Five on Friday.

Happy Friday! I am especially happy this week that it is finally Friday because now that it is Friday... it means mama gets a mini vacation! That's right, mama's going on a girls weekend to San Diego from Friday to Sunday and I couldn't be more excited! I, of course, will be missing my boys. Mason is actually pretty lucky because he gets to spend the WHOLE weekend with Seth's mom! I only wish it wasn't going to be rain-maggedon this weekend so they could go outside to play, but I'm sure they will have tons of fun anyway. The reason Mason will be with Nanny all weekend though is because Seth has to work. Boo! I almost feel bad about being away all weekend since Seth has to work (sorry Seth!), but this mini getaway is just what this mama needs and I have been looking forward to it for months.

Enough about that though... back to the topic at hand... my five on friday!

I apologize in advance for the randomness of this post. These five things really have nothing to do with each other, but just happen to be some of the things I thought about this week. 

ONE.

Grey's Anatomy and Scandal.

Seriously SO excited they are back! Grey's Anatomy and Scandal were both new last night (FINALLY) and I couldn't have been more excited. And I ACTUALLY stayed up to watch the end of both, which is big for me. Usually I am asleep by 9pm on the couch so that says a lot about my love for these shows. Did anyone else watch? So much craziness!

TWO.

30 awesome upcycling ideas.

I came across this website yesterday after one of my co-workers pointed it out. Her friend had liked it on facebook and she was showing me some of the pictures and I had to check out the website myself. Some of these ideas of upcycling are seriously cool! I would so want to do 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 but I think they are all super cool and innovative!

THREE.

"@no-reply-comment" commenter.

A couple weeks ago, Colleen from Meet the Sullivans posted this post. It is a recipe for these amazing sounding no bake trail mix bites. I haven't had time yet but fully intend on making them! At the bottom of her post though, was something I found very interesting. I always wondered why I never got comments back from bloggers that I would leave comments for on their blog. I always figured they were too busy to comment back. Then I saw Colleen's post and realized what my problem was! I was a "@no-reply-comment" commenter! What this means is that my email wasn't connected to my blogger profile so bloggers couldn't comment back to me. I followed this super easy tutorial on how to fix the problem and I'm now able to get comments back! I love getting all of your comments and would love to comment back (directly to you, I do comment back via "reply" on your comment but you have to check back to see my comments, I believe). I never even realized that I was a "@no-reply-comment" commenter until I checked. Follow the super easy tutorial to make sure you are able to get comments back :)

FOUR.

Mama's getaway.

One of my favorite things to do is scrapbook. I take a hundred million pictures of things and love to organize them in one book to show friends and family. I rarely have time to actually scrapbook, especially at home with a toddler, so that's why these weekends are so fun. My friends, Erin and Michele, host getaways a couple times a year at an amazingly huge house in San Diego and 18 of us women go and just have an awesome weekend of scrapbooking, talking, laughing, and eating. SO. MUCH. FUN. 

Will recap next week :)

FIVE.

Sippy cup recommendations.

We are currently using these Nuby sippy cups and I do like them. We've been using them for a little while and they've been working great. Recently Mason has started chewing on the spout part more so than drinking so they leak when tipped upside down. I bought some new replacement spouts but they still leak. Mason is also really into throwing his cup on the floor instead of just putting it back down on the tray when he's done drinking and it leaves me floor looking like the picture above. Does anyone have any good recommendations for sippy cups that don't leak?? We've been using these and these from The First Years but aren't overly a fan. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Happy weekend!

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Linking up with The Good Life, Carolina Charm, A. Liz Adventures, and Hello Happiness.

[It's the Little Things Link Up] Trying New Foods

Last Saturday, we went to our friend's son's first birthday party. They had this amazing Mexican food for lunch and we pretty much stuffed ourselves full on that. Our friend, Vickie, rode with us to the party and came to hang out after we got back. Though we were still stuffed hours later, I brought up the topic of dinner. Seth threw out the idea of pizza and I immediately shot him down (sorry Seth!). I already had my mind set on sushi and thankfully everyone else agreed.

