What a Kid!

Mason has more personality than we know what to do with sometimes. He is a total boy sometimes (loving to play with balls, wrestle, and run), but he does have MacKelle for a big sister, so he is also into accessorizing.  Here are a few funny pictures of him and his unique style...

 This one is MacKelle's leotard. he has his head through the leg hole and his foot stuck in the sleeve...

 Trace's pants on his head...

 MacKelle's jazz shoes on...

MacKelle's glasses...upside down.

It all goes in the mouth!

So, for the last, I don't know...12 months, everything Mason picks up goes in his mouth. Usually it is one of MacKelle's toys. I honestly think he tries to irritate her.

 

The other day I was running a bath for MacKelle and found this:

 

I don't think that Mason enjoyed that bite. It is just funny to me because I'm always threatening to use the soap in my kid's mouths when they are mouthy, but...YUCK! I would have loved to get a picture of his face when he bit that off. Maybe it won't go strait into his mouth so much anymore...

My little photographer!

Well, I took this picture of her...Today I got a new camera because my old one doesn't turn on anymore. We decided to try it out at lunch. MacKelle HAD to be the first to use it, and took pictures of our group. We ate at a yummy burger place,that I can never remember the name of (Big five (or guys) burgers and fries). Any way, it was GO-OD! Loved it!

Here is Bobi and Oaklyn enjoying lunch.


And Valerie with her kids Oaklyn and Aspen (MacKelle's new friend).


And Ryker...what a cutie!


And me and Mason! So I think she did pretty good. All blogable pictures! Maybe we have a photog in the making!

Kids and Snow

The other day we bundled the kids up, grabbed the sleds and headed to the only hill in Mud Lake (by the football field) to meet up with the Babcocks. I was a little nervous about how Mason would be because he hadn't been out playing in the snow before. He didn't like being bundled up-probably because he couldn't hardly move. I tried him out on the sleds when I'd help a kid pull theirs up the hill. I laid him down on it and pulled him up too. HE LOVED IT! He kicked his feet the whole way up. Then we started putting him on with the kids. Let's just say, he IS an Idaho boy. He loves his winter sports! Now when he gets super grumpy I bundle him up and pull him around our neighborhood on a sled. Works like a charm (if only it wasn't SO much work to get ready Ü).


These pictures were taken by Bobi from her four-wheeler. She pulled the kids around the neighborhood a little while back. They had a blast!! My kids have been asking if we can get a four-wheeler ever since. They were little dare-devils! I think one of these days we're going to have to invest. The four-wheelers are fun!

Happy Birthday Mason!

I can't believe it has been a year already! Mason has added so much to our family. His little personality keeps getting bigger and bigger. He makes us all smile and keeps us moving.

For his birthday we invited our friends over for cake and ice cream. Mason really had no idea what was going on, but he loved all the people over.

And I HAD to have MY fun and make him a much bigger cake than we needed. But, hey, you're only one once, right?

The monkey reminds me most of Mason, partly because the monkey on Madegascar is named Mason, but mostly because he is our little monkey. He is ALWAYS climbing on things. He gets SOO frustrated when he can't quite reach.

The top tier on this cake is a removable smash cake for Mason to dig into...and he DID.

Some of his friends even helped him open some presents. Notice the gift we gave him was some baby shampoo. MacKelle dumped the other one we had out in the tub because she wanted the bottle. Poor Mason.

Trouble

Mason recently found the Kleenex box. Here is how I found him. He has been into ALL kinds of things since he started walking. He has also discovered toilet paper rolls...goody!

Cookies and Crayons

Do you ever have to bribe your children to be civilized for church? My bribe today was cookies. I brought some Oreos and some chocolate chip cookies (along with Jelly Bellies and fruit snacks-Nothing like a little sugar to CALM? the Kiddies-What was I thinking???). The Oreos were for Trace and MacKelle because, well, if Mason eats an oreo he ends up looking like he's been playing in the mud. He somehow found the bag with the oreos in it and just HAD to have some (probably because he wasn't supposed to). When we realized what had happened it was too late. We did a switch-a-roo with the Jelly Bellies and cleaned him up as best as we could.

Meanwhile. . . . MacKelle had been coloring and SOMEHOW the entire box of crayons was dumped out through the crack in the seat of the pew. I've been to other wards that don't have the dreaded crack. It is about an inch gap between the seat and the backrest of the bench. I'm sure it keeps the seats cleaner, but is a pain when you have kids with little toys and snacks that fall through it.

