Happy New Year!

How would I describe 2008? "Okay." it was one of those years, not the worst, but definitely not the best. Hoping that 2009 will be one of those great years!

Highlights-
lots of family travels- all to California to Dad's beach house
Getting to watch Mason & Rilee grow and develop amazing personalities
I found a new talent/art that God has blessed me with
Becoming closer and having a tighter relationship with my sister
Growing a healthy Baby
found an amazing group of friends and a support system in our bible study

Lows of 2008-
the state of the economy is no fun for anyone who is self employed.
Mason's diagnosis of his Food Allergies (which is also a blessing in disguise since his immune system has made a HUGE turn around)
Lost my last surviving Grandparent
another year without my Mom

Forget New Years Resolutions- those are meant to be broken anyway. I always set goals for myself for the next year- here's mine for 2009:
*Be a better Person- better Wife, better Mom, better sister, better daughter, better aunt, better friend, better christian...
*healthier living- I eat my fruits and veggies (okay maybe too many fruits). After Maddox is born, I'm officially DONE procreating, so its time I get my body back. Wait, I've never quite really had one (okay I did in high school) so I guess it's time i FIND mine!!!

Here's our recap of NYE (this is more for me because I forgot what we did last year...i think the same thing this year!)
Mom, dad, Mason & Brisket goes to Granma's.
Eat dinner with the Family and hear about the 250 lb boar Uncle Bill killed Monday (Mason ate mostly sour cream and cheese for dinner)
Watch Mason chase the cat and run in circles. Lots of Hugs from Mason.
Put Mason in jammies just in case he passes out at Gmas.
came home and Mason stayed up til 9 pm (thats a huge change for our creature of habit!)
Watched Eagle Eye with Gavin. Talked to sara on the phone and plotted schemes. The End.

My goal for the night is to be IN bed before midnight so that I can sleep til next year ;-D and I've only got 20 minutes to do so! STAY SAFE AND GOOD NIGHT!

A Gavin funny....

Gavin cracked me up....(he makes very few jokes, so this was funny to me!) I think he must still be tired, I asked him what time it was...
his response: "10 til 30 after 11."
(pause. pause. pause.)
Me: "can't you just say it's 11:20?? (how OLD is he??) haha

Nifty Fifty...

Sorry, another post about ME. after this we'll go back to the regularly scheduled blogging about MASON!

50 Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Me

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now? Mason's car seat, my Red wool coat, one of Mason's sweatshirts.

2. What's your favorite curse word? Crap.

3. Name 3 people who made you smile today? My client this morning, the gals at the pedicure party today (My mother in law, Aunt in law, Grandmother in law and Gavin's 2 cousins) Mason and Gavin of course!

4. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? dozing on the couch while Mason watched Handy Manny

5. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? wearing Mason out with the slide!

6. What will you be doing 3 hours from now? probably running errands to Target & Walmart

7. Have you ever been to a strip club? no

8. What is the last thing you said aloud? "Love you. Bye"

9. What is the best ice cream flavor? Vanilla

10. What was the last thing you had to drink? Unsweetened ice tea

11. What are you wearing right now? Jeans, white tank and black striped hooded 3/4 length tee shirt

12. What was the last thing you ate? String cheese. and I'm hungry again even after lunch.

13. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? New Jeans and a shirt for Mason. not for Momma though! ;0(

14. When was the last time you ran? probably the last time someone chased me! hahahaha....actually probably ran after Mason or Rilee not too long ago.

15. What's the last sporting event you watched? watched a whopping 3 minutes of the Cowboys get slaughtered on Sunday

16. Who is the last person you emailed? A client

17. Ever go camping? did as a kid. haven't been since 2000! when the boys are old enough we'll go for sure. they can rough it with daddy and uncle David while Mommy sleeps in an RV with Auntie JES!! that'll be my ideal camping trip :-D

18. Do you have a tan? I embrace my pastiness. which is naturally a lot darker than most friends i know.

19. Do you drink your soda from a straw? only if its from a fountain

20 What did your last IM say? does facebook-ing count? I was talking with Kris last night about the Lost premiere and Babies!

21. Are you someone's best friend? Yes!

22 has temporarily been misplaced?

23. Where is your mom right now? In Heaven.

24. Look to your left, what do you see? my beautiful christmas tree

25. What color is your watch? Silver with a silver face

26. What do you think of when you think of Australia? LOVE it. Been twice and can't wait to go back!

27. Would you consider plastic surgery? NOt sure. I might consider a reduction after I'm done having kids!

28. What is your birthstone? Amethyst. blah. i'm not a purple kinda girl.

29. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive-thru? Depends, but most often we drive thru.

30. How many kids do you want? 2. my nieces and nephews will make up for the kids i wont have :-D

31. Do you have a dog? Yes, a 7 yr old Black Lab/Border Collie- Shelby. She's a great dog!

32. Last person you talked to on the phone? Gavin

33. Have you met anyone famous? Yes, several actually!

34. Any plans today? Met with a client this morning, went to go have pedicures with the girls (Gavin's Mom, Grandma, Aunt & 2 cousins) after Mason's nap we gotta go to Walmart and then probably go hang out at Granma's house! Tonight Gavin & I are watching Eagle Eye and getting computer work done!

35. How many states have you lived in? 3- California, New Mexico and Texas (and 2 other countries!)

36. Ever go to college? Yep! and I graduated too! I'm a Mean Green!

37. Where are you right now?In my living room

38. Biggest annoyance in your life right now? Baby using my bladder as a bongo.

39. Last song listened to? I couldn't tell ya.

40. Are you allergic to anything? Mountain Cedar I guess. that's what it is right now, right?

41. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time? if its cold- my chocolate Ugg Boots!

42. Are you jealous of anyone? I try not to be

43. Is anyone jealous of you? who wouldn't be? haha, just kidding- i hope not!

44. What time is it? 1:56 pm

45. Do any of your friends have children? Yes most. Jes and Erin need to get crackin'!

46. Do you eat healthy? I try but often fail. hey at least I eat lots of fruits and veggies and drink tons of water!

47. What do you usually do during the day? work, client phone calls, return emails, computer work, certain days i do actual design work, try to clean after Mason, house chores and hang out w/Gavin and Mason. and pee alot.

48. Do you use the word 'hello' daily? Yes, quite often!

49. How did you get your scars? sports i played in high school (Girls Rugby, Crew and field hockey) and being young and stupid in high school :-D

50. How old will you be turning on your next birthday? 28!

My new favorite show!

okay, its not up there with LOST (23 days until the season premiere!!!) ...but its a pretty funny show. "Whatever Martha!" cracks me up- its a show with Martha Stewart's daughter and friend who criticize and make fun of her episodes. Don't get me wrong, i like Martha, but at the same time I don't. okay maybe its just her ideas i like! The girls are kind of annoying too, but finally a show is created where someone is saying only what I think or say out loud to those people who are only privileged enough to hear it! ha! The 2 girls don't seem that crafty, but they seem to screw up most things with food and such, so its pretty amusing to watch. I think it might be even more amusing after a glass of wine...or 2......but hey finally a show that criticizes........

..........oh wait............I forgot about Joel McHale on E....i forgot I love him WAY MORE!

so now this post just became pointless. oh well.

No Santa next year

Sorry Kids. No more Santa, he won't be back next year. I think he got stuck in our chimney and died. Because it sure does smell like it!
We have a chimney in our bedroom that we don't use. A few weeks back we heard some scratching in there. not sure if it was at the top of the chimney, or actually inside. I lasted for about a day and then it stopped, so we figured it got out. That's definitely not the case, because now it SMELLS. How do i know it died? Because this happened last year too! it drove me crazy, i couldn't handle being in our bedroom the smell was so bad! We were so busy and didn't get around to calling someone and so that just within a few days it went away. Well, last year I wasn't pregnant with a freakishly heightened sense of smell. If i had a guest room bed I would have slept in there last night. So now I've got to figure out if we need a chimney sweep to come out and clean the chimney or call pest control to remove it. AND have Gavin's roofer friend come out and tell us what we need to do to fix the cap on the chimney. ugh.

Merry Christmas!

