Elf Yourself! #2

I found this on another blog site and I love it! Watch our family dance as little elf's and ENJOY! I hope this fills your holiday with spirit and joy! We love you all very much!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1118815123

Food For Thought

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. ... If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Matthew 5:44,46-47

"Oh, Lord, I think it is closed!!!"

This is what I thought as Kacey and I drove up to the door at the coffee house last night to have our "girls night." The lights were off and the chairs on top of the tables. This seemed very weird for a coffee shop that was very much alive just two weeks ago, on our very first girls night out. I got out of the car and walked to the door- "Thank you for your support, Cocca Moca is now closed." "What, seriously?" I looked further to see that everything was off of the walls and the cute draperies we taken off of the windows. I looked back at Kacey and said,"they really are closed- for good." Sadness. I thought there must be some mistake. Us Moms who rarely ever venture out with out babies and husbands in tow have been looking towards this since the end of our last meeting two weeks ago. So, we scurried up some strength and went to Starbucks... I know if you live in another town Starbucks is most likely awesome. But not in Murfreesboro, it is like the local college club. I have not even been in one in a very long time, just to the drive thru- i still love the coffee. After driving over, we went in to meet Shelly who was saving our table- good thing because every tween and very young adult from 15 to 20 was in there working on their end of semester school projects. It felt nothing like a coffee shop, and especially not like the quite serene one we went to last meeting with 20- 30 somethings quietly working on there personal business sipping on coffee. It was loud, the music festive, but too loud- not very coffee shop-ish at all. Oh well, we thought. We are going to make the best of our time. I did just what i said I would do, i listened. And boy was it nice. I got to spend some time with Shelly, which I have not ever gotten to do. We have merely only chatted in passing at toddler parties and Halloween parties. So, that was very fun and exciting. So, we did what we do and we sipped away on our coffee's and we chatted chat amongst ourselves and it was fun.

Thanks ladies for amusing me over some coffee for an hour or so last night. It was fun and I cannot wait until next time.

Coffee Break

My girlfriends and I have started a ritual. Every other week on Wednesday we have started going to the local coffee house for a break. Last week was just our first week and it lasted 2.5 hours. It was so much fun!!! I think I ended up talking the most of all, but I really had a lot on my mind. This week I plan on only listening to what they have to say. So far it is just Kacey, me and Michelle. I hope we can continue this tradition. It is really nice to have some time away with people you can relate too.
Tomorrow is our second attempt. This time we are only scheduled for 1 hour, but we are starting early so if time runs over a bit we can not be out too late. When you are a Mom it seems so hard to make time for your self, so hard to let go of the things that you control and let someone else take over for even a little bit. It is very hard. But, in order for me not to loose myself, I need some time to drive 2 minutes down the road, enjoy a nice cup of Moca and chat, even if it is just for 1 hour. That makes me remember that I am still an individual, one with passions, interests, and one with SPUNK! My friends definitely remind me of this trait. We are all so different, yet, so alike. Not that my husband does not remind me of those things, just that sometimes he may not want to hear about what I saw on Opera or chat with me about which decorations I am going to use for Christmas and what crafty project I want to dig my heals into this year. I know this is why he likes his MAN time, so he can talk about the things that he likes and Lord only knows what they talk about!

Happy Birthday, Amanda!!!

Amanda's Christmas present. I know she was a lot more excited that she looked.
I think Amanda has the other half of these pictures. I am pretty sure they were taken in the "Fun Tunnel!!" Correct me if I am wrong!
This picture was taken the summer before High School. That was a FUN summer.

Amanda and I were best friends growing up. We shared many great years together running back and forth across the street to each others houses. Life growing up was always fun but she made it that much more fun. When she found out she was moving we ran away to a big pine tree down the street and hid in it. It is actually all quite comical now how dramatic we were about the whole situation. Oh, well, we had great times. I wanted to put some pictures up that I found over the holiday at my parents house. I hope she is not too mad at me for posting these, they are just too much fun! Happy late Birthday Amanda, I hope you had a great one! Thanks for the memories you left me with. I am still bringing Mason to see you in the Spring, can't wait! I love you!

Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

First off I would like to wish my Dad a late Happy Birthday!!!!

This is a super cute picture of him and my Mom when they were younger. I love this one. My dad is such a loving man and I will never be able to thank him for everything he has taught me. Even the hard lessons have brought me great strength. So, Dad, I love you and I wish you many more years of health and happiness. I would not be who I am without you! I love you!

Weekend Wedding

Congratulations Chris and Rachel Wilkerson

We went to Chris and Rachel's wedding on Saturday! It was very beautiful. Rachel was a beautiful bride and Chris was a handsome groom. We had a great time. Curt was in the wedding and Mason wanted to be. Right after the service stared he started yelling, "Da, Da!" I had to take him out to the hallway to run and play. Then he realized that DADA was behind the doors and before I knew it, he was banging on the door yelling DADA!! It was embarrassing, but what can you say, he is a baby! I did make him stop... Most of the pictures are from afterwards right before they made there great EXIT when everyone was decorating the car. Well, it was a FABULOUS time and thank you to Rachel and Chris for allowing us to be a part of your day we wish only the best for your future. Learning from the pros! Here he is quietly soaking up all the knowledge he is learning from the car decorating pros!
And... here he is applying the knowledge! PS- my son is very tall. Those pants, while a tad bit long, are 2T's! He is only 14 months old!

Learning from the best
In the background you can see Curt trying to figure out what to do with the petroleum jelly he wiped all over the door handles. I think that is super mean..... But everyone else thought it was quite funny! And what do I know about car decorating???
Yes, there it it caught RED handed.
Silly string! I must say, he is quite a STUD! I love this man so much!
And one little adorable one to finish things up with! Here is the apple of my eye! I love this look on his face, priceless!

New Photos of Mason

Nonnie Holding Mason
I love the looks he makes with his eyes.
His laughs are AdOrAbLe!
He looks a ton like Curt, but he really is starting to look like I did when I was a baby!

Micro-Managing is NOT me!

