Memorial Day Weekend

Aside from getting the stomach virus that had me bedridden during prime boating time, we had a GREAT Memorial day weekend. We grilled, we sang, we danced, watched movies, played outside, and ventured into the hoppin' town of Smithville to visit the newly renovated DQ. In case you didn't hear the big news, a year ago, a semi crashed into the beloved Dairy Queen. No worries people, the Dilly bars are back and selling like hotcakes.

May 2010

I am still trying to figure out the editing software on this new camera. It definitely isn't as easy as my trusty old flip so the transitions between videos suck. I sure wish I had a "techy" husband that would sit down and show me how to use it. ;) I really just don't have the time or patience to do it.

With all the rainy weekends we've had recently, we've had a few dance parties at the house. Mason can be in the crabbiest, whiniest mood but once we turn on the music he is a new child. We are hoping he takes after his Poppa and has a natural talent for music.

Dumping Debt at an Early Age

Weekend at the lake

Finally! Lake weather has arrived. This was the first warm weekend that we had no plans so we headed up to the cabin for some R&R. I watched 2 movies in 2 days...That's a record! I am lucky to watch 1 movie every three months. We watched Avatar (loved it) and Ironman (liked it).

Sunday, however, was the day we had been anticipating for quite sometime. Drumroll please.... The Series Finale of LOST. Eric decided to take off work Monday and stay at the cabin to watch it on the big screen. We invited some friends to come for the "big event". I am glad we all had a fun day on the lake because LOST=LETDOWN. Call us "Debbie Downers" but the 6 of us left completely unsatisfied with the ending. I told Eric he needed to do a post on his "finale feelings" because it's been on ongoing topic of discussion in our house the last few days. If you were one of the millions that loved the cop out conclusion.. Good for you. I am glad Hollywood could suck you into their emotional ending and you left feeling satisfied with no answers at all. Too harsh? I don't care. It's my blog. Deal with it.

Now that I've said my piece here are some more enjoyable memories from this past weekend.

School's out for Summer!

Mason completed his first year of Mother's Day Out at Franklin Christian Church. I had the option to send him to MANY different churches in the area and I think I picked the BEST program by far. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the way the program is run and Mason's three teachers that he ADORES.

Here is his end of year art project.
For the last day of "school", they invited the parents to come and watch them sing songs and play on stage.

Mason has become obsessed with Nemo in the last couple weeks (post Disney trip) and they had a blue (water-like) design on the projection screen. So Mason kept turning around and shouting Nemo throughout the whole performance. It was cute, but I think this week, we are going to put a freeze on him watching Nemo. I was lucky his performance fell on the day it did because it gave Eric the extra push he needed to purchase a new video camera. This time we got an underwater camera so stay tuned for some footage at the pool :)



For the 5 people that read my blog, it won't hurt my feelings if you don't sit through the 7 minutes and 43 seconds of a two year old squirmming in a seat. This post is for my memories. :)

Spoils and a Slumber Party

This past weekend, Adam decided he wanted to spoil the kids by taking them bowling and letting them play arcade games. Adam bought $40 in tokens and let the kids go wild. I can't remember how many tickets they got but enough for each of them to take a giant bag of loot home.

The kids didn't care so much about knocking down the pins or even who's turn it was, all they wanted to do was throw the ball. Mason would walk about halfway down the lane and then throw it. No rules apply in kiddie bowling.

Mason layed eyes on the skiball machine and grabbed Daddy's hand and pulled him over to it. Just like his Mimi, he ADORES skiball.

Later on ,Mason's other cousin, Alex met up with us and bowled for a little bit. We were keeping him overnight while his parents went to a concert. I failed to take many pictures but I did grab my camera when they started dancing to Lady Ga Ga in the bathtub. Due to explicit content I won't post the funniest pics and video. These are pretty darn cute though.

My Birthday and Mother's Day

I had some great video to show you from our Disney trip but since the camera is no where to be found we'll just stick to pictures until we replace our video camera. Yesterday I turned 29 and no...I don't feel any older, I am just thankful to have a whole year of my 20's left. I woke up to some nice surprises and I continued to be spoiled throughout the day thanks to some very special people.

I woke up the this on my refrigerator.

...and this on my nightstand.... SCORE!

These were all over my downstairs.

and I wore this around my neck all day.

