Three Elves doing the Charleston

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Our Little Elf

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I Do Apologize...

...for turning my blog into a Winter Wonderland BEFORE Thanksgiving!!! I'm soooo against starting to celebrate one holiday before the other's over, but I'll admit I got sucked in by the cuteness of the "Cutest Blog on the Block" site again. I just went there to peruse the winter/Christmas backgrounds to see what I wanted to change to ON FRIDAY and kinda decided that I'd save myself the trouble of having to go back & pick it all out again. :) Of course then I HAD to jump on over to Scrapblog (my fave digi scrapbook site) to make a cute header to match my new background. It all just kinda snowballed. haha--get it?

This year I have just been in the Christmas Spirit early and I owe 98% of it to this. [the A-maz-ing Ali]
I've been creating a "December Daily" album to scrap on-the-fly during the busy month of December. I raided my scrap stash and pulled out EVERYTHING winter & Christmas a few weeks ago & have been happily creating while humming Christmas tunes to myself. It's almost ready to go & as soon as it's done, I'll post it on my other blog, Daily Chrysalis for you to check out.
I also think that this year will be so much fun with Mason! He's at a fun age to enjoy the season. So, just this once, I am full speed ahead into Christmas!

On Sunday, the weather was just [barely] warm enough for Wayne to grill hot dogs (as if it's Summertime!) so we all played in the backyard for a little while. Mason had fun running around & sliding while Wayne tried to throw a quick game of Cornhole.


Look at my new hat & mittens, Mommy!

He loves to slide on his belly!



Must...run!


If you remember the story-Wayne made the boards this Summer & just recently painted the hogs on. I think he did a great job. I love how they look like a graphic stamp.

I'm Baaaaack....

Oh, where to begin.
I'll spare you the details & say that last week Mason had a 102 temp & was vomiting. He was fine after 24 hours.
Sunday I had a 101 temp with lots of fun symptoms to go with it. I was miserable & missed 1 1/2 days of work. Lucky for me, I work at a Dr's office & got a z-pac called in. I felt better within 5 hours of taking it--no kidding. I felt almost back to normal today-just a little run down with lingering nasal congestion. I'm gonna live afterall.

Mason & I went shopping with my Mom today (it's Friday-big surprise.) We spent forever in Kohl's, Sam's Club (food tasting day--we left stuffed) and Wal-Mart.

The best part--I got a new (much needed) winter coat at Kohl's! I had scoped it out last week & just couldn't get it off my mind, which is funny because I have not laid eyes on a single other coat except that one. I guess picking out a winter coat is like picking out a wedding dress. When you find "the one" you just know it & all else pales in comparison. (although, like I said, I didn't actully compare any other coat to this one!) So last week it was reg. $89 on sale for $45, which I thought was pretty good for a coat. Well, today it was on sale for $35! It was meant to be--they had 1 left in my size & I swear to you that when I tried it on, my fave song started to play! (As Mom as my witness) Then, as if it couldn't get any better, Mom said she'd get it for me! Sweeeeet! So that's my over-glorified story of my new coat. Maybe I'll let you touch it if I see you around.

On another note--
Mason has been saying some funny things latley, like:
"Not right, Daddy." (when he doesn't agree with something-like it's just not right.)
"I'll see you after later!"
"I want to watch a Meeoovee."
"I would like to touch that." (so formal!)
"I do love to lick ice cream." (we drive past the Braum's sign a lot)
"gank you." (thank you)
Still into vacuuming...



Lastly, I've discovered the best thing since sliced bread. It's called "Peppermint Drinking Chocolate." That's right, I said DRINKING CHOCOLATE! It has little chunks of actual chocolate that melt into a creamy, rich, but not too sweet, cup of yum. It puts Swiss Miss to shame.

FYI

Mason was sick last week, now I'm sick. Be back soon...

Weekend Recap

Warning: If you have better things to do than read about a boy and his underwear, I suggest you do them.

Saturday I started seriously potty training Mason. I decided to let him wear big boy pants (aka underwear) all day & just let the accidents happen so he could see how icky it felt & want to go to the potty instead. (This was decided after much research) We broke out the Spongebob (of course), Deigo, and Spiderman underwear and let him wear just a shirt & undies all day.

By 12:30, Mason had gone through 9 pairs of underwear.

Never has the child peed so many times in a single day. (okay--LATELY) Of course I was pumping him full of fluids for potty training purposes, but seriously? Since I had only bought 9 pairs of underwear, we resorted to using pull-ups (which I hate) while the undies were being washed by Daddy. (lucky guy) So he never actually went while on the potty, but he's super excited about wearing the underwear now. First thing Sunday morning when I went to change him, I habitually reached for a diaper in my half-asleep stooper and Mason said, "I wanna wear my underwear. Diapers are for babies." I was so proud! He's so ready!

Saturday night I snuggled up in bed with some junk food & Halloween candy and watched the movie, Atonement. Man, was it good & slightly depressing.

