Total Slacker

Who has two thumbs and is a huge blogger slacker?? This girl! I try to get a blog in at least once a month but I have totally lost track of time. At this point I am just attempting to stay afloat with everything going on with the end of the school year approaching. This is one of those crazy weeks for me, so it makes total sense why it is 2:25 in the morning and I am unable to sleep! ;) Oh well...

I'm going to attempt to remember the highlights of what has taken place the last couple of months, but if I'm being honest, I will have to reach to my planner for assistance, because well, it remembers things better than I do the majority of the time!

Over Valentine's Day weekend, my mom and step-dad Terry came down for a visit. They got in early Thursday evening so they could hang out with E on Friday. Before they ever came down my mom suggested that Mason and I make plans to go out for dinner since we'd have a free babysitter available. We were excited about that so we made dinner reservations at Sybill's restaurant in St. James for that Saturday. It's a pretty fancy place, and I had never been there so I was definitely excited to go! Mason surprised me with a manicure and pedicure appointment that Saturday morning, so my mom went with me. We then did some shopping where I found a cute black dress to wear that evening. I was pretty stoked because it's one of the few items of clothing I've bought since having Eli. Anyway, we got ready that evening and had a fabulous dinner and just enjoyed our time together. The next morning we all went to church and then my mom and step-dad headed out.

Right before we left for date night!

A couple weekends later I had the opportunity to go to Kansas City to hang out with a couple college friends, Lindsey and Alissa. It had been quite some time since I saw them last and it was wonderful to catch up and just lounge around. And somehow, Lindsey was able to keep quiet that she and her husband are expecting! I'm not sure how she did it, but I was pretty impressed, especially considering that babies were the highlight of our weekend conversation! I'm so very excited for them and can't wait to meet that sweet little babe come September!

Everything between then and spring break is kind of a blur. I know Mason and I went to work, and Mason went to school, and we attempted to keep the house intact, but that's about the extent of it! I guess we did manage to get to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Rolla as well. I'm just so thankful Eli is such a good baby and lets us sleep at night because we have definitely needed it!

Eli at the St. Patrick's Day parade in Rolla. He was a happy boy even though it was super chilly!

So anyway, our next trip was over spring break. We got out for spring break on March 22nd, but decided not to head to Iowa right away. Instead, we did a very adult thing and started a will. We still have some stuff to do for it to get it completely squared away, but I feel better that it's in the works, just in case anything does happen (God forbid). The following Wednesday, we made the trip to Iowa. When we got there we went to visit my Uncle Kevin (on my mom's side) in the hospital who just had back surgery that morning. He was in good spirits, and it was great to see everyone who was there to visit! The remainder of that week, we mostly just hung out at JJ and Bailey's house and visited with some friends and family. We got to see some people that we hadn't seen in awhile, including my friend Ashley. It was wonderful to see her since she wasn't able to attend girls' weekend. Eli must have been a good boy because the Easter bunny was kind enough to make a pit stop in Iowa to drop off his goodies! We had a good time and are looking forward to heading back up in May for Leeann's graduation party!

We came back to school on April 1st, and I have been frantically trying to get the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) ceremony put together. Just like any event, there are a lot of little details to coordinate. I have a few more things to get squared away this morning when I get to school, and then I will hopefully be good to go! All I can say is that I am so very thankful tomorrow is Friday! I planned to sleep in on Saturday to make up for my lack of sleep tonight, but Mason and I are going fishing early that morning. I definitely see a Sunday afternoon nap in my future..;)

Speaking of Friday, Mason's mom and step-dad will be making an appearance over the weekend as well. It was Mason's birthday yesterday so they are coming down to help us celebrate. I'm going to "try" to post a new blog and some pictures of his 24th birthday happenings before he turns 25! ;) I'll hopefully be able to post some updates on Eli as well. Wish me luck!  

Caught Up, Finally!

