Easter

We kicked off the celebration of Easter with Miller's Mother's Day Out parties on Wednesday and Thursday.

Friday we moved into our rental house.  Whew.  Thank goodness for Two Men and a Truck and all of our family that helped out.  That night Bryant and I went to the Secret Church simulcast our church hosted.  We kind of had to drag ourselves there since we were so exhausted, but once we got there we were so glad we went.  It was an incredible time of Bible study and we look forward to the next one!  If you ever have the opportunity to go, you definitely should!

The next morning {Saturday}, Mom and I took Miller to our church's Easter Egg Hunt.  Our children's minister, Melanie, had so many fun activities set up for the kids to do while they waited on the egg hunt.

Time for the preschoolers to hunt!

 

Miller and sweet Ella Kate

Melanie shared the Easter story with the kids using Resurrection Eggs.  Miller was the best listener. {Did you catch the sarcasm?}

Sunday morning it was time to worship our risen Savior!  We of course tried to tell Miller the Easter story, but given the fact he has no concept of life and death he was pretty clueless.  I look forward to the day when he will understand the amazing gift of Christ's death and the importance of His resurrection.  He was excited about putting flowers on the cross and kept saying, "I put flowers on for Jesus."  So at least he knew Easter isn't just about egg hunts.

After church we went to Nana and Papa Frank's house for lunch.  It was a feast and a wonderful change from the fast food we'd been eating for a week straight while we moved!

Sweet Malley in her Easter best

After lunch we had another egg hunt and enjoyed the beautiful day.

 

Poor Miller only found a few eggs.

 Last but not least it was time for Easter baskets from Nana and Papa Frank.

Easter this year was certainly hectic with the move, but it was special none the less.  I hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter, too!

Catching Up is Hard to Do

We've had so much going on that the thought of catching up on blogging has been a little overwhelming.  I cherish so much being able to document all of our family experiences though that I really want to try.  Obviously it will take a few posts, but I'll do my best!

A couple of weeks before Easter I got a note asking us to send cookies for Miller's school Easter party.  We were planning to move that week, so I knew that the logical thing to do was to just buy cookies from the bakery.  But what fun would that be?  So I decided to try making them ahead of time and freezing them.  I decided if they didn't thaw well, I'd go the bakery route, but at least I'd give it a shot.  My little assistant was so very helpful.  So helpful that after letting him cut out two cookies we decided it would be best for him and daddy to go play outside while Mommy finished :)

 The finished product...

{I'm happy to report that they froze and thawed very well!  I was so glad to see that this worked and will definitely be utilizing it in the future.}

The next week was Spring Break.  You wouldn't think Spring Break would affect us, but we had no school, no Bible study, and no Wednesday night church.  I decided to take Miller down to the lake to enjoy what could be our last lake trip for a while.  I'm hoping to squeeze in one more weekend before Jacob arrives, but we have lots to catch up on here first so we'll have to see.  This was Miller's first time on the boat this season and we were glad to see that he loved it!  It was also nice that he didn't have to wear a life jacket with a head support on it.  He was much more comfortable so we were all happier.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous and I was so happy to get a little sun on my pasty skin.  It was a nice little retreat before we returned to pack up and move!  More on that to come :)

Videos

I finally got around to uploading the video of Miller singing.  As always, the live version is so much better.  I need a hidden camera.

Bryant broke out the sprinkler the other day and Miller ran about 1,452 laps around it.  We'll definitely be using that a lot this summer.

Sorry for the short post {and the lacks of posts in general}.  We closed on our house Friday so we've been pretty busy packing and getting ready to move.  Be back soon {or eventually}!

Life Lately

Life in the Mastin house has been busy and full these last few weeks and it's only going to get busier in the weeks to come.  We are thankful that all of the busyness comes from such wonderful blessings, while so many people who are overwhelmed by sickness and other difficult situations.  We wrapped up our house plans and finished choosing most of the materials (or a general idea of them) so that we can get bids.  We met with three builders and should have bids back from them in a week or two.  The Lord also answered a huge prayer and led us to a great rental house and we are set to close on our house next Friday.  Our sweet buyer is giving us two weeks to move out so we'll spend the week before Easter packing up and moving.  I've also reached the point in my pregnancy where I am going to Birmingham every other week for my doctor's appointment.  Again, I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining because all of these things are wonderful blessings in our life and we are so thankful for each of them!