So, my manager is out of the office for the next two weeks. I am next in command so that puts me under a lot of FIRE! We are also a leasing manager short, so that sucks! We have a leasing professional that is currently driving me crazy. She is the type of worker that needs to be micro-managed. I am NOT a micro-manager. I am the type of manager that thinks that if you're well trained, then you should know what your daily duties are- and she is well trained! But she keeps coming to my office. It seems like every time I am in the middle of something important, she comes in to ask or tell me something! AHHHH. I am not meaning like a few times, I mean like 3-4 times per hour. What is up with that? It is not like she has not been doing this job for the past 7 months. SERIOUSLY! I do not know what to tell her? It is only day three of the next two weeks. All I can say is thanks GOD I only have to work 3 days next week!

~~~Delish Dish Day~~~

OK, Here goes my newest recipe... I was way too busy to post yesterday, but today, not so much!

This is a SUPER easy recipe that I whipped up in no time.

What you will need

• Campbell's "Fiesta Nacho Cheese" soup
• Cheese crumbles or grated cheese of any kind- i used 1/2 pack
• 2 chicken breast
• 1 pack of smashed Ritz Crackers

Prep time= 5 minutes

Cook time= 1 hour

Fiesta Chicken Bake

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
• Take one can of Campbell's Fiesta soup and pour in the dish that you plan on baking in. Then add one can of water or milk, your choice and mix until there are few lumps.
• Then place your chicken in the dish. I put mine in while it was still frozen.
• Then take your cheese and spread over the top evenly.
• Next comes the fun part. The Ritz crackers... I gave mine to Mason for some help, and he loved it. He smashed and squeezed until they were perfect. After they are all smashed up, sprinkle them over the top of your dish.
• Place in the oven for approximately 1 hour of baking time. I did not even worry about it, I just went back when the timer went off and it was all done.

You could most likely use any type of soup that you wanted too. I just had the fiesta cheesy soup already and thought it would add some spice. It definitely did.

I have no idea of the calories or fat grams int his dish, but I am sure you could get some low fat soup and some low fat cheese and maybe even low fat Ritz crackers, if there is such a thing... It was super YUMMY, I only wish I had taken some pictures.

Enjoy!

Going Green- I promise I am not a HIPPIE!

OK, so I am pretty sappy when it comes to Mason or any kid at that. I was watching television last night and there is a new commercial about going green and the fact that all of the damage we are doing will not affect our generation, it will affect our children. The commercial is a train heading straight for a man and he is telling about all of the horrible things we are doing to our earth, then he steps out of the way and there is a little girl in front of the train. The point of it all is that she will be affected, our generation of children, not us and we are lucky for that, but what about our children?

So, I am on a new crusade... The Phillips house hold is going GREEN, one step at a time. I know I cannot change the world with this little campaign, but I know that I will at least be able to influence a few people and they will carry that on to other people. The biggest reason that I am doing this is for Mason, I want to influence him as he grows to know that we have to take care of what we have, because this is all we got.

So every now and then as I learn new things about going Green, I will make a post about what I have found. I am going to need a little time to do some research.

First way to go GREEN.

Moving your thermostat down two degrees in the winter and up to degrees in the summer saves 2,000 pounds of CO2. Plus, this will also save you some $$$green$$$ in the process... So, try it with us for a month and see how it benefits you, it surely will benefit "Mother Earth" if you do!

I have ~CooKed~ up a new plan...

So, recently for several different reasons I have been cooking and it is working out really well. I know you are thinking, why wasn't she doing this all along? Right, well, I wasn't because I thought I couldn't. But it turns out, i am pretty good at it, like most things!... HA Ha! So, I am dedicating Monday posts to posting a new recipe so that I can share all that I have done. Maybe I will even post a picture of the delish dish! So, from here on out, Monday will be "Delish Dish Day..." Well, aren't I so clever? I am very excited for Monday, so be looking for the new post!

If you have any recipes that you ~LoVe~ you can share them too on Monday's! It does not matter what kind of dish it is, any kind you like will be fine with me. Post them on your blog and send me a message to let me know to check it out!

Missing My Family

Curt and I are extremely big on our family time together and with Mason. This week has been extremely crazy. Curt has been working a ton of overtime and I have been working my normal hours. But since he has been working so much, I have seen him for only about 30 minutes in the past 4 days. I know he is exhausted from all of this, I just really miss him and I know Mason does too. I added up the time that I get with Mason on a weekly basis today and it astounded me. I currently work 40-45 hours a week. Mason normally wakes up about 30 minutes before I go to work, so we will count that as 2.5 hours a week for the morning. After I get home since the time has changed I am getting about 1.5-2 hours each night if I am lucky. So we will count that as 10 hours each week for the night time. And I would count 12 hours each weekend day and that makes 24 for the weekend. So, all together, I am getting about 24.5 hours a week with my child, give or take some. That is only him, that has nothing to do with my time with Curt or all of our time together. I am just wandering when our lives will ever slow down- most likely never. I will say one thing though, it makes me value every single second of ever day that I have with them. God gave me an awesome husband and son and I just want more TIME! Wow, it seems like TIME is all I ever talk about... I guess that is because it means so much to me.

