Hooded

My brother is graduating from the University of Kansas with his Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) degree this weekend & we couldn't be more proud of him! It has been a very long road of schooling & sacrifice for him & to see him reach his goal & become an adult in the working world is awesome....for him AND his family!

This evening was his hooding ceremony which is a special recognition for doctoral degree candidates during which a faculty advisor & the Dean of Graduate Academics place the doctoral hood over the student, signifying the success in completing the graduate program. 

My brother & his classmates were part of KU history this evening as his graduating class was the very first class to graduate with a doctorate in the Nurse Anesthetist program! So after his official graduation ceremony tomorrow, we will soon be able to refer to my brother as Doctor Steve :)

Cousins & Crown Center

This morning my sister Jen & nephews Tanner & Cael flew in from WI for my brother Steve's graduation this weekend. Mase & I met my brother & his wife Meghan at the airport where they suprised them with a sign & balloons:

My parents & other brother Chris are driving down from SD & joining us later in the afternoon so we had some time to kill before they arrived. We decided to take the kiddos to Crown Center for lunch & see what it all had to offer. 

We initially were going to take them to Lego Land but when we saw that it cost $18/person to enter we decided against it & instead got a picture with the Lego people:

We instead ventured over to Kaleidoscope which was much more in our price range - FREE :) 

The boys had SO much fun playing & creating cards, puzzles, crowns & so much more at Kaleidoscope & loved assembling their little goody bags of craft projects to take home.

We next headed over to Fritz's Railroad Restaurant to eat some lunch & enjoyed some most delicious "diner-type" greasy hamburgers & fries. 

 

We ordered our food over the phone to some magical voice in the kitchen & an overhead train brought & delivered our food to our table. The boys had so much fun watching the train deliver everyone's food & then return to the kitchen to pick up some more.

 

After lunch we headed back to our house for nap-time & to await the arrival of my brother & parents. Once Mase awoke from his nap, we went to my parents hotel for a little pool-time & waited for them to arrive & check in.

So much fun had already been had & it is only Day 1! Looking forward to seeing what the rest of the weekend holds for us all!

Mother's Day

Rather than one special day a year, I think that Mama's should be appreciated every day of the year. I had no idea how hard (yet amazing & wonderful) motherhood would be until I had a child of my very own. 

As my little one enters "the terrible two's", my love & respect for my own mother (and anyone out there who has ever raised a child) grows more & more every day.

 1972 with my Mama :)

Sadly I was not able to spend Mother's Day with my own Mom but we did manage to spend it with Shane's Mom & it totally made her day! We met his Mom, Aunt & brother out for lunch & spent a couple of hours together celebrating Mom's Day.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at home not doing much of anything other than playing with my little man, grilling out for supper & after Mason went to bed I made some popcorn, curled up on the couch & watched a movie. Pure bliss.

Sometimes I look at this little boy & can't believe this is my life. After waiting so long to have a child, I make sure to never take time with him for granted. I am sure to be thankful for being blessed with such an amazing, smart, healthy little boy who looks up at me & calls me his Mama - a hundred times a day - literally :)

Happy Mother's Day to my very own amazing mother, my sister & sister-in-laws who are mothers, my near & dear besties who are mothers and to all of you Mama's out there reading this!

Today is YOUR day & I hope you enjoy every minute of it!

Play-date with Hannah

Mason has a little "girlfriend" named Hannah who used to be in his class at daycare. Those two were buddies & were always seen playing together, they slept next to each other at nap-time & on the weekends Mase would ask about her. Unfortunately, her family ended up moving closer to the city a few months ago & they no longer get to see each other everyday :(

Hannah's Mama texted me the other day saying that Hannah had been asking about Mason & if we could find a day to get the two together for a play-date. I told her what weekends we had available & today we finally made this play-date happen.

We ended up meeting at one of our favorite places: Deanna Rose Farmstead for the morning & these two were SO excited to get to see each other!

Hannah's brother Brody, Mason & Hannah

We spent the morning riding the horses:

 

Hanging out together watching the fish:

 Feeding the baby goats:

Sharing a snack together:

These two were so cute & had so much fun spending the morning together. Hannah's Mama & I agreed to do these play-dates more often so that these two little cuties could remain buddies!

Next play-date - fun at the pool coming soon :)

House Update

The new house is coming along & with a little over 2+ weeks left until move-in day things are starting to finally get done! The inspection & appraisal came in without any surprises on the old house so now it is a waiting game! We are crossing our fingers the buyers don't end up backing out for any reason!

Here are some pics of the new house & what has been done since the last time I posted. They were all taken with my cell phone so not the best pics but you will get an idea! Main thing is that all the tile & stone is set:

 Kitchen back splash

 Stone around fireplace

 Master bathroom - walk in shower

 Master bathroom - floor/jacuzzi tub

 Basement "Jack & Jill" bathroom

 Front door - stone on pillars

So as of today we are still scheduled to close on Monday May 18th & move in on the 19th. So we will be hoping that nothing happens from now until then to delay things!

Mama's Night Out

So there is a little group of mommies I know & they all have "littles" at Mason's daycare. I have gotten to know several mommy's in Mason's class quite well - especially since 2 of them live a block away from us. We often walk over to their house for play-dates & are kind of sad to be leaving the neighborhood now :(

So a few weeks ago one of the mommies suggested we leave the littles & the husbands at home & we should all have a "Mommy's Night Out". Let me just say you didn't have to ask any of us twice!! We all quickly agreed to make it happen & 2 weeks later here we are!