So remember that time, like a month ago, when I said I would catch everyone back up with the rest of our holiday happenings within a couple of days? If you stay caught up with our blog you know that definitely didn't happen. But, we did have a very enjoyable Christmas at home! We really missed getting to see all of our family, but I have to say that it was probably one of the most relaxing Christmases we've had for awhile. Plus, we got to really decorate our house for the occasion! Last year, we moved in roughly a week before Christmas so we didn't see any point in even putting anything out.

We did have some visitors, which was nice! Mason's mom and step-dad came the weekend before Christmas and my dad and step-mom came the weekend after. As you can imagine, Eli was spoiled, and now has more toys than any one child could possibly need or want! It made me happy that Mason and I didn't go too crazy with the amount of stuff we bought for Eli because otherwise we'd really have a hard time trying to find a place for everything!

Here's Eli with just a very small portion of his loot! He's totally going to love me for the deer antlers! ;)

We also started some of our own traditions together. Christmas Eve we went to the early church service together. Afterward I told Mason that since we were going to be making a big meal the next day I didn't really want to cook. So, Chinese take out it was! And it was fabulous! After we ate and Eli took a quick nap, we each opened a gift, which was a new pair of pajamas to wear on Christmas Day. We then got cookies ready for Santa, and a couple carrots for the reindeer, and we were off to bed. The next morning, Eli woke up around 5ish to eat, if I remember correctly. We had plans to go back to sleep for awhile, but being the little kids that Mason and I are, we had to get up and see what Santa brought! He was very generous this year! ;)

We must have been good this year...even Gus got some treats!

Lots of yummy goodies!

The rest of Christmas Day we lounged around, ate too much food, and just enjoyed each other's company. We even had a nice cozy fire going, which was pure bliss! Like I said, we missed our families, but did not miss driving all over God's creation to get from place to place.

The three of us together on Christmas Day! :)

We even got a smidgen of snow the weekend Grandpa and Grandma Steffen came down to visit. This is Eli's first time playing in the snow!

Otherwise, everything is going great! Eli is growing like a weed, and he's doing so many new things. He is a rolling champ and is in the beginning stages of trying to scoot around. He's definitely not crawling yet, but he kicks his legs to push himself forward and then face plants the floor. I hate to laugh at the kid, but it is kind of funny.. He is a lot more vocal and babbles all the time! And he is also trying new foods. He loves his cereal, and has tried peas, avocados, and green beans. The first experience with green beans did not go well, but he doesn't seem to mind them as bad now! He also likes being read to and is grabbing at his toys, and hair, and jewelry a lot! In general, he is an incredibly happy baby!

Mason started back to school, with which he has a love/hate relationship. I think it's more "hate" at this point. For the most part, he enjoys his classes, but he's just so ready to be done. He will have to take some classes this summer and fall, and then hopefully (fingers crossed) he will graduate in the spring of 2014. Though the amount of time it has taken him is typical (he started when we met in the fall of 2009), it sometimes seems like a lot longer.

Since Christmas, I've just been busy with school. I joined a women's Bible study at my church, and that's been very enjoyable. But otherwise, that's been about it. The first weekend in March I will be going to Kansas City to have a girls' weekend with a couple friends from college. I am ecstatic about that because it feels like forever since I've seen them! And we "may" be making a trip to Iowa during our spring break. We're not 100% yet, but it's something we're looking at doing. I'm hopeful we can, because the last time we were there it was October.

I better run for now. My mom and step-dad are coming down Thursday evening for the weekend, and I've got at least a million loads of laundry to get done between now and then, and hopefully a little cleaning. I've finally resigned to the fact that our house will never be clean again, and I'm mostly okay with that, but I'm still going to make an attempt. :) Have a great rest of the weekend!

Playing Catch Up

Since it has been forever and a day since I last posted, I figured I'd try to get caught up a little bit. Rather than try to fit everything all into one blog, I'll try to divide it into a couple so they're not quite as long and drawn out!

