Our big boy!

Matt pointed out that last week I failed to mention our DATE NIGHT!  I can't believe I left that out!  On Saturday, Jo was open for a few hours so that we could drop the boys off and have an even to ourselves...which was fantastic and much needed!  Jo and her husband lovingly refer to the night as "conception night" and I tell Jo it's her "job security" night!  HA!  Matt and I dropped the boys off, then headed to Stix for some hibachi, did a little shopping, then headed home to get them.  It was a fun night!

So cute...Mason saw this paw print on his toy and immediately said "it's a Bearcat!"  So I recorded this for you, Papa...and of course he would barely cooperate and say it!  (turn off the playlist first)

Potty training...is going so well!  I tell you, this child has been a breeze to potty train!  He really does so well, we are just amazed!  He had been waking up dry every morning, about 5 mornings in a row, so we quit putting a pull-up on him.  We had 2 dry mornings like that, then 2 nights where he woke up in the middle of the night wet, then 2 more dry...so who knows...but for now we've decided to put a pull-up over his underwear...he hates the feeling of them, but if he does have an accident, at least it's contained in the pull-up and we don't have to change sheets at 3:00 a.m.!  Here's a video of Mason talking about potty training!

Big boy!

This weekend we headed to Iowa.  Hard to believe, but the races will be starting in 3 short weeks...so Matt had to work on getting the race car ready to go!  We stayed on the farm and I can't tell you how excited the boys were to go there!  It was pretty easy to get them to cooperate this week when we'd say "if you don't do it, you can't go to Papa's..."  Hey, you do what you have to...  The weather was so nice this weekend and the boys got a lot of outdoor time!  The only downside to that is their gunky noses and eyes from all the dust!  I can already see that I'm going to have to keep a very close eye on Mason...so he's not wandering around outside on his own...it's hard keeping him in!

Feeding Big some snacks...

Saturday evening Matt grilled steaks and my parents, and his grandparents, came out for supper.  It was nice to catch up!  This was the funniest thing...Mason pulled his pant legs up to show Old Papa his owies...and Papa was looking at and touching them.  He rubbed Mason's knee, right over the "owie..." and Mason was mesmerized!  It was like he was in a trance...he even began drooling!  Check out the video, it's hilarious!

Check out my owies, Papa!

In a trance...

Thursday night, about 5 minutes after Mason went to bed, he appeared in the kitchen...and then got out of his bed again!  I know, I know, he's potty trained, but still sleeping in a crib.  Honestly, I thought we'd get him in his "big boy bed" first, but it just didn't work out that way.  So Sunday night we decided to take the front off of his bed.  He's been sleeping on a cot a Jo's since school started in August, so he has "experience" with this...I was just scared that it wouldn't go so well at home.  His newest saying when we say it's time for bed is "I will go to bed tomorrow..."  He's getting to be a good staller...so I figured without a front on his bed...he'd just get out as much as he wanted!  I'm happy to report that night one went so well...he didn't get up at all!  He seemed to know just what to do and told me, "I sleep on a cot at Jo's house."  This morning when I got him up I said, "Mason, I'm so proud of you, you stayed in your bed all night!"  He said "yeah," then pouted and said, "I fall out of my bed.  Watch, I show you."  Then he proceeded to roll out of bed to "show" me!  Too cute!



Mason in his big boy bed!

And Zane on the sidelines...

On another note...we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our newest cousin.  Kaitlin went to the hospital to be induced today at noon, but unfortunately her body wasn't close to ready, so she's going to have to wait even longer.  Please pray for things to go well for everyone!  We are excited to finally meet him!

Zane-isms

• We were discussing the movie Cars 2 and that we were excited to go to it.  I told Zane I was excited to take Mason to his first movie and he said, "Mom, it won't be Mason's first movie."  I said it would and he said "No mom, it will be his second movie.  Remember, he went to another movie with us!"  He's right...when he was just a couple of months old!
• One of Zane's good buddies at school is having a baby sister in the fall.  They just found out it was a girl on Friday, so on the way out of school he said, "Mom, I vote for either no baby or a girl baby."  I was confused and said that we already knew Nathan's baby was a girl, and he said, "No Mom, for you.  I want no baby or a girl baby."  NO PRESSURE!

Mason's Marvels

• "What is that supposed to be?"  While looking out the window on the way to Jo's.
• "See, I told you!"  When babbling on the way in to Jo's...I really don't even know what he "told me!"
• The other night I was asking the boys where they wanted to eat...and Mason said, "I want to go to Min-kees!"  I thought he was saying McDonald's, but he was saying "Minsky's!"  It's one of our favorite pizza places, and the boys LOVE to go there because of all of the video games!  I didn't even realize Mason knew what it was called...