Wow, guys. This week. Oh, we have just had the BEST time!!  This post is going to be 90% pictures, just to warn you. 😉

Jon took off on Parker’s birthday so we could really live up the celebration. 😉 We went into his room when Parker woke up and started singing happy birthday to him. He totally freaked out and started crying (ha!) but once we had picked him up out of his crib and convinced a certain older brother to sing a little quieter, he got excited. 😉 We got him up and dressed and then (per big brother’s request) it was time to open presents!!

Jon and I had stayed up late on our anniversary the day before getting this little area all set up and the car put together. 🙂

 I LOVE his face when he walked in and saw his presents!! 

 Yay for a fun new toy!! He loves his car. LOVES it. He plays with it all day!

This face. Love it. He was SO excited all day long!

 Such a fun birthday morning!!! The kids played with the new toys while I made our traditional blueberry muffins for breakfast.

And then it was time to head to the aquarium! We had a such a great time just our little family of four there!

Love these. 🙂

Nathan and Jon got to “pet” a stingray – Nathan was so cute. He would reach for it and then change his mind and decide not to do it, but then he got super brave and touched him and was so proud of himself. 😉

This little wished his arms were a bit longer. 😉

Sweet brothers. 🙂

Next up, we headed to lunch and this guy cheesed through the entire thing at Chick-fil-a. Ha! It was SO cute. And he was so happy to be there!

Nathan insisted that he needed to get a blue balloon for Parker for his birthday so he went and asked the workers and then brought two over for them. Parker adores his brother. Can you tell? 😉 Nathan loves to tell me that he and Parker are “best buds” and I just am so thankful for that!

We went home for naps and then went over to Gammy and Pops’ house for our dinner celebration. They had the house decked out! It was so cute!!

Someone got spoiled rotten with tons of fun new toys (including this awesome tent!) and got to eat his favorite meal – chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese! Gammy even had strawberries for him. 😉

Then it was time for cake. Oh how I love his sweet face here when we started singing!!

“Is it really for me, Dad?”

I wasn’t too worried about him loving the cake. And he loved it. 😉

Success. 🙂

I just cannot believe my sweet Parker Bear is one year old! We packed everything up and drove home and on the drive, the clock turned to 8:26 – exactly the minute that he was born – and I just couldn’t stop the tears. I am so incredibly thankful that my babies are healthy and growing and happy but oh how I just wish time would slow down a little bit!! Happy birthday to my precious baby boy. 🙂

My precious boy,

Today is your first birthday. You are one year old and I just cannot believe how fast it went! The years just keep going by faster and faster and I am desperately trying to get them to slow down!

I feel like it was just last week that I was in labor. Such a long, long labor and nothing to show for it! You were so content to just hang out in there. And while your brother’s birth was frightening and scary, yours was so calm and peaceful. I remember walking into the operating room and getting up on the bed and just starting to cry because I was just so so excited to finally meet you!

I still remember seeing you in my doctor’s hands over the sheet and then the moment they put your warm little body on my chest. Your little face was so perfect. Your cheeks were so soft and sweet! And you were crying until I started talking to you and then you stopped crying right away and just looked straight into my eyes. It was the most amazing thing ever, sweet Parker Bear. Oh how I treasure that moment!!

I remember how anxious I was to get you home so that you could meet your big brother. I think I was asking when I could leave the moment that we got to the recovery room. 😉 Nathan was SO excited to meet you. Yet another moment that I will treasure forever!

Those first few days were filled with so many kisses and hugs and snuggles and more kisses that I was just sure you would get completely fed up and stifled but even now you love to be snuggled and loved on – especially by me, Dad and Nathan.

It has been so amazing seeing your little personality develop over this year and oh my goodness, you have a HUGE personality! You are such a little ham and you absolutely live to make us laugh. The look on your face when you know you’re doing something funny is just one of my favorite things ever. You have the cutest little cheesy grin too and it just makes everyone around you smile.

I wondered if you were going to be as chatty as your brother and if it’s possible, I think you might be even more talkative. You love to talk, love to yell, love to just make noise! You will sit in the back of the car and just yell “AHHHH!” at the top of your lungs over and over – not mad or upset, but just to be loud. And you babble all day long. You can say Mama, Dada, “Nennon” (Nathan), “Loldy” (Kody), “Baba” (Nathan ruined us all when it comes to what we call pacifiers) and “Hi.” Anytime you see someone you know, especially on Skype or FaceTime, you immediately start grinning and waving and saying, “Hi! Hi! HIII!” over and over. It’s so cute.

You are just the joy of your brother’s heart. You are his favorite person to hang out with and the first person he asks for in the morning. When you’re awake, he wants to be right with you and even when you are busily destroying everything Nathan has built or created, he still can’t stand to be away from you. And you love your brother. You two are inseparable and I pray constantly that this amazing bond you have will continue throughout your lives!!

