Mason's New Bedroom

For the past 4 years the kids have shared a bedroom down the hall from ours.  Well, actually 3 because I think Mason slept on the floor in our room until he started Kindergarten. (I'll address that later.)  They had bunk beds and Mason goes to bed at 8:30pm by himself and Braelyn would get carried to bed around 10pm (my bedtime) after falling asleep on the couch or in our bed.  They couldn't go to sleep at the same time or they would sit and chat and keep eachother awake.  Finally we decided it was time for Mason to get his own room upstairs, but I was in no hurry so I said I'd do it gradually and shoot for Springtime to move.  One thing I've realized about myself though, is that I don't like having an unfinished job/project in the back of my head.  So what was intended to be a gradual process turned into a 4-day ordeal of painting, sanding, staining, nailing, screwing, stud finding, online shopping, and several trips to Home Depot.  And although I've already considered myself a pro at painting (not for preciseness but for speed), I can now add wood working to my resume! ;) HA!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mason just loves it and does awesome being on a different level of the house.  I think it's quieter up there so he isn't yelling "TURN DOWN THE TV" a gazillion times while we're trying to watch our shows (Chicago Fire, Chicago PD & Parenthood).  And like I mentioned earlier, he did sleep on the floor of our room for maybe a little longer than recommended.  Heck, I'm pretty sure "they" recommend your child never sleep in your room.  But you know what? It always seemed to bother people who didn't live in our house more than it bothered any of us.  And I always knew he wasn't going to willingly want to sleep in our room when he got older, because, who wants to have friends over and say, "Hey, this is where I sleep" while pointing to a crib mattress next to their parents' bed?  I knew it would be short lived (in perspective), so I enjoyed it while it lasted.  And now it's such a vague memory that I don't regret it a bit.

 

Be Brave

Last night I was helping Mason with a school project. He is Star of the Week in his class next week so we had to make an “All about Me” poster and fill out a questionnaire of some of his favorite things. We got to the question of What's your favorite sport? He said “WWE is a sport, right?” Then he went on to write “football”. I told him both were sports and that he is really smart about football. A few questions down it asked Who do you admire most? I thought I had it figured out, but he didn't say anything, he just wrote “Papa Steve” and I asked him why he chose him, and he said “cause he makes sure everyone is safe, like when I drove the golf cart on the wrong side of the road” and I said “Okay, I thought you'd say something else, but that's fine.” He erased it and simply put “Grandpa”. AND THEN, (here comes the point of my story) He said “well, I had a different one but it sounds dumb”. I promised I wouldn't think it was dumb if he told me and he said “John Cena...but everyone will laugh at that”. Then he went on to tell me about kids noticing and commenting (neither good, nor bad) when he wears a John Cena shirt and he didn't like everyone talking about his shirt, so he just wanted to put Grandpa because that's what everyone else did and they won't laugh at that. Now, I'm not saying that John Cena should be admired more than Papa Steve or any Grandpa, but changing your mind for the sake of keeping your classmates happy made me sad and bothered.

I don't want my kid (or any kid) to surrender to normal, when the normal is boring. To be plain and do/say what everyone else does/says just to avoid ruffling a few feathers. I want them to be bold and be brave even if it goes against the norm. I want them to admire whomever they wish, and wear whatever they find fitting. And I want to teach them that's it okay for others to do the same. But he's 8, so I let him keep him answers and told him someday you'll realize that it's better to say what you mean and be yourself rather than trying to be like everybody else.

I'm sure a time will come where John Cena will not be the ruler of his universe, but after our chat, if someone comments negatively about his shirt, he will tell them “That's okay if you don't like it but I do”.

 

Mason turns 8

We celebrated Mason's birthday last weekend.  It's hard to believe 8 years have gone by so quickly.  Mason is in 2nd grade and enjoys: 

• WWE wrestling 
• Playing video games
• Snowmobile racing
• Roller blading
• Bike riding
• Watching & playing football
• Shows on tv: Kickin' It, Austin & Ally, WWE, Crash & Bernstein, Lab Rats
• Swimming
• Bowling
• Wrestling mom and dad on the living room floor
• Board games (trouble, twister & family feud)
• Watching movies
• Sleeping in

 

His favorite place to eat is: Buffalo Wild Wings or Texas Roadhouse

His favorite foods are: Pizza, chicken nuggets and ribs

His favorite home-cooked meal: fresh caught fish the way I cook it with my potatoes :)

His favorite drink: Dr. Pepper

His favorite color: Red

 

His least favorite things are: going to school and going to bed.  Such is life!

 

Of all the things for his birthday (Air Maxx, Pizza Ranch, gifts), the first (and only self-induced) thanks he gave me was for making him that cake.  The bakery actually made the base and it was just plain black and white (they couldn't do WWE because it's a trademark). I have no issues breaking the law when decorating a cake ;) so I did the ropes, guys (John Cena and Brock Lesnar) and the W.  He loved it!

The cousins that were old enough to come with: Skyeler, Owen, Mason, Ava, Madi, Sophia, and Braelyn

Fishing and Snocross Racing

 

It's been a crazy fun last few weeks! I only had to work 4 of the last 16 days... It was super awesome and I love that my daycare parents had flexible schedules over the holidays to allow me extra time off too.  We spent Christmas with our families and then headed to Red Lake to do some fishing for a few days.  The fishing was rather slow, and I got quite bored.  I think I ate all the food we brought the first night, because when I'm bored, I eat.  We watched movies, the boys played PlayStation, and I played Nintendo DS to pass some time.  Next time I'll know better, and pack a book or two, some magazines and word finds.  There was no service for our phones so that thing was basically useless.  The kids were actually really well behaved and didn't seem as bothered as I was about the lack of fish!  Me and Brae rode home with Shane's parents and Mason and Shane stayed another night (and moved the fish house).  Of course they found an awesome hot spot after I left! :) Ha!