Now at first I was a little nervous about this "40-something" Mommy hanging with these young "30-something" Mommy's but by the end of the evening this old Mommy could hang with the best of them. 

We started with dinner at Jose Pepper's & filled our bellies with chips, salsa, margaritas & dinner. We all enjoyed getting to know each other, talking about our littles & the crazy things our hubby's do :) After we ate we headed to Fuel which is a bar that actually has 4 different types of bars in it & a huge outdoor patio that gives you access to each bar.

We started out with a cocktail, fun people watching, checking out each bar & then finally ended up out on the dance floor. We were out there for about an hour & then the clock struck midnight & we decided to call it a night. We all knew that we had to wake up as Mommys come 6am so we all agreed earlier in the evening that midnight would be our curfew.

The evening was a success & we had such a great time that we all agreed to get together & have another "Mommy's Night Out" again soon!

Uncle-time

Today I took Mase to get a much-needed haircut & then we met my brother Steve at Chili's for lunch! He has been super busy with the end stages of Nurse Anesthetist school so when he asked us if we could meet up for lunch we jumped at the chance to see him. Mason was SO excited to his "Uncle Teve" :)

It was great catching up with him & we are looking so very forward to having my family in town in a few weeks to celebrate Steve's graduation!

House Update

Lots has happened since I last gave an update on the new house. We now have paint on the walls, baseboards & crown molding! The tile should begin to be installed in the next couple of weeks. I really like the colors of the stain & wall colors thus far. Can't wait to see it all come together after tile & carpet!

The master bathroom

Front door & stairs to basement. Mason's bedroom is on the left.

Kitchen & living room on the left

Mason standing in his bedroom

Basement living room area

Can't believe in one short month we will be closing & moving in!! Hoping they have everything finished by then!

Farm Outing

Will all the hustle & bustle going on around us we thought it would be a perfect afternoon to get outside & go to Deanna Rose Farmstead for the first time since last fall. Mason could not wait to go see the cows, goats & ducks & talked about them all the way there.

Of course when we got there he first stop was the cows. We were surprised to see 2 baby calves in the pen & Mason was in awe to be standing so close to a "baby cow". We must have stood there for over a half hour! We could not get him to leave.

Next stop - the old tractor right outside the barn. Mason & Daddy stopped for a cute photo op!

Around the corner from the cows were the little pygmy goats. The line to purchase the bottle of milk for these little babies was ridiculously long so we skipped the feeding & just had fun petting each one.

Right next to the baby goats were the tractors. This is another fun thing to do & we can never get Mason off of these things! 

 After about an hour Mase was tired of walking & was thirsty so he took a little break in the wagon & we made our way over to the other side to check out the pigs, big goats, buffalo, birds, owls & play on the park equipment.

We spent a couple of hours walking around checking everything out & then headed on over to Jalapeno's for some mexican food - YUM!

We had such a great time together & are looking forward to many more afternoons spent at this fun place this summer!

Easter

"He is not here; he is risen, just as he said"   Matthew 28:6

Happy Easter everyone!!

What a beautiful morning we awoke to this morning! We got up, had breakfast, went to church & listened to a beautiful sermon by our amazing Pastor. I just LOVE our church, our Pastor & the people that go there.

The Easter Bunny had managed to come to the house while we were at church & hid a bunch of eggs throughout the backyard & Mason was SO excited to go on his "egg hunt"!

He searched for those eggs like a pro & upon finding one he would yell "found one" - over & over. So stinking cute! After finding many, many eggs he stumbled across his Easter basket:

We took all the eggs into the house, opened them all to find candy & money for his piggy bank & then he tore into his basket. He was most excited about the construction trucks:

 Ugh - I just love his little "cheeeeese" face.

Hope you all enjoyed your Easter with your loved ones just as much as we did!

Easter Eve

In preparation of the Easter bunny's arrival tomorrow morning, we all spent the evening dying eggs & had SO much fun. I remember when I was little how much fun it was to color eggs with my siblings so I was looking very forward to doing this with Mason this year. 

I was hoping that since he is 2 years old now that he would start to "get it" with all the holidays & let me tell you something - this kid gets it! 

I got all the cups ready to go while Mason & Daddy supervised & when it came time to dip his eggs he was so excited! He couldn't wait to scoop them out to see what color they were.

We ended up coloring 18 eggs & Mason was SO proud to show off his collection:

 Love his little "cheeeeese" smile :)

Before bed I read him his Easter story book that he got last year in his Easter basket & we talked about Jesus & why Easter is so very special. I know he is probably too young to understand but I really want him to know the religious importance behind Christmas & Easter & in my opinion it is never too early to start teaching your child about these values!

About 3 months ago I started to include praying into his bed-time routine & after we read our books we turn the light out, fold our hands together, pray & then I sing him a few songs while rocking him & then put him into his crib. 

The other night for some reason I had forgotten to pray with him & went right to singing. Mason immediately interrupted me, folded his little hands together & said "pay Mama" - which meant "pray Mama".

I was in tears.

I grabbed his little hands, we prayed together & I made sure to thank God for giving us such a sweet, precious little boy.

Even though he is only 2 years old, he is definitely getting it.

House update

Here is a pic of what the new house looks like:

The columns are going to be painted the same color as the garage doors/front door & the stone still needs to go on around the garage & under the columns. The little wooden accents at the peaks will also be painted the same color as the garage but for now this gives you an idea of what it looks like.

They just finished staining the kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets/vanity & fireplace mantel/bookshelves:

We went with a dark stain for both the cabinets & the hard wood floors & love how it has turned out so far. 

They start painting next week so will take more pics then!