Amidst all of this, we have managed to find time to have a little fun ;)  With the beautiful weather we've been having we made our way to the park last Friday.  Miller loves the park which also happens to be on the lake where we can feed the ducks.  I'm determined to make more of an effort to go to the park before school gets out and the big kids take over.  And before it's 100 degrees.

 

We also took Miller to his first play a few weeks ago.  Our local high school put on Seussical the Musical and we had several kids from our church in it.  We decided to give it a shot and prepared ourselves to leave at intermission if needed.  Thankfully, Miller did great!  He loved it.  He got a little squirmy during the last fifteen minutes or so, but we held him over with promises of getting to go hug the Cat in the Hat, aka "Mogan".

Speaking of musicals, Miller has turned into quite a musical little child.  He sings songs all day long.  Some of his recent favorites are "Deep and Wide", "My God is So Big", "Farmer and the Dell", "The Frog Song" {I don't really know the name of that one}, "B-I-N-G-O", and "Away in a Manger".  He also wants to say the blessing for every meal.  I have to say there is something so touching about hearing his sweet little voice recite such simple truths about God.  When he says, "There's nothing my God cannot do!" which such determination, it is great reminder for my often weak faith.  I tried to video a few of these songs, but in his typical fashion he didn't want to perform on camera. **Apparently my computer is refusing to upload this video tonight.  Arghh...  I'll try again later, but it's bedtime for this momma.**

Goodnight friends!

A Trip for Two

This past weekend I cashed in my Valentine's gift from Bryant which was one last trip for just the two of us before the baby comes.  We had a difficult time deciding where to go since we didn't want to go too far {we could only squeeze in a weekend trip} and I didn't want to do much this far along in my pregnancy.  We finally landed on Nashville based on the fact that they supposedly have a large Home Expo with lots of design ideas for building.  After a little research we decided to stay here...

at the Hermitage Hotel.  And boy am I glad we did.  It. Was. Fabulous.  It had such a rich, historical charm all while being the upscale kind of place where they make you feel like royalty.  It was built in 1910 and there were little tidbits about the history of the hotel all over the place.

 

Check out the prices on this menu from 1913.  Yep, it's in cents.

I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for a neat place to stay in Nashville.  Shortly after our arrival we changed and headed downstairs for dinner at the Capitol Grille.

It was delicious.  We're pretty sure there was some old, famous country star there because he was getting a lot of head turns and a lot of attention, but we never figured out who he was.  After dinner, big momma {that's me} wanted to take full advantage of the amazing bathtub WITH a sweet little TV to watch.  Dateline and a bubble bath.  Ahhh...

The next day we ordered breakfast and headed out to the Home Expo.  You know, the one we based our trip on.  We thought we'd need a few hours there so we really didn't make other plans for the day.  We were a little confused when we drove up to "Nashville's Largest Home Store" to what looked to be no larger than a Dollar Tree or so.  We were even more confused when we got inside and there were only about three kitchens and three bathrooms on display.  That was it.  Other than that it was really just a store with flooring materials, granite, a few faucets, etc. and it wasn't much different from local stores we've visited other than the fact that you could buy multiple types of materials in one place.  Bummer.  We had a good laugh over it and after debating taking a tour of the stars' homes, drove back to our hotel {I'm sure the valet guy wondered why we only left for about an hour} and walked down to Broadway.  We ate our way down the street, did a little shopping, and watched a few street performers.  

That night we went to a restaurant that our waiter from the night before had recommended, Watermark.

It was delicious and had a really fun, modern atmosphere.  Afterwards, we walked around a bit and took the scenic route home to take in a few sites.  Let me just tell you, if you are from Nashville there are some absolutely beautiful places to get married.  Just sayin'.

Sunday morning we ordered breakfast again in order to take full advantage of our royalty status :)  I went down to the spa for a massage while Bryant packed our stuff and got us all checked out.  The massage was wonderful for about 45 of the 60 minutes.  For the last little bit of it, she had me lay on my back.  I was confused, because you're not supposed to do that this far along in pregnancy, but she had previously told me how she had two small children and she seemed to no a lot about pregnancy ailments, etc.  So I just thought she would incline the table or prop me up or something, but no.  I should have just said something as soon as I realized that she was in fact going to have me lay flat on my back for an extended period of time, but the people pleaser in me couldn't bring myself to say anything for some reason.  That is until I thought to myself, "If I don't say something soon I'm either going to pass out on her table or throw up on her.  Probably less awkward to just say something."  She put a pillow under my head thinking that would help, but I finally just sat straight up and said, "Sorry, I just can't lay like that."  She told me that I had about two more minutes of my massage, but I told her that we could go ahead and wrap things up.  I felt so bad for some reason and I could tell she felt really bad too.  Oh well.  

