Fall Festival

Every year on the 3rd week of September, our little town has what is called a “Fall Festival”. There is a parade, vendors set up booths with food & crafts along the main street, there are inflatables for the kids to enjoy & later in the evening there is the old “street dance” in the middle of the main street with music & a beer garden along with fireworks to kick off the beginning of fall.

We have lived in this little town we call “home” for almost 10 years now & this is the very first time we have ever participated in the fall festivities. Why we haven’t done this sooner I have no idea because it was SO fun.

All three of us ventured out on this cool, crisp morning & got our place in line along the main street of our small town & we all enjoyed watching the parade. It was your traditional parade with the local fire department starting it off with the sirens, along with lots of floats made from local businesses,  the high school marching band, & lots of candy being thrown to the little kids. It was nice to see SO many people supporting our town as there were people packed along each side of the street.

Mason LOVED watching all the floats go by & he has really become fond of “people watching”!  Keeps that boy entertained for hours!

His daycare made a super cute float & the majority of the staff either walked with it or rode on the float. 

When they passed by us they all yelled “Hi Mason”, waved & he even got a quick kiss from his day provider Miss Maggie (pictured below in the black t-shirt holding the sign)! He LOVES Maggie & you can tell she just adores Mason which makes me feel SO at peace with dropping him off every morning.

Can you see Mason's little head & body sitting in the stroller? 1st one on the left :)

Here is a picture of the float the staff made. Mason's afternoon provider is Kendra (whom we love also) & she is in the yellow sweater on the right:

And the back of the float:

The back of the float was pulling diaper boxes, milk cartons, formula cans, baby wipe boxes, etc & was a hit with the crowd! Everyone thought is was so clever!

Mason managed to get through most of the parade but as it was winding down, so was he as it was his nap-time! I still can't believe we have never been to the fall parade before. We will definitely be making this an annual event in the future for sure!

Last Day

Mason has been going to day care for 4 months now & I have been SO pleased with the way his daycare is run as well as the staff who takes care of my little guy.

Every morning I drop him off & am comforted to see him greeted by smiling faces & the excitement on his face when he sees his providers makes it easier leaving him. I have grown particularly fond of the two girls who take care of him day in & day out - Miss Katie & Miss Alecia. They spend more time with my son then I do which is hard for me to accept sometimes but knowing he is in such great hands eases the heartache.

                                            Katie, Mason & Alecia

With that said, I was given some very sad news earlier this week. Miss Katie & Miss Alecia are both leaving the infant room & today is their last day. Katie is going back to nursing school & Alecia is moving over to the 1 year old room - so at least she won‘t be too far! 

When they told me this I immediately got tears in my eyes. I guess I was naive enough to think they would be with Mason all year & had no other lives of their own other than caring for my son - silly me!

It was a tough week knowing we were steps closer to the “last day”. On the girls last day I brought them both flowers, a thank you card with a Target gift card in it & wrote out my thanks & appreciation for taking such good care of Mason every single day while I was away at work. They were both touched & I know they were both sad to be leaving him as well. Miss Katie promises to come visit when she can & we have become Facebook friends so she can keep up with Mason! She has also offered her babysitting services anytime we needed them so that is a nice resource to have in the future!!

After we said our sad goodbye to the girls, I learned that Katie’s mom Maggie was going to be moving to the infant room on Monday & I couldn’t have been happier! Maggie has filled in before when Katie or Alecia has been gone & she runs a super tight ship in that infant room! LOVE her to pieces & so does Mason so it made me feel so much better. 

I am going to miss seeing Miss Katie’s sweet face & look forward to getting Alecia back in 5 months when Mason moves over to the 1 year old room - YIKES - that will be here before we know it!

Colorado...Day 4

Day 4 & it is time to make our way back to Kansas. 

We had a short & sweet visit with Shane's parents & were up early to say goodbye. Not sure when we will get to see them again so we made sure to get a few pictures with Grandpa & Grandma "Mountain" before we left!

Three generations of Taylor's

Grandpa & Grandma "Mountain"

We made sure to arrive at the airport a few hours before our flight since we were unsure how long it would take for us to return the rental car, get checked in, go through security, get a bite to eat, & find our gate. Going through the Denver airport was CRAZY & SO many people. Going through security felt like we were cattle all corralled & rounded up ready to be released at the gate. I didn't care for it at all...especially with a baby but everything went better than expected & we made it to our gate with 45 minutes to spare.

Killing some time waiting to board our plane:

And so this concludes Mason's 1st vacation! So long Colorado.....the Taylor's will one day be back!

Colorado...Day 3

We awoke to another beautiful morning in Estes Park & I was a little bit sad our time here was coming to an end. I am so looking forward to when we can come back & spend a little more time here. Estes Park is such a cute little town!

