Halloween Party at Day Care

My Little Scarecrow

Double Cuteness

It's Elmo

Mason's Girlfriend

Taking a Break

More about Halloween and "Trick or Treating" in the next post.

Until next time......

Kim

Pumpkin Carving and Scarecrows

Today was such a gorgeous day. We spent most of the afternoon outside decorating for Halloween. We used a bail of hay to create a scarecrow display at the side of the house. The scarecrows are so cute. Mason loved playing with them. You could tell he was trying to figure out what exactly they were. After finishing with the scarecrows, Dawn strung orange and black lights all across the front of our porch and put caution tape around the banister to complete the decorations. It was so much fun and now our house looks great.


After decorating the house, it was time to carve pumpkins. Dawn absolutely loves to carve pumpkins. Me, on the otherhand, not so much. The insides of the pumpkin feels so gross and I hate the way it smells. Mason was very interested in what we were doing so joined in the fun. After showing him what to do, he stuck his little hand in the pumpkin and pulled out some "slime". He decided he didn't want his hand in there anymore so used one of his bubble blower wands to dig his out. After about 10 minutes, he was done and moved on to something else. Dawn finished cleaning them out and put them aside until after dinner. She puts a lot of work into her designs so she had to spend over an hour searching on the internet for a new design for this year. She decided to do a scarecrow pumpkin to put with our scarecrow display. She is also doing a wolf. Mason hasn't seen the finished products yet so it will be interesting to see his reaction when we put the candles in them.


We are all dressing up like scarecrows for Halloween. We have had Mason's costume for several weeks and I cannot wait to see him in it. It is the cutest thing ever. Dawn wants all of us to dress up like scarecrows so she went to Goodwill and put our costumes together. She stayed up until 3:00am this morning sewing patches on the shirts and pants to give them more of a real scarecrow look. Should be interesting. I'll post pictures soon.

Until next time......

Kim

Life is Good

I have been thinking about all of the great things I have in my life at this time. Here are a few of the things that I am greatful for:

1. My relationship with my partner, Dawn.
2. My amazing son, Mason.
3. The closeness that I have with all of my siblings.
4. Both of my parents are healthy and still in our lives.
5. My 90 year old grandmother is healthy and still with us!
6. I have 11 incredible nieces and nephews.
7. I have a great relationship with my in-laws!
8. My job with the YMCA. January will be my 15th anniversary at our Y.
9. Great neighbors that allow us to play on their swingset and in their sandbox.
10. No debt other than the mortgage payment which I consider good debt.
11. My health is great other than I still have 10 pounds to lose to get to my goal.
12. A wonderful staff that makes me look great day after day.
13. My son is healthy, growing and thriving and getting cuter every day.
14. Friends that are loyal and understand life changes when you have a baby!

I am sure there are so many more things that I should list here but those are my top 14 at this time. I am truly blessed with an awesome life and thank God for it every day!

Until next time......

Kim

Mason's 1st Trip to the State Fair

Today we took Mason to the North Carolina State Fair. It was his first time at an event like this. He is just fascinated with watching people so he was quite content riding around in his stroller all afternoon. The weather was perfect for being outdoors so we enjoyed walking around. The fair was crowded so we did not get to walk through all of the exhibits since we had a stroller to maneuver. Our favorite thing to do at the fair is eat anyway so we were fine just going to our favorite food stands.

While there is tons of stuff to eat, we usually get the same things every year. This year we tried the featured item which was the Krispy Kreme Doughnut hamburger. I must say I was quite disappointed. The doughnuts were cold (like right out of the refrigerator)and so was the burger. Very.Disapointing. Mason enjoyed eating some of the doughnut so it wasn't a complete waste! After trying the KK hamburger, we moved on to the Wisconsin Fried Cheddar nuggets. They were very yummy as always. Mason liked the cheese as well.

Now on to another favorite of ours...the roasted sweet corn on the cob. Dawn likes hers with butter and salt. I am a little more adventureous, I like mine with butter, salt and lemon pepper. That.is.some.good.eatin! As you can see from the picture below Mason was also a fan of the corn!
Moving along now...we walked around a little more and decided that it was probably time to started going towards the gate where we parked. But before leaving, we had to eat our most favorite item of the entire fair...deep fried candy bars. My favorite is the snickers and Dawn likes the 3 Muskateer. Mason was able to try some of Dawn's but not mine since he cannot have peanut products yet! Of course, he loved the candy bar too. I didn't get a picture of him with chocolate around his mouth. My hands were too sticky to touch my phone!
After walking around, people watching and stuffing our faces for three hours, it was time to leave the fair. Mason was still smiling and being a great little boy. You may be saying after all the junk his mommies let him eat today, he has a reason to still be smiling!!

Until next time......

Kim

I HATE COLDS

Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. All three of us are sick. Mason woke up on Monday morning with watery eyes, a runny nose and a slight cough. We thought it was his allergies acting up after being at the pumpkin patch so we started him on his Zyrtec. It seemed to help so we thought that was it. Well, two days later both Dawn and myself got the crud as well. So now we are all stuffy, snotty, coughing miserable people. I feel bad for Mason. If his little head, ears and throat feels like mine, I know he is hurting. I wish there was more that they would do for him but since he is still under 2, they say it is best for the cold to work its course. We shall see. I have been taking Ibuprofen Cold and Sinus for 2 days now and while it works a little, I still feel like my head weighs a ton.

