Tuesday, August 13

:: Oh What Fun! Knox is ONE! ::

 Our sweet Knox C turned one last week and enjoyed several opportunities to get his little hands in some cake...starting at his CC's house and ending at his birthday party over the weekend.
 I love this picture because of the way Knox is looking at his brother.  Pure and complete adoration...and amusement!  He loves him so much!
 All four of the Prickett Men...
 And Mommy (with no make-up...sorry!)
 And can't forget CC!
 Saturday was his "Cheeri-oh what fun!  Knox is ONE!" alley party and we had a great time.  For those of you who are wondering what an alley party is...and lots of people look at me strangely when I refer to it that way, in our neighborhood the houses all back up to different alleys.  The kids play in the alley almost daily (my common punishment for misbehavior with Parrish is to take away "alley time") and have the best time.  So, we set the party up in the alley and invited all of our neighbors to come and join in the fun.
 I made a poster board "1" covered with cheerios to hang from the garage door in the middle of yellow and white stripped ribbons clipped with Knox's full year of monthly chair pictures.  I loved looking back and comparing them!

We had cheerios themed food...cheerios "rice krispie" treats and cheerios snack mix (thanks, Tappy!) and homemade donuts (thanks, CC!) displayed in a large bowl of powered sugar to to look like a big bowl of cheerios.

The bunting was pre-made and purchased from Michael's.  I just cut the letters that say "Knox is One" from cheerios boxes and the "O's" from kraft paper to look like cheerios.

 I love this antique high chair.  Cannon sat in it as a baby so I thought it only appropriate to use at Knox's party.  I strung cheerios on yarn and fixed the string to the high chair with bows.  I embellished his birthday hat with a cheerios covered "1" and a pom pom ball on top.
 I made the banner from a canvas drop cloth from Lowe's that I cut in half lengthwise and then sewed back together vertically to increase the length and decrease the width, then painted with acrylic paint.  I plan to use it for future birthdays so I didn't put the number.
 Knox spent a lot of time in his buddy Christian's blue push car with his great grandaddy E and his Pap at the party.
 The kids had a good time pushing him around while he enjoyed his cheerios snack mix!
 Here's an up close shot of the bunting with the cheerios letters...
 Knox got a fun push/ride-on car from Glorio and E...
 And we had a cute little cow pinata that I glued cheerios onto.  One side said "ONE" the other side had Knox's initials and I made the cow a cheerios mouth and a cheerios "1" on his cow bell collar.
 The shot below is of everyone enjoying the party...
 And little Knox took the first swing at the pinata before letting the big kids polish it off!
 He traded in the foam bat for a long stick...I guess he thought he could do more damage with that!




You can see Knox's sweet outfit in this picture.  I had it made by Room to Romp on etsy.  She is very talented and I was able to request that she hand stitch the 1% milk appliqué onto a john john.  I thought it turned out really cute and acknowledged the first birthday without limiting him to  wearing it only at his birthday party.  It's cute enough to keep on wearing through the year and the applique she did coordinated with his precious invites, designed by Southern Stationery.



 Then the big kids all took a shot...







 I'm loving all of the good baseball stances and the look of determination on their faces is priceless!
 Knox with his CC and Grandaddy...
 And Great-Glorio & E...
 And getting ready to dig into his cheerios cake.  I made a regular yellow cake mix and added in two ripe, mashed bananas.

 He looks so tired in this picture.  He was definitely getting ready for a nap by this point, but he hung in there!

 Digging in...
 And we get a little smile we he tastes that yummy sugar.  Nothing like frosted cheerios!



 It's not a birthday party until there's a big mess!
 For the centerpiece on the party table I had a friend blow up a picture of Knox's face and then cut it out of card stock and made a party hat from a cheerios box.  I glued the whole thing to a paint stirring stick and then secured it into some floral foam inside a cheerios box.  To finish it off I added red tissue paper and yellow krinkle paper.  It turned out so cute.  One day I am sure he will kill me for doing this!
 The favors were individual boxes of cheerios tied in red dollar store bowls and finished off with a red spoon and a "cheerio" shaped favor tag that said, "Just add milk." - all done by the very talented Brantley Bowden of Southern Stationery.
 Here's Knox with his Tappy and Pap...
 And the final and arguably most hilarious moment of the party was when Christian finally got his car back and Knox decided he wasn't sure he wanted him to have it, so he climbed on the car and into Christian's lap.  The look on their faces says it all.  Too funny!
 After the party was over we kissed the balloons and sent them to Sissy in heaven, wishing she had been at the party with us.  It was a celebration of his birthday and for all of us a celebration of surviving the first year.  It has been filled with joy and wonder as we've watched him learn about the world around him, but also filled with worries and long, sleepless nights so we are all thankful to be at this point with him....marking and celebrating the last year of our lives with him and looking forward to what the next year of his little life will bring.  We praise God for entrusting us with him and love you so very much, Knox!  Happy 1st Birthday!




