A Family of Carrs

2012-02-21T22:16:00.000-08:00

My dad gave my mom these pretty yellow tulips for Valentine's Day. We were over there a few days later and Annie was loving my dad showing her how to smell them. So cute!

Mason Tells Good Stories

2012-01-31T17:53:00.000-08:00

So at dinner time Mason always asks me to tell him a story. Tonight I said, "I want you to tell me a story." So he did. And since our laptop was right next to me, I typed the story as he told it. So cute. ;-)

Once upon a time there was a little...there was a big, big hamburger came from the sky. And it was a stormy day. And then there was dinosaurs coming from the sky and they were REAL! Did you know there are real dinosaurs coming from the sky? And then they ate all of the food that came from the sky. And then the people were proud of them. And then the people and the dinosaurs lived happily ever after. The end!

A scary dinosaur face

My Little Girl Goes to Nursery

2012-01-30T09:03:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was Annie's first day in nursery. Can't believe she is 18 months old. I actually forgot that yesterday was going to be her first day. After Sacrament meeting, Chris said, "Do you want to take her into nursery?" I completely forgot and so I felt super unprepared for it (there's absolutely nothing to be prepared for-haha). So when I realized that, I was excited for her and excited for us!

Flash back 2 1/2 years....we dropped Mason off at nursery for his first time. There were tears. LOTS of tears. Sweet little Mason wanted to be in nursery as long as Chris or I was in there with him. Cute little guy.

So yesterday, I took Mason to Primary (Mason is in PRIMARY! Can't believe I have a sunbeam! He's the cutest sunbeam I've ever seen) and Chris took Annie to nursery. She loved it! Completely happy for the whole two hours! Nap time and all! (We have 1:00 church. Sooooo not ideal for nap time). I had been worried about that but it turns out not to matter because Annie loves her new class at church. :-)

Manliness vs Craftiness

2012-01-26T23:46:00.000-08:00

Chris read our blog today and laughed when he read the post about me and Mason doing valentine crafts. You see, Chris is not exactly a "crafty" type guy and would probably prefer his son doing more masculine activities. Chris likes spending his spare time doing things like washing the cars, lifting weights, organizing the garage, playing basketball....guy stuff. So, I figured I should post about the fact that we played some manly Wii sports games on the TV tonight and we were out this afternoon riding bikes and throwing and kicking our big blue ball around outside. But who am I kidding? Mason has to be home with me every day and since I love crafts, Mason doesn't really have a choice but to join in with me. I figure it'll just make him appreciate and enjoy lots of different things in life, right? Right! I know Chris would agree. :)

E.R.

2012-01-25T13:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we ended up in the emergency room yet again. Poor Chris was having migraine symptoms so he left work to go home and rest. He dialed his boss' number to leave a message that he had to go home and he could...not...talk. So scary! He had the words in his head that he wanted to say but they would not come out right. He'd try to say his boss' name, Mindy, and he could not say it! He tried 4 times to leave a message and finally gave up trying. He then called me and he could talk fine. He did say one word that didn't work. Super weird.

Of course he called the doctor and they said he needed to get to the emergency room. So I left Mason with my sister (we were at the park with our joy school group) and luckily my mom was able to meet us at our home to watch Annie so I was able to drive Chris to the hospital and stay with him there.

We ended up being in the ER for 11 hours!! During that time, he had 1 ultrasound, 2 MRI's, no food or water, and lots and lots of waiting. Turns out everything is OK, thank goodness! My mind was going crazy thinking about the awful possibilities-stroke, bleeding in the brain, tumor! It was all a darn migraine. Whew! We were really happy they decided to do the MRI's because it is very nice to know that there isn't a tumor or something bad happening in there. I have had a couple MRI's in my lifetime and I remember having a sense a relief knowing that my brain was healthy. Sometimes you wonder, y'know? Haha!

So grateful that my sister was able to take Mason on such short notice and SO grateful that my amazing mom was able to completely drop her entire day to watch Mason and Annie from noon until we got home at almost midnight. Thankful for such great family and that we get to live so close to each other. And especially grateful that everything turned out good with my sweet hubby. Hopefully no more migraines for him. This was our third trip to the ER in about two weeks. Not cool. Not cool at all.

When we finally got the test results, the doctor showed us all of the pictures of Chris' brain. Pretty cool to see!!

Valentine Decor

2012-01-23T15:58:00.000-08:00

While Annie was napping, Mason and I were feelin' a bit crafty. While he was busy using the whole puncher and the staple remover (who he named "Snappy Bird") to make holes in my scraps, I was busy painting blocks and making valentines for our mantle.

There is nothing else I would have rather been doing on this cold, rainy day.

Obviously I went for a very simple look. And cheap. I already had everything here except for the M&Ms and the $1 ribbon I got from Target. Woo hoo!

Holidays are a great excuse to get out the cricut and paint to make something fun. And Mason loves it which makes it even more fun. :-)

No More Nuts For Annie

2012-01-22T23:13:00.000-08:00

On Friday, I took Mason and Annie to the park. We met a friend there who was super nice and brought snacks to share with us. One of the snacks was walnuts. I ate a few, Mason ate a few and I gave Annie a half of a walnut. When we got home from the park, I put Annie down for a nap first thing.

After only about an hour, she woke up crying which was abnormal. She usually naps for close to two hours or even longer and she always wakes up happy from naps. So I grabbed Annie (her eyes looked puffy but I didn't really pay attention much because I assumed it was from her crying) and brought her downstairs and sat on the couch with her while we watched Mason draw.

I put her down to go grab something and it was the first time I really looked at her since she had woken up. Annie's face was super swollen! Her poor eyes were so puffy! Her lips were swollen! It almost didn't look like Annie. It immediately hit me that I had given her a walnut. She had never had one before! Then I panicked a little. I started freaking out that maybe she was having trouble breathing. What if her throat was swollen?! I calmed down when I watched her and realized that she was obviously breathing fine because she was talking to Mason and acting very normal. She was walking around just fine. She just looked super swollen.

So to make a long story short, we ended up at the Urgent Care in San Marcos. Annie is allergic to walnuts and possibly all nuts. So I have to be very careful to keep her away from them completely. The doctor told me how the first allergic reaction to nuts is mild. It's the second reaction that is serious and can possibly cause anaphylactic shock. So we need to carry around an epipen with us everywhere with Annie in case something happens.

It's scary to think that could happen and I obviously hope to death that I never have to use it. I need to take Annie to an allergist to find out which nuts she is for sure allergic to and in the meantime keep her completely away from ALL nuts.

Car Show

2012-01-03T12:36:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, we went to the annual Car Show at the convention center downtown San Diego. It's really fun to just walk around and look at all of the new cars. It's fun to bring the kids because they LOVE being able to go into any of the cars and sit in the front seats, back seats, trunks, etc. Basically play in a bunch of cool cars!

Annie picked out this pretty red Lexus.

They were very into this random Dodge truck video so they sat and watched for a bit.

On the way home, Mason asked why the Christmas tree was still up since Christmas was over. I told him that we just hadn't taken the time to put the Christmas decorations away yet. We talked about how it was almost New Years Day and that it would be a whole year until Christmas again. So then then we got home, Mason ran inside straight to the Christmas tree. He said, "I'm going to turn the Christmas lights on because it's one more day until next seasoning and then Christmas time again!" So funny and cute.

Christmas!

2012-01-01T23:27:00.000-08:00

We had a fantastic Christmas. It started Christmas Eve day when we went and hung out at Chris' parents house for the day. We got McDonald's breakfast in the morning (breakfast of champions!) and then headed up to Ramona. We had fun eating lots of yummy food, watching Chris, Mason and Hayden shoot each other with their new guns, and hanging out with the rest of the Carr's and some extended family as well!

Annie loved that Sharon would let her sit in the firewood holder by the fireplace. :)

That evening, we headed home for our traditional Christmas Eve progressive dinner with my family. Everyone started at our home, then we went to my parents and we finished at Kim's house. I love this tradition-it's fun going to every one's houses and eating lots of gooooood food! Part of the tradition is having a Christmas program at the last house where we sing and listen to Christmas music and read the Christmas story in the Bible. And then finish with delicious desserts of course.

All nine grand kids ready to start the Christmas program! (The light was really dim-not good for pics)

Seven of the grand kids singing Christmas carols. So cute.

Everyone in their new Christmas jammies that night. London's missing and poor little Annie got cut off...

Christmas morning we woke up and had our own little Christmas at home. It was SO fun to see how excited the kids were that Santa really came!

We ate another breakfast of champions (donuts and scrambled eggs) and then got ready for church.

After church, we came home, got in comfy clothes and then headed over to my parents house for the rest of the day. There was lots and lots of good food to snack on and it was fun to just relax and hang out with the fam!

I love Christmas time and I'm sad it's over! This December seriously went by faster than any December....ever. Christmas definitely snuck up on me this year. I felt like I was rushing to get gifts at the last minute, which I don't like. I plan on starting much earlier next year. That'll make the Christmas season stretch out a little longer then, right? ;-)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Parade

2011-12-30T10:20:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago (I think the first weekend in December) we went to the Encinitas Christmas Parade. It took place on Coast Hwy right downtown Encinitas and it was really cool. Tons and tons and TONS of people were there and it was fun to walk around and watch the floats, bands, cars and people in the parade. Fun way to start off the Christmas season!

