Dear Mason,

I wanted you to know that you are my shining star. I love you more than you will ever know, every time I look at you my heart just melts away. I am so excited to see you grow into the strong, smart and handsome young man that I know you will be. Today when I was spending my lunch time with you, you learned something new... You dropped you sippie cup and I looked at you and said, "uh-oh." You looked at me and then pointed to your sippie cup and said, "uh, oh." I was so excited! A little while later right before I left you took my hand lead me into the living room and pointed at the t.v. I turned on your video and you sat so contently and watched it. It was exactly what you wanted and you knew just how to ask for it! Little things like this will not mean much to you when you are old enough to read this, but they sure mean a lot to Mommy.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
love,
Mom

It's The Little Things

So, recently I came across a blog that I absolutely love. Lisa Leonard, is a very talented artist and a very genuine person. I get all of this from her blog, I do not know her from Adam. The way she presents her jewelry and writes about her life always makes me feel so inspired. You should check out her blog. I hope you find as many neat jewelry pieces to buy as I have. I have not purchased any yet, I am saving up for the holidays holidays...... Mother's Day--- Hint, Hint!

http://www.lisaleonard.blogspot.com/

Picnik.com

This is my FAVORITE!!!! I am proud of myself for this one!
This is before I played with it... Pretty plane, but still stinkin cute!

This is my Nana when she was a little girl- before
After- I think it looks better anyways...

So I purchased a year's membership to picnik.com. This is what I have been doing with my spare time. I love this stuff. I do not have an Apple, so I do not get the fun iPhoto, like some of you.... But this is the next best thing. It is super fun, I just cannot stop!

Chicken Pot Pie

Ok, so Marie Callender has nothing on me... I made the most kick-butt chicken pot pie the other night. My sister-in-law gave me the recipe which I tweaked a bit, sorry Carrie, it is in the genetics. My Mom is always adding stuff and taking away stuff from recipes. I am pretty armature, but I have to toot my own horn, it was amazing...

What you need:
2 chicken breasts
1/2 bag of frozen mixed veggies
1 bar of Fat free cream cheese *
1/2 c of shredded cheese *
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 can of cream of mushroom soup *
1 1/2- 2 cans of crescent rolls

*- is all of the stuff I added. So, if you want to try the original recipe, it is very easy...

• Place the cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, shredded cheese and cream cheese into a bowl and mix well until lumps are all gone...
• Then add the vegetables and stir in. You can use as much or as many as you like depending on your families preference.
• After boiling the chicken cut into small pieces and add into mixture.
• Use a 9" pan (I think that is what I used- mine was round) and place the crescent rolls on the bottom for the crust. Place the mixture in the middle and then place the remaining pieces on top.
• Bake for about 30-40 minutes on 375. I started it on 350, but bumped it to 375 because the middle was not cooking very well.

This is creamy and yummy and it was great because I cooked it on a cold night and the re-heats were even really good!

Enjoy! Let me know if you make this yummy meal and if you liked it or not.

top 100

I got hip with the times and updated my blog to this cute V-day page.... In return, I lost all of my page links.... So, please leave me a message so that I may add you back to my blog and look at your blogs also...... PLEASE and THANKS.

I am also almost to 100 posts.... YAY! I am going to post my 100 most favorite blogs. So, if you have a favorite other than your own--- let me know and I might add it!

Oh, how I love Jack

FYI- All of you who love Jack Johnson..... His new album is coming out in February 2008! I cannot wait! His music is my secret love affair. I get in the car all by myself and I "ROCK OUT!" I will keep you posted as to which date, unless you know already, I would love to know...

I eat {BuBbLeS} becasue I think they taste ~yummy~

I love these pictures of my little monkey in the bath... We have been taking bubble baths lately and he loves it! So much that he eats the bubbles. He puts them on his hand and licks them off. Once he even sucked them up his nose. I do not think that went over as well as licking them... He is too cute!

The Chucky head came from Chuck Cheese 2 weeks ago. That thing is still flying high. mason love it. Hayden's Mommy had to buy him one for home because he loves Mason's so much. The best part, it will not bust into a million tiny pieces that will get stuck in the throat. Trust me, I tried already!

