"About Me" Project

So last week I was picking Mason up from daycare & before we left I was given my 1st "project" to complete as a parent. We were given a white poster board & asked to make an "All About Me" photo collage of our child. Once completed it was going to be displayed by the entrance of the Toddler 1 room for everyone to see. Since I consider myself a "crafty" person, I was super excited to be given the task & a bunch of ideas came to mind as I made the drive home.

However, when I sat down to actually create this project, I got "writers block" & had NO idea how I was going to make this. Knowing the kind of person I am it had to be perfect. It had to be amazing. It had to be the best. I am competing up against 7 other mom's & the competition was ON! The more I thought about it the more anxious I got so I put it away & do what I always do best....wait until the last minute & then rush to get it all done.

So 2 days from the due date & I still hadn't started "the project". I had searched Google & Pinterest for ideas & there wasn't much out there so I soon realized I was going to have to use my own brilliant ideas for this. 

Later that afternoon, I picked up Mase as usual & while there I noticed in the corner of his room a pile of already handed in posters from other parents. I may or may not have snuck a peek at what the other Mom's parent's created & I was immediately bogged down by ideas. 

HT was BACK & she was inspired! I GOT THIS!!!

So after dinner we got the finger-paints out & Mase had fun making his hand prints. Once he went to bed I pulled out the colored paper, glue & scissors & cut out his little hand-prints, began organizing photos, created little explanations for each picture & assembled Mason's photo collage which described him & his favorite things.

I ended up finishing it the night before it was due & it all came together just as I had imagined it. It was bright. It was bold. And in my opinion (& my husbands) it was awesome. 

I present to you all my 1st "project" as a parent:

And here it is displayed on the wall among the rest of the other collages:

I loved putting together this little "project" & can't wait for future ones where Mase can help :)

Playdate

To finish off a fabulous birthday weekend, we started our morning by going to church. Then Mase & I met our besties, Jen & Miss Ava at our favorite place - Deanna Rose Farmstead for an afternoon of lots of fun. It was so good to get to see these two as it has been awhile & the Mommy's had so much fun catching up & enjoying watching the little's. 

Mase & Ava are SO cute together. They started off by feeding the goats:

Then sitting on the bench for a cute photo op:

Next stop was ringing all the cow bells:

While in the dairy barn they both wanted to sit on the wooden horse together:

Then we made our way over to the baby goats where Mase & Ava fed them bottles of milk:

It just warms my heart to see these two hang out together. I hope they will be good friends for a very long time!

After we fed the goats, we decided that it was snack-time so we made our way over to the ice cream parlor. Mommy & Mase shared a couple of scoops of ice cream & Miss Ava got herself a sno-cone. We of course had to get a group photo before the little's got all messy with their treats:

We had a blast with Jen & Miss Ava today! Little man was SO tired by the time we got into the car that he fell asleep while looking at his book:

We are looking forward to many more play-dates this fall with Miss Ava & her Mommy. We are hoping to meet up at Monkey Bizness next month :)

"Birth" Day

So this morning I awoke at 5am to my sweet little boy wide awake & not wanting to go back to sleep - thanks Mase for the early birthday wake up call ;) Luckily my dear hubby took Mase downstairs with him & let Mama sleep in! 

After I finally decided to get up, we headed over to our church for a breakfast fundraiser & enjoyed a delicious spread of scrambled eggs, hash-browns, biscuits/gravy & the most yummy cinnamon rolls made by this cutie-patootie 84 year old named Georgia - who sits next to us every Sunday in church. Such a sweet lady!

We swung by the mailbox on the way home & I was pleasantly surprised to see so many birthday cards waiting for me in the mailbox:

Made this birthday girl feel so loved :)

The rest of the day was spent hanging out around the house with my two boys, grilled out for dinner & ended the day eating some of my favorite cupcakes from Gigi's:

Here's to being another year older - hope I am continued to be as blessed as I was this past year!

Pre-Birthday Celebration

So tomorrow I am celebrating turning another year older. Seems like the older I get these birthdays creep up faster & faster every year - why is that?

Since my birthday falls on a Saturday this year, I figured why not make it a weekend-long celebration?! You only live once, right?