My cute boys at the parade.

Indian Headbands

2011-12-29T18:29:00.000-08:00

So the Monday before Thanksgiving, Chris decided to make indian headbands for the kids for Family Home Evening. Mason and Annie loved it. Cute little crafty hubby.

Bye Bye Binky

2011-12-22T13:53:00.000-08:00

Yes, we have just now gotten rid of Mason's binky. Yes, he is 3 1/3 years old. I know, I know. 6 years ago I taught the sunbeams at church and thought the parents were crazy whose child still had a binky. Mason will be a sunbeam in 2 weeks so it was time. Just for the record, Mason only used his binky when he napped and slept at night-not outside of his bed at all. And that's been since he was...oh I don't know exactly....since he was 2 or something like that.

He has had a binky since he was 2 weeks old. He would cry in the middle of the night when he lost the darn thing. The last time he cried because he lost his binky somewhere in his bed was about 3 weeks ago. When he was a baby, binkies were great! I just put the bink in his mouth where ever we were and it calmed him down immediately and kept him happy any time, anywhere. It was awesome! (Annie sleeps with a binky but isn't nearly attached to them the way Mason was. She never, ever has one during the day.) He was very, very attached to his binkies. I tried to get rid of them a couple times after he turned 2 just because I thought maybe he was too old. When I told him we were getting rid of them he pretty much freaked out so each time I would say "We can wait a little longer." Who am I kidding? Binkies have always been great for Mason! They put him right to sleep for naps and bedtime. Basically, I was dreading the day that we would get firm and get rid of them for good.

Why did we decide now was the right time? Well, he is 3 1/2 which seems kind of old to me to have one. Also, he is almost a sunbeam and I didn't want my child to have one when he was a sunbeam (that's just my own selfish reason.) Also, I've heard that they can mess up kids teeth. His teeth look good to me, but I don't know-maybe the damage is already done? Hopefully not. But if so, we figure he'll just get braces one day anyway, right? So all of the reasons put together, we decided it was time.

For weeks I had been telling Mason it was time to get rid of his binkies. He always agreed happily, but I knew he would be upset when that time actually came. The other day we were in Target and there are these little toy bugs called "Hex" bugs or something like that, and Mason has had his eye on them. I've told him that the day we buy him a Hex bug is the day we say goodbye to his binkies. So he spotted them and asked if he could have one. I thought about it for a second and decided this was the time. Why not? Mason gets excited about stuff a lot, but this was some serious excitement. We're talking jumping up and down shouting, "Yay!!! Yessssss!!!" and me getting a HUGE hug and him saying, "Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU MOM!!!!" It was awesome.

Well, we bought the bug and he was in heaven. We got home and just as planned, we put the binkies in a box, wrapped it up and wrote "To Russ and Darcy's new baby. Love, Mason" on the box, and put it by the door. Mason liked the idea that his precious binkies were going to a new baby who would need them. Cutie.

That first night when we put the kids down at 8:00, Mason wasn't very sleepy. That was a problem. I made the mistake of letting him fall asleep on the couch in the middle of the day. (He stopped taking official naps in his bed about a month and a half ago but falls asleep on the couch every now and then still.) He kept stalling once we put him in bed. He cried a little and asked if he could stay up with me and Chris. Chris brought him in to our room and said he could sleep in there that night. A few minutes later he was crying again. I felt bad for the little guy because I knew he just wanted his binky. So we let him sit on the couch with us (he was so happy to be up with us playing with his Hex bug) till about 10:30. Then we put him to bed and he went right to sleep. I thought, That wasn't so bad!

Night #2....was rough. He asked to stay up again of course right at bed time. Oh great, I thought. Now he expects this every night. And that was NOT going to happen. He ended up crying for over a half hour once he was in bed. Chris and I took turns going up to talk to him. It was a long half hour. I think Annie just watched him and wondered what in the world was going on. Luckily, it never bothered her. Finally I went in there and gave him a back rub, which he liked, and finally fell asleep.

Night #3 was perfect. We put him to bed and no tears at all! Awesome!

Night #4 was not so perfect. Once in bed, he sat up, sat cross-legged and looked at me. With a very worried expression and using his hands a lot to get his point across, this was our conversation:
"Mom, I can't go to bed yet."
"Why not?"
"Because I really, really need a snack."
"Mason. It is very late and it is bed time. We don't eat snacks at bedtime. Ever."
"But mooooom! I really, reeeeeeally need a snack!"
"No Mason."
"But how can I go to bed if I just need a snack?"
It was actually hilarious but he was just so serious about the whole thing so I tried hard to hold back my laughter. So then I told him to lie down for a back rub or I would leave. He did not lie down so I left. He cried and cried and cried again. Eventually he cried himself to sleep. I think it was 20 minutes or so. Annie was oddly enjoying all of this. She'd flop herself around in her crib, jump up and down crazily and mess with the blind by her crib. She was cracking me up. She eventually would fall asleep once Mason did.

Night's #5 and #6 went great. No crying. Just quick back rubs and he was good to go. That's where we are now. I think as long as I don't let him nap during the day anymore so that he's really tired at bedtime, that helps a ton. Two perfect nights in a row is a good sign, right? So hopefully the crying is done and honestly, it hasn't been that bad at all. I was seriously worried about this moment in life....saying bye to the binky. He wants to be a big boy and he knows big boys don't have binkies. I was surprised that he never once asked for his binky once they were gone.

Here's to having another good no-crying night! :)

Mason has been into his muscles lately.

An Old Nightstand

2011-12-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

I have this old nightstand that was my parents. Years ago, my dad and I sanded and stained it. It looked like this:

Nice, huh? But it's been sitting in our bedroom in a corner not really serving any purpose. I love this little nightstand so I decided to repaint it and use it as a spot to put paper, crayons, playdough and all that fun stuff for the kids downstairs. Here is the finished product: (I'm bummed my darn phone took such awful pictures)

I love the way it turned out and the adorable yellow flower knob is my favorite part. Here's the story behind this cute little nightstand:

Once upon a time....my parents were young and lived in student housing at San Jose State University. The apartments had these little nightstands in them. When my parents moved, this piece of furniture accidentally made the move with them. The owners of the student housing were strict and not pleased. They sent my parents a $20 bill for the nightstand. They didn't realize they had taken it and paid the bill. It's been with them ever since and now it lives with me. The end.

Rough Night #2

2011-11-30T23:53:00.000-08:00

I guess I shouldn't say "rough night #2" since it's only 11:34 PM and everything is fine now. But about an hour and a half ago, it was a rough night.

So there Chris and I were....downstairs wrapping Christmas presents and eating popcorn and drinking root beer, watching Survivor. And then we hear Mason on the monitor, crying and crying hard. I run up and ask what's wrong. In between hard sobs and loud sniffles he says something about Annie being too noisy and he didn't want to sleep in there because of it. I looked over at Annie in her crib. Sound asleep not making a peep. Hmmmm.... (I'm learning now that when Mason is sick, he says things that aren't actually true. For example, Annie being too loud for him. Obviously not true. Last time he had an ear infection, he woke up in the middle of the night crying and saying that there were too many stuffed animals in his bed and he needed them all gone immediately. Also not true-he loves his animals in bed with him.)

Anyway....so then I, not thinking that he might actually be sick, bring him into my room and tell him he can sleep in our room for just tonight but not anymore because this is mommy and daddy's room. He agreed but then when he just kept crying and crying in my arms, I thought about the fact that about 3 weeks ago he had an ear infection. He's had a bad cough that went along with it and he still has that cough. This past week I've actually thought that something might still be wrong. So I asked Mason if his ears hurt. He nodded and continued to cry.

So to make a long story short.....Chris tried talking to him upstairs and tried calming him, read books to him, prayed with him, finally brought him downstairs and after lots and lots more tears and Mason fighting the fact that he needed to take some medicine, he finally calmed down, took the medicine, and lied on the couch.

He loves back rubs and toe rubs. (Toe rubs sound funny, huh? He loves them. I love foot rubs and I think they probably feel like that. Cute.) So those finally put him to sleep on the couch. I'm sitting next to him right now and hoping he sleeps well all night. Poor little guy. He just could NOT get comfortable with his throbbing ear pain. Had to cancel joy school tomorrow that was supposed to happen at our house because we'll be taking another trip to the doc first thing in the morning for poor Mason's ears.

I had bad ear infections a lot as a child and Chris had them really bad too. He had to get actual tubes in his ears because he got them so bad and so often. I really hope that's not how Mason's going to be. Anyway....keep your fingers crossed for us that we'll all sleep tonight and we'll have no more rough nights! I'm kind of over them.

Rough Night

2011-11-29T14:03:00.000-08:00

No pictures today. Just a sad story. A sad, traumatizing, awful story.

