Summer Photo Journey!

As promised, here are LOTS of pics from this summer!  All from my iPhone so not the best quality. We have been trying to stay busy and also do things indoors since it's so stinkin hot here!  Can't believe summer is winding down but I am definitely ready for cooler weather and for preschool to start!  ;) 

Mason is 14 months and Ethan is 3 1/2.  Can't believe my babies are getting so big! 

 playing in the shoe bin

 doing a little painting

 girls' trip to Denver-SO FUN!!

 Ethan with his cousins Casey, Jamey, and Ava

 Mason has eczema and got a breakout on his little bottom.  Dr. said to let him "air out"

 you can see how bad it is in this one

 Ethan in his summer camp-about to perform their play about monsters!

 Ethan's solo!  We were so proud.  :)

 Ethan and BFF Carter "fixing" the baby gate

 playing so nice

 here they were wrestling

 fun at the Children's Museum

 kissing himself in the mirror :)

 Ethan was writing his name

 playing on Mommy's new iPad!

 bubbles!

 at the circus

 Mommy's little helper

 FINALLY started Mason's scrapbook!!

 loves to make them crash

 One of Mason's fav activities ;)  taking them in and out. 

 My mom and I went to a painting class and this is my final product. 

 Best.Idea.EVER at a restaurant! 

 playing on the computer at the library

 loves to read books

 playing with Uncle Matt's police badge.  Not a real gun-don't worry!

 he found a "fighter-fighter" costume at the mall so I let him try it on. This is what he wants to be for Halloween. 

 Chuck E. Cheese

 Ethan's newest obsession-building train tracks ALL over the house. 

learned how to drink the milk from his cereal bowl from Daddy. 

GENTLE!

Man, I have been horrible at updating this thing.  Tomorrow I am going to upload all my pics from my phone and do a recap from the summer!  :)  I know you're excited.  Actually, I don't even know if anyone still reads this! 

Ok, so this video is over a year old, but I mentioned this scenario today at my book study (we are reading "Don't Make Me Count to 3!" at church...WONDERFUL book on discipline).  Anyways,  2 of my friends are due with baby # 2 very soon so we were on the tropic of older siblings and their younger baby brothers/sisters. 

Here is a lovely video of Ethan patting Mason on the back but quickly turned into SLAPPING him!  We had to work on being gentle a lot that summer.  In fact, this is something we continue to work on daily!  Good thing Mason slept through it all-gotta love that stage where they can sleep through anything! 

California Dreamin'

Back in early June, Ethan and I got to go to Orange County, California with our good friends, Kelly and Aiden.  Her family is from there so we got to stay with her brother and got to fly for free with her husband's Southwest Airlines perks!  :) 

It was great because it was a week-long playdate!  The weather was amazing-in the 60s and 70s the whole time.  A bit chilly at the beach so we didn't go in the water but we still had a great time.  We also went to Disneyland and Legoland.  Awesome vacation! 

 Ethan's (and my)! first look at the Pacific Ocean

 Disneyland!

 Huntington Beach-it was cold!

 the boys ran into a little trouble at the beach :)

 so excited!

 In n Out Burger-soo yummy!

 fell asleep at dinner

potty break at LAX :)

Happy First Birthday, Sweet Mason!

Our baby boy turned ONE on May 30th.  So now we have a 3 year old and a 1 year old.  Crazy. 

We went to the doctor yesterday for Mason's check-up and his stats are almost identical to his brother's at this age, except Mason is 2 inches taller than Ethan was!:  21 pounds (20th percentile) and 31 inches (92nd percentile)!  Looks like he will be tall and skinny. 

Just in the past few days, it seems as though he is dropping his morning nap, so the boys will be on the same schedule now.  Good, so we can do more in the morning and won't have to wait for him to wake up. 

He is wearing 12-18 month clothes,
-in size 4 diapers,
-eats like crazy!  3 meals a day after he has his milk,
-switched to whole milk at 11 months,
-wakes up around 6 am :( and goes to bed around 6:30 pm.  My goal for the summer is to get him to stay awake longer at night and sleep a little later in the morning. 
-started walking but not very steady yet (video soon)!
-LOVES when Mommy sings to him,
-started pointing to pictures in his books,
-trying to help him give up the bottle and move to cups only
-does the "more" sign when eating

Happy Birthday, my baby.  We love you so much.  :) 

 Mommy, Daddy, and Ethan came in singing Happy Birthday to him in the morning!

 He wasn't too thrilled...

 playing in Mason's new crab pool in the backyard

 SMASH CAKE!  We had a little party for him last Sunday afternoon in the park.  :)

 This is my absolute FAVORITE picture of him!  He was so excited!

 yum yum yum

playing in his new wagon from Nonnie and Poppie!