's a daily read.

now, tell me i'm not as crazy as sam says i am for thinking this video is cool.  that was two minutes well spent, right?


know what is two seconds well spent?  voting for us on top baby blogs! 

hey parker, tell me how you really feel.

nothing like a little domestic dispute to ruin a lovely afternoon meal at the cheesecake factory.



your continued votes help to make me feel better.  (alllmmoosst top fifty!)

why going to the bathroom at my house is like being in australia

i've blogged before about how i left my heart in australia two years ago when sam & i spent a couple weeks in sydney. seriously, the most gorgeous & amazing place i could have ever imagined.

and, i was fascinated with their toilets.

you see, i'm an ecologist & i work in water resources. australia has been in a state of serious drought for about a decade now & they have learned how to be pretty smart with their water. this includes duel flushing toilets.

sure, you see them around here every now & then, but why it took so long for this to catch on in the states confuses me.

i even took this picture of the toilets in our hotel in sydney. half circle button for baby flushes, & the full circle for big daddy flushes. why hadn't we thought of these earlier?


well, things have changed around the nielson household.

sam was doing some grocery shopping at costco on friday & came home with some $19 gadget that he was pretty proud of. props to sam. it was a duel-flushing-toilet-adapter-device. yes, that is the technical name.

for $19 he switched out our old flush handle, installed this cool 2-button flusher, stuck some weird thing in the tank, calibrated the flushing, & voila! duel flushing toilet.

i know those instructions were lame, but i left all the technical stuff up to him. he is an engineer after all. now i have some street cred when it comes to all my "save the planet" speak.

boo-yah. (oops, there went my street cred)



just in case you didn't believe me, you can see for yourself in the above picture. and yes, i just wrote a post about toilets flushing, posted a picture of my potty-place, & then you read it. awesome.

and now for some things that make me laugh

on to something else equally random. these have both been around a while, but they get me every time. enjoy.




guess who else thinks these are incredibly funny? p-ray. just look at him.


now if one of those four pictures didn't make you smile, i'm not sure what would. i mean c'mon, that guy has four popped collars!





ps: have ya voted for our blog in the top baby blogs directory lately? we're climbing fast & have our sights set on world domination. thanks for your help.