Something is missing. . . .

The boys got jump ropes from the Easter Bunny and they've been playing "puppies" ever since. I only let them tie the rope around their wrists for safety reasons. ha ha ha. Anyhow, Mason kept putting it in his mouth and I kept telling him not to. Finally, I just grabbed the jump rope and pulled it out of his mouth, in the process his tooth became loose. He was so excited. All day he made comments like, "Thanks for making my tooth loose Mom!" and "You're so nice for loosening my tooth!" My favorite conversation of the day:
Mason: Mom, I can't remember what got loose today?
Me: Your tooth?
Mason: Oh yeah! That's right. Thanks Mom!
After much wiggling, he went to bed. The next day he was very diligent in his efforts and when Spencer got home, he pulled it out. You couldn't have found a prouder 5 year old!! The tooth fairy brought him a gold dollar. He carried it around for 2 days. Spencer and I were both kind of sad about the whole thing. He also got a haircut the next day and between the two, he looks like he's twelve! He is a handsome little man, that's for sure.

Mother's Day

Today I am completely grateful to be a Mom. I cannot put into words how much love I feel for the "little men" in my life. I am in awe that they can have so much energy and personality and be so close to our Father in Heaven. All three of them have brought such a different, strong, wonderful spirit into our home and family. Motherhood is such an amazing, overwhelming, hard, fantastic responsibility. Thank goodness my boys are also very resilient and forgiving! In honor of my great kids, here are a few things I want to remember about them right now.
MASON
Mason is quite the strapping young man now. I blinked, and my baby grew up. He is so smart and loves to read and figure out math problems. He has a huge heart. He is kind to everyone he meets and so loving to his brothers. He is a HUGE help to me and never complains when I ask him to grab a diaper or a binky for me. I would be lost without him. My time while he is at Kindergarten next year might be a challenge. He is full of personality and whit. The other day he said to me, "Mom, I don't need to brush my teeth anymore! I'm just going to lick them all clean everyday." The child's brain never stops. Another moment of brilliance came a day or so later. We've all had really bad allergies this year and are feeling quite congested. Mason again came to me with an idea, "Mom! I found a great way to unplug my nose!" He then showed me the process. He blew up a balloon, then kept it tightly in his mouth and squeezed the air out through his nose. Sick, but it worked I guess. He is so great. We are always laughing at something he does.


CARTER

This child is our challenge right now, but I wouldn't have it any other way. He is so full of life, energy, and bologna. The naughty things he does are kind of endearing. He talks 90 miles a minute and has a very strong will. (He couldn't have gotten that stubborn streak from his Dad. . .) A little boy could not have a softer heart than him. Every night he lays in bed until Mason falls asleep, then sneaks into our room and cuddles up to me. Then the jabbering begins. He talks non-stop for 30 minutes or so before he suddenly falls asleep. He is always running up to me to say, "I so wub you, you know dat?" He also sneaks out of his room at night and before I have a chance to be mad he'll say, "Mom, I forgok give you tiss!" How can I turn him down? Carter's laugh and HUGE smile brighten my day over and over again. Did I mention he pretty much potty trained himself? Just decided one day he wanted to wear underwear and hasn't had very many accidents since. Talk about a tender mercy!
DAVIS
Our Baby Davis is a sweetie pie. He's only a few months old, but his littler personality has us all wrapped around his little finger. His favorite people in the world are his big brothers. He laughs the hardest at them. Especially when they jump around for him. He comforts himself by grabbing onto things. More often than not it's his ear, so I have to keep his nails trimmed or he makes himself bleed! He tries to suck/chew on his hands and eat at the same time, which doesn't work out so well. Anytime you lay him down, he instantly rolls over on his tummy and starts exploring. Any day now he'll be crawling. He loves to be outside and he loves to be in his bouncy seat up on the counter or table so he can see what is going on. He is super ticklish and has chubby cheeks. Out of our three boys, he's probably been the most mellow. (And the most expensive. Ha ha ha. More medical issues than the other two. But nothing serious, so we can't complain.) I really can't remember what we did without him just a few months ago while he was still in Heaven!!

