Thanksgiving 2008

My helpers (who weren't much help) .


Chris, The Master of the Thanksgiving Turkey.
And Oh it was good!!

The spread.

Max sneaking some extra rolls.

Who can blame him? Grandma's rolls ROCK!

Gus sitting at the 2-year-old table.......with an airplane on his lap, of course.

Karen, the hostess with the mostest.

Zane & JR's Thanksgiving dinner consisted of rolls and a few olives.

Libby Lou, with those brown eyes!

The teenage table.

Mars in mid-protest of the picture-taking.

It just doesn't get any better than this for my Jake.

He looks forward to this moment all year long!

Jane.

Notice the cute turkey place cards made for everyone by the one & only Zo-dog.

Baby Indie, loving being passed around all afternoon.

A good Thanksgiving is not complete without a game of football.

My most favorite mother-in-law in the whole world!

I'm so thankful Zaners will still snuggle with me.

This jeep got a serious workout.

Aaawwwww! How cute are they???

Anna........6th pregnancy and still so foxy!

It was a fabulous Thanksgiving.

The food was great, but the company was even better! That's what's so fun about Thanksgiving.

Dog For Sale

How about for free!!!
In fact, I'll pay you to come and get her!

Uugghhhh! I shouldn't be so mean, but she really drives me crazy.

This is what I look at all day from my kitchen, her moping, needy face............that is when she's not either chewing up driplines or shoes or balls, or barking on purpose so that I'll let her in, so she won't annoy the neighbors.

I'm paying dearly for my moment of Christmas weakness last year. I have no one to blame but myself.

BUT, the kids love her.........she's a part of our family now. Tears well up in Jake's eyes when Brian & I joke about feeding her to the coyotes. We're so mean!

I guess I'm stuck with her.

Soccer Season 2008

I succeeded in talking everyone out of soccer this season except Zane & Marlee.
Soccer is probably Marlee's favorite sport, so of course she was doing it. And Zane insisted that he wanted to play & promised he wouldn't whine about going to any practices.......and he didn't do too bad about that!
He was really into it this year.


I loved how these little guys' legs (and arms) would go flying up in the air after a big give-it-your-all kick!

After every goal, Zane would give me a thumbs-up , just like this.

Mars is such an athletic little thing.........she really is.

She loves her soccer games!!!

And I love watching her play..........every Friday night (big smiley face).

Hanging out at the soccer fields........

I never planned on being this kind of mom.

The one that brings her dirty-faced, stained t-shirt, shoeless, snot-nosed kids out in public.

Yet here I am.

Well........one of them had shoes........and there wasn't too much snot.........but it was still pretty bad!

(And we happen to be going through a bandaid fetish phase.)

I was even aware of how they looked before I left, and I chose not to bother with it!

I just made sure I had some cash for some Sonic tater-tots & slushes for lunch, threw them in the car, and headed to the game.

Nice.

Zane LOVES having me take pictures of him like this.

"How old are you, Gus?"

"TWO!!!"

A brand new little cousin!

Welcome Indie!
You're gorgeous!!

We finally got him to sleep......

Congrats Chris & Marie!

Tree of Gratitude

For FHE last Monday we put together our Mason Family Tree of Gratitude (I copied this idea from Shawni because I can't come up with my own ideas).
We were all SO proud of it when we were finished.
We all stood back & admired it for a while after we hung it up.

Each leaf says something we are thankful for.
And we definitely have so much to be thankful for!

We could have put a million leaves on that tree, but it was getting late!

The first thing that comes to my mind when counting blessings, would be my beautiful, happy, healthy children & that I am so blessed to be their mother........and the list goes on & on.....

How did I get so lucky?

Some of my favorites on the tree are:

Stores & Community Services (Marlee)

Our pets (Max) - I totally disagree with that one.

That we are not ignorant (Marlee) - What???

Thanksgiving dinner (Jake)

Hair (Marlee)

Blogging (me)

Technology that can make our lives easier - Go Thomas Edison! (Marlee)

Donuts (Zane) "Mom, I'm totally thankful for donuts." Love that kid.

And I totally forgot to add Diet Coke ....

and Twilight that I can't wait to see tomorrow!!!!!

A little trip to Palm Springs

Beautiful Palm Springs!

OK, Palm Springs is not very beautiful, in my opinion.......... but what was beautiful was the totally relaxing time I had there.

Friday went like this:

Sleep in.

Go on a little jog.

Lay out by the pool.

Order a Diet Coke & lunch by the pool.

Take a nap.

Get a pedi and a mani (which I never do!)

Go to dinner with my hubs (who was at lectures all day)

Go see the new James Bond movie (Ya, baby!!)