So we put the kids down at 8:00 last night. At about 8:45 I heard Annie make a few sounds on the monitor. I thought, Hmmm....interesting that she is still awake. That's not normal. At about 10:50, I heard her cry a little bit but not much. We were still downstairs watching TV. We went to bed at about 11:30 and at 11:45 Annie starting really crying. It was a loud cry but only lasted about 7 seconds. Chris and I gave each other the "oh great" look in bed. 10 minutes later she started crying again and once again it only lasted about 10 seconds. Then, about 15 minutes later she started crying hard again. Something was wrong.

Chris went in there and Annie started shrieking in pain. I quickly followed him in and my heart sank when I realized what had happened. Their room had that awful strong smell of....yep, you guessed it. Poop. At this point the lights were on, Mason was up in his bunk bed asking to sleep in our room and Annie was still shrieking in obvious pain. Chris lied her on the changing table. I opened the diaper and of course it was FULL of poop and her poor little bottom was completely red and raw. I quickly realized she had been like this for almost 4 hours and I had no clue. She NEVER poops once she goes to bed. She cried about this hard at the doctors two appointments ago when she got 5 shots. Basically blood curdling screams. She was shaking with pain and I was shaking too just from listening to her. I had to wipe it all off to get her clean but I knew that every wipe felt like scratching sand paper over a painful wound. If I wasn't full of adrenaline in the heat of the moment, I know I would have been balling right along with Annie because it was so awful.

Chris had to hold her arms and body down while I changed her. I decided to put lots of baby powder on her rather than A&D ointment because I couldn't stand the thought of having to actually wipe anything on her. She was in too much pain. The baby powder fell gently on and she didn't seem to mind it. It seemed to soothe her and finally we were done. I washed up and then grabbed my baby and sat in the rocker with her. Chris grabbed Mason and brought him into our room. I think it was traumatizing for every one. Chris dimmed the light and then went to bed with Mason.

Annie and I rocked there together for at least a half hour. She clung to me with her head buried into me. Poor little thing. I looked at the clock. 12:45. We rocked a little longer. She seemed too content to be moved. Finally at about 1:00 I put her in her crib. She sat there and looked up at me. Picture the part in Shrek 2 when Puss in Boots looks up with those gigantic, adorable eyes. That's what was looking up at me. Finally she lied down and I rubbed her back and head for a long time.

She was still awake so I decided to sit in the rocker next to her crib. Not really a night I wanted to chance her "crying it out". The room was too dark to tell if her eyes were open. But she would keep lifting her head to make sure I was still there so that's how I knew she was still awake. I looked at the clock again. 1:45. Finally I saw her arm fall limply to her side. Asleep at last. I quietly went to bed. Of course something like this would happen the night before I'm teaching joy school at my house. Haha. Anyway, crazy, crazy night. So glad that's over.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T15:24:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we went to Chris' brother's house for Thanksgiving. It was our family, James and Jill and their two boys, Hayden and Josiah, and Chris' sister, Hillary and her 4 kids, Katlynn, McKynna, Cassidy and Cohen, and Hillary's boyfriend, Tim. It was a lot of fun with lots of yummy Thanksgiving food.

Mason eating with his cousins.

Annie and her cute cousin eating together. (I took 3 of these pictures and little Josiah was blinking in every one of them! haha)

After our Thanksgiving meal, we came home and decorated our house for Christmas. So fun!

Annie loved helping put ornaments up.

Mason liked this pretty white star that he found.

My cute husband helping us decorate.

Mason was SO excited to put the angel on the top of the tree.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Walking With Annie

2011-11-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

I'm not feeling good. I have a yucky cough/cold/headache. So while Chris and Mason went on a day trip to the desert with Chris' brother and his family, Annie and I stayed home. I didn't feel up for driving anywhere today, even to the park, but I knew I didn't want to keep Annie inside all day, so we went on a walk around our complex. She loved it. Have you ever taken your toddler on a walk and let her go where ever she wants and show you what ever she wants and you just tag along? Well, it's pretty fun. Here's what our walk looked like: :)

And we're off!

Annie would wave at anyone she saw.

Touching the leaves.

Stared longingly at the pool.

Loved jumping on the drain.

And sitting.

She jumped on my back and so I took this picture over my shoulder.

Liked the pretty yellow flowers.

Staring up at the tall tree.

Threw leaves in the air.

Door stoppers are always fun to play with.

Knocked on a random laundry room door.

More leaves.

Good times. Now she's napping and I should too since I only slept for about 4 hours last night. Coughs are sooooo not cool.

Ramona Hike

2011-11-13T21:13:00.000-08:00

Chris was supposed to go camping with Mason this weekend. But there was a last minute change of plans. Since he had Thursday-Sunday off, we decided to head up to Ramona on Thursday to visit Chris' mom and hang out for the day. While Annie napped in the house, I watched some good ol' HGTV and Chris, Mason, and Mary went on a hike to the top of the mountain by their house. Looks like they had a blast:

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

I'm late on posting pumpkin carving pictures. Chris took the lead and went for it. Mason told him what he wanted on the pumpkin: star eyes, triangle nose, and 5 teeth in the mouth. Well, Chris didn't want to carve 5 teeth so they negotiated with 2. :-) Mason was SO proud of this pumpkin. I had to throw in that last picture of Annie with a mouth stuffed full of strawberries. ;-)

Funny Faces

2011-11-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

When everyone woke up from naps yesterday, we sat on the couch and made funny faces at the camera. Mason was loving taking the pictures and then looking at them. Annie doesn't get the concept yet so she'd just stare at us like we were total weirdos....which we kind of are. ;-)

I Love Cuddles

2011-11-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

When we came home from storytime this afternoon, I wasn't feeling that great. Just feeling really tired (I've been going to bed way too late) and just not 100%. So I plopped myself on the couch and turned on a show for the kids. Both immediately jumped on the couch with me. Mason lied right along side me and rested on my legs and Annie lied here. It was so dang cute. Obviously I'm not sleeping because I took the picture but I just closed my eyes. I love when my kids are all cuddly like this.

Shoes

2011-11-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

I have a love/hate relationship with the whole concept of buying shoes for Annie. The love part is pretty self explanatory. I can't believe how many ridiculously cute shoes there are out there for little girls. Like CRAZY cute! I love looking at them. But then I want to buy them. ALL of them. I don't of course because they are expensive. That's where the hate part comes in.

I was at Target today with Annie while Mason was at preschool. She has been needing new shoes, especially for church. She has a pair of crocks and I love them but I just need another option, you know? She has a pair of soft shoes that she got from Grandma also, but she wore them every single day for over two months and so they started falling apart. I have some hand-me-down shoes from my sister but they're all still too big. Basically, I was excited to have an excuse to go Annie shoe shopping.

They had some super, super cute brown boots with some ruffly things on the sides at Target. When I saw them I immediately imagined Annie in them with some cute striped leggings and a fluffy tutu and cute top. Oh I wanted them. But they were $25. $25 might not sound like a lot of money, but when you're on a budget and when you know her feet will be too big for them in 2 months, I just can't justify the cost. So I took a deep breath and continued on. The cheapest pair I saw was $10 and they were not very cute. Most of them were at least $13. I'm sure I'm sounding like a complete cheapo right about now. But I'm glad I refrained. We moseyed on over to Payless across the parking lot.

I actually wanted to go in there for myself because I could use a new pair of church shoes. When I walked in the store worker asked right away if I wanted her to measure Annie's feet. I thought it was funny that she assumed I was there for Annie and I almost said, "No thanks. I'm here for me." I didn't even think about the fact that Payless might have shoes Annie's size and maybe they're cheaper than Target! So I said, "Sure." I got her official size and headed to the toddler shoe section. Their selection might not be the absolute cutest selection I've ever seen or anything but they were definitely cute. After about 20 minutes or so of just enjoying looking at these adorable little people shoes, I grabbed a pair for $5 and Annie LOVED them. She wouldn't let me take them off. She marched around and around the store staring at her feet. We went to pay and the girl asked me if I wanted to get something else...anything else in the store for 1/2 off. I needed to go get Mason but how could I not take up an offer like that?

I ran back to the toddler section and grabbed a cute pair of black boots. They rang up for $2.50! Now THAT is what I'm talking about. $7.50 for 2 new cute pairs of shoes. That's cheaper than the resale stores around here. I've been to all the local ones recently looking for a pair for Annie (Spin Again, La Costa Kids, Cute as a Bug) and no luck. And none were as cheap as these anyway! SCORE.

So now Annie has a reasonable selection of shoes for every day wear as well as church wear. Can't wait till she grows a little and needs me to go shopping for her again. ;-)

Halloween

2011-10-31T22:43:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time trick-or-treating tonight for Halloween! Annie was only 3 months old last Halloween so this was her first time to really get into it. She loved going door to door and would say "thank you" and "bye bye". Mason has been looking forward to this night for weeks so of course he loved it. Except though for the "spooky" houses. He'd get scared if there were moving decorations on the porch or if there were flashing lights or things like that. But they loved it overall so it was really fun. We went with my parents, my sister and her family, our friends Cameron and Celine and their little girl Brooklyn, and our friends Andrew and Emily and their little boy Carter.

This picture was actually taken 3 days ago right before our ward Trunk-or-Treat. I didn't get a picture of the two of them together tonight. My cute batman and my sweet cow.

Me and Annie (oddly serious for some reason) ready to go trick-or-treating! I was an 80's sports star.

