Our big 3-year-old

Some of you know that Mason's birthday was over 4 months ago. I can't believe that I let myself take that long of a break from blogging, but it seems that I have. Well, I am going to try to catch up and blog at least once a week. Probably on Sundays 'cuz that's the only day that I don't have to work so when the boys go to bed, I will be able to blog. There are lots of pictures, but I couldn't leave any of them out. They are a little bit out of order, but I better just post this so that I don't end up waiting another 4 months....

Anyways, Mason is so important and I don't want his birthday to go unrecognized. Mason was born on June 6, 2006 and our family has been enjoying his sweet influence ever since. One of the hardest things about moving to Utah is that we are away from so much of our family. This especially has been hard on Mason.

He LOVES his cousins and grandparents and uncles that live in Colorado. Each of his other birthdays has been celebrated with lots of family, so it was so nice that Aunt Cindy could come to the zoo with us on his special day. Later that night, Uncle Aaron and his other Aunt Cindy came to celebrate with cake and ice cream.


Here are some pictures from his special day:

Opening a card from Tori.

Mason received some water guns for his birthday. Carter immediately took to them and would not put them down. He loved sucking the water out of them.

















Here is Mason coloring with the fun Disney coloring book and crayons that his cousins sent. He felt very special to receive packages from our family in Colorado.









Mason loves animals and going to the zoo, so we figured this would be a perfect activity for his birthday. This was the first time that we went to Salt Lake City's Hogle zoo. It was a fun day, and we were especially lucky and happy that Aunt Cindy was able to meet us there.

















The elephants are always a favorite of both Mason and Carter. Mason always remember that Aunt Cindy 'helped him catch bugs.' :)






Who wouldn't








want to drink out of a lion's mouth? :)


Mason was so excited for his Bolt cake that Daddy made especially for him.






Trying out his new scooter.











The next morning,





Carter was wandering around before the rest of us got up. We heard him in the kitchen and upon further investigation, this is what we found:(See the last two pictures of this post)


He had gotten into the leftovers of Mason's cake and was having the best time finishing it off. Food in our kitchen is not ever safe. :)

What our boys are up to

Well...since I've been AWOL from the blogging world for so long, I'm kind of at a loss of where to start.

I finally decided to give little updates on my angels and hopefully do a synopsis of our summer fun soon.

Mason is now 3 years and 4 months old. He is our big boy and constantly amazing us at how smart he is. Some things about him are:

• He still loves animals.
• He is a pro at choosing his own clothes. He sometimes changes outfits (complete with a new set of underwear) 3 to 4 times a day. He enjoys helping me with the laundry and "spreading" his clothes. Which to him, means laying them out nicely and stacking them in his drawers.
• He remembers much better than I do where all of the animals at the zoo are and often asks when we are really close "I want to see the red panda" or "let's look at the turtle"..s.and then I am surprised to see that that is indeed the exhibit that is just around the corner.
• He is a great big brother to Carter. Sometimes I hear him saying things like "no, it's like this, you little cutie!" or "Don't leave me alone in there, it's dark!" Now that I'm working from home, sometimes I ask him to "be in charge" while I am on the computer, a responsibility he takes very seriously. He does not like it when I come in and try to take care of Carter because that is his job!
• He has quite the vocabulary and uses words such as "otherwise" "actually" and "perhaps" frequently and correctly.
• He knows which shows David and I like or dislike. Whenever Phineas and Ferb is on, he comes up and says "Phineas and Ferb is on; you like it a little bit." Like that makes it okay for him to continue watching it. Yesterday, he said to David, "Charlie and Lola is on, but don't worry it will be over soon." Haha.
• He is learning about stop signs and stop lights and is very concerned when he thinks we have run a red light (don't worry, we don't run lights; he just sees the red light from the other direction.)
• He loves to play outside and go on walks and make friends with other kids that are playing at the playgrounds that we go to.
• He is learning to write his name.
• He loves to point out President Monson and loved listening to him at conference. Every sacrament meeting, he looks on the stand and asks if President Monson is there. He is starting to retain more about the scriptures and is especially good at the story of Nephi, and pointing out that Laman and Lemuel are complaining (we have a really cute picture book version of this story)

Carter is 18 months old and such a joy to us. Some things about him are:

• He has mastered the use of the word "please." Whenever we pass the snack cupboard or he sees some sort of food on the counter that he wants, he will point and say "please! please!" and he says it so confidentally that it is hard to tell him no.
• One of the cutest things that he has just learned to say is "yeah, yeah!" Whenever you guess correctly what he wants (often it is marshmallows or to watch Robots) he will excitedly say "yeah, yeah!!"
  
