Mason's Excellent Adventure

Last year, Bree went to Washington with my parents for a fun-filled week. This summer, it was Mason's turn. (Our house was much quieter without our whirlwind of a four-year old.) When I asked him what he did on his vacation to Washington, he said went to the store and bought Legos. And he played with said Legos. My mom said that, although he had fun everywhere they went, he'd often request to go back to my parents' house so he could play with his Legos. It's an obsession.


At any rate, I'm posting all of the photos from his adventure, along with his narration. He didn't recollect all the details about the whats and wheres, and he often resorts to saying "I don't know," before he even thinks. Must be a boy thing. I really enjoyed reviewing the pictures with him, and I could tell he had a blast. Thanks Mom and Dad!

ME: WHAT WAS THIS FROM? 

Mason: It was from the park...I was sliding on the slide--two times!

WHAT ABOUT HERE? 

That is Washington...and I'm on the window. 

WAS THIS AT PAPA'S OFFICE? 

Um, yeah. 

WHAT DID YOU DO THERE? 

Um...I don't know.

WHAT'S THIS? 

Um, It's me in the log. It was an underground log.

WHERE WAS THIS AT? 

Um, I don't know. It was a park. Well, a different park that I said.

Hey, that's me in the whale.

That's me in the fireman's truck. AND WHAT WERE YOU DOING?

Driving it. AND WHAT ARE YOU WEARING? It's a fireman hat.

And here's the other one, we did another people. (Bree interjects: "Person.") I mean person...that's me in the bus. And it has a gas, so I could drive it. I was driving it too.

And this is me buying some food. But not real food. Fake food...And I was buying milk. 

AND DID YOU PAY FOR IT? Um, yeah. 

WITH REAL MONEY? Ye-, no. JUST PRETEND MONEY? 

Yeah. It was...I don't know what color it was.

Oh! That's me on the musical round.

(Bree interjects again: "I think you're on a girl horse.") 

That's a boy horse. It's a little guy.

Oh! That's the big-tailed macaw. 

A BIG-TAILED MACAW? 

Uh, no (laughing). What is it? IT'S A PEACOCK. 

I mean a peacock. Thaaat is a peacock.

Oh! Aaand I don't know what that is. 

IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE INSIDE SOME KIND OF SEAT CREATURE. 

It is a sea creature. And there was a spider web there. And you gotta move there (a request to zoom in on the web-shaped climbing ropes in the upper left corner of the picture).

And that was me just feeding a animal. It was like in a barn. 

WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL? I don't know--It's a goat! A black one. And you gotta do the other goat now.

I was doing that goat too. 

YOU WERE DOING WHAT? I was doing that goat. 

YOU WERE FEEDING HIM. 

Yeah. 

HE HAS A BEARD. 

Hee-hee, yeah! Mm-hm, so weird! And he liked that food. It was...what kind of food was that? 

GOAT FOOD? 

Oh yeah, goat food.

And that was me dressing up in...sea...dresses...and I don't know what that one is. 

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE YOU WERE DRESSING UP AS? 

A squid...I'm like in a squid.

A octopus!

A shark mouth! Actually a dinosaur mouth. I'm gonna get eaten! I was gonna get eaten by the mouth.

And that's me at the zoo. 

(Bree: "What are those little things, I wonder.") 

Um, they're penguins.

And that's a ginormous seal. 

I THINK IT'S ACTUALLY A WALRUS. 

A warl-, yes that was a...walrus?

A shark! Shark! Sharks. Those are sharks. 

DID YOU LIKE THE SHARKS? Yeah! 

OR WERE THEY SCARY? 

They are scary! SO scary. SUPER scary! Rooaaaar! Hee-hee. Did I scare you on that one?

And that's me being on a horse. 

(Bree: "Was it named Rocket?") 

Um, I don't think so. 

IS THAT UNCLE BOB'S HORSE? 

Yep. 

(Bree: "So it IS Rocket. It IS Rocket, Mason.") SSSHH. 

It IS Rocket.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THIS PICTURE? Um, I'm...riding on the grass of the horse. Uh...Rocket, he has the hair gone over his eyes.

And that's me at the beach. That's me at the beach, Mom.

And I'm in the sand. That was me making a sand castle, but it keept making a point. 

WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT KEPT MAKING A POINT? 

Uh, I don't know what that means. 

Um, that's the sand at the beach. And we were going down under...even we were going down under the bridges (piers), where we could see WAY up high. Then we goded down.

AND WHAT WERE YOU DOING HERE? I was throwing rocks, and looking at the sea.

WHAT ABOUT HERE? 

That is just, I was looking at the rocks. And we were--Mom do the one that we were finding shells. (A request to see a nonexistent picture of him finding shells; though he did gather and bring home shells)

And that was me under the bridge (pier). That was me under the bridge, Mom.

And, I was wearing the Avengers shirt. Did you want to see the ones where we bought the Legos? But she (Grandma) didn't take a picture of me doing that. But she should of.

May 2nd-8th, 2012

Dance Recital Success

"Chattanooga Choo Choo"

"April Showers"

And thus another year of dance lessons comes to a successful close. I don't mean to brag, but Bree's dance skills were unrivaled, and I was very proud.

 Dance Recital: 5/19/12

Portraits: 5/2/12

Butterflies

For Bree's birthday last month, we gave her a Butterfly Garden, along with a book about the life cycle of the butterfly. She loves animals, and she couldn't wait to receive her larva (caterpillars) in the mail. We watched the tiny critters grow and get fat, and waited for "Chrysalis Day" with great anticipation. Bree learned words like metamorphosis, and the difference between a chrysalis and cocoon. And luckily, we were learning about insects in our kindergarten curriculum at the same time. When the butterflies hatched, we enjoyed watching them drink the sugar water. Then it was time to let them free, and hope we'd raised them to be good adult butterflies.

