Small town living at it's best...

Tonight we took advantage of another gorgeous August day and went on a long walk through Heyworth. We found ourselves clear across town and very hungry (Mason was doing sign language for eat so we knew he was starving). So, we walked up to the restaurant in town and had dinner. I think about half of everyone there stopped by to visit for a minute and talk about church or admire Mason or talk about just whatever. It was such a fun moment to realize that for now, this is home and we have become part of things. While this move took us away from family and friends that we miss dearly we have been blessed with new relationships and a fantastic church and community. And it doesn't hurt that we have an adorable kid to get us on everyone's good side:)

Mason doing chores

What can I say, he just likes to help out around the house!

A great weekend

We had a nice, normal, relaxing weekend. Of course, for us the weekend is Friday and Saturday. Sunday is a day of work in our family! On Friday we had a leisurely morning, had lunch with my parents and sister, and then went shopping (everyone but my dad because he had to work). We found bargains of the century at Kohl's and I came home with the best bargain because I found a top on clearance for $4.80 and then got 30% off of that!!! That's always a triumphant kind of day. And we wore poor Mason out so much that he slept hard that night which meant that we got to sleep in and have a lazy day on Saturday too! I don't think we even left the house...

Tired little guy

We all accomplished quite a lot today I think. Grandmom came over and helped Brian sort out the landscaping here at the house. She told me that she knew it was bad, but she didn't know it was THIS bad...they worked their backsides off cutting bushes back that hadn't been given the TLC they needed for a few years...as far as our master gardener guesses anyway. But hopefully things will come back even healthier and prettier next year than they were this year.

The gardening ground to a halt after Mason got up from his morning nap. Grandmom and Mason played all afternoon while Brian got some house stuff done and I got some work done. After the two of them play Mason sleeps hard! He crashed at 6:30pm tonight. We usually have to put him to bed wide awake at 8:00pm. It's pretty funny to see the 18 month old wear out before the 81 year old!

Is this really August???

I don't know how things are outside of Central Illinois, but we are enjoying some un-Augusty kind of weather. We have had windows open and I've even been a little chilled when I wake up in the morning. I fear that a huge blast of oppressive heat is yet to come our way, but for now we are certainly taking advantage.

But with all the windows open we have realized there is a lot of noise around us. We have had the steady screech of trains coming in and out of the elevator to the south of the house and yesterday morning I was awoken by the seemingly amplified sound of geese! We do not have any body of water near our house whatsoever but there was a huge flock of geese. They didn't wake Brian up, but Mason and I were both up early (and both got up a bit on the wrong side of the bed...fortunately Mason went back to bed after the geese moved on, but I had to go to work:)

Too much time with Will

So Mason and Will (his 8-yr. old cousin) spent quite a bit of time together on Saturday while I was at Promise Keepers. I think Will taught Mason how to make this face. The other thing is Amanda's favorite Mason-noise.

Mason's first haircut

This morning I finally gave into the pressure to get Mason's hair cut. Gone are the wispy tendrils and corkscrew curls from my baby's head. But in their place is a sharp, shorter 'do and a rather dapper toddler. Brian took a couple pictures and put them on our shutterfly website. They aren't exactly 'Kodak moments' but he got every angle!

Day 2

So, Mason has started to place things gently onto the kitchen counter...and this is pretty much the tallest flat surface in the house so his most recent growth spurt has spurted those little curious hands into just about anything he wants. This also means that he's getting closer and closer to being able to work the door knobs. So, really watch out when you use the bathroom at our house!!!

better now than never...

I've been admiring the fact that I can keep up on some of my friends' lives because they have a blog...yet I have found my own life too mundane and boring to think anyone would want to read about our usually (thankfully) peaceful days...however, I realize that as Mason continues to do super silly things daily we might as well have a place to share them!