Cole' First Birthday!

Even though Cole's birthday is April 19th, on Saturday, April 17th we celebrated Cole's first birthday with a Cowboy bash at our house. We had 40+ people come (14 KIDS!!!!) and we served burgers, hotdogs, chips, dip and cake for lunch. We had originally planned to have everything set up in our backyard but it had rained the night before and was sprinkling that morning. So Plan B was to move it all to our garage....thankfully it wasn't too dirty! We had SOOOO much fun! We are so blessed to be surrounded by close family and great friends! Thank you to everyone who came and helped celebrate our little boy's birthday!

My very talented mother-in-law, Betty, made Cole's cakes!

The BIRTHDAY BOY!!!

the yummy food...



It's cake time!!

It took him a little bit, but he finally figured out what to do!

The Muckleroy and Parker clan!!

Can't believe he's one year old!


And here are a few pictures from his actual birthDAY! Poor man had a runny nose and a cough on his birthday! :(

ONE year old!!!!

So our little Cole man is about to turn one year old on Monday, the 19th! WHAT?????!!!! We cannot believe it has already been a year. He's supposed to be my little baby boy for forever! It has gone by way to fast!

So, here's where I need your help! We, as in me and Chris, have no idea what to get Cole for his first birthday. Do we get him outside toys, a wagon, learning stuff??? We have no idea! What do y'all think?

Here's a few pictures to see Cole's first few days here and one's taken here recently!

Cole, just a few hours old!

He is 4 days old in this one!

This was this year in March with his Uncle Will.

On Easter with his first Easter basket!

Walk this way!!!

As of February 15th (not quite 10 months old), Cole is a walking fool! He goes anywhere he wants and gets into anything he wants (but only the things his momma will let him get into). Until recently he would walk with both of his hands high up in the air like to balance himself or something! It's crazy our little man is walking everywhere!

An update...

So....it's clearly been awhile. I will admit to not being very good at this blog thing and remembering to do it! I just wanted to show you a few updated pictures of our little Cole man. He is getting so big!! February 19th he turned 10 months old and he is walking!!!! Completely by himself! What????!!! It's crazy! But we are just loving being parents of the little guy and are having so much fun watching him grow! (Although it's a little bittersweet for his momma!)

Happy 7 month Birthday Cole Man!

Our little man is getting so big! At his 6 month check up, he weighed 17 lbs 5 oz so I'm thinking he has to be at least 18 1/2 by now! He is standing at the coffee table (holding on the the edges with his hands) all by himself. He is cutting his first tooth on the bottom! And thankfully he hasn't been extra fussy! And he started pulling/pushing himself forward this morning while on his tummy. I almost cried while watching him do it! He is just growing so fast!

Busy October!

Hello all! I hope this blog finds you happy and healthy! Well, we had a busy October. We hosted a few visitors during the month, Cole was dedicated in church, he turned 6 months old and Chris and I both did alot of traveling! While Chris went on an elk hunt in Colorado with his dad, Cole and I traveled to Northwest Arkansas to visit with some college friends! What should have been a 5 1/2 hour drive ended up being a 7 hour drive. Traveling by yourself with a 6 month old is hard work! There are no such things as "Quick Stops". Anyway, we got there on Thursday and got to stay until Tuesday. It was an awesome, long visit that I won't forget. It was also Cole's first Halloween weekend. He was the cutest pumpkin you ever did see. Chris called it child abuse for me to dress Cole up because it was for my pure entertainment. I'm like..."Hey! There are other people that will be entertained by him too! It's Halloween...this is what you do!" Oh hunny...I love you! All in all, we had a fun and busy October!

Cole at 6 months old....already standing at the coffee table!

Cole's Baby Dedication at church!


Before Chris and Jim headed off to Colorado for their big elk hunt!


Matt Turner is a family friend and is a news anchor in Fayetteville. He let Cole be on the 6:00 evening news! I was so excited and proud! Cole was a good boy.


We found a little country store that had a free pumpkin patch! We took the opportunity to have a little photo shoot.





Me and Cole with two of my best friends from college...Julee and Stefan! Love you two!

Cole and Brody Francis (as a duck) on Halloween night!

3 Easy Recipes

So a few of my friends here in DFW asked me to post these 3 recipes. They are super easy and very yummy to eat!! Try them and let me know how it goes!!

My Momma's Parmesean Chicken

3/4 stick butter, melted
Parmesean cheese
Italian Bread Crumbs
5-6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast, thawed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together equal parts (I use about 3/4 Cup each) of Parmesean Cheese and Bread Crumbs. Cut chicken breasts into 3 to 4 inch pieces. Dip chicken in melted butter then coat with dry mix and arrange in a 9x13 glass pyrex dish. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown. (Depending on your oven, you might need to check it at 30 and see from there how much longer.)

***If you arrange chicken so edges touch, it won't be so dry after baking.

My Momma's Dirty Rice

3/4 stick butter
1 med. onion, chopped
1 1/4 Cup uncooked rice
1 Can (4.5 oz.) Sliced Mushrooms*
1 can French Onion Soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Cup water

*IF you don't like mushrooms (like me!) you can leave these out!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium saucepan, melt butter and saute onions. Add rice and mushrooms. Stir on stove over medium heat for 5 minutes. In a casserole dish (sprayed with PAM), mix mushroom soup, onion soup and water. Add rice mix and stir. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.

And for a yummy desert try this chocolate eclaire recipe! SOOOO good! And the great thing about this recipe is you can buy all sugar free/fat free items.....well, except for the chocolate icing. There's NO substitution for that!

Chocolate Eclaire

1 container chocolate frosting
2 small boxes Lowfat Vanilla Pudding
3 1/2 Cups Lowfat Milk
1 small tub of Fat Free Cool Whip
1 box of Fat Free Graham Crackers

Blend pudding, milk and cool whip until even. In 9x13 pan (sprayed with PAM) place 1 layer of graham crackers, covering the whole bottom of pan. Spread half of pudding mix, followed by another layer of graham crackers. Repeat. Frost with chocolate frosting. Refrigerate for a few hours....(or you can do it the night before you need it to save time!)

I want to hear how it goes!!!