PRESCHOOL CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

Around here it is spring break week.  So what am I doing?  Finishing up my recap of December.  As you do.

As we saw at Thanksgiving, Mason made great strides in his preschool program performances, and this December, he even received a speaking part in his school play.  It was a total shocker to us, as he hadn't said anything (I didn't even know to ask) and it happened to come out at church one day.  He would be playing the role of the innkeeper.  He nailed it, if you ask me.

Of course, here is where he is visually tells us the reading was too loud.  Actors are able to give visual cues.  Talent, folks.

"There's no room!"

JULY

July really gives us reason to celebrate.  It's Mason's birthday!  How fitting for my 200th post.

And how crazy that I now have a four year old???  After struggling for what seemed like forever through ages 2 and 3, 4 gave us about two weeks of absolute perfection.  And then we were back to reality, but with 4 year old issues now.  And for the most part, they are much better.  Mason can be such a riot.  The things that he says are hilarious!  We are really enjoying him.

For his birthday adventure, we took him to his first movie theater movie where we saw Inside Out.  His favorite character was Disgust, and we couldn't get enough of him saying it - "Disdust".  Since then he has been to a couple of movies, which is one of the great things we are learning about having a big kid!

One of the funniest things he said to me shortly after turning four was "Don't you know Jesus died so that people could be twins."  I asked for clarification a few times (cleansed?) but he really meant what he said.

He totally surprised me one morning as I was reading to him.  I randomly quizzed him on a word (cat) and he got it right. Maybe a fluke I thought, so we tried again (dog) and he got it, too.  He proceeded to sound out three more words all by himself, so now we are working on reading as often as we can.  He would still much rather play Ninja Turtles or Legos than practice school things with mama, but I try to sneak them in as much as possible.

I'm sure there are many more hilarious things I could say about that boy, but this will do for now.  We are so thankful for the four years we have had with him so far and pray for many many more!

THE EPIC CLOSING PROGRAM

We maybe should have known, that when he filed in like this, that we were in for a real treat.

 Through the entire program, five songs long, we were the proud parents of the boy who did this.

Now, some parents may have been embarrassed by this (or grandparents, hi mom).  But to me, this is nothing but memorable.  Perhaps the greatest memory of his entire preschool year.  Now, I have full confidence that in a few years he will turn into a fantastic student, and that this is not foreshadowing for his junior high band concert or whatever event it is. But really, our little three year old sourpuss is just too hilarious for words.  Bravo, little Stover.  Bravo.

LAST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

Well it's been awhile.  A bit longer than intended.  I guess life has been happening for us, and now I have a few things to catch you up on.  Like how my baby finished his first year of preschool.

He was pretty squirrelly on this day (not to mention SUPER shaggy) so we only got a select number of pictures where he would actually look at the camera, but I suppose that is common at this age.  And thankfully, we got this gem up above.

We went to his program at school, which was memorable and will be shared shortly.  Afterwards, we went out to lunch and celebrated with an afternoon at the zoo.  We are so proud of our boy, and even though there were aspects of preschool that were challenging for him, he has come SO FAR this past year.  We love his preschool, love his teachers, and are so thankful for the education he is already getting.

I expect this will be a common view for us as he gets older.  Him, backpack, walking away.  I remember he had never worn a backpack before his first day of preschool (he refused to try it on).  And now, it's just so natural.  I can only hope that we are in some small ways instilling him with the values that he will live with the rest of his life.  We love you so much Mason.  And we are with you wherever your path takes you!

BACK TO SCHOOL FEAST

I have seen other families host a back to school feast, and I've always said I was going to do the same.  This year, Mason is going to pre-school two mornings a week so I jumped on in.  Although this is more of a "to school" feast than a "back to school" feast since it's his first time, but oh well.

Because it was our first time, and I have a wild three-year-old, I kept it simple.  We featured a crown homemade by mama with a little help from the boy, and food that was just slightly fancier than usual (and I was pretty sure he would eat).

Salmon

Green beans with almonds

Tomatoes with fresh mozzarella

Fresh peaches

We also recited our 2014-2015 family theme, which for this year is "Always Be Kind."  There were several I could have chosen that would be appropriate, but due to a few recent circumstances, this one won out.  It has been fun and even a bit rewarding to talk about what being kind is with Mason and to watch him think of words and actions that are kind; even more so when he tells other people.  Every morning before dropping him off we ask him what our theme is and he knows it by heart.

Here's something I made, just to remind us all of our theme.  I just need to figure out how to hang it (we lost the original hanging hardware), but once I do, it will be on display by our dinner table where we can easily see it.

