Breakfast conversation

This morning we were all sitting at the table together, eating breakfast. Out of no where, Mason says:

"Hey guys I have a story....so....a boy was walking down the street, with his dog. Then a dina-hourse (dinosaur) came up and went RRRROOOOAAAAARRRR!!! The dina-hourse scared the boy. The End"

Little Monkey's at it again

(If you have not read the previous post, read that first)

I walked into Mason's room this morning and there was Cooper on the ladder of Mason's bunk bed again, only this time he was on the top rung.

Little Monkey

Seriously, what am I going to do with this little monkey? I came into Mason's room and found Cooper on the second rung of the ladder. So, I "spotted" Cooper while he climbed up the ladder the rest of the way by himself. I could tell by the look on his face that he was pretty proud of himself when he got to the top. It's like he was saying, I can't walk, but I sure can climb!

I guess it's time to take the ladder off...

Helpful little boys

As most of you know, I have my sister's three boys on Mondays and Tuesdays. At times it can be stressful, the time between lunch and nap is one of those times. Today Benjamin needed to eat, Cooper was cranky, and Zachary, Cooper, and Benjamin all needed their diapers changed. To cope with all this craziness, I made a bottle for Benjamin and had Connor hold Benjamin while he ate. After changing the other two diapers, I can back to the living room and found, Connor, Mason, Cooper, and Benjamin all trying to hold Benjamin's bottle. It was super cute! I just wish they would have stayed in the same position I found them in so I could snap a picture of it.

Or not..and I bet...

There are a few things Mason has been doing lately that I thought I should write down so I can always remember them.

First, when Mason asks us a question, he now gives us two options.

For example:
Do you want the light on or off? Are you going to work or staying home? Are you going to take a shower or not? Are you cooking dinner or not? Are you making cookies or not? Can I watch TV or not?

Pretty much every question he has is followed up with "or not". It's pretty funny, I wish I could get it on video, but it is really sporadic when he does it.

Second, is something I started doing with Mason. When I told Jeff my new idea, he told me I was going to turn Mason into a gambler. "Oh, I don't care", I thought, "as long as he does what I need him to do." But now that Jeff has seen my brilliant idea in action, and has seen that it works, he has jumped on the "gambling" wagon with me (and Mason). When Mason says he is done eating dinner but Jeff and I want him to eat a little more. We will say, "I bet I can finish my dinner before you!". Mason will then say, "no, I can finish first!". Then he will finish all his dinner. When we want Mason to help clean up his play room, we will say," I bet I can clean up faster than you!". Which, Mason will then say, :no I can clean faster than you!". Then Mason will help clean his play room. When Mason doesn't want to go up to bed we will say, "I bet I can get up stairs before you!" Mason will then say, "no, I can!" Then he will run up the stairs.

So, you get the idea. Yeah, it's brilliant, and we love it!

The Fireman

Mason's Newest Movie

Look what I found

While I was finishing getting myself ready this morning, I heard Cooper talking in his room I decided to leave him in his room for a little bit. When I went in his room to get him, this is what I found.

I guess he thought his pj's looked better on the floor.

Chuck E. Cheez-its

This afternoon Mason, Cooper, and I went to Chuck E. Cheez-its (as Mason calls it) with some friends from our ward. Neither Mason or Cooper had ever been to Chuck E. Cheese. They both had a great time and Mason can't wait to go back.

Mason and Cooper riding in the off-roader. Mason didn't like it when the truck moved up and down, side-to-side, or back and fourth. What did he expect? The ride to sit still or something?

Cooper can't wait until he is sixteen so he can really drive!

Mason and I played a game of air hockey.

Karaoke Hour

For awhile now, Jeff and I have been singing songs with Mason and Cooper before they go to bed. Mason is remembering more and more of the songs we sing together. Here he is singing the first verse of "I am a Child of God"

Guitar lessons

Mason is always wanting to play Daddy's guitars. So last night Jeff gave Mason a "basic" guitar lesson, if you can even call it that. Here is Mason showing off his newly learned skills.

Funny face

Cooper is always making this funny face and it makes me laugh.

Cooper's first steps

Cooper took his first steps on Tuesday! He took about three steps before he would fall. By the time we got the camera out, he wouldn't take more than one step. Darn him.

Carving Pumpkins

Tonight for FHE we had Jared, Michelle, and Ethan Patsfield and Kevin, Corrine, Allen, and Carter Meagher over for dinner and pumpkin carving. We had a great dinner, if I do say so myself. (No, I'm not bias or anything, being the chief and all) And we had lots of fun carving our pumpkins.

