Marine Corps Ball

A couple of weekends ago we headed up to the Metroplex to attend the Marine Corps Ball. Luckily, the hotel holding the ball was only 10 minutes away from my parent's house. So we dropped Mason off on Friday night and swung back over to pick him up on Sunday morning. I must say, it was a much needed AND deserved getaway for Mike and me. We haven't had one second to spend alone together since we moved from California back in May. We lived it up!

Friday night after we dropped Mason off we headed over to the Mariott and checked in. We loved the hotel. It was beautiful and clean and perfect. We decided to have a snack over at the bar in the hotel. We shared some yummy potato skins and Mike and a drink - then it was back to the room to pick out our room service selections for Saturday morning. That's right! Breakfast in bed!!! I was SO excited. We chose what we wanted, when we wanted it and stuck the slip out on our door. The next morning, Mike set his alarm for just a few minutes earlier than breakfast was to arrive. They knocked on the door, he opened it and brought in the table and woke me up. It was so wonderful waking up to pre-prepared breakfast. We ate our breakfast (I ate in bed!) and the best part was we didn't have to clean it up. I threw towels on the floor, didn't make the bed, etc. - and when I got back that afternoon it was ALL clean. Ah, freedom.

Saturday morning I headed out to get a manicure/pedicure and then went and had my hair done for the ball. After that Mike and I ate lunch at a restaurant called WildWood - which was delicious! - and headed back to the hotel to relax before the ball. I didn't let Mike see my dress until I put it on for the ball - so that was fun. We took some pictures and then celebrated the Marine Corps Birthday at the Ball. All in all it was a memorable, relaxing weekend.

Without further ado...the FIRST Belly Pic: 15 Weeks

Close up on the Belly...I love that bump!

Some of the recruiters Mike works with and their wives

The back of my hair. GORGEOUS! That lady was a pro. She did all of this with a straightening iron! Not one curler or curling iron used. Wow.

Being ridiculous

Our Ball Picture

Halloween!

Our Halloween celebrations began on Thursday when we headed over to the Gunter's house for a Halloween Party! Mason was so cute as Kermit the Frog. He played Halloween games, ate lots of yummy food and even made a few new friends. We had a blast! Here are a few pics:

Here is Mason waving to people on the Today Show. He loves it when they wave back.

Kermit and Dad at the Gunter's. Mason did not like having his Kermit hat velcroed at the neck. So we ended up undoing it later.

Pulling a wagon around the yard at the party.

On Halloween night our small group from church met up at Cameron Park Zoo for Zoo Boo. Mason had a blast! And so did the other kiddos. Here we are in line waiting to head in.

Mason and Madison holding hands before pictures.

And of course it took a few shots to get a keeper. The girls were all perfect angels. My spaz of a son was the one being difficult.

Take One:

Take Two:

Take Three:

Take Four: Finally a decent picture!

Checking out an Orangutan who was right there at the window!

Mom and Mason riding the train

We had a blast, but we are still recovering! It was quite a hike to trick or treat all over the zoo. We didn't get home and get Mason in bed until 9:30. Yikes! Happy Halloween!

Dos Cabreros

To all of my blog readers who have been wondering where we are...We're here! Don't give up. The reason for my extended absence in the blogosphere is due to morning sickness! That's right, baby #2 is on the way! We have a due date of May 14 - and between chasing a toddler, gagging, and falling in and out of consciousness I haven't had the energy to blog! I am hoping the morning sickness and extreme fatigue will vanish shortly. Keep us in your prayers! And thanks for staying with us!

Down on the Farm

A few weeks ago we had a fun time with our friends Chad, Jennifer and Hudson! They had been living in PA for the last few years - so we had yet to meet their newest addition Hudson. Her parents live here in town and so they invited us over while they were in town for the weekend. We had hamburgers and went swimming and even got to feed cows! Yes, I did feel slightly guilty eating hamburgers and then going to hang out with cows. But I got over it. Hamburgers are too tasty not to.
Mason and Hudson had a blast running around the yard and watching Mike throw the kong for the dogs. Here are some pics from the farm!

Mason, Hudson and the dogs

Mike throwing the kong for the dog. I LOVE Hudson's arms in this one. He is so excited!

Running after the dog. SO CUTE.

Ridin' in the back of the gator to go feed some cows!

Cows. They were hungry!