The last time I wrote was shortly after Halloween, which feels like ages ago, especially considering it is now 2013. A lot has gone on since then, but I'm going to back track to around Thanksgiving. The week of Thanksgiving, Mason and I had school Monday and Tuesday. Unfortunately, Eli came down with a respiratory infection (that is still lingering), so I took him to the doctor that Monday. He still sounded pretty awful on Tuesday so I stayed home with him again. Even though I hate to admit it, it did make for a nice extended break. I do wish that Eli would have felt better though!

He still wasn't great by Wednesday, but we decided to head North to Eric and Shelly's (Mason's mom and stepdad) for Thanksgiving. We took the long route because we wanted to go to Jamesport, which is a large Amish community. There is one shop in particular with more spices than any one person could use, jams, other baking supplies, cheese curds, and so on and so forth! It is fabulous, so I stocked up on spices (they are SO cheap compared to the store) and got a couple jars of jam.

We stayed with Eric and Shelly, but then went down to Tabitha and Greg's for Thanksgiving day. It was a nice, relaxing day with great company, and more food than we could possibly eat. In short, we were miserable! That evening after we were back at Mason's mom's, he got sick. Between Mason throwing up every hour and Eli hacking up a lung, none of us really got a great night of sleep. At least it was break! Since Mason wasn't feeling well, we decided to nix Black Friday shopping, at least in the morning. We did end up going later in the afternoon and found a few deals.

Me with the other man in my life!

Eli and Carson

Mason, Eli, and I on Thanksgiving

He's a happy boy

After Thanksgiving, we were sad to find out that Mason isn't going to graduate when we originally thought. Instead, he will have to go an addition semester, which means he probably won't graduate until next May rather than December. We were both pretty bummed about that, but we're trying to remain optimistic about the situation. Despite that bit of bad news, we were lucky to squeeze in our first date (by ourselves) since Eli was born, thanks to David and Darla (Mason's dad and step-mom). It wasn't anything extravagant- dinner and a movie- but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

I think I mentioned in my other post that we've also been attending a new church here in Rolla. So far we have really enjoyed it and have been made to feel very welcome there. In fact, next weekend I will be attending a women's retreat designed with mothers in mind. It's Friday evening for a couple of hours and the majority of the day on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to that, and am hopeful I will meet some new people at the same time! I was hoping to attend one of the women bible studies they also offer, but because of when it takes place, it is going to interfere with Mason's classes this semester. I went to a bible study in college and loved attending, so I am hoping I can join another one again at some point.

Well, Eli is screaming bloody murder at the moment, so I'm going to end this for the time being. As you all know, if the baby isn't happy, no one is happy. I'll try to write again in the next day or two so I can get completely caught up with everything!

Happy Halloween!

I know this is a little late, but I wanted to get these pictures put up before Thanksgiving got here! I've been meaning to upload more to Facebook, but between having computer issues and running around like a chicken with its head cut off, it hasn't happened yet! Halloween marked one year since we closed on our house! Since we obviously couldn't pass out candy last year with having just closed, I was looking forward to passing it out this year! We dressed Eli up as a little ghost, ate chili, watched Halloween movies, and passed out candy to all our trick-or-treaters. I'm guessing we had roughly 50-60 kids come by. I was especially excited that one kid dressed up as Johnny from the book The Outsiders, mostly because we just finished reading it at school! Mason's dad and step-mom also came over for a little while to see Eli dressed up. Though Eli didn't care, it was fun to hang out together!

Our three pumpkins-- mine, Eli's and Mason's.

Our cute little ghost!

Sitting like a big boy in his bumbo seat!

All that Halloween fun wore him out!

As always, we have been staying busy. Our district had conferences this past Thursday and Friday, so it was nice to get those out of the way and have a four day weekend to enjoy. Mason was very excited because it's opening weekend for rifle season. He is currently in Bethany as I write this, with his buddy, brother-in-law, and cousin. He just text to inform me that he has shot two does and is in the process of looking for one of them. Here's hoping he can find it!! Mason's mom and step-dad came down for the weekend, so Eli and I spent some time with them and did some shopping. We went to the gift shop at Sybill's in St. James, and Shelly and I were in hog heaven! They had so much cute Christmas stuff! I'll definitely have to make a trip over there again in the near future. We also did some antique shopping and just relaxed. We also had some excitement! Mr. Eli decided to not only roll from his tummy to his back, but he also laughed! Mason was pretty bummed that he missed it, but it was sure neat to witness! He's getting so big and will be four months old tomorrow; time is sure flying!

