Our Little Firecracker Turns One!

We celebrated Parker's first birthday on Saturday with a Fourth of July cookout at our house with family and friends. Parker had been sick all week, but was thankfully feeling better by his birthday! He loved the balloons and walking around visiting with everybody!We ate lots of yummy food--hot dogs (grilled by Parker's Grandpa!), potato salad, pork and beans, and chips. Everyone was so full that we decided to open presents before eating cake. Jonathan helped Parker open his presents and he got lots of fun gifts! He got a set of sports balls and he was in heaven!Aunt Kandy and Uncle T gave him his very 1st soccer ballHe loved pulling out all of the tissue paper from the gift bagsEarlier our friends the Hodsons and the Dunlaps stopped by to wish Parker a Happy Birthday. Allyson had a cute backpack monogrammed just for him!and Anna and Rebekah gave Parker his 1st choo-choo train!After all the presents, it was time for cake! Sarah August made Parker his very 1st Birthday cake! I was thrilled with how it turned out! Sarah put his smash cake on top, so when it was time to sing, we removed it and filled it with candles. Parker was very fascinated by the flames on the candles, especially the tall blue ones that sparkled like fireworks! (Thanks Amy C. for the idea!)
Jonathan had to hold Parker's arm down so he wouldn't grab the candles and get burned by the flames! Parker was determined to get a hold of the "1" candle with his other handand finally was able to grab it after his big sissies helped him blow out the candlesParker wasn't very interested in his cake, which wasn't too surprising because he has issues with texture. He poked at it a bit and tried some yummy red frosting Then he poked at it some more Jonathan tried to help him dig inbut he just didn't want any! He didn't know what he was missing! To finish off our celebration we went outside to watch our neighbors set off fireworks. Parker had fun with his first glow stick! He watched the fireworks with his Daddy and we all cheered when we saw a special red, white, and blue set of fireworks for our patriotic baby!

Then Parker's Birthday continued the next day... We had decided to keep his little cake and so glad we did, because he loved it after it had gotten nice and cold in the refrigerator! He had fun with his fork and was so proud of himselfThen he let us know he was done! What a mess!

We enjoyed celebrating Parker's 1st Birthday and are so blessed to have him as part of our family! We love you, Parker Levi and wish for you many more happy birthdays!

I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you... 3John1:2