{Lucy}


This is Lucy, the newest member to the Hall family.
Mason calls her Little Sister, or Luce-lee.
I call her girlfriend. Or little stinker.
Mason is plum rotten to her! She takes it though.
She's sassy and spunky and a little silly too.
She has 6 toes on one of her front feet.
Surprisingly though, she doesn't always land on her feet.
She may make me crazy at times, but more often she makes Mason laugh!
We love her.



{Friday Randoms}

Happy Friday friends!!!!

What a week...what a week! My co-worker was out on vacation this week, so I was covering the desk of two. Two very BUSY desks!! My office is just a small satellite office here in Dallas. We only have 3 employees here and 1 of the three is the director. I actually love our small office..except when it comes time to schedule vacations! One of us has to be here at all times...and our Director is always traveling on business. Fun times!!

My Mother in Law helped me pick up Mason this week so that he didn't have to wait any later for me at school. He absolutely loves it. When I picked him up on Monday he was running through the sprinkler in his undies. And then went for a bike, tractor and trail wagon ride in his undies! He looked so tall and long legged. My mother-in-law also cooked us dinner. It was delicious! And awesome not to have to come home and cook/clean the kitchen after a long day at work. Sometime around 6:00 I noticed that Mason's puppy and blanket were no where in sight! It was left at school. So I may or may not have panicked a little and then called the school. Luckily the director was still there and waited for us to come pick it up. Whew! Dodged a bullet there. It would have been a long night without them!!




Last Friday my sister had a sonogram. She's still very early, but they are 90% sure they saw boy parts. This will be the 5th boy on my family's side. My dad may or may not have begged me to try for a girl :)) ha! Don't get me wrong though...we love our boys and wouldn't trade them for the world! 



A few days ago I posted an FAQ post....still looking for more questions to answer. Ask away! 

We have been spending so much time outside this week. And we have the chigger bites to prove it!




Yesterday I decided to update the blog design. I wanted something more crisp and simple. What do y'all think?



Nathan has been working 7 days a week for over a month now. He actually has Thurs-Sun off next week and we couldn't be more excited. We are heading to Galveston to spend a few days on the beach. Just our little family. We are pretty excited. And then sometime in August Nathan and I want to take a trip for our anniversary. Just us two. We are thinking about going on a cruise leaving from Galveston. We've never been on a cruise before, so we don't want to start with a long trip. We're thinking like a 4-day trip or something. Any suggestions? We are definitely open to anything. Help!!!

What have you been up to lately?

What are your plans for the weekend?

{Mason school update - Moving up to Threes}


Back on June 3rd they had the "move up" celebration at school. Which means that Mason moved up to the three's class. It's a big transition from the 2's to the 3's. In the 2's the class was split between the older/potty trained 2's and the younger/not potty trained 2's. So the classes were somewhat smaller. Now, they are all back together in one big ole' classroom. 

I wish I could say it's going well. 

But, it's really not.

Every day that we pick up Mason he's on either yellow {1 warning}, blue {2 warnings} and red {not a good day}. Most of the time it's the lather.

It's disappointing and defeating.

Of course I know that Mason is no angel...but he's not a horrible child either. Something is definitely going on. The things that he's getting in trouble for tells me one thing.....

He's getting bored.

I mean, right? That's when most kids start getting in trouble...when they don't have enough to do.

I could tell a big difference in his attitude and the way he'd come home from school. He's edgy. He has lots of energy to burn off. And he hardly comes home with any papers. You know...the artwork and worksheets. BIG difference from the 2's class. They were constantly doing something and keeping the kids attention so that they didn't have much time to get in trouble. SO obviously not happening in this class. Every time I ask Mason what they did at school he either says, "Nuffin" or "Watched TV". I'm sorry, but this isn't okay with me!!  Grrr....

You know, it's been on my heart for a long time about another "school" in this town. I just wonder if these are the signs that God is giving me that it truly is time to move on.

These are hard times as a parent, I tell ya!!



 


{Texas Tuesday - a Musical Tour of Texas}

Hey y'all!! Happy Texas Tuesday!!

Masons Mama

What is Texas Tuesday? A chance for you to show off the awesomeness that is TEXAS!! You can blog about anything; restaurants, vacation spots, venues, concerts, your hometown, shops, fashion, sports, etc. The linkup is not limited to Texans, we just ask that the post is about Texas. 

We don't make following any of the hosts a requirement, but we do ask that you include our button and at least post about a Texas related topic. Any links that are not related to the link up will be deleted. (button code is in grab box below the image above)

We've invited Texas bloggers to co host with us weekly. If you're interested in being a co host for our link up please email Amanda at princessofthepanhandle(at)gmail(dot)com and she will get you on the calendar. 



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{Pieces of home}






















{Ask me anything}



Hi friends!! Happy Saturday!! 

I was looking over a draft I have...you know...full of random things about me. I am terrible about writing about myself. So, I want to open this up to all of you. 

Any questions you'd like to ask me?

I'd love to answer!!

{Friday Randoms}

Happy Friday!!! I don't know about you, but I am counting down the minutes until 4:00pm. Because? That's quittin' time for me! 

I'm going to try to soak up every last second of this weekend. My co-worker is out of the office on vacation next week so I will be covering for two all week. To say that I'm not looking forward to that is an understatement!! 

I shared our weekly menu on Tuesday {post here}. The verdict? Rt Beer pulled pork - ehh not a fan. Could be our crockpot, though. We need a new one. Wednesday we made Calzones and they were delish! Adding those to our rotation. And yesterday we made sloppy joe cups. Holy YUM! We'll definitely be making those again!! 