I'm excited to continue this tradition, making it a little more special each year.

FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

Today was Mason's first day of preschool.  He is attending a three year old class that meets two mornings a week for a couple of hours.  It will be so good for this wild child - we have high hopes!  Of course we had to do the obligatory photos.  He already looks so grown up (and handsome); I can't wait to compare them to what he will look like at the end of the year!

OUR EASTER

We had a jam-packed Easter weekend, full of some really great family time.  By Sunday night, we were exhausted!  I don't have a lot of words to describe everything, but here is a quick recap.

Friday night, I honestly don't remember.  Nothing too special, I guess.

Saturday morning we did errands and played at the park.

Saturday night our niece Jessica got married.  The wedding was at Hoyt Sherman Place and the reception was at West End Salvage.  It was all very "them."  Mason did so well during the wedding and reception, though he did have help from his favorite big cousins...and Angry Birds.  Three of our nephews stayed over with us that night, so yes, it was me in the house with five guys.

Sunday morning Byron took the big boys to help him set up at church, then we enjoyed a nice service.

Sunday afternoon we had an Easter meal with Byron's family, and we left stuffed.

Sunday night we made lunch with my parents and celebrated my mom's birthday with Cheesecake Factory dessert.  We left even more stuffed.

I didn't get many good pictures of the weekend in general, but I did manage to get some really great pictures of the boy. And we really just want to look at those pictures and say how handsome he is, right?

Okay okay I know that's a lot of photos.  But he just makes my heart soar!  He is a little boy that is constantly on the move, so these action shots really represent him.  And while I'm sharing photos, here's one I took of the birthday girl.  Isn't she beautiful?

TWO

And just like that, my baby is two.

Sometimes parenting is hard, but it is peppered with lots of joy.  Today is one of the moments as a parent where I am full of joy - celebrating our little fireball turning 2.
Mason is in a really fun stage.  He is learning new words almost daily, and starting to pair words together without being prompted.  Some of the more frequent ones are "help please" and "pants on".  We waited a long time for him to talk, so I love hearing him verbalize his thoughts and opinions.  He loves the color blue, but green and purple are popular with him as well.  He is a very active and physical little boy who lives to be outside.  He loves cars, trains, Buzz Lightyear, and balls as most little boys do.
I'm looking forward to this year.  I know we are entering the so-called "terrible twos", and he has given us a taste of tantrums already, but as he moves from baby to toddler to little boy, he is just so much fun.  There are so many more experiences to be had, and we are so excited to have them!
Happy birthday to the one who will always be my baby!

ONE AND A HALF

Today is the day.  Mason is 18 months old.  One and a half.  And for some reason, that is striking me as a real milestone.  You would think I would have had these feelings when he turned one, but at one, I think babies are still babies.  He was walking, but still wobbly.  He was eating on his own, but not very well.  And now, in these past six months, the boy has changed before our very eyes from a baby to a genuine toddler.  Here are some of my general thoughts and reflections on who we like to affectionately call "the boy"... 

You have so much energy.  Just watching you run (not walk, full on run) from room to room or toy to toy wears me out.
You love trains, especially Thomas.  You play with trains every day at your sitter's house and then all night and weekend long with us.
You are getting more and more words every day.  For awhile I thought you would never speak, but rather only communicate in animal noises the rest of your life.  You have proven me wrong, and now you regularly say Mama, Dada, Gramma (arguably the funniest one!), Grampa, Papa, Bebe (my sister Betsy), Minnie, shoes, cheese, choo choo, uh oh, football, and basketball.  You didn't learn those sports words from us, kid. 
Speaking of animal noises, you have those down, too.  You know lion, tiger, bear, dog, cat, owl, birdie, goose, sheep, cow, horse, fish (the best), elephant, giraffe (the other best), crab, seahorse, and snake. You know what each of these animals are and can identify them in books as well as a frog, duck, and raccoon. 
When you eat, you take a bite and then throw your fork or spoon on the floor immediately.  We are working on that.  Because of this, we haven't pushed their use, but recently you fed yourself a couple of bowls of cereal as well as applesauce, and you kept your spoon in hand! 
You are very romantic.  When I ask if I can have a kiss you turn around and lean back with these romantic eyes and give the best open mouth kisses.  We are going to have to talk to you and address your technique before high school, though. 
You still don't sleep through the night.  And you know how to be naughty.  Yes, you really know how to be naughty.  For example, sometimes you hit the dog.  When you have done it time and time again and haven't listened to me, I will tell you, "Mason if you hit her again you are going to get a spanking."  So what do you do?  You hit her, incredibly softly. I am constantly finding myself having to decide if you did something wrong or if you are just tricking me.  Sometimes I just look at you and tell you that we had you to make all of our parenting mistakes on so that if we have additional children, they will be perfect. 