Its been a hectic few days with the buildup to Christmas, exhausting and exciting all in one! This year I've learned that Christmas is the most exhausting holiday for parents! haha! Although we've really enjoyed the festivities that have gone on, I'll be sad for everything to quiet down! Just in the past couple of weeks we've taken Mason to downtown Grapevine where he got to ride the North Pole train ride with Dee dee and Papaw, they also had some fun other things going on too. THe next day Colleyville had a Celebrate Christmas deal too, so Mason had a blast with pony rides, petting zoo, saw Santa and more. Last week was his last week of school before the break so they had Santa come for a visit, made tons of gifts and crafts for Moms & Dads (which I oogle over of course because my child has inherited my creative skills!!!) along with a big party to finish things off. Saturday while I went to work Gavin and Mason headed down to Albertson's where they had a big deal going on with Santa coming in for a visit in a Helicopter (Mason apparently just was in AWE!) So we've been busy for sure!
We had an amazing Christmas today- we always head to my Dad's house first thing in the morning for gifts with my Dad, Josh, Amy, Chris & Rilee and us. Rilee just loves to rip into presents (doesnt quite matter who's it is! haha) while Mason wants to play with the toys right away!
Mason made out really well with all of his new things- a choo choo train, books, Thomas the train dvds, Barney dvds, Little Einstein dvds, gift card to TRU, new pair of shoes, a bubble lawn mower and a few other things. the BIG toy that just absolutely MADE HIS DAY/YEAR is Papa got him a Little Tikes slide- wow Uncle Josh couldn't put it together fast enough for Mason! He just ran around in circles screaming, "Slide! Slide!" He definitely wore himself out today with all the sliding he did! Between Mason's birthday a few weeks ago and Christmas we've learned Papa knows the perfect things that Mason just LOVES!
Mom and Dad made out some with pretty good loot too! Lots of gift cards to lowe's, starbucks, nordstrom, itunes...I was also excited that I got a new flat iron, an ice cream maker, a blue tooth earpiece and a few other things...funny thing- Gavin knows me too well (or maybe finally knows me!ha!) Gavin got me a new keyless entry for the Yukon! Mines been broken for at least 6 months and I never have time to go buy a new one- so Gavin got a great reaction when I opened that up! I'm so excited! haha!
We came home relaxed for a while, got the turkey and pies baked before a quick nap and then headed back to my Dad's house where the WHOLE family (Gavin's family and Amy's mother in law and sister in law come too) gorged ourselves on turkey, ham and all the fixins. Then the fun starts- we do 2 fun games with the whole family- 2 gift exchanges- 1 is a white elephant gift exchange-which thanks to my wonderful hubby I'm so excited about what he (I) ended up with- a Ped Egg (pedicure type thing...or as gavin calls it a cheese grater for your feet) you dont know how much I NEED IT! already used it and i LOOVE it. So for our 2nd game, I got a bonus for Gavin (one of the many benefits of being married maybe? lol) For our 2nd game we do a $5 gift card or $5 value of something someone would really want...gavin and I both ended up with a $5 Lowe's gift card- so add up all of our Lowe's gift cards- we're pretty set! :-D
More than anything, as much as we get excited over gifts we receive, I get just as much fun out of giving the great gifts that I get so creative with. :-D I love christmas just because its an entire day of spending time with family and enjoying each other! We've got round 2 coming up on Sunday with Gavin's family when his cousins come into town- so that should be a fun day too!
I hope everyone had a safe and MERRY Christmas! We've had a great holiday season and truely enjoyed our Christmas and appreciate the reason for the season.
Thinking about what we really celebrate at Christmas has gotten me thinking lately about Mary and Baby Jesus. I'm now somewhat close to 8 months pregnant...knowing that trip that Mary made with Joseph to Bethlehem and being a full 9 months pregnant- she didn't get to ride in a comfortable YUKON or a quick flight on an airplane....she rode on a donkey. I could NOT imagine being that pregnant and riding on a donkey...poor girl, i couldn't imagine the braxton hicks contractions that probably caused! Let alone popping out Baby Jesus in a stable WITH NO EPIDURAL. poor poor girl. I bet it was that long donkey ride that caused her to go into labor. All in all, I know that the King of Kings had to have had a humble beginning, and how humble that is! I'm wondering if that's why the Catholics honor Mary so much, not just because she's the virgin Mary, but also because of what she went thru? ha! Anyway, yes my strange sense of humor and being pregnant gets me to wonder about certain things. Maybe its just the sugar I'm hopped up on from the Christmas goodies!

Results not so good so far!

if you haven't seen any of these- you must! becuase they're some of my favorites- not in this particular order ;-)

So far:
1. Closer
2. Love Actually
3. PS I love you
4. notebook
5.DEFINITELY MAYBE
6. one flew over the coo coo's nest
7. The pianist
8. full metal jacket
9. Atonement
10. Becoming Jane

Thanks for playing! and enjoy a cookie:-)

Name that movie!

RULES:

pick 10 of your favorite movies
go to IMDB to get a quote from each movie
post the quotes and wait for your friends to respond

Whoever gets the most - WINS a cookie!

1. Anna: I don't kiss strange men.
Dan: Neither do I.

2. Hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don't buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free. (Hint: this is my ALL Time Favorite- if my dad read my blog- he'd get it in a heart beat! ;-)

3. I buy EVERYTHING on E-bay! It doesn't count when you're wearing Marc Jacobs from Minneapolis! (my 2nd all time favorite movie!)

4. I am nothing special; just a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who's ever lived: I've loved another with all my heart and soul; and to me, this has always been enough.

5. M:Thanks for telling me the story.
W: You're welcome. I didn't tell you the happy ending.
M: [getting tears] What is it?
W: You.

6. I'm a goddamn marvel of modern science.

7. W: I don't know how to thank you.
C: Thank God, not me. He wants us to survive. Well, that's what we have to believe.

8. G: How tall are you, private?
P: Sir, five-foot-nine, sir.
G: Five-foot-nine, I didn't know they stacked shit that high.

9. So, my sister and Robbie were never able to have the time together they both so longed for... and deserved. Which ever since I've... ever since I've always felt I prevented. But what sense of hope or satisfaction could a reader derive from an ending like that? So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I'd like to think this isn't weakness or... evasion... but a final act of kindness. I gave them their happiness.

10. M: That girl needs a husband. But who's good enough? Nobody. Thanks to you.
A: Being so much the model of perfection.
M: I've shared your bed for 32 years and perfection I have not encountered.
A: Yet.

Yeah for new discoveries!

Sometimes keeping Mason's excema under control isnt the easiest. He can easily get dried out, and once that happens, the itching starts, and it just goes downhill from there- even if we lotion him up twice daily. lotioning up is an understatement. we LUBE him up. we go thru TONS of lotion. We've tried them all just about, well the ones that are decently priced at least. Today I came across 'Extra Strength Gold Bond Medicated Body Lotion'- I know its been around forever, I just haven't ever tried it. it doesnt smell the greatest, HOWEVER i've put it on him twice today and the itching has stopped! I can feel a difference already in the dryness of his excema spots! horray! So if you have problematic dry, itchy skin- its one to try! :-) 

Whatcha doin?

Stole this from Kristin! Things I have done are in bold.

