START HERE!

Okay - it's been a while since I've blogged and I feel WAY behind. I am going to do quite a few posts in the next day or so to catch up and then try to stay on top of things! Try might be the key word there :)

Here are just some pics from around the house. I love the boys new matching PJ's! I like the one of Mason's big eyes too - he does that a lot with the orange light on the camera now!

The many faces of Baby Mase......

Vegas Baby!!!!!!

Just booked our next family vacation - Vegas Baby!!! Only this time Rob and I have a hotel room and the kids get to stay with Gramma & Papa :) February isn't that far away to get excited....especially since we have Thanksgiving and Christmas in there still to look forward to!

Nosefrieda

Everyone who has a baby needs one of these. Seriously. It sounds absolutely disgusting (and it is) but it works SO GOOD! You put a few saline "Lil Nose" drops in each nostril and then put this up to their nose and you suck on the other end of the tube. You will get more out of their noses then you could ever even think of with a bulb syringe. It sounds gross, but there is a filter that prevents anything from even going into the tube. When you order one, get the extra filters since they are only 2.50 for 20 of them. I use this thing probably twice a day and it helps Mason breath so much better when he's all stuffed up (like our whole family is right now!).

It is a Swedish product that is now sold at Whole Foods I believe, but I just ordered mine online at www.nosefrida.com/

Hockey!

Here are some pictures from the last week or so of hockey :) We are at the rink 4-5 days/nights per week so I can't always remember what pictures are what days! Enjoy!

Team picture by the ice!
Standing behind the photographer :) He told me I could so I have a picture for our company website...
Justin & Mason at the Peoria Mustangs game last week. The flash didn't work but I loved how awake and happy Mason was!
Me and my boys! I love being a mommy :)
Justin at practice today - so cute!












Brooks....we let him pick his jersey first and he picked 3 - cuz he's 3! Duh; simple logic :)

CMA's

Here is my post from February 2007....can I call it or what??? :)

On Thursday night I went to the Sears Centre for the Taylor Swift, Ronnie Milsap and George Strait concert. It was a GREAT show and I liked Taylor Swift so much! She is such a sweetheart and signed autographs and took pictures with EVERYONE who wanted one. She was doing it for hours. I really think she's going to be a huge success and I love her new CD!

Count your blessings.....

www.decoratefordax.com

www.pjstar.com/homepage/x1659496879/Luciano-Merry-Christmas-Dax

This is a story of a little boy who lives in the Peoria area. It just absolutely breaks my heart. I read it in the paper last night and couldn't stop thinking of this family and when I heard it on the radio this morning I just sobbed on my way into work. I can't imagine knowing your 2 year old son won't be here at Christmas.

I know that I take what we have for granted. We take for granted that we have two healthy sons. I am going to think of this family next time I complain about Mason not sleeping through the night, or Justin not listening to us when we tell him to do something.....and just be thankful that I have those things to complain about.

Hug your kids a little tighter tonight......I know I will!

Halloween 2009

We had a fun Halloween weekend! Our little Tiger and Lion looked so cute :)

Friday Rob's office had Trick-or-Treating around the cubicles. That was the way to go!!! Forget walking up driveways :) Justin got a little hyper towards the end, but that's because we were waiting for Thad's wife and kids to show up (an hour late!) and to entertain Justin we kept letting him have candy....pixie stix, crabby patties, etc. Sugar buzz!!!

Friday evening Katie & Josh brought over pizza and we carved a pumpkin! We had 4 to do, but 3 of them were rotting :( That's okay; one made a big enough mess! We thought about trying a SpongeBob pattern, but it was a really thick pumpkin and SB has really thin arms and legs....maybe next year!

Saturday morning we got up and had orange pancakes and then went to hockey. After hockey we shopped for a bit and got Justin a new winter coat. We spend more than I thought kids coats could cost, but it's a nice Columbia and now I don't feel so bad spending a lot since his brother can wear it in a few years too! Then we went home and napped (all of us!) and got ready for trick or treating! Justin and I went out and Rob and Mason stayed home and handed out candy. It was supposed to get down to 33 degrees and we didn't want to take Mason out in the cold. Justin did really good! He used his manners and everything :) When we started out, I went up on the porches with him...then I was only allowed on the sidewalks going up to the porches...then I had to stay on the driveways...and by the end I wasn't even allowed to come up the driveways with him - my little Mr. Independent! He lasted for over 2 hours straight!

Here are some pics from our weekend.....


Our little Tiger on Friday ready to go to Daddy's office.





















My boys! Love them so much :)

















What good is carving a pumpkin if you don't bake the seeds??? It's a pain to separate them though!

















Katie cleaning out the pumpkin. Justin wanted NOTHING to do with it. When they carved one with Ms. E&S he gagged when he touched the guts :)











I love the look on his face here :)














Eating his pumpkin shaped pancakes....with just a little butter.....












Mason hanging out watching us eat our pancakes; wishing he could have one :)















Justin at hockey practice

















Who's YOUR tiger? I have mine :)












Justin with our Chicago Bears pumpkin. This one was much easier than when I tried the Lions one a few years back!













All ready to go!













Coming back from one of the porches....he was so cute! We found that he got more if we were not in a pack of kids; everyone loves the cute little Tiger if he's not with 10 teenagers :)










Looking over his loot!













This is what Mason did while Daddy handed out candy....he looks so cuddly and peaceful!

2 month appointment!

Mason had his 2 month appointment yesterday. He was supposed to get shots, but our insurance does not cover well baby or immunizations (we are getting new insurance in January!). Two of the four were covered, but I'd rather him just get shots once so I'm going to the health department. This is the LAST thing I want to do with all of the sickness going around, but I didn't want to pay $654 out of pocket either. I think I'm going to one in a rural area (Lacon or Eureka) and be there when they open.

Anyways, my little linebacker is 24 1/4" long and a whopping 15 pounds 13 ounces!!! He's so big! It's not like you can put a 10 week old on a diet though...

The pediatrician also switched his formula to something I can't remember. It's an expensive formula for babies with colic and milk protein allergies. He is so gassy despite Milacon drops and Dr. Brown's bottles. He's just not a very happy baby as much as we'd like him to be. Still love him to pieces though :) Hopefully this new formula makes his tummy feel better!

59 days!!!!!!!

On my way to work this morning, the DJ was groaning because there are only 59 days left until Christmas.

He must not have awesome parents who are coming in from Las Vegas to share in the holiday :)

With all of Uncle Mikey's travels for work he had enough frequent flyer miles to get my parents tickets to Illinois for Christmas!!! They are flying into Peoria on the 23rd and then flying out of O'Hare (since we'll be at Jacobs) on the 27th. It will really feel like Christmas again......and I can't wait!!!!!!!!!

59 days - countdown ticker coming soon :)