I received what I think is a complement from a coworker (which was later told to me by my boss).  He was commenting to her that I must just really love my son, because not a conversation goes by where I don't bring him up in one way or another.  It's true.  I am obsessed with that kid.  Even the naughty and challenging parts.  Mason, you have made us laugh, cry, and everything in between since the day you were born.  You are just incredible.  And you are getting so big.  Could you stop that, please?  Just stay little. 

A THANKSGIVING TO REMEMBER

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  This year, we spent most of our Thanksgiving holiday in an unexpected place - the ER.  Yes, a few days prior to Thanksgiving, Mason had developed a little cold, and it progressed worse to the point that he was having severely labored breathing, vomiting, and our nebulizer at home couldn't provide him enough relief.  I spoke to the on call doctor around 11, and she said if things didn't pick up after one more breathing treatment to go ahead and bring him in.  To the ER.  Ugh.  We gave him the treatment and it just didn't last, so in to the hospital we went.  The ironic thing is that Byron had decided that we should eat at noon this year, when we are normally 2-3 pm type of people, so at least we got a good meal in before the real adventure started.
Fortunately, my dad, Mason's BFF, went with us.  They checked us in fairly quickly and the doctor was able to treat Mason with steroids and stronger breathing treatments.  He perked up pretty well, but they still kept us around for almost six hours before finally letting us go home.

Look how cute he was!  Thankfully the ER had a Thomas video and some toys for us to play with.  Keeping this normally very active toddler corralled in a hospital bed was pretty challenging, especially when connected to a toe monitor.  Grandpa was a huge help to us and we are very thankful he gave up some of his relaxation time to be with us. Fortunately, they let us go home that evening.  We did have to do round the clock breathing treatments, so those middle of the night alarms and the fact that Mason stayed up from 3:30 am were a bit of a challenge, but I am very grateful that we weren't in the ER for anything worse!

PUMPKIN PATCH

Taking the family to the pumpkin patch is now an annual tradition, because it has happened two years in a row.  On a whim, we went to the pumpkin patch this morning after church let out.  We are weird and actually like to go to a really early service, so we were able to get to the farm not too long after it opened.  We literally had the best time, and we got the absolute best pictures to prove it.  We were there for about an hour, and I snapped nearly 600 pictures.  I apparently am THAT mom.  I was able to narrow them down to my favorites, so don't worry, you won't have to view all 600!
Like last year, Mason fell asleep on the way, so the first few minutes were pretty groggy for him.  We wandered around the land to see what we wanted to tackle first while letting him snap back to reality.

We started off feeding the goats.  Mason didn't really grasp the concept of holding the goat food in his open palm for the goats to eat, but he still enjoyed watching them eat out of Byron's hand.  Then we put Mason on one of the tire swings.  I think this one might have been shaped like a horse.  He loves swings, but since this one didn't have much of a handle for him to hold onto, we didn't swing too high.  But consider this your foreshadowing for later.  We also jumped right up on the big antique tractor, and Mason took the wheel.

One of the highlights of the morning was the pony ride.  I felt a little iffy putting my 15-month-old on a pony, especially because we saw two kids who were clearly older than Mason start crying and refuse to ride, but Mason was a champ.  He did such a great job, and I'm so glad that we put him on.  It was a great memory to make, and even if Mason doesn't remember this, I always will.

We did some of the typical pumpkin patch activities, too.  We looked at all the pumpkins. Uncle Matt and Aunt Bebe would be proud, I think Mason enjoyed "drumming" on the pumpkins.  We have almost the exact same picture of Byron and Mason at the measuring stick last year.  I think this year's Mason could have eaten last year's Mason for a snack. He's gotten so big!  I just love the last picture because it looks like Mason's finger is up the pig's nose.  We found these animal statues a couple of different places on the farm, and Mason really liked them.  He knows how to make a pig noise.  It sort of sounds like uh uh. He even said it to this pig.
The last photos I'll show you are my absolute favorites.  I can envision one of these blown up extra-large on canvas or maybe just framed hanging in our living room.  But that would require me being able to make up my mind as to just which one is my favorite!

Man, that face is the best.  I can't help it.  I'm obsessed with my kid.