You are hands down a mama’s boy and this mama has absolutely no problem with that! I love that you want me to hold you and carry you around and be close to you. Sweetheart, we longed so much for you that any moment that I get to spend cuddling you is just one more precious moment for me to hang on to!! I often remember the days before God blessed us with you and how my arms just ached to hold a baby and I’m so thankful that Jesus gave me you – my sweet, precious boy who loves to be held.

You are so prayed for, love. Daddy and I pray for you and your brother more than anyone else in this whole world. We pray so many things for you but mostly we pray that you grow to be a man who loves Jesus and loves others and isn’t afraid to stand up for what is right.

You are my baby. My boy. My son. Your silliness makes me laugh and your tears make me cry. You are loved more than you can ever comprehend, more than you will ever know, more than I can ever put into words. Sweet Parker Bear, you have added so much to our family! You have made Daddy and me parents to children and Nathan a big brother – you have completely changed us all and only for the better.

You are loved. You are treasured. You are cherished. So much.

Happy first birthday, my precious son! We love you so much!

Mama and Daddy

 Seven years ago today, at one o’clock in the afternoon, I said “I do” to this sweet man who loved Jesus and loved me. Life has been a nonstop adventure since. I’m so thankful I get to go through it with him.

I love you, my dear Jon.

I was so excited to have the opportunity to review these bath and spa gift sets!

Blush Personal Care has created these incredible spa sets that have soap, lotion, a candle and bath salts all in wonderful scents. They are paraben free, sulfate free, DEA & TEA free, and petrochemical free. They are all natural and, to top it off, everything is scented with pure essential oils!

The sets look exactly like they do online in person. And the sizes of everything are great.

The soap is perfect – I would just rub it into my loofah and it immediately created a light sudsy foam and the smell is so relaxing! My favorite is the lavender. 🙂 It’s just so calming and wonderful!

The lotion is quickly becoming my favorite lotion. It doesn’t just sit on top of your skin like a lot of lotions but it actually absorbs into your skin without getting sticky. And again, the smell isn’t overpowering but nice and light.

Okay guys. The bath salts? Amazing. Amazing. The genius of this is that you can use them as bath salts or you can add your favorite oil to them and use them as a sea salt scrub (which is what I did). I added sweet almond oil to the tin, mixed it up and oh my. It was SO relaxing and wonderful and made my skin so soft!! And the scent of these is just completely incredible.

The candle is awesome as well and I’ll admit that I’ve been hoarding it a little bit. It has to be a worthy event for me to burn it because I love it so much. 😉 Ha!

Check out Blush Personal Care sets! You won’t regret it. 🙂

Disclaimer: I was given these sets in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Four days until Parker turns one and this was the two of us almost exactly one year ago…

How is it already a year ago??! This year has hands down been the absolute fastest of my entire life.

Last weekend was Nathan’s first soccer game of the spring. Yep – we have unintentionally doubled up on sports this year and Jon is coaching both teams AND finishing up his dossier for work. We are busy. 😉 He did great though and scored two goals! He had so much fun. We were very proud of him!

Watching brother play. Poor kid. This is going to be his life for awhile. 😉

We had a movie night that night and the kids loved it. I’m pretty sure it’s Nathan’s favorite tradition that we have. Parker just thinks it’s about the coolest thing ever to eat off the floor. 😉

Today, Nathan woke up coughing so we stayed home from BSF and have pretty much spent the day doing nothing. I’m party planning and working on Bake Me a Match. I’m so excited for you guys to find out what happens this summer!

I also started Piyo this week. It’s fun! Now that Parker is sleeping well (so so thankful!), I’ve been able to get up early and workout and do my Bible study and occasionally even get a full cup of coffee in before the boys wake up. Thank you Daylight Savings Time! 😉 Have any of you ever done this workout?? What were your thoughts?

Hope y’all are having a great night! 🙂

On Monday night, exactly one week before he turns one year old, our little Parker Bear started walking!

Walking 🙂 from Erynn Mangum on Vimeo.

We were Skyping with Nonnie and showing her how he could stand by himself and out of the blue, he just took three steps and walked straight to Jon and all of us kind of freaked out. It was SO funny. And then he just kept walking back and forth to us the rest of the night!

Walking 2 🙂 from Erynn Mangum on Vimeo.

My favorite part is that he would applaud himself every time. SO cute. We pretty much had to Skype with most of the family and we sent the rest videos. 😉 He was so proud of himself!

He still mainly crawls but I have a feeling that will not last too much longer. 😉

My little Parker Bear is going to turn one year old in a week from today.

SEVEN DAYS.

I’m
headlong into my mourning. And finishing up party planning. I cannot
even believe it. Wasn’t I just laying on the couch counting contractions
and trying to decide when to call the doctor?

It went by way too fast.

Nathan
had his very first T-ball practices last week! He loved them and so did
Coach Jon. 😉 They were so cute. The first practice was freezing cold but the second one wasn’t as bad. It was so cute to watch.

My fellow sideliner. 😉

All
these sports and activities are wearing my poor boy out – I walked into
his room to tell him his rest time was over this week and found this
sight. So funny. I can’t even remember the last time he fell asleep in
rest time!

