Matter of the Heart

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder. If we hadn't moved to Tyler and away from my parents, I would never have gotten to see this precious moment. One that I hope to see for many more years. And get to see tomorrow.

Mason LOVES his Nanny and gets so overwhelmed with pure emotions when he sees her pull up to our house that it sends him to the verge of crying.

I have a feeling that my mom will be the one with this reaction when she sees us pull up tomorrow.





I love that at the end he is ready to put his shoes on, like he's going with her.

This weekend is a double whammy too. We get to see Nanny and Papa AND G and Grandpa. Mason is one lucky dude to have such amazing grandparents.

Aftermath

Mason's aftermath brings many smiles to this mama's face. From his little shoes scattered around to the toys he chooses to play with, seeing evidence of a growing boy making his own decisions and discovering his personal tastes brings me incredible joy.

(these shoes tell a story and smell of their own, sometimes followed by a game of "peee-uuuuuu" that results in many giggles and one mama's cleared sinuses)

Moving on...

We just got news that our landlords are putting our house on the market because they are moving to Dallas. We are allowed to stay until our lease ends in August, but we're going to start looking now, with the presumption that they will let us out of our lease early, so we can take our time to find a home that suits us as well as our West Dobbs home does. What an adventure it has been living in our 80-year old home!

And even if our next home is even more perfect, moving stinks!

Tomatoe, Tomato

Here's to over 25 tomatoes on just one plant! And the first two are turning pink. I had to invest in a tomato cage because the plant was becoming a creeper and the fruits were getting covered in dirt. My other kind of tomato plant just now seems to be producing fruit, so we'll see what's in store for it soon.

Herbs. They are doing great too. My lemon thyme seems a little sun burnt or maybe that's how it is supposed to be. Meals for this week that use my herbs include pork chops, tilapia and tomato, basil and mozzarella salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Discovering More Tyler

Tyler, Texas should be ranked high on the list of "Best medium-sized towns for families," if such a list exists. I would nominate our new hometown, for sure.

Nanny came for a short visit last week to keep us company while Dash was off winning a National Championship with his women's team and we had a blast venturing out and discovering new parts of Tyler.

First stop was the awesome spray park at Faulkner Park in south Tyler...

A cute little girl befriended Mason and showed him the ropes and rules of the spray park. She taught him how to cover the sprinkler with his little foot to stop the water and led him by hand to the different parts. There was lots of clapping involved from my boy.

Paula and River served as our escorts to Tyler's zoo, Caldwell Zoo. I was in awe of our zoo. They have everything you would want in a zoo, plus a little more, and its size was perfect. Mason's favorites were the penguins, petting zoo, wild bird walkabout (a screened-in room full of little birds that zoom past your head and land on your finger) and all the "dogs" (elephants, giraffes, rhinos) and "cats" (lions, cheetahs, leopards).

(I think we actually look a LITTLE alike in this photo)

Next on our list to discover is an East Texas state park. We're heading on a camping trip with the Wallace family this next weekend. I hope it will be the first of many camping adventures for our family!

Happy Mama's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there, but especially the amazing ones in our family...

As a wife, it's very hard to say goodbye to your husband on Mother's Day morning, but as a mom, it breaks my heart having to comfort my crying son after he waves goodbye to his daddy and watches him leave again for the week. Our goodbyes were a little blessing in disguise to see how much Mason already loves his daddy. What a great Mother's Day present to me.

Bean Bag Pouf

It seems like I have a new project every week. This was last week's and it only took me three nights after Mason went to sleep to finish the sewing and stuffing. I treated myself to a trip alone to the fabric store - so fun! - before Dash left town. After seeing these square bean bag poufs at West Elm, I knew I could hack it and create a version that would suit my house and my son. Theirs is on clearance for $179.99. I made mine for $40. Pretty good deal, right? No offense to kiddie recliners but those just aren't my style, and this new bean bag pouf is just as perfect for Mason to snack, play and watch a movie in. I love the grown-up fabric and the formality of the square shape versus the sloppy vinyl bean bags I grew up with. Plus, the pouf will double as extra seating when we have people over. I have enough fabric to make one more and then I think I might find some coordinating solid fabric to make a third. They say you should arrange home decor in threes, right? That's perfect, because there are three in our clan.

The pouf is sewn from cheap muslin and stuffed with styrofoam peanuts of the shipping and handling fame. The outer fabric is removable with a zipper so it can be washed as needed. And look how cute my cutie looks in it...

Another first

A first mouthful (and face-full) of sand...

He was playing over at some friends' house with the big kids in the sand box (and by playing, I mean he was dumping sand by the handfuls out of the sandbox) when all of a sudden, he was done. Turns out he was done because he needed water to wash all that sand down!

Pure (sweet) Boy

I don't know when my son grew up so much. It's like I blinked and a little boy appeared where my baby was, but this is definitely my favorite age so far. He is growing up so much and learning something new every day. His little vocab is up to about 10 words, including new ones like door, bath, duck and book, though it takes his mama to decipher some of them. "Go get a book," sends him toddling over to pick out his favorites, Hooray for Fish! or Snuggle Puppy and "Ready for a bath?" makes him walk as fast as his little legs will go to the tub, yelling "Ath! Ath! Ath!" and throwing his arms in the air. His favorite words to hear are "Want to go outside?" because he scurries to the front door a lot faster than I can get there. Last night, I told him "It's time for medicine," and he went over and pointed to the cabinet his allergy medicine hides in. Apparently, he absorbs way more than I even know!

And I don't know how it happened, but he is becoming a rough and tough boy who lets out the silliest boy noises that I can't even mimic. He loves to throw things and make a crashing sound when doing so. He also loves to throw himself onto everything... people, pillows, balls and the floor.

And I don't know where he gets his loudness from, but there are a few culprits in both of our families! Take a look...