1. Started your own blog. Uh, yes, you're reading it.
2. Slept under the stars. it's been a while, but yes I have!
3. Played in a band. I played the flute from 6th grade thru college! 
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower. When I lived in Bangkok, we lived just outside the city so the stars were pretty amazing, one of the most amazing things I've ever seen is a meteor shower there!
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world. Both!
8. Climbed a mountain. Depends on how high of a mountain, but I'm saying yes. 
9. Held a praying mantis. not that i can think of. 
10. Sang a solo. I was in the children's church choir once! after my solo might have been when they let me go. haha
11. Bungee jumped. nope. i think i'd sky dive before bungee jumping!
12. Visited Paris - twice! love it, love the art and LOVE the food!
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. When we lived in Hong Kong, our high rise apartment faced the south china sea- we lived on the 27 & 28th floors with my room facing the ocean. being up so high at night you could see all the tropical storms/lighting storms out on the water. One of the coolest ways to fall asleep! I prefer that to playing solitaire (what i do now to fall asleep! haha) 
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. Floral Design and my artsy fartsy stuff. 
15. Adopted a child. 
16. Had food poisoning. oh yes. fried mushrooms from snuffers didnt go so well!
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. 
18. Grown your own vegetables. my mom grew beets when we lived in sacramento. does that count? 
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France. Yep! Twice!
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight. Yes, I won.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. My mom was so cool, sometimes in high school (when we moved to Bangkok middle of my junior year- every once in a while she wanted a Mommy & Me day, she'd call in for me, let me sleep in then surprise me with lunch and shopping.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping. hey you know you'd do it too if you had your own pool and privacy!
27. Run a Marathon. does Race for the Cure count?
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse. i think i was in elementary school, i remember it being during the summertime.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset. I remember back before i was a mommy & i couldnt remember the last time i saw a sunrise. now i see them daily i think! 
31. Hit a home run. I DID play softball once! 
32. Been on a cruise. 
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person. 
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. I've been to England, France and Oklahoma! LOL
35. Seen an Amish community. and it was the coolest thing ever! Don't make fun. Amish are awesome bakers!!! I secretly want to be an amish person. with microwaves, hair dryers, electricity and running showers. and shoes too. 
36. Taught yourself a new language. does learning spanish in high school count? 
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. I'm self employed and married to another self employed person. 
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing. haha. When Gavin, Sara, Kent & I went to CA this summer, Sara and I went for a long morning walk, what was supposed to be an hour walk turned into 2 1/2 hours of rock climbing along Corona Del Mar's cliffs. it was fun though! 
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David. Been there once!
41. Sung karaoke. I have lived in Asia before you know!
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant. if someone looks like they need money, i'd be happy to buy them a meal before giving them cash. 
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight. Yes, many times. that's when walks are best on the beach! 
46. Been transported in an ambulance. 
47. Had your portrait painted. Caricature only. Does that count? 
48. Gone deep sea fishing. Sounds like fun, but i would be sick! 
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person- yes and its gorgous!!
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris - the restaurant up there isn't that great though. 
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling. We snorkeled on our honeymoon in Mexico- it was tons of fun!
52. Kissed in the rain. I specifically remember that happening my junior year in high school . 
53. Played in the mud. my cousins in AZ had a goat growing up, i remember making Vinny the goat mud pies. yum yum. 
54. Gone to a drive-in theater. in CA to watch Parenthood with my mom & sis with the Davis'. Gavin & I found one here we went to for our 1st anniversary- it was pretty cool- can't remember what we watched though!
55. Been in a movie. My mom has though. but sadly it had to have been on the list of the worlds worst movie! (UltaViolet)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China. I DESPERATELY want to go!!!!!
57. Started a business. 2 to be exact!!! :-) AprilMayJuneDesigns & Artsy Fartsy Designs. 
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia- i want to go there too!
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies. i dropped out of girl scouts because i hated selling cookies. 

62. Gone whale watching- yes and i was SICK!
63. Got flowers for no reason. its been a LONG time though. at least 7 years. because thats how long i've been doing flowers!
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving. 
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp- this is something i would LOVE to do. its on my list of things to do before i die. 
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter. 
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. thanks to my mom i still have my god aweful 'Abagail Sue'- the ugliest cabbage patch kid in the world. and my Lala (my favorite doll) along with some of my barbie horses. 
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial. 
71. Eaten Caviar. Yes, in Savannah, Georgia. why it was there I don't remember, but I was 14. why do i remember these things??
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square- does the Times Square in Hong Kong count??
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London- Yes and its not all its hopped up to be. 
77. Broken a bone. thankfully no. 
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. Yes we used to take the motorcycle taxis in downtown bangkok all the time because they were cheapest. my parents HATED it when we did that!
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person-a.m.a.z.i.n.g!
80. Published a book- does mypublisher.com count? 
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car. only twice & i've had 5 cars total!
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper. my softball team was in the colleyville paper once! :-) 
85. Read the entire Bible. yes and the books with who begot who is really not that interesting. 
86. Visited the White House. 
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. I helped. in NZ we stayed with the Maori and they did a big meal for us- slaughtered a cow, dug the hole and cooked it in the ground. i did NOT help kill the cow, but i helped dig the hole! 
88. Had chickenpox. Yes, 1st or 2nd grade. and my mom made me go with her while she had a tennis tournament. i remember being miserable!
89. Saved someone’s life. 
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous. I was picked out of the crowd (1 of a certain number) at Reunion Arena & got to go back stage to the Family Values tour and met everyone i was a cute skinny blonde at 18!

92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one. Yes, lost one of the few who meant the most to me- my mom. :-(
94. Had a baby. Epidurals are the greatest things ever. ever. 
95. Seen the Alamo in person. I do live in Texas! but i've only seen it 2 or 3 times. 
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit. 
98. Owned a cell phone. Yes, since high school! 
99. Been stung by a bee. When I was a kid.

so proud of myself

I FINALLY decorated the tree today! yeah! except 2 strands of the lights are not working....grrrr, oh well i guess!
I've forgotten how much I LOVE my christmas decorations! my tree is gorgous of course, but I'm a little biased! There's not a single thing that is breakable on it- i call it our 'Family Tree'- i incorporated family pictures, silk flowers and also feathers- it's all Silver, Black, White & Red. I still do need a new tree skirt, but I haven't found one I like (but I haven't been seriously looking either) so maybe I might cave this week and find one....speaking of which, the thing I'm most proud of is that I haven't bought a SINGLE decoration this year yet! I guess i will have to break that though if I find a tree skirt! Pictures of my pretty tree AND Mason's 2nd birthday coming soon!

Cute & Funny!

So Gavin & I have started talking to Mason about his baby brother occasionally which i think just confuses the poor kid, but Gavin says it's good to prep him. Last night we were at Chili's for dinner when we were talking about Baby Brother. Gavin points to my belly and says, "is brother in mommy's belly?" Poor Mason just looked confused as hell and said, "See?" as he proceeds to grab at my shirt to try and look down it! Grabbing to keep my shirt up and not expose the whole restaurant, Mason thinks maybe if he LIFTS my shirt up he can see his brother! ahhh! So Gavin got some dirty looks as he looked on laughing, he then tries to end it with- "Mason, mommy ate baby brother!" oh the poor kid is so confused, why even bother!!!!!!!

Already?

So I think I'm somewhere around 28 weeks along. For non pregnant peoples that's right about 7 months along- YIKES! is it REALLY possible for this pregnancy to have gone this quick?? Thank the Lord it's been fairly easy and a healthy pregnancy thus far! Hard to believe in just 2 months/8 weeks I'll be full term. WOWZA! I honestly don't know what I'll do once Maddox is here besides wanting to sleep. Guess I'll have to find myself some good baby borrowers to come over and hold him! (I know 2 good ones in mind, Jes and Granma!) On another note, one downfall of being this far along is I have to go have my glucose test done tomorrow. BLAH. not looking forward to being there at the time I normally crawl out of bed to drink a nasty sugar drink and sit for an hour. Maybe in that hour of sitting I will get my computer work that I haven't gotten done tonight because 1- I'm Blogging instead and 2- I plan on going to bed before 9pm.
So off to see my beloved OB tomorrow morning, we'll see if there's anything new to share- probably not, but that's good news right!

note to self:

drink LOTS of more water and add tons of banana to my diet! I've been getting charlie horses in my calves at night and OUCH! Lately they'll just wake me up for a split second, they haven't hurt that bad, just more annoying than anything, but this morning I woke up yelling in pain!! Poor Gavin jumped out of bed he thought it was contractions or something (thank goodness no! haven't had anything that bad yet, just a few BH contractions when I over do it) i would say that Charlie horse I had this morning was worse than any contraction i've ever had! my poor leg can still feel the lingering pain :-( The CURE: Bananas and more water!

Getting so smart!

Last night we were at my sister's house celebrating her 25th birthday (wink wink) and I was bragging on my child how he does the motions for certain Christmas Carols such as "Away in a Manger". They've been working on it at school and he's so cute with the motions. SO i was singing it in my horrible off key tone and was concentrating on his motions that for a second I forgot the next line and paused....Mason yells out "STAR!" (...the stars in the sky look down where he lay...)to remind me of what comes next- too cute! He was so proud of himself! and so was I :-)

Happy Birthday Mason!!

I can't believe today is Mason's 2nd Birthday! What a BIG Boy he is! I think Birthday #2 is more bittersweet for me than the 1st. Last year he was still so very much a baby, I think it seemed more a celebration that we all made it that 1st year out alive! haha! This year Mason seems so much more like a big kid with such personality and wonder! I have to say I couldn't be happier with the child I've been given- I can never get enough of the hugs and kisses and Mason is so willing to give lots of them all the time! Its amazing to see him grow in front of our eyes and see his personality develop daily!
Happy Birthday to my sweet little boy- my how time flies! I can't believe just 2 years ago what a blessing came into our lives. I've definitely learned in the past 2 years that parenting is no easy job, however its the best job in the world with the most rewarding benefits :-) The thing that truly amazes me is how you love your child to the ends of the earth (and back). I've known my parents have always felt the same about me, but I've never completely understood how deep that love goes until Mason came into my life!
Mason if one day you ever read this (that's if I ever get around to getting the blurb books done!) just know HOW much we love you and care for you! We Thank God for you and pray for you everyday for your health, safety, happiness and future! What a blessing you are to be our child :-)

(Pictures coming soon!)

