Poor Mason

Just a quick post asking for a few prayers for little Mason. He's had a low-grade fever since Wednesday, and today it shot up to 105.2. We have the fever down again, but I'm concerned as the evening approaches, that it will spike again. So say a little prayer for my sweet Mason...and for me, too! Thanks!

New Recipe Blog!

I have recently begun a new recipe blog, and I encourage you to check it out! I'm trying to keep up with it fairly regularly. I am attempting to make at least one new recipe a week, and if it's any good, I'll share it with you! There is a link to it on the right column of this blog, or you can also reference it by the following link: http://www.recipesandtablescapes.blogspot.com/

02.19.09 Another Nighttime Ritual

In addition to calming the boys down by reading books, we Chris also riles them up by wrestling on our bed (it cushions the falls)! By the way, the wrestling comes first, the book comes later. :-) They both all three love it, and I enjoy watching from the sidelines...sometimes it gets a little rough for me! :-)

2/18/09 Riding the "Harley"

Grant and Chris often go out to ride Grant's "Harley" but this was the first time Mason got to join in on the fun. He LOVED it! Grant and Mason both just giggled the whole time (and I think I might have heard a few giggles from Daddy, too). It was so much fun to watch them.

2.14.09 Valentines Day

Today was a big day! The morning started off by Grant picking out what he was going to wear. He was very insistent to wear his favorite soccer shirt since it matches his cousin, Jaybin. So, of course, he wore it! When Chris noticed he was wearing a soccer shirt, he pulled out his soccer shirt from Honduras so that they could "match." Isn't he cute? So they matched, and Grant was thrilled. He got the soccer ball, took Chris' hand and told mommy, "Picture!" So of course we commemmorated the occasion of their matching Soccer Shirts. Ha! I made Chris a yummy Chocolate Cake for Valentines Day. Doesn't it look so pretty? If you want the recipe, click HERE.

We spent the afternoon driving around looking at houses and peeking in windows! The boys were great in the car. Both of them slept almost the whole time. When we got home, Chris' parents showed up not long after. I fixed them Spaghetti for dinner and as we were preparing to walk out the door (Chris had planned to take me out that night for Valentine's Day), I gave the boys each a hug and kiss. As I stood up from hugging Mason, he reached for me and took 3 whole steps! I was so excited. I think I scared him! I didn't think he'd be trying to walk for a while. So he has proven me wrong yet again. The most we've gotten is 5 steps, but he's on his way towards being a big boy!

Chris and I tried to go to a sit-down restaurant, but everything was so busy, so we went to the food court at the mall instead and shared Sbarro's. Ha! We laughed about it. Then we went to see the movie, "Taken." It was really good, though probably not the best choice for Valentine's Day. It definitely wasn't romantic, but it did keep us on the edge of our seats for the entire movie. We recommend it!

So we had a great day. It was so nice to be together.

February 11, 2009 - Just Hanging Out!

Do I even need to explain? My boys are just cute. Plain and simple.

February 10, 2009 Popsicles

Today was rather hot, so I took the boys outside for a special treat. Mason had never had a popsicle before, so I was excited to see how he would handle it. He was all business. He held it in his little hands and went right to town. There wasn't a drop left...except on his hands and legs. Immediately after the popsicles, you ask? A Bath!

February 7, 2009 Trip to the Zoo

We went to the zoo today. It was a gorgeous day, and we had been wanting to take the boys again for a while. While it was a lot of fun, there were A LOT of people. Because it was such a beautiful day, everyone had the same idea that we did. Nonetheless, Grant fed a giraffe, and we tried to feed some birds, but they were so full from everyone else feeding them that they wouldn't even come near us. Bummer. It was nice to get out of the house and enjoy our little family for a while.

Typical Grant, of Course!

February 5, 2009

While I was fixing dinner tonight, I looked out and Grant had turned on the wii that we got for Christmas. He was playing baseball all by himself! I was so impressed! Such a big boy now!

Before bed, Chris sat down with both of the boys and read them a story. They love that night time tradition. I do to. They're always so cute.

On another note, we took dinner to Chris last night since he was on call. We had talked all the way there about how we were going to get to go see daddy and have dinner with him. As I rounded the corner and the hospital came into view, Grant got all excited, pointed at the hospital and said, "Look, mommy! It's Daddy's house!" I laughed it off, but found it kind of sad that he thinks of the hospital as "Daddy's House." I told Chris about it and he, with a sad face and a sigh, said, "Awwww. How sad!" The nurses all thought it was funny, though.

