Hi Elmo!

This is how it started....Mason found this Elmo costume after nap. I've got stuff everywhere preparing for our yard sale this weekend, and I had picked this up on sale after Halloween.

Fortunately he forgot about Elmo to go outside. Although he did NOT forget about the new dragon boots and insisted on wearing them!

These are all great pics Blake took!

This is how the night ended! Braden found the costume right before he went to bed and had to try it on, too! Blake decided it looks like Elmo has gobbled Braden up!

Singing in the Rain

Mason has had his eyes on Braden's frog (rain) boots for the longest time and never misses a chance to put them on, and always falls down. I found this pair of dragon ones, for a steal, so Mason now has his own rain boots.


It rained all night, and was down to a drizzle so we decided to test them out.

Braden brought the umbrella's out and was not happy in the picture below because Mason thought the Spiderman umbrella was for him. I convinced Braden to let him have a "turn."

Where's Mason?

Check out the live action, here!

After much splashing in the shallow puddles they found the deepest one in our driveway. Knowing what clean-up would be like (baths before lunch) I made it off limits for stomping, so they made it a fish pond. They dropped the "helicopter" seeds into it and proceeded to catch, bass, blue gills, piranhas, a barracuda, a shark, and finally they left an eel behind.



But the BEST part is, as we were stomping around the drive way a police car drove by and we waved. Next thing we know he pulled into our drive way and asked if we were locked out of the house. We were obviously quite a site! I assured him we were only testing out new rain boots, but it was nice of him to double check. This of course made Braden's day that a police officer came to his house!

Celebration Dance

After the successful planting of the garden, Braden cut a rug in the kitchen to Madonna's "Holiday" Mason was somewhat interested in showing off some of his moves as well! This video is only about 50 seconds, but you HAVE to watch until the end! You will have a "what happened" moment! Just use your imagination!

Check out the celebration dance here!

Our Garden and Mr. Tree

The garden is planted! Blake worked on it most of the day yesterday, so that as soon as Braden got out of school it would be ready to plant! This will always be a memorable time of year for us, because it was on the day of last year's garden planting that we had spent the morning in the ER with Mason's egg allergy. That was the first time we had ever given him eggs.

Blake and I both walked over to pick Braden up from school, a very rare treat! Blake and Braden went straight to the local nursery to pick out our veggies. This is not the official list, that would have to come from the "official gardener" but most of what I remember is tomatoes, basil, cilantro, chocolate mint, cucumbers, and green beans.

As Blake worked on the holes, it was Braden's job to look for sticks and rocks! He never passes up a chance to chunk sticks and rocks!

Treasure…who wants fried worms?

Showing Braden how to remove the plant from it's pot and get the roots nice and loose!

Just look at Blake's smile! Is that a Proud Papa moment or what!

There's a new face around our house, literally. When we first moved in, a house across the street had a tree with a face similar to this on it, (which we named Mr. Tree) in their front yard. Braden was 2 at the time and fascinated by Mr. Tree. He would ask, "is Mr. Tree watching me play baseball right now?" "now is he watching?" "what about now" Until one sad day last year someone decided to steal Mr. Tree. So when I came across this face I knew we had to have it! I put it up during my lunch hour, so when he came home that afternoon and finally saw it, it was a huge mystery as to where it came from!


As I mentioned in a previous post, Mason's favorite job is to water the plants, weeds, rocks and driveway, as long as he has his red "elphant" can, he is happy to go back and forth getting water, spilling water, and wearing the water!

Party on!

These are the results from the pictures below and great ideas from both Mom's! They knew exactly what they wanted!

Almost 1.....

Princess Ivy Claire and Slugger Cameron Dean are about to celebrate their first birthdays, if you can believe that! Lucky for me their mama's need invitations so I've been getting lots of pictures!
Who would believe it was just a year ago that they arrived!

Bend It Like Braden

Soccer season has officially started and is already half over! These pics were from our first game and it was at least 50 degrees outside. You can see people huddled under blankets, and sporting shorts and toboggans. It started out as a warm spring day, but didn't stay that way!

Braden is at the top of this age category and it's amazing how much he's caught on over the last two years. We've got a few newbies on this team, and every 5 minutes one runs off the field to be comforted by Mom. Even the goalies, which is always a surprise for Blake to turn around and have his Goalie gone!

Mason is not content to hang out in his stroller, which has me a little worried about T-Ball season! He wants to be on the field with Braden and DaDa and doesn't understand why he can't. The rest of the time he plays musical chairs sitting in the chairs other people have brought, and wanting to scale the bleachers. Needless to say, these may be the only pictures you get from soccer this year.

This is Mason at half-time practicing his "snacking goalie" skills.

Walk Like A Man

You saw a few pics from the Carnival, earlier, with Mason climbing on the fire truck. This was walking to the Carnival. That has been one of the best parts of Kindergarten, walking home from school everyday!

This was back at home after the Carnival. Blake left early with Mason, and the last thing Braden wanted to do was get his face painted. No butterfly on his cheek. . . he wanted his whole face in Cardinal colors!

Mason on Deck

I was gone for about an hour this afternoon, during the back yard marathon, and these are a few of the GREAT pics Blake got! It's such a treat to look at the pics he snaps of the boys while I'm not around. He claims to not have an artistic bone in his body, but he's definitely got an eye for great photos!

So proud of himself to be drinking Braden's water.

Score! There were ice cubes in the water!

We see it everyday. . .wiping the hands on the shirt!
I did notice yesterday that Mason has learned (adorably) to cover his nose with his little pudgy hand when he sneezes.

Santa in the Bath Tub

Braden was so proud of his Santa "bubble" beard!

Not to be outdone by Big Bro, Mason showed off his beard, too. What...you mean you can't see it? All I can see is chompers!

Dirt, Worms and Flowers

These pictures are actually from last Sunday. It was a beautiful day and I tried to make the most of it by planting a few flowers. I got my planters done for the front porch and had a few leftovers. Braden, Mason, Will and Timmie all came running over to "help". I let them help me clear out a corner that I'm going to make a bed in, and the big excitement was if they found a worm. Then we had some extra pots sitting around so I let each of them, including Mason, plant a flower. Our two guests took theirs home to their Mom's. Timmie said it was what his Mom "had always been dreaming of."