Mason the Artist

Mason entered a holiday coloring contest in Brigham City this year. Nana picked up a page for each of the kids and Mason really took his time to make it perfect. She turned it in for us and a couple weeks later I got a call that Mason won a prize for his age group! I wish I could bottle the feeling he had when he found out he won and just give him a little of that whenever he is feeling down. He was beaming.

We went to a city building a few days later to collect the prize. He got a pass to Kids' Night Out at the Peak and his picture in the Box Elder News and Journal. We were so proud of his picture - you could tell that he worked hard.

So now he wants to be an artist, instead of an astronaut.

First Day of School

Mason started Kindergarten this year. He was not excited about going back to school. Preschool wasn't great and summer was great, so...

We went to his Kindergarten assessment a week or so before school started and he got to color a picture and meet his teacher and show how smart he his. He thought his teacher seemed very nice and he liked that she was young and sweet. So he got a tiny bit OK with going to school. The first couple of days he seemed to have a good time. Tim came with us to drop him off and it was pretty exciting. Then after two days of school I realized that he can ride the bus, and it was a game changer.

When you ride the bus, you get to be around the bigger kids. You get to ride a bus. And! You get to ride with your friends, which means when you get to school, you are already with your friends. He has really been enjoying his time since then. I may have cried a little when I dropped him off that first day. But man, he is growing up so fast. It is such a big school and a big change and he took the whole thing in stride.

Brielle started a three-day preschool the same week. She was VERY excited. Could not wait. Preschool is like the grand prize. When I took her to the back to school night so she could meet her teachers and see the classroom she was got suddenly nervous. She wouldn't talk to anyone and wanted me to hold her. But it didn't quell her excitement.

The first day, she kept telling me the whole way there, "I am so excited! This is the best day!" She jumped out of the car and waited in the driveway with the other kids and parents. Then the garage door opened and her teacher bounded out in a superhero outfit and hollered, "I'm looking for some superheros! Can anyone here help me?!" Brielle turned right around and announced, "I am not going in there."

I talked her into staying and even though she was a little hesitant about whether or not she liked the first day, she has loved it ever since. She looks forward to it every time and gets so excited about learning and playing. It is so incredibly sweet.

Mason's 6th Birthday

Mason just turned six years old. All of his birthdays are so crazy and heart-wrenching for me. On one hand, quite growing up, kid! On the other, he just keeps getting better.

Mason has adjusted to the move into the rental very well. He loves it, actually. He is so much happier and calmer and easier to be around since we moved from Perry. I think a lot of the change is due to being out of preschool. I am seeing now what a bad situation that was for him, and I wish I had realized sooner that he was having trouble at school. I think the other part making him so happy is that we are all stuck in the same room all the time, and he really likes it. I would have expected the opposite, and he still has to be alone in his room once in a while, but he loves having his family close around him.

There is no better six-year-old big brother. The way he plays with his sisters and dotes on his little Eric makes my heart melt. He is so good to them. He hasn't been pestering them nearly as much and he tries so hard to be kind and fair.

Mason is quick, and very literal. The other day Brielle was asking me if we can go to St. George again for Easter and Mason thought that was a good idea. Then he asked me if he could stay up until Tim and I and everyone goes to bed. When I asked why, he said, "I want to see if it is the Easter Bunny that leaves stuff, or if it's just you." Then he let me know that he wasn't so sure about Santa, either.

When I asked Mason what he wanted for his birthday, he said, "Well, I don't want any clothes or toys. I just want to go places. I want to go everywhere in the world and learn about it."

He specifically told us that he DOES NOT want a bike. You guys just want me to have a bike. I don't want a bike. Riding a bike isn't even fun. I don't want a bike.

Sorry, kid.

Mason. A graduation and a performance.

Mason really impressed us in school this year. Impressed us and frustrated us. He learned so so much. He reading at a level quite a bit above other kids his age. His teacher recommended that we skip kindergarten and put him in first grade next year.

He also struggled a little with finding his place in the group. He was stressed a lot. I stressed about his stress a lot. He got in trouble more than once for punching someone in his class. It was a weird transitional time for him, and I am hoping that he learned enough that kindergarten will be easier in more ways than one.

I loved hearing him come home and sing the songs that he had learned in school. And looking over his homework everyday and seeing how much he was really understanding was so incredible. I am so impressed by the way he thinks about things and remembers little details about everything.

We invited both sets of grandparents to come to his graduation and it was just great. He is so stinkin' cute. He got the spelling award from his teacher and they sang their songs and there was a video of him reciting a history fact. Everyone loved it.

He has also been in TaVaci since January. The first couple of times he cried and cried that he didn't want to go. I finally told him that if he would get all they way through the performance, I would let him quit when it was done. Then he never wanted to go, but didn't complain too much, and always said he had a good time afterward.

He had two long rehearsals right before the performance and by the time the big night finally came, he was exhausted. He kind of halfheartedly sang the songs, but I loved watching him and I think he mostly liked it in the end. Not enough to do it again though!

A Dinosaur Experience

Mason has always loved dinosaurs. For a while the only books he wanted to read were dinosaur books, so he is just full of dino facts. When Tim noticed tickets for sale for an arena dinosaur show in Salt Lake City, we knew it would be a perfect Christmas present.

They went to Walking With Dinosaurs in the middle of January and Mason loved it. Tim invited his friend Bennett and his son London to go along, so Mason made a new friend while he was at it.

The show had a simple story line and featured giant, life-size robotic dinosaurs. I wish I could have been there to see Mason's face, because Tim said he was just so excited and in awe. Maybe a little scared at first. It was a special time for Mason and Tim to spend together. Next time Mom gets to take him.

