Mason is 5!!!

Mason is 5 years old and what a wonderful young man he is becoming.  I want to jot down a few things about him that I never ever want to forget.  First of all - he is so handsome! I mean look at this cute school picture.  I am going to bullet point all my thoughts because it's easier!!

Some of the great!!
- Is a morning person, always first one awake (after mama) and always wakes up with a smile on his face full of energy for the day
- LOVES school, making new friends and being an obedient student.  His teacher told me he is very polite and obedient, that he is thoughtful of others but doesn't let others walk all over him
- At 5 years old, he loves legos.  He can't really follow directions yet to put together complex things but he does build things on his own and can play with them for hours
- He is suddenly obsessed with Star Wars, he spends every night before bed looking through his 3 Star Wars book (an encyclopedia of lego star wars figurines, short star wars stories and the original movie star wars book)
- Unfortunately his favorite characters are the bad guys - he loves Darth Vader (this makes me nervous)
- Every night at dinner we go around telling what we did nice for someone and he is always eager to share something, usually it's helping out another classmate pick up their lunch box or get their coat or help with something at school
- He is in 5T and 6T clothes
- 90% for height and 65% for weight
- He is a great eater - he will eat his dinner completely even if he doesn't love it, he eats fruits and doesn't love veggies but will eat them
- He savers his treats, he will stick them in his cupholder by his booster seat and have a little treat a day (just like his father and Maddie is the exact opposite)
- He is learning to pray with a little more thought and is learning the scriptures through a CD we listen too call Scripture scouts.  A few times he has surprised us in FHE by telling US the story of the scriptures we are trying to explain and he says he learns it at church and Scripture scouts
- He really strives to do what is right
- He learned how to put his laundry in the washer and then fold it when it's done (doesn't mean he loves to do it but he does it!)
- Unloads the dishwasher whenever it is clean
- Makes his bed every morning
- Is in swim lessons and can do freestyle and partial back stroke (he doesn't loves it though)
- His best buddies are Logan Ball, Teddy Greenan and Gavin Mulliner and Jude Flemming (if he lived here)

Some of the not so great!!
- He started saying the word "hate" so we are working on reversing that
- He is still very possessive of his toys when it comes to playing with his sister... His "guys" are his prized possessions so we are working on him sharing his role play with her cause she always wants to be next to him
- I have to force him to do things like play games, work on letters and numbers, play learning games - he would rather play
- Sometimes when he role plays, he loves killing everything....working on that too!

We LOVE you so much Mason!!!

Halloween 2016

All the holidays get so much more fun as the kids get a little older.  Mason no doubt wanted to be spider man (this was before he discovered Star Wars!) and Maddie was content with me picking her costume of ballerina dancer.  Halloween is always a time of birthday celebrations for Terrill and I.  During this time of year we went to the pumpkin patch, attended the Halloween party for music makers, attended Mason's school party/parade for Halloween, went to our ward trunk or treat and of course went trick or treating with all the cousins!  It was all so much fun.  I love watching my kids grow up and enjoy the sweet moments of life.  I am truly blessed with the best of the best when it comes to them and my sweet husband.

Overnight baby moon in Capitola

We got to take 24 hours and getaway without the kids for a night!! Tiffany and I swapped so they took our kids in October and then we took their kids at the beginning of December.  Terrill and I decided to spend the night in Capitola.  On our way down we stopped for dinner in Los Gatos at a nice pizza place.  Then we headed to the beach to grab some ice cream and walk around.  On Saturday we had a yummy breakfast at the hotel, walked down to the beach and enjoyed some quality time together.  It's always nice to reconnect and feel like we are dating again!!  Tiffany survived with our kids (Maddy was kind of naughty) and all in all everything worked out.  We are grateful to live close to family and have our kids grow up near some of their cousins!!

Maddie - potty training and dance

Maddie, oh Maddie you bring so much to our family! We love you so.  In September I potty trained her over a couple of days.  She did SOOO well.  Probably a total of 3 pee pee accidents and 1 poop accident.  Otherwise she just got it.  Which I was so grateful for because I felt like having 4 solid months before the baby came would be plenty to make sure she didn't revert back once we had the baby!! She really gets upset if she has an accident and she rarely ever does!!  It is so nice to be out of diapers for a short time before we have baby #3. 

I also signed her up for a 6 week dance class through the city.  It was probably more for my entertainment but I hope she felt special as well.  She really was scared her first class and cried quit a bit.  It didn't help there were a couple other little girls who screamed at the top of their lungs because they were scared too.   Luckily after the first class like this, she was fine and was able to (mostly) follow the instructions of the teacher.  She was on the younger side of the other girls.  It was so adorable except there really wasn't a good place for the parents to watch so I didn't really see that much!  She learned to tap her toes, do the penguin and spin around like a ballerina.  Oh I am just loving these precious times watching my kids learn and have fun.  I hope I never forget what a joy it is to be a part of their lives!

Livermore Air Show

In between general conference on Saturday October 1st, we headed to the Livermore airshow.  The kids had a blast watching the airplanes fly and do tricks in the air! It as free to get in and we walked around to check out all the booths.   Mason liked to explore the police car the best and Maddie loved watching the air planes fly.  I think Terrill misses taking lessons there to become a pilot.  I hope someday he can finish up that dream!! We will definitely do it again next year. 

September - Berkley Hall of Science

I am trying to get all caught up before baby #3 arrives next week!  Back in September we headed to the Berkley Hall of Science with Ashley and Abby.  It was a ton of fun, the kids played and played.  We had a picnic lunch and then headed to McDonald's after for ice cream and play place time!  The kids were in heaven!!  While we were at the museum there was a large fire by UC Berkley that we could see from the museum.  The kids and I thought it was pretty crazy and we were grateful it wasn't that close to us!  All in all it was a great day.