Football Season Is Here!

Football season is in full swing at our house, which means we get to go to daddy's football games!  Mason has received the stadium much better than he did last year, when it took us 3 games to even get past the entrance.  This year, he went right in and loved it, although for some reason the band made him nervous.

Luckily Uncle Dan saved the day when the scary band came out for halftime!

With his buds Brody & Cal.  Obviously the band is still playing.

I think half the reason why these boys love going to the games so much is the concessions.  For only $3 each, we figured why the heck not let them each have their own huge shaved ice :)

Daddy spends a lot of time at the computer these days, watching film & planning.  Madden tries to help out when he can.

Football season is definitely exhausting for me, juggling two boys, a full time job and all of the household duties.  But, so far so good - it helps that Gator football is back, too!  Go Broncos & Gators!

PreK-3

Mason just started his second year of preschool, in the 3-year-old class.  The week before school starts, they have a "meet the teacher" day for the kids.  It's essentially an open house that allows parents to take the kids to the school to become familiar with their new classroom, classmates and teachers with their parents by their side.  It is meant to help alleviate some of the first-day-of-school stresses that may come to a toddler for being separated from their parents for the first time.

When we walked into the door, there, in the very center of the room, was a huge car table!!!  Well, as you can guess, Mason was in heaven.  He literally spent 2 hours doing this, other than the 10 minutes I was able to drag him away to half-heartedly do a craft project.  But he wasn't alone, at one point there were five boys speeding around the table!

His teacher, Miss Haskins

The next week it was time for the big first day.  I took some time off work to take him.  There were no first day of school jitters for this little boy, he was ready to go!

Leading the way to his classroom.

I stayed long enough to get his name tag pinned on, and a quick pic and kiss, and off he went, playing and barely waving bye.

Unfortunately I'm unable to be there to drop off or pick up due to work, but we've scheduled BG & Opa to watch the boys on school days so they can be a part of the process.  Looks like Mason's in good hands being dropped off, and Madden's got a new mode of transportation!

It's going to be a great school year for my sweet, smart boy!

Madden - 9 Months

Another month has flown by, and we are now 3/4 of the way to being 1!

18.3 lbs (25% weight), 28" long (35% height).  Still a peanut!

But that small size doesn't hold this peanut back at all.  Little man is on. the. move.

Go Madden, go!

He is now fully mobile, crawling like a champ.  Which means, he's getting himself into all sorts of trouble, like getting stuck under toys.

 Not satisfied with simply crawling for a while, he's also pulling himself up onto anything he can get his hands on - toy boxes, chairs, tables, our legs, the couch...

And of course his crib.  The nanny got a little surprise when she turned on the monitor a few weeks ago.

This is one of his favorite places to hang out.  He's got that in common with his brother, who also wants to spend all of his days jumping on his bed.

 Once he's upright, he's generally looking for someone to help him walk.  Luckily most of us are happy to oblige for a while, especially his cousins who don't have to bend over quite so far!

Little man is also OBSESSED with food.  Just like his brother around this age, now that he has discovered the joys of real, adult food, he wants it all the time.  Our very busy little boy will sit still for 30 minutes at a time if we put him in his high chair and keep the food coming!

Not only has his eating gotten easier because he's chewing well, but he also had all FOUR of his top teeth break through in one week.  No wonder he was so fussy the week before!!

You've got something in your hair, buddy.

Now, why would I want milk when you've got these delicious peanut butter pretzels staring at me?

He is also loving this little red car that used to be Mason's, we take her for a spin a few nights a week after dinner while Mason rides his bike.

Oh, and balloons.  He is infatuated with balloons.   This one was in our house for 2 weeks, and Madden lost his mind every time he saw it.

As for his big brother, Mason is finding his little brother's sudden mobility to be a bit frustrating.  He doesn't really want to share his (ridiculously large) car collection with his little brother, and we've been having a lot of conversations about sharing.  

One day I made a fort for Mason, and his way of "sharing" with Madden was giving him access to the box of cars, but using the box to block the entrance to the fort.  I called this one a win, since both boys were perfectly content with the arrangement. 

For the most part, Mason is a really good big brother who's starting to realize his little brother can be a little bit more fun than he used to be.   And as for Madden, he sure does love his big brother.

I can't wait to see the trouble these two get into over the next years (decades??).  Sure do love being these boys' mom!!