This is Eric trying to be funny and write in cursive. Isn't it cute?

I forgot my camera the rest of the day but I met my best friends Elisa, Tara, and Angie at Chipotle for lunch then did some shopping ALONE and it was WONDERFUL. So great that I decided to treat myself to a birthday gift. That night Eric took me to dinner at Sperry's and my friend Emily
arranged for the server to deliver my birthday card along with their "famous for" dessert Bananas foster. It was amazing. Thanks Em! 29 feels good so I am going to try to sit back and enjoy it before the dreaded.. 3-0.. YIKES!

Here are some pics of Mother's day. We went to Mimi and Big Daddy's farm and played.

Farm boy in the making.

Harper climbing the gravel pile.

Queen of the mountain.

Tractor ride

Stella & Dot

Some of you may or may not know that I recently became a stylist for an amazing jewelry line called Stella & Dot. I fell in love with this line a few months back and finally decided that I really needed to own this jewelry in massive quantities. :)





I think you will love it too so I am offering a FREE Soiree bracelet to anyone who would like to host a trunk show in the month of June. No presentation, no high pressure sales pitch. Just a fun time with your girlfriends sharing conversation and trying on jewelry. SO...who wants some free jewelry?!?!

It all started with a mouse....

We are back from the most magical place on earth and we had an amazing time. I know Mason won't remember any of it but I will and that is what matters. So here's a recap of our trip. We left Sunday, amidst the torrential downpour and flooding in middle Tennessee. Our flight was delayed an hour and it was one of the last flights they let out of the airport before all flights out of Nashville were canceled that day.

Whew! We made it to Orlando and hopped on the Magical Express that took us to our home for the next 7 days, The Animal Kingdom Lodge.
The first night there, was less than magical...in fact, it was a nightmare. We had woken up at 4am to catch our plane, flown all morning, hit the pool when we got to the hotel and attempted to go to the Magic Kingdom for the parade that night. Mason only had one tiny nap that was about 45 minutes on the way to the resort. Once we got to the Magic Kingdom, he pretty much screamed the whole time. WE were the parents that brought our child to freaking Disney world and all he did was cry. We came to a conclusion that he was a combination of hot, tired, and hungry. So we bought one of these babies for $17 bucks, we made sure he got in a good quality nap everyday, and kept a variety of snacks with us the entire time.
The rest of the week was smooth sailing. We hit Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Downtown Disney, Animal Kingdom again, Epcot again, Downtown Disney again, and Magic Kingdom one last time. Ryan and Eric watched the kids one morning while Brooke and I had an adult day at the park of our choice. We did the same for the guys the day before. We also decided we needed an adult night out and got a Disney babysitter to come to the room and watch the kiddos. The adults headed to Epcot and sampled food and drinks from all the countries. We ate and ate and drank and ate some more. When all was said and done, we sampled Mexico, China, Morocco, and England. We all wanted to puke from our gluttonous behavior. Any-hoo that was or trip in a teeny- tiny nutshell. AND..since I have a really hard time picking out just a few pictures, I am posting all my favorites from the trip. Enjoy!

Mason's first airplane ride.

Finally arrived at Jambo house at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Mason learned to say, "I wanna go to the pool" really well this week.

Parade on Main Street- Magic Kingdom- Right after he saw Mickey for the first time.

Aladdin's Magic carpet ride.

Meeting Daisy

FINALLY Meeting the Mouse. I seriously almost cried when he saw him. Yes, I am a huge dork but the look on his face was just priceless.

Lovin on Pluto.

Flirting with Minnie

Patiently waiting his turn to meet Goofy.

It's a small world. Still as creepy as ever. When the ride was over, Saylor said, "bye-bye baby dolls."

This is what happens when Mason doesn't have a snack.

Result of adults trying to fit too much in at a theme park before nap time.

He called this statue, "Big-Daddy"

Jessie from Toy story.

Honey I shrunk the kids playground.

Those darn water fountains are sneaky.

Adult night at Epcot.

Best Show at Disney- The Lion King- This face proves it.

"Ryno"

Dumbo Ride- It lived up to it's name. :)

Mason loved it.

Fireworks at Magic Kingdom- our last night. :(

This is what a week at Disney feels like.

While waiting on the bus to the airport we found the arcade. Eric and Brooke had to fit in a little Rock Band before heading home.

All aboard the Magical Express.