A Snow Day, The Crazies, and Bowling!

Well, our week started with an extra day at home. Due to all of the snow on Sunday, we had a snow day Monday! It was our sixth snow day so far...this has been the craziest winter! We were slated to get out of school May 20th (Zane's birthday) but are now out the 27th. So far teachers have to come back after Memorial Day, but not the kids. I hope it stays that way!

Mason will NOT go down the 2nd set of stairs...just stands there and screams!

Snow day fun!

Mason playing in the "tunnel" at Jo's

Ryan & Zane at Jo's

Wednesday Jo called and asked us to bring Mason's snow clothes so that they could go outside and play a little bit. Mason has been chomping at the bit to get outside! He LOVES it!!! Here are a couple of photos of their time outside:

Where ya going Mason??

With snowballs in hand...watch out!

This weekend "The Crazies," which parts of were filmed in Lenox, came out! Our friend Mary watched the boys for us so that we could go see it. Thank you Mary (oh, and Jason too)!! We went to an early showing at 4:45, cause we couldn't wait! Scary movies are NOT my forte, but I had to see it! I watched half of the movie through my fingers while leaning into Matt's shoulder, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well put-together the movie was! Knowing it was filmed in my small hometown, I just was suspect about it showing on the big screen! However...it showed, my dad and brother were in it, and it even grossed third over the weekend! I definitely have to see it again because after talking to other people, I know I missed SO many things! It was surreal to see my town, school, dad, brother, and many other people and familiar things on the big screen! I wanted to tell everyone there all about it, but figured they could care less! After the movie we took supper to Jason and Mary's and played cards for a little while, but called it an early night. I was TIRED! It's been a long week!

Saturday we decided to go bowling again. This time we took Mason's stroller, but he didn't want to stay in it for long. He went right up to the bowling balls and picked one up like it was a feather!

Zane bowling

Mason watching and eating snacks...didn't last long!

Mason's first time bowling...

It didn't go far...

Mason is just an eating machine! Lately he's even been licking the plate clean! I finally caught this on camera...

Did you get it all?
Mason has also been into finding every single blanket and stuffed animal in the house and putting them in one pile so that he can sit on/climb on/cuddle them! Here are all of my 3 boys in the chair after Mason took everything to Matt and put it on his lap!

Matt, Zane & Mason cuddled up!

Zane "cutting Matt's hair." He even kept an "appointment book"

Mason showing off...but not doing much that we asked! He was before the camera came out...



Zane-isms

• After the snow on Sunday, as we were driving in the van, Zane said, "Mom, is it almost Christmas now?" Apparently Christmas means snow to Zaner!
• The other night after we tucked Zane into bed, I heard him talking, so turned on the monitor (which also has video) and saw him writing letters in the air, saying, "This is a lowercase z, this is a big Z..." and on and on. It was a proud moment for his kindergarten teacher mom!
• Friday Matt decided to go eat lunch with Zane at preschool. He didn't tell him, so it was a surprise. Matt said when he walked in, Zane looked at him strange and wondered what he was doing there. Matt said, "Can I eat lunch with you?" Zane said, "Yea!" Then he went over to another girl and said, "My dad's eating lunch with me!" Matt said it was darling...they eat family style so everyone sat there waiting their turn, took what they wanted to eat, and passed the bowls. Then they all ate nicely (Zane cleaned his plate), used their manners, and asked to be excused when they were done. Now...if we can only get this to happen at home!
• After supper I turned the bath on and was getting Mason out of his high chair to take him to the bathroom. Zane thought it would be funny to lock and shut the bathroom door. He came out and told me, and I got worried because the tub was filling. I said, "Zane, what are we going to do if the tub flows over?" Luckily we have keys to unlock the door, but I was worried! You could see that Zane was too, and as I started trying to unlock the door, he got this look on his face, put his hands on his cheeks, started crying, and said, "We're all gonna die!" I had to stop myself from laughing too much...and reassured him we would be okay. We got the door unlocked in time and everyone was fine. Lesson learned though!

