Happy 4th!

It is my fav time of the night again! Mace and the mutt are asleep, Matt and me are just watching Army Wives and Carrier and chillin' together. I really missed just watching TV with Matt and I am so thankful to be with my husband and to have him home. He wouldn't even be home by now if he didn't come home early. So to have him home on our Nation's Independence day is such a huge blessing!

Yesterday my church friend, and neighbor invited us to her home for dinner with her fam and another fam from the church. It was also a 13 year olds birthday. I had already offered to make a cake for the dinner before I found out that there was going to be a birthday so the cake I made, and thankfully it was big enough, doubled as a birthday cake. We lit sparklers for the candles and the birthday boy loved it! This was the first time I made a cake by scratch. No box, no frosting mix, just a recipe and me. And it turned out really well. I just didn't go around telling everyone what was in that cake because man, you would think that Paula Deen wrote the recipe because of how much her fav ingredient was in it. I will just leave it at that and the pix, but if you would like the recipe just let me know and I will fwd a copy to you.

~Super yummy cake with cream cheese frosting~

~Mace and Daddy time!~

On Mason news...He is starting to walk. Tonight he was going back and forth between me and Matt laughing up a storm and taking 3 steps to both of us. He would fall and get frustrated because he fell but we would pick him back up and his huge smile would light up his face and off he went. I am pretty sure that he will be walking by his 1st birthday which is just 2 weeks away! I know... 2 weeks... WOW! He is also letting me finally brush his teeth without throwing a tantrum and he LOVES BREAD! We found this out when I made french toast and gave him a taste, which he will eat his own slice now, but the other day we were at Daddy's fav restaurant, Bertucci's, and he was eyeing Daddy's pizza. I gave him some of the crust and he gobbled it up. Then I said, "Matt just stick that curst in his mouth so I can take a pix." Matt did as I asked and Mace took a huge chomp out of it, then reached for it and took it from Dad's hands and then proceeded to eat the entire thing!!! From then on he loves graham crackers, french toast, buttered bread, and tonight he ate his entire bowl of my Mac n cheese, of elbow pasta with parmesan cheese and peas. He fed himself the entire dinner and was super proud of himself too for doing it. This kid is just growing up way too fast!!!

~Mace enjoying a little chomp of bread~

~Pix opportunity~

~Mace stole the bread from Dad and decided to feed himself~

~Almost gone. He suck that last little bit in his mouth and finished it off just after I took this pix~

Anyhew Enjoy the pix and Happy 4th of July to all of you. Thank you to all of our service men and women who are defending our freedom and sacrificing their time with their loved ones to protect us. I know how much it sucks to be away from the ones we love but when you look at why they are doing it, it helps make the time go just a little bit faster and for the pain of separation to not be as difficult. I love my husband and I am so proud of him for serving our Country and for him to return home to us! May all the families be reunited swiftly!

~Mace getting his 3rd haircut! Yep, 3rd. He gets them done about every 6 weeks~

11 Months

Each month it is getting harder and harder to take his pix of him laying down. I think next month, thankfully the last one, well at least till 18 months, will be the hardest. Mace just doesn't want to stay still. He has way too much stuff to look at and go and tear apart. Mace is a busy body. He likes to get into everything and be apart of everything that I or Matt does.

Speaking of Matt, so happy he is home. So sad that he and Mace are sick right now. Welcome home Matt, how would you like to go to the ER 2 days after you get home. Yep Mace had his first ER adventure. He spiked a pretty high fever and his doc said to go to the ER since it was after hours. We did. He has his first Ear infection, but we caught it super early and Mace is fine and Mace has a cold. Matt and Mace are on the mend but it will be a little while longer before they are 100%. One of the nice things about Matt being home: Matt was a dad and has been since Mace was born, but it has been amazing to watch Matt become a Father. Truly amazing!

Mace will be walking soon. A random lady said that he will be walking within 2 weeks. It has now been just over 2 weeks and he hasn't taken his first independent steps. I know it will be soon though. 

Mace loves to eat, and as Matt says he eats all the time!!! He really is eating all the time. His new fav, eating apples! like I will peel a quarter or half of an apple slice and he will eat the whole thing. Super cute and it keeps him busy for a little bit. I love you Mace and I am so glad that Matt is finally home and able to get to know you.

 ~Daddy and Mace chasing Archer~

 ~Superman!~

Welcome Home Daddy!!!