Happy Mason and Chris ready to go! Chris was a dirt bike rider....in case you couldn't tell.

Part of the group ready to roll!

Grandpa walking with Mason and Annie door to door. Grandpa held Annie's hand for a while-it was really cute. Annie seriously walked almost the entire way. That girl is a ball of energy. I finally carried her though the rest of the way.

Annie with her grandparents enjoying a lollipop!

Me and my honey.

Just a few more Halloween pictures:

Chris was a Wall Street protester for our ward trunk-or-treat. Haha!

Off to go trunk-or-treating!

Annie's first lollipop. Boy, was she in heaven!

Mason wouldn't let this glow in the dark bug leave his sight for days after Halloween. :)

Some final Halloween pictures:

Mason with his friend, Aubrey at trunk-or-treat.

Annie and her friend, Brooklyn.

Mason with his friends, Kirra and Aubrey.

We went to Legoland a couple times this year for their special Halloween nights. It was awesome! They got to do trick-or-treating, dress up, go on rides, watch really cool special Halloween performances, and watch fireworks! Here's Annie waiting for Mason and Chris to finish up going on a ride. :)

Mason and Chris on Mason's favorite ride-the Beetle Bouncer!

Batman and Chris.

Our little cow and me.

Beetle Bouncer take two!

Happy Halloween!

Happy in the Front Seat

2011-10-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

While Mason was at preschool this morning, Annie and I did a few errands. I hadn't eaten breakfast so we stopped at the grocery store and got some potato salad and some potato wedges. (Yes, I eat things like potato salad for breakfast. Totally normal.) We ended up being early to pick up Mason so we sat in the car and ate our snacks. Annie loved the potato wedges and she REALLY loved sitting in the front seat. Huge grin on her face the whole time. So you can imagine how she felt when it was time to drive home. Oh and don't look at the sad bruises on her forehead. Two big head bonks in two days have left some very sad bumps.

Dear Annie

2011-10-24T15:16:00.001-07:00

Dear Annie,
You are almost 15 months old. You are an absolute sweetheart and you bring us so much joy. You're starting to talk so much and it's really cute. Some of my favorites: When you're all done eating you say, "Aw da!" for "All done". You also say "Ya youuuuu" when we say "I love you" and it melts my heart! When you want a snack or when you're ready for dinner you say "Peeeeeeee!" for "Please" and you also say "day doo" for thank you. Love it. When you want off of something or if you want someone to put you down, you say, "Out". :) I love that you let me kiss you over and over and over and I love to hold you when you're sleepy and your little body molds to mine as you lie your head on my shoulder. You love to sing! You sing to the tune "The Alphabet" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" by singing "wee wee wee wee" exactly to the tune of the song. It's so fun to listen to. You make us laugh so much! We love when we catch you in a funny mood and you do your little belly laugh, making us do what ever we were doing over and over (even though we look ridiculous) just to keep hearing and watching you laugh. No one makes you laugh more than Mason. He is your best friend. I love when I catch the two of you giving each other a hug. It happens often. :) You are a little ball of energy. I think you would walk forever if we let you! Walking is one of your favorite things, especially when it's holding onto the back of the stroller or a grocery cart and pushing it. Lately you've been trying to jump and do somersaults. Both will definitely happen soon. :) You love to climb things and have really good balance. When your dad comes home from work, you say "Daddy!" with a huge smile on your face and often run to him to give him a hug. He loves it. Another favorite thing of yours are books. You love them! You have made your own little "book spot" and that's where I find you the most-sitting in Mason's little blue Toy Story chair surrounded by books. I don't even know how many times each day you bring me a book and plop yourself on my lap demanding to be read to. :) You love to smile....at your family and at strangers. You love to be around people. Another favorite thing of yours is food! You totally got that from me. :) As long as you have a snack in your hand you are a happy girl. It is rare that there is food left on your plate after a meal. And then you're ready for a snack not long after eating a meal (just like me-haha). We can take you anywhere and as long as I have a snack ready at all times, I know you'll be happy. :) You sleep with a binky and your "woobie" (a soft white burp cloth that your dad named) that you love to hold tight when you go to sleep. You are the first one I hear in the morning. I think you're talking to Mason and it's pretty cute. After lots and lots of blabber, I then will hear "Mama!!!! (or sometimes Dada!!!!) Whereareyouuuuuuu!!!!" That's "Where are you" all slurred together. You learned that from Mason. You do this EVERY morning. :) You have some major lungs. You can seriously project your voice. It's pretty funny. I love having a girl. I love having YOU as my girl. I can't wait till we can go get our nails painted together. I love making clips for your hair and dressing you in cute clothes. I've said it before and I'll say it again....it's like having a little doll that I get to play dress up with every day. :) Basically, Annie, you are a light in our life and we love you so, so much. xoxoxo
Love, Mom

Dear Mason

2011-10-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

Dear Mason,

You are 3 1/2 years old and you are the sweetest little boy. You have the best laugh. I love to hear it and so many, many, MANY times each day I tickle you just to hear you laugh. You are very ticklish. You are the best storyteller. You always start your stories with "Once upon a time...". Usually they are about dragons or sharks or dinosaurs or spiders. You have lots of favorite TV shows. Right now your favorite is probably "My Big Big Friend" on Netflix. One of your favorite things is when we do a movie night and we turn off all of the lights (you always ask to have every light off!) and pop popcorn and watch a movie on the couch. You also love going to the movies with your dad. That is always a very special treat for you. You always come home and tell me about the HUGE TV that you got to see. :) You are such a good singer. The songs you sing the most lately are "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Baa Baa Black Sheep", and "I Have a Dear Old Daddy". You love to play outside and run as fast as you can. You're a great little runner. You really love when we go out to the garage and get your bikes out so that you can ride them around. You're starting to get the hang of your two-wheeler with training wheels. You love bouncing and throwing balls around. You've always loved going to the park. The swings were your favorite as a baby and they still are your favorite. It's the first thing you say you want to do when we get to the park. And then you make me push you as high as I can. The higher the better! You're getting good at climbing things at the park. You're in a preschool class with 4 other friends that we named "Jump For Joy". You love it! You have such a love for learning new things! I read a quote the other day that the average toddler asks about 400 questions a day or something like that. I don't know if that's true or not but I should count how many you ask in a day because it is a lot and I bet it's even more than 400! You love asking questions. You want to know how everything works and where everything came from and why things happen. It's awesome. You are so smart and we are amazed at how good your memory is! You are such a great big brother. You love your little sister, Annie so much. Even though she is 2 1/2 years younger than you, you guys love to play together. You love to help her when she needs help and you love to hold her hand when we go on walks. You have a favorite T-shirt. It's bright orange and it has a big blue Triceratops and a big monster truck on it. 2 of your all time favorite things ever! Grandma Tanner gave it to you and you want to wear it every day. You can't of course, because after 1 day it's dirty, but you still ask. :) Dinosaurs are definitely your favorite things. You know every type of dinosaur by name. Your favorite is the T-Rex. You have tons of dinosaurs and even a box just for them because we have so many. You LOVE getting new toys and you love treats (things like candy or ice cream) and you love going to the beach. Sometimes at night as a family activity we'll go over to Rite Aid and get Thriftys ice cream in a cone and you LOVE this! Rainbow Sherbet is definitely your favorite. Every morning you ask me what we're doing that day. You love having a plan for the day. Mondays are our day where we don't have anything scheduled so we usually go to Walmart or Target or Barnes and Noble or the Pet store or the park. Tuesdays and Thursdays you go to preschool. Wednesdays we go to the library for story time. And Fridays we go to the library for the puppet show. You love all of these activities and you're excited every day for each one. After our morning activities we come home and eat lunch and then you and Annie take a nap. You usually nap longer than Annie. You definitely sleep more than her in general. After naps we usually hang out at home and play with toys and read books and watch TV. Then we eat dinner and then dad comes home from work, which you love. You always ask him, "Dad, what's the plan?" I guess you expect some sort of outing or something fun to do at night when he comes home. :) Lately you've gotten more into fancy cars. Your favorite is the Bugatti and your dad is so proud. You know that it has over 2000 horse power and it goes over 200 MPH. :) We have lots of inside jokes. Things only our family would get. Things like "Wo is meeeee, Pongo!" and "Chick-a chick-ahh!" and "I'm gonna die!" and you and grandma's funny face. :) You are such a sweet little boy and you have lots of friends. You love to play with your cousins and friends. You still let me give you big kisses and hugs and you still like when I hold you when you're really sleepy. Who am I kidding-you still like to be held a lot! But because I usually need to hold Annie, you have become a good little walker. :) But I still love holding you and I tell you every day that you're my little sweetheart because you are. Your dad and I are so proud of you. We feel so blessed to have you as our son. Mason, we love you so so much! xoxoxo

Love, Mom

Our Halloween Mantel

2011-10-04T13:54:00.000-07:00

Halloween time is here! It's getting more fun on the holidays to decorate because Mason gets excited about it, so then I get excited about it. He asks every day if it's Halloween yet and I have to keep telling him it's still a month away. I finally decorated our mantel and we love it.

