NOVEMBER

I nearly forgot, but in early November, we were still having warm weather, so I dragged this family of mine out for a hike around Raccoon River.  Now, the bad part of the story is that we cot a little bit of a later start than I had hoped, so there did come a part of our trek when both Byron and I thought shoot - what if the sun sets on us out here?  So there was quite a bit of hustling out on the trail, but ultimately we made it around and had such a great time!  I'll definitely be dragging my family out there more often as soon as spring comes around.

Mason's preschool class had an adorable Thanksgiving program and feast that we were invited to.  In contradiction to last year's preschool finale, Mason did great!  He seemed to be a little embarrassed when he knew we were watching him, but his little lips were moving through every song they were supposed to sing.  The thing I can't forget is that this child, who we regularly struggle with at meal times, wolfed down his Thanksgiving feast all on his own.  In one swift move he had shoved his entire slice of turkey in his mouth with one bite!  It is so fun to see him in his class with his little friends.  He's different with them than his is at home, proof that he's growing up yet will always be my baby.

This Thanksgiving we had a bit of a first for us - we hosted Byron's family for Thanksgiving dinner. With such a big family, we chose a to have it a couple of Saturdays before the actual date.  Byron's mom has always hosted.  I imagine it's hard for most people to be able to fit 25-30 guests inside the average home.  But with our basement now finished (enough), and our wide open living space, we made it work.

Of course, it's not a holiday around here without something memorable happening.  About 30 minutes before our family is supposed to start showing up, we discover that our sink is leaking.  It was a huge mess.  We've been dealing with it on and off before, and thought we had fixed the issue, but I guess not.  I'm no plumber, so I don't know what the actual problem was, but it led to us only having half a sink.  Thank goodness we were eating on paper plates with plastic utensils or we would have been in trouble.

Additionally, Mason wasn't feeling super well.  And leading up to it, he hadn't been sleeping well or napping much, either.

Although he was so SO excited to see and play with his big cousins, he conked out on the couch right when we all started eating.  Bless his heart, he did still get some playtime with the big kids, but most importantly he got the rest he needed.

When I started to write this post, I really didn't think we had all that notable of a November, but now that I've recounted so much, it turns out, we did quite a bit!  And I can see how we've been quite blessed.  We have so much to be thankful for!

OCTOBER

October's highlight was most definitely Halloween.  For us, Halloween celebrations include the pumpkin party at Aunt Bebe's church and trick or treat night, nothing too overboard.  And it was so much fun.

I am the type of person who has giant pinterest-style ambitions for adorable costumes.  My track record with follow through is relatively low, but still.  The decision though is ultimately up to Mason. And when we asked him what he wanted to be, he mentioned a couple of super heroes (Thor and the Hulk) but ultimately decided on the dinosaur costume that still fit from the year before.  Maybe this is a story that only a mama will appreciate, but to me it just shows me how his little brain and personality work.  It was almost as if he thought Duh, Mom.  We have a dinosaur costume right here, what else would I wear? I'm hoping that this means he is a lower drama kid than his mama was growing up.  Fingers Crossed.

FRIENDS AND FROSTING

A few years ago, Byron brought home a gingerbread house kit.  I think it was a gingerbread train, actually.  And as we attempted to assemble and decorate it, and it fell over countless times and nearly led us to divorce (okay, I'm strongly exaggerating...but still), I vowed never again.  There had to be an easier way.

And, I am here to tell you, there is.

What if, my friends, you simply take an ice cream cone turned upside down, and smear it with frosting and candy?  Voila.  A Christmas tree.  It tastes yummy.  It is festive.  And nobody gets divorced!

We invited over some friends who had toddler and pre-school aged kids to give it a go with us.  It was definitely a hit!

Though notice we did keep baby wipes on hand.  I wouldn't describe this as a clean project.

The best part was watching the kids chow down afterwards.  They were pretty stoked.  And the little dude definitely enjoyed that part!  Watching him was classic.

So go buy some cones, grab everything sugary in your house, and you've got what you need for a new holiday tradition.  This was even a tradition that Daddy supports.  Any activity where he gets a free pass to indulge in endless amounts of sugar is good in his book.

And as I usually do, I've got to end my post with one more picture, just for mama.  This face!  Although I am finally breaking down and getting my handsome boy the haircut he so desperately needs.

