yep, that just happened

I'm pretty sure this look was inspired by the biker chicks we saw at the store yesterday. Although I think he's a ninja, not a pirate.

On Friday we saw a couple ladies who were rough and tough, to say the least. One had a bandanna on, the other had tattoos covering both arms and thick eyeliner around her eyes. They were dressed in ripped/spiked clothes and black boots. Andrew got very excited when we pulled up next to them to pick out our steak and asked "are they real life pirates?!". Awesome.

It reminded me of two of my other favorite moments with Andrew.

{runner up} "He looks just like Jackie Chan!!" Or he's Asian... Hopefully he took it as a compliment.

{my very favorite} We were at McDonalds probably a year or so ago, and sat next to a table with four elderly women sitting at it. Andrew looked at me and said "hey mom, which one is your favorite old lady?". Oh man, it still cracks me up.

happy birthday party day to you

We celebrated Mason's 3rd birthday tonight!!

I got Mason this dino shirt a month or so ago. It's actually a muscle shirt (that you'll see later because the button up shirt only lasted about 30 minutes) and shorts outfit, but the weather didn't cooperate, so I dressed him up a bit. Andrew wanted to look nice too, so he chose a button up shirt and got in the birthday photo shoot. I love it!

We had a little sampling of some of Mason's favorites for dinner, including dino shaped pb&j's. It was the first time I've ever used a shape cutter - I had no idea how much better they make sandwiches taste!

The rain tried to ruin our fossil dig but we came up with a plan B. We filled my shoe bins up with sand, moved to the garage and pretended it was nice outside. It was actually plenty warm outside and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Mason loved it.

Easton and Owen with their dino tails!!

Matt made all the kids a balloon animal. He's good enough to even give them choices! They got to choose between a sword, dog, or elephant. : )

Mason has been looking forward to his party for quite a while and I'm happy to report it did not disappoint! He had a blast and asked if we could have another one tomorrow. "Pweeese mom"

kindergarten

On Thursday we went to a presentation at Andrew's school to learn a little about what life will be like once he starts kindergarten. It was nice to meet the principal and the two full-day kindergarten teachers, knowing one will be his teacher. We'll find out who his teacher will be in August - at that time we'll go back and have a chance to meet her and check out his classroom.

The kids ended up going into a different room to play while we sat through the meeting. When it was over Andrew told us he already has a friend. : )

Before we left we headed out to check out the playground. While they were playing, a little boy came up to us and said "he's going to be in kindergarten?! Wow, he looks like a second grader!". It was hilarious. Turns out he's in 3rd grade and loves the school. He was telling us about the lunch menu, the morning bell, the after school Y program... He was awesome.

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.

thank goodness today didn't suck

Tuesday was a bummer of a day - it's a long, boring story but basically all three of us were in bad moods for most of the day. Mason is definitely getting ready to turn three - Tuesday was a nice reminder that I need to load up on patience if we're going to make it through. : ) Anyway, today was great. I think it was due to a mix of me not letting Mason's whining get the best of me and being able to spend a lot of time outside!

Mason has decided (again) that he doesn't want to use the toilet. He was still using it for #2's for a while so I wasn't too worried about it. Then he gave up completely. Today we were going to try again, but it didn't go so well so I think we're on hold for a while.

Even though it was a little frustrating, he made up for it later in the day. Andrew came out of the bathroom and told me his underwear keep getting wet and he hates it. Then Mason, in a similar sad voice said "my underwear keep getting poop in them". It took all I had in me not to burst out laughing. In fact, it's still making me laugh, hours later. Who doesn't hate it when their underwear keep getting poop in them!

rain boots

Mason has been extra rad lately. He all of a sudden has so much personality and is turning out to be a really funny kid!

Today he got his first pair of non hand-me-down rain boots and he is in love! He went to his room to pick out his pj's and came out like this. : ) He knew he was being funny and when we laughed he got a big smile on his face. He loves making us laugh.

Seeing him in just his boots made me think of a sweet poem 'I will buy you rubber boots' that my cousin, Vera Kate, wrote. I love it!

I will buy you rubber boots,
and I will let you wear them whenever you want to,
even when it isn't raining outside.

I will hold your hand when we cross the street,
and I will jump with you from one wide white line to the next,
even though it takes longer that way, and there are cars waiting.

I will teach you how to bake,
and I will let you lick the spoon every time
even though I worry that the raw egg might make you sick.

I will build a life for you --
And I will teach you, even when I'm tired.
And I will play with you, even when I'm sad.
And I will provide for you, even when I feel like I can't.

I will buy you rubber boots, my love,
and I will let you wear them whenever you want to.

good advice

If I was asked to give advice on what I think it takes to be a good mom, I would basically quote this article. Here is my narrowed down version: 20 ways to be kind to your child.

Tell your child:
1. I love you to the moon and back.
2. if I could pick any 5 (or 2...) year old in the whole wide world, I'd pick you.
3. thank you.

4. Play tag.
5. Pretend that you are super ticklish.
6. Try showing your kid that you can do a somersault or handstand or cartwheel.

Read:
7. your favorite childhood book to them.
8. the book they love that you're not so hot on.

9. Listen to the Lego description and think how important it is to your child.
10. Ask them what their favorite part of the day was.
11. Show your child how to do something instead of banning them from it.

Take time to:
12. watch a construction site.
13. allow your child to help you dump ingredients in the bowl.
14. walk places together.
15. do a task at your child's pace.

16. trust that your child is capable.

Delight your child:
17. by surprising them.
18. by making their snack into a smile face.
19. by sitting on the floor with them to play.