I kept it pretty simple. Our pictures stayed up so I didn't have lots of space to fill, so I just needed a few things to give it that Halloweenie spirit. Notice the real spiderwebs in the upper left corner? Gross. But they add to the effect. :-)

Thanks to my handy dandy cricut, I made this "BOO" banner.

This is by far Mason's favorite part. We already had this toy spider and it was the perfect finishing touch. Mason can't stop talking about how "spooky" it is. So awesome. Honestly, it totally creeps me out. I hate spiders...with a passion. I look at this thing and shudder. But it's perfect for Halloween!

This is my favorite part. I broke off some branches from a tree outside and painted them black. I bought the candy corns and vases at the dollar store and I already had the paint and ribbon. I got the idea of putting candy corns on a tree from a friend on facebook.

I got these little guys from the dollar store too. When I bought them they were an ugly green with yellowish spots all over them. That wasn't going to cut it so I painted them orange, drew faces on them, and put a cute bow around them. Now we love them. :-) Happy Halloween!

Tub Time

2011-09-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

About 2 months ago, bathing Annie was a nightmare. She was all over the place. She would not sit still for a second. I had to have one hand grabbing her arm at all times because otherwise she would slip and fall right over. It's happened and she's had some pretty nasty bumps because of it. I dreaded bath time. I wish I would have had Chris video tape one of those baths because I'm sure it would have been pretty funny to watch....Mason sitting in the corner of the bath while Annie flung herself around, me trying to hold on to her slippery body, water seriously going everywhere! Mason was always so good even as a baby. He would just sit there and let me wash him. Well, for the most part it was easy. He hated getting water in his face....which is kind of necessary during bath time....and he still does. Anyway, as of a couple months ago, things have changed. Annie is so good and she sits there nicely and lets me wash her. If she decides to stand up, I tell her to sit back down and she listens! Hallelujah! She's actually easier than Mason these days just because of the fact that she doesn't mind the water pouring into her face at all. Mason still freaks out sometimes when that happens. They love taking baths together and it's pretty darn cute.

DIY Coffee Filter Wreath

2011-09-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

I love a fun, new, cheap project. Our bathroom upstairs has had blank walls for a while now because I haven't decided how I want to decorate it. For one thing, I'm trying to be thrifty and not spend lots of money for decorations. One wall is now complete with my latest project. I was looking at a blog that I like to read and the writer had made a wreath out of coffee filters and showed how to do it. Super cheap and very easy. The best part was that when Chris came home from work he asked how much it cost! He thought that I had actually bought it from an actual store and that made me happy. The styrofoam wreath was $3 from Michaels and each bag of coffee filters (I bought 2) were $1 each. All you need are those supplies and hot glue.

Check it out!

Welcome Plumerias!

2011-09-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

About a month and a half ago, I posted about how our Plumeria plant had little blossoms on it. We've had this plant since we moved in over 2 years ago and we've never had an actual flower on it. It's always been very green and happy, but no flowers. So I was very excited when I saw those blossoms. Well, it has decided to bloom its beautiful flowers and I LOVE them! They are so pretty and they smell amazing.

Chips & Bean Dip

2011-09-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night, we got home from Russ and Darcy's house, where we watched a clip on A&E about 9/11, just put Annie to bed, and I was hungry. Chris and Mason seemed a bit hungry too. I checked the cupboards and didn't see much, but I did see a can of refried beans. I look at that darn can every time I open the cupboard and can never think of anything to do with it. But I had an idea! I cooked up the can of beans, spread them out on a plate, topped the hot beans with shredded cheese and voila! A delicious bean dip. Mason stayed up past his bedtime and it was fun to sit there with Chris and Mason and happily eat the bean dip. Sometimes the simplest things can be so fun. ;-)

My boys :) ...and our bean dip.

Mason Goes to Joy School

2011-09-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

I decided to do Joy School this year. My sister is doing it with her daughter, London and asked if I wanted to join. At first I said no because I didn't want to commit myself to teaching every few weeks. But then I thought about it more and really felt like this would be a really good thing for Mason. It's only two days a week for 2 hours each day and I only have to teach every 5 weeks because there are 5 of us moms doing it. We aren't doing the actual "Joy School". One of our moms found a different book at the library that's for preschoolers and has lots of fun activities and things to do so it's very laid back and we are all doing this for FREE...which is very nice. Our whole idea is to get these cute kids together to develop a love of learning. We learn a new letter each week, a new word, and have fun learning about life through fun activities with their friends. I chose to go the first week to ease Mason into the idea because we have never done anything like this before. Our first week went great. Today was the first day at a different moms house and apparently he didn't need much easing into it because it turns out he LOVED IT! He actually cried when I told him we had to leave. He can't wait to go back on Thursday and I'm so happy. I have to admit, it was a tad bittersweet dropping him off. I loved that he was excited to go play and learn with his friends and then part of me immediately missed the little guy! Ok, ok, it was actually pretty cool getting to go on errands with just me and Annie though. :-) Natalie (today's mom) said that she can tell Mason absolutely loves the whole concept of school-learning, playing, everything. Looks like it's going to be a great year of learning lots of new, fun things!

Mason about to leave today for Joy School and boy was he excited!

Fun Picture Frame Project

2011-08-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

I love having a fun project to do.

The problem is that they usually cost money and so

I've been trying to come up with ways to do fun ideas without spending much money.

I've had a pile of old mismatched picture frames sitting under my bed.

I decided to get them out and do something with them.

I spray painted them yellow which added color,

and also gave the frames a cohesive look, rather than a bunch of random frames

that don't actually go together at all. Then, to add some more color and design,

I put pretty scrapbook paper behind each photo.

I love the way it came out. The spray paint was a few bucks and the

scrapbook paper was about $.50 each.

The whole project cost me probably less than $6. And it was fun to do!

Money Well Spent

2011-08-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we went on a family vacation to Oxnard. We stayed in a house right on the beach and it was amazing. We're talking a b-e-a-utiful house, huge windows over looking the ocean, jacuzzi on the roof, basically our own wing in the house...yep, amazing! While we were there, we took a trip to the local fair. Mason saw some pony rides and I knew he wanted, more than anything, to ride one of those ponies. So he did and it was the cutest thing EVER.

Mason was super excited and took it all very seriously at the same time. He knew how special this was. It was so, so cute. He is not normally one to go out and do something all on his own like this, so it shows how much he really wanted to do it. Waiting in line, he kept saying to me, "Mama, I am SOOOOO excited!" with a huge grin on his face. Money very well spent. :)

Dumbest Mistake Ever

2011-08-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

Have you ever made a mistake that can't be described in any other way than just plain dumb? Well, last night...that was me. There we were. We had been at a friends house and got home a little after 9:00. The kiddos were tired and ready for bed. I was ready to get comfy on the couch and watch Bachelor Pad. Chris got out of the car to put something in the garage and I got out of the car. The car was still running because at our home, we have to unload everyone before pulling the car into the garage because there's no room to get everyone out once the car is in. Here comes the dumb part. Ready? I didn't realize that Chris had unlocked all of the doors when he got out. I reached down to unlock them myself and locked them instead. Not realizing it of course. Well, I then shut my door and went to the back to get Mason out. Much to my surprise, his door would not open. I went to open my door to try that again and my door would not open either. That's when I realized what I had done. I think I was shocked for a moment. Did I really just lock every door with the car still running and my kids still inside? Yes, I did. Well, things got worse when we realized we had no clue where our spare car key was. Chris and I took turns running around to every spot we could possibly think of where it might be. I was starting to freak out. I started yelling things like, "Chris, call the police!" "Why are you not calling anyone?!" "I never drive the Jetta, so where did you put the key?!" "This is crazy, what do we do?!!" I called my mom to see if she could get a number of a tow company or something. But the kids were crying pretty hard in the back. Mason of course knew something was wrong and was getting very, very upset. I was feeling so bad and so guilty and I was kind of taking it out on Chris. Let's just say Chris knows how to handle these ridiculous situations and he never got mad or panicked at all. He kept looking for the key and I was getting so angry that he wasn't breaking the window to get our kids out of there. Obviously the key is no where to be found, right? Chris was running upstairs, then out to our other car, then upstairs again, then out to our other car again with a flashlight. Well, the tow truck guy would probably take about a half hour to get there and there was no way I was going to wait a half hour with my screaming, scared children in car. I was going to break that window if Chris wasn't going to do it. Chris told me to give him 2 minutes while he ran up to look for the key one more time in the house. My crazy, flustered mind thought, "Give me a break, we've looked every where!! The spare key is obviously in the Jetta! You're wasting time!" The kids continued to scream and I was getting more and more upset. 2 minutes later, Chris came running outside WITH THE KEY!!!!! He opened it and we got everyone out. Everything was fine. Kids were happy. No broken windows. I've never done something that dumb. That's what I kept thinking. I started crying. Tears because I was mad at myself. Tears because my kids had been crying for so long and there was nothing I could do. Tears of relief that it was over. I put Annie to bed immediately. Mason, Chris and I sat on the couch and after apologizing for the crazy situation, Chris told me what happened upstairs when he came in to look for the key. He had already searched everywhere. Every couch cushion was removed, every drawer searched. He had looked in our church bag and then searched our shoe basket. As he looked in there, he said a prayer to help him find that key. Immediately after the prayer, he decided to search the church bag again, even though he just did. He put his hand in the outside pocket and there it was. So awesome. The end. :)

Oh, a couple things. First, I learned that I need to handle bad situations better. Haha! :P Second, our spare car key is now put somewhere safe where we will always be able to find it in an emergency. Lessons learned!

