Cell Phone Dump

 Went in to Children's Place to exchange some jeans for Mase & walked out with 2 cool superhero t-shirts AND tattoos! He is going to be SO excited!!

Me & my Mama - Happy Mother's Day

 

 I walk in on Mase like this a lot while sleeping - LOL! Such a boy!!

It was a beautiful day to fly a kite!

 

Strawberry-picker extraordinaire!


Mother's Day with my little man!

12 years

 

12  - the number of years I have been married to this guy :)

 

And just like that we are celebrating yet another anniversary & 12 years have managed to escape us. It has been a ride full of ups & downs but there is no one I would rather have by my side than this guy! How he puts up with me some days I will never know but am so very thankful he does.

 

Looking forward to another 12 year run X 3 or 4 :)

 

Happy Anniversary to my better half - xoxo







Miss Katie, RN

Miss Katie has been a very important part of our family since Mason was 4 months old. She was Mason's daycare provider in the infant room at his daycare & in the beginning spent more time with my son than I did.



Miss Katie & Miss Alecia with Mase (7 mos old)

Miss Katie would leave at 3pm & then her mom Miss Maggie would take over & they both grew to love our child as if he was their own.

Katie left the daycare in August when Mason was 7 months old & went away to nursing school. Luckily for us she wasn't too far away & would come home on the weekends & babysit for us whenever we needed her. If Katie couldn't do it then her Mom Maggie would.

They were both there for his 1st birthday, have included him in Christmas & birthday presents every year for the last 3 years & have been a part of every milestone in his life. Maggie will ask to keep Mason on a random Friday or Saturday night just to get some one-on-one time with him & because she thinks of him as one of her grandchildren....even though she doesn't have any yet :)

They are such a huge part of our family & we love them so very much! Well, this weekend Miss Katie finally graduated from nursing school! I planned on going to her graduation & last minute had decided to bring Mase as a surprise to the both of them. He was super excited to see Miss Katie graduate & even more excited about the cake & ice cream at her party!

We ended up sitting next to Miss Maggie, her husband & the rest of their family! During the ceremony I don't know who shed more tears....me or Maggie as Katie walked across the stage with her diploma! I was so very happy for her!

After the ceremony we all found Katie outside & she was SO excited to see Mason! We of course had to get a picture with the new graduate & then I ended up taking a few of Katie & her family.

Miss Maggie, Miss Katie & Randy

Afterwards we all headed to BB's Grill for Katie's graduation party & Mason was excited to finally get to eat his cake & ice cream....along with about 4 of those pretzel sticks - LOL :)

Lucky for us Katie is working at a hospital nearby in the Labor & Delivery department so we will be able to see her often. She may not be able to babysit as often but we have already been informed by Miss Maggie that she is available anytime!!!

We are so very lucky to have these two amazing ladies in our life & continue to be blessed by their friendship, their kindness & the love they have for our Mase Man!

Stitch Fix #6

Stitch Fix #6 arrived today & I was SO excited to see what was inside that white & green box. Sadly, I wasn't impressed with the findings inside :(

I checked out everything & finally got around to trying everything on a few days later but was in a hurry because I had to get what I wasn't keeping in the mail the next day.

 

Needless to say, I didn't take any photos (which I am glad to have spared you) & only ended up keeping the mint green shirt which I wore to a graduation the next day (more on the graduation in a future post).

I don't know...lately I have gotten really frustrated & discouraged with Stitch Fix! I just feel like the items in the box never work for me & the items are a bit overpriced. I usually end up keeping one thing as to not lose my $20 fee & sometimes I don't even love that one item. I have been thinking of taking a little "break" this summer from requesting anymore packages. I am having much better luck shopping at Nordstrom Rack for 1/2 the cost of stuff that I know I am going to like & wear!

 

Maybe I will start up again this fall when I am in need of some cute sweaters or booties but until then you will more than likely find me shopping at Nordstrom Rack :) If you don't happen to have a NR then let me take a minute to express my condolences.

Strawberry Picking

It is May & around here that means that the strawberry farms are open & ready for picking!! We made our way down to Gieringer's Orchard & Berry Farm today to pick some strawberries & had the BEST time!

 

We had never been to this farm before so we were unsure what to do but quickly figured it out! We were handed a cardboard tray, instructed how to pick the strawberries off the plants, were escorted to a row & told "happy picking"!



After a few minutes had passed, these two were pros & our tray started to fill up quickly!

 

 

 My boys doing a little "taste-testing"

 

After about an hour of strawberry-picking we had a full tray & made our way to the check-out booth.



They weighed our tray & we ended up having over 11 lbs of yummy, red goodness! I was so excited to get home & start making some goods with all our berries!

