Monday, October 29, 2012

Show Us Your Life ~ Halloween Costumes

Hey y'all!  Today I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner and we're looking at Halloween costumes.  I love the cute costumes, not so much the scarey ones.

Mason was a monkey for his first Halloween. I love the outfits that are one piece and zip.  Easy and keeps the baby warm. 

This picture cracks me up.  He was so mad at us. 





Mason was a fireman for his second Halloween.  So cute!  I loved this costume!

 



I like to get pictures of him in Holiday shirts too!




Last year Mason was a cowboy!  A very special costume for us since his Daddy wore it too!  Actually, the outfit was pretty big on him last year.  We should have waited another year, but he sure did look cute!



This year, Mason will be a pit crew member from the movie Cars (similar to this one).  Since this week is our Halloween festivties, I don't have pictures yet, but we'll be sure to post some later. 
 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  I hope you have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Mischief

Well, I don't know where to begin.  My sweet little angel is getting in to all kinds of trouble lately.  HA!

He is a busy little bee during his 'naptime'.  I guess he is telling us that he doesn't want to take a nap anymore.  If he is not tired, you better watch out.  He will destroy everything in his site.    


 
This was once a paper lantern hanging from his ceiling.  We have no idea how he got it down, but once he did, it was all over.  He ripped it into a million pieces.  And guess what, this was only in 30 minutes.


Here is 'naptime' from Monday.  He decided Pooh needed a diaper change.  So he got out the desitin and baby powder and rubbed it everywhere!  Oh, by the way, desitin is waterproof.  I had to wash his beanbag cover twice to get it clean.


Poor little pooh didn't make it.  I didn't even try to clean him, I just threw him in the trash. 




Oh the best part......  Monday he flooded one of our toilets.  He decided he needed lots and lots of toilet paper.  Before I knew it, he was flushing the toilet over and over.  Of course water was all over the place.  It took 6 bath towels to get up the water.  Sorry, no pictures.  I was so upset, my last thought was to get the camera. 

I have no idea why Mason is becoming so destructive. I hope and pray this is just a phase.  Otherwise, I'm not sure what to do.  My first thought is to give him a couple of toys during his nap.  There are days where he will sleep for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.  Even if he doesn't sleep, he still needs the down time. 

I'm willing to try anything to avoid these situations.  At this point, I'm just thankful he hasn't hurt himself.  Needless to say, the paper lanterns are all gone.  All of the changing supplies are also gone.  He still has several books in his room which makes me wonder why hasn't he destroyed the books or at least looked at them.  Who knows?  I'm exhausted!

If you have suggestions or you have had similar experiences with your children, please leave a comment.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Weekend Wrap-Up

The weekend is over again!  Yikes! They go by faster and faster each week.  We had a busy weekend at our house.  

Saturday we went to a cookout for our mom's group.  It's hard to believe Mason and I have been a part of this group for over a year now.  I'm so thankful for these ladies (and children).  We have made great friends and have had so much fun.   






On Sunday, Mason and I took Daddy to the pumpkin farm.  Mason said he wanted Daddy to see the fish, and the donkey.  It was such a nice day again.  You can't really ask for better weather especially in the Fall.

The chickens were in the coop this time, so we fed them through the fence.  They were hungry too!


Mason was so excited to show Daddy around the farm.  "Here Daddy, let's feed the fish".  Notice how pretty the sky is in this picture!  Gorgeous Day!
 

 Mason showed Daddy how to find your way out of the hay maze. 
 

Mason isn't scared of the animals at all.  He walks right up to them and says, hey goat, hey donkey!  Maybe if they weren't behind the fence, he would be a bit more reluctant.  Not sure?
 

He tried to get as close as possible to the goat.  He wanted to pet him, but we said no, he might bite.  
 




Well, there is our lil' farmer.  Isn't he handsome?!  We think so. 