After packing up our stuff, we checked out of our hotel & then met the majority of the crew for breakfast at another hidden little gem of a place called Big Horn Restaurant. We all enjoyed a great morning feast outside & hearing all about what these crazy kids did after the wedding reception. It sounded like yet another wild & crazy night! I wouldn't expect anything less from them all :)

Looks like somebody is ready for his breakfast...

After breakfast we said our goodbye's to the group but before we left town, I was told by my girlfriend Deanna that since our shopping excursion got rained out yesterday, I absolutely had to make one last stop before we left. 

I give you a little piece of holiday heaven.....

 

The Spruce House "A Christmas Place"

This cute little place was ceiling to floor, wall to wall covered in everything Christmas! Not only was I in awe of all the sparkle, twinkle & decor (as you can tell by my reaction when I walked through the door):

  

...but I think Mason was in a bit of shock also - he just couldn't stop staring at everything! But can you blame him? He has a Mama who absolutely LOVES Christmas so why wouldn't he??

I of course couldn't leave this cute little place without making a purchase & bringing home a few souvenir ornaments!

 

Thanks Deanna for sharing this hidden gem with me, for capturing this magical moment & for sharing in my love of the holiday season :) Oh & just in-case anyone was wondering.....Christmas is only 114 days away or more importantly, only 8 pay-periods away! Let that sink in for a moment!

...................

After our little holiday pit-stop, we loaded into the car once more & left this cute little town behind us as we made our way to south to Aurora to visit Shane's parents. We got there early afternoon & enjoyed the rest of the day spending time with Grandpa & Grandma "Mountain"! It was much fun watching these two bond with Mason! It's just too bad they don't live closer :(

Colorado...Day 2

Today our dear friend Deb was getting married....the reason we all gathered here to begin with. Our morning consisted of breakfast, coffee & chit chat with Jen & Miss Ava on the beautiful patio of our hotel room & then we all got ready for the big event. 

The wedding was to take place at 11:30am & the reception was at 4:30pm so we needed to be ready & out the door fairly early. Here are my two handsome boys all dressed up:

 And mommy & Mason:

We made our way to the Black Canyon Inn where the wedding was taking place. It was a short 10 minute drive from where we were staying & the grounds were gorgeous. The wedding was held in a covered pavilion that overlooked Rocky Mountain National Park & was absolutely breath-taking!

Here comes the bride:

Saying "I Do":

:

Her dress was SO pretty & she looked so very happy!!

Introducing the new Mr. & Mrs!!

Look who else had a pretty dress & looked beautiful - little Miss Ava:

And after the ceremony was all said & done, we had to take advantage of the beautiful backdrop & get one of many family pics:

Since there was a 3 hour wait until the reception, we decided to head back to our hotel, change & meet the "Elite" crew for lunch & walk around the downtown area. We all met at this little "hole in the wall" wood fire pizza joint called Picnic in the Park & had lunch. We of course couldn't leave the place without getting our picture taken with the elk...who yes strangely enough has a picnic basket on his antlers:

After we ate lunch, we were going to hit up some of the Christmas shops on the main street but unfortunately it started to rain so we decided to head back to the hotel & let Mason (& ourselves) take a little nap before the reception.

We returned to the BC Inn around 4:30pm & the Twin Oaks Steakhouse where the reception was held was beautifully decorated inside. These were the guest tables:

And the beautiful & dee-lish wedding cake:

And two of the cutest guests ever....Mason & Ava

We all enjoyed cocktails, yummy appetizers, a dee-lish buffet & afterwards the amazing wedding cake. Both the marble & chocolate cake were worth every bite & yes I had two pieces - would you expect anything less from me? The cake was all laid out on a table & there was plenty to go around so why not?!?

Shortly after the first few dances we decided to call it a night as Mason was getting tired & the music was starting to get loud. We said our goodbyes to everyone & this Mama enjoyed going to bed early & getting a good nights sleep - something that is quite rare these days ;) Must be the mountain air!

Congrats to Deb & Jon - so very blessed to have been in the company of girlfriends I love & witness such a beautiful wedding of two very deserving people!

Colorado...Day 1

Today we were all up & at 'em early as we made our way to the airport for a weekend get-away to Colorado. This was Mason's 1st vacation & 1st time flying so I was a bit nervous on how he would be on the flight as well as during our trip away from the comfort's of our own home. 

We left the house at 5am & managed to get to the airport, park & unload the car, get shuttled to the terminal, get checked-in, go through security with all Mason's stuff, barely made it to the gate with no time to spare as they were boarding passengers & when it was our turn to board the plane the attendant asked for Mason's boarding pass. 

Wait, what? Boarding pass? For a child who is sitting on my lap? 

