ONE

I can't believe how quickly our little prince went from this

to this

Today we celebrate Mason turning one.  Mason is a man on the go, but still loves being in Mama and Daddy's arms.  He can say hi and wave, and he shakes his head no when he is doing something naughty.  He has the best giggle that I've ever heard.  He is so different than anything I would have asked for, and so much better than I ever could have hoped.  Happy birthday to our little man!

HAPPY 4TH

I just wanted to take a minute to wish everybody a happy 4th of July.  This is actually the first holiday in just about a year that we managed to get a family picture snapped.  Yay us!

It's the best one we got.  We had one hot toddler, one sweaty daddy, and apparently my shirt is lower cut than I realized.  Did I mention that it was 100 degrees out?  Please forgive us.
But let's just take a look at this adorable little guy, shall we?

He was a trooper through his first parade, but all in all, we only lasted about 30 minutes. That may have been mama and dad's fault, though.  The rest of the day was spent eating, napping, and playing, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  I hope you enjoyed your day as well!

SUMMER VACATION

When Byron and I were first dating, we discovered an unusual thing.  That is, that my family and his best friend hail from the same corner of the world.  More recently, we discovered that our nephew's fiance just so happens to be from the same place as well.  So when Logan and Brigitte got engaged, we decided to use their wedding as a chance to plan a family vacation, one I like to call the Stover Family Tour de Michigan.  We would be able to introduce Mason to family and friends, as well as do some fun stuff with the boy.  So that's what we did!  We just returned from about 9 days away.
The first part of the trip was spent in Western Michigan.  We attended Logan and Brigitte's wedding, which was right on the beach.  Of course, being new parents who are obsessed with our own, we took more pictures of Mason than of anything else. This is him in his handsome chambray wedding shirt.

We crammed in as much as we could during the few days we were in western Michigan. We took a trip to the Frederik Meijer Gardens.  A few days before our trip, I noticed Mason was starting to reach for the faucet any time I had the water on.  This little excursion confirmed my suspicion that this kid truly loves water.  It was the highlight of his trip!

Later that weekend, some of my relatives from Detroit (who we would be seeing later in the week) met us in Grand Haven and we enjoyed more water!

Another thing we got to do was introduce Mason to my grandfather for the first time.  Here is a nice little family photo.  This is my mom's dad (oh, did I mention my parents were there, too?)

The last thing we did in western Michigan was to go to the zoo with our friends.  And...I didn't bring my camera.  To summarize our zoo experience, a bird pooped on my head, I rode a camel, Byron petted a sting ray, and Mason didn't really notice the animals much, though he loved the waterfall (go figure).

The second half of the vacation was spent visiting our other relatives, who as I mentioned, live outside of Detroit.  During this part of the trip, we crammed in as very little as possible...my kind of vacation.  We tried to sleep in, though that is nearly impossible with an 11 month old who doesn't quite understand the concept of "summer vacation".  The major perk we got to enjoy was that my aunt and uncle have a pool.  It was so great! Guess who else thought so.  Yep, Mason.

The rest of the time was full of swimming, jumping on the trampoline, scootering, eating ice cream, shopping, and frothing coffee (I may have been addicted to that last one - I'm so getting a frother!).  We even got to see a neighborhood house fire, which I admit is very tragic and unfortunate but I have never seen anything like that in person before.  Mason did, however, want to end vacation with a bang, so the Friday before we returned home he sprouted a 102.8 degree fever, which later led to the diagnosis of two ear infections.  Of course they were his first, and we were miles from home, but we managed to find a great walk in clinic and pharmacy close by.  Phew!

Now that we are back at home (and ironically rested up) we can't wait to plan a vacation for next year.

And next time, I'll hopefully get more pictures!  Although if I had to take too many photos of any one subject, I guess I'm glad it was Mason!

GROWING

If you remember back last year, we put in some landscaping in our front yard, and I got started adding some beauty (in plant form).  This year, I am building on that foundation.  My first success this year were my tulips in early spring.  They were really beautiful, blooming in orangey-pink and white.  However...I have no picture to prove it.
Otherwise, we have pretty much filled up the rest of our garden.  I got two lobelia plants at the farmers market.  In reality, they are more of a bright blue color (they were called techno and they really do look a little neon).  Even though they are just annuals, they are probably my favorite flower right now.

My mother has taken a new hobby of buying me plants, and I don't mind!  She bought me two daisy plants and some other purple thing for my first Mothers Day, and then a few others in the days following.  This one below has really pretty gold flowers, but forgive me for not knowing what it is (even though the tag is right there I'm just too lazy to go check). But I still like it!