We headed over to the sushi place after Mason woke up from his nap and decided what we were going to get. I remembered back a couple months when we had a picnic at the park. We had walked to the sushi place and then headed over to the park to eat. Mason was all over our edamame and our sushi.

That was the day that his love for edamame was born.

I figured, he loved edamame and seemed interested in eating our sushi, so we should get him his very own California roll! He would love it! He's liked the rice I have given him from mine in the past and he loves avocado so I figured he would be all about it.

Seth and Vickie shared some crazy named rolls and I got a shrimp crunch roll. We ordered some edamame and some vegetable tempura. We got Mason his very own California roll. I was so excited!

As I thought, Mason was all about the edamame. He gobbled it up faster than we could open the little pods.

Then came the California roll.

He was intrigued...

And then two seconds after this picture was taken, he spit it out. Like the open mouth, let all your food fall out of your mouth, spit it out. Go figure. I bet $100 that if I had had that California roll on my plate, Mason would have been all about it. But since it was on his plate, he wanted nothing to do with it. Kids.

So, we tried plan B. We gave him some of the veggie tempura. And... HE LOVED IT. 

He couldn't get enough of it.

Even though Mason didn't seem to like the California roll this time, I still intend on trying again. I think it's important to expose him to new foods. He has been kinda funny about food these days, loving one thing one day and hating it the next. At least we know he will eat the edamame and the veggie tempura if all else fails! And it was fun introducing him to new things!

Linking up with Jess from Sadie Sky Boutique and Ashley from Words About Waverly.

Mason's Big Boy Room Make-Over

Last week I was on bloglovin catching up on my favorite blogs when I came across an exciting post. Natasha from Schue Love was offering to design a room for free. I thought, "design help? for free?" I'd love to! I've been thinking a lot lately about re-decorating Mason's room since we never fully re-decorated his nursery when we moved in to our new place (almost 10 months ago!). He's getting older now and I think it would be nice to have a big boy room instead of a nursery anyway. A space that he can call his own and is inviting and makes him want to run around and play and have fun. I've been reading Natasha's blog for a while and LOVE her style so I thought I would contact her. She has a son about Mason's age (Ethan is about a month older) so I knew she had amazing little boy taste. 

I sent her an email and explained what I was looking for and sent her some current pictures of what the space looks like now. These pictures are actually a little out dated because Mason actually ripped the shelf with his owl pictures off the wall a couple weeks ago.

Boys.

(I wish I could blame it on someone else's poor supervision of Mason but it was on my watch! Mommy fail. BUT he wasn't unattended, I was standing right there. It was before his bath and he was being squirmy and kept standing up and reaching up and pulling and then...WHAM. Thankfully I was standing right there and Mason did not get hurt at all. I shielded him from most of it and got a nice bruise on my arm from doing so. Mason cried but I think he was just scared. I wanted to cry too! It hurt but I would do it again in a heartbeat if it would protect him. Needless to say, we didn't put the shelf back up and we have some nice holes in the wall to look at now lol.)

Long story short, here is what the space looks like now.

And just for fun :)

My original inspiration for Mason's nursery came from Dwell Studio's owl line. We have this fitted sheet and this changing pad cover And this chevron fitted sheet.

I told Natasha that I really liked the "M" zinc letter from Anthropologie and the idea of the owls and she translated it into a big boy room for Mason perfectly!!

Check out Natasha's post HERE for the links to of the products!

Thank you so much for this inspiration board, Natasha! 

I absolutely LOVE everything about it and can't wait to start shopping and decorating!

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Natasha was amazing to work with and I highly recommend that you contact her if you are interested in 

re-doing a room in your house! You can find her here : Schue Love

[BOY MOMS] Paige from New Momma Notes

Hello!  I'm Paige and my blog is New Momma Notes.  I'm so happy that Elizabeth is hosting this feature for all of us boy moms!!!  I hope you'll come read about my adventures with my little man, Carter!

