Merry Christmas 2010

My buddy, my buddy, my buddy and me...

All comfy curled up on the couch.

Then Mason wanted to be in the picture too.

Snow Day

We had our first biggish snow so of course Seattle shut down. It was nice to relax at home and play in the snow. Mason refused to wear his regular gloves and insisted on the shark mitten and the sounders glove. We threw snowballs for the dogs to catch. 

Pugsley, our newest addition

We have adopted a wonderful two year old puggle named Pugsley.  He and Bear are like two peas in a pod, BFF's for sure.

Halloween

It was a fun weekend.  Mason went to Matt'e office on Friday for some trick or treating.  Then they stopped by my office so Mason could show off his muscle Spiderman costume some more.  Saturday we had a party for the kids.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.  Even Bear had fun snagging a few extra treats from unsuspecting toddlers.

Sunday we stayed home and played in the yard most of the day.  We headed over to Grandma and Papa Klug's for dinner and trick or treating.

Happy Fourth of July!

We went down to watch the Kirkland parade again this year. Mason loved all the trucks and buses, danced to the music, had a flag fight with buddies Porter and Jaxon, and enjoyed a large popsicle.

We had a few friends over that evening to join in our neighborhood’s war zone activities. We live in unincorporated King County so setting off fireworks is legal. Our neighborhood takes full advantage of this. Earlier in the weekend while we were doing yardwork and Mason was playing peacefully in the dirt, some of the neighbors set off some M80’s. It scared the you know what out of poor little Mason. He was scared to go outside all weekend and he usually loves being outside. For our own little firework show, he and I sat in the back of my car. Yesterday was the first day he didn’t confirm with me that there would be no more fireworks.

Mason counted to 12! Mommy is impressed.

Apparently Mason learned to count to 12 while in California as well as learning the alphabet. 
Today, while helping me put branches into the yard waste container, he started counting and got all the way to 12.  I'm impressed.  I didn't know he could do that without help.
He doesn't do that well with the alphabet, but if you give him a letter he can do the next few. :)
Must be a sign for me that he is ready for some more advanced games, toys and books.
They grow up so fast.  He took his first steps just 1 year ago and now he is counting.

Hood Canal and Mason's Cali trip

Matt and I had a great weekend away with friends Matt B. and Heidi.  We stayed at Matt B's sister's cabin on the water in Hood Canal.  With a campfire both nights, rock painting, and a big full moon it was wonderful.

Mason had a wonderful time visiting his uncle Dave, Aunt Robin, and cousins Shannon & Evan down in California.  There is an adorable video of his first time at the beach.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T0qtM8yHJw

You can really see how much fun he was having in all the photos.  Thanks to Grandma and Papa Klug for taking him.

Playset is done!

Thanks Grandma Susie for Mason's playset.  He already loves it and couldn't wait to try it out.
Thanks Matt and Justin for the many hours it took to build.

Summer projects

We have been doing some summer yard-work projects again. The weather is almost nice enough to make it fun.

We took down a holly tree and tore down the nasty old playhouse to make room for the new jungle gym Grandma Susie got Mason for his Birthday/Christmas present.

We have plans to enlarge our patio area as well but I think we need some small machinery to do that ourselves… we will see. I watch to much DIY Network. Could end up with a big sandy mudpit.

Imitation

If anyone had any doubts that out little guy would be a sports fan you can lay those to rest. When Mason sees baseball on TV he starts clapping and cheering “Yaaay!” and doing the Arsenio fist pump “Woo Woo Woo”
If we react negatively he’ll yell “Oh Maaan!”
He can yell for all his teams: Go Mariners, Go Seahawks, Go Sounders!
I think I will have to find some hobbies since I’m now outnumbered when sports are on.
During dinner with friends and family he will watch very closely and start imitating all the hand gestures and head shakes, occasionally throwing in his agreement “Ya” or disagreement “No”.

April playdate with Jaxon and Riley

Happy Easter!

he Easter Bunny brought Mason and Mommy & Daddy Easter buckets this morning.   Mason had fun pulling our the easter grass and playng with his new balls.  This kid just loves balls.   I like these ones because they are too big to roll under the couch.

Daddy liked his gifts as well which included a cheese grater and back massager.  Michael's crafts store has a great $1 section. :)

Yo Gabba Gabba

He loves loves loves Yo Gabba Gabba. Ever since we went to a Gabba themed birthday party he just loves it. He didn’t care about it before the party but now asks for it all the time. Its grown on me and now I have a good time with it. It has good basic lessons and lots of celebrity guest appearances. “Wiggle wiggle wiggle Go wiggle wiggle wiggle Go wiggle wiggle wiggle Stop! Hold stiiiiiiiill!” This is what gets stuck in my head these days.
Oh and I almost forgot... "Dont, don't, don't bite your friends!"  Another favorite of mine.
See my friend Mel's blog for more detail. http://lifewithjax.blogspot.com/2010/04/yo-gabba-gabba-land.html

April Update

Things are moving right along. My job is great and I like everyone I work with. Matt is good. Bear is good. Aside from all the colds and stomach viruses, this year seems to be going well. Knock on wood. I’m actually a little surprised Mason hasn’t brought more colds home with him. There is the very friendly kid at daycare that just oozes out of every hole. He is totally cute the two times I’ve seen him healthy. Most of the time I just want to wipe him down but I’m scared to touch him and wonder if the teachers would think I was weird for doing it.

Mason is getting chubby so I think he is about to have a growth spurt. Keeping my fingers crossed for a big one. We are still hoping he doesn’t take after me for height. So far it is not looking so good. He is also getting pickier about food so I’m getting creative with sneaking the healthy stuff in. Apparently everything tastes good in ketchup or spaghetti sauce.
Our little talker, takes after his Daddy for sure. When he gets excited and wants to tell you something he does the typical toddler studder which is adorable, but then ends up just saying his name over and over again. He doesn’t say his S’s very well so he says “Ma Ma Ma Mathon Mathon Mathon eh Mathon!” Mason what? “Mathon outside!”

He is learning a little Spanish at daycare as well. Although I haven’t heard him say I love you in English, he now says it in Spanish. “Te Amo” He heard it from his teachers and picked it up. I don’t remember any Spanish from high school so there may be many more words he is saying to me that I assume is just baby talk. Sometime he will just ramble at me like I should understand whatever his is saying. I just nod and smile. I recently got him to say Sorry for the first time after he hit me - instead of just petting me and saying nice like he usually does (learned from us making him apologize to the dog).

Mason has a habit of calling all men daddy to try and categorize them. I’m surprised we didn’t get more sh** from our friends for this. Anyways I think he finally understands that although most of the men he knows are daddys, there is a more general label he can use. The other day we had a man out giving us an estimate on the removal of a very large fir we have in our backyard. Mason pointed to him and said “Daddy?” I said no not daddy. He said “Papa?” No. “Grandpa?” No, he is not an uncle either, he is just a man. “Man.”  Later the next day there were utility people outside wokring on the light post.   He was mostly correct when he said "Man, man cleaning."

He has started singing… with words. He has been singing for a little while now which is nice, except he takes after me and who know what note he is trying to hit. So much fun now that he is trying to sing the words. Tinkle tinkle _pause and skips this part___ up ub ub __ pause and skips this part __ diamond __ pause and skips this part __ tinkle tinkle. He’ll get it.

Some pics