She Has a Thing for Sitting in Stuff

2011-08-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

Lately it seems like every time I turn around, Annie has put herself in something. She loves sitting in "her size" stuff. She does it all by herself and it's pretty cute. I've only taken these few pictures of her doing it but believe me, there are many, many more. :)

At the beach in a bucket...

In the living room in a toy box...

In the kitchen in a Costco milk box...

Shots

2011-08-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

I took Annie to her 1 year check-up this morning at the doctor's office. My mom was awesome and came with me, which was a huge help. Annie was in such a good mood this morning and I was feeling bad because she had no idea what was about to come. Shots. Four of them. 2 straight into the muscle (as the nurse explained to me). Well it was pretty much awful to watch her get them. I have never heard her scream a scream of pain like that before and it was ridiculously sad having her just stare at me screaming, probably wondering why on earth I was letting this happen to her.

Luckily babies get over things quickly and she did.

She's been acting totally normal since then and hopefully that won't change.

One thing I like about these well baby visits is learning what the kids percentiles are. I don't know why, it's just fun to hear where they're at. So Annie is in the 14th percentile for weight and the 74th percentile for height. I'm still nursing her and asked the doctor what I do now. (Mason weaned himself off of me at 7 1/2 months so I've never had to stop nursing on my own and skip the bottle stage.) The doc told me I can nurse however long I want to and if I'm ready to stop, simply stop and give her milk in her sippy cup. No bottles necessary. (Annie has never had a bottle.) So, we bought whole milk on the way home and I gave her her first cup of milk today after lunch. She was a little unsure, but I think she'll get the hang of it. She's used to only drinking water. Anyway....that's what's new with my little girl. Can't believe she's 1 already!

Happy Blossoms

2011-07-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

So we've had this plumeria on our balcony since we moved into our condo over 2 years ago. I cut a branch off of my parents beautiful plumeria tree and planted it in this pot. It's always been very happy and green but it has never had an actual plumeria on it. Oh, Chris would probably be offended if I didn't give him some credit for its happiness because it wouldn't be so happy and green if it wasn't for him remembering to water it when I'd forget. Thanks hun! So anyway, my mom was over a couple days ago and told me that it looks like we're going to have lots of plumerias! I was shocked and ran outside to see for myself. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer! Ha ha, sorry, that just seemed like the thing to say. You know, from The Night Before Christmas? ....oh never mind. So I looked and saw the tiny little blossoms for myself! I'm very excited about it. I mean, I did dedicate an entire post just to our beautiful plumeria. Pictures of our pretty flowers hopefully coming soon!

See the tiny blossoms? Yippee!

The Park

2011-07-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday evening we went and hung out at the park with my parents.

Rather than go to the playground, we went to the basketball courts.

Chris has started playing basketball with some guys in the ward every Tuesday

night and he wanted my dad to give him some pointers.

So while the guys played, my mom, Mason, Annie and I played too. :-)

We had fun riding around on bikes, making funny sounds

with the grass blades, eating snacks, and rolling down the hill

(which I wish I got a video of because we were dying laughing at Annie rolling down the hill!) I did get this cute picture of my kiddos with their grandma.

Water Fountain

2011-07-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or is there something ridiculously sweet

about a picture of your kids from behind?

Annie's Big Haircut

2011-06-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

Last month I decided to cut Annie's hair. My original plan was to never cut it and let it grow long. But...plans changed when she lost hair on all sides except for a large section on top that didn't lose any. She had quite the comb-over, let me tell ya. So I decided to cut her hair so that everything was the same length. And the same color because that long spot on top was much, much darker than the new hair growing in. I was nervous at first, (because it's not like I really know how to cut hair or anything) but I'm super happy I did it and my plan is to let her hair grow and grow and grow and GROW!

Here is a before shot. You can see it's super long on top and not much on her left side.

Another before shot. Check out that comb over! Impressive, huh?

And...after! She looked so different to me afterwards. It was so short! But I liked that everything was the same length.

I changed her out of her hairy clothes and couldn't wait to make sure I could still put her hair in a ponytail...which I could, thank goodness!

Adorable, huh?

And here is Annie today, 1 month later! Happy to report hair is growing right along. :-)

Shopping at the Outlets

2011-06-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

2 days ago, we went to the outlets with my mom to get a gift for a baby shower that I was going to. My kids are pretty good when it comes to taking them on errands, shopping, etc. The outlets are one place Mason definitely doesn't mind going to because of these fun little rides that they have there. What's funny is that I never put real money in them to make them do what they do. Mason is ok with just sitting on them. This lucky time, Grandma put in some quarters and Mason was in heaven. Annie got a little ride too for the first time and loved it.

Summer Camp: Day 4

2011-06-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

So for our 4th day of Summer Camp, we got to go to a real theater! Wendy, one of our moms, does plays and so she has access to the theater. Awesome!!

P.S. Don't pay attention to the annoying fuzziness of a lot of the pictures. My camera phone doesn't like taking pictures indoors.

The "Star" theater that we got to go to. :-)

Some of our little stars waiting in the lobby to go into the theater.

My sweet little man.

Wendy starting us off by reading "Alice in Wonderland".

We got to play fun games on the stage!

The kids even got to dress up! Soooo cute. Everyone got the chance to talk into the real microphone also and Mason was brave and said his name. ;-)

Dress up! Although you can't tell by his face, Mason absolutely loved his lion costume.

Sydney is an awesome helper and Annie loves when she plays with her.

Wendy and her friend did a real performance for us and sang Aladdin's "A Whole New World" and it was so cool! I think I enjoyed it more than the kids!

We then walked to the Oceanside stage at the beach and had lunch. We are having so much fun with our Summer Camp!

Summer Camp: Day 3

2011-06-22T23:27:00.000-07:00

For our 3rd day of Summer Camp, we had a fitness and nutrition class. It was very informative and we did lots of fun games and activities!

The kids played a fun nutrition game.

Got to color some pictures.

Mason and Jackson ready for a relay race!

Go Mason!

They did some good stretches.

Finished off with a fun nutrition video. This picture cracks me up because if you don't look too closely, it just looks like the kids are staring at a chair. :-)

Summer Camp: Day 2

2011-06-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

Both kiddos are napping right now (I love that even with 2 kids I get a break during the day because their naps overlap...usually-woo hoo!) so it's the perfect time to do a little blogging. I've got my Garden Tomato & Basil chips in hand (so yummy!) and Lady Antebellum playing in the background. A siren just went by outside on El Camino Real and every time that wakes Annie up, but thankfully she decided to go back to sleep. Whew! Anyway.....

For our second day of Summer Camp, we had a dance class!

We started off with storytime.

Then, while the kids ate their plums and cheeto puffs they got to watch a video of real dancers. (Mason took one bite and said he did not like his plum. Oh Mason.)

All of the kids then got in a big circle to do some stretches. After that, we did a bunch of different dance moves. (I didn't get any pictures of that part because Mason demanded that I do the dancing with him.)

We finished off with games like "Duck, Duck, Dance!" We had an even bigger group today which was fun. Mason's totally loving our Summer Camp.

Summer Camp: Day 1

2011-06-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

So a couple moms in my ward wanted to put their kids in a week long camp during the Summer, but things like that can be pretty expensive. Since there are lots of young moms in our ward, they figured we can do our own camp and the best part? It's free! Well, besides a few bucks for snacks and supplies. 5 awesome moms took on the responsibility of taking a day to plan some sort of activity for the kiddos, while the rest of the awesome moms take a day to bring snacks. So today was our first day and it was an art project at Stagecoach Park.

We started off with some fun welcome songs.

The babies had fun too.

Then, a story was read.

The kids got grapes and goldfish to snack on.

Time to paint! Each child got their own paints, brush, water, and pictures to paint.

Mason painting away!

We ended with some fun games and songs. SO fun. Mason loved it and we're excited to see what the next 4 days have in store for us!

Swim Lessons

2011-06-17T16:27:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day of swim lessons. We've been doing it every day (M-F) for 2 weeks. They were taught by a swim teacher in our ward and Mason did them with another little girl in our ward (Lucy). Annie and Lucy's little brother, Levi, also did baby swim lessons. So cute. Well, Mason was not that into the lessons. I even had to bribe him a couple times to get him into the water. (With things like going in the jacuzzi afterwards.) The thing is though, he really does love going in pools. He was excited every day about getting to go swimming, but once we got to the pool, I think he'd remember the fact that he'd have to get his head/hair/eyes wet and he'd get nervous. I know he'll be a little fish once he gets more comfortable in the water and I'm looking forward now to being able to go swimming at pools and letting him do whatever he wants in them. He loved the parts where he got to sing songs and do little splashes, and kicking and rescuing little toy animals out in the water, etc. Lucy is a great swimmer already so I think it was good having Mason watch her. It's been a little crazy getting the kids ready for lessons every morning, but it's also been a lot of fun. June gloom offered only maybe 2 days of sun. Bummer. Overall, I think it was a good experience and we learned lots of good little skills for the kiddos.

