Mason, my love, you are such a passionate little thing. Everything you do in life you do it BIG. You give it your all. For lack of better words, you give it hell! Your passion? Makes me so darn proud to be your Mother!!
When you play, you play BIG! You have the most vivid imagination. I love to sit and just listen to you. You're a little bossy when you play, but that's okay. You're a leader.
When you want something you want it BIG. There is no telling you no and you will not stop until you get what you want. You're lucky you're cute.
When you sing and dance you do it BIG. You settle for nothing less than loud when it comes to listening to music in the car. You sing and dance your sweet little heart out. Mommy and Daddy love to watch you. Music is definitely one of your biggest loves. And, you have great taste in music.
When you love? You love BIG. Your tender little soul pours out with each hug and each kiss you give us. You say the sweetest things and even throw us a few "I love You's" throughout each day without us having said it first. You are such a sweet boy!! And you definitely love to hand out compliments.
And the tantrums? Oh you better believe those are BIG as well. You scream with your mouth wide open and shed huge crocodile tears. You know how to work it.
Baby boy you are the biggest parts of our lives and we love you oh so BIG. And you continue to humble me in a BIG BIG way.
My boy. My heart. My love.
Updated - Hubby just reminded me about this picture. Perfect. Just perfect.
Happy Friday friends!!!
I went into this week with a discouraged heart. I think all of the car stress just took a toll on me. I had a migraine that lasted a few days and my mind was just scattered. But hey, on the bright side the stress helped me drop a few lbs. ha! Gotta find the positives.
Then Monday afternoon my week started looking up! Nate called me and said that he and his dad were in contact with our credit union getting pre-approved for a car loan and that we were looking in the 2-3% interest rate range. Nate's parents are Eagle members at our Credit Union, so they get an even better interest rate on loans. And he found us a car!! He had been searching for almost a week....looking at and comparing vehicles that we told him we liked. Then he found one that looked promising so he called the dealer and talked to them about the vehicle. They promised that it was in excellent shape and that we wouldn't be disappointed. My FIL told them that we would be out to look at it and possibly bring it home. I was soooo excited and ready! But, on the way home the dealer called and said they were putting new brakes and tires on it and that it wouldn't be ready in time for us to bring home. So, we changed our plans to Tuesday. Let me just tell you that Tuesday was the longest day ever!!! That's usually how it goes, right? Well, at 4:00 I didn't let the door hit me in the rear and I was off to pick up the Hubbs and Father in Law from work. We had to drive from Grand Prairie to Plano in traffic. It took us right at an hour. We got there, found our sales guy, sat down and filled out some preliminary paperwork while they finished detailing the car. We were all so nervous, hoping that the traffic on 75 was worth it. We saw the car pull up and Nate and I just looked at each other and smiled. We knew what each other was thinking! The car was gorgeous!!!!! It was definitely more than what we were expecting. We went out and checked out the car closer and the inside, engine, frame, etc. Immaculate. Then we test drove it and Charlie {sales guy} filled it up for us. Nate drove and said the car felt awesome. He was in love with it, just as was I. We got back to the dealer and looked the car over once more. We couldn't find anything wrong with it. The 1 previous owner must have babied this car.
So what is it?
A 2011 Hyundai Sonata GLS
{with less than 20k miles on it}
Love!
We told good ole Charlie boy that we wanted it and lets finish up. He went to his finance guy and we were called back in less than 20 minutes. That process was smooth since we already did the pre-approval through our car lot. He printed everything out, slapped on our paper tag and we were ready! We spoke to the manager and let them know how pleased we were with the smooth process and that Charlie treated us good! Then we were out!
Nate's dad drove back the rental and we drove in ours. We got 34.5 mpg on the way back! Whoop whoop! Wednesday we returned our rental and now we're working on the GAP coverage for the Camry. That's another headache! Mercy!
I started watching Graceland this week. I really like it!
So, I just purchased us tickets to Medieval Times for this weekend. We are so excited. It will be Mason's first time to go. Have you ever been? I hope that he likes it and has fun.
That about sums up our week. How was yours? Any plans for the weekend?
Okay, so this little draft {with only a title} somehow got published...and many people saw it. So, now I have to finish this post for all of the inquiring minds. I've already gotten several emails!!
Let me start by saying that everything is completely well. Nathan and I are great and no we aren't splitting. Nor do we plan to. Ever.
Nathan works for a company that has many government contracts. He just so happens to be working on one that is in high gear with a hot deadline. What does that mean? Lots of overtime! He's been working 7 days a week - 10-12 hours a day for over 2 months now.
The extra money has been nice. But, I miss my hubby! I am so thankful this is only temporary.
Anyhow, with Nathan working so much it's just been Mason and I. Whoa! Now, I love that little guy more than life itself. He's so much fun to be around and truly is my little best friend. But, that doesn't mean it's not hard sometimes.
I have a deeper respect for single parents.
It's hard!
Even the simple things we take for granted, like going to pee by yourself.
And when Nate gets home from work in the evenings? It's still 'all mom' all the time! Take Mason to potty? Mom. Get Mason a drink? Mom. Give Mason a bath? Mom. I mean everything.
I'm not complaining at all. There's nothing on Earth I'd rather be than a Mommy. I'm just stating the facts. It's challenging. And I respect all of you that do this day in and day out.
And I am thankful that I do have a husband. Even if he's loaned out right now!
Happy Friday Friends!!!
