Update

Time really does fly by. I now have a 1 year old and he is a handful. Mason is walking and trying to run all over the place. He eats regular food (not baby food), loves to be outside and explore, can say Momma, Dadda, dog, baby and Nana (grandma). He also enjoys being chased, chasing Max (our dog) and putting things back where they belong. Such a great helper. He makes us smile all the time. God truly has blessed us with him.
Recently we got back from my grandfather's 80th birthday party weekend and we all got sick. First I had a sore throat, drainage and coughing, then Mike came down with the same thing and finally Mason got a sore throat virus which gave him a fever for 3 days. The temperature had gotten up to 104.4 at one point. I felt so bad for him. I'm better now, Mike is still coughing and Mason is as good as ever. Thank goodness.
Mike will be starting to remodel/update our front bathroom. I can't wait for the finished product, but I have to wait for him to start. We have the new toilet installed already, already have the tub, and tile for the shower and we will be ordering the new vanity soon.

Monday, April 2, 2012

I think I am the world's worse blogger. I don't know how many people stay on top of it. Oh well, I'm trying and that should count for something. Anyway, Mason is now 5 1/2 months old. He loves to eat his baby food, especially sweet potatoes and bananas, he rolls from his tummy to his back and back to his tummy with no problem. He can almost sit up on his own. His personality is howing through big time. He laughs, smiles, and makes a confused looking face when you do something new to him. The jumper is his favorite thing to do and recently he has been scooting around the house in his toy with wheels (can't remember what it's called).

I have decided to quit teaching to stay home with Mason. Before I had him I was dead set to keep working because I didn't think I could handle staying home all day everyday with a baby. But then... I met him. Now I can't hardley stay away from him. I thank Mike probably every week for pushing me to stay home. I'm so blessed to have a hard working husband so I can stay home with our son.

Mike is working sooo hard lately. He's at the fire station, mowing and working on the house. The current project is the roof. It's hard work and hot out. I don't know how he does it.

Here are some recent pictures of Mason.

January 2, 2012

Well it has been too long since my last blog. So much has happened in our lives. We had our beautiful baby boy Mason, we bought a house and I have decided to not go back to work so I can raise Mason. Let me start with Mason Anderson Arrant. He was born on October 14, 2011 at 8:56pm weighing 7lbs. 13 oz. and was 20 1/2 in. long. He is now 11 weeks old and doing well. At his last dr. appt. he weighed 11lbs. and was 24 in. long. Mike and I just love him to pieces. Four days after Mason was born we bought my parents' house and are slowly fixing it up. So far we have replaced the drain field and started looking into getting a new roof. Very excited for many new changes with the house. When it is all done (won't be for a while) we will have a house warming party. Here are some pictures of Mason throughout the last 2 1/2 months.

Our niece has arrived

Yesterday, November 18, 2010, our niece, Ashlyn Jane Lilly, was born at 12:28pm. She weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz, measured 19 inches and has a full head of hair. Mollie is doing good and of course Eli and Aidan are doing good too. Aidan has taken on the roll of "big brother" quite nicely. Asking to hold her and giving her kisses. We are all very happy to have the new addition.

2nd Anniversary

We made it to our second wedding anniversary! We just got back a few days ago from Asheville, North Carolina where we spent our anniversary. Mike's sister, Heather, lives there so we had a place to stay without any extra expense. We were in North Carolina from 6/17-6/22.

The morning we flew in, Thursday, we drove straight to the Biltmore House (which in my opinion was more like a castle than a house). We rented a couple of audio headsets to learn about the history of all the different rooms we walked through (too bad we couldn't take any pictures inside the house). The entire house tour was a little over and hour and a half. Then there was the outside with the beautiful landscaping, plants, and mountain views. We walked through a rose garden and in a greenhouse, which had a variety of plants and flowers. It was all so peaceful and gorgeous. After spending the day there we headed to Heather's apartment.

Friday, we drove to a little city called Dillsboro. We went to the Jarrett House to eat lunch then walked around to a few different local stores. We went to a Christmas store and the Chocolate Factory (where we bought too much of the sweet treats).

On Saturday, Heather and her boyfriend, Jason, took us tubing in Cherokee, North Carolina where the river water was ice cold. The second time going down the river Jason had flipped out down one of the rapids. He quickly jumped up because the water was shockingly icy. After that, we all decided to find another area of the rapids that were more calm and relaxing to tube. When we were done with the tubing Heather and Jason took us to Cades Cove, apart of The Smokey Mountains National Park, to drive through. We saw horses, wild turkey, 4 small black bears, and about 20 deer. It was awesome to see these animals up close and personal and not have bars separating us. Today was a long day. We didn't get back home until midnight.

Sunday was a more relaxing day. We woke up late and went out to breakfast. After breakfast we drove through the Blueridge Parkway (a scenic highway through The Great Smokey Mountains) and stopped at the welcome center and another visitors center to learn a little about the history there. Afterwards we headed home for the rest of the evening.

On our last full day in North Carolina Mike and I went on a train ride. I have been bugging him to take me on a train ride for years because I have never been on one and always wanted to ride one so we finally did it! And it was in the mountains!! It didn't go as fast as I thought it would have, but that's alright. We were able to see a lot of the river. We stopped in a small little area where we had lunch, but we had to quickly get back on the train. The stop was only an hour long (actually about 45 minutes when you include unloading everyone and getting back on to leave within that given hour). It was nice. When we got back we stopped in to see a train museum. My nephew Aidan would have loved it! The size and detail in the train models were amazing. After that we headed home and when Heather got off from work we drove to Jason's house to ride horses. He has 4 total, but only one, Smoke, was behaving. It was still fun. Thanks Jason!

Finally, on Tuesday, we drove back to the airport and came back to the Florida heat. Oh, by the way... North Carolina was experiencing a heat wave at 90 degrees. Mike and I laughed. :)

Latest News

It's been too long since I last wrote anything to give anyone an idea of what's going on here with us. Well, last week Mike and I went to Daytona Beach for a few days during my spring break. The weather was nice. Slightly cool in the mornings, but by the afternoon the sun was out and the breeze was nice. I got a little burnt, but barely peeled. It was nice to relax and get away.

We also found out that we are going to be an aunt and an uncle again! Eli and Mollie are expecting another bundle of joy. Everyone is excited, especially Aidan. He says "I'm having a baby brother". He's so cute. Getting bigger, smarter, and more affectionate.

Today I hosted my first baby shower. It was a lot of hard work and time, but my friend that I did it for said it was great. I received many compliments from the guests, so it made it all worth while.

Mom recently got a raise and a promotion. She is very excited. She works so hard and definitely deserves it. Dad works hard too and long night hours. They are doing pretty good.

ICE!

Yesterday I took my nephew, Aidan, to see ICE! at Gaylord Palms with my mother-in-law. At 9 degrees inside, it was COLD. We saw a train set with a village, ice sculptures, he went down an ice slide, drank hot cocoa while listening to Christmas songs sang by 4 people on stage, and we saw Santa Claus. His reaction when he saw Santa just before we left was priceless. He turned and saw him and yelled, "Santa!"