quiet moments

Again here I am writing at my new favorite time of day - right about 7:30am.. little bear is still sleeping so I can just relax and enjoy my cup of coffee and the sound of nothing in the house! Bobby left early this AM for drill in Devil's Lake. Funny how weekends we used to sleep in until at least 10AM and now even when Mason is still sleeping, we can't.

Met our friends Corey & Alicia for dinner last night, then went to the UND-UMD game and saw another great Sioux win - although I have to admit was no where near as fun as last weeks' game when we won 8-1. Hopefully they still have some momentum going tonight and we can get another win! Can't believe hockey season is already coming to an end -- besides the playoffs there is only 1 more home series-- which happens to land on my birthday weekend... nice planing WCHA!

S

Sorry kinda got off on a tangent -- on another note, for those who havent read any of my facebook notes, I got the "your shape" by Jenny McCarthy for our wii last week and I love it! Although bobby might say otherwise when he hears me yelling "what do you mean you [insert random explitive here] ?!?! I AM doing this right!!!!!" when I hear "watch your arms" or "you look like you might need a little help." Besides that, it is a lot of fun, something different every time, and even if it is just in my head, I feel stronger already!!

well better go, Mason is up and singing away!!!

stl's new look & masons new move

Trying out some new looks for my ETSY shop "Small Town Lettering" - can't decide if I lik ethe red or green better... I have redone my shop banner about 10 different times - love making the banners, maybe that should be my hobby instead...anyway... think I am going to go with the green, then maybe try to promote my shop like crazy since Mother's Day is coming up in just a few months. :)

This weekend Bobby, Mason, my parents and I went to see my grandpa in St. Cloud. It was Mason's first "big" car trip -- he did GREAT in the car! When we got to my grandpa's though all of his pent up energy surely came out! He started WALKING everywhere! He had been taking 3-4 steps at a time for awhile now, mostly from the couch to the coffee table to his toys, but this weekend he just took off! I think it probably had a lot to do with my grandparents having such an open living room - no coffee table in the middle of the room for him to hold onto. He is continuing to grow and change everyday, and everyday continues to amaze me...sometimes I STILL can't believe he is the little creature that would roll around and kick in my belly!

this old house

(spcc #34)

i have been wanting to make a scrap page of our house basically since we moved in 3 years go! Having been built in 1902, our house has so much history... most uniquely is that it served as nurse's quarters back in the 50s!

feeling sentimental...

I have been feeling so sentimental today -- maybe it is because VALENTINES DAY is just around the corner -- maybe it is because bobby is gone to fargo tonight and i miss him -- maybe it is because i got to spend almost all day with my cub -- or maybe it is just because that is what girls do from time to time :) looking back at old blog posts at how much our lives have changed, and just thinking about how blessed we are. sometimes i think that people just focus on all of the things they want that they don't have, that they forget all of the things they do have. here is a few of the things i am feeling sentimental about/thankful for tonight

• so thankful that Mason was brought into my life! He has changed me in so many positive ways! words cannot even express how much i love that little guy! we are so lucky that he is a HEALTHY, active, exploring now-1-year-old BOY
• so thankful to have such a hard-working, understanding, caring, wonderful husband! he cleaned the entire house this morning before he left for work! he does things like this all the time! even on days that we have our "bad days" like every couple does, i know that at the end of the day, he is the love of my life!
• so thankful that we are able to provide for our family. we both have good jobs, and although we dont always like our jobs (ok we hate them somedays, but who doesn't?!?) a lot of people would just be happy to work ANYWHERE. we never have to worry about where our next meal comes from or worry about buying Mason diapers.
• so thankful for all of the wonderful people in our lives. we have so much support and love from our families and friends!

ok, that is probably enough babbling on! off to bed, just to snuggle under the covers and watch TV. This weekend we are hopefuly going to St. Cloud to see my grandpa (my dad's dad) and spend the night there Saturday to Sunday-- then Monday is a DAY OFF!!!

home improvement

I have been in the mood lately to do all sorts of home improvement projects -- mostly inspired by websites like this, and watching too much HGTV. Which I blame for my wanting to get these projects all done in 30 minutes -- that is all the longer it takes them on TV!!!

My project tonight really did only take about an hour -- I repained our HIDEOUS countertops in our upstairs bathroom!! Forgot to take "before" pictures but here is the "after" picture. For those of you who havent had the pleasure of seeing our upstairs bathroom, let's just say that the counter tops used to match our 60s-gold-toned sink. {that is on my 'fix-it' list too by the way}. The color I used was called "haystack".

This was really way easier than I ever thought. I had been doing some searching on the internet about how to paint countertops - and it all involved sanding, priming, then coating with epoxy, etc... WAY too long of a process for my short attention span! Then I was in Lowes (sorry Bobby, no Home Depot in Grand Forks) the other day and came across THIS stuff - it is countertop paint by RustOleum. All I had to do was wash off the counter, put on some painters tape, and then paint. No 2nd/3rd coats, nothing! We will see how it keeps up but the $19 I spent on the paint (which I still have 3/4+ of the can left) was way cheaper than getting it replaced. Wish I would have came across this stuff 2 1/2 years ago when we bought our house! I see they also make sink & tub paint. Will want to wait until spring though to take on that project as it is very smelly paint!

birthday pics

A little late but here are some pics from Mason's birthday party last weekend! Im trying to put more on facebook but it wont work for me at the time. The Mickey hat Mason is wearing in the picture below was a gift from my parents - they got it in Disney world a few months ago. It lights up and sings!!! Will have to be the birthday hat for years to come!! Right now both of my boys are still asleep - the house is quiet - but not for long I'm sure! Today we are off to church and then I think Bobby & I are going to see a movie with my Aunt Gwen & Uncle Terry - a matinee of course, dont want to keep our baby sitter out late on a school night! :)

my baby is *ONE*

It's official--- Mason is no longer a "baby" anymore -- he is now a "toddler" personally I think they should still be called a "baby" until at least 18 months!! Here are a few of his 1 year pics from Target.

The 23rd we celebrated his bday with just the 3 of us becuase of hte horrible storm - we had his PARTY on the 30th - thank you to all of our friends & family who came to share Mason's special day with him. He had a blast! Bobby & I were exhausted! Jay, Mason's Godfather, even came up from Rochester to celebrate with him! We had a "smash cake" for Mason - it was literally demolished and 95% eaten within MINUTES. No one had ever seen a baby eat cake as fast as Mason did! He loves cake just like his mom!!! Will have to put up the pics later...

Saturday night we *welcomed home* our good friend MATT who just came home from Afghanistan - thank you Matt for all that you did in serving our country and keeping all of us safe :) {matt is row 3, first person on the left}

Sunday was just a relaxing/recouperating/family day. Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday has been back to work. At least February is finally here! Getting excited for spring to get here. . .