Mason and Hayden

These pictures are of Mason and Hayden. Hayden is Mason's newest friend. Hayden's Mommy has been keeping Mason on the days that Curt cannot. They have a ton of fun together. These pictures are from a cupcake adventure they had together. On my girls night out, we went to a bakery and we all got our little munchkins a surprise. I got Hayden one too, I could not leave him out! I think it is funny that his name is Hayden, that is the name I wanted to name Mason, but Curt won!

Bring your kid to work day!

This morning Curt had to work a little longer, so I took Mason to my work. I love to spend time with him, so any excuse to get more time is wonderful.... Well, not bringing him to work. My camera died, so I only got pictures from the very beginning of his trip to College Grove. It was way worse by the time he left. I could only laugh though because he had a ball. Lets just say that after he left, i had to vacuum and clean my office and put it back together for like 30 minutes.

I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as my little man enjoyed the tape dispenser!

And, a BIG shout out to spell check on BLOGGER! Apparently I have the worst spelling on earth! No matter how long my message usually is, I am always correcting words. So, If you ever happen upon a horribly spelled post, it is most likely because I forgot to spell check!

Teething and Shots

Yuck, Mason is teething right now. We have been battling this with Tylenol and Highlands Teething tablets. He has only had 8 teeth for a very long time. He got increasingly irritable last weekend. So, I pried his little chompers open to see his 15 month molars poking right through the skin. That is when we started medicating. I have some friends who's kiddos do not have any problem with teething, but Mason has a very sensitive mouth. He has been overly whiny, but it is nothing we cannot handle. He is still a little charmer most of the time. He makes a new girlfriend most everywhere we go... I guess I had better keep my eye on him...
We also went for his 15 month check up. I almost forgot until I saw Amanda's post. So, I called and got our appointment, thank goodness for cancellations. And, thank goodness for Amanda. I thought our next appointment was 18 months... Our little man is not so little anymore. He is growing like a weed. He is in the 95% for his age in height. Which I think is amazing. Except for the fact that we cannot keep him in pants. He is 34 inches tall and 26 lbs and 14 oz. He is in the 75% in weight. Our sweet little man is growing up. The doctor got on to me because Curt and I still have not taken Mason off of the bottle. I know, it is pretty bad. He only takes it once of twice a day, so to me it did not seem like it was causing too much harm. But the Doc said otherwise, so after MLK day, Mason is coming off of the bottle. This will be a sad, sad day for me as well, I love my "baby" Mason time. It is so sweet when he cuddles up to me and takes that bottle. It is like moving back in time 6 months. Yes, I know I am sad, so I will stop talking about this. I will post some new pictures soon. We have been way too busy to take any lately.

Falalalalalala....

This is a ranting, raving, negative post.... So, if you are not interested, please do not read.

I work with this girl, she has been mentioned in previous blogs. Well, she is doing much better now on her time management and doing her job a lot better.... I am so happy for her.
What she is not doing well----- SINGING!
Every song that comes on, she sings out loud. No matter who is in the office. She is really bad, like smashed cat, Phoebe on Friends kind of bad. Every time she opens her mouth I think of a hippie, Gypsy all chilled out on drugs... I think the thing that comes to mind came from a movie, but I am not sure which one! I just want to tell her- please stop! It is so bad that every time a slow song comes on, I "cringe." I am at work right now and "When a man loves a woman" is on and it is like nails on a chalk board. AHHHHHH!
I am not trying to down people that cannot sing, I am vocally challenged myself. The only time I serenade anyone is when I am singing to Mason or my poor husband hearing me take a shower.
Part of me wants to help her, but then I think, "what if it is me? What if my hearing is messed up and she really sounds great? Maybe that is why no one is complaining..." Naaaah! Pretty sure I am right.
Maybe Monday I will change the station to rap, I do not think she will be able to keep up with that!
Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to ME, right...?

