hello Monday!

I love simple Monday's!

Today, Parker & I will enjoy a typical August weekday at the Nolen household: Breakfast, Dress & head to gym at 9:30 (Parker plays hard in the kid's room while mama works up a sweat in Studio 2 with Pam!), Home at noon, lunch, Parker's naptime 12:45-?? (usually till about 2pm), mama blogs & does household tasks, Parker wakes up & we have reading time mixed with a little indoor playtime, fun outing in the afternoon (not sure where yet today..I'll let you know what we decide!), home usually by 6 for mama to start supper (parker plays and/or stands under mama's feet!), dinner at 7pm, bathtime at 7:30, baby massage time, bedtime story with milk, brush teeth, & anytime between 8-8:30 "night night." It's nice sometimes to have simple days.

I spent a few minutes this morning reflecting on our fun & busy weekend with friends! Here are just a handful of events and pictures from the last 72 hours.
Can you tell we enjoyed some serious scrappin' time on Saturday?!! Thank you so much to our FABULOUS husbands for watching the kiddos for us!!

Had a wonderful time visiting & hanging out with these two...

I think besides hanging out with his daddy, one of the highlights for Parker this weekend was digging in to some yummy pizza from Broadway! :)
Funny story: So I had just gotten down to the conference room Saturday morning to scrapbook & Clay texted me. Here's what it said: "Hey Baby, you are not going to believe this! I was getting him ready to go [to the gym] and he took me to his room and asked for his blanket! So we sat down and he is sound asleep. Crazy huh!" All I can say is...Unbelievable. Parker does not do that with his mama. It must be a daddy thing. :)

Wanted to show you one of the pages from Saturday..I'll be showing different ones all throughout the week! This one was super simple!
Supplies: Cardstock & American Craft Thickers

Little Boys...

"Little boys are precious gifts of wonder and surprise...Life is just a playground and the world is his prize...Thank Heaven for Little Boys...Thank Heaven for little boys..."

pictures by Abbey

My favorite snapshots taken by Abbey:
(you can check out her photography website here!)

Ok, so the other night when I went downtown to meet my girlfriend Abbey for dinner, she of course, brought her fabulous camera with her. We were standing outside the restaurant (that just happened to have an old deep red brick exterior...love it!) & Abbey said, "Let me get a few snapshots of you & Parker together!" You all know I would never turn down a picture time with my baby, so even though I had no makeup on & had warned her before coming that I didn't have time to blow dry my hair that particular morning & had thrown it up in a clippie, she somehow managed to make these pictures incredible! I love how she played around with the different background textures on these!!! The first picture shown of Parker was my favorite of him..what a sweet expression on his face! By the time my camera usually flashes he's already off 1/4 mile in the other direction! So thankful for your high megapixel, super fast takes Abbey! :) Thank you for capturing these sweet moments of us! (Abbey actually took over 25 pictures of us in less than 1 minute!) The ones that you see here were taken in just a few seconds!

It was so much fun getting to catch up on Abbey's life for the past like 10 months since we've seen each other! She is such a sweetheart...one of the most giving & caring people that I know. Abbey also has such a zest for life & a creative mind for any & every little thing, so it's a blast just getting to be around her! Can you tell that I just adore this girl?!

Love your positive outlook on life, Abbey! I can't wait to get together this fall for an "orchard outing!" Thank you again for a fun evening out, Abbey!

Fun note: Abbey & I met on an airplane for the first time shortly after Clay & I moved to MN in 2006. We were destined to have seats together & become lifelong friends! :) After both of our trips were over, we contacted each other, met up in St. Paul shortly after & the rest is history!

grizzly's, movies, friends & more!

It has been a fun & busy last couple of days around here...a trip to the MN Zoo to see the Grizzly Bears, dinner with a good friend in downtown St. Paul, lunch with a friend & her sweet boys who live far away, an afternoon at the soccer field & park, errands & housekeeping (of course!), movie night with my hubby & a friend, & just other everyday life events!
Look at these two! Thank you for a fun lunch Tressa! Love the boys & their adorable space costumes! Sam & Drew, you two are going to be the coolest astronauts in Bermuda come October 31!!
My awesome friend Abbey (who I haven't seen in like a year!)...she brought her ultra high tech camera (that I totally drooled over!) with her to Cossetta's the other night & snapped some quick pics of Parker & me. You are going to love them! As soon as I get my hands on some, I will post them up here & I'm sure there will be more to view on her blog as well! I'll let you know! :)

Bella & Parker had fun at the zoo the other morning...one of the coolest sights was the grizzly's wrestling & playing in the dirt!