HAPPY EASTER

I am a bit behind the times in wishing people a happy Easter, but I actually have a good reason.  A little something called vacation happened to us.  And let me tell you, it was AH-mazing.  Pictures will be coming soon.  But for now, I want to share a couple of photos from our Easter. First, my little dapper Dan.  Isn't he a cutie?  The bowtie might be a bit much, but he just looked so darn handsome in it (and a little mischievous).

My dad is a minister and planning to retire in October, so it was really important to us to attend his last Easter service, and he did such a great job.  And the weather was great, too, which meant we could get a few pictures outside.  We are notoriously bad at capturing holiday pictures of our family, but we managed to get a couple this time!  Of course, attempting to capture a toddler on camera is another battle in itself.

I hope you and your families had a very happy Easter.  He is risen!

TWAS A GREAT CHRISTMAS

It is now the new year, and I am overdue on my Christmas recap.  Quite honestly, I'm overdue on a lot of recaps, or just posts in general, but this one will have to do.  Christmas this year was both fun and trying at times with a toddler who is into everything.  I don't have many pictures, but you may notice in them that my tree was only decorated where little hands can't reach.  Although there were several tears shed about not being able to touch the pretty ornaments at free will, I still wouldn't change his curiosity for anything.

The little munchkin received the cutest Christmas jams you ever did see. You can barely see it in the picture, but under his elbow is a santa. Mason knows what Santa says, too, and can usually identify him. Listening to him say "ho...ho...ho" with the big pause in between each syllable is super cute (O is his favorite letter, which is may be why this was easy to teach him).
Christmas morning, we opened our presents in the dark.  Mason's big Christmas gift was his train set, which we knew would be a hit since he loves the set at his sitter's.  We set it up after he went to bed the night before, so that it would be right there for him in the morning.  Groggy Mason lasted for about a minute, and when his mind registered what was in front of him, he went right to work.

I have to share this next picture, too, because there is a funny story to go with it (at least to me).  Our laptop battery is dying, and a while before Christmas, Byron had said just to make the new battery his gift. Right.  I had already been stashing away extra money for an entire year because I knew I was going to get him an iPad.  But I didn't let on. However, the first time they tried to deliver it, I wasn't there and hadn't left the proper forms to receive it, so a note was left at our door that they had tried to deliver packages...from Apple.  And of course Byron read it.  So I still didn't let on.  And even when Mason had taken the wrapped present and essentially launched it off his high chair and Byron freaked out because it could be breakable, I still didn't let on.  Freaked out on the inside but maintained an "ain't no thang" composure on the outside. So when Christmas morning arrived, Byron totally thought he was getting a battery for a gift. When he opened this up, he said in a tone like he already knew what it was, "Oh yay, it's a - what?  Is this what it really is?"  Yes.  I totally surprised him.

And those were my highlights.  Yes, we had more family around, more presents to open, and more good times to celebrate, but those two people (and of course Minnie) are my world.  I really enjoy just being with them, and this past week and a half without work has been such a special time.
The last snapshot of our Christmas is the view of the tree that ended all of my recent nights.  I am no photographer, and I can't achieve the beautiful bokeh you will see other places, but this is still special to me.

I hope that everyone had a merry Christmas and is looking forward with hope to the new year.  I hope to share some of my own thoughts and resolutions for the new year soon!

A THANKSGIVING TO REMEMBER

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  This year, we spent most of our Thanksgiving holiday in an unexpected place - the ER.  Yes, a few days prior to Thanksgiving, Mason had developed a little cold, and it progressed worse to the point that he was having severely labored breathing, vomiting, and our nebulizer at home couldn't provide him enough relief.  I spoke to the on call doctor around 11, and she said if things didn't pick up after one more breathing treatment to go ahead and bring him in.  To the ER.  Ugh.  We gave him the treatment and it just didn't last, so in to the hospital we went.  The ironic thing is that Byron had decided that we should eat at noon this year, when we are normally 2-3 pm type of people, so at least we got a good meal in before the real adventure started.
Fortunately, my dad, Mason's BFF, went with us.  They checked us in fairly quickly and the doctor was able to treat Mason with steroids and stronger breathing treatments.  He perked up pretty well, but they still kept us around for almost six hours before finally letting us go home.

