beach camping

Ever since we left Utah and Idaho, we haven't really found a place that resembles camping like we knew growing up.  There is, however, beach camping!  We went a few weekends ago, and the boys loved every minute of it.  Sand, hot dogs, marshmallows, and a tent.  What more could they ask for?  I'm pretty sure Mason ate at least a dozen marshmallows.  I tried to keep track but he kept sneaking them.

Elsie was a pretty good camper, too.

Everybody slept quite soundly.

The boys were excited to sleep in the tent.

Good morning, miss Elsie. 

pics from September

cookie jammies

sometimes they share....

beach baby Elsie

Oh, book.  Mason tore this library book to shreds.  I nearly died.  Lightening, as you see, was terrified.

It's hot in San Diego in September.

We have a pomegranate tree.  Who knew?  We had no idea until one day we noticed there was a pomegranate on it. It was pretty good.  The boys were anxious to cut it open.

One day the cheese looked like this.  Who did this?  Why didn't I see this happen?

I made a chalkboard for the boys with magnetic primer and chalkboard paint.  The boys love it.  Those little faces at the top of the board are Graham's drawings.  There's a "happy face," a "sad face," and a "medium face."

This is what happens when Graham chooses his own outfit.  He loves that train shirt.  At least he's a super hero!

Boys in tents.

new beds

At the beginning of September, we moved Elsie into crib and Mason into a toddler bed.  Both kids have done really well in their new beds!  Mason loves having a new bed, especially because it looks just like Graham's.  We were trying to decide if we should get bunk beds and put both boys in regular-sized beds or just leave them in toddler beds.  We came across a bed just like Graham's on Craigslist, so we jumped on it.  We'll put the boys in big beds some other day.  Right now the boys are cute and little and they like their twinner beds.

I'm still collecting decorations for Elsie's room, but she sleeps so well in her crib at night.  She's not to keen on napping in her crib, but she sleeps almost the whole night through.  

could she be any cuter?

Some day we'll laugh about this, right?

There isn't even really a good story to go with it.  We left out the paint, and Graham painted the car.  The whole car.  All four sides.  We scrubbed it and got nearly all of the paint off, but can you imagine Graham out painting the car?  He was probably grinning from ear to ear.  Let's just say that this is maybe the third time I've ever seen Matt angry.  I just laughed.

Graham's first day of Preschool

Somehow our little Graham decided he was old enough to go to preschool.  He was beyond excited.  He's been waiting to go to school for a long time.  When Graham woke up on his first day, he exclaimed, "It's school day!"  We're pretty sure Graham had a great day, although he had quite the meltdown in the car on the way home.  We packed his water bottle, but didn't put it with his snacks.  When snack time came, he didn't have his water bottle, and we think he was a little upset.  On the way home saw the water bottle in his bag and completely lost it.  He wanted to go back to school so he could have his water with his snack.  Poor kid.  His second day of school was better, as we made sure Graham knew where his water bottle was.  After school he said, "I remember my water!"  He was so excited. 

Mason is 2!

I can't believe that our baby Mason is 2!  What a fun boy he is.  We feel like we've come a long way with Mason.  He was an especially challenging baby, and now he's as sweet as can be.  He's always had a good heart, but now that he can speak and communicate really well, it especially shows.  We love Mason because he is so kind.  He's always making sure everyone has what they need.  If he has a snack, he wants to make sure Graham has one too.  If Graham is doing something and looks hot, Mason will go get him a water.  When Graham was playing soccer, Mason would make sure Graham had his water bottle.  

As fun and loving as Mason is, he is also quite passionate.  He doesn't forget, and gets quite worked up if something isn't quite as he imagined it should be.  Mason, at 2, still wakes up in the middle of the night.  It's really quite funny.  He'll make all sorts of outrageous demands, demanding juice, cheese sticks, or television.  We figure he just gets bored of sleeping and wants to be up.  

But we sure love Mason and are so glad we got to spend a day totally dedicated to him.  He's a sweetie.  Happy Birthday, Mason!  We sure love you.