Marathon of Posts Part Deux: May

May has always been one of my favorite months. Maybe its because my birthday is May, or maybe its because the weather is finally nice. Regardless, this May has been no exception. We started it out with a trip to Hershey and a playdate with my friend Emily and her daughter Casey, Cathy and her daughter Caitlyn, and Grandma Deb.

We ate cupcakes:

We "shared" toys:

We missed a nap or two:

But despite some tired kids (Note Mason's "I'm going to kill someone unless I get a nap" look), it ended up being a really fun day. I'm sure going to miss these girls!

Then it was Mother's Day. Another fine reason to love the month of May. Amazingly, Nic had the day off, so I was treated to breakfast in bed and nice nap in the afternoon. This was followed by a yummy dinner and some brownies. If everything in my life ended with a huge pan of brownies I would be a very happy girl.

Finally, we celebrated my birthday by taking another trip to Hershey. We visited the hospital and I got to see some of my friends in the NICU. Then we had pizza at my favorite pizza place and I got to go shopping while Nic entertained Mason. At one point I looked down the walkway to the other end of the store and I saw Nic with a huge ball. Then later I looked and saw Nic with a baseball bat. Then even later I saw Mason chasing Nic with said baseball bat. I think they almost had as much fun as I did.

We stopped by the Bear's Den to have a Hershey Puck...yum.

Mason and the Hershey Bear's Mascot.

We couldn't go to Hershey without visiting Chocolate World. When we lived here I use to make Nic take me there on Saturday afternoons. I would say it was for the free chocolate, but we all know that I ended up buying all sorts of candy. Love that place...

...and apparently Mason does too.

On the ride.

So those have been all of our adventures over the last few weeks. In the meantime, we've been spending a lot of time outside either going for a run or playing at the park.

(In the following picture Mason is having a complete conversation with himself while he walks through the field. I imagine his is probably catagorizing the trees by genus and species. That or he is cursing the geese for pooping everywhere. Either way he had something to say about it).

And when we are not at the park, we are home finding ways to entertain ourselves.

The End.

A Series of Unrelated Events

I thought I better get caught up on my blogging since we'll be headed out west (for 2 weeks) tomorrow. So here is a random assortment of what we've been up to (in random chronological order):

Nic has boards coming up next week so he very politely asked me to "get lost" this past weekend. So Mason and I headed up to NY to visit Ann and Randy. We had a wonderful weekend relaxing and listening to conference. Saturday night Ann and Randy treated us to some awesome ribs at Holy Smokes and on Sunday we went for a walk on the trail by their house. I can't begin to say how much we are going to miss these guys.



Before our weekend to NY we were enjoying some strange weather in PA. Two Sundays ago we had quite the storm that threw down some marble sized hail. Crazy. There were tornado warnings and I guess an actual tornado did some damage in a city south of us. So we headed to safety down stairs and spent some time with our elderly neighbors until the storm passed.

Here is a random picture of Mason's new discovery. Only he usually uses a real phone and not the channel changer.

Despite the crazy hail storm we've had some really nice days. Mason love love loves to be outside, so we spend most of those days at the park or going for a walk.

Here is Mason's best Zoolander impersonation at the park.

Out for a walk.

Out for a run.



And on the rainy days when we can't play outside we have to find other ways to entertain ourselves. This usually involves taking all the canned food off of the shelf and stacking it in piles throughout the house, removing the pots and pans from the cupboard and banging them on the ground, unplugging the alarm clock and carrying it around, gazing out the window wishing we could go outside, kicking the ball around the house, and of course, playing and dancing to music.

And sometimes...we (or rather he) get(s) creative.


Mason has recently learned how to ride on his riding toy thing. Well, sort of.

And finally, our favorite part of the day is when Nic comes home. We sure love this guy.

So there you have it. A smorgesborg of pictures and happenings in a completely random order. We now head out west to visit our family and (hopefully) find a house in which we will reside for the next 4+ years. Wish us luck!

Hi-Ya's and Funny Faces

I know, I know. For those of you who care (i.e. grandparents), I know I've been a slacker in getting video of Mason's wicked dance moves on here. The following videos are not of his dance moves, but are of some of his other redeming traits. (I just have so much video of him dancing that I need to edit it and make a short clip. I'll work on that. Most likely). In the meantime...

This is Mason's funny face. He knows we think its funny when he does it, so he often uses it to either get attention or get something he wants. This is for you Shay. (Please ignore the TV in our dining room. Although we really think it adds to the decor of the room. The sad thing is that it probably does.)



