Rock Chalk!

With me & Mase traveling to Wisconsin last weekend & Shane traveling to AZ for work - along with spending over a week in Denver - we really haven't seen each other much in the last 2 weeks so we were both ready for some much needed "mommy & daddy" time. This afternoon we had a "post" Valentine's outing doing what we both love - watching our beloved Jayhawks!

We had our favorite babysitter Miss Katie come & spend the day with Mason while the hubby & I made our way to Lawrence, KS. We had a quick lunch at Applebee's & then made our way over to the KU campus for the game.

We ended up sitting where we sat last time - right behind the student section & enjoyed cheering with the rowdy students once again! KU was playing TCU which is one of the worst teams in the Big 12. We had both joked that if we lost this game like we did the last time we attended that we wouldn't ever go to another game in Allen Fieldhouse again.

  

Perry Ellis had an amazing night scoring 32 points for the team & it was awesome to hear around 16,000 fans chanting his name every time he made another basket. KU won 95-65 so I guess it is safe to say that we will be attending another KU basketball game in the future.

 

It was another fun "date" with my hubby & it was so good getting to spend some quality time with him & see him smile as things have been pretty rough for him since his dad passed away!

 

Looking forward to having many more "dates" like this one with him in the future!!

Crafty

Those of you who know me know that I am "crafty" & I don't mean "crafty" as in the Beastie Boys song of 1986 :) Ever since my grade school days I have always been one to create & make crafts & later do projects around the home & if I know I can make something cheaper than buying it then I will take it on. 

Since Pinterest came along, I have gotten many of my ideas from this inspiring website & have been "pinning" those ideas left & right with the hopes of one day getting to make, replicate, recreate or redo all these ideas. 

So once I had Mason & the holidays rolled around I got super excited as I had remembered some of the craft ideas I had pinned & was SO excited to finally be able to make & give said items.

At Christmas time, I surprised the staff at Mason's daycare with mini-cupcakes from Gigi's Cupcakes:

Now these aren't Pinterest-inspired but they were adorable & I just had to share how cute they were. The frosting is made to look like a Santa, 2 wreaths, snowman, puppy & reindeer & the staff LOVED them!

For the four ladies in the infant room who took care of Mase 5 days a week, 9-10 hours a day they each got a little Christmas gift box filled with warm fuzzy socks, lotion for the feet, chocolates & a Target gift card. Some may say that seems like a lot but these ladies are amazing & deserve it!!

I had made a cute little sign for inside the box that read: "Wishing you cozy and warm toes all winter. Love, Mason"

The girls LOVED them & I felt all warm & tingly inside for having made them & given it to them!

Next holiday was Valentine's Day & I had been dying to make Mason's little valentine cards for his class along with treats again for his daycare ladies. I had seen both these ideas on Pinterest & while Mason was down for the night I whipped up these cute little valentine's:

They are filled with little cheddar goldfish & the kids & their mommies loved them! I may or may not already have next year's Valentines planned out :)

The jars behind the treats were filled with Valentine M&M's. I covered the lids with scrapbook paper & tied a ribbon around them with a little tag that read "It takes a big heart to help shape little minds".

I also made some Valentine Snack Mix for Mason's class which was another Pinterest "find" which I put it in a large mason jar. The daycare ladies said the kids "ate the heck out of that snack mix"! It had Cheerios, Frosted Cheerios, Strawberry/Apple puffs, Berry yogurt melts & yogurt covered raisins. Super easy & makes for a cute treat :)

So that is a little recap of some of the "crafty" fun I have been doing. I have already been researching what I can do for the little kiddos at daycare as well as the daycare ladies for St. Patrick's Day & for Easter - so excited!

I guess you can officially say that I have turned into one of "those" moms & proud of it!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone from the cutest little "heart breaker" you ever did see :)

Wisconsin trip

Mase & I are off to Wisconsin for the weekend to visit my sister, her family & to meet my sweet little niece Dana Jo. I had booked a 545pm flight so that the travel would correlate with Mason's eating/sleeping schedule but that got royally screwed up as we had to sit & wait at the airport for 3 hours for our plane to arrive. Had I checked my email before we left for the airport I would have seen the message sent from Southwest Airlines that our flight was delayed. Boo :(

Mason actually handled the wait time really well but by the time we boarded the plane it was 830pm, it was way past his bedtime & he was starting to get super fussy from being overtired. I had hoped he would sleep on the plane but that little stinker stayed up the entire time. The descent of the plane was no fun either as he screamed his little head off & I felt so bad because I knew his little ears were really hurting. He ended up falling asleep just before we landed into Milwaukee which was around 10pm. I had to go pick up our baggage, change Mason's diaper, put him in jammies & go get the rental car. I didn't think the night could get any more stressful but little did I know it was only the beginning.

I am in line at the Hertz rental counter & there are 3 people in front of me & only one desk clerk. While I was standing there patiently waiting the lady at the counter was getting really upset with the desk clerk using some colorful language & the next thing I know security has come & is trying to calm her down which only pissed her off even more. Security ended up hauling her away as she became irate & all I could think was "good riddance - now only 2 more people to check in before it is my turn". Ugh - it was 10:30pm & all I wanted was to get my car & get on the road as I had a 1 1/2 hour drive ahead of me. 