So we started the birthday weekend off by getting a babysitter & made our way downtown to the Power & Light District for a bit of a date-night. Out of all the "fancy" restaurants in P & L, I picked Johnny's Tavern. It had been a crazy busy day at work & by the time we got down there I was craving an ice cold beer & some bar food & Johnny's is the perfect place to get both.

 

We had a cocktail, ate, people watched & caught up on each others week. It was good for this Mama & Daddy to get out & enjoy some one-on-one time with each other!

After dinner we headed over to the outdoor courtyard area where a band called Evalyn Awake was setting up for their Friday night Kansas City Live! show. Shane is FB friends with the lead singer in the band we were about to watch & knowing his choice of music I had a feeling I wasn't going to be enjoying the show!

To my surprise the band was REALLY good. So good in fact that I am planning on downloading a few of their songs! We didn't stay out too late as this Mama was super tired from the long work week, but I'm glad the hubby & I got to go & enjoy a fun night out!

WWYD

Have you ever seen that show "What Would You Do"? 

In the show, actors act out scenes of conflict or illegal activity in public settings while hidden cameras videotape the scene & the focus is on whether or not bystanders intervene & how.

Well while I was sitting at Panera today having a quick lunch by myself I felt like I was on that show & I was expected at any minute to get up out of my seat & intervene with the situation that was unfolding in front of me.

These are the "actors":

get

Now I know that I am not the most perfect mother in the world & I have my days where I am frustrated with Mase but no matter how frustrated I can get you would never hear me say the kind of things to my child that were coming out of this ladies mouth - in a public place mind you nor would I make promises to my child I didn't intend to keep.

The mom is in teal, the sweet little girl named Darcy is in the middle & a girlfriend is on the right. The very well behaved little girl has been eating mac-n-cheese & yogurt while sitting there patiently for an hour while her mom & friend visit & says she is finished. The mom keeps insisting she "shut-up & finish her meal".

The little girl is clearly full but the mom would not let up on her. She kept telling her to eat all her food & then she will get a cookie. It was when I heard this statement "I know how big that mouth of yours is so I know you can finish your meal" is when I started to feel uncomfortable & get pissed. 

The little girl finally finishes her food with no complaining & asks her mom for the cookie she promised her. The mom tells her because of her attitude she doesn't get to have a cookie, proceeds to share the cookie with her girlfriend, eat it in front of her daughter & gave the poor child none. The child starts to cry, the mom grabs her arm, yells at her - for the entire restaurant to hear & then takes her to the bathroom.

It took all I could do to not run into that bathroom, grab that child & hug her, buy her a cookie & throat punch the mother.

What kind of parenting is this & what lessons does it teach to this poor little girl?? I was so bothered sitting there watching this entire situation go down & I had to fight back the tears I felt for that poor little girl. 

So as I sat there, I did the only thing I knew to do - I prayed for the little girl & her mother. Then I proceeded to pray for myself & asked forgiveness for being so judgemental & critical of a situation that was none of my business. 

I am so hoping the mom was just frustrated & having a bad day & this is not how she treats her daughter all the time?!

Showered in Pink

Today I went to my girlfriend Leann's baby shower which her friends threw at one of my favorite restaurants: La Bodega. One of Leann's friends husband is the main chef there so we were all treated like royalty & were spoiled with all the yummy appetizers that kept coming out to us throughout the afternoon. 

After a bit of mingling, eating & sipping on the most amazing sangria ever it was time for Leann to open her gifts for Baby Olivia.

I always love the "gift opening" part of baby showers. So much fun to see what the Mama-2-Be & baby gets from everybody as well as all the cute little outfits! But what I love even more than the gift opening is the cake - imagine that ;)

Leann has another girlfriend who is a professional baker & whipped up this delicious masterpiece for her shower & it was amazing. Vanilla cake with a butter-cream icing - I may or may not have had 2 pieces - as did a few of the other ladies.

Towards the end of the shower we gathered around to take a group photo with the glowing Mama:

And one of the Mama with her co-worker besties - Taylor & I - who are both planning on throwing Leann's work baby shower in September!

It has been so much fun going through this journey with this 1st time Mama & I have loved being her "go-to" person thus far. Can't wait for little Miss Olivia Piper to make her appearance come early November!