she found it!

I got to go wedding gown shopping with Stephanie today!!

She had a few people to offer their opinions... :) Including me, there were eight of us!

The first picture is Stephanie stepping out of her dressing room in the first dress she tried on. The last picture is her mom's favorite gown.

We saw two other brides trying on gowns and had fun chatting with them. Stephanie actually tried on one of the same dresses as each of our neighbors and one of them even ended up being the winning dress! (The winning dress is not shown).

But it is the one that Karin and I liked best! :)

trains

Me and the boys headed to Bham today, mainly to visit with my mom for mother's day.

Andrew is holding the Lego heros that he loves. My parents bought him one and found them to be buy-one-get-one-free so he got two! He was one happy kid.

My mom also took us to the train museum. The boys had a good time. It's really hands-on which was cool for the boys (but very stressful for me).

I like pictures of me with my boys. I can't help it. :)

thanks RM

I love it when Ryean-Marie takes pictures of me with my boys. Somehow she always captures some of my favorite things!

dinosaurs

The dinosaur exhibit is awesome from the first steps into the zoo. You get to follow dino tracks all the way!

This is the only one that Mason was willing to look at.

The gift shop. The exhibit conveniently ends in a cool little gift shop. Andrew got slimy goo with a dino skeleton buried inside and Mason got a dino ring.

Lunch. Andrew chose hard boiled eggs for lunch - he loves them!
Petting zoo. We went to the petting zoo for the first time. I thought it was boring but the boys seemed to enjoy it.

Jail. Every time we leave, Andrew likes to lock himself in the exit gate and says he's in jail. And because Mason likes to do everything Andrew does, he did it too.

On the way home we saw this fire from the freeway. It was pretty creepy but I heard the story on the news and everyone was okay. Turns out it's a low-income apartment building that has had 3 fires since 1996. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can really see the orange flames busting out the windows.

snail rescue

Andrew rescued about 5 snails. He was very careful with them as he transported them from the sidewalk to the grass. I'm sure they appreciated it...

if it makes you happy

I have never been so affected by the weather as I have been this spring. It probably has something to do with the fact that we had one of the wettest March's on record followed by a rainy April (so much so that we almost got the average rainfall for the month in the first 11 days). I was told we measure a nice spring around this area by how many days we have that reach 60 degrees or above - average is 16, awesome is 45. We've had 3. All this to say, I really appreciate a warm, sunny day. I didn't realize how much until I was looking out the window just smiling at my view one morning. Isn't it lovely?!

that didn't take long

Mason figured out how to climb into the playhouse! I enjoyed it while it lasted, but I can no longer let him play outside without keeping an eye on him - he's not the safest kid on the block.

He also discovered how fun it is to play with the hose. I'm pretty sure we're going to have a fun summer if it ever decides to show up!

best waiting room ever

Andrew loves going to the dentist because he knows he'll get a cool new toothbrush and a chance to dig in their treasure chest. This time he also got a 2-minute timer so he'll know how long to brush and a nice massage while he waited. :) All is good with his teeth.

It feels like we were just at the dentist. It freaks me out a little because at his next appointment, he'll be turning 5 just a couple weeks later. Five!

a lot

Today Mason had his last appointment with the endocrinologist that he's seen since birth. In September we will be meeting a new doctor (who comes highly recommended from our current doctor). The good news is this doctor also has a clinic in Everett so we have more options of when and where we meet, which will be a nice change.
Like usual, we headed to U Village to waste some time before our appointment. Our car is still not fixed. They felt bad about how long it was taking so they gave us another rental. This time I'm rocking another piece of crap that I can't wait to get rid of. Mason, however, is loving it.
We did a little shopping today in preparation for Mason's big-kid room. I'm very excited but had to hold myself back - Land of Nod is not a place to impulse shop!!

