playing

These are pictures I took today of the boys, for the most part, just going about their day. There's something about them that I find fun - maybe it's because I caught a good mix how the boys choose to spend their time.

ANDREW:

Superheros find their way into everything we do.

MASON:

He is 100% content painting with no paint. :)

I knew the day was coming soon when Mason would refuse a sippy cup - it looks like today is the day.

BROTHERS:

Mason loves to sit by Andrew before bed.

Oh wait, he loves to do whatever Andrew is doing at all times.

classic rock rocks my world

Last night we were listening to The Beatles station on Pandora and I loved a ton of songs in a row. It kind of made me feel old because of how much I was enjoying it, but I'm over it. When you match up the right music with the right mood, it's magical. *

*Used for dramatic effect. :)

The play list. I'm doing this mainly for me - this is the best way for me to be able to find it again if I feel like recreating it. But you might enjoy it too.

1. Ticket to Ride. Beatles


2. Ten Years Gone. Led Zeppelin


3. Moondance. Van Morrison


4. We are the Champions. Queen


5. Blackbird. Beatles


6. Don't Stop Believing. Journey


7. Time is on my Side. Rolling Stones


8. Band on the Run. Paul McCartney


9. Pigs on the Wing 2. Pink Floyd


10. Wonderful Tonight. Eric Clapton


11. Sound of Silence. Simon and Garfunkel


12. Piano Man. Billy Joel


13. Honky Tonk Woman. Rolling Stones


14. Lola. Kinks


15. Up Around the Bend. Credence Clearwater


16. Your Song. Elton John


17. House of the Rising Sun. The Animals


18. Wish You Were Here. Pink Floyd


19. Live and Let Die. Paul McCartney


20. Dream On. Aerosmith


21. A Well Respected Man. The Kinks


22. Happy Together. The Youngbloods


23. California Dreamin'. Mammas and Pappas


24. Mary Janes Last Dance. Tom Petty


25. The Joker. Steve Miller Band


26. It's Still Rock & Roll to Me. Billy Joel

more good news

For some reason, eye appointments always run late. We know it though, so we pack snacks, take walks and watch all the other crazy families and we do just fine. The key to these being successful trips is leaving Andrew with Matt! He would not have nearly as much fun as Mason seems to have. He always enjoys this waiting area for some reason. My camera died so I didn't get any pictures of him enjoying the view, but we spent a lot of time looking at the cars and people below.

The good news - his eye is still working as it should. The slight droop he has is not getting in his way at all. They also checked his 3-D vision and that's still good too!

A friend of mine mentioned that she had her daughter's eye checked out and then got to pay a bunch of money to hear everything was normal. It made me think -- we have spent A LOT of money on Mason to hear that all is fine. Of course I prefer that to getting bad news. In fact, if I ever get bad news I think I'll ask for my money back! :)

As soon as Mason turns 2, I believe his hypothyroid appointments will go down to 2 times a year instead of 4. The same with his eye appointments - once he can answer questions, those will slow down to once a year (and at age 4 or 5 will become part of his normal checkup unless there is a concern).

I am so thankful he's a healthy boy!

can't resist a good bathtub photo

The boys love bath time. It's one of the easiest ways for me to get real smiles from Andrew and I love it!

And here's a little random after-bath cuteness since I had my SLR out & handy...

2 year old class

Mason has been enjoying the two year old class for about three weeks now. His teacher is new to the school but since he's new to the class, he doesn't know the difference - it was perfect timing. She always tells me how much fun he is to have in class and how good he does at the projects. :) She took this picture today and sent it to me. She really knows how to get on my good side! I love it!

weirdos

Just a few random pictures of the boys being goofy at grandma & grandpa's house.

I love his little hugs.

manual labor

I refuse to buy my mom anything for holidays because in my opinion, she has way too much stuff. So, for my mom's birthday this year, Matt offered to take care of a few things.

1. He detailed her car, inside and out.

2. He put together the bunk beds she bought for the boys.

3. He finished with a fantastic BBQ!

Happy birthday, mom!

show and tell

Andrew had his first show-and-tell on Friday. He chose to bring his red Lego hero. He really, really wanted this for Christmas - it's what he got from Mason. He also has a white one and is working to earn a green one. I'm not sure what it is about them, but he loves them!

Andrew always likes to bring his new little toys to school to show his teachers. Andrew is a big reason (if not the whole reason) his school now has 'sharing days' every Friday!

One of the teachers took a picture of Andrew's class. They're such a cute little crew.

He spilled milk on his pants so he had to change. I didn't dress him to match his robot. Although I wish I had! :)

trucks

Aunt Melanie (oops...I mean the Miller's) gave Andrew these cool trucks for Christmas - they came with paint and last night we finally painted them.

There are four trucks. He gave one to Mason, one to Matt and kept one for himself to paint. He didn't want to paint the green one (his favorite color) so he told me sorry, but I wasn't going to get to paint.

he's so old

I have a hard time telling Mason he can't do something right after Andrew gets done doing it. I understand Andrew is older, but Mason doesn't usually go for that answer... Today, after Andrew was done playing a game on the computer, Mason hopped on up for his turn. And it only took a second for Andrew to give him a lesson. :) Mason is loving life.

we're back!

We chose a perfect day to renew our zoo membership! And like always, we ended up somehow seeing things we've never seen before.

The peacocks were out and showing off. It was pretty cool.

Andrew found this climbing tree. It's hidden - you can only tell how cool it is if you go under the branches and take a peek.

The carousel isn't new, but Andrew rode it for the first time by himself today. I helped him get on and told him I'd help him get off but he didn't need my help. He had a blast today!

bunk beds

This was all their idea. :)

We're getting ready to turn Mason's room into a big-boy room and our first step was to sort through the massive amount of books that Andrew had in his room to separate out the ones Mason might like. I actually had two goals in mind - the other was to only have books in Andrew's room that he really likes in hopes that he'll pick something other than his superhero book every. night. The added bonus is Andrew now has a place to keep his puzzles and a superhero cave (the bottom shelf). It feels nice to have that task done!

on a mission!

Do you see what he sees? :)

So {not} helpful...

happy birthday, Kai!

Andrew and Matt in their Mariner gear.

All the kids decorated their jersey.

We celebrated Kai's 5th birthday tonight! It was a fun baseball theme, complete with batting helmet ice cream bowls that Ryan collected when he was younger. Such a fun party!