Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Trip to Paka and Grammie's

We aren't going home for Thanksgiving and I was getting a little homesick. So Mason and I took a trip to California.  Paka was able to pick us up from the airport and drive us home. Mason was napping so my dad and I got to talk the whole way home; it reminded me of all the mornings doing signs and spending time with him. I miss that! (thanks dad, you're the best!)

We got to hang out with my family and talk lots the first day. Mason loved watching the dog, Bella, and pointed her out to us anytime he saw her.


I surprised my family, especially Zoe, with some seasoning salt from an amazing burger place here in Spokane. She was really excited!


We got to do lots of fun things while we were there. Grammie of course made amazing meals and Mason loved being able to cook with her, and eat her amazing food.


We went on a walk with Grammie and ran errands one day, and spent time playing in the backyard!  Mason loved the trampoline. He thought it was pretty amazing. Most of the time he wanted to sit in Grammie's lap while I bounced, but sometimes he wanted to try and bounce himself.  He mostly rocked himself back and forth trying to keep his balance but he was trying to bounce. He would smile when we would bounce him and laugh anytime Grammie laughed.




Mason also got a lot of practice with stairs. We don't have any stairs so we did practice sessions a few times a day so he could learn how to go down. He's a champ at climbing and by the end was pretty good at going down, even though he would drift to the right as he slid down.


We took a trip to the zoo one afternoon. Mason loved seeing the animals, he especially liked the ones that would move because he could see them better.  He really liked one monkey that was screeching and yelling; Mason thought it was very fascinating.


He liked the zebras, giraffes and of course the lions!




After the zoo we met up with Paka for some amazing sandwiches for lunch!


Mason loved all the attention from his Aunts, Paka and Grammie!!  We were lucky to have his cousins come up and stay a couple days! He loved playing with them, following them around the house and talking to them!! They are going to have so much fun playing as they get older.

We had an amazing time, we loved seeing everyone and spending time with everyone. We can't wait till we get to see you next!!!

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Halloween Week

So this year for Halloween Mason was a lion!


 Christopher decided to be a lion hunter and Mason was his prey; they were really cute costumes. This year we had a party at the Durrants where there was deliciously scary food, a haunted graham cracker house contest, and a slippery game for the dads.


Our house came out great and was a ton of fun to make, Christopher especially liked eating the candy.


The dads all participated in a game where they had to use their feet to find three clear marbles in a tub of spaghetti and oil.  Christopher tied for first finding two marbles faster than the other guys. They had to be careful when they stepped out of the tub and didn't slip and fall on the garage floor because their feet were covered in oil. We had a few close calls for the guys slipping.


We had a great time at the party eating food and playing games, it was a blast.


Later in the week we got together with the Durrants and the Owens to carve pumpkins.  We set up tables in the garage and dug in.  The pumpkins all turned out great.   I wasn't able to get a picture of all the finished products as I took all the kids inside after a while to play and entertain them.  We had pizza and hung out after. It was a really fun night.




Then on Halloween I made mummy dogs for dinner.  We didn't take Mason out trick-or-treating because he can't say it, is really scared of strangers right now, and can't eat any of the candy he gets.


 But we dressed him up and took some pictures with our pumpkin and the candy bowl he loves to play with.



H was such a cute lion, I can't wait till next year when he can more fully enjoy the holiday and go out and tick-or-treat.  Happy Halloween!


Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Waddells, Greenbluff, and walks

Christopher's parents, JB and Debbie, came over to visit for the weekend. They made the drive over and got in Saturday afternoon. We love going to Waddells and them visiting was the perfect excuse.  We went Saturday night and ate amazing food, and even had some for leftovers for lunch the next day.

We got the chance to go up to Greenbluff, which is a group of farms that put on different events throughout the year and fall is the best! They had apple, cherry, and other fruits you could hand pick. They had hay rides, horse rides, pony rides, corn maze, hay maze, bouncy castle, pumpkin patch, pumpkin princess, and pumpkin donuts! The line for pumpkin donuts was ridiculously long otherwise we would have tried them.

Mason is still too small to do most of the activities but we took him to see some big horses which he loved!



We thought that since they were big they were clydesdales, we were quickly corrected that they were Belgian and some other breed I can't remember.

We gave Mason a chance to get out of the stroller and play with the pumpkins. He loved it, he was walking around touching all the stems and trying to pick up pumpkins even I would have a difficult time lifting.  He had a blast!



They had a crafts booths, and tons of food vendors. We managed to find a vendor who had chocolate bark, and amazing caramels. We got some unconventional caramel apples, they were dehydrated apples with caramel drizzled over the top. They were pretty good, easier and cleaner to eat than normal caramel apples but I missed the juiciness.  We found some amazing footy pajamas, they had both boys and girls, so Christopher and I could both have some....ha ha!


Our last stop we made was for apple cider.  We got out of the car and Debbie got stung by a bee. We made that last stop a quick one; grabbed our cider and got back in the car before anyone else would be attacked. Overall Greenbluff was a blast and would definitely be worth going to again!!