No one had told or asked us about a boarding pass. When I first booked these flights online I had checked the little box that one infant would be traveling on my lap & there was nothing else for me to fill out so I thought nothing of it. One would think they would have said something when we checked in while they saw me holding Mason, OR at least when they checked our documents through the security line when I was again holding him?? Uh, NO! 

So as we are about to get on the plane they inform us we need to go to the ticket counter & get a boarding pass printed for Mason. We were already late to the gate so I was annoyed & worried we would be last to board & not be able to sit all together. So we get out of line, haul everything over to the counter & they ask me for paperwork with proof of Mason's birthdate on it. 

What? Oh wait, I have it right here...let me just pull it out of my ass for you. 

LOL - I didn't really say that but I sure wanted to! No one mentioned to me that I would need this documentation so NO I didn't have his birth certificate on me or anything else for that matter with his DOB. The only thing I had with me with his name on it was our insurance card. 

So after much pleading & begging they let it slide, entered his info into the computer all the while telling me about FAA regulations & how they could lose their job over this & good luck coming back home through Denver without this info, blah blah blah. I said I would worry about it later but for now we have a flight to catch. Thank you & goodbye. 

We finally were able to get on the plane & after I was cursing Southwest Airlines for the last 20 minutes of drama we just went through, we were told the flight attendant was holding a row for us so we could all sit together. So I ended up feeling bad for cursing them & thanked the attendant 10 different times. We all got comfy in our row & were off - our first vacation as a family of 3 :) 

We arrived at the Denver airport at 8am, picked up our luggage & made our way to the car rental place. Mason had done awesome as our little traveler so far & I was amazed he was doing so well. We rented our car, got loaded up & decided to stop at Shane's parents house for a few hours before we made our way up to Estes Park. They live 15 minutes from the airport so it was nice to stop in, relax a bit, feed Mason & let him take a nap. 

By lunchtime we were on our way to our destination & enjoyed the 2 hour car ride driving through the Rocky Mountains up to Estes Park. 

 We're not in Kansas anymore!

We stayed at the cutest little place called the Appenzell Inn which reminded me of a hotel one might find in the Swiss Alps. 

 Our room was on the very end far left. This was the view from our patio:

Absolutely beautiful! The rooms were studio-apartment-like which included a king bed, living room, fireplace, jacuzzi tub & a small kitchen. We will definitely be coming back & staying at this cute little Inn again! 

My "Elite" girlfriends & their husbands had all made the trip to CO also for our friend Deb's wedding & half of our group stayed here. Right next to our room were these 2 beautiful girls along with Jen's husband:

 JenJen & Miss Ava 

We spent the evening getting settled into our room & then later headed over to our friend Camille & Ray's room where everyone had gathered for cocktails & munched on some of Camille's awesome & famous chips & salsa! 

We ended up turning in early as it had been a LONG day for us while the rest of the group met the bride & groom-2-be at a local bar for more cocktails. From what I understand, we missed one heck of a karaoke show!!

7 months old

7 months old & less than half way to turning one! This past week I have started planning the "first birthday" festivities...I know some of you can hardly believe that - lol :) I'm not going to share many details just yet but know that it is going to be a fun celebration & it is going to be grand!!

Weight: At your 6 month appointment you weighed in at 19 lbs 4 oz & were 27.5 inches long - both in the 80th percentile. I'm sure by now you are at least 22 lbs. You are definitely a big, healthy, growing boy! I have begun to pack up most of your summer 6 mos shirts & shorts :( They were starting to get a little snug so we are moving on to 9 mos clothing. You continue to wear size 3 diapers & have some room to grow into those!

Sleeping: You are a great nap-taker & follow a good routine. Awake for the day at 6:30am, a 45 minute nap around 8:30am, a 1.5-2 hour nap around noon, another 45 minute cat-nap around 4:30pm & down for the night around 7:30pm. You are still waking up at 11pm & 3:30am for a bottle every night without fail. I have been given all kinds of advice from other moms on how to drop that 11pm feeding but that means I have to keep you up later in the night. Not sure that is what I want to do as you shows signs that you are ready to go down around 7pm. We will figure it out eventually. For now I will just enjoy those late night snuggles :)

You have also started to flip onto your tummy to sleep & find that position most comfortable. It still makes me nervous to come in & find your little nose almost buried in the mattress but this is how you prefer to sleep & you wake up & get mad at mommy if I try to flip you over. It's a battle I can't win.

Eating: You have mastered eating solids & still love the orange veggies & LOVE fruit - especially mango & blueberries w/apples! I tried giving you puffs a several weeks ago & loved watching you pick them up ever so delicately with your little hand, shove them in your mouth & then proceed to gag on them....which wasn't so cute :( So we waited a couple of weeks & tried the puffs again which this time you did much better. You actually swirl them in your mouth & try to chew on them & no gagging!

