wordless wednesday

numbers

4 days until school's out
6 days until my cousin graduates from high school and a ton of family will be in town
7 days until all the drywall must be hung and we tear down the wall into our addition
7 days until we celebrate Mason's first birthday (a week early)
8 days until we need to finish the garden fence
9 days until we hope to plant the garden
10 days until I leave for NYC with Hillary!!

Things are a little busy around here:)

insulation

It's a dirty, dusty job. Yesterday was insulation day. We got up at 5:00 and drove two trucks over an hour to Lowes. We needed one truck for the insulation blower we rented and one truck to hold over 60 bags of insulation. We were about 25 minutes on our way back home when we realized they did not give us the hose attachment. So, I headed back and Ryan headed home. At least we didn't come all the way home before we realized it.

My job was to crawl around up in the rafters with the hose.

Ryan kept the machine full until the very last bag. We had just enough. The hardest parts where the corners where the roof was really slanted down and I could barely fit. But, 4 hours, 1200 pounds of insulation, and 2 very bruised knees later (and a big thank you to Nana for coming and watching Mason!) we can check that job off the list!

wordless wednesday {prom shoes}

let's talk compost

Now we really are not experts on this subject, but we are learning as we go. We've been composting for three years with mixed results. This year we are moving our garden and moving our compost pile because we have to extend the dog pen. So, we are trying something new with our compost bin. Check it out:

Ryan made this using some old wood we got from his dad.

It has removable slats on the front so we can get a shovel in there to turn it every so often.


This is the lid (made with some old burlap we've used to cover plants in the garden and two handles we found in the garage) We can easily take it off to pour our goods in. We have a 5 gallon bucket in the garage with a screw on lid. We add all our kitchen scraps to it and when it's full we pour it in. Then add a layer of straw.

Only a few splinters along the way.

It's fun to make something out of old materials instead of throwing them away. Stay tuned to see what Ryan's up to with the rest of this wood. Any guesses?

11 months

This is coming a day late, but what better way to celebrate Mother's Day than to focus on my sweet little boy who is now eleven months. It's hard to believe we will be celebrating the big birthday here in a couple weeks. Mason, you are such a sweet little boy and we are so thankful for you. Being your mom is the best job in the world. I love you more every day.

You are so curious about the world around you these days. You are constantly on the go and making sounds and talking like crazy. You hardly ever sit still, but we sure love trying to keep up with you.

At 11 months, Mason, you:

~are full of smiles

~pull yourself up on anything and everything

~are getting your top 2 teeth (one is all the way through, and one is a sharp point right now)

~can say dada, mama, dog, and uh-oh (my personal favorite, especially uh-uh-oh)

~can give high fives

~clap when we say "yeah"

~eat whatever we give you and never seem to get full

~can drink from a sippy cup and are so over bottles

~love to feed yourself and are experimenting with using a spoon

~can step from one piece of furniture to another

~love to be outside, getting dirty

~you love the greenhouse, too

~play peek-a-boo

~love to play with the dogs and smile and say "dog" when they come into the room

~seem to always be putting your toys into containers (especially dad's shoes)

~love to throw your toys in front of you and then go get them (very entertaining)

You are such a sweet, sweet blessing. We adore you Mason.

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

up, up

Mason definitely prefers standing these days. Almost every time we set him on the floor he crawls to the nearest place where he can pull himself up. He does it in the crib, too.

Who needs a nap?Let me out of here!He's so proud when he pulls himself up. He's getting pretty good at stairs, too. We don't have any, but he has crawled up at three different houses. He's not so good at going back down. He tried to climb on top of this box, but he only got one knee up. I can only imagine what he is going to get himself into in the next few months.

For now, we'll enjoy the constant standing.

celebrate

We met my sister, brother-in-law, and mom this weekend for an early mother's day and to celebrate my sister's birthday. We had lunch and then took dairy queen to the park and enjoyed the beautiful weather. My sister and her husband brought one of their cats since she injured her leg and was on pain meds. Mason loved the cat. The cat loved her leash (sort of).


Mason loved daddy's hat.
We loved Mason in daddy's hat.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Kates!

Happy (early) Mother's Day, mom!

welcome, little cousin

We have a new addition to our family! My cousin and his wife just had their baby girl, Olivia! We can't wait to meet her. I finished her gift just in time. This afghan had it's share of difficulties, but I am very happy with how it turned out. I think I might even venture to start another one, since once I got the hang of the pattern, it was actually pretty fun.
Thanks for stopping by!