ASHLAND COMMUNITY DAYS CELEBRATION THING OR BBQ?

i am honestly not sure what it's called. but we went and rode ponies and listened to  music and bought friendship bracelets.

and then hallie complained about being freezing cold the whole way home - and was burning up with fever later that night. awesome.

THE PLAGUE AKA STREP.

oh my good-night-NURSE. what a weekend.

what a weekend. sick kids are the worst!

henry ran a high fever wednesday, so i hightailed him to prompt care. he had an ear infection and strep throat. who knew a one-year-old could get strep throat? well, now we know.

and here's a little tip about henry. he hates medicine. he also won't drink from a sippy cup and won't really drink anything other than milk, period.

unfortunately, i had to give him a large dose of antibiotics each morning, plus motrin AND tylenol to try to get his fever down. it was the most frustrating thing i have ever done. and i mean that. to not be able to make your child feel better because he WON'T TAKE THE MEDICINE HE NEEDS is THE most frustrating thing in the entire world. i may or may not have cried once when he puked his tylenol back up the third time.

he was miserable and it was awful, but it's better now. we have discovered the key to the universe.

baby einstein.

no joke, this was our life saver. henry doesn't watch tv - doesn't seem to care one lick about it. but baby einstein, ho ho! you put that on and wheeeee, the best distraction ever. loves it.

now, if baby einstein could cure his constipation i would love it forever and ever, amen.

oh yeah, and then hallie got strep too.

poor baby had high, high fevers that we couldn't get to go down without a cool bath. she was a trouper. she is a very good patient, but i forgot to have her augmentin flavored, so there's that. not a good move, apparently it tastes like vomit.

anyway, stay away from the mason household. we are breeding bacteria 'round here. good times.

OH!

OH!

OH!

guess who took his first steps yesterday????????????

this guy!

STUD. MUFFIN.

GIRL, YOU MAKE MY SPEAKERS GO BOOM BOOM.

i really hate that one lyric of the song. but i looooove that song. and the "you got your hands up, you're rockin' in my truck. you've got the radio on, you're singing every song." you know that one? it's soooo good.

anyway, i got to see luke bryan perform at the sangamon county fair and he was fantastic.

and then hallie and i went back on saturday night to see josh turner and it was cancelled due to weather. suck-o. but, we still rode some rides with dave, see the opener (casey james) and hung out on the bus. good times.

it's nice when dave is doing fairs like this, close to home. we get to hang out with him and see some fun shows backstage too.

this is not dave, but pretend that it is. it's jeremy.



because this is what all of dave's pictures look like.



casey james

secrets.

SCIENCE CAMP.

we signed hallie up for science camp this summer - day time, five days, easy.

and thank goodness we did because she loved it.

i got to go to the "inventor's showcase" on the last day and see what she had been working on all week. it was pretty stinkin' cool.

okay, let me explain the pictures a bit. the first is of "magnetropolois" a city that they created by the up-cycled items we sent on their first day. it was huge. this was just hallie's little piece of the city.

then there is a tape man she made and stuck on the wall.

and then she kept holding up "c for camp, mom!" which then got closer and closer to her ear, so then it looks like she can't hear me.

there's the back, which is a robot...so then she started DOING the robot and i lost it - laughed so, so hard. and then they made this balloon bursting machine...that actually worked.

it was awesome.

MAH GARDEN. YEAH BUDDY.

sweet corn, zucchini, cucumber, basil and a beast of a sunflower.



zucchini (with a blossom!)



Cukes!

my teeny tomatoes. remind me next year to buy them bigger. i bought the smallest and won't have tomatoes until sometime next year.



lettuce! romaine! remind me to plant lettuce every summer for the rest of my life. also, who needs lettuce?



again, the beast. hallie brought home a planted seed from kindergarten and this is what is has become. holy smokes.

it was a slooooow start for my garden this year. i planted late and the soil was already so warm, so things like my FOUR ROWS OF SPINACH never even came up. my tomatoes took forever to grow, my bell peppers are still...working on it. and last minute i decided to plant sweet corn.

but things are finally, FINALLY looking good. except for my strawberries, and what is up with that? i think i am going to transplant them back into rows (they are currently willy nilly) to make for easier weeding and also will straw the crap out of them this winter.

note for next year: lettuce, yes. plant spinach early. sweet corn, yes. peppers, no. tomatoes, cherry only and buy bigger plants. zukes and cukes, yes.

RACE PARTY 2012.

it was fun. i was not pregnant, which made it more fun. we fed little texas, the kentucky headhunters and everyone else and their mother. fifty. in my garage and kitchen.

and it wasn't too bad. we have it down to a science and it helps that they rave about my corn casserole.

i don't have any pictures of the lunch, but i took hallie over to see little texas that night and she had a ball.

do you see what i see?? check out lucille at a party with beer! (in pink)

a terrible, terrible picture, but that's mike and dave both playing with the headhunters.

dave in his element.

A BIRTHDAY FOR HENRY.

oh, this sweet boy of mine.

"welkum to henrys bithduy" - hallie

it was a nice party. very casual without a lot of fuss.

from me OR henry.

we had it out in the garage, since it was all set up from feeding 50 the day before. we grilled hotdogs and hamburgers, i made veggie cups and skewers of fruit and had birthday cake topped with strawberries.

but my favorite part was turning on the bubble machine and watching the kids go crazy.