Diseased

A few days after we got home from Bear Lake, our little nephew, Friedrich, got chicken pox from the vaccine he had a couple weeks before. It is very rare for this to happen, and we were feeling pretty bad for the little guy. While we were on our trip, Mason's throat glands were swollen like little golf balls, but he didn't complain about a sore throat and didn't have a fever, so we didn't worry too much. (I didn't worry too much, Tim thought he might suffocate in his sleep.) Then about a week after we got back, he broke out in a little rash, too.

I figured he caught chicken pox from Friedrich. Then Brielle spiked a fever. Then I started thinking it was very strange that three kids would get a disease that they had all been immunized against. So I googled! Possibly chicken pox - probably hand, foot and mouth disease. Turns out they are very similar and neither can really be treated, so no need to get a doctor involved.

When Ava caught it, I got a little concerned. She got sores all over her body, not just in her mouth and a couple on her hands like the other two kids. She was inconsolable one minute and happy to run and play the next, like kids often are when they're sick. She didn't want to walk much and was obviously itchy and uncomfortable. She kept pointing at her spots and saying, "bug!" Since our neighbor is our pediatric physicians assistant, I ran her down there and it turns out the internet knows a thing or two about diseases. Definitely hand, foot and mouth... and that's what Friedrich must have had, too.

Once Ava started to feel a little better, Tim got a terrible sore throat and a fever and was down for a couple of days. As soon as the sores in his throat healed, they turned up all over his hands and feet. The doctor told me that it is actually a lot more painful than itchy and evidently that was the truth. Tim was on the couch for three days and said it felt like someone just shaved all the skin off his hands and feet. He couldn't even lift the lid of the toilet without severe pain in his fingertips. Otherwise he felt fine, and I thought he was going to go crazy being out of commission for almost a week.

I also thought I was going to go crazy. It is one thing to have your husband home sick and be the caretaker - I've never minded it. It is a whole other thing to be completely home-bound because the kids are still contagious. I had two awesome friends (Karalee Kidd and Nicole Watkins) bring me treats out of pity, without even hearing me complain! It was so sweet that they realized that its kind of hard taking care of a whole house of sick people while you're pregnant.

Now that Tim's sores have healed the skin is all peeling off to reveal nice, pink, baby fresh skin underneath. Meaning, his hands and feet are sore and sensitive again. It has been terrible for him and for Ava. Not being able to do anything to make it better for them is the worst. And here are some wonderful pictures to walk you through the horror.

 

Preschool 2014

Mason and Brielle both started preschool the first week of September. Technically, Mason is in a home-school kindergarten and Brielle is in a joy school. But they're both preschool around our house. I was pretty worried that I wouldn't be able to find anything for Brielle, because I wanted to do mornings and everything was full. Luckily, my mom hooked me up with some of the girls in her ward and we put a group together last minute.

They both love it. It has been really good for Mason to have more structure to his day. He is all-around calmer and happier when there is a schedule. It has been really good for Brielle, too. We were so worried that Mason wouldn't want to go in on his first day last year, and it wasn't even an issue. Same with Bri. I taught the class her first day, and it went smoothly, all the kids had fun, and Brielle was in heaven. Then when she had to go to someone else's house a couple of weeks later (she missed one week because of hand, foot and mouth disease, that story is coming) she ran right up to the door and wouldn't even turn around to say good-bye.

Mason still gives me lots of loves and an "I love you, Mom! Good-bye, Mom!" before he goes in. It's one of my favorite things. Brielle runs in without a second thought, takes her shoes off, and gets down to business. While they are gone, I have a little more one-on-one time with Ava, which I love, but she also spends a good chunk of the morning in the car, which is she does not love. 

Last week we got home from a ward party just before bedtime and while Mason was taking off his shoes he pulled this off on me...

"Um, Mommy, I got in trouble at school today." Said with a shy, kind of half-smile.

"Oh, buddy, what happened?"

"I don't want to say."

"It's OK, just tell me."

Pause

"Well, I pooped on the floor."

"What?! Why would you do that? What even made you think to do that?"

"I don't know."

"Mason, why would you poop on the floor?!"

"JUST KIDDING!"

Dude. Kid is five. We are in for it if he is already setting up his jokes like this.

Mason turns 5 years old

My little Mason just turned five. Five years old. Yesterday they cut this perfect, handsome baby out of me and today he is half a decade old.

I asked him a couple days before his birthday what he wanted to do to celebrate and he had the best idea. "After I go to bed, you will put up decorations, and then when I wake up in the morning, I will be so surprised!" THAT, I can do. He couldn't think of a single actual activity he wanted to do, but he was very concerned about what kind of party he was going to have. Theme-wise.

So, the night before his birthday, Tim and I went to the store and bought him a couple of small gifts and some Ninja Turtles birthday things. Then we decorated a little! Sadly, I slept through his reaction in the morning, but Tim said it was great. We let the day be all about Mason and just had fun as a family and then had the whole crew over for cake and ice cream that evening. That was the best part. Mason's heaven is playing with all of his cousins and he was out-of-his-mind happy all evening. A couple of times he came in to where the adults were chatting to announce a new game and we would all get up and look for him while he hid, or watch him use a flashlight in the dark suspended garage, or something like that.

When Mason is happy, all the world is happy. Some days I get more "I love you, Mommy," 's than I can fit my heart around. Some days he just wants to sit so close to me as often as he can. Some days he comes up with so many great traps and games and Lego houses to show me and I am just amazed at how curious and smart and adorable he is. Sure, he likes to pester his sisters and sometimes his world is so confusing or hard that he has to scream. But he also loves to play with and comfort his sisters and instead of screaming, he goes and sits quietly in his room to regroup.

So far, I'm impressed. I'm sure it is only going to get better.