Saying Good-Bye to Grandma

This may prove to be a long post...I'm doing some catching up here! Mason is at such a fun age! He is really starting to try to repeat/say words! He definitely understands what we are saying to him and responds accordingly. There are so many little things he does/says, and I've been trying to catch them on video, but when the camera comes out he doesn't do what we ask...funny how that works!

Mason not doing what we ask...

Another thing Mason loves is soft, cuddly things, like blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals. Lately he has thought that it is fun to get all of those things that he can find, put them in a pile (or in your lap), and sit on them. This picture is of a night when he put all of those things in Matt's lap, and then all 3 boys sat in the chair together!

In this picture, Zane is "cutting" Matt's hair. It was so cute...Zane had a little notebook and that was his "appointment book." He was checking it to see when Matt's appointment was. Then he put the blanket on him as his "cape" and is using a tootbrush as the scissors. He trimmed around his ears, everything!

Mason has also been wanting to do whatever Zane does! Anytime he gets his hands on a steering wheel, toy truck, or toy car, he makes a "vroom vroom" noise. It makes his daddy proud! Here are the boys one morning playing wii. Actually Zane is playing and Mason is pretending to play!

Another fun thing at our house right now is that the racecar is in our garage! That is definitely a favorite for both boys! They both want to get in it and "drive." Mason gets in and makes "motor" sounds! They have been banging on, working on, and climbing all over it!

Future Sprint Cup Winner?

"Fixing" the car!

Getting the dents out...

The boys in the car...

Just recently Zane told us he wants to play baseball. So...we signed him up for t-ball, which starts in May. We are hoping he takes to baseball a little better than soccer, but we shall see. It's always tough at this age, they want to play in the dirt or just mess around, not follow rules! Matt and Zane have been practicing baseball when the weather is nice...we're getting him ready!

SWING!

The boys continue to have fun at Jo's house...she is so good to them! I'm starting to get sad about the end of this year...Zane has been at Jo's since he was 10 weeks old, and this is his last year there! We have decided to send him to another year of preschool. He will go full-time and will be in a Pre-Kindergarten classroom. But that also means no more Jo's house! She has graciously agreed to take him on the days when I have to work and school is closed, so he will still get to go there a few times next year! Here are some photos from her house:

Zane always loves this puppy costume...it's getting a little small!

Zane and Sam

Mason's favorite toy at Jo's

The three amigos...Sam, Zane, Ryan

Peek-a-boo!

Mason and Erika

Two Saturdays ago, we were helping Sammy celebrate his 4th birthday at a place called "Monkey Bizness." It was a place that had a room full of inflatables and things to play/climb on. It was so much fun! I even went down the big slide with Zane a few times! Zane had a lot of fun, and was TIRED at the end! He wasn't too happy that he couldn't help Sammy open presents, he wanted everything Sammy got, etc, etc. Here are a few photos of the party:

This was a favorite!

Air hockey

The weather has been pretty nice a couple of days lately...we even had a day of 70 degrees and sunshine! One day Jo took the kids outside...they were chomping at the bit to get out there! I can tell ya...the minute Mason is outside, whatever fit he was thinking of throwing is GONE! He will be even happier than he already is as soon as we can be outside more!

Zane & Ryan ready to race!

How do I make this go?

This past week was spent trying to get things in order and in line for Grandma's funeral. I really wanted to do a photo/music video as a tribute to her. Of course all of my photos are not digital as I didn't have a digital camera until Zane was born, so I spent about an hour and a half scanning and saving photos one night. I was going to make a dvd from those, but Jo's husband, Dale, graciously offered to make it for me. He tells me it's no trouble and not a big deal...but it's a HUGE deal to me! It saved me a lot of time and headache as I'm sure I would have run into issues trying to get it ready to go! Matt worked late a couple of nights so that I would be able to leave early to head up to Des. Moines and help Mom and Aunt Jan get things situated and errands finished. Tuesday night, Zane and I were hanging out before his bedtime and he was messing with the empty laundry hamper. He got it up on the bed and was crawling in and out of it. Pretty soon he had the pillow in there and was laying down. Next thing I knew, he was asleep. I thought it was cute!

Wednesday afternoon I headed to Iowa. Mom, Jan, and I were all there so that we could do some things Thursday. We ran a lot of errands Thursday and got plans finalized for Friday's visitation and funeral. Friday the sun came out and it was a fairly nice day. The service was great, my grandpa was so pleased at how everything went, which was comforting to all of us! My cousin Lisa read the poem I posted on here last week and my cousin Jess gave an amazing talk about Grandma. She had us all laughing and crying within the same speech! What an amazing woman that will be sorely missed forever! She leaves us all striving to be even half of the person that she was...I hope I can make her proud! Thank you to all of you for your kindness, friendship, prayers, and love during this very difficult time. I am so thankful for the gift of having her as a grandma!

Zane-isms

• The other day I got something for Zane (I can't even remember what it was) and he said, "Mom, did you get that for me?" "Yes." "Oh, thank you Mom, that is so sweet!"
• Friday we were getting ready for the funeral and we went downstairs (we were staying at Marcy's house). Zane was sitting at the table and looked at Matt (dressed in his shirt and tie). He said, "Oh Dad, you look beautiful!"
• Lately, anytime I say the words "stupid, dumb, or hate," Zane will tell me, "Mom, we don't say stupid!" (I never say it about a person, just a situation, etc...but glad he knows we don't say them)!

Mason's Marvels

• Some of Mason's favorite new words: "soos" (shoes), "poop," "bah" (ball), "up," "doh" (door)
• Mason thinks it's hilarious to kick his feet as we are trying to dress him. He just giggles and giggles. It's actually pretty cute, but frustrating at the same time!