Ry's Foxy 1st Birthday!

ry's first birthday party was a success! 

all the planning, stressing and hard work finally came together! 

and my little fox partied his little tail off!

best year of my life.

decorations: 

black & white checkered tablecloth: hobby lobby

green tablecloths: target

banners: homemade-burlap/stencil/paint, canvas/paint, pom pom/string

hawaiian table skirt (on wall): hobby lobby

succulents & pots: hobby lobby

cake stands: target & wal mart

toy fox: hobby lobby

woodland finger puppets: oriental trading

wood piece (under cake stands): hobby lobby

moss mats: hobby lobby (are you catching a trend here?)

beverage bucket: target

goodie bags:

paper sacks: michael's

black & white striped washi tape: michael's

it's a party & chevron stamp: michael's

food:

trees: broccoli

acorns (not pictured): hersey kisses, mini vanilla wafers, topped with peanut butter chips-all held together by peanut butter

toadstools: cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese sticks

berries: strawberries

twigs: pretzel sticks

mossy logs: twisted pretzel sticks rolled in cream cheese frosting and green sprinkles

cheese dip & chips

cheese ball & crackers

cakes: homemade

drinks:

water & coke

little red riding hood & the big bad wolf.

 

well i'd say rylan's first halloween was a success! we were leaning towards making him a fox, but ended up going with this idea instead! ry's costume is from Womp-A-Wear! 

we had so much fun dressing him up as the big bad wolf! he, on the other hand, was not too impressed by the hat and it ended up being ripped off his head the first half of the night with quite commanding force. the child is opinionated and he must be heard!

we spent the night at our church's trunk or treat surrounded by games, peter pan, and oompa loompa. can't wait to watch him running around one day with all the other kids.
or maybe i can.

although baby boy will never remember this night it is one we will hold on to forever. 

i love you big bad wolf.

kisses always,

your little red riding hood 

check out this pack 'n play & update

via

i saw this pack 'n play on the today show and i thought i'd share because it's pretty awesome.

expensive, but awesome.

i despise having to put our pack 'n play together. that's why the mr. is usually the one to do it.

he's pretty good about saving me from pulling my hair out.

this pack 'n play is literally a breeze to set up and take down.

watch the video from 4moms here.

also just a quick update on the family i posted about yesterday: someone paid up front the costs of the medical evacuation to Turkey! they still need to raise money to pay him back, but God is moving mountains for them and all they are looking for now is a doctor/hospital to receive baby Joshua. please continue to pray!

thanks! hope you are having a great wednesday!

heavy heart

my heart is heavy today for some friends of mine who are working overseas with an anti-trafficking organization. their one month old baby, Joshua, is having some serious medical issues. they took him to the hospital after he began vomiting when they fed him. his condition has only gotten worse after being admitted at the hospital. with every doctor they see they get a different diagnosis. one of the doctors said he had internal bleeding and possibly a major infection. the doctors are not giving him fluids or letting his mom feed him. they need prayers and they also need to raise $58,000 (because they found out he is not covered under their medical evacuation plan) to transport baby Joshua to Istanbul where he can receive better treatment. if you feel led please pray and/or you can give here. just write "The Walkers" on the row that is labelled "Oasis Global". thanks friends.

my friend mary & her yellow short memories

hey-o!
i want to introduce you to a friend of mine.
her name is mary.
there once was a time that mary and i shared a house together along with three other lovely ladies.
"The Charles House Ladies"-we called ourselves.
we shared life with each other in that house.
we laughed, we cried, we danced, and we grew.
kindred spirits were found in one another.
some of my most favorite college memories.

well now mary is an uh-MAZING photographer!
check out her site here.
i asked mary to share a little about herself and her love for photography.

Life passes by so very quickly. It seems like just yesterday I was picking out my outfit for the first day of 2^nd grade. I remember what I wore. Yellow shorts. Yep, yellow shorts with a blue belt to match the blue on my shirt. My hair was pulled into a bun on the top of my head because that was the cool thing to do. I even had matching navy blue Keds. You remember those. Boy, was I awesome. 

That was a long time ago but yet the image is burned in my memory. While I certainly remember that moment, the image in my head is made clearer by the picture I have in my scrapbook at home…documenting that day. That is why I love photographs. I love them because they strengthen memories. Memories I never want to lose. Never want to forget. 

I have countless ‘yellow short’ memories that are made more vivid in my mind because of photographs. Some are far more significant than my second grade outfit and some are just simple memories that tell the story of my life. Believing that we are made for another world, but also that this life can be blessed, I love the art of photography. I love it because it tells the story of our lives and each story is important. 

Baby Baker Love definitely takes this philosophy to heart, both in the celebrating of life’s stories and documenting them! When ‘Mrs. Baker’ asked me to guest blog, I was thrilled for this very reason! Though our blogs are different in some ways, the principles are the same. Celebrate life and those that we love. So with that, I hope that today you will be inspired to celebrate YOUR story! After all, you only get one to live, so love and live it well…and don’t forget to stop and take some ‘yellow short’ pictures along the way!

the three traveling-keteers

so we left last tuesday for our trip across the country. ok, ok, maybe it was just the state of texas, but by the time we made it home on sunday my buns were telling another story.

we had been planning a surprise visit to see the Mr.'s mom for some time now and we were finally able to make it happen.

we made a few stops along the way including time with old friends and family.

spent the 4th in the town where hubs grew up watching fireworks out in the country, swimming and playing washers.

i love times like these gathered around the table catching up, asking tough questions, eating good food and playing games.

we had a great trip and i do believe my mother-in-law was surprised :)

memorial weekend.

here at the Baker household we were thankful for the extra long weekend.
it's a funny thing though how we spent our extra day: grocery shopping and cooking extravaganza!
can't believe this momma didn't get any sunshine!
guess we're getting a little 'old'. ha.

Friday was spent doing yard work and hanging out with some friends and their two little ones. yes, I said two. and no, I don't know how they do it.

Saturday we got some shopping time at the outlet mall in the city with my mom and sis. after our retail therapy session was over, I was then forced into the grungy place that is Buffalo Wild Wings to give it another try. let's just say the honey BBQ wings are my new friends.

Sunday I missed half of the sermon at church due to baby boy falling asleep in my arms and me not wanting to put him down in his class because I just wanted to watch him sleep at the risk of waking him. 

Monday we did our huge monthly grocery shopping and cooking day. We like to buy almost everything we need for the whole month and start cooking and freezing a few meals right away. It really helps us save time and money. I also made my first batch of homemade baby food. More to come on that later!

p.s. we moved little man to his crib and he is doing awesome.

Hope you all had a great Memorial Weekend!

Here's a picture of my dad. It's an old pic and a new one blended together. In the old pic he's standing third from the left.

Thank you to all who have served and are still serving our country!