This & That

Before I move into our Fall adventures, there are a couple more things that needed mentioning!

Pre-K 3 

Mason started his third year of Pre-K in September! He now goes three days a week (T/Th/F), and in addition to his usual days of music, art, playground, and reading, he now also has Spanish, cooking, chapel, and library! We just love his teacher, Mrs. Nicole, and he continues to really enjoy and look forward to school.

At almost four years old, he is really becoming an independent little person. He's our buddy and is so fun to hang out with. His personality continues to develop and I love seeing who he is becoming. He actually helps around the house, in the yard, and in the garage (Sean's territory), and enjoys doing so. He likes to be productive and his wheels are constantly turning. He is full of questions and asks things or notices things that I've never thought twice about. We try to fill his mind with all the information he craves, but it can get exhausting. I've had to institute a rule during story times that he has to wait until the end of each page to ask his questions. Not the end of the book, the end of the page! He just wants to learn, learn, learn!

Here are some pictures from his first day!

His teacher, Mrs. Nicole, on the bottom right

Family drop-off!

Handmade Hideaway

Our big summer project was building an outdoor playhouse for the boys. Sean did all the planning and heavy lifting, but Mason and I helped where we could! We were also fortunate to have some assistance from both grandpas when they visited.

We've wanted a playhouse for a while, but just couldn't find one that had everything we were looking for and was within a reasonable price range. So Sean decided to take on his biggest project to date and do it himself! We used some plans Sean found online as a guide, but made tweaks to build it to our liking. While there are still a few punch list items we want to get to, it's pretty much complete and we're very satisfied with how it turned out (plus it took care of a place in the yard that we just couldn't get grass to grow!).

What's most important is that Mason loves it (Harrison does too, but Mason obviously uses it more at his age). We've had several parties/play dates over here since and it's a hit with kids of all ages. I'm so happy we took this on and proud of Sean's accomplishment. This will be used for many, many years to come!

Mason helping!

It was a family effort

End of the first weekend

Walls are up

A couple of coats of stain are on and half the roof is up

Coming together: walls painted, stairs, railing, and rock wall are built, and the slide is added. Notice the H & M in the railing? I love that touch!

So close! Sandbox and sand, mulch and rocks, and furniture added

And we're done! This is how it looks now, three months later. Curtains and binoculars have been added, and countless of hours of play have been logged.

As I mentioned, there are still some things we want to add like shutters for the windows, shelves for the walls, a flag, possibly lighting, some built in seats in the sandbox corners, and installing a telescope that we have, but haven't put on yet. But the boys don't know any different and if it stays this way forever, it would be fine! Thanks, Sean, for all of your hard work on this! It's perfect!


Orange Crush

Mason started his first season of soccer in September. His team name is Orange Crush and a lot of his friends, neighbors, and classmates are on the team. Sean and I both played growing up (and we met while playing adult co-ed soccer!), so it's super fun for us to watch him. We're both just a tad bit competitive, a trait that was definitely passed down to Mason. All he wants to do is score. He'll take it from his own teammates to do so and gets upset when anyone else scores, even if they're on his team. We're working with him on his team spirit but are proud of his determination. The games are madness with half the kids swarming the ball, some kids wandering the field, and others showing no interest at all. It's cute and comical and so entertaining to watch. We hope he continues to show interest and we're looking forward to watching in the seasons to come!

I couldn't get the videos to load but here are some pics!

Mason and his best bud, Travis

Go #4!

Top picture: warming up with the opposing team and covering his ears from the whistle! Bottom L: trying to take the ball from the other team (preferred), Bottom R: trying to take the ball from his team (not preferred)

His biggest fans! Papa and Harrison have made every game - thanks for cheering him on you two!