Layers

More about Moi! Sorry! :-)

LAYER ONE:
Name: April
Birth date: Feb 20
Birthplace: Long Beach, CA
Current Location: Colleyville, Tx
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: dirty blonde
Height: 5′7
Righty or Lefty: Righty
Zodiac Sign: Pisces (I can never spell that right!)

LAYER TWO:
Your heritage: German, Welsh, French, Cherokee Indian in there somewhere I think...
The shoes you wore today: Black Converse
Your weakness:Ethnic foods...Indian, Japanese, Thai.....
Your fears: 3 years ago it was losing someone I love, well that happened. Now I'll go with 'Failure'.
Your perfect pizza: Pepperoni, Extra Cheese,
Goal you’d like to achieve: lead the life God has intended for me to.

LAYER THREE:
Your most overused phrase on AIM: LOL
Your first waking thoughts: if I go pee, Baby will stop kicking!
Your best physical feature: smile
What you miss the most: MY MOM. everyday. doesnt ever get easier.

LAYER FOUR:
Pepsi or Coke: neither!
McDonald’s or Burger King: McD's
Adidas or Nike: Nike
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Lipton
Chocolate or vanilla: Vanilla all the way!
Cappuccino or coffee: Cappuccino!

LAYER FIVE:
Smoke: nope
Cuss: No.
Sing: I can't!
Take a shower everyday: not always, but try to!
Do you think you’ve been in love: YES!
Want to go to college: done that.
Liked high school: Yes
Want to get married: love being married! Especially to who I married :-)
Believe in yourself: Yes I do. My mom was always my biggest fan and she gave me the confidence I'd need to succeed.
Get motion sickness: Unfortunately got that from my mom too :-(
Think you’re attractive: Maybe when I'm not pregnant and the size of a tent!
Think you’re a health freak: funny question. I'm big about my health and preventing illnesses and diseases, but I wouldn't call myself a health food freak. Although we do eat alot of all natural and organic things.
Get along with your parent(s): Yes
Like thunderstorms: Yes as long as I'm in bed!
Play an instrument: Yes I can play the flute! Played for 8 years and still have it although its been at least 3 years since I picked it up!

LAYER SIX:
In the past month…
Drank Alcohol: nope
Smoked: nope
Done a drug: does Tylenol count?
Made out: yup
Gone on a date: Yes! Last monday! Can I have another?
Gone to the mall: yup
Eaten an entire box of Oreos: nope
Eaten sushi: Yes, can I have another?
Been on stage: no.
Been dumped: no
Gone skating: No!
Made homemade cookies: more like attempted!
Gone skinny dipping: no
Dyed your hair: no.
Stolen anything: if its Gavin's last dr pepper then YES :-)

LAYER SEVEN:
Ever…
Played a game that required removal of clothing: Nope
If so, was it mixed company: see above.
Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: did high school happen? LOL
Been caught “doing something”: yep. Mom caught me holding a cigarette in high school. downtown bangkok of all places. HOW does that happen???
Been called a tease: Probably so...
Gotten beaten up: Nope. wait does my sister count? well she didn't really beat me up. maybe scratched me up once or twice. But she got what she deserved too ;-)
Shoplifted: no
Changed who you were to fit in: no.

LAYER EIGHT:
Age you hope to be married: got married at 23
Numbers and Names of Children: 1 and a 1/2 on the way ;-) Mason (2 next week!) and will 99% sure be Maddox for the one on the way.
Describe your Dream Wedding: Well we had an evening, lots of candle light, all family and friends were there. If we could do it again we'd be married outside and maybe on a beach!!
How do you want to die: preferrably not in pain. and nothing embarassing. nothing that would make the darwin awards. After a long life of love would be nice. :-)
Where you want to go to college: went to North Texas
What do you want to be when you grow up: Fulfill God's plan for my life and prep my family for what theirs might be.
What country would you most like to visit: Easter Island (Chile)

LAYER NINE:
Number of people I could trust with my life: 8
Number of CDs that I own: crap, no clue. alot. do you want to buy them? I want to get rid of them!
Number of piercing: 2 - one in each ear!
Number of tattoos: none, but I'm ready for my 1!
Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper: who knows!
Number of scars on my body: too many! haha!
Number of things in my past that I regret: ZERO.

Trekkies Unite!

Just saw a new movie trailer on tv for the new Star Trek movie for this coming summer. I can just bet all the trekkies will be in line for that one.
And you can bet that I WON'T be there.

Gavin loves Star Trek. Sorry for the disappointment, but I can't stand it! Sometimes late in the afternoon I'll catch him with the tv on and what is he watching? Star Trek (rolls eyes) ugh, that's one way to get me to fall asleep QUICK! I'm just not a Sci Fi kinda girl.....but I do love CSI Las Vegas. (that is Sci Fi right? maybe not.) I guess that's just ONE of the many aspect that makes Gavin and I so opposite!
So all you trekkies...Unite! Or better yet, Don't! :-p

Some funnies

At Deedee & Papaw's house- Mason has a baseball mit that he plays with. He has a full basket full of balls here at our house which can generally be found in about every room of our house. After coming home last night from Papaw's house he reached in the drawer that keeps all of our oven mits and found my red Caphalon (hard plastic) oven mitten and has now claimed it as his new baseball mit! Guess its easier to use than the regular mit since his fingers can easily slip into it. Crazy kid. I guess I have to say he's pretty imaginative!!


I'm now counting down the days until January 21st. Yes I am really looking forward to Christmas Eve & Christmas Day with my family, HOWEVER The LOST Season premiere starts 1/21/09 and I almost cannot contain myself! it does not help to see the Lost commercials that gets me so pumped up! Mason was watching his playhouse disney this morning & after it went off "the Santa Claus 2" came on and guess who's one of the main characters? Juliet! great....just what I need to feed my hunger for the LOST season premiere!!!!
ONLY 52 days until 1/21!!!!

Christmas in November

How is it that any christmas music played before Thanksgiving is so very very wrong. Yet, Thanksgiving makes it magically okay to play Christmas music? I kind of feel the same way about getting into the christmas spirit- I just can't do it until Thanksgiving has come and gone. We've been doing lots of fun Christmas-y stuff too!
No lights or decor out at our house just yet, but we have had to make several trips across the street to Mr. Ed's house who has some fantastic Christmas displays which Mason just loves to talk about. Yesterday Mason went on a trip with Deedee and Papaw to the North Pole Express (or is it Polar Express?- cant remember we watched the movie last night too!) train ride in Grapevine. It was a quick 1 hour train ride and they had christmas carolers, a visit from Santa, pony rides and more. It was a pretty cool set up and Mason seemed to really enjoy himself along with getting to hang out with Granma & Granpa for awhile! (hopefully we'll see some pictures soon!)
This morning we got up early to go see Santa at the mall. Mason's been hearing ALL about Santa lately. He even got to see him on Barney yesterday, also at the train station yesterday and we point out Santa in cartoons or in decorations, so he's been getting the idea of who he is. We made a big deal of going to see Santa this morning, I think he was pretty excited. We went and had a special breakfast at McD's before heading to the mall. Mason was so well behaved this morning, we didn't take his stroller in, he wanted to walk with us and hold hands the whole time. He REALLY enjoyed seeing all the decorations, getting to ride the escalators and even flirted with quite a few sales girls. We got to the short line for Santa and I pointed to him and he was just jaw dropped and wide eyed. Curious to see his reaction? it was pretty darn good! :-)

From Family Pictures

From Family Pictures

Don't worry, he was better 5 seconds later when I gave him his promised Lollipop!

I can't wait til NEXT year when we have 2 screaming kids to sit on Santa's lap!!! :-D I sure hope Santa gets paid good for what he does...he must, I don't think he works for the rest of the year! LOL

What I'm Thankful for this year!

Getting into the holiday spirit, makes me think about what I'm Thankful for....

- A Loving and Giving God who provides for us and never ceases to amaze me with his wonderous works
- our country that gives us freedoms and opportunities (thanks to all those who've served our country in any shape or form!)
- My wonderfully supportive family and having a sister as a good friend
-My friends, not sure how far you can get in life without amazing friends!
- a healthy child (I can't say enough about the blessing of having a healthy child- last year we were not so lucky, but since Mason was diagnosed this year with food allergies, what a turn around his immune system has done!)
- a healthy pregnancy that lets me keep up with an active toddler!
- a house over our heads and the sweet pets we have
- my talents and creativity
and one of the most important: Gavin! the help with the house and Mason, his love, support and friendship too, how did I get so lucky! :-)

Marriage Survey!