I should be cleaning, but I'm going to spend the rest of the day just lounging with Eli. Since I don't have school tomorrow I figured that laying in our pjs and doing nothing would be okay for one day! Plus, it's raining out, and that's the best way to spend rainy days! I hope everyone has had an enjoyable weekend and lets not forget to honor our veterans!! :)

The Pumpkin Patch

A couple of weeks ago we took Eli to the pumpkin patch for the first time! Granted, he could not have cared less, but we had a good time! There's a really nice one here in Rolla called Pete's Pumpkin Patch and they have a lot of neat stuff for kids-- animals, a cornbox to play in, inflatable bouncy houses, a train, stacks of hay to climb on, and of course a hayride out to the pumpkin patch itself. He'll be a lot more excited about it next year obviously, but we just couldn't resist! Here are some pictures from our afternoon together:

Hanging out with Dad!

Sitting with Mom in the big orange chair!

Waiting for the hayride

He was kind of ticked off in this picture..haha He's actually right at 2 feet tall (at least according to the doctor), but he was squirming too much to get a good picture.

Sitting beside his first pumpkin!

Once Halloween actually gets here I'll definitely post some more pictures of him, not only with his carved pumpkin, but in his Halloween costume as well!

Other than that, we've been very busy with school, and Mason with school and class! Despite our hectic schedule, it's nice to be in a set routine finally, and I've really enjoyed being back to school. It's been a great start so far-- good team, good kids (for the most part!), and Eli is well taken care of so I have no worries there! And I'm finally about caught up from being on maternity leave!

Mason has done some hunting, and has managed to get one deer so far! Yay! He took a trip to Bethany with his buddy Devan to not only bow hunt, but to also prepare for rifle season. Each year Mason, his cousin, his buddy Billy, and sometimes his brother-in-law Greg go up for opening weekend and hunt. I have a love-hate relationship with deer season. I love it because Mason really enjoys it and it typically results in us having a new stash of deer meat. But I hate it because the man is obsessed! I'm one more hunting show away from poking my eyeballs out! Okay, it's not that bad, but I do sit through a lot of hunting shows..

This weekend Tabitha, Greg, and Carson are coming down and staying with us for David's birthday (Mason and Tabitha's dad). We're definitely looking forward to it because we don't get to spend that much time with them since they live up by St. Joseph as well. And then on Sunday, Mason, Eli, and I are going to try out a new church. Many of you already know that when we tried to get Eli baptized, the priest (who we've never met-- he is new to the parish) refused to do so even though we've been regular members there for nearly two and a half years. According to him we were not tithing correctly (using the envelopes so they knew what we were giving) and in general, were not living the Christian lifestyle like we should (again, he has never met us). There was a lot more that went on than that but that's the gist of it and it definitely rubbed us the wrong way. We (mostly myself) have really been struggling with what to do. It has basically made me question everything about my beliefs. After everything happened I joined the Catholic church in St. Robert, but found that I was really only going there to try to get Eli baptized, not to worship or enjoy mass like I used to. So I decided that wasn't good either. Plus, after this whole fiasco, Mason feels even stronger about not wanting to attend mass with me. He used to because he knew how important it was to me even though he had a lot of questions and wasn't very comfortable. But now he really doesn't want to, which I can understand. After some praying, soul-searching, and some conversations with Mason, we've decided we are going to try to find a church that we are both comfortable with. We want church to be something we can enjoy together, rather than feeling divided as a family. It's been a difficult decision, but right now I think it is what will be the best for us. Here's hoping my family doesn't disown me! Ha!

Well, now that I've rambled on forever, I suppose I better get off here and get some cleaning done. I've got a long ways to go before this house is ready for company! Here's hoping everyone has a fabulous end to another busy week! :)