20. Give a smile when your child walks into the room.

my boys are made of these

they grew again

It's been a while since I've updated about the boys. It feels like they're completely different kids all of a sudden.

Andrew is still loving his home learning time. We're almost done working our way through the alphabet! I decided to try out some sight words to see if he'd be at all interested and he was totally into it! I did the first 5 words on the list and he learned them after one time going through them. And he still remembers them today - it's mind blowing to me! I also had him write letters from memory and he knew them all except 2. We've been working on the sounds of the letters along the way too. He can do many letter sounds if he really thinks about it, but it seems like that is a good thing to focus on next. He also really likes math and I'm looking into adding geography and the calendar just because he wants to learn more. This is way more than I planned to do with him but he eats it up! The bonus for me is it's helping me deal with kindergarten being right around the corner because it seems like he's going to love it!

Mason is going through the growth spurt that happens around 2 1/2 and is quickly turning into a big kid. He has enough words to say anything he needs to. He has a favorite show (Dinosaur Train ... one show Andrew has never really cared for) and a favorite book (Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? ... a book that Andrew never really cared for) and a favorite color (Blue). The other day Mason gave me a hug and said "I love you too much, mama". I sort of love him. : ) He also told on Andrew for the first time - which made Matt laugh out loud and then he told me to mark it down as a first! Ha. He has also shown an interest in learning letters and loves to point out the letter M. And he's also back on track with potty training. If he could work through his fear of normal sized toilets, we'd be done with pull-ups! His little toilet seat has been bothering him lately because it's so small. I assume he'll get tired of that eventually...

Another new thing... Andrew is reading his first chapter book! He likes it (I love it)! I hope we can keep it up. And Mason has all of a sudden fallen in love with books. As I mentioned above, he loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? He asks for it before nap and bedtime and sometimes randomly in the middle of the day, too. He tries to read along with me and loves to talk about the pictures and the colors.

I really do try to enjoy every day with my boys and soak in the precious time I have with them while they're young and willing to snuggle and tell me they love me. : ) But for some reason, lately it's been rubbed in my face how fast the time goes. A stranger, while watching me try to corral my boys through Fred Meyer, smiled and told me to make sure I enjoy this time (I love it when older people do that - love it!). Someone at the wedding introduced me to their 'grown up son' and told me they turn 18. And a blog I follow just quoted my favorite part of a sweet little poem: "The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow, but children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep". I get it! It's good advice. But enjoying it doesn't seem to be slowing it down any, so you can take your good advice and shove it! : )

happy thanksgiving

After the birthday breakfast we watched the parade (and the football game, then the parade...). Mason was really loving it - he sat in my lap and watched it, got up to dance every once in a while and then sat back down. He also likes football, so he was pretty happy with whatever was on.

Then we headed to the Miller's for a wonderful feast!

They had such a cute table set up for us all. It turns out Madisyn and Alli were in charge of it and found all the ideas on Pinterest! : )

We also celebrated Andrew and Uncle Ed's birthdays.

And we ended with a serious round of Pit! Happy Thanksgiving!

I asked Andrew what he was thankful for almost every day this month and he tried really hard to come up with something new every time. A few of my favorites for the Thanksgiving record... My whole family, soccer, Ice skating with all of my very best friends, God, all my money, bees (because he likes honey), spiders & bats (purposefully the two things I don't so much care for) and the Lego store.

remlinger farms

I went with Andrew's class on their field trip to Remlinger Farms today. It was a beautiful day and Andrew had a good time. Other than that, it was nuts! The director has pretty much decided they won't be back next year because it's just too busy and too crazy.

These two have been friends since they were babies. They play together a lot more now that Andrew's other buddies headed to kindergarten. (She's growing her hair for locks of love - how sweet is that?!)

This bouncy hay barn was my favorite part. Andrew's favorite part was the train ride. Unfortunately I couldn't get any pictures because we were so crammed in there that I had to turn sideways and Andrew was wedged between me and a lady (not in our group). It was nuts!

In the end you get to pick a pumpkin, which is always cool. Andrew's on to them though - he knows this isn't a real pumpkin patch! (just a pile of pumpkins). : )

visiting

We went to Bellingham for a quick visit on Thursday. We got to my parents' house in time to unload, say hi to my dad, check out some new toys and then hop back in the car to have lunch with my mom. We were going to have a picnic but ended up eating in the car because it was raining...

After lunch I had to stop and pick up some steaks for dinner. I told my dad I'd make him a steak (that I mentioned: here) back in April, and I finally got around to doing it. They had this fun little cart that was basically a park bench for the boys to sit on. Right as I was taking a picture Andrew stood up. I asked him if he'd sit down so I could take a quick picture and he decided to put his arm around Mason. : )

{my old chair}

When we got in the car to head home, Andrew said "well, that was fun". They both had a lot of fun and used up a lot of energy. They were both asleep before we got on the freeway. Perfect!

happy birthday, Mayli the explorer

On Saturday we got to celebrate Mayli's 3rd birthday (and eat RM's famous caprese salad)!

To start things off, the kids were handed a treasure map. The first stop was Tattoo Tree, followed by Lollipop Lane and they ended at Snow Cone Table. The kids loved it! We got Mayli a My Little Pony (that was Andrew's idea because all the girls in his class bring them for sharing day) and Polly Pockets. When she went to open the Polly Pocket doll he told her we got her 'little humans' : )

I love this picture! They had a pinata and Mason grabbed some little toys and candy and decided he'd also take their shovel! : )

Happy birthday, Mayli! I can't believe you're three!!