It
finally warmed up on Friday. Nathan and I have been working in the yard
during Parker’s morning nap, so on Friday we ran to the store and
bought a little baby swing for the swing set and then brought Parker out
with us. It was really his first time to be out playing in the backyard
and he LOVED it. Like seriously loved it. It was so cute. I don’t think
he stopped giggling until he started throwing a fit when I said it was
time to come inside. 😉

 They even managed to convince me to let them eat lunch out there. 😉

There
is stuff to clean, dishes to put away, gifts to buy and wrap, LOTS of
words to write… So much to do and such a short time to do it!! I often
pray for more hours in my day!

It’s been a while since I posted something just about Nathan. At a little over four and a half years old, I feel like he is growing and changing and maturing and getting goofier every single week. He’s such a character. And I swear he has more energy than should probably be allowed.

So here is all about my biggest boy according to himself. 😉

What is your favorite number?

Four, because it looks like a football field goal.

What is your favorite color?

Blue.

What is your favorite thing to do?

Have snacks.

Who is your best friend?

Evie, Gracie, Joel, Julia, Hayley, Julia, Bennett, and Eliana.

What about Parker?

Definitely! Parker is definitely my best friend. Because he’s my baby brother. And someday, he’s going to be big enough to touch the fan.

What is your favorite TV show?

Spider-Man.

You aren’t allowed to watch Spider-Man.

What?

Your favorite TV show can’t be one you’ve never seen.

Oh. Wild Kratts then. My favorite TV show is Wild Kratts.

What is your favorite meal?

Macaroni and cheese!!

Where is your favorite place to eat?

Freddy’s!

Really? They don’t serve mac and cheese there.

Oh yeah. I mean, Panera!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A firefighter. So I can protect people. So if your house was on fire, I could go rescue you guys.

Who is the coolest person ever?

Spider-Man. Because he has webs in his body. Not even bones or water.

What’s your favorite thing to do with Daddy?

Oh I know what that is. Wrestle. One of my favorite things to do is wrestle.

What’s your favorite thing to do with me?

My favorite to do with you is snuggle. Now ask me what my favorite thing to do with Parker is. Ask me about that.

Okay. What’s your favorite thing to do with Parker?

Play with him and give him hugs.

Where is your favorite place to go?

Definitely to the park. Because it has a playground. What else are you going to ask me?


I think that’s it. Did I miss anything about you?

I think you missed something about me.

What?

Where would I like to move?

Okay. Where would you like to move?

I would like to move right across the street like in that house over there.


Why?

So I could live close to you guys!

And we are now praying that is the answer to that question for the rest of his life. 😉 We just love our crazy boy! He keeps us on our toes and laughing every single day!

Hello!!

We have been doing our best to stay as busy as we possibly can! 😉 I feel like I don’t ever sit until about 7:30 at night (which, coincidentally, is also the same time as the boys’ bedtimes) and my brain is usually fried by then so this blog has definitely taken the hit. Hate that. Trying to do better!

We have had a busy week!

We got home on Tuesday night right before dinner from Tulsa. Wednesday, both kids woke up sick and Kody had to have surgery on his leg. He had a small mass removed from the back of his leg – we are praying that it was nothing serious and that he doesn’t have another one show up again! Poor dog is having to recover with a four year old and a crawler – you can pray for him. 😉 Thankfully, the kids got better pretty quick and Kody seems to be doing pretty good!

In Tulsa at the awesome children’s museum, we bought a little dinosaur egg that “hatched” in water over the next few days. Guys. This is the best $5 I’ve ever spent. Nathan has been borderline OBSESSED with this egg. And honestly, it is really cool. We have about half a dino out of the egg now and it’s just been so fun to watch. 😉

Parker’s favorite thing to do lately is to crawl into a room and then close the door behind him and just sit there and wait for us to open it back up. He’s such a little ham. This kid just cracks me up.

And speaking of goofy boys, I’m going to write this down because I hear this every night and it just makes me laugh. We usually have Nathan bless the food at dinner and he always prays some version of this: “Dear Jesus, thank you for this food. Please bless Mama, Parker and Dad. And please bless Nathan, which is me praying. Amen.”

Friday morning, we woke up to snow and they canceled school, so Jon got to stay home. It was SO nice – especially after our split vacations to have just some fun snow time together. We got more snow than either of my boys has seen in their lives. 😉 We’ve been playing in it all weekend.

Saturday, Nathan came running into my room and starting yelling, “MOM MOM MOM!! Look outside my window!! There are HUGE ICE BOLTS out there!” Ha!! Icicles will forever be known as “ice bolts” at my house now. 😉

And Friday night, we had SO MUCH FUN at Bryant and Nicole’s gender reveal party!! It was seriously the cutest party ever. I am so so so so overwhelmingly excited for my sweet NEPHEW to be joining this family in July!! Cannot wait to meet that precious little one!!

T-ball practices start this week, soccer games start this weekend and I am ready for warm weather and some good times outside playing. 🙂

What are you guys up to??