Spring Cleaning, Decor & More!

It's hard to tell that it's Springtime today because it's SNOWING here! Here's what it looked like at 9:oo this morning:
It looks weird having snow on top of green grass!

At least the snow has not eliminated the urge to dust away the winter blahs with some Spring Cleaning! I've gotten some much needed cleaning done today and we've made some progress around the house over the last few weeks. Here's what we've been up to:

The day we returned from Tulsa was nice & warm & Mason got his very first ice cream from the ice cream truck! It's been driving around our neighborhood for a few weeks now (already!) and we finally caved. Of course Mason picked out a huge Spongebob with bubblegum eyeballs. He loved it but wasn't able to finish the whole thing. I tried to get a good picture of him holding up the ice cream, since it was a "first," but of course he wouldn't hold it up right and finally just made this silly face. I have no idea where he came up with this face, but that's the face he always makes when being silly.

A few weeks ago, after getting the new shelf in our office to match the new desk from my parents, I started rearranging all sorts of things & I ended up moving Mason's books from his bedroom into the office bookcase. They are so much easier to get at & I like having his books with ours. It also freed up a lot of space in his room for toys to be reorganized.

This is our Bradford pear tree (what's left of it after the ice storm-It's not too bad though) Early this week we had a tree service come out & top & trim a different large tree in our backyard (one that's right next to this pear tree) and it looks much better. Now we aren't scared of it falling on our fence, storage building or into the precious neighbor's pool. (that's a whole other story! LOL)

I even made (slice & bake) sugar cookies last weekend! In spring colors of course.

Now you won't believe this one. Drumroll please.....
I cleaned out The Junk Drawer! Don't act like you don't have one.
Ours was beyond unruly and embarrassing. I was sick of digging around through batteries, twist ties, tools, broken pieces off toys, etc. So I bought a huge drawer organizer at Walmart, sat down with the drawer and went to town. Here are the beautiful results:

Last weekend I also put away the St Patrick's Day decorations (what few I have) and brought out the Easter/Spring stuff. I was inspired by my friend Sherri and her post about decorating, the blog Southern Hospitality & one of my fave blogs to check out, Bless Our Nest.
I usually keep most of the decorations in the living room area, but Spring pastels don't exactly lend themselves to the RED in my living room, so I mostly decorated the kitchen this time.

The kitchen table centerpiece~I pulled a watering can vase from my baker's rack, a little fern/snail plaque, threw my coaster set on there just because they matched the SLAH tray, and finished it off with 2 little ceramic bunnies that I've had since I was little. (Well, one was mine & one was my sister's. They're now both mine!) Bwah ha ha :)

In the corner~Lots of SLAH (Southern Living at Home)stuff.

It looked a little plain, so I added this ivy & purple flower...

Another corner~a hydrangea arrangement I made years ago (with the tips chewed off from my cat. At the time I was so mad, but now that she's gone, I like it. Weird, I know.) And a little Dept 56 bunny pot.

More SLAH, a (fake) chocolate bunny and the green votive candle is a new one from Yankee~Vanilla Lime (YUM)

Onto the Living Room~ A huge egg candle (There's a blue one just like it on the opposite table)

Bunnies on the the mantle with another flower arrangement (I did not make this one)

A plaque I love with tulip candle holders (have them in green & orange too)

I made this ceramic egg in Kindergarten...

That's it for this extra-long post! Next Spring Project: Getting ready for a Huge Yard Sale! (wish me luck on that one!)
Happy Spring!

I Heart Target

First of all...Please pray for little 5 year old Jaxson who is at ACH with kidney failure right now!

My Mom, Mason & I visited our new Target on Friday. It was filled with a lot of great things that I want! I think it's better than the Fayetteville store, personally. It has almost the same layout, more refrigerator cases, and just seemed to have a lot more selection to me. (Probably because it's new)
Anyway, I've been on a quest looking for new bedding for Mason. I can't seem to find what I originally had in mind, but I found a good 2nd runner-up at Target. I don't want to divulge the theme just yet. We are planning to convert Mason's bed from the toddler daybed to a twin bed. He's just so stinkin' big and with his stuffed animals, he gets a little cramped. Plus, since I want to redo the theme of his room, what better time to convert?
I have also been keeping my eye out for a new bathroom accessory set (such as trashcan, soap dispenser, etc.) because I'm planning to paint & redo my front bathroom. Guess where I finally found the perfect set? Target...although I haven't bought it yet.
We were in Target for over an hour and Mason slept the whole time! Naps are rare for him these days so I was grateful.

We are also grateful for the shelving unit that my parents gave us today! They decided we needed it more than they did and it matches the desk they gave us recently. We went & picked it up today and got it installed with the tv on it. I'm trying to figure out exactly what else to put on it. Books? Move some Razorback stuff around? A home for some of my scrapbooks? I'm not sure yet.
(oops, should've turned the tv off!)

Mason found a little spot to crawl in and lay down just long enough for a picture...

And since I haven't posted any pics of Mason's obsession with vacuums in a long time, here's a few of him (one with my grandma in it) from a few weeks ago:

Look at the knee bends-he really gets into it!

Catch-Up Post

You may have noticed I haven't been feeling very bloggy lately, so now I'm going to play catch-up! Here are a few things I wanted to share...

Mason had a check-up at the Pediatrician last week. He's healthy and on track with most everything. He is still in the 95th percentile for his age group in height and weight (no surprise to us!) He weighs 37 lbs and is 40 inches tall!!! He is so big & heavy to carry, but I still do it because he's my baby!
Dr. A told us we needed to stop giving him milk at bedtime (oops-I knew that!) so that he wouldn't get cavities and to start a routine of teeth brushing before bed. (I just let him brush his teeth kind of hit & miss before) So we have started that and Mason is really into it. I bought him a new toothbrush and some toddler training toothpaste (safe to swallow) and he thinks he's big stuff! Here he is tonight before bed...


On another note:
The other day, Wayne's Mom, Clova stopped by to see us and brought Mason this huge red dog! His name is Floppy and Mason just loves him and his Grandma Clova!

Lastly,
My parents got new (BeEEEaUtiFuL!) office furniture, so you know what that means~ New desk for us! (we got their hand-me-down desk) Yippee! Our office has looked pretty pre-marriage your-stuff-and-my-stuff-crammed-in-a-room-together for a while now, so the new desk is a real upgrade. I'm really enjoying all the workspace. (see below) There's talk that we might also inherit a nice bookcase that will shelve our tv...:)

More to come, but that's for another post!

Today I did something I haven't done since I was 14...

I got a flu shot!

Last year's "plague" hit almost everyone (I was the most sick on Valentine's day) so I thought I might as well give in and just do it. Plus I think I'll have Mason vaccinated & I wouldn't do it to him without putting myself through it. Can I just say~OUCH! The shot itself did not hurt, but my arm started feeling sore right after & it aches all over now! Of course I kept hitting it all day & leaning on it by accident. (not that I lean a lot) Anyway, I did it & I'm a big baby about it. That's pretty much all I wanted to share.
Oh, and that my boss bought me an awesome new desk today! I get to graduate up from the table I was using that had zero work space after shelving my computer, keyboard, adding machine, phone, etc. I will be rearranging my office tomorrow & I need to start a painting for one of the walls. They're screaming for some artwork!
Man, I lead a pretty exciting life.