Mason's Preschool Graduation

Mason graduated from his first year of preschool. He has loved going to Kaylee's Kiddie College. I think he's learned a lot and he had so much fun.

Tim and I dropped Brielle and Ava at my mom's for the evening and enjoyed the night without any distractions. I'm glad we did. It was really amazing watching our first baby show what a smart, mature little dude he is becoming. He had to recite a few lines into the microphone and he remembered them perfectly. We've been practicing for weeks and even Brielle has them pretty well down, so we weren't worried about that. He loves being on stage and, seriously, it was just so cool to watch.

"Our favorite week was learning about pets and how to take care of them. 

We had a pet show with dogs and cats, and we went on a trip to the vet."

Utah's Hogle Zoo

I took the kids to the zoo when Brielle was about six months old, and we thought it was about time for another trip. I'll be honest, I left with about the same impression that I had last time...kind of depressing. 

But! The kids liked it. Mason has a new favorite animal, the rhinoceros, (he's watching Wild Kratts right now and just randomly shouted to me that buffalo is his new favorite animal, crazy timing!) and Brielle has a new favorite animal, the elephant. They got so excited about each new creature.

I think the best part of the day had to be the weather. We wanted to go before the students got out of school, and summer at the zoo is just a hot, long day, if you ask me. Then we found out that Miles and Betsey were planning on going for her birthday and it was perfect timing. When we woke up that morning it was raining and cold and it took some convincing to get Tim to go, but when we got there it was sunny and cool and beautiful. We couldn't have wished for better. And, just as we were leaving, the clouds opened up and DUMPED hail and rain on us, soaking us to the bone during our mad dash to the car. So, great weather plus great weather story. Emily and Miles, Betsey, and Friedrich made for great company. It was a good time.

My Mason

The little boy in this house has to be one of the best things to ever happen to the world. I know that I am his mother, and so maybe I am a little tiny bit biased. But seriously, he's the best.

A couple of months ago we were downstairs watching A Goofy Movie and everyone but Mason got bored and went upstairs. About twenty minutes later we heard him start to cry down there, so Tim rushed down to make sure he was OK. He found a four-year-old sobbing crocodile tears at the TV. When he got him calmed down enough to find out what happened, Mason explained the the boy in the show thought he didn't need his daddy anymore!

He was so upset at the thought of a son and father being separated. And it was the kid's idea! Just unbelievable. He ran upstairs and drew a picture of himself with his dad and I think Tim's heart may have exploded.

He is such a great brother. There were a few months there when I thought I would be doomed to a life of constantly quarreling children. I could not figure out what to do about it. Mason would pester Brielle...Brielle would start screaming...they would both get in trouble. All day, everyday. Then one day, he stopped. Like a serious blessing from heaven. He and Brielle play so well together now. I love watching their little imaginations run wild. And Ava could not have a better protector, he just dotes on her.

He got a balance bike for Christmas and he figured that thing out pretty quick. We need to get him a real bike, but in the meantime, he is a little speed demon - racing down the street and the neighbors steep driveway with his legs sticking straight out on each side.

Soccer started a few weeks ago. He practiced all morning the day of his first game and could barely handle the anticipation. He kept telling us, "I am so excited for my soccer game." When we got there it wasn't quite what he was expecting and he was not going to get in there and play for anything. Tim handled the whole thing so well and finally, in the last 20 seconds of the game, Mason got in and kicked the ball. And loved it. Then yesterday he started T-ball and that took no time at all - he liked it right away. Watching him run/skip from second to third base with a giant smile after a very successful hit was the best thing ever.

I think my favorite thing right now is the way he participates in church. I kind of assumed that he would be a little bit shy about getting up and talking in front of everyone, but the kid was made to be behind a microphone. He has given a talk and several prayers, scriptures and Articles of Faith. He always works hard to memorize them (he memorizes things very quickly) and then recites them with very little prompting. His last prayer he got right up and said "Heavenly Father, I'm glad we came to Primary today. Please bless that we'll draw, and that we will all get to draw something good. Jesus name, Amen." I'm pretty sure he is everyone in the Primary's favorite.

Right now it is all about dinosaurs. Dinosaur toys, shows, books...anything. One day last week he woke up and asked if we could please make a Ankylosaurus out of molding clay and then cook it and then paint it. So we did. And he has taken that thing with him everywhere. I think Brielle kind of misses his superhero stage, but I'm sure he'll be on to some new exciting thing next week.

April

We took the kids to the dinosaur museum in April. Mason got a trip there for his birthday last year and he and Brielle got it in their heads that we needed another visit. So finally, after days and days and long, long days (a week, maybe) of waiting, we finally went on one of Tim's Fridays off. They loved it and are were a little terrified the entire time. Mason has been obsessed with dinosaurs lately. I mean, obsessed. Books and books from the library. Every dino show on Netflix, too many times to count. He knows their names and what they eat and who their predators are and even the era some lived it. He has made more than one 5-6 page dinosaur book of illustrations. I never knew I would learn so much about dinosaurs as an adult. Ask me anything.

