Thanksgiving Fun

We had a lot of fun visiting South Dakota for Thanksgiving. I am not sure Laurie's kitchen will ever be the same. I think Mason did some rearranging of her tupperware, pantry, and other things she might still be discovering. Laurie brought her outdoor fish in for the winter and we did catch Mason stirring them with a wooden spoon. Marina was a big help. Mason enjoyed playing with her. Tom also taught Mason a new song. Tom sits Mason on his knees and bounces him nicely as he sings "This is the way the ladies ride, the ladies ride, the ladies ride, this is the way the ladies ride clipity clipity clop" Then he bounces a bit faster and higher and sings "This is the way the gentlemen ride...clipity clipity clop" Then he alternates him on his knees slowly like he is on bumpy ride and sings "This is the way the farmers ride....clipity clipity clop, and pretends to drop him. Cute as can be. Mason loved it! Mason also loved the carpeted stairs. Loved them so much he treated them like a slide and would slide down them head first. I feel bad he had to come home to the hard wood stairs. He did attempt to go down our stairs head first when we got home, but I put a stop to that fun.


Mason also enjoyed playing the piano with Grandma Ellen.


Along with Ping Pong with Dad. Watch out Grandma Debbie Rob and Mason want a ping pong challenge with you over our X-Mas visit.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have a lot to be thankful for this year.





We took a long drive to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. Mason did great in the car, we stopped a couple of times at fast food play areas. I used to think they were germ infested gerbil cages for children, well I still think that, but boy does it help get some energy out. Mason didn't enjoy the gerbil cages that much, he did enjoy being free and running around. I am curious on what parents do when the children don't come out of the gerbil cage or get lost. We didn't witness any incidents, but they have to happen?
We celebrated Thanksgiving with Rob's brother Tom and his family. Grandma Ellen visited as well. Mason wouldn't eat any turkey, so his Thanksgiving meal wasn't any different than any other day. His first thanksgiving meal and he wouldn't eat it.

Lucky the Fish Still Alive

Just wanted to give proof and prove my point on how much Mason likes helping. Our beta fish named Lucky is still alive and kicking. We only clean the bowl when necessary and when Nana visits her job is cleaning the tank since she was so nice to give Mason the fish in the first place. We only wish she would visit more often! Rob bought Mason the handy step stool shown in attached photo of Mason helping me clean out the bowl. If only he would love helping like this forever. If someone would have told me that I would enjoy watching my 16 month old place fish pebbles one by one into the bowl I would have said "No" but that is what I did for 30 min yesterday. Watching the joy it brought Mason brought me joy, so corny and so true. And Rob says I'm not a patient person. PROOF that I am!

Mommy's Little Helper

Mason is such a big helper these days. It is kind of nice. You can ask him to go get your shoes and he brings them to you. He gets all excited to throw his diaper away in the forbidden trash. Still loves helping me with laundry, we have a lot of unmatched socks since he has been helping. I need to find out where he is stashing all of them. He now helps me unload the dishwasher. Hands me the dishes. Anything I am doing he wants to do too.
He is also very loving. He gives hugs away to anything. He loves his stuffed animals, live animals, toys, laundry, and of course mom and dad.
Our newest addition to our vocabulary is "NO" Ask him anything and his answer is "No" Very short and actually kind of cute. Ask me again in a few months and I bet the cuteness wears off.

Injured Reserved List

Rob and I play fantasy football with our neighbors. I should say Rob plays 2 different teams. I haven't been very good at keeping my team updated. I did learn about the injured reserve list and have had to replace some players.

Speaking of injured reserve, Mason received his first scar under his parents watch. We were outside playing and I started chatting with our neighbor as Rob chased Mason around the yard. Mason got excited when he spotted a small pumpkin on their front porch and went to go get it. He was successful until he had to dismount off the porch. He tried to step down like a big boy while holding his pumpkin and took a nose dive onto the concrete. Only about 5 inches, but enough to leave a mark. Rob had scooped him up and was consoling him like a great dad, when I say ohhhh he's bleeding. Rob gave his usual Noooooo then realized I was correct then went with his second favorite saying to me. "It's no big deal" I agree he will be ok, but not what I want to hear when our child is bleeding and crying. Rob has informed me that if he ever thinks something is a big deal with Mason I am in trouble. Needless to say, Mason is fine and the scar is ever so faint. The funny thing is that his school/daycare took pictures a few days later and captured the marks. You will see they tried to take the picture from his right side rather than his left due to the nose. I couldn't resist attaching the pic we took a few hours after injury.