Love him...love us...

If.

If I had a list of things I wanted to do before I die, and if on that list there was an item that said "do something you most definately wouldn't do otherwise", then I would be able to cross off said item this week. At the suggestion of my friend Camille, I just finished an 8 week belly dancing class. You heard me. And I liked it.

Speaking of bellies, here is mine at 30 weeks.

Birthday Extravaganza

My baby boy turned two this past Monday. I know everyone says this, but I can't believe two years have gone by already. Its crazy how he went from this little, helpless creature to a little human who can be pretty self-sufficient when he wants to be. He is growing up in so many ways and while I want to enjoy every bit of it, I think I join most mothers when I say that it is happening so fast. This year his birthday fun was spread out over about a week and a half. It began with our girl's weekend in Arizona. My mom threw him a fun little party with cake, ice cream, presents and decorations. He was a little grumpy after the long weekend of shopping with very little sleep, but he still had a great time. Thanks mom for making it so much fun for him! (Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of everyone in attendence. Shayna, Shay and Eric were all there too.)

Then on the following weekend my dad, Penni, and Grandma Kelley came down to stay Friday night. They had the great idea to take the front runner to downtown for dinner. Mason loved every second of it.

Saturday we had a little party at our house. We had quite the turn out. The list included: Nic's parents, Ali, Kristen (Nic's cousin), Marci, Chris and kids, Jorden and Clay, my dad and Penni, Grandma Kelley, Nic's uncle Jason and kids, and my dear friend Camille with her little boy Jackson. My cousin Tyson also came for a few minutes with his son Tag. We ate pizza and cake and ice cream and had a great time.

Nic spent the morning blowing tons of balloons that we used to fill the play room. The kids loved it.

Before everyone got to our house my dad, Penni and my grandma played with Mason in the balloons. I was in the shower, but rumor has it he was laughing so hard Nic thought he was going to throw up.

Jackson, Mason's good buddy.

We also had trains to color.

Nic's parents made Mason this awesome seat. I know you can't really see it, but I did that on purpose. I plan to do a post in the near future showcasing all my mother-in-laws beautiful art that she has done for us. I didn't want to spoil the surprise.

Mason also got two new packages of little cars, trucks, buses, etc. He was in heaven.

My dad and Penni got Mason this awesome bike. He loves it and we have spent many a'hours outside with it already.

I knew Mason wouldn't like 15+ people singing to him. I predicted a terradactyl scream and I was right.

He wanted to lick the frosting off the candle, but in doing so he decided to take a big bite out of the candle. This is him pushing me away when I tried to get him to spit it out. He ate it. And apparently liked it.

(Below is not the best picture of me but what are you gonna do? I've always had a little bit of an issue being photogenic. Sadly its a trait I have passed on to Mason.)

The theme of the party was choo choo trains. I made these as party favors. I also made him a choo choo cake, but of course I didn't take a picture of it.


His official birthday was on Monday the 8th. It was a beautiful day so we spent much of the morning outside. This is Mason telling me how old he is. He can't quite figure out how to hold up 2 fingers so he holds them all up but puts two of them together.

Nic was able to come home a little early and we spent some of the evening putting the rails up on the sides of his new big boy bed. (We gave him the bean bag and the bead thing for his birthday. Again, hours of entertainment...apparently for him and Nell both).

In his big boy bed. He's been doing pretty well. (Lots better than he did when we tried to convert the crib to a toddler bed). I'll post pics of his room once I get it and the nursery done.

Then we had more cake and ice cream.

And he got to spend some quality time with his goofy parents.

(The comment I made above about not being photogenic...one look at this picture and I take it all back.)

Some fun two year old facts about Mason:

-He is obsessed with modes of transportation. Choo choos, tatas (airplanes), cars, trucks, buses, jeeps. By obsessed I mean we often hear him whispering to himself about them while he is falling asleep.

-He likes to dance.

-He loves fruit snack and calls them "sucks".

-He tries to be very polite. He says "pweese" and "thanks" and "stu me" (excuse me) to everything. including his cars.

-He knows his numbers 0-9.

-He loves books.

-He loves to run and jump and wrestle. (The kid can easily run over 1/2 mile at a pace that I have to jog to keep up with).

-He loves his grandparents.

-He loves his friend Jackson.

-He loves Nell Nell. Usually a little too much.

-He likes to snuggle, kiss, and do all the things that make a mama happy.

-He has a mean terradactyl scream.

-He loves to either rub his belly button or pinch his upper lip.

-He still calls himself "Moose".

-He likes being around guys more than girls.

-He is, in my humble opinion, the awesomest kid out there. He is the joy of our lives. Love you Mase.

Girls Weekend

So this last weekend Mason, Shayna and I took a quick flight down to Phoenix for a girls (and little boy) weekend. Despite the fact that Mason has flown 8 + times in his short life, this was by far the coolest experience to date. His little face was pressed against the window most of the way there, and when it wasn't he was entertaining Shayna and me with his crazy antics. (Lets not forget that he still calls airplanes "tatas" so it made for a pretty entertaining flight as he kept yelling "ooo BIG TATAS" everytime he looked out the window). My mom and Shay picked us up at the airport and from there the weekend was filled with lots of shopping at some sweet stores, eating of some delicious food (awesome pizza...delish), and watching of some girly movies. We also had a little birthday party for Mason complete with cars decorations, cake and ice cream. Good times with some of my favorite people. Thanks girls for an awesome weekend. Love you guys!