Allen and Mason, excited to start carving.

Jeff and Mason cut open the pumpkin and scraped out all the guts.

Mason, Jeff, Michelle, Ethan, Allen, Kevin, and Corrine

After the pumpkin was gutted, I had the honor of carving it.

Mason showing off our pumpkin!

All our finished pumpkins! From left to right: Corrine's, The Borders', Kevin's, The Patsfield's.

Project

Yesterday morning, Jeff caught me off guard by asking me if I wanted to install a folding table in our laundry room. This is something I really wanted to have, but I figured it would be A LONG time before Jeff became motivated to put one in.

So we went to Lowes and picked out an already assembled base kitchen cabinet, a sheet of plywood, brackets, vinyl tiles, and a piece of trim to finish up the edge.

Here is the (almost) finished project. All we have to do is put in a back splash and we will be done.

I have already used it to fold laundry. It is a really proficient way to get the laundry done. All I have to do is take the clean laundry out of the dryer, turn around and plop it on the table, fold it, and get it put way. I LOVE IT! Thanks Jeff for all your hard work!

For Uncle Robert

My brother Robert just moved back to town today, after living in various other cities for (I think) close to ten years. Robert has not come home for four years, so he has not had the opportunity to meet Mason or Cooper. So as it became closer to the day of Robert's return home, Jeff and I explained to Mason that he has an uncle whom he has not met, but that he would meet him very soon.

Mason became REALLY excited about meeting Robert. Jeff and I asked Mason if he wanted to make a movie for Robert. Mason said he did and that he wanted to show Robert that he could jump.

So, Robert, this video is for you.

Mason was kinda hard to understand because he was running and jumping so I translated for you:

Bye...See you later, bye...Robert I jump all the time...I run around all the time...Hey Uncle Robert...Watch...Watch Uncle Wabet...Watch...I jump... Robert...I jumped!

Happy Birthday Curtis!

Today is Jeff's Dad, Curtis' birthday. I won't tell you how OLD he is (48) but lets just say he is REALLY OLD. We love you Curtis, you truly are to best father, father-in-law, and Papa.

Happy (48th) Birthday Curtis!

Mason wanted to make this "movie" for you.

What happens when....

you get in a fight with the ledge of the window?

OK- so today Mason jumped off the arm of our leather chair and hit the corner of his eye on the ledge of the window. Since this picture was taken a few hours ago, the bruise has become a deeper purple and his eye has also become swollen.

What is going on? Mason gets his first big injury (to his lip) this last Friday, and now, today this. Truly, he has never (that I can remember) had this big of an injury. I know these two injuries are not that big in comparison to what injuries others have sustained, but for him, these are big.

Cooper's newest do!

I decided to go shorter this time. :)

For Grandpa and Grandma Long

Mason spoke to his Great Grandma Long tonight on the phone, after getting off the phone, he wanted to make a movie for Grandpa and Grandma Long.

Cooper also had a small part in the video. If you watch when he lets go of the couch, he was actually standing all by himself, which is something he still (at 14 months old) has not done very much.

Up to no good...

I guess I'm going to need to start pushing the computer chair every time I am done on the computer.

Zachary and Ethan's Birthday Party

Saturday night we had my nephews Zachary and Ethan's combined birthday party at our house. Zachary turned 3 on the Sunday and Ethan turned 2 on Saturday. Michelle did a Lightening McQueen theme, all the decorations and games were really cute.

These traffic cones were really creative party hats.

Ethan and Zachary playing "pin the lightning bolt on McQueen"

Mason fishing with Mater's hook

Me, Cooper, Alura, and Rachel

Check out the huge mound of shoes from all our guests! Yeah, we had a ton of people at our house.

Alura, Rachel, Bill, Jeff, Britany, and Abby

Pumpkin Patch 2008

Saturday morning we went up to the Harvest House in Green bluff with Jared, Michelle, and Ethan. It was really windy when we got there, so we decided to start off with our favorite tradition, eating fresh pumpkin donuts. Yummy!

Once we were done with our donuts, the wind died down, so we headed over to "pumpkin land" and let Mason pick out the pumpkin he wanted to take home to carve.

Just the right size for Cooper

Too cute!

Cooper approved of the pumpkin Mason picked out!

Being silly!

Mason and Ethan in front of a sign that says, "How tall are you this fall?"

I need to get out more...

