Pictures of the day

I love this little guy. I had to share some of the photos that Shelley took today. When I was looking through the photos from today I noticed that Miles had like 4 different outfits on throughout the course of the day. crazy.

yum yum eat um up!

Prunes

The picture says it all!



Maw Maw, you would be so proud, the boy loves him some prunes!

more pics

Some more cute pics of Miles playing with his toys! He's getting so BIG!

It's Friday

Oh how I love Fridays. Even though I don't have to work outside the home I still love Fridays. I guess it's because I know I get to be with Corey all week. Today I have been doing some cleaning and organizing. I'm in one of my moods where I want to redecorate, move things around and change things up a little. I haven't done much as far as decorating, mostly just trying to get somethings organized before the summer. I've been going through a lot of Miles clothes and random other things and it's made me really sad. I can' believe it's time to pack up his clothes and swaddling blankets and other little stuff I find here and there. He is getting so big and time has gone by so fast. Anyways, I'm trying to get his room organized and set up because there is going to be a guy living with us this summer and he's going to be in Mile's room. Just for 8 weeks. Anyways, all in all it's been a productive day so far. I still need to get up in the attic and take a shower, but I thought I would pause a minute and post some cute pics of Miles from yesterday. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

p.s. thanks Cade for the sweet overalls!

birthday duvet

This picture is about a month old but I wanted to show everyone the duvet cover that Corey gave me for my birthday. I had no idea that Corey would surprise me with this duvet. This was about the only thing I told him that I wanted for my birthday but I knew I wasn't getting it because it was too hard for him to pick out on this own. Well, he did good and got me this one from this really neat store downtown called "Nest". They specialize in organic housewares and kids clothes. I usually have to stay out because I want to buy Miles everything! Anyways, I know this is a little late, but here is a picture of Miles laying on our new duvet!

Turtle T

Last night Shelley went through the "Mother Load" of clothes that Miles got while in Texas. He has a lot cooler t-shirts than I do! Most of them had great graphics on them. One of them had this turtle on it and I told shelley that might be a neat sketch. So before bed last night I quickly brushed this one out.

back to life

Well we are back to life as we know it in Asheville. Things are going well. It is good to be back home and back into our routine. MIles is still having a lot of problems sleeping at night. He wakes up every two hours so it's hard to actually feel rested! We are experimenting with some different things at night so hopefully he will turn the corner soon! On a side note he is taking awesome naps, so I can't complain! Since we have been home we have started solids so now he is eating them everyday. I made a bunch of baby food yesterday, which was a lot fun! So far he loves sweet potatoes, avocado and his homemade super porridge. Here are some pics of him eating his very first meal in his new high chair. Yeah for IKEA!

New Work

Thought I would share this drawing that I finished last night. The quality of the image is really bad cause I took the photo using my laptop but it should give you a good idea...Shelley has our camera. There's a lot of things I would change but I'm pretty happy with it. The image is pencil and watercolor on india paper. It's 22" x 30" which is larger than anything I have ever attempted before. As I developed the pencil work it sort of turned into a self portrait.

Still Here...

We're still here. Shelley decided to stay another week in Texas and I'm here in Asheville just enjoying my full nights sleep. I've never been the type of person that really loved to sleep or valued it that much. Man has that changed, like so many other things.

Lately I've been reflecting on life a lot. So much of my mental thought since Miles has been born has been devoted to some how planning a sustainable future for Miles and future family. Some how trying to find ways to invest in the future so that they can go to college, have great vacations and some things that would superficially make them happy. I think in some ways it's the desire of a man to provide. It's been a blessing lately because some of that thought has shifted. Praise God! That burden is pretty heavy. Prayer has been central to my life lately. Through pray I have shifted my thought to investing in Jesus and his Kingdom. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense but for some reason it's really hard for me to wrap my head around it. Truely that is the only gift I can give my family that means anything at all...a prayerful example of love for our Savior. We get so clouded by everything around us. Even writing this brings some sort of joy to know that there is freedom from the pressure to perform.