Bree was very gentle as she let each one crawl onto her finger so she could take them out of the habitat, then set them free. All in all, it was a huge success.

My Day

Chad never buys me flowers. Mostly because I used to tell him not to. But he realizes that I've changed over the years, and have become a person who loves flowers, inside the house and out. And the flowers that he and the kids brought me on Saturday were a lovely surprise.

Then Chad made Sunday, Mother's Day, my day. Starting with delicious omelets for breakfast. And he had helped the kids make a beautiful card with all the old scrapbooking stuff I never use anymore.

Then I opened my gifts. Some DVDs, and two huge bars of chocolate, which I instantly knew were for chocolate fondue. I've been eating healthy and depriving myself of my usual indulgences lately, so this was a significant treat. That afternoon, we dipped strawberries, pineapple, pretzels, and graham crackers into a delicious mix of milk and dark chocolate. I was delightfully stuffed.

For lunch, Chad served bacon-wrapped filet mignon with sauteed peas and green beans. He washed all the dishes, and kept the kids entertained the whole day so I could relax and do whatever I wanted.


My Day was awesome.

2012 Family Pictures

#2

Goal #2: Sing in a recital.

Last night was the recital for the Copper Valley Academy of Music, of which I have been a student for the past couple of semesters. The theme was "America Sings," and the students all sang songs from our nation's history, starting with a Native American chant, all the way to "America the Beautiful." I am Becky's only adult student, and I was also the only soloist of the evening. I sang an African American spiritual called "All My Trials," which is about relying on faith to get through life's trials. I don't have a photo, because I had given my camera to Chad, who took one picture of me singing (which looked scary beyond all reason), then said he couldn't get it to work anymore. But my parents had come, and my mom was able to video-record my song. We'll see if I'm brave enough to post it.

Right this moment...

• I'm enjoying some quiet time to blog while Chad has the kids in the other room, where I'm pretty sure they are wrapping gifts and making homemade cards for Mother's Day (Chad came out and asked where the decorative scissors are).
• I'm happy that we had a chance to take some family pictures this morning. I figured I should put my own nice camera to good use, and my parents were in town to join us. I really hope we got some good shots.
• I am so incredibly tired of dieting. I've been on a 1200-calorie diet for almost 3 months (with a little splurge here and there). I've lost 21 pounds so far doing this Biggest Loser Challenge (a grand total of 34 pounds this year). I'm on the home stretch, determined to win the grand prize. Every day I tell myself, "Only ___ more days to go." The next 12 days can't go by fast enough.
• I'm reading Huck Finn, because we own it, because I have a goal to read a book a week, and because Chad told me it's a good book. It's not. I'm so bored.
• I'm very glad it's Chad's 3-day weekend, and that for the next few months he'll be enjoying a work schedule that allows him to come to church with us.
• I'm excited/nervous for my Primary kids to sing for Mother's Day tomorrow. It's a beautiful arrangement of "I Often Go Walking," with a harmony part that the Young Women will sing with us.
• I love how my garden is growing. I'm glad that I splurged on some flowers this year. I've been enjoying their color as I've waited for my lilies and daffodils to emerge. And I keep forgetting that I have an abundance of fresh herbs in the garden too. I bought a package of ugly basil at the store yesterday, and a couple weeks ago I went next door to borrow some oregano for my spaghetti.
• Lincoln is napping right now, but when he wakes, he'll continue to delight us with the perpetual good mood he's been in ever since he got over a stomach bug earlier this week. Since he's been feeling better, he chuckles constantly, for no apparent reason. And Chad taught him to clap, which is the coolest.
• My dishes are all clean, thanks to my mom.
• Now it's time to enjoy the rest of this gorgeous Saturday.

Girl Time

Mason has been vacationing in Washington with my mom, and I had promised Bree some fun-filled girl time while he was away.

We started the week off by going to the movies, just the two of us. Bree got all dressed up, then picked out what she wanted me to wear. I spoiled her with her own bag of popcorn, a pink lemonade, and some chocolate-covered pretzels. We watched The Pirates, a British claymation comedy. The jokes mostly went over her head, but she still really enjoyed it.

 Then what would girl time be without facials and manicures?

I caved and bought a new inflatable pool for our front yard, and we had some friends over to "swim."

And then came my favorite part of the week: the tea party. I very recently acquired an adorable antique tea set from The White Porch, which is a cute little shop in the basement of the downtown arts center (I called it my Mother's Day gift when Chad shook his head at me after I brought it home). We invited Bree's friend Brookie and her mom, who had never been to a tea party before. I made up some little tea sandwiches and mini cupcakes to go with our Mandarin Orange Spice herbal tea (next time I'll make sure to have hot chocolate on hand for the kids, who were not big fans of actually drinking the tea). It was a ridiculous amount of fun. I don't know why I get so geeked out about tea parties. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I'm obsessed with period novels and films and anything Jane-Austen related.

We rounded out our week with shopping trips, including treats at checkout, a Happy Meal, a couple trips to the park, and library time. At one point during the week, Bree said to me, "Let's go somewhere special!" I told her, "I hate to break it to you, but there really aren't many 'special' places in Globe." But even though there isn't much along the lines of special-just-for-kids in our town, I think we did a pretty good job of making our own special this week. And we sure had fun.

How to choose?

It was really hard to choose which of Lincoln's mid-chuckle pictures was the best.

So I didn't.