Ew.

Sitting in church yesterday I saw something weird in Carter's ear. You may be wondering what it was. Hint: We had Kix for breakfast. Yup. It was a soggy, milky, Kix. SICK! I tried to pull it out, but it was kind of disintegrating in there. It had been a while & it was squishy. I missed some apparently, because Carter took it out and ate it. I told him that was disgusting & he said, "No, it not gusting, it Mmmmmmmmm!"

Riding the Storm Out

Well our biggest little man just keeps getting bigger. The latest indication of this was the removal of his training wheels. Mason was apprehensive, to say the least, but we decided Tuesday was the day and off they came. We rode up and down the street with Spencer holding the seat or me holding his shirt. He was so afraid of going it alone, even though his Mom and Dad both knew he could do it. (It gives me the SMALLEST glimpse at how our Father in Heaven must feel about us. He knows what we are capable of LONG before we do! If only we would put our trust in him our fears would stop getting in the way!) Anyway, there were lots of tears and a few scrapes. We told him he couldn't go inside until he could do it all by himself. At one point he was just sobbing and screaming at us that he didn't want to do it. A short time later though, HE GOT IT! He was riding back and fort like a champ and even learned to start and stop bu himself. Before we headed inside he excalimed, "I love riding my bike with no training wheels guys!"










We're so proud of you Mason! You can do ANYTHING you set your mind to. Love you!


Here are some little videos of the whole ordeal:

More from my Kiddos

At church on Sunday, Carter was turning pages in the hymn book and asking Spencer what each song was called. He asked him 4 or 5 songs. On the last one, Spencer told him that title of the song and he said (as he traced the lines with his finger like he was really reading the words,) "No. Dis say Da gum da gum da gum! You Rea-y Rock? YEAH!" He seriously is a crack up.

Mason is learning to sound out words. We were at my work the other day and he was reading all the signs and stuff around the gas station. Then he saw the big blue word on the cooler door and said it super loud. . ."BEER! Mom that says BEER!! Why do they have beer here? It's so naughty." As people are purchasing beer and walking around holding beer. Yikes. Kids. :)

One of our family's new years resolutions is to have Family Home Evening every single week. We haven't missed one yet! I love that our kids love it and get so excited about it. Hopefully they are learning a little something too. It's especially fun to see Carter. It was his turn to pick the activity a few weeks ago. He picked "Rock, Paper, Scissors." So we had an intense tournament and he loved it. Last week it was his turn to pick the song. He wanted to sing Spongebob Squarepants. We talked him into Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam instead. I hope we can reach our goal and not miss a single week this entire year!

And FYI I am aware of my blogging slackerness and I apologize! I have good intentions if that counts for anything!!

Perfect Yogurt

Carter: DAD!

Spencer: What?

Carter: You gok ry dis!

Spencer: What is it?

Carter: You gok ry dis perfek yogut! It's so so wummy!

I didn't even know he knew the word perfect. Apparently he does and apparently it was just the word he needed to describe his yogurt tonight! I wish I could describe the look on his face as he said it. So seriously excited and loving that yogurt! Love him!

Carter was saying something over and over and over the other night and we COULD NOT figure out what it was!! A few days later we finally put it together. He was saying, "You sayrup, sayrup, sayrup, Jenny!" Come to find out what he was trying to say is, "You're my favorite favorite, favorite Jenny!" Awe! What a sweet heart.

If Carter REALLY wants something badly, he will say, "Pees on whe-wee-wop?" Got that? I didn't think so. Translation: Please with a cherry on top? ha ha ha. He is a crack up.