This is how it all started... Whenever I imagined my life, I always pictured myself as a mom to girls.  I'm pretty girly.  I wore pink to prom, my childhood bedroom was Laura Ashley pink floral, and in college I worked at Babygap and had a few adorable girl outfits stashed away.  I was meant to be a girl mom.

So when I found out I was pregnant in September 2011 I dreamed of a little girl.  The heart rate was in the girl category.  Even though my doctor said not to believe any of those tests, I of course did them all and most came out as a girl.

As I laid in the ultra sound room in December, the technician pointed and said "look right there for the gender" and tears came to my eyes immediately. 

I told my best friend about how I cried, but no one else.  I felt terrible about being so upset.  The next day I went to Carter's and picked out 2 cute boy outfits.  It took me a few days to come to terms with being a boy mom. 

The only reason I can tell this story now is because I've come full circle.  I LOVE having a son.  I think boys are the best and I actually can't imagine having a girl!

We live for construction sites and bulldozers.  We play with trucks, trains, tractors, and cars.

 I think boy clothes are adorable and it's nice how easy it is to get him dressed.  We don't have to worry about bows and headbands.  Instead he's preppy or hipster and so cute!

Since he spends so much time with me, he does like wearing my jewelry and loves playing with my makeup brushes (much to my husband's dismay.)  But I think it's good for him to be exposed to boy and girl things.

So soon-to-be mommas, I promise you that no matter the gender of your baby, you will never look back and will never know how much you can love someone until you meet your little one. He or she will be perfect for you.

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If you would like to share a post about you and your son, email me at elizabethrose84@gmail.com .

I would love to feature you! You don't have to have a blog to participate!

  

Five on Friday.

ONE.

New shoes.

We got Mason some new shoes back in November and found that they were a bit hard to get on recently. So last weekend (since I finally had a whole weekend off with my family!), we took Mason to the mall. Now that he is older and can walk, he definitely needs to be there for shopping, well shoe shopping at least. We went to Stride Rite since he already had a pair of those shoes and we knew they fit and wore well and immediately found some that Mason I liked. We had his foot measured (a whopping size 6.5 as a 19 month old!), tried on the shoes, and bought them. Serious fast shopping. Even Seth was happy! Then we headed over to Nordstrom because I had been dying to get Mason some Converse for forever and had him try those on too. Size 6 fit perfectly, purchase, and we were on our way! I mean really, who can say no to baby Converse?

TWO.

theSkimm.

I was reading Erin's blog, Hello Erin, a couple weeks ago and she mentioned theSkimm. I was intrigued so I clicked on the link to see what it was. Basically it's a website that reads all the news articles for you and gives you the basic gist. They find the most important things going on in the world that day and then send you an email telling you what happened, in a more condensed version. This is their motto "theSkimm is the daily e-mail newsletter that gives you everything you need to start your day. We do the reading for you - across all subject lines and party lines - and break it down with fresh editorial content. We read. You skimm." The picture below is what a standard email looks like. 

This is seriously perfect for me - a working mom who never has time to watch the news - or heaven forbid read the newspaper! I started getting it a couple weeks ago and love it!

THREE.

Crayola markers.

I got these Crayola markers about a month ago after I got my Erin Condren planner. It kind of reminds me of being a kid when I use them but I don't care. I love that I can color code things in my planner - it makes it easier for me to see what's going on. Green for Mason. Blue for Seth. Purple for me. Red for birthdays...

FOUR.

doTERRA essential oils.

Way back last year in March when we visited my friend Tara in New Mexico, she introduced us to these essential oils. I had been a little skeptical at first because these things aren't really my "thing". But she used some in a diffuser for Seth and I and one for Mason and OH MY GOSH. We used lavender and I felt like I was drugged. I slept so well, it was crazy. Mason used breathe since he had a cold and it helped so much. I had been wanting to get some of my own but couldn't quite do it because they are kind of expensive, but I finally did and am so happy. I started small and got a few and then went to a class that my friend, Amy, put on to learn more about them and now I'm obsessed!

FIVE.

BOY DADS.

