The Ussery Update

The first week of March (March 5th to be exact), we woke up to a few inches of snow on the ground. In Texas, any snow is a big deal - snow days are few and far between around these parts. It was so pretty!    This was Parker's first time to go out and play in the snow. We've experienced snow a few times since Parker's was born (it actually snowed on his first Christmas), but for various reasons, we hadn't gone out to play in it until now. We weren't quite sure how he would react or do with playing in the snow.  With some of his sensory issues, he can be kind of particular about different textures that he touches.  It could go either way - he'd either love it or not so much.   He said he wanted to go out and play so we got all his gear on and headed out. Have you ever seen a cuter bundled up boy?   Let's just say that Parker LOVED playing in the snow - he had a blast! He did not want to come in after being out for quite a

Now that we are about a month past Parker's birthday, I need to wrap it up and post these final pictures. It's almost April - whew! Since said birthday, we've taken many a picture of various sorts to share with you, but one event at a time. I've finally made peace (with help from my sweet husband) that I just can't blog as much as I want to or about everything I want to.  So, I will do what I can, when I can. Without further ado, Parker's actual BIRTHDAY! (cue the trumpets, streamers, balloons and confetti poppers). Parker's birthday fell on a Monday so John took the day off so we could spend the day as a family. We had big plans to take Parker to the aquarium (inside the Grapevine Mills mall) and to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch.  There's also a train and a few things to ride at the mall that we knew Parker would want to do. Well, what do you know...an ice/snow storm decided to head our way on Birthday Eve!  It got pretty bad through the night a

I'm back to continue the re-cap of Parker's birthday weekend.  If you missed the first episode, about the decorations and what went on Friday, see the post below.   Today is all about Saturday and Sunday. As I mentioned last time, before Parker's birthday we made a list of his favorite things to eat and do - so we decided to spread those things out over the weekend. One of the things Parker really wanted to do was go to what he calls the "toy store" and "bookstore" - which means Toys R Us and Mardel.  So away we went on Saturday morning...      More than looking at or buying toys, his favorite thing to do at Toys R Us is play with the Thomas the Train table.  He would stay there for hours.  No matter how long we stay each time we go, he never likes leaving.  We've debated about getting him one of these tables, but besides it taking up a lot of space, we think he looks forward to playing with it at the store and may not p