New Facts about Masaon

1. He continues to amaze me every single day with his intelligence and his charm.
2. He now has 8 teeth, which he hates to have brushed. We have tried everything from vibrating tooth brushes to the yummy tasting toothpaste.
3. He can run now! Well, he thinks he can at least. He has had a few crash landings, but he is learning.
4. He loves Gabby, they are the best of friends. It is too fun to watch them together, they chase each other around the down stairs. When Mason is eating, he never forgets to share a couple of bites with Gabby. She is always thankful for this so she never forgets to lick him clean when he gets out of the highchair. They are definitely a team!
5. Mason calls both Curt and I, "Da Da!" I have tried so hard for my much deserved, "Ma Ma." But nevertheless, he insists my name is still "Da Da!" He has said "Ma Ma" many times over, but he has never called me this, he only says it randomly.
6. He can now successfully open any door knob, which is very scary.
7. His vocabulary is up to several words now. He can say, Dada, Mama, go, no no, out, cracker (kakar). gaga (gabby), see, and we are working on thank you. I am not sure how many words a baby at 13 months should be saying, but I do not care. I think he is a pure genius.
8. He loves bath time more than any child I have ever seen. He now takes baths in our bath tub in the master suite. It is much bigger and he has plenty of room to play. He also loves bubbles. He had his first bubble bath last weekend, Curt brought home some hypo-allergenic, unscented Mr. Bubble. That was so thoughtful because Mason has extremely sensitive skin. Anyways, back on track... Mason loved the bubble bath. He was completely amazed. He ate some, inhaled some and even got some in his nose. It was so funny! He kept picking them up with his hands and I would blow them off, he thought that was hilarious. That is how he came to inhale them. He has blow and suck mixed up so he inhaled instead of exhaled...
9. He loves eggs. They are his most favorite food. We have them almost every morning. He likes just a bit of cheese on them and he just devourers them. He almost has the whole fork thing down pat. I have not turned him loose with a plate or bowl of his own too many times yet, he is pretty sure they only belong in the floor.
10. He loves the out doors. He is completely obsessed with rocks. I am thinking Geologist???

Well, these are a collection on some of my new favorite things Mason has been doing. I seem to never have time to sit down and write fun stuff like this anymore. I also did this mostly for my record so I could look back in a year or so and see just how small he was and be amazed at how far he has come.

Oh, just another side note... I was getting pj's out of the closet tonight and I ran across a sock that Mason wore when he was 3 or 4 months old. I think I almost cried. It was so small when I put it next to its much BIGGER cousin that Mason is wearing now... He is growing so fast and I am so happy, but sometimes I think it might be a bit bitter-sweet. Before I know it, he will be asking me to drop him off beside the mall because he will not want his friends to see him with his un-cool Mom. I am going to enjoy every single second that I have with this sweet little angel that God has placed in mine and Curt's life.

Blogger mess-up

Okay, so I have tried to upload the rest of our pictures, but blogger is messed up right now. I keep getting this darn error message. I will try again later, but this iell have to do for now.

Haloween 2007

My little Pirate
Are they not adorable.
Mason, go this way......
Check out the slobber on the lapel of the jacket...
The old ladies house that called mason the "G" word!

We went to Brant and Michelle's for their annual Halloween Party. It was a blast this year. All of the kiddo's were old enough to go trick-or-treating and the weather permitted us to go as well. Mason thought it was a horrible thing to get dressed up. He did not really want to cooperate to get the costume on, so we did it one piece at a time. It took about 30 minutes in all but I did not want my kid to be the only one screaming the whole night. Mason did not actually trick-or-treat. We do not need the extra candy at our house, so we just walked around with the other trickers... The one house Mason actually walked up to was this nice old lady who was the very first person to ever call mason a GIRL! She did it like 3 times. I thought Curt was going to die. I just kept smiling, and she game Mason twizler, the only thing I would let him have. When we walked away Curt vowed to cut Mason's curls... I hope he does not cut them then he will look bald. He does not have much hair anyways. But really, a girl??? Was she serious??? Oh, well. I guess that means he is a very pretty baby, which I already knew! Okay, so here are some pics from our ever fun night at the Powell's house. Thanks Brant and Michelle for a great time! A few of the pics are blurry, but it is so hard to catch that little guy on camera now, he has his own agenda now that he is walking and all!!!!