Happy Rained-Out 4th of July!

What a busy week! We started the week by getting a couple of ever-important photo ops out of the way. The first was a suit picture...Matt's mom has a suit that Matt, his brother, his cousin, and Zane have all had their pictures taken in, so we had to get a picture with Mason wearing it to carry on the tradition. He thought it was funny at first, but it didn't take long for him to want it off! I did get a photo out of it though!

Mason with the suit in the chair Grandpa Beggs made

The second photo-op was with Zane. When Zane was a baby, I would take a picture of him beside Big Bird each month, to document his growth. I also did this with Mason. Now I take their picture with Big Bird each year. Wonder what they'll think when I make them lay beside Big Bird at 16???

Zane and Big Bird

We spent a lot of time at home this week, playing, reading, etc. We went swimming a couple of times, but stayed home more. The boys had a couple of "nice" moments with one another, when they weren't arguing over toys!

Zane reading to Mason

The boys watching t.v. and eating Doritos!

This week was Zane's last week of swim lessons. He did great, I was so proud of him! We had been working with him on swimming without a life jacket, but he kept saying "I can't do it, I'll just sink" and wouldn't really try. I guess it took someone else helping/showing him, because he did really well! Thursday was his last day and we got a report from his teacher...he passed! Next summer he'll be ready for level 2 lessons. He actually is already able to do most of what is required for level 2, but needs some practice for a few of the skills.

Mason watching Zane's lessons

Zane's class (he's to the right of the teacher)
Zane and his swim teacher, Kyle

Thursday night we celebrated Zane passing swim lessons by getting fireworks! Of course we had to come right home and try some sparklers out! Both boys had a lot of fun with this!

Zane with his sparkler

Mason with his sparkler

Friday we headed to Iowa for the long holiday weekend. We stayed with Matt's parents. Zane was excited to be on the farm again!

Tired Zane on the way to Iowa

Mason's first motorcycle ride!

Saturday we had Jennie (Matt's cousin) and Richard's wedding. Zane was very excited to get to dance after the wedding! There were a few glitches in the evening...first of all the CD wouldn't play, so we ended up getting our laptop out of the van and using it...the wedding started 15 minutes late. Then they took pictures after the wedding, they took a long time, and when they got to the reception, none of those CDs would work...but it was a beautiful wedding and now they can breathe because it's over! It was fun to celebrate with everyone!

The kids waiting patiently to dance...

Mason playing with balloons!
Zane was all over the "line dances!"

Mason was quite the dancer...

Sunday we were hoping to go boating, then go to Clearfield to ride rides, eat food, and watch fireworks. Unfortunately, none of that happened due to the rain! Everything but the ice cream social was cancelled for the day, so we ate lunch at home, then Matt, Craig, Zane, and I went to see Toy Story 3. We had been wanting to see it, but just hadn't gotten there yet. It was really cute! Then we went home, ate ice cream on the way, and then ordered pizza for supper. Today was also yucky...rainy again! We hung out at home, ate some lunch, then headed back home. Even though it was raining, the boys couldn't stop themselves from playing outside! They were playing in the pouring rain but couldn't be happier! After it stopped raining we saw Mason on his 4-wheeler like this...giving his lion a ride and packing his blankies in the back!

Mason with his favorite things...

Zane-isms

• At the wedding Saturday night, Zane and I were sitting at the table eating. He looked at me and said, "Mom, let's get married." I said, "I'm already married to Daddy, who do you want to marry?" He pointed to me and said, "You, Mom!"
• In the van the other day, Zane said, "We need to have two more babies. Two girl babies." I asked him why and he said, "So we could have three and three (boys and girls). Now we only have one and three!" Oh my!

Mason's Marvels

• Mason LOVES to be rocked before going to bed. So usually we rock and sing a couple of songs. One of his favorites is Rock-a-Bye Baby. He has now started singing it and when he does you can hear, "Rock, baby, tee top, down." He did this a lot this weekend when rocking Matt's old cradle. It was cute!
• Matt's mom was singing the Mickey song "Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggety dog" and Mason was repeating her by saying "Dog, dog, ditty dog."