Friday, October 12, 2012

Show Us Your Life ~ Crockpotalooza

Hey y'all!  We have a new schedule of topics for the rest of October.  Thanks to Kelly's Korner we can link up our recipes and search for new ones! YAY!

Oct 12 - Crockpotalooza 2
Oct 19 - Favorite charities/non-profits
Oct 26 - Halloween costumes

I'm excited about today's topic, Crock Pot Recipes. Honestly, I don't use my crock pot very much, but I would like to.  Who doesn't like one pot meals?  I am on board with making my life easier these days.

I don't have a personal recipe to share, but I found a recipe that I would like to try.  

Homemade Crockpot Cinnamon Applesauce.  YUMMY!  Apples are in season now and this would be a great time to make this recipe.  I found this recipe here.  






There are several recipes out there for crockpot applesauce.  This just happened to be the one I came to first.

I'm looking forward to seeing those recipes.  Enjoy!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Pinspiration

Hey y'all!  Ok.  I'll admit it!  Pinterest has inspired me lately to do {diy} projects around the house.  I just love Fall so when I saw everyone decorating pumpkins, I had to join the party.

I've actually seen this on several blogs, but here is my version of a DIY House Number Pumpkin. 

I tried to keep it as simple as possible, because after all, you are going to throw away the pumpkin at the end of the season.

I gathered my supplies.  A pen (not shown), stencils, and a sharpie marker.  I'm not in love with the font of my stencil, but I had this leftover from another project.  You could make your own stencil on the computer too.


Next, I traced my numbers onto the pumpkin using my pen.   I didn't tape the stencils.  I just held them, but you can definitely use tape.



Once I had my numbers on the pumpkin, I just traced the outsides of my pen marks and colored them in with the sharpie marker.  Literally, that's it!




This project took me less than 10 minutes!  And it's so cute!  I have our pumpkins on the front porch which is covered.  If you have yours sitting in the weather, you may want to spray a clear coat over the pumpkin to make it last longer.

I'm not finished with decorating, but I wanted to share my project with you.  I'm now looking for corn stalks to lean up against the windows, and of course some more mums.  Then maybe I'll be finished! ;)

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

I'm here!

Hey y'all!  Yep!  I'm still here.  Just kind of taking one day at a time.  Trying not to stress out over the little things, you know?!  I'm sorry I haven't been keep up with the blog world.  I felt like I needed to focus on my health and family.  Health being number one right now.  I really don't want to get into a ton of TMI (too much info), just want to keep my privacy a little.  I'm sure you understand. 

I would like to update you on my health.  Mainly my blood pressure has been a bit out of sorts (high).  There is really nothing to blame for this happening, but that is not to say I haven't tried.  I did get the results of all of my blood work.  I was scared to death.  They would not give the results over the phone, so I had to make the 40 minute trip to the office the next day.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep well that night! Relax?! Yeah! Right!  Anyways, due to my test results, I'm now taking all new meds and in the process of a lifestyle change. It's ok.  I can do this.  So far I am feeling a little better.  Still struggling with some headaches and fatigue, but hanging in there.  

Enough about me.  We've had a couple of changes in our house.  You know, Ty was given back to his foster mom.  She was very excited to keep him.  I'm glad it all worked out in the end.  

Kevin got a new car.  Well, new to us.  

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=1d9fc00bd7&view=att&th=13a2d187950bfde2&attid=0.2&disp=inline&realattid=e74789141c56146b_0.2&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P9e2LPoYvdjukOrbB_Olpvo&sadet=1349878255155&sads=SBy123LaeZfQ6CY783s-9mIqk6g 
 

Yep!  Another Caddy!  We just love Cadillacs.  Kevin has such a long commute, hopefully this will help make it a bit more comfortable.  

Mason and I were very busy last week.  He was student of the week so he was the line leader and was responsible for bringing in snack for the class.  He was so excited to share 'his' snacks.  He made banana muffins and sugar cookies.  He just loves to help out in the kitchen.




