Ted's & Friends

The "game-night" girls gathered together for dinner this evening so Mase & I joined these lovely ladies for dinner at a new Mexican restaurant - Ted's Cafe Escondido. 

I wasn't sure if I was going to make it or not as Shane ended up being out of town longer than usual this week. If I went I would have to bring Mason & these days I never quite know what mood he is going to be in once I pick him up from daycare! 

 

I hadn't seen many of these girls in months & I really wanted to see them & catch up so I decided to test Mason's mood & luckily for me he was quite the happy camper at pickup. So I notified the girls that Ted's was a go!

 We got their a bit late but quickly found the girls, settled in our seats, ordered our dinner & had a great time catching up with everyone. Mason ended up being a very well-behaved 2 year old for once & loved his "esa-diya" (quesadilla) & rice along with the chips & cheese sauce & yummy complimentary sopapillas.

So glad to get to spend a little bit of quality time with these ladies & hoping we can get together this fall once the summer activities die down & school gets back in session!

Best Buds

Mason & Greyson

Mason's teacher at daycare took this picture & posted it on my Facebook page today - what a couple of cuties!!

This is Mason's best buddy Greyson & these two are inseparable at daycare. What makes this picture even cuter is not only do they look like they could be twins, but they are dressed alike also. For some reason they both end up wearing the same colors or same kind of shirt on the same day. Yesterday they both had on navy shirts & khaki shorts. The day before that they were both wearing little muscle shirts. They day before that they both had on superhero shirts with their matching Spiderman shoes - all totally unplanned!! It cracks me up at the end of the day when I see the both of them together & what they are wearing - as if Greyson's mom & I called each other & planned it - lol :)

I just love that he is developing little friendships at daycare - it is so fun to watch. Whenever we aren't at daycare Mason asks me every 30 minutes:

"Where is Greyson?"

"With his Mama?"

"At his house?"

"Go play with Greyson?" 

I have a feeling that these two are going to be the best of friends well into high school & I can't wait to watch them grow up together!

Cell Phone Dump

Lots of pics to "dump" from the cell phone this month:

 

$20 find on Craigslist - SCORE :)

 Cool dudes!

Sticks his tongue out just like Daddy when concentrating :) 

 Best part of Chick-Fil-A?? The "I-Keem" (ice cream)

 

 Enjoying some pool-time while the kiddo naps

 

 Ooops - looks like I need a new glove?!

 

Our little Picasso

Cheeeese :)

Dinner & Dessert

Tonight I met some of my "Elite" girlfriends at Cheesecake Factory for dinner...one of them being my bestie Mama JenJen & her little girl Miss Ava Jean :)

Ugh - just love these two girls to pieces!!!

Mason wanted to sit right next to Ava Jean after we all ate & share an episode of Mickey Mouse with her on the iPad.

Then it was dessert time for these two. Mason ate only the whipped topping while Ava Jean ate only cheesecake....a match made in heaven :)

It was so good to see the "Elite" girlfriends & finally be able to sit down & catch up!! Although trying to visit with friends & manage a 2 year old at the dinner table is not an easy task....somehow I make it happen :)

Playdate with Olivia

My co-worker & dear friend Leann mentioned to me a few weeks ago that she & her little girl had never been to Deanna Rose Farmstead. As soon as I heard that come out of her mouth I demanded a play-date be scheduled with these two!!

We made plans to go the day after the 4th & met after church before the day got too hot. I had told Mason that Olivia had never been to DRF before so he would have to show her the ropes which he did every so proudly.

When we made our way into the farm we made our usual 1st stop at the chickens, then went & saw the baby cows & then Mase showed Olivia how to feed the baby goats.

I had bought a ticket for Mase to ride the pony but for some reason he wanted nothing to do with riding the horse. So we chose to feed the ducks in the pond instead. We made our way over to the general stores where we sat for a bit & had snacks & water. Then it was time to hit the other side of the farm.

Leann & Miss Olivia fed the bigger goats:

While Mase ran around in the children's gardens:

 

 

 We stopped to pet the bigger horses & take a group photo:

We had such a fun morning & can't wait to get these two littles together again soon for another fun play-date!!

Happy July 4th

Happy 4th of July to all my family & blogger-reading friends :)

This year we celebrated in style with good food, fireworks & surrounded by family!

Shane's mom Betty, Aunt Jenny, brother James, nephew Jordan, his wife Sam & their 7 week old baby Boston all came over & we all enjoyed the afternoon visiting & catching up with each other. Shane was tending to ribs on the smoker as well as grilling hamburgers & I was in the kitchen preparing all the yummy sides together. 

Mason spent most of his time hanging out with Uncle James & baby Boston. He was being so cute with the baby & so gentle. He kept patting his tummy, staring at his sweet little face & just seemed to be in awe of him. It's moments like this that make me extremely sad that Mase will have no idea what it is like to be a big brother :(

We all ended up eating around 5pm, had apple pie & angel food cake with strawberries/cool whip for dessert & then everyone gathered in the living room to watch the Royals game. 

Mase kept bugging me to "shoot 'works Mama" so we went outside & started shooting off the little kid fireworks. I spent way too much money on fireworks this year but I didn't care. Since we were in Minneapolis last year for the 4th we never got to shoot off our own fireworks so this year I wanted to make sure he had some fun memories.

We did the usual smoke balls, snakes, snaps, tanks, race cars & parachutes:

But the most favorite of them all - the pooping puppy:

We also had a pooping pig - LOL! Gross but oh so funny - Mason thought it was hilarious every time we lit one of those up!! Hearing him laugh was worth seeing it over again & again!

Shane's family left around 8:30ish & we stayed outside to shoot off some of our bigger fireworks. We grabbed the lawn chairs, parked them in the driveway & enjoyed watching our fireworks as well as the big, huge fireworks set off by our neighbors. They must have spent hundreds on their display - it was so awesome & Mason had SO much fun watching!!

 July 4th selfie - Mase & Mama

Hope you all had a very safe & fun holiday with your friends &/or families!!