So you know how people teach their kids to put their arms up in the air when they say, "[Insert child's name here] is SO big!" or "Touchdown". Not our kid. We try to bring out his inner ninja whenever possible.

First Full Day of Spring equals Last Day of the Wean

(Okay. So you can credit Nic with the title of this blog. He's very clever. Oh and by the way...if you dont' want to hear about breastfeeding you should stop reading this now.) Mason is officially off the boob. Actually, he probably could have been weaned a few weeks ago, but with our trip to Arizona ,and my own feelings of attachment, I have put it off. I'm a little sad to be saying goodbye to this part of his baby-hood, but he is still a snuggler so that helps. Sometimes he'll be running around the house and he'll just come up to me, jump into my lap, lay his head on my shoulder, and hold it there for a few seconds before he jumps up and runs away again. He's such a good boy.

Tonight Nic put him to bed for the first time in quite a while. I usually sing to Mason, say prayers "with" him and then lay him down. Trying to mimic the routine, Nic was singing "I am a Child of God" while rocking him. Mason was laying on his shoulder, and when had sung a few lines of the song Mason (who was just staring up at him with a bewildered look) lightly smacked Nic's mouth and started laughing. Everytime Nic tried to restart the song Mason would hit his mouth and giggle as if to say, "Thanks Dad for trying, but please, stop singing". After a few mintues of this they both were hysterical. After they had finally calmed down Mason layed his head on Nic's shoulder and just patted his cheek. Good effort Dad. Good effort.

On the Plains of Old Sedona...Arizona.

Mason and I had a wonderful trip to Arizona last week. It started off with a fairly uneventful plane ride. (Which is a nice change of pace from our last few flying adventures.) We were greeted by 90 degree weather, my mom and Kim, KC the dog (aka "ruff ruff", according to Mason), and later Shay and her dog, Duke (also "ruff ruff"). We did a lot of relaxing, a little shopping, and some good old fashion together time. It was perfect. Here is a quick photo diary of our trip:



From the moment we got there Mason loved to be outside and we took walks every chance we had.








We celebrated Mason's birthday with Kim, my mom, and Shay.

We visited our good friends Heather and Paxton.

We went swimming. Mason loved the water.

I apologize for any blindness I may cause due to my extremely pasty skin. I told my mom I wanted to go home with a beautiful golden tan. She laughed.

We went to this pizza place called the "Organ Stop" where this old guy takes requests on his gigantic Organ and plays for all the patrons. There were pipes, sparkling lights, and of course...creepy kitties.

Grandma dancing with Mason.


Mason dancing with strange boy. (Who he later decided to follow as the boy bolted into a large crowd of people, most likely in an attempt to escape the creepy kitties.)

The crew. Partridge Family style.

Mason at the Condo. He loved playing on the steps that drop into the living room. I mean he spent hours on those things.

(Not pictured here is my "spa day" where my mom treated Shay and I to pedicures. Afterwhich I had my hair cut and Shay gave me a to-die-for facial at her spa. I mean really...she's good.) Thanks Mom and Shay!

Sedona! (This picture was taken just moments before Mason peed through his diaper and all over Shay. This was the second time she'd been peed on in a 24 hour period. Only the first time was by a smaller, slightly furrier type mammal.)

This is the wind blown look.


Mason had a great time walking around the town.

Mason the brave.

Javelina. They must have heard my heart song.

This church was built right into the rock. Very cool.

Walk way up to the church.

This house was ginormo. People were taking more pictures of it then they were of the church. We later found out that its to be Nicolas Cage's desert home.

The woman who made the trip possible. Thanks Mom!


So ends another awesome trip to the great state of Arizona. We miss the warm weather and beautiful scenery, but mostly we miss the company. Thanks guys for a great week!

One Year Ago...

One year ago this week I was ready to burst...

and one year ago today we fell in love...

Because one year ago today we met him...

and since then we have decided that he is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to us. We love you Mason!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I've Got It Good

I came home from spending a week in the Arizona sun (post to come) to these:

Does it get any better than that?

Uno Year-o

I have lots to post about after my trip to Arizona...but I am tired and therefore will put it off for another day. But I had to say this. My baby turns one tomorrow and I can't believe how fast this past year has flown by. I know most moms say the same thing...but seriously. Turbo speed. He is the joy in our lives and I can't even express how wonderful he is. So here's to you Mase-Man. Although he can't read, I'm sure he will appreciate this. Mama and Daddy love you!