We also tried Baby Mum Mum's (rice crackers) which you loved to chew on but once they became soft, you proceeded to gag on those as well. For a split second I thought I was going to have to free you from that high chair & give you back blows - scared Mommy to death! Will try giving you these again in a couple of weeks. For now we will just stick to our oatmeal, veggies, fruits & puffs! This past month you have also started using a "sippy cup" which you are doing pretty well with.

Milestones:
- You are now sitting up unassisted & enjoy sitting on the floor surrounded by your toys. Millie our Bulldog loves to sit next to you & watch you play - secretly hoping you will share your toys with her!

- The "rock-n-crawl" is your latest thing. You aren't crawling yet but are SO very close to doing so. You get up on your hands & knees like you are going to take off & you just sit & rock back & forth not quite sure knowing what to do with your arms. You get SO frustrated but are a very determined little boy & after many attempts you get pissed off & eventually just give up. You have been doing this for 3 weeks now & it makes me wonder if you are ever going to crawl?!

- This toy is your absolute favorite right now. They are stackable wooden rings made by Melissa & Doug & you love them. You enjoy taking them all off of the stick & then proceed to chew on them.

- "Peek-a-Boo" is your favorite game & the giggles that come with it are the absolute best!
- You love it when mommy sings to you. Some of your favorite songs are "The Wheels on the Bus" & "You Are My Sunshine".

- You had your 1st vacation & airplane ride to Colorado! We spent Labor Day weekend in Estes Park for a wedding & spent a couple of days with your daddy's parents - Grandma & Grandpa "Mountain" (since they live in the mountains.) My parents are Grandma & Grandpa "Farm" as they live on a farm!

 

You are growing & developing at lightening speeds & even though it is exciting to see you excel at all these new things, it also makes me sad that my little newborn is no longer here. You are a beautiful little boy whom we love so very much & I look forward to seeing what the next month brings us.

Love you little bubba,

Daddy & Mommy

Smoked

The hubby has gone & bought himself a new "toy". Surprisingly it doesn't have wheels OR a motor. It is a smoker & he is having much fun trying out new things to smoke. 

I can't lie...I too am enjoying tasting all these newly smoked edibles :) The very first thing he smoked were baby back ribs. Here is a pic of the "trial-run" ribs all rubbed down & ready to go:

And after 6 hours of smoking & cooking here is the end result: 

I must say they were absolutely DEE-LISH & I may be a bit biased but I think they were pretty much the best ribs I have ever sank my teeth into! The hubby was quite proud of himself & has now found a new hobby. Since then he has smoked ribs one additional time which were just as tasty as the first! 

Lucky for me it looks like he will be smoking brisket & some baked beans this weekend! I am looking very forward to being his "taste-tester" :)

Deanna Rose Farmstead

Ever since I have lived in the KC area, I have heard talk of this fabulous little farmstead in the middle of Overland Park, KS from friends & co-workers. In the 14 years that I have lived here I have never been...mainly because we never had a reason to go. Now that we have Mason we were excited to check this place out & see what the hype was all about!

Deanna Rose was a police officer & the first female officer to die in the line of duty in the state of Kansas. The farmstead was renamed in 1985 in her honor & this 12 acre farmstead has kept the "charm of the farm" to children living in the city. 

I grew up on a farm in South Dakota & spent many summers on my grandparents farm bottle-feeding the calves, watching grandpa milk the cows, gathering eggs with my grandma, riding the 4-wheeler & had so much fun. So this little place takes me back to those treasured days & I am so excited to be able to share these experiences with Mason. 

Deanna Rose has so much to offer. While there the kids can bottle feed the baby goats, milk a cow, take a horse drawn wagon ride through the woods, go on a pony ride, feed the ducks & so much more. He is of course too little to be able to do all those things now but that didn't stop him from having a great time while there.

We arrived around noon & loaded up the stroller. It was an overcast day, not too hot, a little humid but overall perfect weather. Cost to enter the farm was $2 for adults - so cheap! I am already liking this place :) 

We spent the next 2 hours checking it all out. I think Mason enjoyed watching all the people rather than the animals but that is ok - his mommy & daddy had fun for him! 

I took him into the baby goat pen & he was fascinated by all the little goats coming up to us. I unfortunately didn't have any food for them so once they figured that out they quickly left us alone.

Next we made our way over to the cows & the calves & then made a pit-stop by the park for his first official turn on the swing. He wasn't quite sure what to think of it & kept trying to bounce up & down in it as if he was in his jumperoo.

After swinging we headed over to the other side of the farmstead where they had the duck pond, chickens, sheep, goats, pigs, another park & a huge sandbox. They had two of these baby goats to pet & feed & I thought they were SO cute:

We had such a good time with our little man & look forward to many future visits to this hidden little treasure in the middle of Overland Park!