We also had a great Easter. The kids had several egg hunts thanks to the Easter Bunny and their Nana and Becky and Jaren Larsen, who live across the street. The Easter Bunny brought them a toy and a small chocolate bunny and, like, four eggs because he knew they had been eating candy non-stop all week. We also tried to get a family picture, which was impossible and I ended up photo-shopping some heads from one picture to another to get at least two that weren't terrible. But man, our kids are cute.

And may I take this opportunity to say that three-years-old has been a blessed age for Brielle. I am not even kidding a little when I say that she is a whole new child. She has always been our little sweetheart, but she was hard. Like, so hard. Then she turned three and learned how to communicate her needs a little more effectively and it now she is just a dream come true. She sings and dances and cuddles non-stop. She goes to bed without any trouble and if she isn't tired she plays quietly in bed or sings herself to sleep.

She is more pleasant to be around, so Mason doesn't pester her too often and they have so much fun together. She asks me to do her hair every morning and never whines or moves around too much while I do it. I can really appreciate little things like that! She is constantly telling Tim and I, "I love you!" with a sweet little smile or a kiss. I could go on and on. She is so much fun right now. Ugh, I want to squeeze her just thinking about it. And those eyes!

An ER visit does the body good

If all of this had happened on April 1, it would have been much more appropriate. As it is, it all happened on April 2.

Mason and Brielle had their first appointment with the pediatric dentist early in the morning. There were only a couple of scared tears and lots of happy smiles. It was a big difference from the last time I took Mason to a regular dentist and I think a big part of that was the way Brielle just jumped right on the table, happy as could be, as soon as they were taken back. They got their teeth cleaned, x-rayed and examined, and then they got water bottles! Floss! New toothbrushes! Success.

Then we went shopping and wouldn't you know it, I forgot the stupid pin number to my Target debit card and if you think I am going to spend $15 extra dollars on the clothes and shoes I just spent an hour picking out, you are wrong. Failure

After that we went to Zuppa's, where Brielle ordered a bowl of mushroom soup and carefully downed it, Mason loved the bread, and Ava had fruit and shared my sandwich. All of my kids ate. Success.

Then we came home. After about twenty minutes we were settled in, watching an afternoon show while Ava took a nap. Brielle went to let Casper back in the house and suddenly she was crying hysterically. I ran and scooped her up and was cradling her on the couch when I decided to give that poor little slammed finger a kiss better. But it was covered in blood. Failure.

Part of me wanted to just slap a Band-Aid on that baby and call it a day, but another, wiser part of me could tell it was probably pretty bad. There was lots of blood. I wasn't sure the tip of her thumb was still actually attached. So I ran next door to get my sweet neighbor, Melba Wheeler, to come sit with Mason and Ava while I took Bri to the clinic, but she wasn't home. I came back and called another neighbor, Janet Bingham, who was smart and suggested that she bring her husband (and my kids Physician's Assistant) along to take a look at it. He unwrapped the gauze, took one look, and said I should get to the ER. But doesn't the pediatrician do stitches? Not this kind, apparently.

We have to go to the ER at McKay Dee, because, insurance. So I loaded her in the car with her purple blankie and called Tim to meet us there. (As I was loading her in the car she told me that dad would have to go home first to change out of his work clothes, and then he could meet us there. She has been so concerned with him promptly changing his clothes after work lately.) She fell asleep in the car before we were even on the freeway. It was so sweet and pathetic. This whole time there had been very few tears - only when her injury was being handled directly. I was seriously amazed considering she usually bursts into tears the second someone looks at her wrong.

She was so brave the whole time we were waiting and didn't cry until the doctor took off her bandage again to look at it. Apparently the nail was completely gone and the front of her thumb had a fairly deep laceration. She got x-rays without much fuss and they showed that she didn't damage the bone. They would just have to sew up the cut and then put a small stint under her cuticle to keep if from healing shut.

There were five people there to hold her down, including Tim and me, but it wasn't really needed. I kneeled by her bed and held her hand and her face toward me so that she wouldn't watch. She cried through the first couple of numbing shots but barely flinched. She held her arm perfectly still through the whole procedure. It took quite a while, so I tried to just talk to her to keep her distracted.

"What color were the balloons at your party?"
"Pink"
"What color was the fish at the dentist?"
"Blue"
Who would win between a tiger and daddy?"
"Hulk!"

About halfway through she was smiling and cracking jokes and just way too pleasant for a kid getting a thumb stitched shut. The doctor and nurses said that they have never seen anything like it - that not even the adults hold so still. I was so proud of my brave little Bri. She really was incredible.

She left with quite the loot, too. Two suckers, a few books, a puzzle, stickers... We left the hospital with a happy little girl. She chatted to me the whole way home about how she would take off her brace and bandage next year and how she really just wanted to go home and watch Paw Patrol. The rest of the night she was a silly, giggling sweetheart. So, success.