Friday night Jeff and I went to Old Navy to try to find him some Khaki pants and jeans. After looking there and not finding any Khaki pants, we decided to head across the parking lot to the mall. We looked around a bit at shoes and I found a really cute pair of boots that were on clearance for $20. While I was paying for my boots, Jeff took Mason and walked the halls. When I met up with them, Jeff told me he had a surprise for me. We walked for a bit and then Jeff stopped at a store, I looked up at the sign and this is what I saw:

Now for anyone who doesn't know what this store is, it is a store owned by someone who is LDS. Everything in the store is modest. **The store does carry a line of spaghetti strap tank tops but they are longer in length, they are meant to be worn under other shirts to either a) give you the "layered look" or b) be tucked in so that when you bend over your back and butt are not exposed to the entire world. So, basically their tees and tanks are meant to expand you existing wardrobe and help women be modest even when the currents styles are not modest.

OK, so back to my story. I was so EXCITED to see this store. See at the North Town Mall all they have is a little kiosk, which only carries their plain tees and tanks (with and without lace on the bottom) I was just telling Jeff when we were walking into the Valley Mall that I needed some new clothes, and that I really wanted some items from Down East basics, but I didn't want to have to pay shipping just to get the clothes here.

I walked into the store and asked the manager working how long had they been in this location. She replied, "Since June". And to that I said, "I need to get out more". Anyways I was able to find a few really cute things for a decent price.

So, for anyone who has not heard of, or has not seen Down East basics full line of apparel, go out to the Valley Mall and check them out! (the store is on the main level)

Crash and Burn

I thought it would be a good idea to let Mason and Alex (a boy I am watching from our ward) ride bikes this morning while Cooper was taking his morning nap. Mason got his helmet on and hopped right on his new bike. While I was getting Alex's helmet on him, Mason fell off his bike and began SCREAMING! Once I got to him and got him up, I realized his lip was bleeding pretty bad. I got him inside and cleaned him up. The top layer of skin on his lip had pealed off and his lip was swollen.

I am really glad this happened to Mason and not Alex, I would have hated to try to explain that one to his mom, whom I just met.

New Do

I was getting REALLY sick of my hair style. So on Tuesday I got it all chopped off. Do you like it?

Imagination Part 2

For those of you who have been reading my blog for some time now, you may remember me talking about Mason's wild imagination (his bee and "the guys"). Well, the bee and "the guys" have all seemed to have disappeared. Now Mason has an imaginary friend named Andy. Andy is every where we are. At the house, the grocery store, Grandpa and Grandma's house, you name it, Andy is there. If you ask Mason where Andy is, he will point to where Andy is and say,"there he is!". This whole imaginary friend thing creeps me out.

Does any one know what (if anything) we should do about this imaginary friend thing?

Who's gene pool did I come from?

Jeff's Parents came across a picture of Jeff when he was nine months old. The similarities between Jeff and Cooper are amazing!

I scanned the little picture into the computer and enlarged it. Of course the picture in over 25 years old, so the quality is not that great, but you can still see how similar Jeff and Cooper look to each other.

*When Mason saw this picture, he said, "Hey there's me and Cooper!"

Cooper at nine months.

Free Handbag!

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Visit www.handbagplanet.com for your chance to win.

Will it ever grow?

For those of you who have been to our new house, you know that with in the first few days I ran over our freshly hydro-seeded lawn, leaving a nice big tire mark in the lawn. And yes, I did get a lot of comments (with some of those comments people did make fun of me) from various people including family, friends, qwest personnel, comcast personnel, and the Spokane City water dept. personnel. Last week, I bought some grass seed so we could fill in my big tire mark with dirt and then plant more grass. Well, Jeff (with the help of Mason) filled in the tire mark with dirt and planted grass.

Monday we had two deer prints in this spot. Now, every morning when we wake we have more and more deer prints.

It's not just the spot where I ran over the lawn that the deer like to walk, we have deer prints ALL over the lawn.

This is the life...

Cheap entertainment

A few days ago Mason and Cooper were sitting in our computer chair. I began spinning them, both of them seemed to be enjoying themselves. After a few minutes of spinning, Cooper looked dizzy, his dizzy looking face was priceless, so I took a little video of his face. And of course, Mason's laugh is the best!

Happy Birthday Debbie!

Today is my step-mom, Debbie's birthday! I am not sure how often she reads my blog, but I still wanted to wish her a happy birthday. I also wanted her to know how grateful I am to have her in my life. She has always been there for me throughout my life, and she continues to be there for me. Debbie is a wonderful grandmother to Mason and Cooper (all of her grandchildren), it is obvious she loves each one of her grandchildren and has a very special place in her heart for each one. Happy Birthday Debbie, I love you!