How long have you been married?
4 years, 5 months

Is this your first marriage?
First and only for both!

Is it how you imagined it would be?
Its different than what I ever imagined, but better in so many ways!

What would you change?
I'd love more date nights, but that would require more money too!

Are you married to your soulmate?
I don't really believe in soulmates, i believe God brought us together and meant for us to be together!

What do you argue about the most?
chores

What do you see eye to eye on the most?
parenting and family time.

Where did you meet your spouse?
Southlake, Texas. haha to be more exact- Bicentennial Park...was there with some friends..Gavin says he remembers meeting me at Denny's just before that, but I don't remember!

Where was your first date?
Curtain Club in Deep Ellum to see the Toadies (november 3, 1999)

Where were you when you became engaged?
parents house- valentines 2003

What was your wedding song?
My Life- by the Beatles

Who was in your wedding party?
My sister (matron of honor)
Annie (BFF from HK) maid of honor
Cathy (childhood bff- practically sister)
Heather (cathy's sister- my other practically sister)
Holly
Katy (long time friend)
Kat & Kiera (flower girls) gavin's cousins
Alina (flower girl) Heather's lilttle girl

David M (Gavin's bff for 27 years)
David C
Josh (my brother)
Chris (Gavins brother)
Rob
Justin (high school friend)
Jayden (ring bearer- justin's son)

Do you get along with the in-laws?
Yes I do!

Whats your view on children?
Can't wait for #2. or maybe I can! haha! I couldn't imagine not having kids. Really i can barely remember what it was like pre-Mason!

Does your spouse feel the same way?
Usually

Are you a 2 peas in a pod or opposites attract couple?
both, we see the same on alot of things, however we're very different on many things too!

Do you go out without your spouse?
Occasionally for a girls night. used to ALOT before Mason, but now we see how little time we do get date nights so we'd rather be together!

How long are you away from your spouse before you start to miss him/her?
not long!

Have you ever compared your spouse to someone you have dated in the past?
sadly yes, but thank God Gavin is who he is! That's why I married him!!

Do you trust your Spouse?
Completely.

Does your Spouse trust you?
I'm sure he does, i've never done anything to question it!

How well does your spouse know your favorites?
He knows me way too well. Just consider him my personal chef and shopper ;-p

Do you get along with your spouses friends?
Yes.

Does your spouse get along with your friends?
Yes.

Did you go on a honeymoon?
Yes, Playa del Carmen in Mexico!

Do you watch the same TV shows?
Yes and no. we watch some the same, some we cant stand each others shows!

Can you agree on Pizza toppings?
Easily! pepperoni. and if i'm pg- add pineapple and jalapenos!

Who takes out the trash?
He does unless I'm feeling especially sweet.

Who does laundry??
We both do.

Who cooks dinner?
We both do.

Do you have any traditions?
yes, too many to list. actually i'm just hungry now and trying to hurry through this now!

Do you know your spouses passwords/pins?
Yes

Does your spouse know your social security number?
if he thought about it, yes

Do you ever nag your spouse?
i wouldn't call it nagging...call me a MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER!

Do you admit wrong doing?
yes but we all know that I'm RARELY wrong. ;-p

Does your spouse?
rarely. ;-D

Date night!

Monday night Gavin and I had date night! Its been a while sadly since we've had a date night (probably 2 months at least!) Every monday night we have our couple's bible study/Life Group, so we take that as our date night. We did have a date night a few weeks back as a group to go see "Fireproof" but as far as a solo date with just Gavin & I-its been a while!
Monday night we had a nice dinner at Hooters (i craved their boneless wings when pg with Mason too). There's so few decent movies out right now, we couldn't really agree on a movie. I'm not a Bond type girl, and Gavin wouldn't go see a chick flick, so we settled on Twilight- little does Gavin know its geared towards hormonal teenage girls. hee hee hee- but it was good, much better than the Harry Potter movies (which Gavin loves)!
I love playing the name game (as we call it) I tend to drive Gavin crazy when in the movies and I constantly ask "oooh....what else is that guy from!" I was pretty good that night, the movie was full of tv actors (not that tv actors & movie actors cant cross over )but everyone that I pointed out was from tv.....90210, 24, Grey's Anatomy, Swingtown....i had to do very little imdb'ing last night when I got home :-)

On another note of the Name Game...different name game i guess! I think Gavin is pretty set on "Maddox" for #2. I really really like it, but not 100% sure, I'm still throwing names out there (and Gavin keeps crossing them off!)
So our top runner right now is:
Maddox Lee (Lee was my mom's middle name)

my other back up names are:
Evan Anthony (gavin doesnt like Evan at all, but I do! Anthony is Gavin's & his dad's first names)
Kellan Christopher (Christopher is gavin's brother)
Thankfully we've got time to decide, right? Just over 3 months left..................................
...........crap.....................
............double crap.........!!

thats coming QUICK!

little things

lots of little things going on this weekend, but its those little things that make life fun :-)

-Friday night a couple from our lifegroup got married and our group threw them a dinner, i think we surprised them, we decorated and even went in as a group to get them a nice hotel room for the night and made an awesome dinner for everyone. We had a good time and always love our group's company.

-Saturday morning we had a garage sale- WOW this went over 10X better than I thought it would. I hate garage sales, however can't avoid them when I have lots to purge! We had quite a bit to purge too, our old tv, some old furniture pieces that just take up room, clothes, appliances, etc. So much to purge we made $1200 and also a nice donation receipt to GoodWill as well! WOohoo!

-Since we had such a crazy friday night and early saturday morning, Mason stayed over at Deedee's (his name for Grandma now) and Papaw's house friday night and they brought him home just before we wrapped up the garage sale. Boy did he think we were having a party in the front yard! He hung out with us for the last hour and just had a blast socializing with everyone and running around. He had so much fun he went down for a very late nap and slept for over 3 hours which resulted in a late night for him!

-Yesterday evening we hung out with Papa and did all the grocery shopping for Turkey Day. In the process of doing so, I managed to finally find a pancake mix for Mason that is mommy approved! Not easy to find muffin, pancake and cookie mixes that are premixed, taste good, are healthy and that are free of all allergens (corn, wheat, soy......) for him. I COULD purchase all the different flours, sugars, starches, baking powders and mix them myself, however gluten free, corn free and soy free ingredients such as those are not the cheapest, so I haven't gone that route yet. Breakfast tends to be our 'weakest' meal of the day, not always the easiest to feed Mason. He can get tired of the different muffins I make him, fruit, his 2 cereals he can have and yogurt (he does seem to prefer those as afternoon snacks now though!) so yes there are some mornings he'll snack on his veggie chips or lunch meat for breakfast! I have to say, this morning was a great morning when I got to make him pancakes (i know sounds silly, but when you dont get to do things like this for your child its a fun thing!) and it totally made my day when he climbed up to the table and saw what I made him, he took one bite of his pancake and squealed with delight! Little things like that just make my day :-)

A week of no work

well not really a week of no work, just alot less work this week! So I've noticed...whether there's lots or little of work, my life still seems crazy! WIll it be crazier or just as crazy when #2 is here? Maybe I just like to add to the chaos, maybe that's how I function best...if its a slow week, just add chaos!
I think we've had something going on every night this week, along with Sara, Kristin & Jenny threw us a fun shower on Sunday afternoon, computer work to keep up with, finish off the 4 artsy fartsy orders this week, the regular things such as life group (bible study), prayer group, help plan, cook 2 dishes and decorate a small wedding dinner for tomorrow for some friends (can't wait for that!) and on top of that we figured it'd be the best weekend (and only weekend because there's no weddings) to have a massive garage sale with Kristin! Maybe I just need to finally comes to terms that CRAZY is my life! Its been a nice week though, crazy or not, its unusual to not be working constantly towards the end of the week! I sure wish I had a day to do laundry though (what's new!)
Here's some randomness for the week!
-Mason's learned to open the fridge this week, so that's been fun!
-I canned up a dozen jars of my jalapeno cranberry relish tonight, so feel special if you get one :-)
-Mason wanted to try the relish tonight, he ended up LOVING it, so i put some over vanilla yogurt and he absolutely went nuts over it!
-My cravings this week- Bruschetta and sushi. Finally got my bruschetta tonight (and it was better than I thought it would be!), hopefully sushi for lunch tomorrow!
-This morning Mason woke up crying at 6 am and cried for a whole 5 seconds before going back to sleep and of course woke me up in the process, so I laid awake trying to go back to sleep, then #2 wakes up and proceeds to kick (and boy were these big kicks!) for a good 15 minutes, not easy to go back to sleep with that!
-Last week Sabai (our male cat) peed in our bedroom TWICE. Stupid cat. There's nothing more disgusting than the smell of cat urine. He peed on a throw pillow that was on the floor and of course it was Gavin's side of the room (cat has behavioral issues- Gavin does nothing wrong to him, just a male thing i guess!) SO I decided all pets were to be banned from our bedroom. PERIOD. no more sleeping in our bed, no more STEPPING in our room. Shelby slept at the door for 2 nights, Sabai screamed at Gavin one night constantly because he wouldn't let him in the room while I was already asleep in there and Sanuk (the siamese) only woke me up one night at 4 am crying trying to get in the room. Besides THAT, man have I slept better! Kicking them out of the room is almost worst than when we went thru sleep training with Mason!