The next day we waited for Christopher to be done with class and then ate a quick lunch and headed out to walk through Manito. The last time his parents went it was winter, we figured this time there would actually be a few flowers!  Some were gone and a lot were wilted and dying but they were still there.



We also went walking along the Centennial Trail, but it was closed right before we got to any of the good stuff. We turned around and went back to the car, and it started raining pretty good right when we got back so I guess we lucked out?!  

We were so glad to have JB and Debbie visit us, we loved spending time with them. Mason gave them high fives, played with Pop Pop, and even let Nana hold him on her lap.  It was a great visit and we can't wait to see them again!

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

When it rains, it POURS!!

We were lucky enough to score some sweet tickets to the Washington vs. Arizona football game courtesy of our brother-in-law Eric and his connections.  We made a weekend out of it and Christopher's parents came down. We got to relax and hangout with the family, go on a walk to pick up Kaylin from school, even make a trip to IKEA.

While we were there Mason got to open a couple more presents.  He got a football that reverses into a husky stuffed animal from the Stephens.  Mason loves it, he still makes an excited squeal every time he sees it and picks it up immediately.


Nana and Pop Pop got him a farm with animals and a farmer. It makes different animal noises and has doors that open. It was such a big hit! All the kids loved playing with it.



The day of the game it was pouring rain!  We loaded up and brought lots of rain gear and took a shuttle to the stadium.  The seats we had were just far enough under the overhang that we were protected from getting completely drenched..  It was rainy and windy, sometimes we had difficulty seeing the fans across the field through the hazy blur.  It was a great time hanging out with JB. The stadium is beautiful and watching the team play with the amazing gold chrome helmets, was incredible!!




It was a little more wet than I would want for a normal outing, but overall it was a great visit!!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

One Year Old!

Well it happened, Mason turned a year old on Friday.

Some things that are new this month are:

He:
-gets back up without pulling on objects
-kneels on the floor to play with things
-pretends to eat food with a spoon out of an empty bowl
-when I ask him to say "ma...ma...ma" he says "da...da...da
-Finally understands high fives-Will pull Christopher's hand up to high five it
-Will laugh randomly when he is playing with toys-We think he's having some sort of conversation with the toys
-Gets in and flushes the toilet if we leave the bathroom door open
-Loves to play with plastic serving spoons

So many things happen everyday it's hard to keep up with him learning and exploring.

For his first birthday we decorated with a few streamers, a birthday banner, and a picture timeline the night before so he was excited in the morning when he woke up.  He tried to grab them and thought it was funny when we put him through them.


 We took some pictures before lunch, he wasn't the most cooperative but at least I got a couple good ones.



After pictures we gave him the presents that Grandma B had sent.  They were wrapped in tissue paper so we were hoping that he would get enough practice that he would be pro by his party later.  He pulled the wrapping off a little, but once he saw the toy inside all his focus was on the toy and not so much getting the paper off the toy.  He loved the train and book that Grandma B sent.


We also brought out one of the toys we got for him. He loves the vacuum so we thought he might like the little popper toy that you push around. We were right, he LOVED it.  Every morning since then when he sees it he runs to it and plays with it right away.


We had a small get together with a few of our friends the Owens and Durrants and had Mason open the last couple presents.  He was a little better with tearing off the wrapping paper but still required lots of help. He loved the book that my parents, Paka and Grammie, got for him. 



At least he understood the concept of presents because once the book was out he went on to the next gift.  It's a good thing he is only one and couldn't guess what his next present was, the wrapping job was a dead give away. 


  He thought the basketball was awesome, he even picked it out himself a few weeks earlier.  We were picking Christopher's books up at the book store and were deciding between an all blue or a blue and red stripped ball. When we held them out he patted the all blue one. Even after we switched which hand the balls were in he picked the all blue one, I was glad he was still surprised.



His last present we couldn't really wrap so we wheeled it out to him and he got all excited and started doing his exited breathing. He pulled it over to himself and started emptying the wagon right away.  It was the entertainment for the other kids for the rest of the night as well.  At least we know he'll like it when he's older too.



Then it was cake time!  Because he's allergic to dairy I had to try my best and make a dairy free cake.  It turned out pretty good but we all know it's just not the same.  


When we tried to get him to eat his cake he would just pull it out of his mouth.  He wasn't very entertaining and was surprisingly quiet with his cake.  We did give him some sorbet and at least he loved that. (I think he'll take after Paka and love ice cream...he already loves cold stuff like shaved ice, and otter pops)  


After a few minutes we gave him a spoon and then he was back to his normal self, being loud and tearing into the cake with the spoon.  He did end up eating some of his cake but was more tidy than I had expected.


It was a fun night celebrating his first birthday.  Thanks to everyone for the gifts and birthday wishes, it made the day that much better!  I can't believe how fast it has gone by and how quick he is growing.  He is learning so much everyday and keeping me happy with his laugh and amazing smile.