Awesome Site

For those of you who don't know about this yet, there is a great website that gives away a different prize every day. It's called Give Away Today. You can click on the button I have on my side bar to check it out. They give away such great and cute things. I haven't won yet, but maybe I'll get lucky one of these days!

We Finished!

Last night, our family finished reading the Book of Mormon. We can't even remember when we started- we think right before Chloe was born- so it took us quite a while, due to short attention spans and reading just a little every night. Now we get to start all over! Maybe we'll have to go out for ice cream to celebrate.

Chloe's Check-Up

Chloe had her two year check-up today. She passed with flying colors!! Here's her stats:
Weight: 24 1/3" (25th %)
Height: 36" (95th %)
She had to get a shot and she was so brave. As soon as the nurse poked her, she sat straight up to see what the heck she was doing to her leg! She didn't even cry. She liked visiting with Dr. Costello and she especially loved 'blowing' out his light on the otoscope (I think that's what it's called!). Here are some pictures of Chloe playing Dr. She loves to fix Mom and Dad and make them better.

She will probably pass me up in height in no time. She got the tall Mason genes! I am so grateful that she is so healthy. What a blessing to have happy, healthy kids.

St. Patty's Day and Other Things

This week has been pretty uneventful for us. We celebrated St. Patty's Day by having a green dinner. Green eggs, green milk, etc. The girls loved it! Luckily, I didn't have to eat that dinner because I went to a Relief Society activity that night! I'm not a huge fan of plain scrambled eggs, especially green ones. Anyway, the girls got some pretty green bows from Grandma Mel so I took some pictures of them for you, Mom! Niah loves that you are Irish and she gave Bryan a hard time all day for not being Irish. My girls are pretty good models. Chloe is starting to pose like Niah now. It's pretty hilarious!

This one's for you Mom! Thanks for sending the girls an Irish package. They loved growing their clovers and they loved that they got to wear green bows. Niah pinched Bryan when he got home because he was not wearing green.

Since not much has been happening around here I thought that since I'm posting I will write about some other things...

Quilt update: I was so excited to get started on my quilt. I have done the same pattern three other times so I think I was over confident and on my first step I cut the fabric wrong. Grrrrr. This ended up making everything else short for the entire quilt. After much frustration and lots of help from my genius husband- yes, he was quilting with me!- I got the top finished. I'm glad I have Bryan here to do all the math and measuring. My brain really does not function in that area! Even though I had to piece some of it and it's not quite like the pattern, I think it turned out really cute. I decided to not even try machine quilting it myself after I messed the first part up, so I posted an ad on Craigslist to see if anyone out there would machine quilt it for me at a reasonable price. Low and behold, someone responded! I took the quilt to her house on Thursday and had it binded together. I am soooo pleased with how it turned out. The lady that did it was so nice and I am so glad I found her. She only charged me $27- for quilting it and for batting . If anyone here in Vermont ever wants her name and number I'll give it to you! So, then last night I start sewing my binding on. Everything was going well, I had two sides sewn on. Than all of a sudden I realize that I sewed it on the wrong side of the quilt. I'm such an idiot! Now I have lots of unpicking to do. Grrrr. I'll post a picture when it's finally done.

Funny Conversation with Niah: The past week and half or so I have been holding out on going to the grocery store so that I can stay within our grocery budget and still make it through the month with a decent meal plan. Niah must have noticed that all she's been eating is eggs, Ritz crackers, and mac n' cheese for the past few days. The other afternoon she randomly said to me,

"Mom, we're poor huh."

Me: "Ya, pretty poor. Why do you think that?"

Niah: "Because we can't even buy food!!"

I couldn't do anything but laugh. Who thought that she was so observant!? We really aren't starving, just trying to live on a budget. She is so funny. She always tells me we need a bigger house too. Little does she know that our tiny 568 square foot apartment is only going to get smaller in about four and a half months!