Usually one of us manages to steer clear of the gunk but this time we weren't so lucky. Hopefully we will all feel better soon. I am afraid this is just the beginning to a fall and winter full of the crud!

Until next time......

Kim

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch at Patterson's Farm yesterday with my sister and her family. There was a lot to do there. They had animals, horseback riding, pumpkin patch, a corn pit, a tractor ride and lots of different types of tractors to see. Can you say a little boy's heaven! Mason enjoyed looking at all of the animals. We watched Joshua feed the goats, rabbits and horses. After feeding the animals, we went to the little tractor play area. My nephew, Joshua loves tractors and he just couldn't understand why he was too big to still ride on them. He tried really hard but wasn't able to get very far on the combine! After hanging out in the toy tractor area, we went on a wagon ride to the pumpkin patch. Mason loved riding in the wagon. He stood on my lap looking all around at everything we passed. He pointed at the nice John Deere tractor that was pulling the wagon and said "tracta" at least 20 times while we were on the ride. His poppa would be so proud! Once we got to the pumpkin patch, Mason walked around picking up lots of pumpkins by their stems. He kept going back to the same one so I decided that must be the one he wanted so we got it. Below is him with his first pumpkin! Once we got back to the play area of the farm, we took the boys to the corn pit to play. At first Mason wasn't sure what to do but within a few minutes he figured it and had fun playing in the corn. Below is a short video to show you his fun time!


We had a great day. It would have an even better day if MiMi would have been there with us but she had to go to school. Maybe next year! Thanks Stacey, Eric, Joshua and Jonathan for letting us come along. We love all of you very much! Well, I have to run. Some little guy is waking up from his nap and it is time for us to go over to some friends house for a little corn hole!

Until next time...... Kim

Mason at 14 months!

The past 14 months have been the most amazing months of my life. Each month has brought new milestones and new discoveries for both me and Mason. From seeing him smile for the first time to hearing him say new words every day, it has all been incredible. Mason is doing a ton of cool stuff now. He is saying new words almost every other day. His newest words are nite nite, flowa (flower), bubbas (bubbles), tracta (tractor), Josha (Joshua), belly, rubba (rub), off and hot. His two most favorite words are truck and tracta. He says them both about every other minute.

Mason loves taking a bath. He has a great time splashing in the water, rubbing soap on his belly, pouring water in and out of containers, and "reading" his Curious George tub book. He knows when you tell him to lay back in the water so you can wash his hair and knows that the water coming out of the faucet is "HOT".

With the cooler temperatures we have been having lately, he has had to wear long sleeves. The first time I put a long sleeve shirt on him, he started pulling at the sleeves and looking at me like "what's this stuff"? He is so observant of the slightest details on his clothes as well. He likes his shirts with trucks and tractors on them.

Mason is a very good eater as well. He likes a wide variety of foods and will most often eat anything we give him. Of course he has his favorites like mashed potatoes, broccoli bites, fricken sticks (soy chicken). He just started eating meats but all along would eat the fake meat stuff. Guess he had to get used to using his 6 teeth before he was ready for real meat.

Being outside has been one of Mason's favorite things to do lately. He really enjoys watching the birds, swinging on the neighbor's swingset, playing in their sandbox, climbing up and down the ramp to our building and putting rocks in the holes in the rims of Dawn's truck tires! It makes me happy that he loves being outside. I hope that will always be the case with him.

> One of the only things that I am not fond of that Mason is currently doing is throwing temper tantrums. Yes, those have started already. I had always assumed that the temper tantrums didn't start until closer to 2 years old. Mason's started at 12 months!! If he doesn't get his way, he will sit down on the floor, fall backwards, flail his arms and legs around and scream at the top of his lungs. Sometimes he pushs himself across the floor until he bumps his head in to something then will scream louder. The advice that everyone has given us is to just ignore him. That hasn't worked too well for us but we are still trying it. I am not looking forward to the public temper tantrums that is for sure.

Well I could go on forever and ever about how awesome Mason is at 14 months but I will stop for now. I am certain that he will continue to be an incredible little guy and there will be many opportunities for me to blog about him.

Until next time......

Kim

Missing Maggie

It is hard to believe that my darling doggie Maggie has been gone for two years. Thinking back to October 8, 2008 brings me to tears. Having to take her to the vet that day knowing that it was the last day that I would ever physically hold her broke my heart. We had been to the vet every day for 4 straight weeks for her to get fluids since she was in renal failure but this day was different. They tried everything to make her better but nothing seemed to be working. Her body was tired and she was just too weak to keep fighting. On that day, she "told" us she was ready to go. While it was the most difficult decision that I had made in a long time, I knew it was the right decision. I loved her too much to continue to watch her suffer. If there was any comfort in any of it, it was that I knew she had lived an incredible life and we were truly blessed to have her for nearly 18 years!

A couple weeks after Maggie had passed away, a good friend of mine gave me a quote that I still have posted in my office today. That quote is "When God takes something from your grasp, He is not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better". At the time, I couldn't think of anything better than my Maggie. What I didn't know at the time but truly believe it now, is God was truly opening our hands to receive something better. Almost one month from the date of her death, we found out that I was pregnant! WOW. It was at that moment that the quote made sense! Now don't get me wrong, I would have loved for Maggie to be a part of Mason's life and him hers but God had different plans for us!

One day, we will get another dog and one day that dog will be special to us, but we will always have a special place in our hearts for Maggie. She was the best dog in the world. I miss you Maggie and will see you again one day at the rainbow bridge.

THE RAINBOW BRIDGE POEM

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...