Carterisms

Our little Carter Pants has started talking up a storm all of a sudden. I figured it would happen that way. It was the same with walking. He wouldn't even attempt it 'till he was sure he could do it without wobbling or falling. About a week or so ago he just started blabering and hasn't stopped since. Last Monday I changed his diaper in the middle of the night and didn't put his pants back on. When he woke up, he said, "Mom, shorts back on now." and I about died. 1 word at a time to 5 words sentences overnight! Here are a few of his favorite phrases this week:


-(while I'm laying by him trying to get him to sleep and he's trying to escape) "Back one mim-ut"
-(after he gets in trouble and cries for a few seconds) "Happy Now!"
-(when I ask what he wants for lunch) "buba a-wuch" (aka peanut butter sandwich)
-(when he wants to tease someone) "You cheese ball!" or "You booga!" (booger) or "You tinty!" (stinky)
-(when he is finished eating) "han and wase!" (aka wash my hands and face.)
-(telling anyone who will listen about playing the wii.) "Wii! B!! Fun!!" (He loves to push "B" on the Wii remote.)
-He says to me, "You Dada!" and I say, "No I'm not!" and he says, "Are Dada!" He thinks he's so funny! I do too.
-(after he picks his nose and is handing it to me) "Big fat booga!"
-(when eating anything warm, cold, hot, or in between.) "Wee-wee ot! Bwo it!" (Really hot! Blow on it!
-(when Mason does something he doesn't like.) "May-may, meen, hit." (even if Mason didn't actually hit him.)
-Every night he goes to the fridge asking for a "whoop!" (fruit.) He has to have an apple, or a peach, or a pear, or a pluot before he goes to bed.

I know there are more, I just can't think of them at the moment. He seriously cracks me up. Both of our kids are so much fun. Being their Mom is the best job ever.

My Hot Hubby

So Spencer and I were on a photo shoot one day in October and as we were waiting for our client I wanted to do a few test shots. Of course, he obliged. He always does because he is awesome. So I had this image, never looked at it, just sitting in a folder on my computer. I found it yesterday and I think he is really hot. I was telling Spencer and Mason that I thought it was a good picture. "Mason, I think Daddy is hot!!" (He "hates" we we talk about being in love, kiss in front of him, or anything like that.) This banter went back and forth for a minute and then we thought it had past. Anyway, a little while later, Spencer let a stinky toot. (Why do men feel they have to prove their manhood in this manner??) Mason was totally grossed out and said in his sassiest voice,

"Now do you think Dad is hot Mom? Now that he REEKS??"

Oh my. You just never know what is going to come out of that mouth. Should I just rename this blog, "funnymasonquotes.com" or what?

More Specific

I know I hardly ever post anything besides things my kids do, but I think they are funny! If you don't that's fine with me. (But you are wrong BTW.)

Picture this. We are all sitting at the snack bar. Mason gets down and goes to the fridge. He is thirsty. We have a bunch of water bottles we keep in the bottom drawer, but whoever filled them up last put them on the top shelf. Seeing the water bottles way up there, Mason tried to climb the shelves to get one. Seeing the tragedy that was about to unfold, we told him not to and asked him what would be a better choice? He replied, "Ask a grown-up." Good idea. So he asks me to please get him a drink. I reply, "Why don't you just use your cup that is right in front of you on the counter and get a drink from the fridge?" He looks around for a few seconds for the cup that was literally right in front of his face. Finally he finds it. (Here's where it gets better.) He takes the cup over to the fridge. Turns it upside down. Sets in on the floor. Tries to stand on it so that he can reach the water bottle on the top shelf. (I was thinking he could use the water dispenser in the door of the fridge and fill the cup up with water. Hence, the title of this post.) Oh. My. Word. We were laughing SO HARD. And we couldn't stop. So Mason thought we were laughing AT him which made him cry. Which made us laugh even harder. This description is not doing the situation justice. Trust me. It was funny.

Pretend Drinks

We are trying to get Mason potty trained at NIGHT. Quite a task. So he isn't allowed to drink water before bed at night. This is REALLY hard for him. He is one thirsty little fella. Last night we were trying to get him to bed and he was crying that he was so thirsty. I told him we would trick his tummy and he could have a pretend drink.