Baby Boy Quilt

Ever since we found out that we are having a boy, I have been dying to start a quilt for him. I have been resisting a trip to the fabric store, until today. The girls and I had nothing to do and I just couldn't hold myself back! I am so excited to get started and to see it come together. Here are the fabrics I picked out... What do you think, is there too much blue? I tried to get different shades of blue...
I really go nuts in the fabric store. They had so many cute designs and colors, it took me a long time to decide what to get. I'll have to post a picture of the completed project!

Warm Weather

Today we had such nice weather! It was 45 degrees and the sun was out- sort of! I decided to take the girls outside to let them play for a while. We went out to ride bikes, but the girls decided they wanted to play in the mud instead. I was hesitant at first, but I realized they have been couped up inside all winter so why not let them get a little dirty?! Niah decided she wanted to run in the mud barefoot and of course, Chloe had to do it too. Maybe I'm a bad mom for letting them play barefoot when there is still ice and snow on the ground, but I haven't seen them so happy for months. They were in heaven!

I love this picture of them. They had so much fun and I hated telling them it was time to go inside. (Yes, that's ice and water behind them! We have a lake in our backyard.)

I am really tired of the cold and snow so I hope it keeps getting warmer and warmer so that we can play outside all day. I love Vermont summers and I am really sad that this summer will be our last one to enjoy. I will miss it.

The Verdict Is In!

Well, we went to the doctor and guess what it is.....



We are so excited!!! I'm not sure what I will do with a boy. I can't wait to go shopping, Bryan is going to have to put a leash on me. Yay!!

So I Don't Forget

Niah said some pretty funny things yesterday that I don't want to ever forget. Bryan and I were cracking up! So, a few weeks ago, Niah was playing with her 'married prince' Barbie doll that she got for her birthday. He has some pretty big, ripped muscles that Niah obviously noticed. Bryan went into her room to see what she was doing and Niah told Bryan, "Dad, my married prince has bigger muscles than you!" Bryan has started lifting weights- I don't think it was because of that- maybe he felt a little competition with her Barbie doll! Anyway, last night as Bryan was lifting Niah told him, "Dad, you're muscles are getting the same as my married prince!" Bryan and I were laughing so hard. Then she said, "Dad, when are your muscles going to pop?" His reply as he was trying not to laugh, was "Hopefully, never!"
We love our sweet Niah. She is so smart and makes us laugh every day. On the way to Disney on Ice a few weeks ago, Niah watched a video of Taylor Swift recording some of her songs. The other night she was dancing and singing to Taylor Swift's song "Change" and she wanted to record her singing. I got the job as the microphone holder- I had to hold it upside down just like it was in the video and we broke out the headphones from our DVD player. Niah was rockin' out, as she calls it! I love these pictures of her. She is always singing and making up her own songs. I think she might just be the next Taylor Swift!!

P.S. Only and hour and a half left until our ultrasound. Check again later to find out what we're having- boy or girl?!

Where in the World is Bryan?

Today is Bryan's first day of being a 4th year medical student!!!!! It is hard to believe that it is already here. In just a little over one year Bryan will graduate medical school! B has decided to go into Family Practice/Sports Medicine. There are a few things that are required for this year, but most of it Bryan got to plan. I think it has worked out perfectly for us. I thought it would be fun to post his schedule for the year so that all of you can see what he will be up to, and also so that I can keep track of him too! He probably gets sick of me asking him what he is doing and in what month. Now I will be able to look at this when I forget, instead of bugging him.

March: Research with our Bishop- he's a cardiologist so it should be fun for Bryan to work with him.

April: Family Medicine AI (acting internship)

May: ER

June: Sports Medicine

July: Reading month

August: Paternity month

September: Surgical Sub Specialty- he'll be doing Anesthesia and orthopedics

October: Away rotation somewhere, either Utah or South Bend, IN

November: Utah rotation, most likely in Park City with a Dr. my grandpa knows.

December: Vacation

January: MSK Radiology (I'm not sure what MSK stands for, I'll have to ask Bryan!)

February: Medicine AI

March: Unknown

April: Vacation

May: GRADUATION!!

So, there it is. It should be a fun year. I realized while starting this post that I don't have a picture of Bryan in his white coat- that will have to change really soon. Congrats to Bryan for making it to the 4th and final year of med school, I knew you could do it B! I am so proud of you.