Reindeer

You are probably wondering....reindeer, now?!? Well, this is a cute story from my school. We were walking outside at the school to go somewhere and a little girl from our class said to me "reindeer!" I looked over to the trees to see if maybe there were some deer in the field or something. I couldn't see anything, so I told her "no, there are no reindeer." That is when I noticed that it was nice and clear and what she was calling reindeer, was actually Mt. Rainier. Now every time I see the mountain I think of her. Mark and I got the privilege to go on a hike last Thursday before the cold weather set in. We went up and it was beautiful. I was a little scared that we wouldn't make it back to our car before dark, so I was booking it down the trail. I was right...we ended up walking the last half in the dark. I was pretty scared, but I kept watching Mark's white socks in the dark. I was glad to get back to our car and even happier to get back to see our kids.

Army crawler

I haven't updated about Merayya in a while. She has never learned to crawl the right way (if there is a right way!). She army crawls. Her tummy never leaves the floor when she is crawling around. Her clothes are getting quite the use in the tummy area! She has managed to crawl into a lot of things lately. She crawled into a basket of toys yesterday, and she crawled up the stairs yesterday. There is really only two stairs, but yes, she made it to the top and was crawling around in the kitchen! It was pretty exciting.

Mason's Birthday party

Mason blowing out the candles!Three full layers of lemon cake with custard filling. Sneaking opening gifts

Allowed to open gifts, finally!
The cake in all it's glory He was singing with everyone!

Here are pictures from Mason's Birthday party. He had such a blast. I was so caught up in the party, that I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do.

My 2nd cake

On Mason's actual birthday we went over to our friend's house for pizza and to watch Monday night football. I figured since it was his actual birthday and I needed some practice that I would take a cake to their house to celebrate. It didn't taste as good as I would have liked, but overall it looked great!

Happy 3rd Birthday Mason!!!

Yesterday was Mason's third birthday. I just can't believe how fast time flies! We are celebrating this next Saturday with a party. More pictures will be coming, but until then, I have some of the first pictures that we took when we got our digital camera.

Dear "my little old man,"

I can't believe how much you have grown. God has blessed us more then we could ever imagine with such a beautiful little boy. Everyday we laugh at how cute, daring, and funny you are. I can't wait until you can say more words and communicate with us. Then, maybe you will stop calling Makyla, grandma, auntie, and me all mommy!

Love you,

Mommy

My cutie pies!

Here are some cute pictures of the kids. I love them so much! Look how much they have grown!

Berry picking

Mark and I decided to go berry picking. There is the perfect spot to take the kids. We will definitely be trying to make it again (who can beat free?). I am excited to know that we will get to have blackberries this winter in something. Let me know if you know of any great recipes using blackberries. We have been really enjoying blackberry milkshakes.

Makyla's first day of Preschool

Monday was finally Makyla's first day of Preschool (after mom's little mishap!). She was really excited to go. I can't believe how fast she has grown! Next thing will be her fifth birthday! Oh, Makyla my little princess. I love you so much!

Attack of the bees

Mason, the little bee catcher!
Makyla's picture....gross huh?
We have been having some bees fly into our house in the last month or so, and couldn't figure out where they were coming from. Makyla has been stung twice in our front room. Last Sunday as we were leaving for church, Mason said a new word "bee!" and pointed towards where our gas line enters our house for the hot water tank and furnace. As I looked up there was a little bees nest and bees swarming. They were going in and out of the house where the gas line enters. That night, my mom and I decided to spray them while Mark was at work. The closet where our hot water tank is was swarming with bees. The poison was killing them though. My mom had this great idea to vacuum them up. Some of them could fly, and others were just laying on the ground wiggling. After hours of vacuuming I decided to hit the hay. In the morning, low and behold, there were more bees to smash and vacuum up. Makyla asked if she could take a picture (so that is what that weird thing is!). Our vacuum was full of them. More came back, so last night we sprayed again...and I am vacuuming more up...ugh! Will this ever end?

Lucy's cake

Our friends, Andy and Eva had a little baby girl at the end of August, and so I made them a cake to celebrate it. This was my first cake, but I hope that there will be many more to come.

Oops! Mommy messed up

Last Wednesday was a sad day for Makyla. She was so excited about getting to go to preschool. Only...Mommy made a mistake and preschool doesn't start until next Monday. Poor Makyla was so upset. Mark took her to get a doughnut and save the day. My goodness, I felt bad!

On Friday, I had a seminar in Tacoma from 3-5 pm. I was suppose to carpool with another gal, but she couldn't, so I ended up running home to nurse Merayya really quick. I came home and was nursing the baby. Makyla was hanging out and Mason was down for a nap (or so I thought!). I went to leave to head to Tacoma for this seminar. When I did, Julie was going to get my carseats out of my car so we were both headed outside when a woman asked us if we were missing a little boy. I thought to myself "no, Mason is sleeping." Then she said that he was all the way down the street and that an older lady who was a neighbor was helping him look for his parents. Julie started walking down the street and I looked over and noticed his bike was gone. I jumped in my car and headed to find Mason. After a few minutes of going down streets around our house and not seeing Mason, I decided that I couldn't do this alone. I called 911. That is when (thank you Jesus) Mason was found. He was with a neighbor lady who lives just three houses away. She walks past my house everyday and talks to the kids and I. I am guessing that her memory is shot and that she forgot where we lived, since she was walking him up a side street several blocks from where she found him. We were so lucky that he was found safe and still wearing no shirt just as his daddy had dressed him for the day. LOL . What a scary experience. And the seminar...I arrived at 4:45. Just in time to get all the handouts. The cop said that they had the fire department on their way to help out. We live in a great town. I mean...I saw a cop heading down our street when I was still on the line giving the 911 dispatcher information. Makyla's grandma (Brady's mom) had heard about it on the police scanner and came over scared half to death. I wouldn't change where we live for the world. We are lucky to have such an awesome support system. I guess that the dispatcher said "I will have more information as soon as I calm down the mother!" I was going CRAZY!!