A New Family Member!

Last Sunday for Valentine's Day, we had a heart shaped meal. I made heart shaped pizza, jello, strawberries, and rice krispie treats. It was fun! Here are some photos of our meal:

This week we had no school Monday due to President's Day (I still had meetings). I also had 2 days of other meetings, so it's been crazy. It's hard to keep up with everything when you're gone 2 days a week!

Mason relaxing at Jo's

My school always waits until February to have our holiday party, it's much less hectic at this time of year. Our party was Saturday, so Matt's parents came down to stay with the boys so we could go. We had a great turn out and a fun time. This morning we woke to snow, snow, snow! We told Matt's parents they brought it here...and they need to keep it at home! There was no snow on the ground when they got here Saturday and all kinds of it by the time they left! I'm sure hoping we don't have a snow day tomorrow...but I'm afraid we will.

Zane took this picture of Mason!

Zaner posing for me

This weekend I learned some awesome news...my cousin Susan and her husband Jon are parents! Susan is a couple of years older than I am. They have been wanting to have kids for a long time and have been in the process of adopting for years now. It has been a long and stressful process...but they finally got to meet their daughter! Her name is Ella, she is 2, and she is beautiful! They are going to be such amazing parents and I am ecstatic for them! Please pray that everything will work out for them with the remainder of the processes they have to go through to bring Ella home to our family!

Zane-isms

• The other night when we were laying in bed, we heard Zane shout, "M-O-M, come here. D-A-D, come here!" It's so neat to see him figuring things out...things I see daily in other children, and can't believe I'm at the point that I'm seeing my own child do the same things! He has been spelling "stop, yes, & no" lately too. Yesterday I heard him saying "o, n. Mom, does that spell on?" I'm so proud!
• Yesterday Mason and Zane were playing and I heard Zane say to Mason, "We're doomed I tell you...doomed!" I really don't even know what he was talking about, but it was funny!
• Today when Matt's parents were getting ready to leave, Zane told them that he didn't want them to go. He said, "Mom and Dad just don't understand. They don't play right." Makes me happy that he loves them so much, but sad that he thinks that about us!
• At Jo's house this week when Zane was there with Ryan and Sammy, Zane and the boys were drinking milk for lunch. Zane decided to announce to them that, "if you drink too much milk, it will turn your poop green. That's what Dr. Paul says." True...but not a great lunch conversation!

Mason's Marvels

• Mason loves to go outside and you can tell he wants to go out so badly! This weekend he took Craig and Keeta's shoes and coats to them, then went and stood by the garage door, pointing. I'm not going to be able to keep that child inside once it gets nicer out!

Monster Jam 2010!

Busy, busy, busy...the theme for our family! On a happy note, the Biggest Loser competition is going well for us! Both Matt and I are losing weight and feeling great! My team at school is currently in first place and I have now lost 10 pounds! It is a lot of work but well worth it!

Monday we had our first Kindergarten Transition, where we welcomed students who will be entering kindergarten in the fall. We only had 20 kids, which is less than normal, but it was snowing and I think the weather kept some of them from coming. They even cancelled volleyball that night because many teams were forfeiting. At Jo's house it was birthday central! Tuesday we celebrated Sammy's 4th birthday, and Thursday we celebrated Braeden's 1st birthday.

Mason & Nora dreaming of playing outside!

Sammy, Zane, & Ryan
Zane wanted to make sure he was still bigger than Sammy...

Matt and Zane finished his Valentine's box. They took it to school Wednesday morning. As soon as they walked in, the teachers said, "what did Zane bring this year?" They were all anxious to see it. Zane told me later that night that one of his teachers took his box to another classroom to show it off. This is such a fun project for the two of them, and they are already talking about what to do next year!

Matt and Zane with the racecar Valentine's box

Zane did all of the decorating

Where's your baby Mason?