Family Pictures!

I've finally stayed awake last night long enough to upload all of our family photos we took 2 weeks ago with Cesar. (and of course Mason decided to wake up at 6:15 this morning. ouch that hurt.) Enjoy!

WIsh I got my haircut BEFORE the shoot. oh well. coulda, woulda, shoulda. or however that goes.

From Family Pictures

We love Converse. We're a converse family. That was Mason's first pair of shoes we bought for him before he was born. Gavin counted down the days until he could wear them and he dresses him in them as often as possible!

From Family Pictures

Sorry dude, that's a little too heavy for you

From Family Pictures

By the Choo-Choo

From Family Pictures

Pictures in the alley by Willhoit's. This is an ironic photo. If you don't know why, don't ask. okay if it bugs you enough, email me.

From Family Pictures

Mommy's Bribe #1

From Family Pictures

Love this shot. Except for the cleavage. Remind me to thank Gavin for that- he was my personal shopper that day while I was at work. That's what he came home with. Love the shot besides that!

From Family Pictures

Mommy's Bribe #2

From Family Pictures

Mason loved my bribes

From Family Pictures

WOW a picture of just US?

From Family Pictures

Kids say the sweetest things!

Gavin and I have been apart of an awesome LIfegroup (Bible Study) from our church for just over the past year- and we've been amazingly blessed with some awesome new friends- these 6 other couples are so dear to my heart and all bring some awesome qualities (and food too!) to our group. Not to mention, all of our kids are close in age and boy are they some sweet and adorable kids (can't expect anything less when they come from the parents they have!) so enough of me gushing about these cool peeps- just an example about how sweet kids can be, here's an email I get from my friend Marsha tonight. *note- Miss Mak is 3 years old*


So Martin and I were talking about Mason and how we are praying for him to be healed so you won't have to make him special food anymore. And of course Makeelie was like, "what's wrong with Mason" so we explained to her in very simple terms and then she wanted to pray for him right then and there. That was earlier this afternoon.

Then tonight we put them to bed and prayed with them. After we pray for them we always give Makeelie the opportunity to pray. Tonight her prayer went something like this, "Dear Lord, we just pray for Mason. We pray you would heal Mason so he can eat ice cream. Thank you for Mrs. April and Mr. Gavin. In Jesus' Name, Amen" I almost started cyring because it was so sweet and so sincere...I know God heard that prayer of a little girl who is completely full of faith!!

Be encouraged...healing is coming for both our boys! You are doing a phenomenal job taking care of Mason and feeding him what he needs for now. I know it can get overwhelming at times but remember this..."God always gives us more than we can handle, but never more than He can handle." He will bring you through this and you will be a stronger woman, mother and wife because of it!
love ya, marsha

Mason funny

Yesterday Mason was in Gavin's office with him and he likes to play with the DVD cases in the tv cabinet in there and I hear him yelling "Momma! Momma! Momma! Momma!" So of course I call back to him where I was, and he comes running full speed to find me calling me the whole time (so something must be REALLY important) he shows me the DVD he had in his hand (a Windsor Pilates DVD), he flips it over, points to the picture and screams, "MIMi!!!!!!!!! (Amy) I couldn't help but laugh, he was so convinced it was her, as he was walking to put it back he just kept quietly saying, "Hi Mimi. Mimi!" I called Amy right away, I'm sure the compliment he gave her just made her day!

Get your daily ha-ha's

besides here of course ;-)

With google reader there are quite a few blogs that I read on a regular basis- I have to say, if you're an animal lover like me- this is one of my favorite blogs/websites. the pictures keep me laughing everyday, mostly because I see my crazy 3 pets in alot of these other animals. If you haven't ever come across these blogs/websites- check 'em out-

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

http://ihasahotdog.com/

http://roflrazzi.com/ Not animal related, but its still stinkin' funny.

http://totallylookslike.com/

If you're not a google reader-er, you should be. Subscribing to websites like this takes all the ads & crap away. But you still have to come back to leave me comments!

No Mommy Monday this week :-(

Mason is out of school today since its a teacher work day. So we're having a low key day at home. Now if I could only get clothes on my kid that would be my first accomplishment of the day. I'm off this week with only occasional appts with clients, which means no weddings this weekend...SO its Garage Sale Saturday! I'm In need of cleaning out the guest room to prep it for Mason's big boy room- what better than to have a garage sale! Kristin is joining me so maybe we'll have a bigger turn out being a multiple family garage sale! so my goal this week is to go Room BY Room and purge what we can- I'm talking kitchen things that dont get used anymore, decorations, CHRISTMAS decor, bath items, linens, a few furniture pieces, frames and maybe even if I can get Gavin to clear out some of his stuff too! So here's to hoping we clean out ALOT this week....poor Gavin just might have to park his car outside this week. (welcome to my world!)

Outside Fun

Mason loves coloring. One day last week it was so stinkin' nice outside and I found a huge tub of 52 pieces of sidewalk chalk at Hobby Lobby- so Mom thought it would be a great idea to color outside and make our driveway pretty. (daddy didn't like the idea of us pretty-ing up the drive way go figure.) What I didn't think of was the mess it'd make. not on the driveway, but MASON. what a colorful mess. Daddy is quickly learning that the messes Mason makes, make for good photo ops!

52 pieces of sidewalk chalk soon turned into 156 pieces of sidewalk chalk. Note to self- next time give Mason 3 pieces only!

From November 2008

Colorful Butt.

From November 2008

Someone had more fun breaking the chalk.

From November 2008

The colorful kid. At least he had fun doing it. and at least it was bath night. Really in our house with having a 100% boy, bath night is EVERY night.

From November 2008

23 month old with a 5 o'clock shadow

Breaking News: Youngest kid ever to have a 5 O'clock shadow....


oh wait. its just chocolate cereal. Bad mommy for giving Mason a bowl of dry cereal (from the bottom of the box), turn on LIttle Einsteins and then make phone calls to clients. Lets just say the cereal wasn't just on his face. we had to do a whole strip down and wipe down. good thing it was bath night!

From November 2008

WARNING: Update...its long, but there's a photo bonus if you can read it all

Really? an UPDATE? are you for real? Yes, yes I am. Actually- its because Gavin transferred some pictures to my laptop finally (isn't Apple the coolest!?) and because I've got Artist Block right now. Well... I'm also waiting for about 12 canvases to dry too. And I'm too tired to do my 'other work' until tomorrow! So lucky you- about to showered with stinkin' cute pictures of my little man.

Just a few small updates-

Thing 2 (as Gavin calls it) is doing good. Lots of movin' and groovin' as expected. We've got a NAME! I think it might be official! well, not official until Thing 2 is actually here but you get my drift. I think I'm somewhere around 25 weeks... less than 4 months to go! Friends and Family will get to find out this weekend with the gender game- so stay tuned!