So I finally get the car. It is -5 degrees outside. I have a baby asleep in a stroller, a huge piece of luggage & a big ass car seat I am trying to haul all by myself. I have yet to install the car seat & let me tell you it was the biggest pain in my ass ever. It took 20 min to get that damn thing installed & it still wasn't even installed correctly. I was freezing, my baby was freezing & I had had enough. I tightened the carseat down as best as I could, put Mase in it, said a little prayer nothing happened to us during our drive & away we went.

The drive was uneventful...that is until I was about 20 miles from my sister's house. I may or may not have been doing 80 miles on a highway where the speed limit was only 65. Next thing I know there are red & blue flashing lights behind me. It is now 12:30am.

The officer asked me why I was in such a hurry & I was so pissed & annoyed that I had gotten stopped that I was in tears. I told him I had been traveling all night, I was exhausted, I had a baby in the backseat & I was trying to get to my destination before I fell asleep behind the wheel. Then he gives me the guilt trip about how a baby in the backseat is even more reason for me to slow down, that there are lots of deer that cross these roads at night, blah blah blah. Ugh - I get it - just write me the damn ticket already.

So he takes my license & insurance card back to his car. 15 min later he comes back & says he is letting me off with a warning ONLY because I am out of state because in the state of WI if you are out of state & get a ticket you have to go down to the police station right then & there & pay your fine no matter what time of day/night it is - I guess WI wants their money & they want it now! If you don't have the money to pay your fine you spend the night in jail. 

So lucky me got off with just a warning - thank goodness. I finally arrived to my sister's house around 1am & Mase & I slept like a rock - until around 6am when I heard the pitter patter of little feet & someone saying "Aunt Hedder - are you awake?" in my ear :)

The majority of the weekend was spent hanging out snuggling with this little sweetie:

She has got the craziest tuft of hair on her little head which makes for a great mohawk & I love it:

Mason loved the baby & everytime he would walk past her he had to stop, check on her & give her a little "love pat" which was so stinkin' cute! Ugh - my baby looks SO big next to my sister's baby :(

Saturday I told my sister I would be in charge of making dinner & we of course had to have dessert so while my sister was away at a Pilates/Yoga training class my nephews & niece helped me make & frost cupcakes:

While frosting the cupcakes the boys insisted that we had to "try one" just to make sure they were ok for everyone to eat after dinner - lol. Good thing they both deemed them edible!!

When we had left Kansas, Mase had a cold & late Saturday afternoon he started running a fever. He had been crabby & real clingy all day so I knew something was up. His temp got to 102.7 during the middle of the night so I ended up taking him to the Urgent Care Clinic Sunday morning thinking it was another ear infection. The Dr. said his ears were clear & it was probably just his cold which didn't sit right with me as colds don't usually produce a high fever like that but whatever - I went with what she said since she was the Dr afterall. 

Sunday afternoon my brother-in-law was kind enough to stay home with all the kids while my sister, Mason & I ventured on over to the Outlet Shoppes at Oshkosh for a little shopping. I was giving Mase Tylenol throughout the day which was keeping his fever down & he wasn't near as fussy so I was thankful for that. The children's stores at the outlet mall were having all the kids winter clothing on clearance plus an additional 20% off so I ended up buying a TON of clothes for Mason for next year for CHEAP! Mason didn't appear to be as excited as Mommy was:

But then again he wasn't feeling quite himself so that is understandable. Once we got home we all gathered around the table for dinner & as I was feeding Mason I noticed something in his ear - brown, goo oozing from the ear canal. I don't know how his ears went from looking "clear" 8 hours earlier to an oozing mess but next time I will listen to my gut. I should have known better - he had a cold, he screamed the entire time the plane was descending, he was acting not "himself", the high fever....it all points to an ear infection & the brown oozing goo confirms it. 

After dinner my sister & I got all the kids bathed, put to bed & we spent the rest of our evening enjoying the peace & quiet over an ice cold beer, popcorn & watching our guilty pleasure "Keeping Up With the Kardashians".

Monday we spent the morning packing up our stuff, getting in last minute snuggles with Miss Dana, my nephews, my niece Jensen & then we were on our way to Milwaukee to catch our early evening flight. Let's just say the trip home was a lot less eventful than it was coming there! I had given Mason Motrin & Benadryl an hour prior to his flight per the Pediatrician's instructions & he did awesome! No crying, no fussing & he kept himself entertained the entire flight. We already have an appointment first thing in the morning to the Ped's office to get those ears looked at & get an antibiotic. Poor little guy.

Despite the crazy start to our trip & the fever/ear infection, we had a great visit to Wisconsin & I look forward to seeing everyone again in July when we meet in Minnesota for our family reunion!

Here are a few more random pictures from our weekend. As I look through my pictures I only have one of Tanner when we were making cupcakes - not sure how that happenened :(

My sister & Dana

Mase "pre" ear infection = happy boy

My niece Jensen & Mason

A very proud Cael holding his Minion valentine box he made:

Aunt Heather & sweet Miss Dana:

Ugh - I just LOVE that hair :)