Mason's First Day of School

Mason was more concerned about walking out the door to go to school than he was with a silly picture. I conquered though, he knew we couldn't leave until he looked at me for one picture! Silly man!! Long story short, Mason goes to the school on base. See, I told you that would be short. We are excited for all the services that will be at the school and also to see Mason back in school. He was grinning the whole way to school! He LOVES school. I was the one that was so emotional about the whole day. I left in tears, but it ended up better than I thought. If I am at school Mason really has a hard time staying focused. Leaving him with strangers and hoping they can do it is an anxiety rush for any parent. I think the pressure is 100 times greater with Mason. I really took advantage of the fact that I knew Mason's teachers back in ND. He started school in Grand Forks, therefore, we were very confident to have him go and not worry at all. At the end of the day Mason was still smiling, today he headed right for his class room. Next week we start the Taxi service that will transport Mason to and from school. He has met his driver and he seems like a very nice man, a silly older gentlemen that was making Mason laugh uncontrollably when I went to the school yesterday. Everything should work out wonderfully.
To all of you in Grand Forks who worked with Mason. I miss each and every one of you!! You guys really made it hard to trust anyone else in the future to do such a wonderful job with my son. I pray that I will feel the same way about this group here by the end of our tour in England!

Mountfitchet Castle

We went to Mountfitchet Castle this week and had a really good time. I just love that within an hour there is alot to do. We started by going through the Toy Museum next to the castle. As well as walking through the dinosaur models. This place had a bit of everything to see. The Toy Museum was pretty cool. It is amazing that one man has collected it all. He has the largest privately owned collection. What a hobby! He still buys old stuff that people bring in. You can buy some things as well. Obviously the prices were a little steep for us to invest in. :)
Then it was on to the castle, or what is left of it. I, of course, forgot to take a picture of the little rubble left of the castle. Sorry about that. They had set up a bunch of different huts to explain about life back in 1066. It was very interesting and the kids thought it great. Well, Carter mostly thought the swords, watch towers and the bow & arrows were the greatest. Then Mason and Taylor just wanted to chase the chickens, turkeys, pigeons, and doves. They were hilarious and try as I might they did not want to stand for a picture to save their lives. I guess it was a time the camera was put away and I just enjoyed the kids. Considering the torture room was the most fascinating, although also the most disturbing I opted out of pictures in there. It is amazing what those people thought of as justice. I wonder who thought up all those punishments?

Also, sorry for the mass posting at once lately. I will try to spread them out more.

I am woman hear me roar!

I just wanted to share that my daughter is more like me than originally thought. This is a picture of me at Mountfitchet castle. I didn't realize I had the diaper bag on my shoulder and just thought that if this isn't a supermom picture, I don't know what is. Then last night we got this......
That would be my daughter talking on her little pink princess phone and sword fighting her brother at the same time!!! Go Taylor!! Also, check out her bicep, she rocks!!

Mason Moments

Just for the record, hell might be freezing over!
I had to get up at about 5 am today to wake my mom and get Carter up. They are going to the airport with Mike to pick up Grandpa Mason. :) yippeee
Well, this is the first night since we have moved that Mason has slept through the night!! Applause, bow, thank you, thank you. In fact it is now 6:30 am and he is just coming out of his room. It's a miracle, a miracle, at my house. Of course this had to happen on the day I had to get up early anyway, go figure! I was just so tickled by this great moment I had to share. Don't worry I will be set back into reality tonight when he crawls in my bed at midnight and hopefully goes back to sleep before tearing into, wrecking or otherwise doing something completely annoying and messy. :) I love my Mason he makes everyday and night a surprise! I can't wait to get his bed fixed. He is actually enclosed(nice word for locked in) at night. It really is for his own safety and that is the one thing that broke on our move. Out of all the things that broke, had to be the lock to his bed!

On another Mason note.....

I don't have an actual picture of the tower, but Mason built a 7 block tower yesterday! You can see in this picture that he is securing the sides of the tower. This is a first for Mason and we thought it was awesome!! I didn't get the camera quick enough to take a picture of the big one, but it was great!!! Four blocks is his standard, but he went above and beyond!

Whipsnade Zoo

We went to the zoo last week and had a great time. It was one of the biggest Zoo's I have ever been too. The kids loved it. We didn't realize how big it was and so were weren't able to see it all. The kids are really wanting to go back soon.
The lions were really cool. We got there just in time to see them up and wrestling. About 5 minutes after we left we could hear them roaring. Mike thought that was really awesome. It isn't everyday you hear lions roaring, and they are loud!

highlights.....

I don't really know if that is a face you want on a big sister. Taylor is certainly testing the bounds with Brennan, but for the majority of the time she is very loving and sweet with her little baby brother.
Check him out! These are the new uniforms that Mike gets to wear now. They are pricey and we were waiting for a deployment because they are issued for free. When they say wash and wear, no ironing needed we jumped. Mike is VERY neat and tidy when it comes to his uniforms, so without ironing we are saved hours of time to spend as a family now!!! I love him.
Congratulations to our good friends Damian and Lisa. They just had their little boy Murlin. This was just a comparison shot we thought we should do of the little guys. Congratulations guys!
While visiting the new baby Mason wanted to crawl up on Gma's lap and cuddle. Since taking pictures with him is a bit tricky we snapped a shot while we had it. What a handsome boy we have.

Happy Anniversary

It is a little strange to me that I have actually been married 8 years. Yesterday was our actual anniversary. I just want to let you all know what a wonderful husband I have. Mike and I have been challenged more than I ever thought possible in our life together and we always make it through together. I hope that Mike does know how much I love him. How much our friendship means to me and how much I look forward to the many more years together.

Falling into peer pressure..

I am really bad at following through on people's tags, getting to know you lists etc.. Well, I have had a good time writing memories in peoples blog's that I thought I would have people help me out. I think a handful of you have done this so far and hopefully I wrote something on everyone's. So help me out in thinking to the past for a few laughs today.
*Feel free to leave one about Mike as well, he also reads the blog.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Caught on camera

Brennan is getting so BIG!! I'm sorry, I know I am constantly saying that. It's just that he really is. He is 11 lbs already. That is insane to me. Where did my little tiny baby go?

We finally were able to catch Brennan's smile on camera. The first was a few weeks ago and he has been giving more and more everyday. I love those first smiles. It is just a reminder of many more to come. Brennan has been laughing in his sleep since he was born, he is just one happy little chap. ;) How handsome is this little man? He loves laying on his tummy. His head is getting further and further off the ground. I have a feeling he is quickly going to be up and moving like Carter was. Taylor LOVES Brennan, sometimes a little bit to much love comes from her. She got mad at Mike today because he tried to pick Brennan up right after this picture was taken. She just said, "touch, no." That was with her lovely Taylor glare included.
This was our attempt at getting a shot of all 4 with their heads together. As you can see, it didn't work this time....

Ode to Corelle

My dishes were breaking one by one
after 7 years, they were nearly gone.
We had searched high and low
until we thought, give Corelle a go

I think we had been mislead

when shatter proof is what we read
it was only an inch
a plate was gone in a pinch

Mason started to whine
Taylor was way out of line
Corelle did not hold up to it's label
Proof given when it dropped to the table


With everyone upset, we started to clean
little pieces of glass can cause quite a scene
I could understand if this was the only one,
but now my platter is also gone.