enough already mom

I knew this day would come but didn't think it would be so soon. Even the baby is getting annoyed with all my picture taking.

Don't read if you have a picky eater

Look at this kid eating my salad! He ate half the thing on me.

A flower for me

Mason loves to be outside all the time. We were hanging out at my moms because Aunt Lauren was home for the weekend. Mason had a ball playing with her. Mason decided to do some gardening and gave Aunt Lauren and I some flowers. Isn't he so sweet?



Boys love sticks.



Aunt Lauren loves to play with sticks as well

Panteen Beautiful Lengths

After not getting a haircut in probably over a year I was in desperate need of a cut. I've always thought about donating my hair but I would usually get it cut before it was long enough and I don't like short hair on myself. This time my hair was super long. I measured it several times and realized that I could still have shoulder length hair if I donated 8 inches, which is Panteen Beautiful Lengths minimum. I made the plunge and called for an appointment and they had an opening the next day! I was pretty nervous, wasn't expecting it so soon but went with it. Plus it was a nice break away from the kids!

I forgot to take a before picture so here's the most recent one I could find


and this is what my hair looks like now!


I really love it. It took some getting used to but it is so nice to have shorter hair. I'm not always pushing it out of the way. Ryder has to reach a little higher to grab a chunk of it and pull. When I exercise it's not getting stuck on things. I don't know why I didn't cut it sooner! I really loved donating it and am already thinking about growing it out again just so I can donate it.

Father's Day 2011

A couple years ago I did D-A-D pictures with Mason. They are framed hanging up in Chris' office. This time I did them with Ryder. The original idea was to have them both do them together but Mason wanted nothing to do with the letters. We'll frame Ryder's and put them right under Mason's.



The following pictures are all from Father's Day weekend. Some Saturday. Some Sunday. Probably not in order :)

9 months!

In a few short months we're going to be planning the little guys 1st Birthday party. This is going way to fast for me.

We had Ryder's 9 months check up. Everything looks good except he has low iron so he's not on a supplement for that. He loves to eat just about anything I give him. He's eating more finger foods and loves meatballs. Mason loves to feed him, not only the baby food, but whatever he happens to be eating. One day Ryder got a cracker with dinner and the next morning a bagel with jelly for breakfast. Whoops.

Weight: 18 lbs 15 oz (25th percentile)
height : 28.5 inches (75th percentile)

So at 9 months Ryder

crawls super fast
walks along furniture
walks with a push toy
has one tooth!
wears size 18 month clothes

His monthly pictures are getting more difficult to take!


yes he is about to eat that grass!

Getting so big!

I can't believe how fast Ryder is growing. He's starting to have a little man face and not a baby anymore. Doesn't he look so old!?

70 hours without power

This is why I've fallen behind again! On June 9 we were over Chris' parents for his birthday. Just as we were sitting down to eat there was a huge severe thunderstorm. The lights were flickering on and off and then the power went out. We looked outside and saw the trees swaying from side to side. There was a tree down on power lines and we knew we weren't going to be recovering quickly from this storm! We ate dinner by flashlight and then went home where we all slept on the lower level because it was cooler. I should probably mention we live on the same street as my in-laws so if they are out of power so are we! We later found out that in some areas close to us they verified it was a tornado!

After the first day we decided to stay at my moms. The power company was giving us no estimate when we'd get power back and it could be days. No power also means no water for us. Luckily my mom only lives a couple towns over. They had just moved to a new house and were busy unpacking boxes. I packed the essentials and headed over there. Mason had a fun time playing with all their boxes and Chris made him a little fort.




After the 3rd night without power we heard some rumors we'd be getting back on Sunday. We packed back up headed home and while we were at a MOMS Club BBQ got the call that we had power! We are very happy to be back home, with power, and catching up on things!

We go to the park almost daily. We do stroller strides and then play. It's great because Mason's friends are already there and there's no need to coordinate and plan. I attempted to get some sibling pictures but Mason and Ryder were not into it!

There's a dirt bike in there?


They cooperated for one



This is my future daughter-in-law. Isn't she beautiful!?

puddle jumper

We bought these cool things called puddle jumpers for Mason. Everyone raved about them and how their kid loves to "swim" with them. Well Mason takes a while to warm up to anything new. He's not too fond of them yet but hopefully by the end of the summer!




Ryder is a crawling maniac and darts right towards me all the time. His eyes are still a bright blue and he is full of personality.

baby cousin Skyler

Our new baby cousin was born June 1, 2011 at a healthy 8 lbs 11 oz. A few more ounces and he would've beaten Ryder! He is just the cutest little thing. My boys are going to have so much fun with him and his big brother Jordan.

These boys crack me up!

The little guy is climbing all over the place!