Once we arrived home, I washed all the strawberries & got to work. I ended up making 12 jars of strawberry jam & some Strawberry Crisp for dessert after supper - YUM!

Even after making all that, we had about 4 lbs of strawberries leftover which didn't take long to eat up. I had plans to go back to pick more berries so I could make more jam but sadly we never did get back & then the strawberry picking season was over. They have blackberries available to pick but unfortunately, I am not a fan of blackberries. In the fall they have peaches so we may head back & pick some of those.

We had so much fun picking strawberries for the first time & can't wait until next year to come back & pick more!

Mother's Day Weekend

It's Friday & it's Mothers Day weekend!! I am so excited that my own Mother is coming to visit for the weekend & as an added bonus, her sister - my Aunt Jan - is also coming to visit us from Atlanta.

 

My mom arrived yesterday & today we are picking up my Aunt Jan at the airport & road-tripping to Fort Riley, KS. My Mom & her sister Jan both lived on the base with their husbands & were also pregnant together during that time. Sadly, my Aunt had complications with her pregnancy & ended up delivering her baby boy too early. He passed away 5 months before I was born & is buried there in the Fort Riley cemetery. My Aunt hasn't seen his gravesite since he passed so this trip we were making was a very special one.

 

After we picked up my Aunt we made our way down I-70 & had a couple of hours to catch up in the car. I just LOVED listening to my mom & Aunt - they love like sisters & bicker like sisters & it was super entertaining to listen to :)

 

We arrived at the base early afternoon & it was quite the ordeal trying to actually get on the base. Took us about 45 minutes of filling out paperwork, getting our pictures taken & cleared to get on the base but we jumped through all the hoops & were on our way in no time.

 

Once we drove through the gates, we drove past Irwin Army Hospital which was the hospital I was born in as well as my cousin. They are presently building a new hospital up the road & sadly will be soon tearing down the old hospital. It was kind of neat to see my place of birth & know that 43+ years ago my mom & her sister were living their lives here on the base together.

 

We found the cemetery & it didn't take us long to find my cousin's little gravesite. My mom & I bought a bouquet of white roses & baby's breath for my Aunt to lay at the gravesite & they ended up being a beautiful addition to the site.

As we were looking at the gravesite my Aunt pointed out that they don't put the mother's name on the faceplate - only the fathers name. What the heck? That just seems all sorts of messed up to me.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day & the cemetery there on the base was so quiet & beautiful. I sat quietly behind my Aunt while she sat at her sons' gravesite & just took in the moment. I enjoyed listening to my Aunt & Mom share stories & reminisce about their pregnancies, my cousins birth, their time there together. It was an amazing couple of hours that I will never forget.

We left the cemetery late afternoon & started to make our way back to Kansas City. Once we got back to our house we all ate supper & just chilled the rest of the evening. It was such a nice afternoon & was thankful for the one-on-one time with my Mom & Aunt.

 

Saturday morning came & we all had a lazy morning of sleeping in & eating a late breakfast. My brother & his family were coming over in the evening for supper along with my good friend Stetson & his wife so we spent the day hanging around the house & getting the food prepped for later.  

 

Everyone arrived late afternoon & we grilled hamburgers & had lots of yummy sides. Since the weather was nice & sunny out, we all gathered outside on our patio & ate supper out there. We all had a great time catching up & eating good food. Then it was time for dessert....



 

My amazing friend Stetson delivered once again - White Chocolate Raspberry & Chocolate Caramel Cheesecakes & YES - they tasted just as amazing as they looked.

It was awesome seeing my brother, his family & catching up with them all. Even though he only lives an hour away from me, it seems life is always getting in the way of seeing each other more often.

Sunday - Happy Mother's Day!!! It was so nice having my Mom here to celebrate this special day with. I can't tell you the last time I was actually with my Mom for Mother's Day.

We all woke up early, got showered & made our way to church. After an awesome service, Shane took us Mom's out for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants - Jack Stack Barbeque.

My Aunt Jan & my Mom

We stuffed ourselves full on ribs, burnt ends, baked beans & fries - YUM! Then once we got home we posed for some Mama's Day pictures....

 Me & my sweet little Man!
 

 We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the covered patio, drinking coffee & playing a few games of Scrabble while enjoying the afternoon rain showers going on around us. It was a super relaxed, awesome Mother's Day.

My little Scrabble-helper

 

 Keeping score :)

 

Sadly tomorrow morning these ladies are heading back to their homes while I am heading back to work :( It was been such a great weekend hanging with family & am looking forward to seeing these two lovely ladies in South Dakota over the 4th of July weekend.