Halloween

We had a fun Halloween week this year, holidays are definitely getting more and more fun as Mason gets older!  

A few days before, we had the cousins down to our house for some pumpkin carving.  First we put the dads to work cutting them open and taking all the "guts" out.  Grace wanted nothing to do with the stuff, but Addie dug right on in with the men!

And then...the men continued to carve, and the kids lost interest.  So, this is what pumpkin carving looked like all evening.  My mom was actually picking out the seeds to attempt baking them for the first time while the two dads carved and the 3 kids played...

And blew bubbles.

And pretty much did everything BUT help carve pumpkins.

But like good dads, once their pumpkin masterpieces were completed, they gave the kids all the credit :)

Don't let these cute faces fool you, we had to run these three down and pretty much force them to pose with their pumpkins. 

On Halloween Mason spent the day with Gigi while Tristan & I worked, and they had some themed fun.

And then it was time for...dum dum dum...the DREADED COSTUME.  I purchased Mason's costume at the end of September, and had been talking up his race car driver outfit for a full month.  He was SO excited about being a race car driver, yet had NO desire to actually put the costume on.  If you remember Halloween last year, you'll know that Mason isn't much of a costume fan.

Just as we thought we were never going to get him into his costume, a little friend from down the street showed up to trick-or-treat for her first time.  I had Mason help me bring her the bowl of candy, which he had no idea had been sitting up on the counter.  When he asked for a piece, I explained to him that we had to be wearing costumes to get candy.  Suddenly, he was very interested in putting on his costume.  So yes...I sort of bribed my 2 year old with candy...but I feel like this is the one day that the bribe actually relates!!!

We got about halfway into the costume when the waterworks began...

And escalated...

Until he was a crying mess asking for one thing over and over...

LOLLIPOP!  There...all better.  The minute that lollipop was unwrapped, it was as if the costume didn't even exist.

And from there on out, he was a happy camper, so mom & I took the opportunity to grab some cute shots.

You like my ghetto Halloween shirt?

Daddy came home from work in time for trick-or-treating, and was prepared with a costume of his own to go with Mason's, as a mechanic.  I kind of dropped the ball on joining in on the fun.

The cousins headed down in their costumes, their parents toting along the ever-famous wagon-o-liquor, stocked with beer and wine for the adults.  This year it also carried an adorable 1 year old pumpkin :)

And then it was off for trick-or-treating!

Mason caught on quickly to the concept, and had a great time going up to the doors.  He did a great job saying thank you to everyone and kept up with the big kids for a good 30 minutes before he was over it.

That evening, Mason's dinner consisted of 2 lollipops, a mini bag of M&M's, and a few bites of pizza.  But luckily, he completely forgot about the candy after that evening, and never asked for another piece in the following days, despite his bucket sitting prominently on the kitchen counter.  All in all, Halloween #3 was a success!

Preschool Halloween Festival

Mason's preschool hosts a Halloween festival, so since it was on a Friday of an away game, me & a few of the other football wives with kids checked it out.  The festival was at his school, and it was geared towards little kids, so it was perfect.  They had all of the playgrounds open, and had set up stations with toddler games and prizes.

(Apologies in advance for the low quality photos, I wasn't in the mood to lug around my camera so iPhone photos it was!)

It was costume optional, but I know my child well and opted for no costume, instead deciding to represent our Gators!

I think this trampoline is always there, because he knew exactly what to do!

We of course had to hit up the lollipop stand.

Then it was time for more tattoos.  In case you missed the Pumpkin Patch post, he likes getting his arm painted/tattooed. 

Mason & his buddy Zack and their COOL truck tattoos!

They had a little mini-ride set up that was a scooter on a makeshift ramp - the kids LOVED it!

Last Halloween just the two of us, buddy!

The 3 Amigos, Jack, Mason & Zack.  All three are football coaches kids, turned 2 this summer, and are becoming big brothers in December.  When the 6 of us including moms get together we're quite a site, 3 crazy boys and 3 pregnant mamas.  I wanted to get a picture of all 6 of us, but it was chaos at the festival at this point, so maybe next time.

Gigi just flew into town for Halloween, so I'm sure there will be plenty more October events to post about in the next week or so!

Sing it, Baby!

Apparently we've been listening to enough Top 40/Pop music in the cars for someone to actually learn the words.  So far he has one for sure favorite - "Let's Go" by Ne-Yo.  He rocks in the backseat to that one every time.  He apparently shares my love for Adam Levin as well, because he was pretty familiar with the latest Maroon 5 hit!

I love that he's actually just singing along to himself here, and if you look closely he's pretty close with the words!

He's apparently got my ear for music...although I am NOT musical, I have been known to memorize the words to every. single. song. on the radio at any given time.  I'm so proud, ha :)

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

Wow, it's been a really long time since I last blogged.  Tristan's always on our computer these days watching film, and I'm just...pregnant, tired, and don't feel like looking at a computer screen in the evenings after working all day.  Not a whole lot missed, though, being as it's football season we've been laying pretty low.

However, we've now entered one of my favorite months of the year.  October brings cooler weather (allegedly...come ON San Diego, what's your deal lately???), Oktoberfest, pumpkin & Oktoberfest beer (wah for me), pumpkin spice lattes, Halloween, and of course, pumpkin patches!  It's the 2nd weekend of October and we've already been to two!