Me: OK Mason, here is your drink! (Handing him a pretend drink.)
Mason: No Mom! It's not real!
Me: SSHhhhhh!! Don't tell your tummy it's not real and it won't know!

This same conversation was repeated over and over and over as we were trying to get him to fall asleep without a drink. A few minutes later, he got off his bed and got a drink.

Me: Mason, did you just take a drink? (A little angry at this point.)
Mason: No Mom, it was a pretend drink!

I guess that one bit me back huh??

Video Overload

So I just barely got all of the pictures and videos off of our point and shoot camera for the WHOLE year! Like since January. I use my big camera most of the time now. There were some funny videos I want to post, mostly for grandparents sake, but everyone else is welcomed to enjoy them also! I sure love my boys!


Carter and Daddy making funny sounds!





One of Carter's early bath experiences.






Mason and Carter Playing Cars








"Hey You Guys"
(If you haven't seen the movie Goonies you will not get this video.)






That's what you get when you play a country song backwards
My boys both LOVE music. They are really into classic rock and pretty much will dance to anything. This is one of Mason's many "favorite" songs. Videos never give his dancing justice. And Carter always stops dancing once he is on camera. I wish you all could be a fly on the wall during one of our family dance parties! It is a good time!! ;)




The next 3 videos were on a really fun night. We were "putting the boys to bed" and they were being so funny! Mason was dancing and Carter was trying to copy everything he did. I just caught a little bit of the funniness. Once again, I wish you all could've seen the whole experience! It was so so so funny!!










Happy Sunday!

An update on the boys

Mason has been saying funny things lately. Well, he always does, there are just a few that REALLY hit my funny bone the last few days.


Remember Hunny? (Mason's imaginary girlfriend.) The other day he hadn't mentioned her all morning so I asked him about it.
Me: Mason, where is Hunny.
Mason: I don't know.
Me: You don't know?
Mason: No. I broke up with her. (No. I didn't even know he knew the term "broke up.")
Me: That's so sad! What happened?
Mason: (In his angry attitude voice) She called me Todd.

Don't be alarmed. They are back together. I'm not really sure what happened, or who Todd is for that matter, but he doesn't seem too concerned about it.

Also, I got the planet earth videos for Spencer for his birthday. We are weird and like watching Discovery Channel type shows. Mason and Spencer were watching it the other day and a Tiger chased an elephant and ate it. Mason was very concerned and said to Spencer, "Dad! He didn't even say prayers before he ate!"

Okay, one more from him. We were watching that same show and Spencer and I started talking about how animals won't eat each other in the millennium and we were talking about whether or not we would be able to eat steak. Then I said we probably can, it will just be made out of soy beans. Spencer said something like "You can make anything out of those beans." Mason had been listening the whole time and piped in, "Ya! and bacon!" So if you were wondering, yes we will have steak in the millennium, it will just be made of bacon. We laughed so hard! He was really embarrassed and didn't know why we were laughing. It made total sense to him!




Carter is pretty funny lately too. He likes to burp. He fake-burps all of the time. It cracks me up. He also LOVES to dance. His current favorites are ACDC and Queen. He head bangs, claps, and waves his arms around in his carseat where ever we go. He will NOT fall asleep in his own bed at naptime anymore, but if I put him in the highchair he is out in minutes. So, every day I put him in the highchair while the big boys are eating lunch and move him to his bed when they are finished eating. He calls everyone (including himself) Dada. His favorite word (and pretty much the only word he says besides Dada) is "that" and he says it all day and points at things. He still WILL NOT walk. Whenever we try to help him he either sits down immediately, or if we are holding on to his arms trying to get him to stand up he just hangs there with his legs curled up. We have caught him standing by himself and taking a few steps accidentally, but if he's thinking about it, he just won't do it. He still loves Mason more than anyone else! Currently his favorite playtime activities are emptying the pans out of the kitchen cupboards, eating crayons, unrolling all of the toilet paper, and eating the windowsills. (Yes I really mean EATING them. There are gaping holes all along the windows.)



