Fall Fun

I am determined to do some catching up on the last several months!  Tons of pictures to follow...

Beautiful TX weather called for a picnic!

We spent an afternoon at the Museum of Natural Science...

Mason loved the dinosaurs.

Then, we had a picnic and headed to the zoo!  I love fall in Texas and how gorgeous it is outside.

It just isn't fall without a pumpkin patch visit!

S'mores on the fire pit...

We also visited a farm where they had tons of fall things to do.

Corn field maze

Giant slide

We painted pumpkins...

We had a pretty spectacular fall!  Up next, winter and Christmas!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder...

Well, at least I hope it does!  I took an unintentional blog hiatus because I wanted to enjoy every bit of summer I had left with my little man!  He just amazes me daily, and I wanted to really take the time to slow down and make memories with my sweet baby boy (I still refuse to call him a toddler).  Then, school started again which meant I had to go back to work.  Getting back into the swing of things took some time so that prolonged the break.  However, when I saw so many others coming back from their own blog breaks I decided it was time I came back too!

Here is just a brief re-cap of the past couple months:

• Mason is now 15 months old...where did the time go?!  He just went to the Dr. and he is 24 1/2 lbs.(60%)  and 33"(90%).  My little man has gotten so tall!  He has learned so much and is doing so many things that it really blows my mind!

He put on Daddy's shoes and stomped around in them!

Hiding in a corner reading...makes his English teacher momma ecstatic! 

He was playing in the tupperware cabinet, and this is how he comes out of the kitchen.  I love it!

Helping Momma get ready for school.



How adorable are these big boy P.J.'s!?  A co-worker gave them to us, and I just love them!



• We spent a lot of time outside. This kid LOVES being outside and screams hysterically when we bring him in!

I have the greatest husband ever!  He takes care of me and Mason, and we couldn't ask for anything more.

We had a dinner and movie date at home while our little man was sleeping.  It was fantastic!

He sent my back to school flowers!


*Disclaimer:  I started this post, then our computer crapped out, so this is the half of the post I was able to finish and get the pictures for.  Hopefully, I will post the other half soon as well as be back to blogging more frequently.  

Beach Trip!

We went on an impromptu beach trip with my parents a few weeks ago.  Nick and I didn't plan on doing anything big this summer since we recently booked our trip to London!  We were sitting with my parents and talking about needing a vacation so I suggested a beach house.  Everyone was in, but they were worried we wouldn't be able to find anything so late.  I started the hunt, and we had a fabulous house booked by that afternoon!  We stayed on Crystal Beach, and had a perfect relaxing vacation.  It was close to home, affordable, but perfect nonetheless!  Mason loved the beach!!  Here a few pictures from our trip...

Heading to the beach!

Playing with Grandad...

Before the trip was over, Mason started saying Grandad in context!

Mason made a friend at the beach house!  He loved this bird statue.

Beach Baby!

We got this visor for 99 cents at Old Navy.  Nick said Mason looks like a frat boy!

Playing on the deck.

Please ignore how gross I look...this was on our way out, headed home!

Practice Makes Perfect!

Lately, we have been prepping for Mason's birthday.  I know he won't remember it, but I want to start him off knowing that it is his special day that is all about him!  Plus, it is my opportunity to have full control over every detail without any complaints from my little man...needless to say, I am taking full advantage!  We have been practicing the cookies/desserts and his smash cake and have finally perfected them for the most part. 

Mustache and tie cookies...they will be beautifully iced for the party.

Smash cake! Fits perfectly on his personalized stand!

We figured, if I practiced baking it then it was only fair for Mason to practice eating it!!

Also, I have been working on several projects so that I am not trying to do it all at once right before his party.  We have been purchasing things a little here and there, so other than the food we pretty much have everything we need already. Here's a little sneak peek at my baby's first birthday...

I am just learning to sew and this was one of my first projects!  My mom did help some though.

Mason has even been practicing 'blowing out his candle'!  It is the cutest thing...we have been working on it, and now when we tell him to blow out his candles he gets excited and blows!

Sneak Peek...

Mason's nursery is so close to being done!  We have a few things left to finish, but I thought I would give a little sneak peek into some of the things in his room.  I am in love!  It took a while to figure out what I wanted to do and how I wanted it to look, but I am thrilled with the outcome!  Nick actually told me that when I was describing things he was nervous but now that it is all together in the room he loves it.  So, here are a few pictures of some things in the nursery...

Nick putting up some paper lanterns...he was not really seeing my vision until the whole thing was complete.  Now, he loves it and totally trust me when I suggest things!

These are the main fabrics that we are using for his bedding.  My mom is still working on some pieces, so as soon as it is done I will share pictures.  It is going to be gorgeous!

Nick and I decided to make our own 'hanging shelf thing'.  I don't know what to really call it, but he cut the wood, I picked the knobs, and we took his fabrics and had paint made to match.  It is super cute on the wall...promise!

We were at Homegoods and I saw this awesome lantern.  I then decided it would be the perfect light fixture for the room.  Thankfully, Nick's dad is amazing and the two of them were able to transform it into the perfect light fixture for Mason's room.  This is it all lit up in the evening.

And, here it is off during the day.  I swear it makes the room and looks amazing in person. 

The bookshelf that Nick made, and, again, we got paint to match his fabric color.

A couple of prints we made, plus an M that I painted to match his room.  I will have to get a close up pic. of the prints...

Changing table/area/dresser.  The thing on the far left is a lamp that is perfect in his room, and the bulb isn't super bright so we will really use it as a nightlight for when we change or check on him at night.

We can't wait for our little man to arrive!  It is getting more and more exciting each and every day.  Our to-do list of things to get done before Mason arrives is getting shorter and shorter; I feel so accomplished with everything we have checked off.  It gets more real everyday!