WHAT?!?!?!

What's that, mom?!?!?! I'm almost 6 months old?!?!?!
I can't believe it either!!!

:)

Scooter

My sweet boy is always on the move - too bad I had my flash off when I snapped this quick picture of Luke-man about to ride his scooter down to his Gibi and Hahas house :) I can't believe how big he's getting! Three and a half here we come!

Best Mask EVER

Luke came home from Sunday School this past week sporting the BEST MASK EVER! :)
Love this crazy boy AND his crazy mask.

The Odds Were Against Us

Typically I don't wish I had taken more pictures. I'm pretty good about snapping A LOT of pictures and hopefully having a good one somewhere in the bunch. We had Mason dedicated on September 18th and the odds of getting a good family picture of the event was slim to none because WE ONLY TOOK ONE PICTURE!!! The morning was kind of hectic and at the last minute we stood together (kind of) and my mom took one picture. So here it is in all it's glory... ... neither of the boys are looking, Dave's eyes aren't fully opened and I'm a nice shade of red from chasing Luke up and down the balcony stairs. Awesome. After church Luke was in the children's building and we were parked out front and so another family photo op alluded us so I guess we'll have to remember the moment from the above pic. :)

Here we are up on the stage with the other families - before Luke's meltdown began:
Luke started squirming and muttering "I don't want to be up here" (despite the fact we had talked through this moment, rehearsed it AND given him the choice of whether or not he wanted to come up with us) and so Dave picked him up and tried to quietly point out our family sitting in the balcony. The result was a lot of pointing and asking "WHERE IS MY UNCLE MARK???" in a loud whisper: Thankfully the dedication went quickly and we were able to get off the stage without too much commotion.

Here's a super cute pic of Mason with Uncle Jonathan, Auntie Tori and Lilly after the service. You would have thought that I could have taken a few more pictures of this special occasion, but somehow I didn't. I manage to snap 65 picture of my boys eating rice cereal or playing in the dirt, but took a total of 5 pictures of my babies dedication. Oh well!

A new friend

Luke found a new friend a few nights ago...

He named her "Lady". Surprise. Surprise. :)

Apple Pie

My sweet little baby boy has a new favorite food - Apple Pie! Gibi and I were sitting out back having a cup of tea and a piece of apple pie while Luke played and Mr. Mason was watching EVERY bite his Gibi took. She obliged and let him have a taste of apple pie and he was hooked! As soon as one bite was over he'd have his mouth open for the next :)

He had the filling as well as a teeny bit of the crust.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmm" Another favorite we discovered this weekend - mashed potatoes! Dave let him try a bite of his yesterday during lunch and sweet boy couldn't get enough. He was crying in between bites and looked like a little baby bird with his mouth open. So funny!

Rudy's BBQ

It was Uncle Stephen and Uncle Matthew's birthdays last week (or the week before...) and we headed to Rudy's BBQ to celebrate. It was super sunny so Lilly brought a couple of pairs of sunglasses. Hilarity ensued...

After dinner Uncle Stephen joined Lilly and Luke for some shooting...

As far as I know Luke has never held a gun before, we don't have toy guns at home, and I'm not sure how he figured out how to hold it so quickly!

Fun time and great food. And Rach - the corn was as good as you said it was going to be :)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like...

HALLOWEEN!!!

Last Friday I couldn't wait any longer and so I drug the boxes out of the attic and got Halloween all set up at our house. I LOVE LOVE LOVE HAlloween decorations - I think because I have super fond memories of Halloween growing up and because it's just so fun! Here's my eating area... This year I incorporated A TON of laboratory glassware into my decorating. Some have tealights inside, some are filled with candycorn or other candy and others are empty.
The Mantle has scary books and then lab glass mixed in with tealight holders...

Mantle at night...

On one corner of my kitchen counters I filled a cake stand with pumpkins and tulle and put out the plate that we went and made a few weekends ago...

Behind my kitchen sink... In the bottom left you can see a beaker with a candle in it, at night it looks like it's filled with glowing liquid. SO FUN!

The haunted house I found at Tuesday morning on a clearance table about 5 years ago. It was supposed to have glass windows and tealight holders on the back, but since they were all broken I just put some vellum scrapbook paper in there and when the light shines through it looks really neat.

Kitchen counter and buffet table in the front hall...

So glad I got it all up early - now we get to enjoy it for more than a month. I still need to put up all of my cobwebs and finish a few more projects, but for now it's looking festive!

Luke, Meet Levi

Since Dave was crazy busy at work the Friday (and weekend that followed) that Levi was born, he and Luke headed up to Anna to visit our new nephew... SOOOOOOO hard to believe that our Mr. Mason was that teeny (teenier, actually!) just 5 months ago! Levi has the COOLEST swing ever... Uncle Matthew with Luke and Levi (excuse Luke's CA-RAZY hair - I have no idea what that's about - other than he had been out and about with Daddy. hahaha)
Luke really enjoyed Uncle Matthew's music room:

Stefan, Matthew and Levi

Last Sunday

I can't believe I forgot to post these! Last Sunday it was a small miracle and we were all dressed and ready to go EARLY! The boys looked cute and the weather was cool so I pulled the big blue chair out front, popped them in it and attempted to get a cute picture. I took about 30 and here are the best ones :)
Mason ADORES Luke! He looks at him like this 24/7 - most of the time with a big giant smile on his face :)

My sweet, sweet boys!