Photo shoot right before lessons. ;-)

I love these kids.

Little goofballs!

Being good listeners for Miss Angela.

Back floats. Not his favorite.

Dunking. Not his favorite either. However...he was soooo proud of himself when he actually dunked. He only did it three times the whole 2 weeks. Glad I got a picture of one!

He's a great kicker.

And an excellent crab walker.

Annie and Levi chewing on some delicious pool toys. Didn't get any pictures of these cuties swimming because obviously I was in the water with them the whole time. Oh well, whatcha gonna do. Annie loved the water, especially when we sang songs. She'd start shaking her head with excitement. :)

Yay for swim lessons!!

annie

2011-06-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

Oh Annie.

Your smile is seriously contagious.

Your 4 teeth are ridiculously cute.

Your skinny little neck is adorable.

And your cheeks are incredibly kissable.

Oh how we love you.

Beach Festival

2011-06-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

2 weekends ago (on June 4th, my wonderful hubby's birthday) Russ told us about a beach festival that was happening down at Tamerack Beach. We thought it sounded fun so we went along. Mason loved it.

Painting his own little stained glass art.

Getting an awesome tattoo.

Jackson, Russ, Chris and Mason having a grand ol' time.

Chris buried Mason....

....and he was totally into it.

Notice Mason's tank top. He absolutely loves them. That is his favorite beach outfit. When we go to the beach, Mason actually asks to wear a tank top! So cute.

Pet Store

2011-05-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago it was raining and we decided to go to a pet store with some friends that we had never been to before called Kahoots. The worker there was super nice and let our kiddos hold some of the animals. Mason was so cute holding the guinea pig and rabbit.

Piggy Bank: My Favorite Gift

2011-05-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday yesterday and on Saturday,

Chris and Mason went shopping for me. Saturday night,

Chris told me he was really excited for me to see what Mason picked out.

Apparently, while they were out shopping, Mason saw something and

absolutely HAD to get it for me for my birthday. Chris said Mason refused to continue

on with the shopping until he agreed to get this gift for me for my birthday.

That left me very intrigued and I couldn't wait to see what
it was the next day! Well, Sunday morning came around and

as the four of us sat snuggled on the couch watching TV,

Mason kept asking Chris, "Now can we give mommy her gifts? Please??"

over and over. I couldn't help but smile. How incredibly cute that my little Mason

was SO excited to give me my birthday presents.

So finally, Chris said yes and they brought the presents down.

Mason then said, "You got sheets and a pig!!"

We laughed because he just couldn't hold it in anymore and had to tell

me what I got before I even opened the presents.

The gift that Mason HAD to get for me was an adorable little piggy bank.

How cute is that. I love it. I love it because of the fact that

Mason picked it out all by himself and knew it

was what he wanted to give me. And for that reason, it's a very special little gift.

My Little Gymnast

2011-05-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

Mason is getting bigger and older and smarter and I've really been feeling lately that he's ready for some sort of organized, weekly class or activity. (Besides our regular weekly activities like Park Pals, story/craft time at the library, and the puppet show at the library). Every day he asks what we're going to do that day and once I tell him, whether it's the park or Target or the library, or some errand, he always asks the same next question. "Who's going to be there with us?" In other words, he loves going and doing things and he loves going places and doing things with other people. So putting all of these things together, I decided gymnastics could be perfect for him. And then there's also the fact that he is ridiculously flexible! :-) It's a fun atmosphere, lots of new little friends to make, lots of jumping and running to get that energy out, teachers to listen to and help him learn new skills, etc. Well, he LOVES it and I love that he loves it. I did a "Mommy and Me" class with him for the first two weeks to get him comfortable with everything and my mom was nice and watched Annie. Because he was SO into it, I talked to the teachers about moving him up to a class that doesn't require a parent to participate and they said he's ready. I still stay right there and watch him the whole time, and I loved doing the class with him, but since I have Annie, I have to watch her obviously so I can't do the class with him. Luckily there's a nice parent section to watch the kids and a big toy box so Annie stays pretty occupied. Price was a concern for me when I first started thinking about this, but thankfully it's affordable. It's $50 a month for an hour class once a week. And it's less than 10 minutes away. Totally worth it for the fun he has and the things he's learning.

Here's my little man warming up by doing stretches with his class. He's the cute little red haired boy right in the middle. ;-)

My Mom

2011-05-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

Crazy that for 3 years now, I've been a mother on Mothers Day! Being a mom is pretty amazing. I had....well, have, the BEST example of a mom. She taught me so much. Looking back at my childhood, I have lots of good memories of my mama. I remember loving going to the grocery store or Target and other outings with my mom. I remember coming home every day from school and my mom had snacks on the counter waiting for us. Things like chocolate cupcakes or popcorn or grapes or graham crackers with chocolate frosting. She was always there for us. And still is. She is also a great friend. I love our laugh attacks and laughing so hard that we cry and can't stop. When my mom, my sisters and I get together, the laugh attacks start. :-) Mason and my mom have laugh attacks now too and it is so incredibly cute! She is such a great grandma and I know my kids love her so, SO much.

The longer I am a mom, the more I appreciate everything my mom did for me. Let's admit it....being a mom is tough! Lots of poop wiping, night wakings, throw up/spit up cleaning, no energy at the end of the day, lots of "No! Don't do that! Don't touch that! No, no, NO!"

And then there's the things that make it all worth it. The smiles. The hugs. The kisses. The I love you mom's. The laughs. The fun family outings. The curiosity and super cute questions asked by my 3 year old. The fact that these little people depend on you for everything. The fact that they love you more than anything. The fact that they feel safe with you.

So although it can be hard, it is also completely wonderful. Being a mom is a privilege and a blessing. I have the two best, cutest kiddos in the whole world! (I can say that because they are mine.) ;-) So happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there! And especially to my mine. I love you mom! Happy Mothers Day!

Rides

2011-05-06T15:12:00.000-07:00

We went to Sea World yesterday (Chris had the day off) and the Sky ride and the Tower Ride were FREE! We've never been on them before because they cost extra money. So of course the first thing we did was go to the Tower Ride (the super tall blue tower that spins around slowly so you can see the whole park from up high) and then straight over to the Sky Ride (the thing you sit in and it runs along wires in the sky while you glide over everything). Fun stuff!

Me and Annie on the Sky Ride:)

Mason on the Tower Ride when we were at the very top:)

Male Ballerinas

2011-04-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

Aw, isn't this just precious?

I guess I better explain what in the world these boys were doing to actually get in such a pose and let a picture be taken of them. (Pardon the fuzzy quality of my phone camera.) At one of our Sunday family dinners, the girls (Kim, Darcy and I) had a "Survivor-like challenge" and stood in this pose to see who could do it the longest. I was out first by being unfairly disqualified because I hopped on my one foot but was not aware that that wasn't allowed. Is it obvious that I was a little upset about it? ;-) So anyway, the guys had to have a turn at it. Chris kept moving all over the place and was the first one out and finally Russ and Eliot called it a tie and stopped. I just had to get a picture of it. Our family dinners are always entertaining!

Recent Children's Painting

2011-04-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

So I sell children's paintings on canvases on Etsy. Recently I got a request to do one for a customer in Kansas who wanted me to do some flip flops for her daughters beach themed room and gave me this picture of her bedspread for the inspiration so that it would match:

Here is what I came up with:

There is a bamboo tie at the top to hang it with but I'm kicking myself because didn't think to take a picture of it. Oh well. I like to add things like flowers and jewels to my paintings for a little somethin' extra.

This is the first time I've been given a picture and then given the freedom to do what I thought she would like. It was awesome.

Easter

2011-04-27T22:48:00.000-07:00

I've been quite the blogging slacker lately. I started a blog to use as a family picture journal because it's fun getting on the computer looking at pictures we've taken and writing things that we've been up to. I haven't been very good at writing in my journal so this seemed like a good thing to do. Well, just as I seem to stop my journal writing, I stopped my blog writing. I just updated myself on friends blogs that I look at and it got me back in the blogging mood. So thanks friends!

We had a really fun Easter. Now that Annie is sleeping in Mason's room (because of a dang leak, which I'll get to another day, that happened in the bathroom where Annie sleeps-yes, that is what I said....where Annie sleeps), we were up at around 7:00. Being up at that time gave us enough time to get everything done we wanted to on Easter morning before our 11:00 church. Easter baskets were found, breakfast was eaten, everyone got a bath/shower, dressed in our Sunday best (and I must say, I was really excited to put Annie in an Easter dress/big hair bow. Girls are so fun to dress! It was fun dressing Mason up all fancy too!), got everything together for church, and even decorated Easter eggs, because we didn't get to that the day before like we should have.

Easter morning in the bunk.

Found his Easter basket! Very original hiding spot by the Easter bunny, I might add. ;)

Peeps!

Cadbury Egg. Mmmmm...

