Blessings

The day Father Don was due to arrive we woke up to no heat.  AWK!

Luckily we have been saved more than plenty my Service Plus through centerpoint. They were out to our house my 11am.  They figured out the problem, a dead motor in the fan that pushed the heat out.  However, the repair man did not have the part along with him. 

He MAYBE located one about 45 minutes away.  His company didn't want him to drive there and back with the risk of it not being 100% certain they indeed had the part.  So a courier service was going to deliver it.  Once I received the part, I was to call Service Plus to have them send a repair person ASAP, as we still had no heat.

It could arrive in an hour and it could be the next day, there was just no knowing. 

Reid didn't like the unknown.  I tried to assure him everything was fine, and it really wasn't that cold anymore.  It was warm enough to take my vest off...which has now become an silly line between us.  Because we were walking around the house wearing winter jackets like it was normal.  Probably had to be there to think it was funny :)

Luckily we have our fireplace, which provided quite a bit of heat.  We also have 3 space heaters, that we frequently used at our old house and it was a full sun day.  The house didn't get terribly cold.  I was just weary about what we would do at night.  Would we leave the fireplace on overnight?

Luckily we didn't have to make that decision.  The part arrived at 1pm and the repair man was here at 4pm and done by 4:30pm with a working furnace.  The best part was our Thermostat was set to 68 and the repair man had to come up and turn the thermostat up because it was warmer than 68 in our living room and that was an entire day with no heat.  See? Plenty warm to take my vest off :)

All that is to say, we're thankful for a working furnace.  For a roof over our head and for services like Service Plus!

Sundays are off days with Mason's typical nap schedule because we go to Mass at 8:30am.  When we get home from Mass we put him down for a quick nap, but will often wake him up to make sure we will still get an afternoon nap.  So hard to wake a precious sleeping baby.

I have a feeling it won't be much longer until he's down to just one nap a day.  Bittersweet, but mostly sweet as it'll free up our mornings to go out and run errands!

 She loved her swimming lessons.  Was putting her face under and jumping in by the last session

 Caught a cut moment!

 C-Mile Sibs enjoying some sunshine

 We won't push sports or anything specific on our kiddos.  We'll let them choose.  It's pretty funny how Mason prefers the football over anything else.  He recently figured out how to hold it with one hand and then shouts so everyone will stop and look.  Not sure if I'll let him be a football player ;)

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It's as crazy as it looks, but only when Daddy's around

 We spotted a Robin the other day, SPRING is coming...even though today is the 1st day of spring and it's currently snowing.  Glad we leave for Florida in a few days!

 Backstroke

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Cool with their sunnies on

 Last week's carwash before this week's snow...

Silly mohawk

 When it's your bestie's birthday and her husband is out of town.  You get her favorite take out and sip wine and talk about life.  Happy Birthday, Kari! So grateful for you, Sisterfriend!

 Last week's weather was beautiful, what a difference it made to be able to go outside every day for an afternoon walk!

 Collecting sticks and explorin'

 A follow up on a previous blog post mentioning Reid having big meetings at work.  He recently accepted a promotion.  He is now Best Buy's Director of Domestic Transportation!  We're so proud of him.  Crazy that he's already made it to this level in his career and he's only 32!!  God is good!!

...pay no attention to the fact that Mama needs a fresh coat of paint :)

Cheers Babens!!

 a cute moment of the Anna and Mason, only 3 month apart!

 Reid picked up some Virtual Reality glasses at a Samsung Sample sale.  I think they retail for $100 and he got them for $5.  It's almost more entertaining watching someone use the glasses, especially Emma :)

 I forgot to take any pictures, but we had a fun get together at my mom's condo, minus Brian and George who were out sick.  Jenny made some yummy green drinks!

 Love this quote!  Sally is working on mastering cursive, so she asked if she could write this month's quote!

 The girls were peacefully coloring upstairs last night.  Sally drew Emma a dolphin and Emma colored the rest.  I was quite impressed with her staying in the lines.  And then she stepped it up a notch and

 wrote her name for the first time, all on her own!!!

Sweet moment of dress up and necklace making while Mama cleaned and Mason napped

Happy 1st Day of Spring!