Mason checkin out the bull. Or maybe it was the bull who was checkin out Mason.

Due to some slight negligible parenting (I'm not naming names. But if I were it would start with an M and end with an ike), Mason shared some dinner with the cows. Yes, he munched on one of the pellets they have for cow food. He survived.

And, last but certainly not least... a temper tantrum. I wanted to get a picture of Mason and Hudson. Mason did not want to get a picture of Mason and Hudson. I won (as is always the rule in our house). Even though it is not an attractive picture. I did get the picture. haha.

Hudson is looking at Mason like, "dude, get a grip." Which is often what I mumble under my breath to Mason.

9-1-1

Well, I knew this day would come. I made my first 9-1-1 call. With all of the shenanigans boys seem to get into, I knew it was only a matter of time before Mason would so something that would warrant the Fire Department. I just didn't think it would happen this soon!

Let's back up. It was only a week or so after we got moved into our new house. Mason was in his bathroom playing and I was tackling the never ending job of unpacking and organizing. While he was playing, he shut the door to the bathroom. No big deal, he shuts doors all the time. When I went to open the door to check on him, I couldn't get the door open. The sink is right there by the bathroom door, and when Mason had closed the door, he had also opened a drawer on the vanity - thereby creating an amazingly strong barricade. Great.

I was able to open the door less than a quarter of an inch. I was brainstorming harder than I have ever before. I thought if I could get a knife through the gap, I might be able to stab the side of the drawer and slowly work it closed. I called Mike (who was 45 minutes away) and told him what was going on. After 10 minutes of trying almost everything we could think of - AND 10 minutes of hearing my precious baby boy screaming on the other side of the door, Mike told me to call the Fire Department.

I made the call to 9-1-1 and the Firemen were on their way. I felt like such a dork standing there with a handful Firemen in my house trying to figure out how to get my child out of the bathroom. After 10 minutes of them trying to figure things out, they finally were able to free Mason (no pun intended). One of the men leaned on the door to create a wider gap, and the other one used the knife I had to close the drawer (just like I had tried to!). When they opened the door and Mason came toddling out - face full of tears and snot - they all gave a collective "Awwwwwww!" and he ran to my arms. And that was my first call to 9-1-1. Let's hope it's the last.

Fun with Words

I thought I would take a minute to chronicle some of Mason's favorite words to say. He is jibber-jabbering all the time, but still loves to use words as well! I know I will forget the cute way he says words once he is all grown up, so I wanted to write about it now to remember it.

His true first word was "Up" (or "ut" as he says it). Not surprising since he wants me to hold him all the time!

His second word was "More" (or "mah mah mah").

But by far, his favorite word, and the one I hear almost constantly all day long is "Bird" (bahd). I never noticed how many of those grackles are EVERYWHERE until Mason started saying bird. They are here at the house, at parking lots, on the side of the road, even flying next to the car apparently. Those things are out of control. He also says "Cat" and "Dog" quite a bit.

His vocabulary has really taken off over the last week or so. Here are some new words he is saying:

"Alright", "Shorts", "Shoes", "Eight" (I guess it's his favorite number!), "Fish", "Duck", "Bye Bye", "Out", and "Yeah".

He says "pah pah pah" for please, and "bah bah" for baby. He constantly watches us and tries to immitate just about every thing we do. The picture at the top of the page is one I took a couple of weeks ago. I always put that grey headband on to keep my hair out of my face when I wash my face. Mason got a hold of the headband and stuck it on his head. He wore it for over 30 minutes! It was so funny. Mason, you are such a blessing and we love you more than words can express. We can't wait for the day you can say "I love you" back to us! You are the best!

Our New Pool!

I decided to get Mason a small inflatable swimming pool because he LOVES to be outside and it is just to hot to stay outside without water. I found one on sale at Target and spent the better part of an afternoon inflating it. Good times. We waited for a Saturday evening when Dad would be home so he could swim with Mason. They had a blast! It took Mason a little while to warm up to the idea of being in the pool, but once he did he had so much fun.

Here he is all ready to swim. Oh and please ignore the huge mound of boxes in the background. The emtpy-box-fairy seems to keep skipping our house. I may need to put out a plate of cookies or some loose change to entice her to come collect all those boxes.

Time to swim!!

Finally having fun

Splish Splash

Swinging after a swim

Here is a short video of Mason playing in the pool. Hope everyone else is staying cool in this hot weather!