Sunday I had to get out of the house after 2 days of being home, so I stuck Mason in a diaper & we hit the stores with Mom & Angela. We went to Shirley's Flowers for their annual holiday open house. I wanted to bust out my camera so bad & snap photos of the gorgeousness dripping from every corner, but I resisted. Too bad~they would've been a nice addition to this post.
Then we went to the Promenade because I HAD to buy Mason some Fall/Winter clothes from our fave store, The Children's Place. I got some great deals & ended up leaving with 4 pairs of cargo slacks, 1 pair of windpants, 1 pair of carpenter jeans, 6 long-sleeved T's and a pair of adorable football-shaped slippers for those cold-toesies. At JC Penney's I got him 2 pairs of athletic shoes because they were buy one, get one half off. So the child now has clothes.

Mason failed to take a nap during our outting (he usually sleeps right through our shopping, but not today) so he was a bit unruly by the time we made it to Walmart. When we finally got home, he ate dinner & went straight to bed. Wayne painted our garage while we were gone! He got about half done before having to quit. It looks Sooooo much better already. Well, that about sums it up. I guess I was in the mood to write because this has gotten a little lengthy! Ok-Im done!


These pictures are random & have nothing to do with my post, but I hate to post without pictures & thought I'd spare you the potty training visuals...

I've got my few Fall/Thanksgiving decorations out


This is the baker's rack in my kitchen. I moved a few things around the other day.

Fun with Playdoh

Mason received a small container of Playdoh at Halloween and loved it. Since it's for ages 2+ I thought I'd get him some more and he could play with it--at the table ONLY! We broke it out this morning & he sat & played with it for a whole hour! We made shapes like hearts, stars & cars with cookie cutters & rolled it out with a small rolling pin. Fun!

Fall Fun

Yesterday, Mason and I played in the backyard for an hour since the weather was so beautiful. It was in the 70's with a light breeze and we enjoyed hearing the crunch of leaves under our feet, searching for pretty leaves, and of course sliding & swinging. I was a little sad to think that we wouldn't be able to play outside much more until next Spring, which got me thinking how big Mason would be then...

This leaf was HUGE! It was bigger than my head. I tried to get Mason to hold it so I could get a picture of him with it, but he didn't cooperate.

Mason in "Fort Mason"

A few leaves we found that Mason liked

Although dirty, I thought the birdbath looked pretty with the leaves in it.

Halloween for Grown-Ups

Last night we attended another Halloween costume party (this time we got to dress up!) It was a lot of fun! The party theme was "Badges & Bars" (think cops & robbers) so there were many police & security officer and jail mate costumes to go around. Others got a little more creative & they were the best & funniest. Wayne & I didn't fit the theme because we had bought our costumes to go our friends' party last weekend. But it didn't matter, there were others that didn't go with the theme either. (well, I guess mine sort of fit it.) Anyway, I know I'm getting old because the party was pretty wild & I was super tired today (got to bed at 3 am~but thank God for the time change & that extra hour!)I guess Halloween is now officially over until next year :(

Wayne was the Gorton's Fisherman



Love his fishsticks

He handed out frozen fishsticks at the party!


I was Amy Winehouse

Big wig

Lots of eyeliner, tattoos, & a mole

Here she is for real...




Wayne talking to "Matt Jones"

Me with Gangsta Girl Jennifer


Nick Nolte from his mugshot (hilarious! Wish I would've gotten a better pic) with Bonnie from Bonnie & Clyde

Mr. Gorton & Miss Winehouse

OJ Simpson (he had a glove that was too small & a bloody knife!)

Wayne with Hannibal Lector

This is Wayne's boss & his ho. Oops~I mean wife!

There were several other good costumes~ Michael Jackson, old western sherriff with a huge mustache, the Hamburgerler, & 2 different "Dog the Bounty Hunter" & his wife. Fun!

Candy Aftermath

I piled Mason's Halloween earnings on the floor to see what all he got & it was a huge mountain of candy! Waaaaayyy too much. Of course we've all been eating it and Mason is especilly partial to the suckers.

He started lining up the suckers of course...



It takes talent to eat 2 suckers at once!

Our Halloween

Mason dressed up as a Tiger for his 3rd Halloween. We had a full fun day of trick or treating. We started at my workplace with a goblin parade then went down to the hospital where I used to work. Then we headed to Wayne's work to show our little Tiger around. We stopped off at my parent's to eat lunch then went to my sister's work~at an elementary school. Mason loved seeing the "big kids" that went to school there. (although Mason was about the same size as many of the Kindergarteners!!! seriously.) After that, we visited my Mom's work. Mason was stripping his paws and headpiece off by this point. I don't blame him.
We went home for a much needed nap & some downtime before the evening trick or treating. Wayne joined us at my parent's when he got off work. We ate chili & we took Mason around the neighborhood. We got to see Cameron as a mummy before he went to a party. Mason had so much fun & got way too much candy!


At Creekside

My boss is a real witch... (not really!)

Outside Willow Creek




Gigi with Cameron & Mason (my grandma)


Blackmail shot of my sister~I warned her it could show up on my blog!


Mason loved the neighbor's porch decorations