Mason has been doing so well with school- he really loves it! We got his proofs back from his school picture today and of course he's being a total ham....and of course even with your basic studio photography with the cheesy background (ahem- not Gavins style whatsoever...) I'm still being suckered into buying a package...but the cheapest one at that! Actually Gavin wouldn't let me get anything more. Today his teachers said how well he does with all of the arts and crafts, I know he really enjoys them, but they said he really excels with them (hmm........where do you think he got that from?????) Today they colored with markers (are we already to that point??? I'm not ready to move onto MARKERS. do you know what kids can do with markers? oh the mess..the colorful mess......note to ANYONE who decides to get him markers for his birthday or christmas might lose a limb.) But Ms. K and Ms. B said he did awesome and holds it correctly and actually colors where most of the kids barely scribble. SO yeah for my artistic kid. We didn't expect anything less right!!! When Mason and I came home today I told Gavin about it and he just replied with "....and?" like it was no big deal. He clearly expected the artistic & creative gene in one of our kids. He joked that Thing 2 might have some brains and none of our skills. Thats a scary thought!
Right after our family picture session last week, on Friday Mason fell on the playground at school and bumped his upper lip pretty hard on one of the steps- poor kid. It swelled up so big (we're talking his lip and part of his cheek part- gavin kept calling him 'Monkey Boy' because clearly he did look monkey-ish with the swelling! its gone down and has just a little bit of the bruise left...funny thing the bruising was right in his smile creases, so when hes not smiling, it looks kinda funny!

So enough of a novel- lots of things to keep us busy lately as usual! I'll have tons and tons of pix to post after the weekend! :-)


our cute puppy Trick or Treating

From November 2008

Maybe this costume wasn't the greatest ideas with it being 80 degrees out!

From November 2008

Halloween Festival at school- one of Mason's best buddies at school and his Mommy Heidi

From November 2008

Just after their parade, unsure of what was going on while Mommies chit chat...funny thing..those glasses were my 'costume' this year (cat) that day I forgot my regular sunglasses, so what did I wear driving around all day? I sure did get some funny looks!

From November 2008

Mason's costume was just a little too short and kept riding up. no more puffy costumes next year!

From November 2008

Struttin' in the parade.

From November 2008

Mason's other best buddy at school Mr. Jackson with the rest of the class behind

From November 2008

An afternoon with Daddy...when Mommy's not around its photo op time!

From November 2008

Ugh I LOVE this one! What a HUNK! is that not model material or what?!

From November 2008

Crazy 8's

Stolen from Kristin!

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch:

1. Lost
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. October Road
4. Army Wives
5. Desperate Housewives
6. 90210
7. Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
8. Girls Next Door

8 Favorite Restaraunts:

1. Ahoyama
2. Thai Thippiwan
3. Marsala's
4. Imperial Burger
5. The Flying Tomato (RIP)
6. JR's
7. Red Robin
8. Any Mexican with GOOD Queso.

8 Things that Happened Today:

1. I woke up before 7am.
2. I styled my newly shorter cut hair.
3.Took Mason to School
4. I went to work.
5. I got a buttload of work done today. (but no computer work sadly)
6.I took a power nap on the couch.
7.Didn't get to eat dinner with my boys tonight.
8.Gave Mason a bath.

8 Things I Look Forward To:

1. Monday Nights- going to LifeGroup.
2. This Sunday- Guess the Gender Game day at my house :-)
3. Thanksgiving.
4. Decorating for the holidays
5. Mason's Birthday!!!!!
6. Holiday shopping.
7. Christmas Eve.
8. Christmas Day.

8 Things on My Wishlist:

1. Mac Mini
2. Chi Flat Iron
3. Ikea Dresser for Mason's big boy room.
4. someone to clean out my guest room so sometime soon it can be Mason's big boy room.
5. someone to paint our bedroom.
6. a chopping block/big fat cutting board for my counter
7. polka dot b&w converse in size 9
8. new kitchen countertops

Consider yourself tagged!

Give.me.Chocolate.

Anyone that knows me, knows I don't like chocolate. The richer, the worse it is! IF i do eat any chocolate, its minimal and it has to be out of the fridge or freezer- sounds silly but it cuts out the bitterness. I do like the occasional chocolate covered strawberries though- cold chocolate ALWAYS goes good with fruit. Fruit....that was one of my main cravings with Mason. While I still love it this time around- I just don't crave as much. Since right before Halloween I've been C.R.A.V.I.N.G. chocolate. We took Mason T-or-T'ing and of course he couldn't eat many of the candies, especially the chocolate. So who ate it? Mom and Dad of course! didn't last long either. I've forgotten HOW good 100 Grand Chocolate bars are (out of the fridge of course!) and Baby Ruth's too! The bite sized Halloween portions are perfect too, just enough, but hits the spot. This week, my new chocolate craving is HOT CHOCOLATE! funny thing, I'm a tea drinker. forget the coffee, i dont do hot chocolate (too much sugar anyway) but tonight Hot Chocolate is the BEST thing I've had all week long!

And Baby is doing FLIPS over it! :-)

Sneak Peek!

Tonight we had some family pictures taken by Cesar, a cool photographer that I've had the pleasure to work with a few times now. Of course Gavin is questioning WHY i would book another photographer (um, hello...honey you have to be IN the pictures!) and I wanted some REAL family photos, nothing just posed, so Gavin wasn't even allowed to take ANY of his equipment.
Sara thinks I cheated on her. (it's just this once...okay!?) LOL Cesar sent us a sneak peek tonight and its of Mason chasing after one of his cars (one of the few bribes I took along today- Mommy being a genius!) Cesar was great keeping up with Mason, gotta give him props for that! Mason did better than I thought he would- of course he was his usual active self, but he was also interested in the bribes I gave him, and didn't mind showing them off to the camera either!
I didn't get any maternity pictures when I was pregnant with Mason, I'm not a big maternity photo person, but I do wish I had gotten some pictures of Gavin & I when it was still "Gavin & I" (last pro pix were when we were getting married i think??) so I decided I'd love some pictures of "the 3 of us" while its still the 3 of us. I can barely remember what it was like as just the 2 of us, and before long I know i'll feel the same about the 3 of us. Granted, our family will be complete when #2 comes, however we're just trying to keep up with #1 right now! And that's exactly what we did tonight! We had fun though!

From November 2008

Funny thing, some of our pictures we took outside of Willhoit's in Grapevine.....oh the irony of that.....if you know me really really well, then you MIGHT know that #2 came about after a night of too much fun at Willhoits......and if you didn't know that...then you do now!

Tonight's Dinner

I tried something new tonight- and got it from one of the small pamphlet cookbooks you find in line at the grocery store- this one was all Chicken Recipes by Tyson Chicken. I liked it was something new but also easy to prep!

Tomato & Cheese Baked Chicken
Need:
4 Chicken Breasts
1/2 cup oil packed sun dried tomatoes, drained
1 container (6.5 oz) garlic- herbed spreadable cheese, softened (i took this as cream cheese?)
2 tbsp sliced green onions
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat 13X9 inch baking pan with non stick cooking spray. Sprinkle chicken with salt & pepper & place in the baking pan. Wash hands.

Pat tomatoes dry & chop coarsely. place softened cheese in a bowl & stir in tomatoes, green onions & parmesan cheese. spread mix over chicken. Wash hands.

Bake chicken 35 to 45 minutes until done!

It was a pretty quick and easy dinner. We had mashed potatoes with it (Mason's favorite right now!) My first mistake was that I only cooked 2 chicken breasts, but forgot to half the cheese mix, so our chicken was a little heavy on the herb-y side. I think it would have also been better on a salad instead of with potatoes. I think I'm just bored with potatoes right now, but the extra herbs would have been great with a salad!

Are you curious? I AM!

Wonder why you haven't seen Mason's cute Halloween pictures yet? Ask GAVIN. you can even email him here.
Don't tell him I sent you. Granted he IS busy and all, but still!

What a crazy halloween!

Lets start it off with NORTH TEXAS of all places had a 2.5 earthquake last night (which is nothing) but its still crazy that it even happened! I was asleep, so if I felt anything, I probably thought it was Shelby jumping on or off the bed. Gavin was still up, but said he didn't feel anything. Earthquakes in Texas? Crazy....

I woke up this morning to a horrible dream (thanks to Grey's Anatomy last night with Christina & the pigs) I dreamt that someone was trying to kill me by an injection in my shoulder to steal my baby (crazy pregnancy dreams!) and I woke up right when they stuck the needle in my shoulder. When I woke up I realized the friggin' CAT was sleeping next to me and had his back leg extended and what was touching my shoulder? HIS NAIL. stupid cat got a quick shove off the bed for that one!

As soon as I dropped Mason off at school this morning I headed out to dallas to pick up some supplies. I normally have them delivered instead, but I needed to match some particular ribbon swatches and what not, so I decided for once to head to Dallas. BAD IDEA. On my way home, I sat on 183 for TWO HOURS with moving less than 5 miles. It sucked. I think I sat with the truck in park for a good 20 minutes minimum, so at least I had my phone. I checked email, set appts with clients, caught up on my google reader, surfed the web....and of course talked to Kristin for a good hour to pass the time. Ends up a drunk driver (7:30 am) caused an accident and killed someone (i saw the victims truck, and wow- HORRIBLE HORRIBLE accident) all I can say is I really feel for that person and his family. for the drunk driver- I can't imagine what that person is going thru in their life to be drinking at 7 in the morning! let alone, get into a CAR! Ugh...off my soap box!