• He has gone to nursery three times. Each time, he has gone in with no problems, and not even noticing that we leave him. Today in Sacrament, he was sharing his cheerios with a girl in front of us, and I asked him if she was in his class. He misunderstood and immediately said "class!" and started trying to escape down the aisle and go to nursery right then. Whenever I ask him what he did in nursery, even a whole week later, he will reply, "bubbles!" and they are always playing with bubbles when we pick him up.
• He loves babies and will point them out wherever we are. He knows that there is a baby in mommy's tummy and will give her kisses.
  
• He, like Mason, loves to be outside and go for walks. As soon as he sees me get the stroller or wagon out, he will get the hugest grin and just plop himself in it, waiting for the walk to begin.
• He LOVES to swing on swings at the park.
• His favorite foods include hotdogs and noodles and of course, anything sweet.
• He loves to be read to, especially books about animals and will always point to the ones that are eating and say "eat, eat!"
• He loves seeing pictures of family members on the internet...he will always point out pictures of his grandpa and grandma and get the hugest grin on his face. Sometimes when he sees old pictures of me that I have in our office, he will point and say "Katie!"
• He will always point out pictures of Jesus.
• He loves to give hugs and kisses.
• The other day, he lugged a big tub of wipes across the house and brought it to me. Sure enough, he needed his diaper changed. Whenever he sees Mason using the bathroom, he points to his diaper and wants to try too. No success yet, but it's a start!

We love Mason and Carter so much! It seems like they are becoming such individuals and I am honored to be their mother. I want them to stay little forever...but each new stage is so fun that I can't complain.

ANSWER

Do I seem a little outnumbered? Well...our little girl is going to do her best to change that! Though we will still be outnumbered, it won't be quite so much. :) The doctor said that he isn't 100% sure...but he did another ultrasound last week and it still looks like we are having...

A GIRL!!


We are so excited! All along, whenever we asked Mason what he thought we were having, he would always say, "a girl baby!" I'm so excited to see what good big brothers Mason and Carter will be!

Soccer

Mason was able to participate in a soccer team this past month. He is a natural player and really enjoyed it. I remember when he could barely walk, he was still really good at kicking the ball. In this particular league, they ask that the parents participate too and work with their kids during the practices to learn the skills. It was so fun for Mason and Daddy to do this together!








Mommy and Carter watched and cheered at every practice/game except for one when Carter was taking a nap instead. :)
























Mason learned about team work and listening to his coaches. He scored at least one, sometimes more goals in every game and not very many kids can say that!










It was so fun for Aunt Katie to come and cheer him on at his last game. Mason sure appreciated it! Mason was so proud to accept his medal and his certificate. He sure deserved it!

Question...

What do this cute boy....













and this cute boy....








have in common?





Well...they are both very smart. They both have the most adorable smiles and laughs. They both have mischievous (actually, make that very mischievous) personalities. They are both very determined to have fun. They both love to read and be read to. They both hate going to sleep. They both love starbursts.....


oh yeah....and come January, they will both be big brothers!!

We are very excited to see what the third addition to our family will be like!

Stay tuned for more details!

Pictures I didn't know were there..

...when I did the last post. I just couldn't leave them out for journaling purposes. I am still planning Mason's birthday post and I realize I am the biggest blog slacker there is.

Memorial Day

This is way late, I know...but I wanted to post some pictures of what we did on Memorial Day. I really wanted to do something in the outdoors. We decided to go up the Canyon and stop at Bridal Veil Falls. Even though I had lived in Provo for more than 4 years during college, I had never visited them.








It was a lot of fun! There is this really shallow area at the foot of the Falls that is perfect for wading and splashing around in.
David decided to be adventurous and hike up the steep side of the mountain while carry Mason. I got to the same place a little while later with Carter just by going the long way around




















Carter was a little unsure of the water at first...but he finally started to enjoy it.



























































We had a great day and hope to go back soon! I hope to post pictures later tonight of Mason's birthday, so stay tuned!