Father Don came for a Visit

We were so excited for Father Don to visit! He came last week Thursday and was able to stay two nights!

He was recently diagnosed with ALS, so it was so wonderful to be able to spend so much quality time with him.  He's an amazing blessing in our life!! We're so very grateful for his friendship.

You can follow his Caring Bridge site HERE

Lots of fun and giggles when he's around!

Spot it before bed

 Mario Kart before heading off to school

 What they were all looking foward to, was Friday Night's Party-as Emma called it.  Mass in our very own living room.  Completely thought out and planned by Sally and Libby.  No help from Mom or Father Don.  Quick picture with all the kiddos before putting Mason to bed.

 When we have our Masses in our home, I usually don't sneak pictures during Mass, but I couldn't resist this time as the progression of ALS is just so unknown, so I wanted to make sure to capture these memories.

Such a powerful evening for all of us.  Everyone got to play an important part! Thank you Thank you, Father Don!!

We're hoping for more frequent visits once he retires in July!!  Praying for you always, Father Don!

Mason's 1st Haircut

It was time to chop of the baby hair and clean up his image :) 

The only downfall of our babies being born with a lot of hair is that they need a haircut early on and they're not quite old enough to understand what's going on and/or understand how to be bribed with a sucker. 

So, Mason cried during his entire 1st haircut (as did Emma, remember her head of hair she was born with?!). He loved it once we got home!

The shag, before

 What's about to happen Mom?

 Not havin' it

 TaDa! Such a handsome little boy!

 My Boys!

Happy Daylight Savings.  I actually love springing ahead! Spring IS coming! Whoop Whoop

Little Bit of Lamb Little Bit of Lion

We've had some wonderful March days with abundant sunshine that reminds us Spring is coming.  And we had a delayed snow storm that caused 2 snow days for school.  Luckily our girlies were already planned on being off due to a workshop day

 Swingin'...Mr. Mason is likely going to be a handful on the patio this summer.  This warmer weather makes me want to ensure that Little Man knows how to walk so he doesn't have to crawl through Spring puddles and mud.

 Little reminders that I do indeed have a little boy.  Trucks at my feet while prepping dinner

 Daddy had a work trip so it was to swimming lessons solo I went.  I walked about yet again, a sweaty mess...so much work with all 4

Mason's 1st ride in the Big Dawg Cart at Target.  I keep him in his baby seat as long as possible, keeps him contained and away from germs.  It was just time.  Emma couldn't have been more excited.  She's been dreaming of the day she and her Mase Dawg got to ride in a Big Dawg

 Trying to take Calvin for a walk, but he wasn't havin it

 It was Libby's turn for her monthly kid date.  She SO enjoyed the Living Stations of the cross on Ash Wednesday and has been asking to go back to Stations.  We were able to sneak out on a Friday after dinner, with a quick stop at Target to pick up her very own journal to begin writing a book with Sally.

 Love her gentle soul!

 and then they spent the entire next day (minus 3 hours outside because it almost got to 50) pretending they were famous authors and writing their books

 They created these all on their own.  These are pieces of Sally's

 Reid is a big fan of the MN Wild.  A while back I asked my friend who has season tickets, if they ever have any they can't attend we'd be happy to buy the tickets from them.  They had a pair for a Sunday game against the Red Wings.  I decided to get it for Reid as an early birthday present.  Thank you to Joey and Emily for letting me borrow a jersey.  Reid of course already has his own.

 We had a blast and great seats!  and they won 4-1!!

 Pretty picture of the Saint Paul Cathedral on our walk back to our car

 Little boy watching the snow start to fall

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 Our super special Cardinal hanging on the feeder all day, which just happened to be a very important day for Daddy at work. More on that when I'm allowed ;)

 That same very important day meant Daddy might not make it home in time for one parent to go to swimming so I planned ahead...crowd control

 and then Daddy made it to swimming and took 3/4 of our children home with him.  It was glorious to sit peacefully watching Emma.

She was excited to finally jump in standing up!

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Proud Girl!

 and then a fun little flash back.  My how time flies

Happy 4th week of Lent!