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Poor little Mason had his circumcision today. The nurse was teaching us how to take care of it. Mark was having a hard time watching. He said he could relate too well!!

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Mason Joseph Radtke - 6 pounds, 10 ounces - 20 inches - born at 9:08 AM.

The pictures are self-explanatory.

(Again - this is posted by Paul - Debbie will be back in action shortly. I couldn't pick one picture - so you got three)

P.S. Mason was born on his due date.

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Waiting.

(This is posted by Paul on Tuesday - Debbie is sleeping - she missed a whole night's sleep.)

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Here's Paul in his new chair....at Bob's. Last week when we bought the couch and chair, they didn't actually have the chair on the floor. We almost bought this set last winter, so Paul already knew that he liked the chair, but we decided to go to another Bob's just to make sure he still liked it. He did. Doesn't he look comfortable? I can't wait to have furniture in the family room again!

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What do you do on a Friday night when you have no furniture in your family room? Make a tent, of course. It's even better with no furniture. You have more room to spread out.

The little doll bunk beds were given to Kristen for Marley by a friend at work after Kris and Toby helped her move. They were her's when she was little. I cleaned them, and then Paul "tightened" them up and made "mattresses" and covered them with old sheets. Marley seemed pretty pleased with them.

Guess who else seemed pretty pleased with them? (This post also needed two pictures).

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I can't believe it's come to this. Checking my blood pressure at home. I have always had such good blood pressure readings. But....over the last year every time I have had a doctor's appointment, my blood pressure has been slightly high. My primary care thinks it is probably "white coat hypertension" but I never used to have that. Hence, the at home blood pressure monitor. We'll see what happens.

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This is the little crib at Mark and Janelle's. The little Moses basket was Janelle's sister Amy's when she was a baby. Janelle's mother had it all re-done. Isn't it cute? It fits perfectly in the little crib. All we need now is a baby!

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On Sunday we picked up this little crib at Paul's aunt and uncle's house. For details of that, please see Debbie's Blog for Sunday, May 31st. Tonight Paul set it up, and I cleaned it. Then we went to Babies R Us and got a mattress pad. It's all set to go!

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Okay...one more picture of these escalators at the mall and then I won't post any more, I promise. But, as you may know, these escalators at the entrance to this store really fascinate me. But, they only go one way - down. If you are in that store on the first floor and want to come up, too bad. You have to got out into the mall. Now is that weird or what? To get the full effect, you have to see a video of these escalators. Look closely and you'll see that both of them go down, there is no up! By now you are probably saying, who cares! I just thought it was weird and wanted to point that out. That's it. No more pictures of escalators, LOL!!

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Today we took a day trip to Misquamicut Beach and Watch Hill. We were sitting outside a little shop and all of a sudden I heard baby birds and saw a mother robin feeding them above us. She flew away before I could get my camera out, but I waited awhile and got this picture of her being a good mama!

P.S. Happy 8th Birthday Marley!

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We bought new furniture for the family room tonight. Paul has needed a new chair for a long time, and our couch is about 27 years old, so it was time. We bought a leather couch, chair and ottoman. It's coming in a little over a week. We're very excited!

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This has to be my favorite fast food sandwich. Spicy Chicken Filet from Wendys. Yummy!

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We went to see this movie tonight. Oh my goodness, I loved it. I really like museums and the thought of them coming to life at night just intrigues me. I'm not sure which one I like the most, the first one or this one. They're both right up my alley!

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The rhododendron in the front of my house is in full bloom. It was given to us as a house warming present by Paul's aunt and uncle, Pat and George, back in 1973.

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Paul and Mark went kayaking at Lake Mashapaug today. I have Paul trained pretty well. He took a nice picture for my 365 blog. Thanks, Paul.

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We went kayaking at Three Mile Pond in Sheffield, Ma. today. Four years ago we went there at the end of July and it was like a swamp; I hated it. I wanted to try it again in the spring this year before all the weed stuff grew. It was wonderful. The day was beautiful, warm and sunny, but not hot. The weed stuff had just started to come out but not bad. There is a peat moss island in the pond that is just wonderful. Little islands to paddle in and out of full of birds, frogs, muskrats. There was also a blow up swan that we thought was real until it didn't swim away as we got near. Across the lake there were two, male and female, fake ducks in the water. Not sure what was up with that. I'm so glad we decided to give it another chance. I will definitely go back, just not in July!

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Today we celebrated Marley's 8th birthday. Next Sunday is actually her birthday, but they are going to the camper for the weekend, so we had our family party today. Janelle's mother and sister came up for the event. We all had a fun time singing happy birthday, eating frozen Boston creme pie*, watching her open presents, and then later playing one of her favorite games Apples to Apples Junior.

*The story behind the frozen Boston cream pie is this - two years ago she had Boston cream pie at Toby's mother's house and she said she wanted that for her birthday cake. When I asked her at the end of her birthday party that year if she liked her cake, she said that she liked the frozen one better. I had no idea what she was talking about until Kristen explained that when they had it at Barbara's it wasn't quite thawed when they ate it. So, this year, I froze the cake and took it out before dinner so that it was still about half frozen when we ate it. Everyone got a kick out of the whole story (Stacia brought a pie and Amy made Smores, so those who didn't want frozen Boston cream pie could have a choice). LOL, LOL!!

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Today was our annual "Build-A-Bear" excursion. This is our 5th time doing this for Marley's birthday. She told me today that she wanted to do Build-A-Bear every year until she got married. Marley wanted to go to Yankee Candle to get the "bear" but go to the mall Build-A-Bear to get the clothes and accessories (they have a much bigger and better selection). I think she likes the whole process of going to Yankee Candle and looking around up there, but the Build-A-Bear at the mall is much better really. This year she chose a black lab and called him Blackie. We bought Blackie two outfits, a denim pocketbook, a collar and leash, and another leash. What a fun day. Kris called later tonight and asked Marley if she had a good day and she said it was "fabulous."

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My ferns have really taken off. I love how they keep spreading every year.

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So....as a followup to my post #124, the new store with the escalator right at the entrance is now open. It is called XXI forever, and is a store for just what it says, people who are "21 forever." It's a huge store and if I was 21 I'm sure I would love it. The store has only one floor though, so the escalator just goes to the second floor of the mall. Really different!

P.S. This post just had to have two pictures for the full effect!