Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Mason's 5 months!

Mason turned 5 months on July 12th.  When we were in Walker.  I took his monthly picture before we left, so not to miss it.

We are so thankful to have survived his 4 month sleep regression.  When you have a perfect baby, any little hiccup is magnified! 

He doesn't really even have "outtakes" of his monthly photo shoot, that's how perfectly perfect he is!

He developed a LOVE for the nuk, and we're pretty excited about that.  We never wanted a thumb sucker and it's nice to have something to help sooth or shush him in public (aka his scream talking at church)

 We discovered he's not a super fan of the pack n play.  He likes the play part of it's name.  While on vaca whenever he seemed to roll he woke up and thought it was party time.  Made for a tired mama.  Of course, he was happy all the other times and when he woke, just didn't allow his mama much shut eye.

He still rolls like a machine, both directions.  He can find, grab and bring a toy to his mouth.  I think he has switched hands as well.  He's starting to respond to his name and he has a want to be sitting up, but he's still a little top heavy
 He started food! Just the blah cereal and we just started in the evening, but have recently added breakfast.  He's tried, peas (so so), apples (too bitter) and bananas (meh) but he prefers the bland.  It's still early yet

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 He sure loves his sisters and his mom and dad.  He lights up in a different way for each member.  He's quite the chatterbox at all times of the day.  Crushes naps and now, mostly bedtime, hopefully even better now with some consistency of sleeping in his own bed.  He giggles when he hears the sound machine go on
He's just a little love bug and we cannot get enough of him!  We brought out his big boy toys like his exersaucer, walker and stand up and play table, not rushing him, just want to give him options to explore and whatever it takes to help mama survive the dinner prep/crazy witching hour while we anticipate Daddy's arrival home from work.

My mom was in town and asked for the kiddos to get together for a dinner.  We met at Surly, super cool place with delicious food.  We got a gorgeous night outside too.

Excited for Joe Joe as he and Emily closed on their house earlier this week! Yay!

 Catching the sun setting in between buildings during our dinner
 These two, they love to live up the sister game.  They're mostly "on" and it's fun to watch.  We've so enjoyed our low key summer, with very little hustle and bustle.  Soon enough we'll be joining that crowd. For now, we're home bodies, allowing nap times and imaginations to soar!
 This spunk holds her own, that's for sure!  Miss Emma Jean, saying "she's so cold, I need to go get my "best."  Mind you it was upper 80s and full humidity/high dew point.

 So much entertainment from this one each and every day.  We'll have some fun times this year with she and Mason!
 The Joergers stopped by on their way out of town! Fun to catch up for a little bit!

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii

Fear not, I'm here.  Just enjoying the summer and being selfish with the few moments I get to myself throughout the day, instead of blogging.  Plus, once I let it go for a bit then it seems too overwhelming to sort pictures and type up a post.  But then I remember how awesome it is to look back later and so here I am trying to sort and catch up.  Here comes a big whopper.

Our friends opened their Chick-Fil-A in Chan and we made it out for the Grand opening!!

 Mason can't wait until he can officially eat there too!
 They invited us to join in the grand opening of the playground part of the restaurant. The girls got balloons and face paints and yummy treats!






 Thank you Lyndsay for the super cute onesie!
 Caught this cute gem.  Libby found an old camera to make sure to capture a selfie of her face paint before she had to take a shower and wash it off.  So sweet.
 We had a super fun Newlywed game night.  Natalie came up with the idea a while back and we finally got a date that worked for everyone.  We offered to host so we could put our littles to bed, the other chilluns were off playing while we played.  Can't wait for a second round, so much laughter! So grateful for these wonderful families in our life!
 The Bigs were back at it with their Sale :) They were so excited about finding stakes at Home Depot to post a sign in the yard
 the sweet innocence

 Growing up, loving his new view of his crazy sisters!


We had a family wedding in town at the beginning of the month.  We love family time.  We met up with some cousins at the hotel so the kiddos could swim and then we had a pizza picnic party

It was a tough weekend to find a sitter as most were away at cabins for the 4th of July weekend and I wasn't about to get a new sitter we never had for such a long time.  Finding a reasonable sitter capable of taking care of our crew of 4 is a lot to ask.  So, just Reid went to the wedding.
 and then a handful of the extended family met us at Mass Sunday morning.  Then they came out to our house for coffee and donuts and then we headed to our favorite Crooked Pint for lunch.

The Moms of 4!! Role models and inspiration for me!
 Bonding over our similar husbands ;)
 Loving all the extra family
 Uncle John ! We convinced them to stay an extra night.  Rare one on one time with some of our favorites! Plus that's the best way to host, unexpected so I can't stress about food and cleanliness! Win Win!
 One in the same! Crazy how similar these two are!
 The Joerger kiddos are the  best of the best as far as role models go for our kiddos.  We love Hannah!
 John and Mason!
 Some of the ladies
 The Whole Crew! Oh Emma...she's next to Reid
 Bennett and Mason, we miss you Bennett!
 Emma wearing Grandpa's Glasses
 Our 4 with their 4! Such special people to us!
 When others headed home and we had convinced John and Family to stay, we set the Twins and Sally and Libby up with an adventure to bike downtown to get ice cream.  How fun for the girls!!! Can you move closer so this can be an every weekend occurrence?!
 Our only requirement was that they take a picture once they got there :)
and then we took them to Chanhassen to check out the festival

 Giant Slide for the Bigs.  Libby's first time climbing and going down without an adult next to her
 Emma's turn on the horses
 Weeeeeeee
 The Bigs on the Swings
 Ferris Wheel time!
 City Slickers ;)  Apparently the first go around John was a little nervous
 Pink, Yellow, Purple, all of our people, minus Mason and I
 Some of John's kids' first time on a Ferris Wheel!
 John's turn with the Bigs on the giant slide!
 Ready, set, RACE!

 One of the Twins won and let the girls pick a prize, so sweet.  Meet Lilly!
 Thank you Melissa and girls for standing in line forever for some lemonade!!!
 Love this picture so much! Everyone looking and smiling, Mason sleeping in the carrier on me.  Cherished Memories!
 Getting ready for bed so we can grill out with the 4 older kids and adults.
 Love conversations with them!
and then the Joergers left and we still had a few days off to celebrate the 4th of July!

Mr. Joe Moran, always remember on the 4th.  It's been 23 years, still missed like crazy! Fun to remember stories and share them with the kids

 Tennis time!
 Cool Dude
 Such a Ham!
 The pool is even big enough for Daddy to get in!
 Happy Red, White & Blue from the Craigmile Crew!
 Daddy pulled the short stick ;) and got to take the Bigs to the Parade.  He treated them to some cool treats while they waited for it to start.

 Waiting to catch the candy
 Our Parish/School Float, that's our priest, Father T walking and waving, love him!
 Staying cool
 aaaaaand then Mama decided it was time for Mason to eat some food, per his signs that he was ready.  You would have thought he had been doing it his whole 5 months of life.
 I'm gonna be big like you, sisters
 Stop growing kid :(
 Story time
 Giggle time
 Sparkler time!



 Daddy did one too, but I missed the picture
 Sister Sparklers!
 Mr. Mason, our ray of sunshine!

Happy 4th of July and Beginning of July!  Hope to be back soon to post about our Week in Walker and our weekend home to Nana & Grandpa's, as well as every day life.  Thanks for being patient.

Blessings!