Cell Phone Dump

Cell phone pics for the month of November!!

 

Popcorn & movie night with besties!

This kid says "get out & vote"!

 

So this Mama got out & voted!!

A round of Chutes & Ladders for the 10th time & wine. Good pairing :)

That moment when you feel like you are doing something right as a parent. So proud of what my little man is thankful for....mom, dad & God.

Pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse! YUM

Zzzzzzzzzzz - food coma!

Napping together - so sweet!

Me & Winnie

One of my Mommy besties & her little girl - love these 2 girls :)

Jingle is up to his old tricks!



Birthday & Christmas decorating

First of all, I want to give a huge shout-out today to my hubby who has begun level 43 in this game we call life :) Here's to another year filled with many memories & blessings!!

Shane's birthday always falls on the week of Thanksgiving. He was a turkey baby when he was born so every 5 years or so his birthday falls on the actual T-giving holiday. This year is was the day after. You know what happens the day after Thanksgiving??? (in my house anyways)

Decorating for Christmas!!!!

 

It usually takes me a couple of days to get everything out & put up so I always begin the Friday after the turkey holiday. The fall decorations come down & the red/green decorations go up & by Sunday it is quite festive in our house!!

 

We always start with decorating Mason's tree that goes in his room. He loves getting out all his ornaments & hanging them on his tree! Such a fun tradition!

Then we work on putting up Mama's tree! I absolutely LOVE our tree once it is decorated! It fits perfectly in front of the window in our living room, is over 9ft tall & full of white sparkly lights!

You know who else loves the tree??? Ugh Winston.

I forgot how crazy & frustrating & FAST a puppy can be. Those branches & lights are sure tempting & he tries to eat them every chance he can get! I had to remove the tree skirt because the tassels on the end were just too much for him to leave alone. It's a good thing he is cute - LOL!

You know what else happens the Friday after Thanksgiving? The Elf on the Shelf makes his appearance....

Welcome back Jingle!!! Oh how Mason has missed you & your shenanigans!

The mantle is all decorated with garland & our stockings & the front door is one big snowman which Mase loves helping me with!

 

And last but not least I absolutely LOVE putting up all the Christmas decorations on top of my kitchen cabinets!

Our house is officially holiday-ready over here & we are looking forward to everything the next several weeks bring! Happy decorating to you :)

Puppy Breath

Ever since we lost Bubba our Millie just hasn't been herself. She seems to me like she is depressed, she has been sleeping a lot more, has lost her spunk & has become real clingy. Perhaps it is due to her old age but I think it is because she really misses Bubba & his companionship.

We had tossed around the idea of when would be the best time to get another dog for awhile now & were unsure if getting one now is better or waiting until the spring would be best. Besides I just didn't think my heart was quite ready to get another dog. 

But a few weeks ago Shane had to go & show me pics of 5 week old bulldog puppies that were for sale & he talked me into going to "look" at them.

Well....you know what happens when you just LOOK, right? Especially with Bulldog puppies? It has happened to us twice before so I knew "just looking" meant we were going to end up leaving with a deposit on a puppy.

 

So we made the drive about 75 miles south of us to "see" the puppies & just as I had suspected, as soon as we saw them we knew we were going to be picking one. Bulldog puppies are the most adorable little things. Ugh just look at that sweet face...

And that puppy breath. Yep - I was suckered again. We ended up picking this little guy a few weeks ago as the newest addition to our family & he got to come home with us today. Just in time for Shane's birthday next week :)

We drove down early this morning to pick him up & Mase was SO excited to be bringing him home. He rode in my lap all the way back & actually slept the entire drive home.

When we got home we introduced him to Millie out in the backyard on neutral ground & she was super observant of him for awhile. As she watched him she slowly started to warm up to him a bit. She had to tell him who was "boss" a few times by nipping him & he learned real quick you don't mess with Millie.

By the end of the day they were becoming fast friends...

Mason was in heaven with the new puppy & wanted to sleep in his little area with him....that is until the puppy would start biting his ears or tugging on his shirt.

 

I would say our little pup is getting used to his new place & is one spoiled little guy! He has no idea how good he is going to have it here :)

 



 

Oh & we finally decided on his name....Winston :)

Turns out my heart does have room to love another one after all!



Halloween Superheroes

When I asked Mason what he wanted to be this year for Halloween he answered "Spider-Man" without hesitation. Then the next sentence out of his mouth was "what are you going to be for Halloween Mama?" 