Wow our kids are funny. There is never a dull moment around our house!
I love my crazy life!

Smelly House

Mason and I were dusting the piano today and I decided it was time to switch Scentsy flavors. Here is our conversation.


Me: Mason, let's change our candle flavor. What do you think our house should smell like?
Mason: I have a great idea!
Me: Okay, what?
Mason: (With a huge grin and eyebrows going up and down) Tacos!

I don't think they make Scentsy bars that flavor. I wonder why?

Little Miss Muffet

We are learning Mother Goose Rhymes in preschool this month. Today was Little Miss Muffet. We talked about what a tuffet is and curds and whey. Then we learned about spiders. They all learned the rhyme and we repeated it just before they went home.

Then, Spencer came home for a few minutes during his prep period. I told Mason to tell Daddy the rhyme he learned today. He did so excitedly!

"Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and waves. Along came a spider, who sat down beside her, and FREAKED HER OUT."

He could not figure out why we were laughing so hard. He was totally serious. Oh my word, that kid makes me laugh every single day. He is great!

No, I Promise!

Spencer and I were in cleaning the bathroom the other day and we heard Mason across the hall jumping on his bed. Here is the conversation that followed:

Me: Mason come here. Are you jumping on your bed?
Mason: No.
Me: Are you sure? I thought I heard you jumping on your bed.
Mason: No. I wasn't.
Me: Then what were you doing?
Mason: (Silence.)
Spencer: (To me) Watch, I can get him to tell the truth. (To Mason) Mason, were you just jumping on your bed?
Mason: No Dad.
Spencer: Are you sure?
Mason: I wasn't. I promise.
Spencer: Are you telling the truth.
Mason: Yes! I was just playing on my bed.
Spencer: You were playing on your bed?
Mason: Yes.
Spencer: What were you playing?
Mason: Jumping.

At this point, I started laughing uncontrollably and ruined the teaching moment Spencer was trying to create. (Sorry Babe.) He proceeded to talk to Mason about lying, but I was laughing so hard I don't think Mason heard a word of it. What a nut!!

I love the little Quirks

My boys make me laugh. Here are s few things about them lately:

- - -Carter LOVES bread and sweet potatoes. We went to In-N-Out a few weeks ago and we had to buy him his own BUN. The kid at the register thought I was nuts. "So you just want me to take a bun right out of the bag and hand it to you? Okay. . . " Sweet Potatoes are the only "baby food" flavor I can get him to eat. He'll eat others for Daddy, just not me.
- - -Mason is obsessed with the number 3. He has to eat things in multiples of three, play with things in multiples of three. . . . .
- - -Mason loves finding words that rhyme. Then he will repeat them and say, "Mason, Race'n. . . .That goes together!!!!!"
- - -Carter LOVES Mason. He thinks he is the FUNNIEST thing EVER. All Mason has to do is walk by and Carter just giggles. I love that they love each other so much.
- - -Mason eats oatmeal for 2 meals most days. He just can't get enough of it.
- - -Mason's favorite "job" to do is sweep the floor and sing, "sweep sweep lion tail, sweep sweep lion tail. . . " (Also known as "Sing Sweet Nightingale" on Cinderella.)
- - -Carter is so happy. He has had an ear infection for WEEKS, but he never cried so we didn't take him to the doctor. I FINALLY convinced Spencer that we should just take him in and check. He's been on that lovely pink liquid (a.k.a Amoxicillian for almost a week now!)
- - -Carter's favorite toy to play with in the car is our empty pop bottles. If he is fussy, we just hand our empty bottle back to him and he's happy!
- - -Carter has THE SADDEST sad face I have ever seen. It breaks my heart. I got stern with him for biting the other day and he looked at me with his big blue eyes like the world was ending. I can't explain it other than it is SO SAD!! It made me cry. I hope he doesn't learn to use that face to his advantage or we could be in trouble!
- - -They both love to be outside. They love to play in the yard, go to the park, go on walks, go hiking. . . . You name it. We've gone hiking a few times this year, and I hope we can go lots more because they have so much fun!
- - -Mason has a few imaginary friends he refers to as "the girls." They don't have names, and I'm not sure how many of them there are, but he brings them everywhere. I have to leave the car door open long enough for them to get out. One day, we accidentally left them at the store and we had to send my Dad to go "pick them up."
- - -Carter will not swallow rice cereal or baby food. He likes the taste of it, but he just leaves it in his mouth. He takes bite after bite, and it all just sits in there, dripping and flowing out when he gets to full. I get so frustrated! He swallows for Spencer and that makes me even more mad! I will have to stick with bread and freeze dried yogurt. Daddy can handle the cereal and baby food!