In other news...Mason has been a complete terror this week!! We just thought the twos were bad. They are a walk on the beach compared to the threes!! I'm talking multiple melt-downs a day/night!! And he's been in the threes classroom for 3 weeks now and he has at least 1 warning every day. We are definitely learning to 'pick our battles' these days. This is a whole post in itself.

I have spent hours...and I mean hours looking up design and fonts on Pinterest and also learning how to do things in Photoshop. I love it!! 

This weekend we have a birthday party, a graduation party and a baby shower!! 



What do you have planned for the weekend?



{Wordless Wednesday}







{Texas Tuesday - Summertime in Texas}

Hey y'all!! Happy Texas Tuesday!!

Masons Mama

What is Texas Tuesday? A chance for you to show off the awesomeness that is TEXAS!! You can blog about anything; restaurants, vacation spots, venues, concerts, your hometown, shops, fashion, sports, etc. The linkup is not limited to Texans, we just ask that the post is about Texas. 

We don't make following any of the hosts a requirement, but we do ask that you include our button and at least post about a Texas related topic. Any links that are not related to the link up will be deleted. (button code is in grab box below the image above)

We've invited Texas bloggers to co host with us weekly. So far we have gotten a great response and have co hosts scheduled through the end of March. If you're interested in being a co host for our link up please email Amanda at princessofthepanhandle(at)gmail(dot)com and she will get you on the calendar. 


This weeks co-host is Bri from Unexpectedly Expecting Baby. Make sure you stop by and visit her blog.

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 - Watermelon
- Flip flops and Sundresses
- BBQs
- Floating the River
- Concerts
- Margarita on a Patio
- Lake weekends
- Sunburns and farmers tans
- Texas Rangers
- Cut-off shorts and cowboy boots
- Porch sittin
- Sweet tea drinkin
- Port A
- Freckles
- Fireworks
- Sunflower fields
- Misters {not as in a fella...but the water sprayer thingamajigs}
- Popsicle smiles
- Dirty little boys
- Trips to Gruene
- Blow up Swimming pools
- Gardening
- Weekend camping trips
- Bonfires and cookouts
- Ponytails and sockbuns
- Rain on a tin roof 
- Lightnin' bugs
- Amazing sunsets and sunrises




What do you love about Texas Summers?

{Friday Randoms}



Happy Friday!!!!!

I think I say this every week, but daaaaang it's been a long week. 

Our week was pretty uneventful...just routine, but good nonetheless. We cooked at home all week. I love cooking/eating at home. On Tuesday I shared our menu for the week. Okay - nerd alert - I have been having so much fun searching for recipes {mostly on Pinterest}, menu planning, and making a shopping list. It feels so much better in the pocket and in the belt! Eating out gets so tiring after a while.

*note - I am so sorry for those of you that follow me on Twitter and Facebook. I didn't realize that my Pinterest was linked and sharing every single pin I pinned yesterday! I had deactivated it and somehow it got activated again! Frustrating and I apologize. I am sure it was annoying to you all too!  

Hubbs is working Saturday until three. I think Mason and I will use that time to do some Father's Day shopping and crafting! Then that evening we get to hang out with our best friends who are in from Abilene. Eeekk! So excited.

So, I got my Birchbox and again I was a little disappointed. But yet I can't bring myself to cancel the subscription. I think I keep holding out for it to get better. With Ipsy out and being so awesome I keep thinking that BB will step up its game!


In other news...I wore my straight to day. It's been weeks since I have done that. I forget how long it actually is. When I curl it I lose 2+ inches! But, it just feels better with curl and waive. When it's straight it gets on my nerves.



And this little guy....grows up by the minute! Seriously. More on that later.




What are your plans for the weekend? Any recipes I have to try? Happy weekend friends.


{Cardstore - a Review}


*This is a sponsored post by cardstore. All opinions are mine.


Who doesn't love getting a card in the mail? I know I certainly do. I also love sending/giving people cards. And, what I love even more than that is personalizing the card so that it's a one of a kind! When Cardstore contacted me to do a review on a Father's Day Card I might have squealed!!

What is Cardstore

It's an online greeting card store. They have cards for almost every occasion. You can choose from pre-made templates or make your own.

I, of course, went straight to the cards where you can include a picture. It's a Father's Day card, so naturally I wanted a picture of Nate and Mason together.


From here I refined my search for "Father" only. This will help weed out the Grandfather cards and such. Saving time as you search through to find the perfect card!


Honestly, the next step was the hardest part of the entire process...picking out the card! There were 95 to choose from, and they were all adorable. 


However, I had an idea of the picture I wanted to use and that helped me narrow it down. I wanted a card showed the majority of my picture without being covered by words.

I went with this one:


Next, I clicked on "make your card" button to start customizing my card. First step is uploading your picture. The interface to do so was extremely easy. You can upload a picture straight from your computer, or you can choose a picture from your facebook. Convenient!


I inserted my picture and moved on to edit the inside of the card. The inside had a template already included. Here you can change the font, the font color and size or you can completely change wording along with all of the font options. I changed everything to make it a little more personable from Mason and I.


Once you've completed your card the next step is to proof everything to make sure your card is 100% how you want it.


Next is delivery. Cardstore will ask if you want the card mailed to you or directly to your recipient. They only charge the postage rate and no handling fee. Awesome, right?! 


Done and done!

Cardstore was so easy to work with, the options are amazing and the quality is great as well!! I got my card within just a few days of ordering it and I am enamored!!

Be sure to check out Amanda's blog tomorrow. She's reviewing the actual card itself!!

Have you gotten your Father's Day card yet? Any plans for Father's Day?