 

Well, in all honestly I wasn't going to be anything but myself so when I told him that Mama wasn't dressing up you should have seen the sad look on my kiddo's face :( It definitely made me rethink my decision & the next thing I know I was on a mission to find a Halloween costume to go with Mason's. It is after all, all about your kid, right?

 

So I found a Batgirl costume at Target that wasn't too short or too revealing & lucky me there was an additional 25% off if I used the Cartwheel App so I ended up getting it. Shane had a Batman t-shirt from Mason's birthday party last year & used his mask as well so I present to you a family of Superheroes:

Shane didn't think I was going to walk around the neighborhood wearing my costume but if you remember last year I ain't got no shame in my game. I look at it like this...my little man isn't going to be little forever & if he wants his Mama to dress up with him then this Mama is going to dress up. He won't be asking me much longer so I am going to do it as long as he keeps asking.

So after we got our pictures we headed out around our neighborhood & my little Superhero had a ball. He said "trick-or-treat" at every door & then said "this is my Mommy. She is Batgirl"....incase they didn't notice :) As we walked from house to house he kept saying "Mama I like your costume - you are a Superhero like me." So needless to say the costume was money well spent.



After we hit a majority of the homes in our neighborhood, we headed over to our old neighborhood to see some of our old neighbors & trick-or-treat over there. We hit up a few blocks, went to our old house, saw some old friends & then headed home.

Mason was SO excited to go through all of his candy & so was his Daddy LOL :)

Shane started to make a little pile for himself & from the look on Mason's face he was not happy about it. I had to inform Mase there was enough candy for everyone & he had to share. You can tell he wasn't very excited about sharing!

Once we deemed the candy safe to eat, we all had a few pieces & then got ready for bed! It was a fun evening spent together & Mase is already talking about what he is going to be next Halloween. We hope everyone had a fun & safe Halloween as well!

Halloween Eve

It is Halloween Eve & we have had a busy day getting prepared for tomorrow's festivities. We first made a couple batches of cookies - Pumpkin Snickerdoodles & Smores cookies. 

These little morsels are oh so yummy! I will be sure to put the recipe on my food blog :) 

After baking we ventured out to Gigi's Cupcakes to pick up Mason's cupcakes for his class party tomorrow. They always do such a great job & this year they didn't disappoint. SO cute!

Then after supper we got a bath, put PJ's on & carved Mason's pumpkin that he had picked at the pumpkin patch last week. It of course had to have a Superhero theme & he had picked Batman. He was SO proud of his pumpkin & couldn't wait to put it on the front porch with a candle.

We are officially ready for the party at school tomorrow & for some trick-or-treating in the evening! 

Cell Phone Dump

Cell phone pics for the month of October :)

Was driving home from work & looked into the sky & saw this strange cloud. Kind of reminded me of the shape of an angel.

Cute little mummy cake pop to go with my Starbucks coffee! 

Good start to the morning!

My gray-haired, smooshy-faced girl. Oh how I love this face :) 

A motorcyclist wearing no shirt...the things you see only in Missouri. Hope he doesn't crash - can you imagine the road rash??

Who is that cute little fuzzy bear? 

 Snapchatting at work with my co-worker Stacey.

Snapchat fun :) 

This boy was pretty excited to get a Halloween card in the mail. 

Me & some of my co-workers posing for our cover shoot :)

Louisburg Cider Mill

Halloween is right around the corner & we still hadn't made it out to Louisburg Cider Mill for pumpkin picking. I am so glad we waited until today to go because it ended up being a warm & absolutely gorgeous day!

Sadly, Shane wasn't able to go so I ended up meeting my Mama friends there with there littles. We first stopped to get some hot apple cider & a bag of apple donuts & then made our way over to the play area.

The first thing the kids saw was the face painting booth so all the kiddos got there faces painted. Of course my kiddo chose Spiderman as that is his favorite Superhero.

After everyone got their faces painted we made them all pose for a group photo:

The kids had a ball playing on all the equipment, running through the mini-maze, jumping on the huge trampoline & sliding down the bale slides.

Next we took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch where the kids each picked out their very own special pumpkin to take home.

Mase was pretty excited to find THE ONE!!

We took a hay ride back to the front & there we stopped to feed the baby goats & pigs.

We were there for several hours & the kids were wore out by the time we left! We had such a fun time all together & was so glad the Mama's could meet me there for the day!