So friends I hope you are all doing well. Those that we saw at the wedding it was amazing and for those we didn't we miss you so.

TEXAS

Hey friends and family,
The Mason family is in Texas for the week! We are here for Shelby's wedding and are having lots of fun. We started our trip on Friday and arrived yesterday. We broke up the drive by stopping in Memphis! It was fun to see old friends and eat at some of our favorited old spots. Miles did amazing in the car, he is quite the traveler. I think we will be going on some more road trips! Stay tuned for pics from our trip! Congrats Shelby and Charlie, we are so excited to be here for the big day!!!!!!

Miles is not a fan

North Carolina has become a key state in the Democratic Primary so last week Hillary Clinton came to Asheville. It happened to be girls night out with some of the girls from work so I told Shelley 'why don't you go and I'll take Miles to see Hillary at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. A little guys night out, right? Right! We waited in the mob of people and luckily got through the TSA security still with a baby bottle full of milk. We settled in our perfect front row seats in the balcony and it was a lot of fun until things got going in the auditorium. Everybody is hootin' and hollerin' for Hillary...they are throwing t-shirts and adjectives like nobodies business and then... I think Miles became the loudest person in the room. Yup. He was screaming. So I thought he was hungry so I fed him his bottom. nope! definitely not hungry! So I sadly had to close the door on guys night out. The minute we walked out of the auditorium Miles falls fast asleep. crazy. It was pretty depressing to leave. I mean there were at least a thousand people just standing outside the auditorium because they had closed the doors to a full house. Oh well.
It felt good to do something for Miles that wasn't what I wanted to do.

Lucy and Miles

I came in the den the other morning and these two were entertaining each other! Too cute!

Miles laughing

Here is a video of Miles laughing, I love it! We were at the chocolate lounge downtown for my birthday and he was in such a good mood. We spent the whole day down town and he did so good! He LOVES to be out and about!

good morning

Good morning from Miles and I. We are just hanging around the house today and wanted to say hey to everyone! Hope everyone is doing well!

many blessings.
shelley & miles

I love this picture

I love this picture of my boys. I can't believe Miles is already 5 mo. old. Life is going by too fast!

good times

We had a really fun weekend! This was the first weekend that I didn't have to work on Saturday so we took advantage of the time and went to Boone for the day. We took a more scenic route than usual and enjoyed seeing everything in bloom. Spring in western N.C. is amazing. Anyways, we started off our day trip in Blowing Rock where we ate at this neat little diner called Sonnys. We had amazing hamburgers and ham biscuits! Sometimes it's just fun to eat junk food! Here's a pic of Miles and Corey up at the diner bar where we ate...



After we ate we shopped around in Blowing Rock for a little bit and then we headed to the Tanger Outlets! I was able to get some new clothes at the J Crew outlet for my birthday and Corey found a new suit for his sister's upcoming wedding! Miles also got a new bathing suit for the summer! After visiting the outlets we headed up to Foscoe to spend a few hours at the mountain house. What fun to lay outside and bask in the sun with Miles. We had fun showing Miles the creek and the really soft moss. Here are some pics from our time at the mountain house..






When we got home later that night it was really cold! So Corey worked out in the yard a little bit and Miles and I cheered him on! Here's some last pics of MIles in his cute coat! Look at those blue eyes...





So, that's a little glimpse of our life. We are having so much fun!

April 9th

Today is my baby brother, Brady's 20th birthday. Just wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday Brady and honor you this day! I can't believe you are twenty!! Crazy! Just wanted you to know you are very special to us and we love you so much! Thanks for being such a great brother, friend and uncle. Hope you have a wonderful day today. We love you Brady!!!!!
Love,
Shelley, Corey and Miles

family fun

Yesterday my grandmother, Mama Swan, and my cousin Patrick came up for the day. It was so much fun to catch up with Patrick and to spend time with my grandmother. Of course they loved getting to see Miles! We drove around the town, went out for coffee and finished our day with an amazing steak dinner! (Thanks Mama Swan) !! Here are some pics of Miles with his great grandmother Swan and his 2nd cousin, Patrick. Thanks for coming to see us!

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