The Parken Family

One year ago, Everett Shane Parken was born at 9:13 am weighing 4 pounds and 10 ounces. After his surgery and 3 weeks in the hospital, he was home with us and we have been having fun ever since. Everett has such a sense of humor and overall happy personality. He LOVES playing peek-a-boo, being outside, and trying new foods. He will talk to anyone who will listen and loves to socialize. Some of Everett's closest friends are: Dash (they spend 4 days a week together), Savannah, Annabelle, and Evan. Everett has mastered the art of cruising and will take some steps if holding your hands. He is a champion eater and loves to laugh. Adam and I are truly blessed to be his parents and continue to thank God for his life. We love you Everett and Happy First Birthday!

Just born

Home from the hospital

2 months old

4 months old

1 year old

To celebrate Everett's birthday, we had an airplane themed party on Saturday. The party planning started with the invitations. I found these adorable invitations by AndersRuff on Etsy and had to have them! Check out their site as these 2 ladies have some cute stuff!!

Love these boarding pass invitations!

Then, I got slightly obsessed with the party favors. I saw the idea of suitcases for party favors from Everyday Celebrating and couldn't let it go. So, I embarked on making the suitcases myself. After 2 days of work, I got them done. I searched forever for the perfect travel stickers that didn't cost too much and lucked out to find them in the $.25 bin at Michael's. Inside the suitcases were: a bag of cookies shaped like a shirt, hat, and boot; bag of Chinese candy, and a bag of peanuts with a label reading "Thanks for flying Parken Airways!" Here's how they turned out...

The suitcases

Items inside the suitcases

Official Baggage Claim for the party

The sign on our front door for the party

After the party favors were figured out, time for the menu. We went with an international food theme including the airport codes on each food label. The menu consisted of:

Italy - meatballs
China - egg rolls
Greek - greek pasta salad
Normandy - rummagrout (norweigian rice pudding....thanks Kristen!)
France - strawberries romanoff
Thailand - cucumber and peanut salad
Germany - bratwurst
Mexico - black bean and corn salsa with chips
Lebanon - hummus with pita and veggies
Jamaica - pineapple chicken skewers
USA/DFW - hamburger sliders
And of course......an airplane birthday cake

The food spread

The cake! I can't believed I actually got the cake to work!

Everett's personal birthday cake

Tasting cake/frosting for the first time

Getting good and messy

Birthday fun!

Everett got this awesome red chair from Uncle Johnny, Auntie Heather and Savannah. He loves climbing on it and sitting in it! He also got that cute little pig flashlight from Matt and Mandy and wouldn't let it go all day. He was pretty happy with his chair and flashlight for the afternoon!

With today being Everett's birthday, we took him out for brunch after church. Everett wore his cute birthday outfit picked out by his Mama and Grandpa and he looks so handsome! He enjoyed spending time with some of his friends at the church nursery and loved talking to our waitress at the restaurant. We completed the outing with a trip to the Farmer's Market and to the Chinese store to pick up food for dinner.