The first patch we went to is down the street from us, and this is our third year going with Mason.  They have a small hayride.

They also have a little corn maze that we checked out.  Now that I'm looking at these pictures, apparently Mason ate/drank his way through both of these activities.

Then it was time to pick out a pumpkin!

So bright, sorry buddy!

The glasses only help if you put them over your eyes, cool guy.

Better on the glasses, but if you look closely they're totally sideways.

I need to go back and find some old pictures, because we've taken this same picture for 3 years.  

My 30-week picture with my two little pumpkins!  If you ask Mason where his little brother is, this is what he shows you.

This weekend, Laura & I decided to take all the kids to another well-known patch up in the mountains some called Bates Nut Farm.  I had never been and was hoping to go this year, so despite the hubbies being busy, we decided to brave it ourselves with all the kiddos.

Oops, we forgot Ava!  Right after I took this picture I made the observation of "well, if Madden comes out with black hair and dark skin like his parents, he's going to be quite a sight with this crew!"

They had a really great hayride - we got there early so grabbed the first car behind the big tractor!

Then it was off to the maze - this one was awesome b/c it was made out of low bales of hay, and it was a hunt for 7 stamps hidden throughout.  These three monkeys spent an hour running around the maze as fast as they could.

Check out that backdrop :)

And this little lady, who's 1st birthday was yesterday, followed along at her own pace, big smiles the whole time.

Buddies :)

Next it was time for an early lunch.

And more smiles from Ava :)

Then Grace & Mason decided they wanted to do some body painting.  Mason insisted on a car on his arm, so the lady did a cool train for him.

And Grace braved the rock wall.  She made it all the way to the top!

Last but not least, we had to get our pumpkins.  Poor Laura...at 31 weeks pregnant I'm no help when it comes to heavy lifting, and we didn't have a stroller. 

Yeah Laura!  I offered to carry Ava but she insisted she had it.  So I just stood aside and took pictures of her instead :) 5 pumpkins and a 25 lb baby on her back...rockstar!

Yeah for pumpkin patches and October!

Preschool!

Not sure how he's suddenly old enough, but our baby just started preschool!  

There's a wonderful preschool across the street from our neighborhood that pretty much all of our friends' & family's kids in the area have attended/are attending.  So, in the day of crazy preschool entrance competition, I took my sister in law's advice and signed Mason up a year and a half ago when we decided to move to Rancho Bernardo.  Sure enough, this past spring I got a congratulatory email that Mason was "accepted"!

Since it's a 2-year-old program, it's more of an introduction to a classroom structure than anything.  It's only 2 days a week for an hour and a half, during which time they have circle time, arts & crafts, play on the playground and have a snack.  Being a family with 2 full-time working parents, I thought preschool would never be an option for us, but we've been very fortunate to have Opa, BG and Beth who are willing to help with pickup & drop off.

Last week they had a parent night for parents to go, minus the kids, and hear about the school, all the activities they provide for families throughout the year, and meet our children's teachers.  The following day they had meet the teacher day for the kids, so I took a few hours off from work and took Mason.

Just inside the entrance, had to get a picture of this one.  It was a little bright :)

Mason was, of course, immediately drawn to the back corner shelving which housed loads of cars and trucks.  Notice the cute name tags?  They're on all the kids backs b/c they try to pull them off if they're in front :)

Finally lured him away from the trucks for a bit to play with his second favorite toys, balls, and got to meet some of his new classmates.  There are 10 total kids in each class, and 2 teachers plus 2-3 helpers.

After we'd spent a bit playing with his new friends and meeting his sweet teachers, we hit the playground for a few minutes before I had to drop him back off with Miss Beth and head back to work.

All of the 2 year olds are to bring a bucket with them each day, which holds an extra pair of clothes and diapers/wipes if they still use them.  To get Mason excited about school, we went to Target together and picked out the bucket and decorations, and then came home and decorated it together.  He, again shockingly, chose Cars and sports ball stickers, and I let him go to town!  He was so proud of his decorations, and as you can see once we were done with the bucket, the sticker fun continued on papers around the house :) 

Tuesday was his first official day of school, so I took some time off from work to take him.  He did GREAT - it was pretty chaotic in the classroom (there were a few screamers who'd never been separated from their moms before, poor things), and they encouraged us to make the drop off quick so as not to prolong the process.  So I took him back to the corner with the trucks he loved, and gave him a kiss goodbye.  He got pretty sad when he realized I was leaving, but one of his teachers was sitting right next to him so I knew he was in great hands.  And sure enough, when Opa picked him up at the end of class, he was happy and didn't want to leave.

 

Beth told me he cried again today when she left him, but picked up a happy and smiling little boy and the teachers said his tears didn't last long.   Although I'm sad to not be there for him every day he goes, I know he's in great hands and having a blast!

Thanks, Your Baby Can Read!

I think I've mentioned before that we've been using the Your Baby Can Read program with Mason since he was an infant.  At just over 2 years old, Mason can recognize every letter in the alphabet, and can read probably around 50 words at this point.  This makes his uber dork parents extremely happy and proud :)

Thanks, YBCR!!