KU game #2

KU game #2 commenced today & as usual it was a great time spent with the hubby. We were playing TCU this afternoon & even though they gave it a good effort, TCU lost by only 7 points. KU's W was a nail-biter at times but we were able to pull it off.

 

 

At one point during the game I looked up & saw UPS representing at the KU game :) (For those of you reading this who don't know why this is even relevant - my husband drives for UPS!)

 

Two games down, one more to go. Oh how I love college basketball! We are only 2 short months away from one of my favorite times of year - March Madness!!! Woot woot :)

 

BDay party sneak peek

The party planning for Mason's 3rd Birthday has begun & this Mama has been pinning items on Pinterest & browsing Etsy every chance I can get.

This is the 1st party where all his little friends will be invited so it is definitely going to be a memorable one! But really, would you expect anything less from HT?

It's going to be fun. It's going to be loud. It's going to be "super".

Here is a little sneak-peek of what is to come:

Superheroes - UNITE!!!

Coming to you Jan 30th :)

 

Stitch Fix #3

It's Stitch Fix day - delivery #3 has made it's way to my doorstep & I am like a kid on Christmas Day!

Upon opening this months box I saw dark colors - promising! And the bag can only mean one thing - shoes!

So here is what Fix #3 contained:

 

A Navy blazer with cute cuffed sleeves, a red dressy blouse with sleeves that you could pin up to 3/4 sleeves, a pair of black skinny jeans, a silver necklace & a pair of navy/gray flats.

I tried on the skinny jeans, red blouse, necklace & blazer all at the same time to make my decision. I really liked the blazer but I have a black one exactly like it so didn't feel I needed to spend the money on the blue one. I liked the silver necklaces but my jewelry box contains many silver pieces so I passed on it as well. I already have a pair of black skinny jeans so returned these also. I did however decide to keep the red blouse as I can wear it with my black blazer, wear it to church or keep it casual with black leggings & booties.

The shoes were really nice quality & went well with the Navy blazer but sadly they didn't fit my wide feet & the backs kept slipping off as I walked so sadly I sent these back as well.

This month's Fix was a 1/5 which was ok with me. I saved a little bit of money & didn't end up wasting my $20 stylist fee!

Looking forward to my next Fix at the end of the month as I am requesting some warm, summery items for an upcoming mini-vacation to Florida :)

 



Rock Chalk

Date-day with the hubby today :) We headed to Lawrence, KS to watch our beloved Jayhawks play the Baylor Bears. This game was one of 3 games I gave my husband for Christmas this year. We always enjoy our basketball game dates & can't wait for Mason to be old enough to come with us & get into the KU spirit.

Sometime during the 2nd quarter, I looked down below from where we were sitting & had to laugh. I felt so safe seeing these cops hard at work during the game on their phones Facebooking :)

We had a great time watching the game cheering on our boys & we finished the game with a 28 point lead! Another W in the books & another fun afternoon with the hubby!

New Years Eve

We were supposed to go to South Dakota for Christmas but the weather up north turned ugly & sadly we had to cancel our trip. My mom ended up packing our Christmas presents & sending them to us instead & the big box arrived today!

So after we ate supper, Mase had a bath, put PJ's on & we all gathered in the living room to open the box from Grandma & Grandpa Farm.

Mason was so excited to see this bulldozer in the box & couldn't wait for us to get it out so he could play with it! He ran that thing all over the house & loves scooping up his toys with it!



Next was Daddy's turn to open a gift: socks & a Home Depot gift card

Another gift from Grandma & Grandpa - a Mickey Mouse ornament for Mason's tree:

 

Mase grabbed my phone while I was opening up my gifts & wanted to take a picture of Mama. He's got pretty good photography skills don't ya think??

 

We enjoyed all our gifts from my parents & after Mason calmed down a bit from all the excitement it was time for him to go to bed. Shane soon followed & I ended up staying up by myself to ring in the New Year. I caught up on a few shows on the DVR & then sat in the living room in absolute silence reading my book (I know - wild & crazy) until I heard the fireworks go off outside. It could only mean one thing - it was midnight!

I went to bed shortly after but first reflected on 2015 & thanked God for all our blessings, the ups & downs the year brought us & for an even better 2016!

Hope you all had a safe New Years Eve & many blessings in the New Year!

Cell Phone Dump

Lots of pics from my cell phone for the month of December!! Here goes:

One of Shane's Christmas presents - tickets to KU basketball games

 

What our bathroom counter has looked like for the last week with a sick hubby

 

Fruit for Mason's Christmas party at daycare - snowmen on a stick

(bananas, raspberries & grapes)

 

Yes - this tasted just as amazing as it looks!