I could keep going, but I'm sure you're bored and I need to go to bed. They have just been doing the funniest little things lately and I couldn't help but share. They are so much fun. We are so lucky to have them in our little family!

Can you tell what I've been saying?

I'm waiting for paint to dry, so I thought I'd blog a little.

Today Mason and I were sitting at the snack bar eating lunch. (He was eating strawberry mini-wheats and blueberry mini wheats mixed. And some milk. His own recipe. He was bound and determined to have it for lunch. I figured it was healthy, so why not?) I was looking through a photography book as we ate. There was a picture of a girl with a serious face. . . (You know like the senior picture "too hot to smile" look?) Mason saw it and said, "Mom, she has an attitude huh? She needs to go to time-out. We don't give somebody attitude." So funny. You can tell who else has had an attitude lately! Big time. Good thing he is cute though huh?

Well, back to painting! Can't wait till I can post pictures of the finished product. . . .

Conversation With Mason

If you could call it a conversation. He did most of the talking.

Mom, these are hands huh?
Yup, those are your hands.
They are neat.
They can clap like this.
They can clap at football games, and basketball games, and soccer games.
SOCCER GAMES!! That is when some boys run and run. And kick. And kick the ball. Then they run and kick the ball into that soccer ball web.
That's preally neat huh mom.

His brain never stops. Ever.

The darndest things

At preschool on Tuesday, we learned about MLK day a little bit. We read a book and then we were talking about how a long time ago people were mean to people who looked different and had darker skin than they did. Mason pipes in, "Like Barack Obama?" (Don't ask me how Mason knows who Barack Obama is, but he does and he loves him.) Then another little boy says, "My Mom wanted Obama to win, but my Dad didn't." Then someone else said, "My Mom wanted Obama to win too." Then, my favorite comment, one little girl very adamantly informed the class, "My Mom wanted President Monson to win!" They all got in a big argument about who should win. Barack Obama, or President Monson. I love teaching preschool. They crack me up. Today we are learning about Arctic Animals. I wonder what they will come up with. . .

The Piano has power!!!

So last night our power went our unexpectedly. We later found out that a power line was on fire. There was no power on the side of St. George where we live. We would look out side and the only light we could see was the light from cars. It was kind of cool!! Mason liked it for a minute and then began to get scared. He carried his flashlight all over the place. He kept trying to turn on the lights and we would tell him the power was out. His response was Why? We told him it just was. He then went to turn on the T.V. Guess what it didn't turn on!! He asked why it didn't work? The power is out Mason we said. Why? was his response. He then went around the house testing the rest of the lights. Did not work. He finally went over to the piano and pressed the keys!! Guess what!! It worked. He came running into the kitchen shouting the piano has power, the piano has power!! Jenny and I got a good laugh out of that!! How could we tell our son that the power for the piano came from him!!! Anywho after about 40 minutes our power did come back. It is good to know that when the power goes out somehow it magically still works on our piano!! What a crazy kid!!!