Look how cute he was!  Thankfully the ER had a Thomas video and some toys for us to play with.  Keeping this normally very active toddler corralled in a hospital bed was pretty challenging, especially when connected to a toe monitor.  Grandpa was a huge help to us and we are very thankful he gave up some of his relaxation time to be with us. Fortunately, they let us go home that evening.  We did have to do round the clock breathing treatments, so those middle of the night alarms and the fact that Mason stayed up from 3:30 am were a bit of a challenge, but I am very grateful that we weren't in the ER for anything worse!

Seeing Santa

We took Mason to see Santa Claus.  Mason was pretty indifferent to the whole situation.  I was secretly hoping that Mason would try to pull on Santa's beard, but that didn't happen.  Here are some pictures as well as what's going on in that little head of his, as made up by me.

 My socks are way more interesting.

 Oh what's over there?

 Okay, I guess I could act interested.

This is what my mom and dad were making such a big deal of?  I'm over it.

Well if I don't get a chance to get back on the blog on Christmas day, we want to wish everyone who drops by a Merry Christmas!

Good Bye, Charlie Brown

First let me start by saying, sorry all those of you who get a real Christmas tree every year, I am in the fake tree camp. Second, as I mentioned here, our Christmas tree is from 1988.  Let's just say, it was pretty sparse.  It's seen better days.
But that all stops now.  WE GOT A NEW TREE!  I was just telling my husband that I think this is one of the few purchases that we are both thrilled with.  Often in our decision making, one of us ends up a little happier than the other, but with this purchase, we both love our decision.  The tree is lush, lightly flocked, and complete with a few fake pine cones for whimsy.  Here are a few pictures of it coming together.

It's prelit.  Love that fact.  Some of the lights are clear, some are frosted, and some...wait for it...twinkle!  I'm over the moon.  Who knew it would take something so simple?  Anyway.  Another thing I may not have shared on the old blog is that I love Christmas ornaments.  Or Christmas balls, to be more specific.  I have a zillion.  In many colors.  Although I am missing green, orange, and yellow (if they can be found), but I will get them too, in due time.  Each year, I devise a new color scheme, and this year I have chosen turquoise and tomato.  Okay, red, but I like the sound of tomato better. I did sprinkle in a few other favorite ornaments, but here is the finished product.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there, but especially to my mother.  She's a little bit crazy and a lot of fun.

As I think about this holiday, I can only imagine what my life will be like one year from now.  I'm sure that many of you will agree, motherhood seems to be one of the most challenging things, but also the most rewarding.  Thanks to my mom for teaching me what a good mom is and I can only hope to become the same thing to my children.
And a special thanks to this one, who made me a puppy mama!

3 Years

Today is our anniversary - we have been married for three years.  Somehow the time has flown by and yet it seems like we've been together forever!
Our plans are low key tonight, but still special nonetheless.  Just the way I like it!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This year's valentines celebration was pretty low key for us, mostly because I've still been fighting this killer cold.  It makes me not so eager to make a big deal out of the holiday.  Basically when I'm sick I get really selfish.  I had originally planned to make a *romantic* dinner complete with pink and white heart shaped pasta, but when my mom mentioned she was making potato soup, I saw an opportunity to get out of cooking and invited us over.  We can have the heart pasta tomorrow, I guess.
We were not total haters, though.  My valentine did wake me up with a sweet surprise of something that I had wanted for a while...this print from Persimmon and Pink.

The funny thing is, I almost bought that for him.  Wouldn't that have been something?  But since I've got budget on the brain, I had to get creative for his present.  But back to this.  I already had the perfect frame for it - a wedding present that we had never used - and the perfect spot.  I wanted to hang it in our bathroom so that it would be the first thing we saw as we walked in.  And this is what it looks like in place.

I love it.  It makes the [bland] space much cheerier.
When I thought of what to get Byron, I got creative.  I downloaded two of these prints, which were a freebie.  I uploaded them to my account at Walgreens and had them printed and mailed to me for under $5.  I could have done it for even cheaper, but I decided to enlarge them a bit and I also ordered them with a matte finish.  But really, I was pleased with how they turned out.
After a week of birthday and valentines presents, we now have 4 new prints for the house, 1 of which is actually framed and hung the same day we got it!  Not bad!
I hope you all have a fantastic Valentine's Day, whether it was low key like ours was or something super special.

Merry Christmas