I am thrilled beyond belief that Matt is home. Home early and earlier than expected. Last week I found out that he had arrived back in country, which was 2 weeks ahead of the original time he had given to me months ago. Then he said he should be home by this Friday. Well I got a call on Monday evening saying that he was a free man. He got home last night! We are so thankful that he is home!!!

Mace didn't really like Matt at first. Actually I think that Mason was feeding off my emotions of crying hysterically. We went to take a pix with Matt and Mace gave the frowny face and then started screaming. It wasn't until after we got home and Mason saw how Archer was. Archer was going crazy yipping as loud as he could and running a hole in the ground by circling Matt. When we all got inside and Matt was playing and petting Archer Mason just sat back and watched. Finally little by little Mason started it interact with Matt by putting his hand on Matt's leg, then on his arm. Then finally reaching up for his face. It was very cute. Then Archer was done having his freak out session Mason finally agreed for Matt to pick him up and hence the beautiful pix that I have.

~Mace at just a few minutes old and Matt~

~Compare to how Mace is now. Must be weird for Matt to go from so small to Mace big~

And tonight Mace was preferring Matt over me. I think that Matt is the "shiny new toy" and Mace wants to get to know it. He feels comfortable with Matt. He snuggled up with Matt as Matt tried to rock him to sleep tonight. Mace was taking advantage of Matt and not acting tired and wanted to play with him rather than go to sleep.

So, the transition of adding Matt, has actually worked really well. Mace seems to be meshing well with him and I am very grateful for that! Anyhew enjoy the pix from yesterday and this morning and a couple of oldies!

~"Move it or lose it I'm here to pick up my Daddy" is what his shirt says.~

~Mace decided to push his stroller around at the airport~

~Mace getting to know Daddy~

~Mace playing with the balloons that we got for Daddy!~

 ~This is a week old, Mace loves to push his walker around. Always has a huge grin on his face~

 ~He is so funny when he holds his water cup. He won't use the handles but carefully holds it up with one hand.~

Best Baby Food Cookbook

I have had a few people asking me what I fix Mason to eat. Which cookbook I use and like. Well here it is!

Seriously, this is a really, really great cookbook for baby food. Everything is super easy and simple to make the food. I usually triple the recipe and freeze the rest and I am set to go for quiet sometime! Mason has his fav foods to eat, like sweet potatoes, apples, pears, butternut squash. There are also foods he can't stand, eggs, he hates them. But I think this has a great selection of options and also it goes into toddler-hood as well and a lot of those recipes look really great for the whole fam. On the side bar I have the book as well as the link to it on Amazon. GREAT BUY!!!

Practice Makes Better

We started practicing for Mason's first birthday party with Mason feeding himself his pureed dinner. What a wonderful mess it was too. Mason is too funny though because he started dipping his face into the bowl to lick it up, just like the dog does. Apparently this kid watches Archer way more than I thought he did. 

Mason is getting full of personality as well. He has a bit of an attitude, not sure where he got that from, and he is a little stubborn, still not sure where he got that from either. But bless his sweet little heart he has a sweet little personality when he wants to. He will crawl over to me as fast as he can go just to climb up on me and give me the biggest squeeze he can muster and a sloppy wet kiss. I love this little kid so much and I am so thankful that he is apart of this family! He just needs to stay this sweet and precious for the rest of his life!!!

Plants on Steroids

I have been so impressed with my garden this year! I don't know if it was the warm winter, or the late rain we got this year or what, but my plants are going crazy this year! CRAZY BIG!!! My butterfly bush on the side of the house in particular has never been this robust and beautiful! I can smell the flowers all the way at my front door. My butterfly garden at the front of the house has completely filled in the entire area and I am so excited for the flowers and how many flowers I am going to be getting. Anyhew here are some pix of my garden.

Makes Me Smile

I love having a very entertaining baby to make me smile when my day or the past few days have not been going very well. Sat the air conditioning died on me. Found out that my home warranty people would not let me use a guy that I already know and trust so I have to use another company. Well the company stood me up last night and I didn't find out that they were canceling until an hour and a half after they were supposed to be at my house. ARGH! It was so frustrating because the issue is not fixed I just have a temporary fix on it. So hopefully Sat when I have my next appointment they will actually show and fix the problem. Crossing my fingers.

But back to my cute little man! He sure knows how to make me smile and I am so thankful for that. So to put a little smile on your face here are some cute little pix of him.

~Mason got into the water bowl again, so I had fun with his hair!~

 ~Mom, I don't like it~

 ~I love his smile~

 ~I think his back teeth are coming in because he likes to chew on his thumb~

 ~Look Grandpa! I am wearing the shirt you got me!~

~He is getting so big!~