Birthday Boy

Mason was pretty disappointed his birthday party wasn't after school on his actual birthday.  I tried to explain that it needs to be on a "stay home day" (as he calls weekends) so his friends could all come.  He really wasn't buying it until I said we were having two parties...one with his friends on Sunday and one on the night of his birthday with Mickey Mouse and Pops.  Thank the stars above I ended up making a cake...that would've been a disaster!

Here he is waiting for his Daddy to get home so he could open the presents.  It was pure torture for him. 

 Here we go. 

I got a picture of him doing his "Yessssssss" after he gets or hears something he likes.  

Waiting for the grand finale...

What is it?!?!

A Jeep Wrangler.  He was impressed.  Big props to Mickey Mouse and Pops. 

Brody was having a fit he couldn't get in there.  We let him finally ride along but Mom had to walk with them....Mason isn't too good at letting his foot off the pedal just yet.  

Case in point:

I don't know how many times he ran into our cars.  We have already practiced some today and have vastly improved. 

This kid wouldn't get off.  It will probably be like this in however many years until Mason is 16.  "Drive me here, Mason."

Got a little shy when we sang Happy Birthday.  

Such a good picture but notice he is holding his Batman toy that flies... 

He asked me to take another picture and when I did, he pulled the trigger on the toy.  Best.  Picture.  Ever.  Dad is terrified it is going to hit him in the face and check out Mason's face.  

Not cooperating on taking a family picture 

We love this little guy so much and are so so proud of him.  I think he had a pretty awesome birthday.  

FOUR

Before we get to the birthday boy, I need to post a couple of pictures from this past weekend. 

We didn't do too much.  John was out of town for work from Thursday morning until Sunday.  This was his first weekend to be gone with work, and I personally thought it was horrible.  I would much rather him be gone during the week.  Unfortunately, we have a couple of more to do before the end of the year.  

The upside was I got to hang out with these two all by myself.  By the end of the weekend, Mason told me he had a really fun weekend with just me.  Maybe he likes me as much as his Daddy after all.  =)

We did a lot of wrestling. 

We went shopping with Mickey Mouse, got some fall clothes for the boys, and then headed to Newks for lunch.   It rained the most of the day Saturday, so we had a relaxing day at home the rest of the day.  

John got home around 2 and we all headed to Max's birthday party.  There was a bounce house and that's where Mason was the whole time.  

John got in there with Brody but he wouldn't even stand up.  

So John picked him up and bounced with him.  If you think he is laughing in this picture, you are wrong.  Screaming.  

That was it for the bounce house with Brody. 

Well today was the day our sweet little kiddo turned FOUR!  He has really been looking forward to his birthday this year.  

Last night we made a cake.  Mason helped me with the batter before he headed to bed.  I decorated it and surprised him this morning.  

He loves to help bake.  

But there is nothing better than licking these. 

I used M&Ms to make the superman symbol.  It didn't turn out perfect, but he was still excited.  

Time to wake up!  He's never been so excited to be awake in the morning.  

Batman is 4.  Can you tell we are into superheros these days?!

I think this might have been when Brody found out he wasn't coming along to the donut shop.  

We were taking donuts to Mason's class so it was the perfect opportunity for a birthday date. It was pouring down rain, but it wasn't gonna stop us.  

We had to stop him at two and a half.  

We had a great night, but I will post the pictures tomorrow.  

I cannot believe he is four.  The time has flown by.  This kid has made our lives full of excitement and laughter and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  

Pinterest Ideas Around the House

This post is just a few pictures from the week.  Random pictures.  

Brody has a cold and all kinds of molars coming in, which makes for a tired boy.  I've been trying to keep him awake on the drive home from work.  It only takes about 20 minutes but that is the perfect time to have just gotten into a deep sleep when we pull into the driveway.  

Obviously I failed at keeping him awake this day...

 I laid him on the couch thinking he would wake up, and nothing.  So then I sat him up and he was still out.  It took some yelling by his brother to get him up.  

Which is payback because this is how we wake Mason up most mornings.  =)

Brody just gets so excited when we go in there.  It looks like a cruel way to wake someone up, but Mason actually starts laughing and jumps right up.  When Brody doesn't wake him up, he is grumpy for sure.  

Mrs. Beaudry, Mason's teacher, does a great job at documenting what they do at school by emailing us and putting up pictures in the room.  One day last week they made pizza and they loved it.  Mason talked about it all night.   We need to do that at home more often.  

We found this shirt on clearance at Target and I thought it was cute.  It says little brother's popcorn on sale for 25 cents.  I told Mason what it said and put it in the cart.  When I put it on him the other morning, he was so excited he was going to make some money at school.  Ha.  