Thursday, August 8

:: Summertime, Funtime ::

Lately it seems all I have done is run around in circles!  It speaks volumes that I uploaded these pictures from our recent beach trip over three weeks ago and am just now managing to post a bit about them.  But that is life with a almost one year old (still can't believe that!)  We have had a busy and fun summer...

Parrish has been to zoo camp, lego camp, camp Andalusia and camp Tallahassee (to visit his grandparents), the beach, the coosa river with CC and his cousins every chance he gets, and having the best time with all of the kids that live on our "alley" at home.  He has lived outside and I am so thankful for this magical neighborhood we live in where we can let our kids build forts, fight pretend battles, run in and out of each others homes, and ride bikes, skateboards and anything else they can fashion into a ride-on vehicle until their hearts content!  :)  I call for him at dinner and he comes in reluctantly, dirty, exhausted, and longing to finish dinner quick so he can go outside and play for the last 15 minutes of daylight!  It is a wonderful place for him to grow up and we are thankful God opened the doors for us to move here almost 2 years ago.


We spent a week at the beach with Tappy and Frankie in both June and July this summer and had the best time.  Parrish has become quite the skim boarder and little Knox C LOVES the sand and the ocean.  He would sit for hours playing in the sand covered from head to toe with a huge grin on his face.  We would dig a mote around our sandcastle and he would cruise around the mote holding onto the sand castle for support forever.  When he had enough of the sand we would put a life jacket on him and then wade out into the ocean.  He was so relaxed one day that he fell asleep in Cannon's arms to the rocking of the waves.  I would say he is definitely a beach baby!

At the condo with Daddy...


The alligator at Bayou Bill's having a yummy boy snack...



Holding Chompy, Jr...


The beach baby...


Catching sand crabs with new friends on the beach...

Throwing the football....


Floating in the ocean waves with Daddy...

Face painting and playing at "The Boon Docks" Restaurant...



Getting some snuggles in with his "Tappy"...

Helping Daddy drive the boat to Shell Island...

Parrish with his hermit crabs on Shell Island.  I bet we found at least 40 that day!


That gummy smile says it all...

It has been a great summer for Olivia Charles Antiques as well.  We had record sales at the West Indies Market and are so thankful to our customers.  We also welcomed a new retail partner, Alabama Furniture Market, and are thrilled they will now be carrying our line.

The antique window chalkboards are a new product...




As well as these single bead board wall hooks...









Parrish spent the whole day selling with us at the West Indies Market in July and he was such a big help.  For a 6 year old to spend an entire day selling furniture in 90 degree heat without complaining is a big deal!  And I'm pretty sure his chalk designs helped us sell our chalkboards!  :)



Later in July Cannon and I went on our belated 10-year anniversary trip to Key West!  We had so much fun relaxing and having no schedule to keep.  

 Louie's backyard was next to our hotel and on the water...
 This picture was at sunset at Hot Tin Roof Restaurant...the sunset was gorgeous but it was almost matched by the deliciousness of their lobster mac n cheese...it was worth the trip in itself!
 Of course being the cat lover that I am, we had to go visit Hemingway's 6-toed furry friends...
 And we also went lobstering!!  We were there during the 2-day mini season and chartered a boat to go catch some.  We did an awful lot of catching, but not much keeping!  They have to be a certain size to keep and ours were all just under the legal limit.  But that didn't stop us from having fun.  I was in the water so much catching them that I didn't manage to get a picture of the ones we caught and released.  It was crazy because under water they all looked HUGE and then you'd pull them out and they would be too small.  It was fun nonetheless though and we both agree that Parrish would love it.  We hope we can bring him with us next year!
 This is the view from my lounge chair at the hotel...when I am stressed I look at this picture and pretend I am there!  HA! :)
 This is the Southernmost point in the U.S.  Only 90 nautical miles to Cuba!
 Our beautiful hotel...the Casa Marina...
Dinner at Latitudes on Sunset Key.  You take a ferry to this private island owned by a hotel chain...it was our favorite meal and the best ambiance!  As much fun as we had though, we were ready to get home and see this smiling face...
He turns one today and I can hardly believe a year has passed since we were welcoming him into the world!  He has blessed our family beyond measure and we are so thankful he is ours.  We will celebrate at the pool today and tonight at CC's for a bday dinner.  
 I had to include a picture of Knox on his favorite stair.  He thinks this is his personal play area.  He is so proud of how he can get up and down on the step without falling and he uses it as a perch.  He has been walking  running for the last few months and it is hard to keep up!
Brother manages to catch him from time to time for some snuggles!