It was pretty much the best day of my life!

And.... all with my BFF Bek!!

Next, we met up with the Bakers for a little adventure.........

It's always an adventure when Brian's driving!

We couldn't believe how smoky the air was from all the LA area fires.

"Would you STOP taking pictures!"

"OK, FINE! I'll try some gang signs."

Yeeaahhhh! Sweet gang signs, guys.

My new pedi.

(Yes, I know we look like we're in Junior High....with wrinkles.......but we had so much fun!!!)

We hit Sprinkles, did a little shopping, then dinner at this cool Greek place.

We took a picture at dinner, but we all looked SO BAD I couldn't post it.

Lobby fun.

It's ALWAYS a good time with the Garns.

They're our fave travel buddies............. AND pretty much whatever we do with them is a business expense!

Bonus!!

Love you guys!

Our Tooth Fairy is a loser

The other day I made a trip up the stairs to the boys' room (I try to not go up there whenever possible.......3 boys in one room.........it's never pretty.........and usually horrifying).

But this time, Max's bed was actually made, with this note laid on top.

And I can't even recall when he lost this tooth, it was that long ago.

What a loser Tooth Fairy we have!!!

And, sadly, this is not the first time it has taken weeks for our Tooth Fairy to get around to a visit.

Tooth Fairies can get really tired at night.......& then not remember in the morning.........& then sometimes they don't have the right change.......

Excuses, excuses.

So, if anyone knows of a good Tooth Fairy, we're hiring!

NAL

If you're ever needing a little intellectual humility, come on over to a Junior High NAL match.

NAL stands for National Academic League, and the new season is just getting started.

This is Marlee's second year in it & she LOVES it!

Last year their team was #2 IN THE NATION!

Now, I consider myself to be fairly intelligent. I mean, I got mostly A's in school & I do pretty well playing Trivial Pursuit (except the Sports category). So I thought it'll be so fun to watch these meets & see how many questions I can answer....................I'm thinking I'll be able to get most of them, right?........................try ONE OR TWO!!!!

Quite humbling.

These kids are SMART!

The matches are pretty complex, with hand buzzers & speed rounds & presentations, in all academic subjects.

Here's a few examples:


Name the capital of Botswana?


Gaborone




Translate these Roman numerals into Arabic numerals: CMXIIL


1938




Who is the current Secretary of Education?


Margaret Spellings




Give an example of a gymnosperm.


pine tree




Get any of those???
I sure couldn't.
I swear kids are smarter these days.

It's competitive academics.......SO right up Mars' alley!

This picture has nothing to do with NAL, but I can't post without a picture.
I took this last Sunday. Mars is lovin' her new braces!

Good luck this season Mars Bars!!

Is it wrong that I dream of this.........

Especially on Sunday mornings.
And ESPECIALLY this kid.
I love them all to death, really, but sometimes.........

Max has always been on the hyperactive side.
He can literally bounce off the walls if he gets wound up, and his voice has no low or medium, only high volume.

And Gus has recently found his voice & talks nonstop.
Today he threw the hugest, totally irrational, screaming fit EVER!!!
I think it started because Marlee got him out of bed instead of me.

Zane is REALLY good at ear-piercing screams when his brothers mess with him.

And Jake is just plain LOUD in every thing he does.
When he was born, his first cry was SO loud! I remember my doctor saying, "Ohhhh, you're in big trouble!!"

And Brian's not too quiet himself!

Maybe I'll miss all the noise one day......
But right now I'm dreaming of a little peace & quiet!

The Cell Phone

We swore that we wouldn't think of getting her a cell phone til at least high school!

I mean, it's so ridiculous how every teenager & even 5th & 6th-graders have their own cell phones now!!

It's just wrong!!!

Then, in a moment of birthday weakness...............

So, let me explain myself.

My big problem with cell phones is the constant texting.

Brian has teenagers all the time, laid back in the chair (he's an Orthodontist), texting the whole time with their phone in their lap..........they can't even see it!!!

It's not a good thing!

So, I had texting disabled on her phone.

And she's quite OK with that. She's just so thrilled to have one.

And I must say, it does come in handy, like when she needs me to pick her up when she's done with an after-school activity, or if I ever need to reach her........since it's literally attached to her hip!!

And, there is not a more powerful bargaining tool out there.

She'll do anything to not lose her phone.

She'll even play with her little brothers, to not lose her phone!

She is now under my complete control!!

Well....... I won't go that far.

Can I have him???

Well..........daytime only.

So, so precious!

LOVE this one!

And, probably my favorite...............

Poor guy did not like being on his tummy!

Congrats Michelle! He's GORGEOUS!!!