Saturday was the 3rd annual Monster Jam for Zane. This year he went with Dad, Papa Farmer, cousin Keaton, cousin Chris, and Gordy. They arrived Saturday around 11:30. We all loaded up and went to eat lunch and then they headed that way. Keeta, Mason, and I stayed home. We did a little shopping before heading home for nap. Matt said Zane did NOT want ear plugs and was very excited about being there. He was cheering, yelling, waving, etc. He was most excited to see "El Toro Loco" and "Gravedigger." They were very close to the trucks, only a couple of rows from the front! As excited as Zane was, Keaton was the opposite. He didn't like the noise and was covering his ears.

Zane, all ready for Monster Jam 2010!

Keaton wasn't as excited...

Gravedigger

El Toro Loco

Keaton & Zane after the show

Zane on the way home

The whole weekend, Zane has been obsessed with monster trucks...getting all of his out, playing with them, and playing his monster truck wii game. Saturday night we went out to eat, came home and played wii bowling, and fell asleep watching a movie. Last night was a little restless...Mason got his foot stuck in his bed, so when I went in to get his foot out, he was awake and did NOT want to go back to sleep. He thought it was playtime! It took us awhile to get him back to sleep. Today we went out for brunch, came back for more bowling, and then Craig and Keeta left for home. We have been taking it easy this afternoon...watching movies, playing wii and watching the Daytona 500. We are looking forward to our "heart-shaped" meal tonight!

On a side note...if you could spare a few prayers, please send them my grandpa's way. He fell this week and was taken to the hospital. He was low on blood and had an infection. He's on the mend now and doing well. I'll keep you posted!

Zane-isms

• Today when we were playing bowling on the wii, Zane went up to Keeta, gave her a hug, and said, "Thank you for coming to my house!" He loves his grandparents SOOO much!
• After the monster trucks, Zane told Matt he wanted to build a monster truck...a real one that they could drive! Then he said "we have a lot of work to do!" He's right!!

Mason's Marvels

• Lately Mason has been very interested in babies. Anytime a baby is around, he starts pointing, grunting, and smiling. He wants to go right over to them and touch them. We have to keep him back, but it is so cute! Today at dinner he saw a baby and he was waving, giving his "cheese" face, and blowing kisses!

A Night Out!!!

Wow, is it really February already? My kids at school were excited to celebrate the 100th day of school on Tuesday. It's a pretty big day in kindergarten! It was also Groundhog's Day on Tuesday, and Zane made a mask at school. He puts it on and Mason just laughs and laughs! Tonight he had it on and when Matt asked him what the mask was, he said "it's a brown hog." This weekend I realized I didn't do a great job taking pictures so am posting photos from Jo.

The three amigos playing wii (Sam, Ryan, Zane)

Goofy Mason
Mason & Nora

Every year, Jo opens up on a Saturday evening in February so the parents can have a date night! It was this Saturday night and we were very excited to be able to have a conversation without being interrupted! We dropped the boys off, then headed to the movie theatre. We wanted to see Avatar. It was the first movie I had ever seen in 3-D. You should have seen us in our glasses...we were cute! The movie was long, so we really didn't have time to do anything else, so we picked up the boys and drove through Sonic for supper.

Today we went to church and the boys went downstairs again. Right now, Zane is working on his Sunday School homework. He told us he was doing his "God" work. He had a watch on that he found in my jewelry box, and when I picked him up at Sunday School, he said "Mom, I left this 'timer' on so that I would know when you were done with church."

Friday is Zane's Valentine's Day party at school, so the task of making a Valentine's Box is upon us. Zane decided he wants a race car box, so he and Dad got to work right away. Here they are working on it:

Painting the race car

Get it all covered!

I tell ya, we're going to show up with this thing and everyone will say "you can tell the parents made that one!" Matt takes a lot of pride in Zane's school projects!

Have a good week and stay warm...the forecast doesn't sound too good!!!

Oh yeah...I've been seeing previews on t.v. for the movie "The Crazies" that was filmed in our hometown in Iowa. I even saw one during the Super Bowl! It's strange to see that, knowing it was filmed where I grew up. The movie comes out February 26th...we'll definitely have to get a sitter to see that one!