 

On New Year's Day we took Mason to ERX race park in Elk River, MN to give snowmobile racing a try.  Shane went to Speedwerx and got a clutch kit for it, DJ bought him some goggles and racing gloves, we dug out some hand-me-down safety gear and off we went.  We were all pretty pumped to watch him and Mason was excited too!  He says he wasn't nervous, but I could sense he was a little anxious before his race started.  He took the lead on the first corner and never looked back... well except when the flag man forgot to give him the white flag and he knew it should've came out!  Shane said he was more proud watching Mason's win than he has ever been of any of his own wins. I asked "Even Mod Nationals?" and he said "I've never wanted to cry like a baby over any of MY wins."  That's how cool it was!  He went on to win both rounds of his group (Beginner 120 age 4-12), which gave him the first place trophy!  He was so excited and can't wait to do it again. 

 

Everybody has a story to tell

Saturday we took the kids to Duluth overnight to visit Bentleyville tour of lights!  To be honest, I didn't even know what this was until last year... never heard of it before.  But good ol' facebook had some pics and it looked like something the kids would enjoy. We didn't tell them where we were going, so it was a fun surprise for them.  We checked in to the hotel, did some swimming (we played tag in the pool and had a blast!), had some dinner, and took the shuttle bus from the hotel to Canal Park where the lights are. 

 

We missed the 7pm shuttle by a couple mins, so we had to wait for the 7:30 bus so we stood outside for the half hour waiting and met an interesting lady at the bus stop.  Shane asked her if we were in the right location for the shuttle pick-up, and she covered her face and said "I don't have any money" in some foreign accent. After an awkward pause, she began laughing, and said "just kidding, I don't know where shuttle pick up is".  After chatting a while (sometimes with an accent), she revealed that her accent is fake and she uses it to break the ice when meeting people.  Interesting.  She had recently moved to Duluth because the Lord had told her to, but she hasn't figured out why yet.  She came from Grand Forks, but resided most of her life in California.  I told her we were from St. Cloud, and she said "I've lived there too! Well... it was only for 2 weeks but I lived there".  I consider that a vacation, but I guess she lives wherever the good Lord takes her! She had never married or had children, and her parents are gone.  She has a brother that lives in Wisconsin but when she contacted him after moving to Duluth he didn't have any interest in meeting her, after not being in contact for 40 years.  She joked that she must of done something to piss him off 40 years ago.  She reminded me of Jack Dawson from Titanic... just a free spirit set out to make the best of the cards she's been dealt.  I pray her brother finds some compassion, and maybe forgiveness, and reunites someday with her.  She may have been a little coo-coo, but we all enjoyed her company & it really is interesting when you just sit back and listen to people tell their story.  I wish I would've got her name or took a pic with her, cause she really was fascinating to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Labors of Love

My parents have a few traditions with just the grandkids; like a yearly summer trip to the cabin, a day at the county fair, and making blankets at Christmastime to brighten someone's day.  Last year they brought them to the children at Shriner's Hospital in the cities and this year they are delivering them to the residence of a few group homes in the St. Cloud area.  So last night, we had to cut and tie all the fleece blankets, which wasn't exactly any of the kids' idea of fun, but none of them complained too much! (Owen's not complaining in the pic, he's just on break!)  I think it's a valuable lesson to them, that not everyone gets a bazillion toys/gifts for Christmas, and to make them aware of the beauty of giving!

 

 Left to Right: Ava, Madi, Owen, Sophia, Mason

 

Mason and Cassie

 

Cassie and Franklin (the oldest and the youngest of my nieces/nephews)

Finished product

 

A couple weeks ago, my mom and sisters and I did a freezer meal making day and whipped out 78 family-sized meals in about 3 hours. We each took 12 meals home, so it's been easy for me at dinner time since I'm not that much of a cook.  I mean, I CAN cook, but I just hate the clean-up, and the prep, and the mess, and the grocery shopping.  So yeah, pretty much nothing about cooking a meal is fun to me, unless eating it counts!

 

My nieces and sister made the aprons (which are hard to read here) and they were so fitting to each of us.

From left to right: "I didn't wash my hand" -because she only has one arm.

"I'm doo trunk to cook" -umm, you get it, right?!

"Bun in the oven" -she's pregnant

"Cake Boss" -she's a master cake decorator

"Fast Food" -goes with the racing gig

"Head Chef" -because she's mom!

I'M BACK!!

So the other day I was browsing the internet during naptime and thought I'd visit this ole' blog and take a stroll through various posts.  I read, and read, and couldn't stop.  Stuff I had written, so obviously it wasn't new news to me.  But it was like a good book that I just couldn't put down. (Let's be honest though, I'm not really a book reader).  So why did I keep reading, when after the first sentence I already knew what the post was going to be about?  Because it brought back memories.  Memories of Braelyn beginning to walk and crawl brought back a feeling of pride and joy, and even the times I posted about what a little trouble maker she was is brought a smile to my face. And how Mason apparently went to bed one night as a 2 year old and woke up at age 7.  Because looking back at how sweet and little he was and how grown up he is now, brings tears to my eyes that time surely does pass, and seemingly faster when watching children grow.  So why am I back?  For that.  For us to look back on and realize that even though the days come and go, life was lived.  And sometimes big events happen in life (a new house, a new job, a newborn baby, etc.), but most of the time, life is made of a million small moments and very few big ones.  I don't want to forget them.  Feel free to follow along (or don't...doesn't really matter to me! haha!)