Oh, last weird thing....I think my microwave is haunted. its not even a year old and doing crazy things. You can open it, shut the door and then occasionally it'll keep running, when not set. The other night this went on for about 5 minutes even after I kept pressing STOP and CANCEL for forever. And of course when I try to show Gavin, it starts working properly. Stupid microwave is trying to make me go crazy!

Crazy Kid

if it tells you anything about my child how much he likes things that clean......he just went down for a nap WITH a swifter duster. He refused to give it up. What a nut!

DWST

Mason has become quite the Dancing with the Stars Fan. He sits and actually watches the entire show, granted it is right before his bedtime so its kind of his wind down time. He'll dance and clap when he really likes something, so I've come to notice he does it mostly for Kym Johnson & Warren Sapp. So either he thinks they're just awesome dancers or he really likes cute Austrailian blondes....or big football players.....not quite sure which! he REALLY liked the group hip hop dance last night, so when the group performed again tonight, he was super excited and during different parts he yelled "wow wow!" and would clap really loudly! So needless to say, DWTS is a regular on our DVR and not just because I enjoy it ;-)

Funny thing tonight, Mason has a little Bob the builder figurine- or something that looks like him at least. He wears blue pants, a t shirt, a tool belt, and a yellow Hard Hat. The fact that he 'fixes' things, you'd think Mason would call him 'Papaw' or 'Daddy' but no, Mason decided he'd name the toy "JOSH" tonight while in the bathtub. So apparently Uncle Josh is on his favorite list right now!

Funny little Man

Mason has had me cracking up lately! Just a few funny things he does....

- he's found its fun to stand on your feet and he wants you to try and walk. he thinks its the funniest thing to be walking, but he's not doing any of the walking. for some reason he always thinks its the best time when I'm cooking dinner!

- his bedtime routine he's started lately is rather funny. As soon as it starts to get dark out he wants to go out to see the moon. Right about then its bath time, so we say, "lets go take a bath first!" we usually don't have to persuade him much on that anyway, its more getting out of the bath. SO to get out of the bath we say, "lets go find the moon after we put on your jammies!" so of course he gets excited to get out of the bath. The past week now, we havent been able to see the moon, poor kid is confused why! LOL its cute though, if he cant see it out back, he wants to go in the front yard to look too. When he does see it he says, "Night night Moon!" then its "night night peah-plane", we come inside and its "night night dog....night night kitty....night night tt (for tv)....night night car.....night night fan......night night mimi (my sister)....night night Papa.....night night PaPaw....night night Josh....." and the list goes on. it is cute though! I can't wait for him to start staying night night prayers!

- Today we headed over to Grapevine Mills mall to find shoes for my bridesmaid dress so we met up with Sara and Hendrix. We brought the double stroller and Mason just thinks its the greatest thing to have his friend next to him instead of in another stroller! Every blonde short haired girl we saw, Mason would squeal and scream "MIMI!!!!" he hasn't seen Amy in 2 days, and clearly misses her! We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Might have not been the greatest idea even though he didn't even think of getting out of his seat ONCE. not sure if that was because he had so much to keep his attention, or if he was truly scared that one of the animals might get him. He never cried when the animals moved and made sounds, but I can guarantee if I got up and walked to the restroom he sure would have! haha! He just had that look on his face, wasn't sure if he should run away or cry! i think if we stayed thru one more round of the monkeys & gorillas making noise or if the 'rainstorm' happened again, he might have an anxiety attack! good thing we were right by the fish tank, i think they helped keep him calm. When we got up to leave, I took 2 steps in the direction of the closest gorilla (still a good 10-12 feet away) and Mason literally wrapped his legs around my waist and said, "no! no! no! no!" so that was that, we left. i wasn't EVEN going to attempt to let him see the crocodile on our way out. I do like that my child sleeps at night! figured its too early for nightmares to start!

- So we have ONE of his 2 year molars, 3 more to go! i swear we'll be done with the teething completely, get a 5 month break (maybe) and then our #2 will start teething!

- Mason is doing so well in school. We're having to work with him on taking turns, sharing, WAITING, and not taking toys from other kids (but what kid is a pro at this right??) besides the usual age stuff, he's doing so well with school. I was concerned how he would deal with being there 4 days a week, but really he just loves it. I love seeing all of his art work (maybe I should take some pictures of his cute stuff!) every day and the words he's learning along with the cute songs is so much fun! The other morning I took him a little late since we all woke up later than usual. His best buddy Jackson was running late too, his mom Jennifer & I stood there talking for a while and got to watch them interact for a bit as a whole class. Yes, we might be doting mothers, however I love to see how Mason interacts with other kids without my interference. Ms. Kari had them busy singing songs which they all participated in, and even had them cleaning up so they could head outside. I knew Mason had it in him to clean up toys...he just has us fooled at home!

-Speaking of #2- went in for our big sonogram yesterday and got to see the baby. Measuring just a little bit smaller than the guesstimated due date, just about a week behind or so. Which is funny, after getting the pregnancy test positive- looking back on the calendar and comparing to what my dr told me would have been the estimated conception date didn't add up in my head, it seemed to be about a week later. SO, clearly I ovulate late. Found that one out when I got pregnant with Mason too, and it wont happen again. PROMISE. SO enough of the TOO much information session- on with the baby news: We are 100% sure of the baby's gender now. I'm right at 21 weeks (40 weeks is full term for those who have yet to join the preggo club) and I can't believe its going by so fast! We'll spill the beans on Nov 16th whether we'll be having a Baby Maddox or Baby Leah.....so stay TUNED!

Guess who went pee pee on the potty?

Mason did! We had just gotten home from dinner and Gavin was getting Mason ready for bath time- we always sit him on the potty but of course he doesnt want to have anything to do with it. Maybe it was a fluke, but he went pee pee last night on the potty! I missed it, but heard Gavin cheering for him, so I ran in there and we cheered. I think he realized why we were cheering so of course a naked victory lap was in order :-)

Because I have nothing better to talk about today....

Some new things about Mason:
we've got a whole slew of new words!
"Peah-plane" he figured it out when we went to CA and hasn't stopped.
"Chuck-dor" is tractor.
"Chuck" is truck.
He now says please and thank you (such manners....not always!)
He's got ALL the animals down now, except he thinks Llamas are dogs or horses. He's also go down most body parts.
speaking of body parts- when he toots he says "Bo Bo Tawk" I can't help but laugh out loud!!!
when he says on & off its usually referring to the vacuum.
"Car-coons"- yes he's learned about tv, he gets to watch it in the mornings while I get ready. So far his favorite is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

When we're out driving and take the exit off of the freeway to the service road, Mason starts saying, "uh oh....uh oh...cars? cars?" he thinks we should ONLY be on the freeway going as fast as the other cars. BOYS! He's also been turning his snacks and food into cars and airplanes and motorcycles (with sound effects) at dinner. I just look at Gavin and say "he's yours". haha!

The other day we were at my OB appt, and since Mason was out of school for the day, I dragged the sperm donor & offspring with me. Dr LS hasn't seen Mason since my 6 week check up after he was born. She was really great with him letting him help her during my check up. He wasn't so keen on her lifting up my shirt to check on my belly, and when she asked, 'is there a baby in her belly?' he had the most confused look on his face! She let him squeeze the jelly on my belly and even hold the microphone to my belly to hear the baby's heartbeat. He then decided we needed to wipe the jelly off mommy's belly and to put my shirt down, he was done with it, so thought we should too!

My pregnant nose

so one of the things about pregnancy is a heightened sense of smell right? I think mine has increased just a little too much, okay maybe off the scale. I think I can smell things only my dog can smell. I got into Kristin's car one day and asked, "did you eat Taco Bell?" she laughed and said, "yeah we ate in the car yesterday!" but there were no traces of it. I can smell Mason's dirty diaper from 15 feet away without even looking- this comes in handy when my hands are full and gavin's arn't! (insert evil laugh here). I can also walk out the front door and smell when the neighbors high school kids that live behind us are smoking weed (and the have a huge lot!). I thought- hmm should I call the cops on them? Then I decided, the only lead they'd have is a crazy pregnant woman's nose!
I've often thought about plugging my nose with cotton balls to give my senses a break!