February 4, 2009

We had so much fun today! I tried to be more creative with the ways I entertained the boys, and they LOVED it! While Mason was napping, Grant and I played Candy Land for the first time. He doesn't quite get it yet, but he's on his way. And he loved counting the spaces to move and identifying the various colors. I finally just gave up on the rules and played with the people with him.

After Mason woke up, we made a giant fort out of our family room and left it up for nearly the rest of the day. They had a blast! Both of them huddled underneath the fort for most of the day with various toys, etc, giggling and pulling me in by the hand to join them. Aren't they cute!

House Hunt

Well, so many of you have been asking...sorry I haven't been better at responding! And sorry about the blog. Because of all the house hunting, the rest of my life has taken a back seat. You see, we have to be out of here by the end of April, so I have focused much of my attention on expediting this whole process. Unfortunately, we have hit a couple bumps in the road. We have placed an offer on two homes so far. The first one they just rejected the offer. The second one is my absolute favorite, however, someone else put an offer on it, as well, so they are giving us until today at 5:00 to give our "latest and greatest" offer to make it fair, since the other couple already knew we had put an offer on they had an advantage. Sooo, we're trying to decide what to offer there. It feels like such a game! On top of that, it's a short sale, meaning that it will take up to 60 days for our offer even to be approved by the bank after submitting it. So it will be a long road, I'm afraid. We're still looking at other homes, and I'm sure we'll end up placing multiple offers. I guess I assumed with this market that we'd have a big advantage - no one would be buying. But it just doesn't seem to be the case. Every house that we've liked is gone already. And we've only been looking for 2-3 weeks. So, wish us luck! And wish us patience... On another note, check back soon. My plan is to update the blog very soon (like today!!)

A Few Bits of Randomness

This week, Grant has... 1) ...Figured out how to make a "Vacuum Seal" inside of a cup so it hangs from his mouth. He thinks this is very cool and kept asking me to take more pictures, so we have about 25 pictures of this same face. Scary! 2) ...Mimicked his daddy every time I turned around. Chris came home from work, plopped in the chair and fell asleep for a few minutes. Next thing I knew, I turned around and Grant had crawled up in his daddy's lap, striking the exact same pose. Aren't they cute! 3) ...Continued getting into things he knows he's not supposed to. While I was getting all the food ready for my candle party and was taking pictures of my table, I glanced over, only to see Grant sneaking chips while I wasn't looking. And he thought he was so sly!

01.31.08 PartyLite Candle Party

I had a PartyLite Candle Party here at my house tonight. It was so much fun getting ready for my guests, and I thought my table looked pretty and the food was all delicious! I tried several new recipes. If you want the recipes, and my reviews on them, go here.

Table Decor:

Bread Bowl Cheesy Bacon Dip

Garlic and Herb Chip Dip

Strawberry Fruit Dip

Scotcheroos

Cherry Limeade

01.28.09 Oh, the Horrors!

Tuesday night, my washing machine broke. I was not too thrilled about this, but Wednesday, Chris came home and went and bought me a brand new one! Hooray! He went out, picked it up, and while I was getting dinner ready and the kids around to go to choir practice, he was even starting to install it for me. It was rather stressful...both kids were screaming, Chris needed help, I was trying to get dinner on the table, off the table, cleaned up, the kids dressed, and leave for choir practice all at the same time. So I strapped the boys in the car and since they were both contained, I helped Chris scoot the old washer out and the new one in!

I hopped in the car and sped off, as we were already leaving late, and I knew I wasn't going to make it on time. I hate being late!! We were less than a mile down the road, both boys were screaming at the top of their lungs, and I had had it! It was already almost 7:00. I knew I only had to make it one more hour and the kids could go to bed...so I very frustratedly turned the car around, turning myself around in the process to scold the boys for screaming and sending me over my limit. In doing this, I looked at Grant and to my dismay, found him completely covered in blood! From head to toe! That did it! I hurried home as fast as I could, all the while hearing Grant tell me about an owie he had while he pointed to his mouth. Chris met me at the door and helped me clean Grant up. We finally figured out that it was merely a bloody nose, but it certainly freaked me out! It is never a fun thing to see your child covered in blood (amazingly, with as messy as he was, not a drop of it got on our beige colored interior of the car!!)! After a nice bath, both boys were winding down and we did get them to bed on time. It was nice to have a few minutes of quiet after my quite harried evening. But thankfully both boys are in bed, and I have a working washing machine!