For perspective, I did manage to take a few wider angle shots.  Here are both the left side and the right side of the garden bed.  People and sprinklers kept me from getting the full picture, but I'm betting you can put two and two together.

And just for good measure, here's a shot of Mommy's little helper.  His most helpful skill is testing out all of the dirt to make sure it is still dirty.  Usually he will find that it is.

ANIMAL SANCTUARY

Little by little, I have been adding little touches to Mason's nursery.  First of all, it wasn't finished when he arrived.  Second of all, I enjoy the process of living with things and tweaking them as I go.  And third, I am way too cheap to fork over the cash to do an entire room at once.  I admire those of you who can (and do!) and in some ways am jealous of all your beautiful spaces, but let's face it.  That's just not me.  But anyway, I wanted to share a couple of changes that have happened in the past 9 months.
First, I added a new picture to the gallery wall.  Can I call it that with only three frames up there?  Well, someday it might grow to that stature.  I had always intended to add the umbrella print in Mason's room, but it just took me a little bit to finally get it printed and on the wall.  I bought the frame around Christmas time, so one day a few weeks ago I thought what is stopping me from filling that frame?  So anyway, the art cluster now looks like this.

We also repositioned the crib to be centered on this wall.  Right now, it is working.  And the rest of the room is messy, which is why the shot is so close.
Another change is that I have a small collection of animals forming in the nursery.  Here is a little addition that came courtesy of some birthday gifts.  Yes, I requested birthday gifts with the purpose of putting them in my son's room.  The print came from my dear husband (I had been begging for it FOREVER) and the hooks came from my parents.

This is on the wall you face as you walk into the room.  There is basically a little cove, so it was hard to photograph.  I am in love with this!  Every time Mason and I walk in or out I make him wave hi or bye to the raccoon.  And I love that I now have a place to store the diaper bag in his room.  Extra storage is always welcomed in this house.
Speaking of raccoons, another little guy came to live with us in the form of a toy bin.

Although he isn't full yet, this guy is a great toy wrangler for Mason's room.  And I just know that as the toy collection grows (hello first birthday coming up in twelve weeks but who's counting...) we will appreciate him even more.
The last little change to the nursery was a gift from Mason's Grammy and Grandpa for his dedication.  Things like this mean a lot to me, and I'm so thankful that his grandparents share the same wishes for him that Byron and I do.

I hung this right over the light switch.  From a little farther away, it looks like this.

So those are just a few of the little changes that happened in Mason's nursery. One of these days I'll have to clean it up and take a few wider shots!  In the mean time, sit back and enjoy the details.

DATE NIGHT

Since Mason was born 9 months ago, Byron and I had only been on one date.  It's pretty sad, I know.  So I planned a secret date for him.  I bought tickets to a show and arranged for a babysitter weeks in advance, and then just anxiously awaited for the big day to arrive.  It wasn't until the babysitters (our niece & nephew) that I arrived that I told him our plans.  He really thought I was messing with him.  I just like to think I was the wife of the year.
So off we went to a downtown restaurant called Americana.  I had only been once and Byron had never been, and he really liked it.  The only thing that didn't go 100% according to plan was that we ran out of time for dessert!  Oh well.
When dinner was over we zipped to the other side of downtown to catch a show called Memphis.  Oh man, it was so good!  At the end of the first act, I had tears streaming down my face, which is a good sign that I'm into the show.  And then at the end of the second act, I was doing what I like to call listening with my body.  I was pretty much dancing along with the cast from my seat.  I can't help it.  Although we both stayed up way past our bedtimes, it was totally worth it.  I hope that we have another one sometime in the next 4.5 months!

AND...SHE'S BACK

So, hey.  I took a little break from blogging.  I didn't mean for the break to be quite this long.  I didn't even really intend to take a break, but it just happened.  And the main reason is, motherhood is hard.  I found that my time was the most precious thing I had, and I wanted to use it spending time with my family, rather than uploading photos and sitting in front of a computer.  I wanted to live our life, not just write about it.
But eventually, life wasn't so stressful.  Although Mason has only slept through the night once in the past six months, I'm slowly finding balance.  So here I am.

The little rascal that has been distracting me these past few months.

And believe it or not, every once in awhile I find the time to do little projects.  And make little changes to my home.  And go on adventures with my family.  And I do plan to share them here.  I just can't promise how often.  But without further ado, a little project that I whipped up for a special little lady who made her debut earlier this year.

These may look familiar.  When time is scarce, taking on a name is much more achievable than the entire alphabet.  Lesson learned.  It was so much fun to choose the girly color palette.  I love this as a gift, but I really should think about making these for my own child. Anyway, that's just one of the projects that I accomplished on my hiatus!