My little sous chef helping mix cookie dough

What I see when I leave daycare every single morning :(

 

Dr. Barry Rutherford - my favorite Cardiologist, mentor &
amp; friend is retiring :(
 

Chinese food & ice cream - 2 of this kids favorite foods

IKEA & Snow

Today is the last day of my long Christmas holiday vacation. I had debated whether I should just go ahead & go back to work today but had quickly decided against it. I hardly ever take a day off just for myself so I decided to take Mason to daycare & spend the day with the husband instead!

We had an afternoon date & it ended up being such a great day! We first had lunch together & then headed to IKEA to do a little shopping...in peace...without a 2 year old running around. It was SO nice to be able to take our time, check everything out & focus on shopping & not where Mason was hiding at :)

We ended up buying an entertainment hutch for Mason's playroom with some canvas bins to put all his toys in. As well as a bamboo cutting board, full length mirror for the closet, filing cabinet for all my craft supplies & a couple of plastic bins for Christmas decorations. I couldn't believe how affordable everything was & wandering around looking at all the decorated rooms & décor was so fun! I absolutely love IKEA!!

After our shopping excursion we had a few more hours to kill before having to pick Mase up so we decided to go to a movie. Thinking back it had been over a year since we last went to a movie together so it was nice to get out, get some popcorn & enjoy a little alone time with the hubby!

We ended up seeing "Daddy's Home" which was a cute, light-hearted comedy with Will Ferrell & Mark Wahlberg. When we had got to the theater it had started to snow & when we walked out there was already a couple of inches on the ground. Getting to daycare was a bit dicey but once we got home it had stopped snowing & it was time to shovel the driveway.

Shane had a little helper to assist with the snow removal much to his dismay :)

 

Once the boys got done shoveling, Mama came out for a little fun in the snow. There was a snowball fight that took place as well as a few snow angels made in the snow.

So very glad I decided to take the day off & get in a much needed date-day with the hubby as well as some fun with the family in the evening!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas to all our family & friends! Hope Santa was as good to you as he was to us this morning!

Mason woke up around 7am, came out to the living room & the first thing he saw was the Home Depot workstation that Santa had brought him. He absolutely LOVED it :) We had to tear him away from it & show him all the gifts that we needed to open. He seemed to be a little overwhelmed between the workstation, the new train table & all the gifts under the tree but slowly he started to figure it out & then there was no stopping him!

This was the first year that he understood that Christmas morning meant opening up presents! He had a ball picking out presents under the tree & kept asking "is this one for me?" We soon found out that he opens presents like his Mama - S.L.O.W. He would tear a little piece off, set it to the side, then tear another little piece off & repeat.

 

 

 



At times it was painful to watch but there just was no rushing this boy! Gift opening at the Taylor house took almost 2 hours at this rate but we didn't mind. We just enjoyed watching Mase open his gifts & get SO excited over each one.

 

After all our gifts were open it was time to open the Bulldogs gifts. Can't forget the furry kids! Mase helped Millie & Bubba open their gifts of Three Dog Bakery treats & a new toy. It was so cute watching Mase open them up & explain to the dogs what they got :)

Another tradition we do at our house (which we do at my parents house also) is after all the gifts are opened we grab our stockings & open them up all together. This just might be my most favorite thing about Christmas morning!

After all the gifts & stockings were opened up I made breakfast for us & Mase continued to play with all his new toys. Late morning we all got ready for the day & then headed over to Shane's mom's apartment & had a nice Christmas lunch buffet at the facility she lives in & spent some time with her.

After spending the afternoon with Shane's mom we made our way back home & spent the rest of our day assembling toys, playing with toys & putting away toys! Between us, Santa, grandparents, aunts & uncles & our friends this kid was definitely spoiled!

It was a wonderful 1st Christmas spent in our new house & we made some great memories & started some fun new traditions! I am now starting to get sad that the holiday is winding down & coming to an end :(

We hope you all were able to make some amazing memories of your own with your family this holiday season & many blessings to you in the year ahead!

 

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve everyone :)

Mason's daycare is closed, Daddy's trip to Arizona was canceled & I have the next 5 days off - YAY! We all spent the entire day in PJ's & had the BEST day together as a family!

We started our day by sleeping in & made pancakes for breakfast once we all woke up! After a lazy morning, we got out all the ingredients to make cookies to leave out for Santa tonight.

First cookie on our list to make was Peanut Butter Blossoms & we had so much fun! Mason helped by dipping the balls in sugar & by peeling the foil off of the Hershey kisses. His favorite part was smashing them into the cookies once they came out of the oven :) Daddy was standing by observing & being our taste tester!