Back to Mason. . . He finds the bag of oreos again and figured out how to open it, in the process, flinging one under the bench to the row behind us. Next thing I see is his foot disappear under our seat. He crawled back to the cookie and was making MORE slobbery chocolaty mess. . . .All the while Trace is telling me he wants to go home and that he and MacKelle are thirsty and Mase is playing peek-a-boo with the poor family that will I'm sure never sit behind us again after the crayons and the cookies. Did I mention that it is ward conference? Justin said we must look like investigators who's kids had never been to church before.

I love church. . . It keeps life exciting. But I'll try a different bribe next time.

Starting Early

I was a little surprised when I found Mason like this. My first instinct was to send MacKelle to her room for writing on him (she has been known to write on herself-and other things too). Then I saw the pen in his little fist. I'm not sure what he was doing, but he managed to get himself pretty good.
The worst part is that he was buckled in his booster seat, so I must have left the pen within his reach. But in my defense, I think that babies have go-go-gadget arms.

An Unexpected Guest

The other night we were hanging out when I heard some bells jingling outside with some Ho, Ho, Ho-ing. There was a knock at the door and when I opened it, SANTA was there! I called the kids up and they were SO excited to see Santa. Tyson was at our house at the time so he got to see Santa too. They each got to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Here's the breakdown: Tyson wanted a Rams wallet and a poster, Trace wanted Star Wars stuff, and MacKelle wanted a Barbie. While Santa was here, the kids were ALL over him, they kept giving him hugs and telling him they hoped he had a merry Christmas. It was interesting to see how much they loved him, even though they didn't know him. After he left, Tyson said "This was the best day of my life!"

There was one, however, who wasn't quite as excited to see Santa:
Need I say more? We'll give him a couple years!

Where's Mason?

Mason has been LOVING peek-a-boo lately! This is his version of it. He holds something up in front of his eyes (mostly Ü) and we say "where's Mason". . . . .
Then he shows himself, just to do it again. . . .
and again. . . . (are you loving all the water on his shirt? He likes to drink it and then spit some out on his shirt).
and yet again. . . .

It doesn't have to be his cup, he'll play it with anything.

"Where's Mason?""There he is". . . . . .
This goes on until you distract him or take away his cup/newspaper. He is growing up so much. He is almost walking! We are in so much trouble!

Trick-or-Treat

We LOADED up on sugar this year! We went into Idaho Falls on Friday for a Trick-or-Treat thing they had for kids. There were a ton of kids there. We met up with our neighbors and joined the hundreds of people there. We even ran into some of Justin's cousins.
Here they are at a booth.
We had to wait in line for about a half an hour before we got to any booths. Jenny took this picture of us waiting. Justin had to step out of the line for a minute, so it looks funny me and Tobee there with all the kids.
Here is Scooby and Daphene with the Mystery Machine. We had to get a picture. Even though they're bundled up enough that you can hardly tell who they are supposed to be.
We also went to Trace's costume parade at school. Mason was SOOO tired.
MacKelle doesn't go to school there yet, but Trace was nice enough to let her be in line with him. All the elementary kids march through the older kid's classrooms to show off their costumes.

Here is one of Trace, MacKelle, Tyson, and Keylee when we were in Idaho Falls. Trace and Tyson have been the same thing for the last 2 years. They are great buds! Keylee is a little lamb. Cute kids!!!

Its Autumn Time

The other day we came back from a trip to town and we noticed all the leaves on the ground. We had to rake them up and jump in. Trace missed the fun because he was at school, but there are more leaves for another day. MacKelle whipped out her plastic rake and we got a pretty good pile.
Mason LOVED the leaves, he thought they tasted fantastic! He loves being outside. He kept crawling everywhere and putting stuff in his mouth. He had a great time exploring. Ü Being with the kids when they have fun reminds me of when I was a kid. It makes all those activities more fun again. Childhood is so fun and carefree.

The Great Pumkin Patch

After seeing the fun some of our friends/family had going to pumpkin patches, we decided to find one. We found The U-Pick Red Barn in Idaho Falls that was so much fun! They had pumpkins EVERYWHERE! Not only pumpkins, but watermelon, and other yummy produce.
Here is a picture of some of the pumpkins (they were like this in every direction).
You can also get eggs, and behind Trace and MacKelle you can see some of the chickens. The kids were so cute! There was a lot to do there and they were excited!
We are starting the search for the best pumpkins. We made a rule that they had to be able to carry their pumpkin (So we didn't end up with the biggest one there and we had Mason to carry Ü).
Mase seemed to like the pumpkin search too.
The kids went through the straw maze (about 5 times).
Justin and Mason too. I think Justin and I had as much fun as the kids (Maybe more, check out Mason's and Justin's faces Ü)
They also got to ride on a "train". Trace was very excited and MacKelle started off a little nervous. As the ride progressed they both relaxed and had more fun.
Trace even jumped off and back on! I'm sure they were ready to kick him off, but it was a great day and a fun fall activity.