Annie happened to be wearing matching frog jammies to match the frog hat that Mason got. I like Chris' cute sleepy eyes and hair. :)

Now that everyone was bathed, time to start the egg decorating! Ok, so maybe we did things in an odd order. :)

Then we had to do a quick photo shoot with the kiddos in their cute

Easter clothes right before church. :)

After church, Mason took a little nap and then we went to Kim's house along with the rest of our family + some friends and had an Easter feast. After the feast, the kids had an egg hunt and Mason got quite the basket of eggs/candy and really enjoyed devouring it.

We stayed and hung out till bedtime, came home, put the kiddos in bed and plopped ourselves on the couch to enjoy our latest obsession...Lost, season 1. A very happy Easter. :)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Annie and Mason on Easter Sunday. Doesn't it look like we told Mason to put his hand on his chin for a pose? I assure you we did not. He's just a natural. ;-)
Happy Easter!

Dance Parties

2011-04-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

So, a common occurrence in the Carr household are dance parties. Chris is a hilarious dancer. :-) Mason and Annie absolutely LOVE it.

I just know it's one of their favorite things. We tend to play the same songs each time at our dance parties and it's so cute because Mason has the songs pretty much memorized. Some of those songs include Black Eyed Peas
"Time of My Life", Bruno Mars "Grenade", The Killers "Human",
Green Day "21 Guns" and there are more but I can't think of them at the moment. It's pretty much awesome. I love to sit back and watch them all in action.

Chris gets pretty into it. These kids adore their dad. I kind of adore him too. :)

Some serious good times.

Happy girl with her happy daddy.

Chris is pretty beat afterwards and I don't blame him. Mason would dance all day and all night if he could. :-)

Cute Little Mind

2011-04-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

I love the way Mason's little mind works and the way he says some words. For example....
♥ When he sees a cigarette on the ground, he calls it a yucky "sting ray".

♥ He used to call marshmallows "ha-ma-shows" pronounced exactly how it's spelled and that was always my favorite. Unfortunately he has learned how to say it correctly now.

♥ He told me he wanted a "cricket" the other day and finally I realized he was referring to the chocolate mint cookies that are called "grasshoppers".

♥ He calls hamburgers, "han-gerbers".

Haha-so funny. There are lots more but I can't think of them at the moment. So this post is

To Be Continued....

Random Thoughts

2011-03-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

So after about a week of Mason being sick, he is finally well and we couldn't be more thankful and happy about that. For a while there, I wondered if life would ever go back to normal. He still doesn't have his normal appetite and he's still waking up at night, but no fever now for 2 days and each day gets better. We even went to the park today for our ward Park Pals, which was fun. Our friend, Calli brought a bug catcher and all of the kids were in heaven. What could be better than being at the park catching bugs?? :-)

The bugs were let go and the kids swarmed around them.

Mason found a snail and it kept him occupied for quite a while. :)

I hear the weather will be getting warm this week and I'm excited for it. With all of us being sick a lot lately, I am SO ready for warm weather and to be done with cold, sickness weather. I love that the days are longer and it's light later. I'm excited for going swimming in my parents pool and for more days at the beach.
I don't know if this is something a lot of girls do or not, but I buy a new bathing suit every year. I never seem to find one that fits absolutely perfect, so by the time the next year comes around I'm always ready for a new one. This year, I bought it online at JCrew. I usually do the tankini thing but I went for a one piece this time.

I'm lovin' the color and style.

So, we've started letting Annie cry it out at night when she wakes up expecting to be fed. Some nights are better than others but overall she's doing really good. She's eating lots of finger foods these days and she's clapping her hands now, which is totally cute, and she gets into everything. I don't feel like I ever had to watch Mason as closely as I'm needing to watch Annie. He wasn't even mobile till 9 1/2 months old and Annie was scooching around everywhere at 5 months. She can climb stairs and can hold on on to pretty much anything now to stand herself up.
I love having 2 kids. As tough as it is sometimes (and believe me, nights like we had last night are ridiculously tough), it's so fun watching Mason and Annie play together. They love each other and are great friends and it makes me so happy to watch them interact.

So basically, we're happy to be getting well around here, going on outings again, and we're ready for some warm weather. ;-)

Fever

2011-03-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we are on day 6 now of Mason being sick. It's been hard. He has a fever that ranges from 99.0-103.5 all of the time unless he's on Motrin or Tylenol. He wakes up multiple times at night crying, burning hot and sweaty, barely any appetite at all during the day, just wants to lie on the couch, very clingy and sensitive, etc. We went to the doc on Friday and he got some blood tests done which all came back normal so we know there isn't an infection and it's just a stinkin' virus that we have to wait out. There have been many, many prayers for our little man.

It's hard not to worry. I worry about him getting enough sleep. I worry about the fact that he has not eaten a meal in 6 days. I worry about the fever getting too high. I worry there's something going on in his body that the doctor missed.

My parents came over last night and my dad and Chris gave him a blessing, which was really nice. Today, even though his temp was 101.2, I think he might be getting better. He ate a popsicle and a mini corn dog which was great and the Motrin actually completely took away his fever which is a first.

Today, Chris decided that getting him out of the house might be a good thing. So he took Mason on a hike in the jogging stroller up a mountain. They had a good time being out in the fresh air and throwing rocks. Thank goodness for medicine which gives him a break of feeling so sick. Here are two pictures that Chris took at the top of the mountain today...

So we'll keep praying and we have faith that our little Mason will get better soon.

Growing, Healthy, Happy

2011-03-24T15:26:00.000-07:00

Mason had his 3 year check up at the doctor's office last week and Annie had her 6 month check up today. It's always nice to hear that your kids are 100% healthy. Their percentiles crack me up. Mason is just a little thing. Always has been and I have a feeling he always will be. Annie is on the track of being tall and skinny. The percentiles are fun to look at but really, all that matters is that my kiddos are growing and are healthy and happy. :-)

Mason's 3 year check up: 12% for weight and 30% for height

Annie's 6 month check up (even though she's almost 8 months old...oops): 30% for weight and 75% for height

♥

Sick Days Go Away

2011-03-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

So lately my family has been sick a lot and it seems to be going around and around and around again. Chris says people keep showing up sick at work with colds, bronchitis and who knows what else. I don't know if that's where we keep getting our sicknesses, I mean, I know we can get it from anywhere. Chris keeps getting colds and sore throats. At the moment, I think he's actually well. I've been lucky and avoiding it but now....I have a cold. I hate them....with a passion. Mason was sick a couple weeks ago with a fever and stomach flu. Last week Annie had her first fever and threw up. She is well now, but just this afternoon, Mason randomly got a fever. What the heck. I mean....WHAT THE HECK. So here I lay with Mason on the couch while we watch "Despicable Me". His nap upstairs wasn't going well so here we are together. I can tell he's feeling better, thank goodness. Annie is napping which is making it much easier to take care of Mason. When you have a sick child, it gets extra hard to be a momma. Sometimes I can't figure out how to take care of my sick toddler while I have a little 7 month old demanding my attention as well. But we always seem to make it work somehow.

My sick little man manages to give me a nice smile. He does not do this when he is feeling really sick so I'm happy to report he must be feeling better. :-)

Baa Baa Black Sheep

2011-03-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

I had to write Mason's own words to "Baa Baa Black Sheep". Most of it is correct. It's how he ends each sentence that cracks me up. I just think it is too cute....

Baa baa black sheep

Have you any more (should be "wool")

Yes sir yes sir three bags old (should be "full")

One for my master and one for my dane (should be "dame")

And one for the little boy who lives in a wee (should be "down the lane")
Baa baa black sheep
Have you any more (should be "wool")
Yes sir yes sir three bags old (should be "full")

♥♥♥

Veggie Success!

2011-03-21T15:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm sure every other parent out there already knows this trick, but for some reason it finally hit me last night. There I was making taco salad for dinner, chopping up the juicy cucumbers and sweet red bell peppers when I had a brilliant idea.

Before I get to that idea, first I need to explain that I've struggled a little bit with getting Mason to eat veggies. He ate baby food veggies great but then once the finger foods started, he sort of wanted nothing to do with them. Loves fruit, but vegetables...not so much. Recently I've started buying those "ready fresh" bags of veggies you get in the frozen section at the store and Mason actually likes them. I was very excited when I discovered them. They are SO easy and they're cooked perfectly in the microwave and I think he likes them because they're small and colorful and bright and taste super good. So that was a huge step when he started eating those at dinner time.

But now back to my brilliant idea that will now help Mason eat more veggies at lunch time rather than just steamed ones at dinner time. So there I was...and I thought, hmmm, why not put some of this yummy ranch in a little dish and chop up the cucumbers and bell peppers to a good dipping size! I know, I know, DUH, right?! So I put the veggies and ranch on the tray along with the rest of his meal and he absolutely loved the idea of dipping the veggies in the ranch! Chris and I stood there shocked (hidden of course so Mason wouldn't notice) watching him pick up the peppers and cucumbers while he crunched away! It was one of those proud parent moments I guess. :-) So that is my wonderful trick.

Today at lunch, along with blue berry blast yogurt, cheddar jack string cheese, and chicken nuggets...I put some dipping ranch and mini carrots on the plate and he ate everything. YAY!!

Oh Those Teeth!

2011-03-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

The first of many pictures to come of my baby girl and her too cute
bottom teeth.

♥♥♥