Mason has a new issue with broken food - he can't handle it. If a granola bar or a banana breaks in half he has a few minute meltdown before he can continue. Me, being the smartest mom in the world, decided it would be a good idea to split a burger with him instead of buying him a meal that he wouldn't eat. The problem is, in order to share a burger you have to cut it in half!! Mason had a meltdown in the restaurant before calming down to finally enjoy some dinner. And a giant milkshake. This is opposite of the problem that I had with Andrew at this age - Andrew wanted two of everything and the way I fixed it for him was to break everything in half.
He does share Andrew's love of escalators.

Mason's appointment went great. We have to wait for the results of his blood draw to know if his medicine is at the right level, but regardless, he's healthy as can be!
Because Mason is at an age where he changes so much, I never know what to expect when it comes time to his blood draw. He does amazingly well every time and I keep expecting him to lose it. Today he sat on my lap, put his arm on the chair and pointed to where the needle was going to go. He cried for a few seconds while it was happening but got over it before she was even done. The lab tech was impressed - it makes me thankful I don't have to hold down flailing arms or deal with endless crying. I hope he keeps up the good work because that is definitely the hardest part for me.
How cute is he? I'm pretty sure he's Dr Tridgell's favorite patient. :) I'm so thankful that we had a great doctor to walk us through the first two years. Not only because the first two years are the most important to keep under control but also because emotionally, these two years have taken a lot out of me. It would've been a bummer to not love the doctor taking care of our little guy! More than a bummer actually, I'm pretty sure I would've been a (bigger) mess.

mother's day weekend

I set this up with auto-timer. It might just be the cutest picture in the whole world.

We decided to celebrate Mother's Day on Saturday because Sundays are a bit tricky with church and nap time. Andrew's gift was a trip to the theater to see Rio. He also wanted to get me some makeup but they didn't make it to the store in time. How cute. Mason's gift was a Starbucks card - how did he know?!

On the way home from the movie we needed to stop at Fred Meyer. He remember about a dollar he had and asked to use it. After a lot of consideration he chose this guy.

We also went out for breakfast. Notice Andrew practicing to use a knife? He was very excited to not need my help to cut up his pancake.

Even though we celebrated yesterday, Matt made us breakfast and lunch today! I feel pretty spoiled.

I read a little poem a while ago that I liked, and Mother's Day seems like a good time to share a bit of it. I probably don't have to tell you that I love being a mama to my two cuties, but just to be sure, I love it! And I've seen too much bad stuff to not be thankful for every day that I have with them, which is probably why I liked this little poem.

I Tucked Her Into Bed Tonight
by Stephanie Husted

When I see footprints
All over my freshly mopped floor
Or gooey dried banana's
Smudged on the living room door

I wipe it off...with just a smile
Just praying for more to appear
These are my reminders
I'm blessed to have her here.

I tucked her into bed tonight
And as I walked away
I looked up for a moment and said
Thank you for today.

Happy Mother's Day!

free fish!

The Gamradt's have rad neighbors who offered them some halibut and yellow tail rock fish. They needed our help to eat it so we headed over there for a BBQ because that's what friends are for! :)


(a picture of the guys, hopefully coming soon from Kristi)

Since we don't have stairs, my boys get pretty excited when we go somewhere that does. We spent an good amount of time hanging out on the stairs.

Notice Mason's pants are on backwards. :)

my gamers

stuff Mason does

Every morning when we get to daycare, these boys run to the window to say good morning to each other. They usually touch hands through the glass, but Mason was too busy with his hands in his pockets to that on the day I took this picture.

This is his newest 'trick'. Any time he gets exciting he'll run and fall on the ground and roll around. He does it at home, at school, at church... it's pretty great. The only problem is he really falls down so I'm just waiting for the time he does it and gets hurt.

He also thinks he's four and tries to do a lot of stuff on his own. His most common phrase right now seems to be 'no! go!'. This is proof that he's not as good as he thinks he is. :) He put his pants on backwards and it just wasn't worth the fight to fix them.