What a week! It's been one of those 'hurry-up and wait' type of weeks. They called me Wednesday morning and told me that my car is totaled. What? That thought never even crossed my mind. Never in a million years did I think that my semi-small wreck would total my car. So, now we are in sort of a limbo. Waiting on insurance to call us back and walk us through the process. Get the check. Pay off the loan on my car. Request Gap coverage. Get a new car. When to return the rental. But, everything is so dependent on each other. A little stressful...but praying this is all a blessing in disguise! I loved my little Camry. But, I can't lie...it's been fun thinking of getting a new car. Even though I hate the car buying process. Such a pain!!
I'm just ready for this whole thing to be over so that I can breathe again and throw away some of this stress.
We've gotten a lot of rain here in Texas lately. It's actually been nice even though it rained out our Jellystone Park/Pirates Cove Waterpark adventure. And Lord knows that we needed it.
On Wednesday the rain cleared out leaving huge puddles that were just calling Mason's name...so we slapped on some rain boots and got to playin'.
Goodness I love him!!!
Yesterday we had beautiful weather, so we got back outside!!
When we go out in the evenings we let Little Miss Lucy out with us so that she can play and wear herself out a bit before bed. This cat....y'all....she's a wild one. This is what she's been up to -
Mercy! And she's even climbed halfway up the brick of our house!
Oh, and some new shows that I am lovin - The Fosters, Rookie Blue, Twisted, and Mistresses (sigh, I know). I'm also going to check out Graceland and Orange is the New Black....I've heard nothing but stuff about these two shows lately.
How was your week?
Any plans for the weekend?
Nathan has been working 7 days a week lately. When his work told him that they were not working overtime the weekend of July 4th we knew we wanted to get out of town for a while. We jumped and booked our trip before they could change their mind.
So, Thursday morning Mason, Nathan and I headed down to the coast {Texas Gulf Coast}. We left around 7:45 am and made great timing! Even with a 25ish minute stop at Bucees we arrived at our hotel in La Porte, TX at 11:30! Such a smooth, easy drive. Mason did so great!!
We unloaded our luggage and then headed to Galveston. It was around 25 miles from our hotel, but with the traffic and stop lights it took about 40 minutes! We headed straight for the Pleasure Pier. We got Mason and Nathan an all day ride pass. They work you that way....they make the kiddie rides just to the height where most would need an adult to ride with them. Nonetheless, Mason had a wonderful time.
We were at Pleasure Pier a good 2.5 hours and then headed to lunch at Fish Tales by recommendation of Christine! It was fabulous!! And right across from the water. Such wonderful views. After lunch we went on a Duck tour. Mason was excited to be in an old military vehicle! He ended up falling asleep before our tour was over. He was exhausted after such a long day!
We tried to check out a man-made beach by our hotel, but it was fourth of July and they were having fireworks so it was impossible to get to! So, we just grabbed dinner and went back to the hotel. Early bedtime for us.
Friday morning we woke up headed over to Sylvan Beach for a bit. We were blown away with how trashed the beach was from the night before {4th of July festivities}. There was all kinds of stuff covering the beach. We found a spot that was clear, but we still didn't feel very comfortable there. There were beer bottles and all sorts of other trash. We didn't stay too long.
Next we visited the Kemah Boardwalk. I didn't take my camera because we had planned on taking a boat ride that got everyone wet. But at the last minute we changed our mind and went on a cruise ship type of boat. So, I have no pictures {except the ones from Instragram} of our time at Kemah. It was a ton of fun, though! Mason played games and we rode the train through the park. He also loved the hour long cruise ship ride.
That evening we drove to the beach. Galveston Beach on the seawall was so incredibly packed that we had to drive a good ways before we found a beach that wasn't so crowded. We were almost to San Luis Pass when we found an okay spot! We spent a good 3 or so hours at the beach. Mason was having a complete blast and wasn't scared of the ocean one bit. He'd just take off running into the ocean and would let the waves do their thing! It as awesome to watch. He's definitely our beach baby!!!
We tried to go back to the boardwalk after the beach to eat on a patio and watch fireworks. But even at 2.5 hours early, we still couldn't get a table. So we grabbed fast food and went back to the hotel.
Saturday morning we went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch. It's one of our favorite restaurants in Galveston. Mason of course loves the shop and the animals. But, they also have a little cave/water ride there too! We had a good time there. But this is where Mason started to have an upset tummy {before our lunch came}. After lunch we tried going to the Strand...but couldn't find any parking at all! Bummer. I could have done some good shopping there!! But, it's kind of a good thing because Mason's tummy was off all day. We did go to the San Jacinto Battlegrounds...which I posted about on a Texas Tuesday post here.
I'm not sure if it was drainage from allergies, swallowing too much ocean water, or a tummy bug but Mason had an upset stomach all day. He didn't act like he felt bad, but couldn't keep anything in {not throwing up, but the other}. Poor guy! We took it easy for the rest of the day and stayed close to the hotel.
Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel and drove back to Galveston to go to some beach shops. Mason wanted some souvenirs. Those shops were so stinkin crowded. It was honestly a big waste of time!
The drive home wasn't as great as the drive down there. Mason thought he had to potty a couple of times so we stopped {in houston, where it's not so easy to do so}. And then there was traffic and wrecks galore! We didn't get home until 6:45 that evening! Wowsa!
All in all, it was an amazing trip and perfect 1st family vacation!!! Nathan, Mason and I have been on many vacations, but this was the first with just us 3. We made a lot of great memories.
Have you been on Summer vacation? Where did you go? Or do you have one planned? Share with me?
