2017 Year in Review: Feb - June

February - June 2017

 

Hello? Anyone out there still read this blog of mine? (other than my Mother LOL) I have been a HUGE slacker when it comes to keeping up with my blog. Work, life, being a Mama & wife have gotten in the way of a lot of things I love to do...blogging being one of them. After the last 3 posts that I recently shared I realized something. I really miss keeping up with this scrapbook of our life & sharing it with you all....whoever that may be.

 

I am making an early New Years resolution & that is to do a better job at keeping this blog up to date. Not only for me so that I can capture the happenings of our life but so that my Mother will stop bugging me about updating it :) Even if there is only 1 person reading this, I will continue to have a personal record of our families lives & the things we did while Mase was growing up.

 

So with that said, let me do a somewhat quick & shortened version of an update for you on the past year....if that is even possible?! I might have to do this in 6 month sections.

February - we took Mason to his very first Monster Truck show & then 2 weeks later an Arena Cross show. I don't know who was more excited...Mase or his Daddy!? We enjoyed both evenings very much & will be back for sure!

We welcomed a new English Bulldog puppy to the family named Fiona!

We now have 3 bulldogs (1 senior & 2 puppies) & yes we are crazy! Winston would not leave Millie alone & she was stressing out so bad about it that she was losing her hair & starting to get grumpy. 

With Millie being elderly & already training a puppy we thought why not train 2 puppies at the same time & be done. So that is what we did. Fiona has been the easiest bulldog puppy to train out of all of them & has such a gentle & sweet personality about her! We are SO happy we decided to bring her into our family & Millie is SO much happier now that she is being left alone! 

March was a bit of a slow month as far as events or activities. The one fun thing that happened though was my sister & her kiddos all came to KC for their spring break! We had tons of fun at Crown Center/Union Station, Sea Life Aquarium, jumping at Urban Air, swimming at the Community Center & just hanging out! Mason loved having his cousins here & keeps asking when they are coming back :)

April brought us warmer days, the start-up of spring soccer, Easter egg hunt @ Louisburg Cider Mill, celebrating Easter, time spent on the new patio furniture & lots of bike riding!

 

 

The Easter bunny was super good to Mase this year & he had so much fun finding all the eggs inside & outside!

May was a super busy month for us. Mason finished up soccer & the same week we started T-Ball. We had SO much fun watching him play with the rest of his little friends & cheering the kiddos on in the bleachers. Shane was a pitcher all through high school & college so we are both hoping he takes after his Daddy :)



Our anniversary is May 22nd so this month I celebrated 13 wonderful years with this guy....

Strawberry picking is an annual May event for us so we made our way out to Gieringers Family Orchard in Edgerton, KS. We picked 11 lbs of strawberries again this year & had so much fun. After we got home, we washed all the strawberries & Mase & I proceeded to make 18 jars of strawberry jam, muffins & froze 3 lbs to use throughout the winter. YUM :)

Mase & I made the trip home to SD to see my family - especially my Grandmother who is not doing well. I was able to spend some time one on one with her while home & it was a wonderful visit but also bittersweet since we don't know how much time we have left with her.

We made the trip to my Grandparents farm & while there my Grandpa showed Mason all his tractors, educated him on what each one was used for & even let him turn one on & pretend to drive it :) Mase was in heaven!!

Mase was able to spend some time with his cousins Joslyn & Lane & had so much fun. I just wish we lived closer so we could visit Grandma & Grandpa Farm more often :(

Mason has been battling severe allergies & has been miserable for the past few months so we went & saw an allergist & had allergy testing done. He was such a trooper as they stuck 48 needles in his little back & had to lay still on his tummy for 20 minutes.

Turns out he is highly allergic to trees, grasses, weeds & dogs :( Spring time will be the worst when the trees & grasses/weeds start blooming. No wonder he has been so miserable :( The Dr also said we didn't need to get rid of our pets but instead gave us some tips on what we could do to keep the dander down in our home. He put him on Singulair every night & Nasocort every day to help him feel better. Poor Bubba...

He has also gotten several ear infections these past few months & had enlarged adenoids at his last appointment so our pediatrician suggested we reinsert tubes & remove his adenoids. He handled that surgery like a trooper also & was feeling so much better after a few days.

Memorial Day weekend we took the RV & went to Table Rock Lake for a weekend & then went to Lebanon, MO for a few days & did some trout fishing. It was our first camping trip of the season & oh how we missed it.

While we were at Table Rock, on the morning of May 30th I received a heartbreaking phone call from our dog sitter. Through her tears she told me that she had just woke up & found Millie had passed away peacefully in her sleep. I was immediately heartbroken & so very upset that we weren't there with Millie when she passed. I also felt horrible for our dog sitter Anna who found her & had to make that difficult phone call to us :(

We ended up packing up our campsite & originally had plans to head to Lebanon, MO that day so we left Table Rock earlier than planned, made our way to Lebanon, dropped our RV at the campsite & then headed back home to say goodbye Millie.

We got home & spent some time saying goodbye to her & then we took her to our vet so that she could be cremated. To this day I have a lot of guilt that we weren't there in her last days. I feel like I never really got to say goodbye to her or have closure with her death. We had lost Bubba 10 months before & my heart was still healing from his loss & then our sweet Millie left us. It was devastating. And having to deal with all Mason's questions that I didn't know how to answer....it was just too much bear.

After much back & forth conversation, we decided to continue on with our camping trip in Lebanon. We both felt it would be a good distraction for all of us & Mason would have been super disappointed had we cut it short & he was already upset about Millie. So we made the 2 hour drive back to the RV & spent the next couple of days trying to put a smile on our face & make happy memories together...even though we were all sad :( 

After a couple days away we made it back home & reality set in. Millie's absence was felt by all of us & it was a tough couple of weeks but slowly our hearts were beginning to heal. The puppies have been a good distraction & have helped fill the hole in our hearts. It gives me peace to know that she is finally reunited with Bubba & I'm sure they are chasing each other around & licking each others ears up there near the Rainbow Bridge.

June - officially the start of summertime!! We spent this month not as busy as the last which was a nice break. Lots of weekends at the pool with my Mama Tribe & kiddos, weekly T-Ball games, Mason battled a bout of strep throat & we went camping at one of our favorite campsites Melvern Lake.

Sick lil' Bubba :(

 

Whew - 1/2 way done!!! Year in Review to be continued.......