Still so, so proud of my husband for writing his Boy Dad post for Valentine's Day last week. It is seriously the sweetest thing to see him and Mason together. If you haven't checked it out yet, you can read it here.

Linking up with The Good Life, Carolina Charm, A. Liz Adventures, and Hello Happiness.

[It's the Little Things Link Up] Valentine's Day

This year's Valentine's Day was an especially fun one because we got to celebrate for 3 days! How lucky are we? The festivities started on Thursday for Mason when they celebrated at daycare. Luz always decorates her place SO CUTE for each holiday. She also makes lunch and snacks for the kids all day so we don't have to pack anything. It is so awesome what she does for each holiday. She also took a picture of the kids to send to the parents on Valentine's Day which was an extra bonus!

On Friday, actual Valentine's Day, I had to work. Boo! Seth had off since it was his Friday off so he and Mason got to spend the day together. I was so jealous and 3:30pm couldn't come fast enough so I could get home to my Valentine's. Come 3:30pm, I was out of there and went home to spend the rest of the day with Mason and Seth. This is when the best Valentine's Day happened. I got home and let Mason open up his gifts. I got Mason a couple little gifts because...well, I could always use a good excuse to buy him some new things!

I actually picked up the Melissa and Doug animal magnet set when they were on sale at Target a couple weeks ago and had been so excited to give it to Mason since then. I also ordered him the Little Blue Truck Leads the Way since he loves the Little Blue Truck so much. In my personal opinion, I like the Little Blue Truck Leads the Way better. Both are great but I like this one more. Maybe because it's new? And I picked up this Spiderman bubble gun as well. Mason LOVES (and I think love is an understatement) bubbles. LOVE. We literally can't get the bubbles out of the container fast enough and he wants more. So I figured, why not get him something that can have a continuous stream of bubbles? And I was not wrong! He LOVED this too! Valentine's Day was a win for mommy in the gift department! I got Seth a couple gifts too... some candy and the Bruno Mars CD but didn't take any pictures of him opening his presents :) He did like them just as much as Mason liked his gifts though!

We immediately opened the magnets and put them on the fridge. Mason was so excited about them and played with them for a good 15 minutes. A win in my book!

I taught him what a bird says (tweet tweet) and what a doggy says (bow wow) and now when I say "where's the tweet tweet?", he picks up the bird and shows me. This kid! He is so smart! He can also point out the bow wow but the tweet tweet is definitely his favorite!

After the magnets became old news, we went for a walk over to the park. We brought Mason's new bubble gun and had a BLAST.

We took a family photo (BEST one yet!!!! SO excited that Mason smiled!), blew a few more bubbles, and headed home for dinner. This was also when Seth informed me that Mason knows how to give real kisses now. Like leans in for a wet, open mouth kiss on the lips.

MELT. MY. HEART.

He's been giving real hugs recently where he puts his arms around you and puts his head down on your shoulder but now he gives real kisses to. 

We came home and I made Mason's dinner while Seth made ours. Mason had chicken nuggets, pasta, blueberries, and strawberries while Seth and I had steak, artichokes, and pasta.

Luz had sent home some cute little cupcakes the day before so we let Mason have one for dessert.

Mason went to bed at 8pm and Seth and I had some wine and enjoyed hanging out with each other. I was reveling in the memory of what a fun day we had and thinking about how excited I was that I finally didn't have to work a single weekend day and could sleep in on Saturday (ha! not with a toddler but a girl can dream, right?)

Then Saturday Seth and I got to celebrate together by going out to dinner, just the two of us. My wonderful, generous friend Vickie offered to babysit and we decided to take her up on the offer. We went to Stonefire Grill for dinner and Sprinkles ice cream for dessert. DELICIOUS.

Seriously, the little things like fridge magnets and bubbles and wet, open mouth kisses made this Valentine's Day the BEST Valentine's Day to date!

Linking up today with Jess from Sadie Sky Boutique and Ashley from Words About Waverly to share our Valentine's Day because really, it was the little things that made the day so amazing!