Hope everyone is having a great week! :)

It's a love/hate relationship...

Everyone who knows me knows that I am not the most tech savvy individual. I will admit that one of my least favorite things in life is having to figure out new programs/electronics/computer stuff. Once I do, I'm usually hooked, but it's just getting to the point of knowing what you're doing that stinks! (for me anyway!) But, I have come to the realization that I am just going to have to suck it up in order to receive the gain that I will get from some of these technological advances. :)

I have managed to play around & figure out a couple of basic things with Photoshop Elements 7.0, but if any of you have any suggestions of tutorial resources (preferably free) for this program I would GREATLY appreciate it!

I'll share some of the fun things I've been doing with it soon! :)

Meet the Froggies!

Meet the froggies...Parker's green froggy boots given to him by his awesome great-aunt Laurie & family! I knew the moment we opened the package that these were going to be a favorite! :) Parker goes to his closet shelf at some point almost every day & pulls them out to wear them! Although I can't get him to stand still for 2 seconds for a picture, I did manage to capture these!

P.S. Parker has his own rendition of "Bless You" for when people sneeze. It's something to the affect of "Aaahh Shuuu" (not for "Achooo" but "Bless You") :)

what i'm doing right now...

Parker is napping & this is what I'm doing...organizing photos into albums...listening to some good tunes & enjoying the down time!

Ironic or not? We mommy's look forward to our short break time each day when the kiddos are down for their nap & what do we do? We gawk & "ooh" & "aah" over our babies in family photos! We call our friends to TALK about our babies! We update our blogs with our family pictures. We research fun things to do for our child after he wakes up from his nap!
...Love it! I wouldn't have it any other way! :)

So thankful that we have so many precious memories to document & record in family albums!

parker's first ball...

Trivia question:
"What was the first ball that Clay bought for Parker after he was born?"

(hint: it was actually Parker's first "toy" from us...though it was bought shortly after Parker was born, this ball went in his Easter basket!)

Here's a picture to help your memory! (& to remind us all what a nice little drooler our little Pman was!) :)

Answer: a Soccer ball!

One guess what we did yesterday...

Oh yes...time out at the field!
Scrapbook note: Parker's first official soccer practice with daddy at the field! Sat. August 22
Parker is actually a good little kicker & loved every minute of the playtime! (the field was kind of connected to a playground though, so of course, Parker had to go back & forth between the two play areas!) :)

Daddy: "Parker, here comes the ball! Get down low & get ready to block!"
Parker: "All right Daddy! I'm getting down low!"
Less than a minute later....I looked up to see this! Parker got down low all right...so low he decided playing in the dirt was more entertaining than continuing to block & go after the balls! ha!


Trivia question #2: Which sport was Clay the assistant coach of at a highschool while living in Oklahoma? (Hint: he was the also the manager of the Girls _____ Team while at OSU...same sport!)

...should be an easy one guys...

Did it take you more than one guess? :)

...see picture above for answer!

Loved watching these two play together out on the field! And yes, I did get out there myself & work up a sweat...when I wasn't behind the camera of course! :)

Our night with Chuckie!

"Don't worry Chuckie! I'll take care of the driving; you just sit there & look cool!"
Number of pizza slices Parker woofed down on his 1st trip to Chuck E Cheese: 2

"Take me flying Daddy!"

2 families, 2 large pizzas, 4 drinks & 2 milks, 100 game tokens, chasing after 2 munchkins, 12 attempted pictures with Chuckie with both kids looking at camera (I'm pretty sure not a single one turned out!), 2 tired & ready-to-go to bed kids by 7:45pm, 2 very excited mama's on the way home....maybe we'll get an extra hour of sleep tonight out of this...

August 19, 2009

Parker's first trip to Chuck E. Cheese

Results: Success! Yummy! Must go back soon!

Until next time Chuck E.!!!

love this picture!

I love this picture of Parker! It was taken Sunday after church before we went in the restaurant to eat lunch. He was smiling his happy & mischievous grin because he was wanting his daddy to chase him! This is a typical look you will see on his face when mama & daddy are playing with or chasing him!

Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today: Monday, August 17, 2009
Outside my window...
the sun is out! Another beautiful day!
I am thinking...
how blessed I am
I am thankful for...
the time I get to be at home with Parker
From the kitchen...
lemon pepper chicken & steamed veggies for dinner!
I am wearing...
my pjs at the moment (it's 7:40 am!)
I am creating...
nothing today...but cooking up some fun ideas to play with later in the week!
I am going...
to the gym in one hour
I am reading...
"Go Dog Go" by Dr. Seuss...alas, I have to admit I'm not in a current ADULT book or magazine today!
I am hoping...
to cook some yummy new dishes for supper this week!
I am hearing...
Parker running around the living room babbling about everything he thinks & sees..and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on tv
Around the house...
dishes are put away, diaper bag & Parker are ready to go, hubby is asleep, Parker (well, I just said what he was doing!)...all is well!
One of my favorite things...
everyday inspiration & cuddles with Clay & Parker
A few plans for the rest of the week:
yummy dinners at home, time at the gym, an outing with Michelle & Bella, a little crafting time, the everyday responsibilities...should be a nice, fairly routine week at home!
Here is picture thought I am sharing...
enjoy the colors of summer!
(picture taken at Como Zoo)

I discovered Simple Woman's Daybook through my girlfriend Abbey's blog. I liked the concept of it, so decided to give it a try! And what a quick & easy way to document some of the simple moments of your day!

(P.S. If you noticed, I wrote this before 8am this morning & it's just now getting posted! ha! Obviously, life happened and priorities took me elsewhere until 10:15 this evening! Hope everyone had a fun & inspiring day!) :)

fun package, coloring, playing & more!

Loved the message at church today: "Be faithful while waiting."
The pastor was referring to not knowing what the next step in your life will be & how we need to patient & trust in the Lord at all times. He will be faithful & show us when we're ready for our next step. Wow...could he be speaking to us any more clearly?!

I feel really good about this next week! Last week, I marked so many of the big "to do's" off of my list that this week should be a little bit more "carefree busy" (until something else comes up of course!) :) Don't you just feel GOOD when you get yucky things taken care of! "Yucky" being those time-consuming, all-thoughts-must-be-on-this-one-project, challenging, headache of a chore that requires a lot of not fun thinking & sometimes even worrying! I know we all have some of those pop up every so often! :)

Well anyway, I had just finished a long hard 5 hours of grueling "work time" & got a call saying we had a package in at the office! Yippee! What a way to end my day! So I drove down to the office to find this waiting for me:

Fair, my brother's ultra-cute & super sweet girlfriend cleaned out her closet & decided to send me some goodies! :) Have I mentioned that this girl has more style in her little pinky toe than I think I have in my whole body?! Clay was smiling & laughing at me as I unpacked the box like a kid unwrapping her biggest Christmas present! Parker had other fun in mind...
Thank you Anne & Fair for being so sweet & thinking of me! :)

Other random fun things from the last week of our lives...

Clay & I love how much Parker has been wanting to color lately!! I think he actually likes to hold the crayon box more than anything & to proudly pick out his own colors! :)
Desperately needed to keep Parker busy for 15 minutes one day, so I opened his special toy chest & let him pull out all of toys & play his heart out for the whole 11 minutes that he was interested in that! Parker has been spending a lot of time playing up here...reading, giggling, rolling around...

love our little monkey...

riding in daddy's truck

The top 10 reasons I love riding in my daddy's truck:

10. How cool is it to ride in a vehicle named "Troublemaker"?!
9. I can see everything outside when we're driving down the road!!
8. We're higher up than anybody else on the road when we ride in daddy's truck
7. I like trucks!
6. Daddy puts on my cool shades & sometimes even lets me wear his.."Hollywood!"

5. The vibration & sounds from daddy's truck have always been able to lull me to sleep since I was a little baby
4. I love to stand up in the back of the truck while daddy works on it!!
3. When I ride with daddy in his truck, he'll take me to Sonic & share his Route 44 with me...mama isn't supposed to know about it though so shhhh, please don't tell! :)

2. Daddy plays cool music & we'll work the beat together as he's driving down the roads...he sings, I smile & tap my hand to the beat
1. It's fun hanging out with my daddy in his truck!

I love my daddy!

scrappin' to Gloriana

Scrappin' & listening to this new soundtrack...LOVE IT!!!

(The music & the time to scrap!) :)

the red bucket

Just wanted to share one of our latest favorite organizational tools for Parker's toys ... so this black chest was a freebie from Slumberland when Clay & I purchased another piece of furniture for our bedroom suite a couple of years back. For the longest time it sat empty, but it just looked perfect by the edge of the couch.

After P-man came along, I thought, "This would be the perfect place to put Parker's little toys & extra books!" It worked like a charm...until Christmas that is...when he started getting bigger toys like the Fisher-Price farm, shape sorters, blocks, etc. Clay & I were at Target about a month ago & we ran across these buckets in all different colors. We both looked at each other & went straight for the red one. It has been perfect for our space in "Parker's corner."