After I got dressed I met Bryant in the Lobby and we loaded up to go home.  We took our time getting home stopping at Target and J. Alexander's on the way.  We missed the little man like crazy, but it really was so rejuvenating to just get away and have some time together.  It also gave us some time to focus and finally decide on a name for this sweet baby boy.  So, if you've made it this far you deserve to be the first to know ;)  {Well, after our family members of course.}  Baby boy will be known as...

Jacob Paul Mastin

We will call him Jacob.  Paul was my grandfather's name and my dad's first name so we thought we'd name this baby after someone from my family since Miller has his daddy's name {"Bryant", which is also a Mastin family name from way back when}.  I'm so glad to actually be able to call him something now and it makes it feel even more real.  I can't believe Jacob will be here in about two months!  Crazy.

Birthdays

February in our family is almost like Christmas all over again.  We celebrate the birthdays of Gran, Poppy, Malley, Papa Frank, Bryant, and Scott.  I think Miller was a little confused when we were constantly singing "Happy Birthday" to someone different every other day.  We celebrated Papa Frank's 60th birthday with a delicious dinner at their house.  Miller was more than willing to help blow out the candle, which is his favorite sporting event.  He may go pro on us.

A few days later we celebrated Bryant's birthday early.  We had planned for Miller to go see Pop and Gran while we went to Huntsville for the night on Bryant's actual birthday.  I didn't think about celebrating the night before so that Miller could blow out a candle with his daddy.  So we improvised with a Samoa, Bryant's favorite Girl Scout cookie, and a strawberry to hold it in place.  I think everyone was ok with it, but next time I'll at least get a cupcake or something.  Sorry guys.

And of course no birthday is complete without a kiss from the little man.

Happy birthday again, Mom, Dad, Frank, Malley, Scott, and Bryant!  I'm so happy the Lord created each of you and I'm blessed to have you all in my life!

Rainy Day Fun

To occupy the little man one rainy afternoon this week, I turned to an activity I found on Pinterest.  It turned out to be a big hit and we'll definitely be doing it again.  A little shaving cream, food coloring, and a paint brush provided Miller with almost an hour of entertainment.

While he was working on his masterpiece, I took advantage of the time and did some really important things like snap a picture of the baby bump...

It might have been wise for me to use this time to put on some makeup.  Wow.  {Notice my broken camera strap?  I had my camera around my neck in the bathroom and my strap broke sending my camera and brand new fancy lens crashing to the tile floor.  Praise the good Lord it didn't break.  This lens is pretty heavy so I guess I'll need to invest in a heavy-duty strap.}

I also FINALLY took some pictures of Miller's big boy room.  I decided to invest as little as possible in this room since, at the time I decorated it, we thought we'd be here less than a year or so.  The only thing I spent money on are the things we can take with us like his bed, dresser, and bedding.  I won't be winning any decorating awards, but it works and at least kind of all goes together.  It's a good thing I didn't do much, because we had someone else approach us about buying our house.  We have a contract and should close before the end of this month.  Should being the keyword.  Our buyer has graciously allowed us two weeks after closing to move out since we had a closing fall through recently.  So this time around we'll wait for the ink to dry before we start packing things, etc.  Anyway, enough about all that, here's the big boy room...

I'm pretty sure we couldn't fit another piece of furniture in his room if we tried.  It's a little cramped, but it works just fine for now.  Miller is still sleeping in his cage crib for now and we use his big bed for reading books and snuggling before bedtime.  My plan is to put the baby {who is still nameless by the way} in the pack-n-play bassinet for the first few months and then transition Miller to his big bed in order to pass the crib down to little brother.  It will be awesome if I can at least keep him in there until baby boy is sleeping through the night.  It is so nice to be in control of when the little tasmanian devil is allowed out of his bed and I think it will help, at least a little, with the sleep deprivation.  We'll see if he gives me that long before he starts climbing out though.

After completing my very important tasks, I returned to find his completed project.

He had so much fun being allowed to make a mess and cleanup was a breeze.  Now that's my kind of art project :)