another day, another change

I have a love/hate relationship with the month before my boys' birthdays. I swear Mason is doing something new or different every single day. Mostly it's awesome, like this...

That's a pull-up free bum right there! Mason went a few days using the toilet 100% so when he asked to wear underwear to bed last night we went with it. He woke up dry! Then today he asked to wear underwear to school. And when I picked him up, he was still dry!! The difference this time is that it was all him. He just all of a sudden really wants to wear underwear and seems to finally understand that if he wears underwear he has to use the toilet.

Today was also the first day that the boys got to bring their lunch to school. They were very excited. I put a little note in there for them and when I picked them up, Mason's teacher told me he asked to keep the note with him during nap. So sweet.

friends

thank you

Never was so much owed by so many to so few - Winston Churchill

Happy Memorial Day - the unofficial start to summer. Yahoo!!

exploring safeco field

We waited in line to meet the moose for the first time. Mason was really excited; Andrew decided it'd be kind of fun. When we got to the front of the line Andrew ran up to give him a hug and Mason started to cry...

Across from the moose is a pitching station - that's what Andrew was the most excited about. It's only $2 for three pitches. Both boys liked this phase of our tour.

It was free growth chart day. Both boys put theirs up on their door right when we got home. It's perfect for Mason's room since (eventually) he'll have a baseball theme.

zip line

We had so much fun with our friends today!

One of our favorite parks just got cooler! The boys loved the new zip line. Andrew also decided to try a little rock climbing for the first time (which he also loved).

We finished off the day enjoying the sun. (Not shown... the guys went golfing, the girls went shopping and I got a little bit of a sun burn!!) Today was pretty rad.

frowny face

Mason has the funniest pout that he does when he's trying to be funny. I haven't been able to get a picture of it, but I got a few of him being goofy. The picture on the left is the best I could get, but he's also smiling a little becuase it always makes him laugh.

PS. I love PicMonkey!!

senior trip

Andrew went to Point Defiance Zoo with his class today. It is a tradition that his teacher does every year with the graduating class. Three of the five have been together since they were babies - it's going to be a little sad as we all go our different ways for kindergarten.

His class in front of the shark tank. (This was our first trip to Point Defiance - it was a fun change from our usual zoo).

They have a HUGE walrus there. This one is the smaller of the two and it is substantially smaller. It totally made me think of the movie, 50 First Dates. : )

It was raining pretty hard at times, we were all soaked by the end. Before we left, Miss Kelly gave all the kids a souvenir to make sure they remember their last field trip with Brown Bear. It is a zoo ruler for them to take with them to kindergarten. Andrew asked if he could bring it with him to bed - the sign that he thought it was really cool!

take that, diabetes {beat the bridge}

What kind of stats do you want? Want to know how many times I almost cried during the run? 3 times (I was very emotional, not in pain...). Want to know how much money Team Zane raised to find a cure for T1 diabetes? Over $6200! Want to know if I beat the bridge? Heck yeah I did! And I finished in 51:15! My goal (that I never admitted to anyone, just in case I didn't make it) was to be under 55 minutes. Yahoo! And I am hooked. I don't have any desire to run any farther than 5 miles, but I'd love to keep this up and do other 5 and 8K runs for sure.

Now, get ready for a lot of pictures of me. Sorry, I was excited - I needed a lot of proof that I actually did it!

Lisa and Zane.

Melissa and Angela.

Beating the bridge.

The finish line! (Thanks to Angela for this action shot!)

After I crossed the finish line I scored this fantastic medal. : ) And because I'm a huge dork, I quickly took a picture of myself. (I tried to get the finish line in the picture but I was too embarrassed to take more than one picture, so this is what I got).

Thanks for giving me the push I needed to train for this, Zane. You're awesome! And with all the money raised for research, I have a feeling diabetes is going down real soon... I pray it does.

you've come a long way, 7th grade

I got to see my niece, Madisyn in her school's production of Willy Wonka on Friday. It was amazing. It was funny, it ran smoothly, and everyone was beautiful. It is nothing like I remember 7th grade to be...

Madisyn played Mrs. Teavee and even had a solo. She did awesome!!

The kid who played Charlie was only a 6th grader and he did a really great job. This was one of my favorite parts.

My sister-in-law Melanie is one of the craftiest people I know! She was in charge of making little Mike which I think turned out so cute! She also did Madisyn's awesome bouffant hair : )

it's official

Our friends are moving to Texas... In fact, Darin flew out there today and starts his new job tomorrow (the rest of the family goes when school gets out). We had one last get together and a farewell 'Darin dinner'.

Lisa got this picture of the kids all huddled around Bella's DS. This is a pretty common thing for them. : ) Andrew is very sad that his best friends are moving away. Luckily he'll be starting kindergarten soon after. Hopefully the excitment from that will help.

We're all going to miss our friends (and how spoiled we were with all those delicious dinners!).

39 clean teeth

Today was Mason's first trip to the dentist. They confirmed he only has 19 teeth (and confirmed it's my fault - I had weird teeth and the thing he has is a hereditary thing). Other than that, all was good.

I told them that I had Andrew brush his teeth on his own so we could see how well he's doing. I'm not sure if that's why they did this, or if they would've anyway, but this was the first time they painted his teeth with that stuff that changes color to show where he missed. This was before it was rinsed off, but the dark areas are basically the areas he missed. She said he's doing good for his age but that he should still have some help occasionally. Not a big deal, he actually likes me to brush them. It's Mason who thinks he's got it covered on his own...

Their dentist does a really good job making them feel comfortable. She let Mason help her count Andrew's teeth and look in his mouth with the little mirror so he wouldn't be worried about his turn.

Mason did great. And to be fair, she let Andrew help with Mason's teeth, too.

family picture

I love it when Andrew explains his drawings. It's always rad.

This one is a family picture, but Andrew and Mason are inside. : )

This is an alien and a shark. It's not really a funny drawing, I just love his alien so I thought I'd include it.

I kinda love these boys!

We went to Redhook for dinner tonight. We thought that'd be an easy restaurant to get in on Mother's Day but we were wrong! We got there a few minutes before 5 and had to sit inside because there was a 50 minute wait for the patio! The whole world biked there today - I guess I'm not the only mom who likes a good beer...

No chance of a normal picture with these two. : ) I'm just glad Matt got the picture before Mason started crying because they bonked heads while he was hurrying to copy what Andrew was doing.

We also went on a bike ride today. Andrew was excited to try out his new two-wheel skills on the road, and Mason was excited to be able to ride in the trailer (he's been asking for a few days).

This is Andrew's expression when Matt told him he was going to be able to bike to the park. : )

Alki was handing out some good vitamin D

We found ourselves with a free afternoon, so Matt suggested we head to Alki. Genius! It was absolutely beautiful, as always.

Andrew didn't miss a beat - we found our spot and he headed toward the water.

Matt and the boys decided to make a sandcastle.

Mason spent most of his time running from the waves, but he spent some time splashing around.

We buried Mason, too. He thought it was funny until a little too much sand got on his face, then he wasn't so into it. Andrew, however, thought it was hilarious. I love all the real smiles from today! Fantastic!!