:: 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!

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:: Field Day, Dedication & God Sightings ::

As I sit down to blog and upload pictures, I am struck by how much has happened over the last 9 months.  In so many ways it has flown, and in others (like our sleepless nights) it has dragged on and on.  Knox has gone from a little lump of baby love to a moving, shaking, crawling, pulling up, ball-playing master.  

And Parrish has gone from writing one word to writing sentences, and reading books on his own. 

 This school year has definitely brought much progress in the life of my boys and I have loved getting to watch each of them grow and learn more about the world.

 Knox started crawling at 8 months and it only took him a week or two to figure out that it hurts to crawl on your knees and therefore start crawling on his feet.

His favorite things are:
-playing in the cabinet I set up for him in the kitchen with "real" utensils, pots, pans and bowls (above)
-clapping
-crawling
-pulling up
-attempting to balance standing on both feet (Parrish will proudly tell you that he was the first one to see baby Knox try to stand on his own!)
-reading his animal book and watching mommy make all the funny animal noises
-and playing ball!  This is by far my favorite thing to do with him.  He will throw a small plastic ball back and forth with me for as long as I will let him.  It is the cutest thing ever to watch him figure out cause and effect.

 Parrish had his end of the year field day at school last week and I was able to go and volunteer at one of the games.  I loved watching from afar as he and his buddies sprayed each other with water guns, blind folded themselves and walked through a maze, and jumped in inflatables.

On Mother's Day we dedicated Knox to the Lord.  It was a sweet and special time with family and friends where we shared not "what" we wanted Knox to be when he grows up, but "who."  Some of the things we want for him (and Parrish) are for him to be:

-self assured but not conceded

-passionate about Christ, his chosen career path, his family 

-willing to put others before himself

-empathetic, kind & thoughtful

It is a real struggle as a parent not to put what their job will be one day over the importance of who they will be one day.  It is also a struggle not to put your own hopes and dreams for them above their own personal hopes, dreams, and interests.  But I pray often that Cannon and I will be able to do just that for both of our boys.  Cannon says all the time that we have to find and focus on what they are good at and passionate about, and not focus on the things that they are less adept at.  So true!

 Our buddies The Browns (below) came into town for the dedication along with our families and that meant that there were LOTS of boys in one place.  As you can see in the picture above, we picked up quite a few extras on dedication day!

 Tappy helped me make the Orange Dreamsicle Cake that we served at the luncheon after the dedication and let me just tell you that it was delicious and perfect for a warm summer day!

 Here is the recipe, from "The Diary of Dave's Wife" blog:

 We had the luncheon at my favorite little park in Mt Laurel.  The food was good, the company better, and the kids were running around having a blast (see below).  :)

When the dust from all the excitement of the dedication settled though, it was still Mother's Day and this mother is still missing one of her babies.  I was thankful for the distraction of the dedication, but when it was all said and done that was the thought I was left with; and the familiar longing of my heart and arms was even more present than usual.  The next week was a struggle and as I often do when I'm at the end of my rope, I started searching for the Lord more regularly.  In our VBS teacher training this past week we talked about "God sightings."  We'll be looking for God in the every day with our vbs kids and teaching them to do the same.  Sometimes I wonder if I am remembering to have my own God sightings during the daily things, the mundane.  Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't, but it has to be a conscious effort before it will become a habit.

A friend recently suggested I read a book called "Anything," by Jennie Allen. In the book last week I read this:

"The desire of God's heart is to deal with suffering-and it is not just his desire; it is his plan.  Once he deals with it, it is over.  He is patient in his judgment, desiring that none be lost (2 Peter 3:9)  If we believe the Bible, we must believe that the heart of our unpredictable, sovereign God is good, that he sees us and is for us, even though he allows this pain.  As my friend Rachel discovered, who is to say what is good or bad anymore?  Not till heaven will we know.  From his eternal perspective, it's tolerable to allow our temporary dreams to fall apart.  But we seize more of God when he seizes us through our broken dreams.  He is wildly unpredictable, and learning to question and accept his ways is part of the journey of following an unsafe, invisible God.  He calls the shots on what happens to us in this short stint here.  He calls them, whether we want to let him or not.  Our faith must remain greater than our pain and our fears." -Jennie Allen, "Anything"

If I am honest, I admit that I seize more of God now that my dreams have been broken.  Is this a good thing in God's eternal perspective?  If it is, it doesn't make it any easier in this life, but it felt like Jennie's words as I read them that day had been specifically meant for me to read.  A God sighting, perhaps??

For now I'm back to the daily and off to get Parrish from his last day as a Kindergartener.  I can't believe I just typed that!  I can't wait to ask him his Kindergarten exit questions and post them.  I wonder if any of the answers have changed from the beginning of the year.  Stay tuned...and Happy Summer!!

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