The Ussery Update

One of my favorite domestic activities is decorating for all of the holidays. Our decorations aren't fancy or expensive, but they are fun and help welcome in the coming holiday.  It helps the house feel festive for what we are celebrating. Between selling our house last summer and having a new house built (and living in Arkansas for 6 months), I haven't been able to do any holiday decorating in a year - GASP!  We were here at Easter, but only a few weeks in so we were still neck deep in boxes - not the best time to think about dragging out the Easter decor. But don't think that I wasn't tempted and didn't think about it!  So here we are with Independence Day coming next Friday and it's my first time to do some holiday decorating in our new home.  Hip hip hooray! Last week, I put out a few patriotic decorations and we are ready to celebrate the 4th of July! Welcome in... Parker picked out the patriotic jingle bells from the Dollar Tree for t...

We had a nice and low-key Father's Day weekend.  I had a meeting Saturday morning for VBS and got our room decorated for the week. Other than that, and church of course, we stayed home and did various things around here.  We still have lots of projects going on around here as we continue to get settled in. John grilled both Saturday and Sunday nights - fajitas, hamburger and sausage between the two nights. I took care of the sides for both meals - some good eats!  John requested dessert pizza for his Father's Day weekend treat. Saturday before my meeting, I made scones for breakfast - one of John's favorites and there were leftovers for Sunday morning.  Here's a trip down memory lane with Parker and his Daddy - the day Parker was born, the last two Father's Days and this year before church.  2012... 2013... 2014... After Parker's nap, John opened his cards and gifts.  We got him a grill thermometer tha...

I wanted to share about something new going on in our world with Parker.  After all, this blog is meant to document our life and keep friends and family informed with what's going on with us.  Forgive me if I ramble on or provide a little too much detail (I have a tendency to sometimes always do that).  Again, I want to have a little bit of a written record from this time in our life - this blog is a good place to do it.   Over the past few months or so, John and I have observed a few things about Parker that gave us a little bit of concern and made us somewhat curious as to why he might be doing or not doing certain things - or reacting certain ways.  We picked up on things or situations that he consistently had a problem with or was bothered by.  At first we chalked it up to reasons like "he's a boy", "he's just two/a toddler", "he's not around a lot of other people or kids", "he's an only child", "he's...

Parker and I want to wish Parker's Daddy a very HAPPY FATHER'S DAY !  John is such a great Dad. I'm so thankful that God blessed us with Parker because to deprive a child the opportunity to have John as their father would have been a tragedy. He was ready with all of the qualities it would take to be an amazing Dad, we just needed a child to make it possible for him to have that role and responsibility. Hooray for Parker!  In our marriage, John and I have always had a "teammate" mentality. We are partners on the same team and help each other out with everything. We are a dynamic duo and try to handle all that comes our way as best we can - together...with God's help as well - of course!  This definitely applies to parenting Parker. For the past two years we have been by each other's side in this new world of being parents - through all of the ups and downs, fun and challenges. I love being a Mom and I know John loves being a Dad and it's a ...