Football Saturday

Our morning started off with a flag football game at 9:30, Blake had to walk over to a dedication on campus at 10, we had lunch at home then headed back to PSU at 12:30 for the PSU tailgating. This was Mason's first ballgame and he had the pleasure of attending in style! We had tickets for regular seating and at the last minute some wonderful friends passed along extra tickets to one of the sky boxes. In the past Braden has not enjoyed this as much because all of the action is going on outside, but he was quite content after Gus the Gorilla made a special appearance.

Mason's first PSU tailgating experience. It left quite an impression!

Proof that we starve Mason! Sunday morning started off in typical circus fashion. Daddy was invited to join some friends for a KC Chiefs game so he was out the door by 8:30 a.m. We had a birthday party across the street from 11 to 1:00 with cotton candy and a bounce around!

This adorable onsie was a gift from our favorite cake lady, Heather Horton. . .Sweet Designs Cakery. This is her logo printed onto Mason's outfit.

Arrrrrggghhh Matey!

Our first birthday party at 11. . . .

Our second birthday celebration at 1:30 with Will. His birthday was Friday and we helped celebrate with cake and candles on Sunday. As he put it, his "yard party" is going to be in a few weeks. I cannot even imagine what Braden is whispering to Will.

First & 10

Braden is now playing flag football for the YMCA. His team is the Eagles. He is super excited because there are boys on his team from his "old daycare" that he hasn't got to see in a long time! I'll just be honest. . .I have no idea where he gets all of this personality, but if he would just take a bad picture I could stop with the camera!!! It is evident that he knows when the camera is on and he loves to "see" himself as soon as we take a picture. His favorite of course are the movies, and he asks at every picture if we can "make it move."

As you can see from the video, they've yet to grasp the concept of which direction to run with the ball. Each kid gets a turn to get the ball and run with it and each time either a coach or official has to steer the kid in the right direction.

Poor Blake decided not to coach this time and just "help out," but the coach was out of town so here he is in the team picture!


The games are held on campus and this shot has the PSU stadium in the background, you can see the gorilla logo over Braden's shoulder.

Here he is with his "flag belt"

Trying to keep Mason in the shade! He doesn't know it yet, but he is his Brother's number 1 fan! He was at his first T-Ball game at 1 week, and here he is at football!





Coach giving them their first pep talk. . . .and below asking them to make their best "tough face."




Mason at 20 weeks. Lovin' bath time. . . .he is one clean kid, since he's so happy in tub, we keep him in there as long as possible!

Grandparent Luncheon

Let me start off by apologizing to all of you grandparents who did not receive cards in the mail in honor of your big day! Please consider these extra pictures a gift!!!! Blake and I joined Braden today for a Grandparent Luncheon at his daycare. We didn't want him to be without guests, and I assure you he was not. We somehow ended up at the "parent" table with 2 of his classmates who also have far away grandparents. One of which was a familiar face to many of you, our good buddy Will. His lovely mom, Sabrina, was there as well.

Paint the Town Red

Blake and everyone at the Chamber have been working very hard on the Paint the Town Red initiative, here is a promo video on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cCts_cfrKQ)

The Benson family proudly displayed their support of PSU, today! Even Mr. Mason! Of course I had to post the "good" shots AND the blooper! Can you tell Braden has quite the personality. It was all we could do this morning to get him into his clothes. Yesterday at Wal-Mart he picked out his Halloween costume, Batman, with the big muscles. As soon as we got home he had to "just try it on" we barely got him to take it off to eat dinner, and it went right back on, then cried crocodile tears to sleep in it. So as soon as he woke up this morning, his eyes were barely open and he had to put it back on!

Grins & Giggles

A little live action to accompany the pictures below. This is a great commentary from Braden on a recent field trip to the PSU football stadium. The best part about this movie is how great Braden is holding his pose at the beginning before I tell him it's a movie. . . .then he launches into movie mode. Towards the end, Mason decides to chime in.


The bath time movie was longer, but in order to keep it "G" rated I had to do a little editing.

One Happy Kid

I hope Mason is this excited about going to "school" every morning for the rest of his school days! This was right before he and Blake walked out the door.



As soon as we got home yesterday, I propped Mason up on our bed so I could change into some "Mason friendly" clothes and as you can see he had a great time getting some attention from Braden.




Mason and Daddy both LOVE bath time! Blake ran home in between meetings just so he could have the pleasure!

Belly laughs

There is nothing better than listening to Braden laugh really hard with or at Mason and watching Mason respond. In these shots you can see that they are both very tickled, thanks to the photographer, a.k.a. Daddy!

Daddy's little Cardinal fan!