Another birthday party at Mrs. Pat's house.  Why why why do they always have to have colorful cake/cupcakes?!?!  (In her defense, she always offers to send him home in his spare outfit and wash it out for me.)  Look at this kid!  He ate his whole BLUE cupcake of course.  

I went to pick up the boys Friday after work from my parents' house.  It looked like a tornado had been through (this was just one room...).  They obviously wore Pops out as well.  

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I have been trying to decorate on a budget, which is so hard to do.  I finally did a couple of things thanks to Pinterest.  

I had the two matching frames in a closet stashed away and I found the grey one from Michael's for 7 bucks I think.  I also already had the B.    I would have never thought I could mix and match but I think it turned out great.  Of course our family pictures we had taken made it work!!!  

I painted some letters from Hobby Lobby and put them over Mason's bookshelf.  Then I just printed the cover page of some books off the internet onto image paper at work and put them in the cheapest frames I could find!  

I've also had my Mom working hard.  =)  We picked out some fabric and then my seamstress, a.k.a. my mom, got to work.  I had seen where people had only made two panels on two windows side by side instead of four and also hung the curtains higher on the wall.  I was a little nervous about trying it, but worst case scenario would just be having to make two more panels.  

But I LOVE how they turned out.  I think it looks great!  Not to mention, my seamstress did a pretty awesome job.   I will def be using her again. 

Busy Busy Weekend

We got home from work Friday night, ready for the weekend, and the worst thing ever happened...we lost the remote.  Of course it really isn't that big of a deal, we just have to walk upstairs and get one of the others.   And I should probably say we do other things besides just watch TV, but I really couldn't find it.  

I opened the back door hours later and almost stepped on this...

This doggy door might not be such a good thing after all.  

Speaking of this wild child of ours, he has a new way to eat.  Pat mentioned something about it, but I had never seen it in person until Saturday morning.  

"Look Mom, no hands!"

Silly kid. 

We had a busy day planned for Saturday.  Here are both boys dressed in their cute matching shirts before the pumpkin patch.  I do realize they will hate me later for this; but for now, I will enjoy it.

We have never been to a real pumpkin patch so I was really excited.  We went to Priddy Farms in Bartlett and had a blast.  We met two of my friends from work and their families.  

I didn't get a picture of this giant wooden thing but it is built like a ship with a slide and all kinds of areas to climb.  Mason loved it.

Next up was this fun ride that I have no idea what it is called.  The little boys couldn't ride, but Mason and Max jumped in a cart.  One of the workers jumped on a tractor and pulled it along.  

Family photo time.  

Leann, Brian, and Ethan

Sweet boy and all those pumpkins. 

They loaded all of us up on a hayride to go to the patch where the pumpkins grew.  

 Jani, Chris, and Max on the hayride. 

They had already picked all the pumpkins but they sat a lot of 3-5lb ones on the vines for the kids to pick out one.  Mason told us all morning long he was going to look for the biggest one they had.  

Brody checking them all out. 

The pumpkins really were all about the same size but this one Mason found had the longest stem on it.  He was so proud.  Ha.  

These pumpkins are heavy for a little guy.  

grumpy old man smile. 

And he finally picked it up.  So proud of himself.  

Ethan back on the hayride before we headed back to the farm.  

Next it was time to stuff scarecrows.  I had actually never done this before.  It was fun but certainly a tad scratchy...

Mason was proud.  I made him hold it like his head was the scarecrow's head.  It still makes me laugh.  

 We had such a fun time.  These guys got some great pumpkins (along with the other ones we got for carving).   Fun fun family outing.

We were all packed and ready to head to Hot Springs to celebrate the life of my Uncle Jim.  He passed away a week ago Saturday after fighting a horrible disease.  He was such an amazing person and has always been such an important man in my life.  

Mom and Dad were already there and called to say it was storming.  They didn't like the idea of us driving there with the kids and then turning right back around to head back home like we had planned.   We ended up not going this weekend but are going to make a trip either this coming weekend or in a couple of weekends.  

We went back home and caught up on some much needed rest.  

This morning we headed to church but there was no before church picture because it was a zoo in our house.  It was nuts. 

This afternoon we celebrated Brinkley's 4th birthday at Pump it Up.  We had never been before and Mason was in heaven.  

This guy had a pretty good time too.  

These slides were huge!  Mason was so light he flipped and turned the whole way down.  

Going down a slide himself!! (or a wedge that is used as a step to jump into the obstacle course...whatever works!!!!)

I think its safe to say the party was a hit.  

Singing happy birthday.  

Best cousin-buds.

Busy weekend = nap on Sunday afternoon

We ended the weekend with a fun little stroll around the neighborhood.  

 Brody was having fun.  Check out that face.  

Sorry for the loooooooong post.