Happy 6th Birthday Mason!

6 years ago tonight, Mason decided he was ready to meet us all. 18.5 hours later we had a big 8lb 8oz baby boy! The past 6 years have gone so fast. Happy Birthday to our biggest boy.

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Halloween

Halloween in our house is really more about me imposing my idea of what I want the kids to dress up as more so than their "choice" of what they want to be. I like themes, I like themes that revolve around 3. And up to this point I have been very successful at convincing Mason how cool my ideas are and subsequently he convinces the other 2 how cool they are too. Past years we've been: 3 little pigs, and 3 blind mice. So this year we were the 3 musketeers.

Now many of you who know me, know that I can come up with some creative ideas. And if creativity only involved coming up with ideas and not having to make them become real I would be golden. Creativity lives in my head, but not in my skills. I decided to make the costumes since I couldn't find 3 small enough and exactly like what I wanted. Let's just say that it's good that you can't see details in pictures because from afar they look great! :) OH and it's good that trick or treat is during darkness.

I am also including pics of the kids at the pumpkin patch. We put this off so late this year that Daddy took them solo on the very last weekend before Halloween. I had a meeting but thankfully the all boys trip yielded their annual pics in front of the "how tall this fall sign". And of course they picked out their pumpkins and went in the corn maze and saw all the animals.

Trick or treat was a blast in our neighborhood. Kids got tons of candy while the adults trick or treated with and for beer. In the end it was one big bunch of us wandering around from house to house... picking up more people as we went. Here is a bunch of the cute neighborhood kids. Next year I am feeling Alving and Chipmunks coming.... stay tuned.

Mason birthday invite

Although I am sure some of you are convinced I forgot how to blog... I do plan to "catch up" at some point :) Here is Mason's invite and one of these days I am gonna just do nothing but back blog.

Happy 4th Birthday Easton!

Happy 4th birthday to our middle child! You definitely are the sweetest boy we have and always worried about others. You always seem to make us laugh. It's been another fun year and you have grown and changed so much! We love you!

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Blast off!!!!

It's almost Easton's birthday and he requested a space shuttle party. Here is the invitation I made for him. I will post pictures of his timeline and also of his party after his birthday!

Mason goes to Kindergarten

It's so cliche to say, "I can't believe my kid is old enough to be in kindergarten." Everyone says it, and well the reason is because it's true. I have found myself over the past few weeks wondering where the past 5.5 years went. They grow too fast.

Mason started kindergarten on August 20th. He was totally ready and really looking forward to it. Jake and I were pretty ready but a little part of us was sad too. I figured I would cry and Jake told me he would be fine as long as I didn't make a montage of pictures over the past 5 years... I agreed.

So we all got up and got ready to go that morning. We all trekked up to the school and made our way back to the playground where all the kids were lining up. There were millions of them I swear. Pretty soon we spotted Mason's teacher as they were marching in the building. He gave a few quick hugs and he jumped in line and he was off. No tears were shed by him, by daddy, OR by mommy!!! (Let me tell you though there were lots of crying mommas there!) It was bittersweet but overall we were so happy for him. We knew he was more than ready for kindergarten. He is always eager to learn and that made it so much easier on us knowing he would probably enjoy his time there.

That evening I picked him up from his after school program and he was very quiet. I asked him how it went, he said, "good." I asked if he liked it and he said, "yes." I asked what he had for lunch and he said, "a hamburger." I asked if he had recess and he said, "no." I then explained what recess was and he said, "oh yah we did." I asked him if he colored and he said, "yes." I asked lots of questions and got lots of one word answers. I then asked if anyone in his class cried and he said, "I did." Apparently he ended up in the wrong line leaving the lunch room and ended up in the gym. Luckily he found his way back and it wasn't too traumatizing because he was eager to go back on day #2. So basically what I have figured out is that he likes school and he's a typical male that doesn't feel the need to give his mother any of the details she so craves. He did spend more time telling Jake about his day, but when I asked Jake was he said, his response was, "I don't know he just told me about it." Wow... now I know where Mason gets it. ha ha.

Day 2 was somewhat exciting because Mason rode the bus for the first time. So far so good, he likes riding the bus, he likes his teacher and he's met a few new friends. I am still working on him for some details, but I won't hold my breath as I am sure they may never come.

Neighbor boys at the bus stop

And he's off...

Sutton is a potty machine!

Apparently my boys have some strange genetic trait that once they turn 28 months something clicks and the little voice in their head says, "it's time to start using the potty." A bit of background is probably necessary here.

So when Mason turned 2 I bought into everyone else scrambling around me who said you must start potty training. This went against my better wishes as changing diapers wasn't really that big of a deal to me (heck I had a 5 month old too so it was just part of the routine). Needless to say at the age of 2 he peed his pants a lot, over and over. I finally said forget this and gave up, I figured we'd resume by age 3. So I was shocked one day when Mason came home from daycare at the age of 28 months and asked to use the potty. I put him on there and sure enough he went. Then he asked for underwear, so I gave him underwear. A handful of accidents happened that first week but it was pretty minimal. Poof... he potty trained himself. At this point I thought I was the luckiest mom alive. Not only did I not have to do anything but he was really young "for a boy" as everyone said.

So child #2 turns 2 and there is NO WAY I am even thinking about the potty. I figured the first one did it on his time so this one will do it on his time too. The kid turned 28 months and just like his brother asked to go on the potty one day, and he went. I then gave him a choice of underwear or a diaper and he chose the underwear. Wow, and I thought I was lucky before. Now Iwas doubly lucky. I had 2 kids potty train themselves at 28 months, pretty ironic. Of course with Easton nothing is quite so simple...and he wouldn't poop on the potty. He went for a month peeing like a big boy but everytime he needed to poop he requested a diaper. And I gave in...until I got sick of it and we told him if he was big he had to start pooping in the potty. Lots and lots of sobbing on the potty occurred but eventually he did it and we were good.

Now baby #3 as you all know by now has a mind of his own. He does things his way, on his time, and really doesn't take much direction from anyone. So once again as people were asking about potty training, I said I was gonna let him do it when he was ready. I figured I was due for a kid that would be about 4 since I got so lucky the first 2 times. Last weekend we took a trip to the Cardinals game in St. Louis. At one point Sutton asked to go on the potty at the game and I said no you have on a diaper. (Yes I encouraged him to pee his pants). So Sunday night after we arrived home he asked again to go on the potty. I agreed and put him on there and he went. So I gave him the choice of the diaper or underwear and he said, "underweeer" in the cutest voice ever. (sidenote: I make him say underwear alot because it's so cute how he says it.) So if you are wondering how old Sutton is, well of course he's 28months! And he's only had a few accidents this past week so I think it is safe to say we are pretty much done with diapers in this house! Definitely exciting.

Because he is just learning he of course has to take off ALL his clothes to go potty. We also let him pee outside, and yesterday was our neighborhood block party. Sutton was constantly naked and peeing somewhere. He was the entertainment, especially because he bends his legs and leans back and occasionally scratches his butt while he's peeing. It's quite humorous.
So I wish I could say I am a super potty trainer and quite an amazing mother... but really it must be genetic. Now I just need to teach him to put his pants back on and to quit drinking a gallon of Crystal Light Lemonade a day and I will really be able to enjoy this!