Last night Curt and I celebrated my birthday, even though it is today, at Cheesecake Factory in Green Hills. We took Mason along, because we thought it would be fun. Well, I guess I forgot that it takes FOREVER there because they want you to relax and not rush, at least that is what the waiter referred to the delay as... Well, Mason got cranky because he can only sit in a highchair for so long. I do not blame him, I would have it too. So, we finally got out food. Curt and I split a huge burrito that was about the size of my arm. Well we only ate half of it together, the other half is in the fridge. Mason had already eaten, but he wanted something to eat as well. Since the burrito was spicy, I gave him a granola bar from his diaper bag. Good idea many would think, well.... my little munchkin eats very fast. He sated choking and coughing. We let me work it out because we did not want to scare him by digging our fingers down his throat. All the while there is a young couple, most likely in college- no kids, sitting across from us with a very good view of the whole ordeal. Mind you, this is not a quite episode, it is very loud... So, Mason keeps coughing and just as soon as I am about to get him out of his chair he throws up all over himself and the table and the floor. I felt so bad for him. So, I took him to the bathroom to clean him up, he missed most of the cute little outfit I put on him and really only got the pants. Well, I had not spare pants because he has not had an episode like this in forever. I guess I will always have extra pants in the diaper bag from now on. We wiped off and headed back to the table. I could not eat anymore and Mason had defiantly had it, he was ready to get out of there. So, we went out and waited on Curt to pay. No cheesecake, not that I really needed it. I guess Mason helped me carve about 450 calories off of my dinner, thanks Mason!!! Next we were going to go to Tiffany's because there is a necklace there that matches the bracelet that Santa brought me and Curt was going to get it for me for my lovely 26th. But I decided to pass it up for the time being because there are so many other stores I "might" want something from. So, we walked around, I got a couple of small things, fully intending to return to Tiffany's for my necklace. We got back around to it and it was CLoSED! Apparently Tiffany's closes at 6pm during the week. Oh, well. It was a great night because I got to spend ti with my super hunky husband and my sweet puke smelling little boy. We had fun and Mason was very good overall. The car ride home was even enjoyable, that's pretty good for it being past bedtime. Tonight is girls night and I am sure we will have some fun! Happy Birthday to me!

New Mason Stuff

1. Everything is "hot" right now. It sounds like, "sssHot". I love it. Every bite of food we give him is HOT! He thinks it is very funny too. Normally he is right, but lately I have been leaving the big front door open to expose the glass door. It has been very cold outside, so the glass gets cold. He touches it and say, "sss hot!" I just love new things.
2. Kitty! He loves the new kitty! He follows her around and says "eeee kitty, kitty." It even sounds right. He even meows like her. For a kitten she is very tolerable of him. She is even brave enough to lay beside him in his chair.
3. Words Mason can say; Dada, Mama, Gaey (gabby), kitty, hot, no, this, that, boon (balloon), gran (Curt's Mom), Nana (my grandmother), nanna (bananna)... I think these are all for right now, that I can remember anyways. We are working on; Nonnie (my Mom), please, Grandpa (my Dad) and thank you!
4. Mason is still obsessed with light fixtures, he points to them no matter where we are and says, "this, or that" He wants to to tell him what it is. He is trying to say light, it sounds like "liiiiiii."

Well, that is it for now...

Beesley Bell

Kitty has a name, finally... Beesley Bell Phillips. I do not know where I got Beesley from, it just came to me, and Bell came from the bell that was tied around her neck when she showed up. I must say, I think she really loves it. Now we just have to adjust form calling her kitty.

A time to remember! Good-bye 2007

Rachel, Kari. Carrie, Katie, and Me...

Katie and Jeremy, how cute are they? They are getting married on 5/24/2008!
OK, I knew we should not have gotten these two together. This is my brother and Chris (one of Curt's friends). I am pretty sure this is the running man dance they are doing.

Not really sure what we are doing here, look at those CrAzY EyEs....
My family, aren't we so cute. Mom, Dad and Mason were in T-town ringing in the new year together...

We had a New Year's party at our house this year. It was a really fun time and very interesting to say the least. I have some pictures to post and I will be posting more as soon as everyone gets me the pictures from there cameras!