We also went to the pumpkin patch with our group.  This place was more than a pumpkin patch, it was a farm.  We loved it.  We walked around, fed the goats, donkey, chickens, and catfish.  Mason ran through the hay maze and of course we walked through the pumpkin patch. 






I was very surprised by Mason.  He made it out of the hay maze in the first try.  Also, he was not at all scared of the animals.  At first he just kept looking at the chickens trying to take it all in.  He had never seen a chicken in real life before.  





 
Mason and Jack are so funny together.  They always stick together when we are with our group.  They do most of the activities together.  They fed the chickens, pulled the wagon and sat on the pumpkin for a picture.  They are both little hams!  HA!


 
Mason was amazed by this pumpkin!  It's a white pumpkin Mommy and it's HUGE!





This picture is definitely worthy of a frame!  So cute!
 



We are definitely going back to this farm.  Kevin will love it!  They also have a wagon full of hay and pumpkins set up for picture taking.  I wasn't able to get Mason in the wagon, so we'll have to try again!  We love Fall!

Monday, October 01, 2012

Weekend Wrap up & Updates

Kind of a wet weekend, huh?  Yep.  We spent a lot of time inside or in the garage.  

Friday I went to the doctor for an annual check up.  Just the basics, blood work and making sure there are no major issues to be addressed.  I walked in thinking everything is fine.  Let's get this done and I can go home.  Oh Boy!  Not the case.   I had not had a tetanus shot in like forever, so that was the first order of business.  Only now the shot also contains the pertussis vaccine.  Didn't really think much of it until Saturday evening.  I started getting the chills and got very tired.  Sunday morning worse.  I just wanted to go right back to bed.  Apparently I was experiencing some of the side effects of the pertussis vaccine.  Fever and fatigue.  I felt like I was coming down with the flu.  I stayed in bed for most of Sunday.  I do feel a bit better today, but still tired.  Well, then after checking my blood pressure, I ended up getting an EKG.  The EKG came back normal, thank goodness, but my blood pressure, not so good.  I will have to start taking my readings at home and keeping a diary.  I'll go back to the Dr. in a couple of months for another check up.  A few other things I'll need to do is pay more attention to my diet (especially salt intake), exercise, and avoid stressful situations (no problem, right?).  I guess I'm getting old!  UGH! 



Saturday afternoon we went to a birthday party for our friend Jake.  He turned 3 and had an adorable Mickey Mouse party.  For some reason, it always rains for his party.  We ended up having most of the party in their garage.  The kids didn't care.  They had fun running around, eating cupcakes, and jumping in Jake's new jumping house.   


Jake and his sister Savannah just love Mason.  They all play really well together.  


 
You remember a few weeks ago we were cleaning up our backyard from a storm.  We had 5 trees that had been uprooted from our yard.  Kevin was able to cut up all of the trees into logs.  We posted free firewood online and had no trouble getting rid of it.  Last weekend a nice young couple came out and was able to get 2 truck loads.  They were very grateful to get the wood since they have a real wood burning fireplace in their house.  I'm glad we were able to help them out and I'm glad they came out to get all of the wood.  


I was very impressed with my husband.  He did all of this work by himself.  I helped one day and I thought I would die.  It was so hot and so much work.  I thought my husband was crazy when he said he was going to take care of all of it himself, but he did.  I shouldn't be surprised.  He is very handy! 

One more update from the Kranz family.  We are very sad to report, we will not be keeping Ty.  We feel absolutely terrible.  We kept going back and forth and honestly after the first week, we kind of felt that it wouldn't work out.  There are several reasons why, but most importantly, Mason hasn't warmed up to Ty at all.  He pretty much ignores him or tells him NO or GO AWAY!  That is not fair to Ty and he deserves to be in a family with children who want him there.  He is a very sweet, loving, and affectionate dog.  We have no doubt he will find his forever home and any family would be lucky to have him.  He will make an awesome companion.  We are going to do everything we can to help find a home for him, but in the meantime, he'll have to go back to his foster home.  We'll try our best to keep you updated.