Next we made Mason's favorite cookie - Iced Sugar cookies. He LOVES using the cookie cutter to cut out the cookies & after I ice the cookies, he does the sprinkles. I love hanging out with my little sous chef & creating these fun memories with him!

We spent the rest of the day playing, watching movies & having a fun, low-key kind of day!

Later in the evening I gave Mase a bath, put jammies on & then it was time to open his Chrismas Eve present. For the last 2 years we have made it a tradition for Mase to open one present on Christmas Eve. It always contains a new pair of Christmas jammies, a holiday movie, a snack to eat during the movie & a new book.



He loved getting to open a gift but of course wanted to open more. He was upset he couldn't open more but was quickly distracted by putting on his new jammies & wanting to watch his new Thomas the Train Christmas movie on the laptop. I popped up the popcorn that was in his gift box & set him up on the couch :)



After his movie, it was time to go to bed so Santa could come visit. We put cookies on Santa's special cookie plate, got a quick picture by the tree, set the cookies on the table by the tree with some milk & crawled into bed. We were ready for Santa's arrival!

Shane unfortunately has been sick all week with the flu & a bad cold so he went to bed with Mase & asked me to wake him to help put the presents out. So in the meantime, I opened up a bottle of wine, poured me a glass, put on the Christmas music & finished wrapping up the presents to put under the tree!

I was in heaven. The boys were asleep. The house was quiet. Soft Christmas music was playing. My most favorite holiday was in a few hours. I just LOVE wrapping presents & arranging them under the tree. I went in to wake Shane up to help me bring up Mason's big toys from the basement but he was sound asleep & I knew he didn't feel good so I just let him sleep. I got everything arranged as best as I could by myself & was up until almost 1am.

I took a step back when I was done & here was the end result:

 

So pretty! Our 1st Christmas in our new home with our new tree. LOVE ❤

It was well after 1am when I finally got to bed & I was exhausted! I was SO looking forward to seeing Mason's reaction to all his presents when he woke up in the morning & was hoping by letting Shane sleep he would be feeling better.

Sometime during the night we got a visit from Santa himself & he left a few gifts for Mase, Daddy & myself. Turns out we had been "good" & were all on his "nice" list after all :)

 

Teacher Gifts

Christmas is right around the corner & with the holidays comes Mason's school party & figuring out gifts for his teachers.

This year Mase has two male teachers & two female teachers so figuring out gift ideas is a bit more challenging. Coming up with a gift for girls is hard enough but for boys?? Even harder. So I turned to Pinterest for my gift-giving ideas & consider that website a blessing when I need a cute, crafty idea!

Unfortunately I didn't find any great ideas for teacher gifts for boys but "pinned" a whole slew of cute ideas for girls for future ideas. So unfortunately I was on my own with figuring out a boy gift.

So I ended up making a basket with gift cards from Target, Chipotle & AMC theaters & filled it with candy. What young man doesn't love to shop, eat & go to the movies?

Ideas for the girl teachers were a bit easier. I ended up recreating what I made last year for the girls in his Toddler 1 class. Same gift - different teachers = win win for HT. I got them 4 pairs of fuzzy socks, a Chipotle & AMC gift card & some candy in a little gift box with a cute little note.

Mase & I delivered the gifts this morning at drop off & his teachers loved them! They were SO appreciative & seemed surprised that they even were getting a gift. Which blows my mind. How can you not get a gift for the people in your child's life that takes care of him 9-10 hours a day, 5 days a week every single week of the year?? Those people are amazing & what they do is hard work! The very least I can do is remember them at Christmas & give them a gift!

Later that evening when I picked Mase up from daycare there was a gift bag with a gift to us from Mase & his teachers in his cubby. I was going to wait until Christmas morning to open it but Mase was SO excited & insisted I open it right when we got home. So I did.

His teacher Mr. Sean had made this for all the parents - a snow globe complete with glittered water & a picture of his entire class :)

And this cute wall hanging of his precious little hands:

This one brought tears to my eyes & is definitely a keeper :) I absolutely LOVED it! Ugh - he has the BEST teachers in his class!



Dinner & a movie

This year I hosted the annual Christmas party with my "Elite" girlfriends & enjoyed having them all over to the new house! There was lots of good food, yummy dessert, awesome Sangria was sipped on & a super fun White Elephant gift exchange occurred.

But the best part about the night was watching these two little cuties:



Miss Ava Jean & Mase had SO much fun hanging out with each other, playing together, eating together & even snuggled up on the couch watching movies together:

These little cuties have so much fun together & I just love hanging out with Miss Ava Jean & her Mama Jen. I get the feeling Mase does too ❤