Our home has been infiltrated.  I'm actually surprised it hasn't happened sooner.  The cold bug has hit us.  Hard.  We are battling fevers, fountains of snot and coughing spells galore.  Kade seems to have come out the other side (besides the cough that doesn't seem to be moving on anytime soon), Mason and I are in the thick of it and, so far--fingers crossed, Erik is unscathed.  This evening, Mason actually signed "more" and then pointed to his bed so I laid him down and he hasn't made a peep.  Kid's a genius, just like his big brother :-)

Earlier this week, in healthier times, we celebrated Great Grandpa H's 90th birthday.  His family hosted a party in the church basement on Saturday.  150 people showed up!!  That guy is popular!!

This was the only picture I got at the party and I just realized it's the oldest holding the youngest….

Except, this is the last picture of Mason being the youngest because, 2 days later, Erik's sister Jenna and her husband Jay welcomed a baby boy into the world!!

Isaac Jay.  

 I can't remember any stats but he and mom are healthy and happy and that's all that really matters!!

On Wednesday I took Kade in for his pre-K screening.  I still can't believe he is old enough for that already :-(  Even though we've decided to not send him to Kindergarten until he is 6 I figured it would be good to get this first step out of the way.

I decided I should probably comb my hair and try to look a little presentable (and try to not look quite as homeless as I usually do on my days off) for Kade's very first school experience.  There's lots of time for me to embarrass him, but I thought I'd give him a break this 1st time.  Getting ready is no small feat when children are in the home.  I know every age is difficult but I think Mason is at the most difficult stage.  Here's a little run down.  Please note that this was all in the span of 20 minutes.

1.  Change out of pajamas and bedtime diaper and into day clothes.

2.  open every drawer he can reach and proceed to empty all contents while mom is curling her hair.

3.  crawl into wet shower.  Change of clothes #2 for the day

4.  Poop pants, diaper change

5.  Mom, in an attempt to finish curling hair, corrals him into the bathtub with toys.  

6.  Discover the faucet.  Discover how to turn on the faucet.  Change of clothes #3 for the day.

I finally gave up and decided to lock him in my room but out of the bathroom.  But not before he snatched one more key component of my "getting ready tools"…

Can't you just hear the evil, maniacal laugh coming out of him in this picture?!  He was just too proud of himself for me to take my comb away from him.

We finally made it out the door, in time I might add!  I can't say I looked great but I can't say that very often anyway :-)

I couldn't resist a picture of my big boy heading into the school for his first time.  He's already got the "Mom, you are so annoying.  Take my picture quick before anyone sees me" look figured out!

Just a couple more cute pics of the boys.

Very serious, very intimidating hockey player.

Not so intimidating version.  

Mason's "tractor noise" face.  It would be impressive that he can do a motor on command except if you ask him what a cow, or any other animal, says he still responds with the tractor motor noise.  I think he's exceptionally gifted though :-)

Mason's 1st Haircut and a Kade Quote

Mason was getting a little shaggy.  We've noticed it for a few months but put off taking care of it for as long as possible.  There's something about giving a baby boy a haircut that tears at the heartstrings a little bit.  They look so much older after a cut and he's still my baby!  He's not even a year old yet!

He did fantastic.  He sat still and he didn't make a peep.  As usual, the EXACT opposite of what Kade did.  Kade screamed and cried so loud that he forgot to breathe at one point and actually turned purple at his first cut.  Not Mason.  I didn't even have to reach into my bag of tricks to distract him!

                                 Umm, Dad?  Do we need to be concerned about this lady??

The official "before" picture.

Watching big brother getting his haircut at the same time.

Kade's finished product.  I never thought I'd see the day that Kade actually begged to get his cut.  He didn't need it but he wanted to get one with Mason.

Checking out his handsome face in the mirror.

Apparently he liked what he saw!

So serious.

The stylist needed him to put his head down so Kade helped out.

The official "after" picture.

I love this goofy grin!  Ever since he got those big front teeth he's been smiling like this.  I was finally able to capture it in a picture!

Kade Quote:

Kade:  When I get bigger I want to be a Cow Walker.

Grandma and Grandpa:  I don't think there is such thing as a cow walker.

Kade:  Yes there is!!  My dad was a cow walker!!  He even has a bunch of trophies in the basement from when he did it!!

I love the way his mind works.  He was talking about when Erik was a kid in 4H and he showed cows in the 4H Dairy Show.  Erik has a box full of old trophies and pictures in the basement and it definitely does appear that Erik was a cow walker.  I mean, the cow WAS on a leash and Erik WAS walking it around!

What a Week!

This week's post was a bit delayed because this week ended up being a bit more hectic than we anticipated.  We got all new flooring put in upstairs!  I knew we weren't going to be able to walk on the floors on Thursday and Friday so we planned ahead to be out of the house.

What I wasn't planning on was how unlivable the house was going to be on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Our initial thought was to basically spend the week hanging out in our unfinished (yet set up as one massive playrooom) basement.  However, we weren't  exactly planning on the entire basement being coated in a 2 inch layer of sawdust with a few million wood chips sprinkled on top after the removal of the old floor.  Add on to that the fact that Mason still puts everything into his mouth and that left the basement uninhabitable.   Add on to that the fact that the kitchen was unusable because there was plastic was taped up everywhere--over every cabinet, countertop and appliance and that left us with 1 option: an impromptu sleep over at Erik's parents.

Thursday we left on our previously planned trip to Wisconsin Dells.  It was nice to get away from the disaster zone for a little bit!  The boys had a blast in the water park.  When I say "boys", I mean Erik too.  That guy LOVES water parks!!!

Poor Mason had the sun in his eyes the whole way to the Dells.  The blanket over his head was the best I could come up with to keep the sun out.  

Notice their socks?  These 2 nerds walked through the entire hotel dressed exactly as you see them in this picture.  And the hotel was a behemoth.  I think it was a half mile to get from our room to the water park!

Mason wasn't so sure about this indoor swimming.  It wasn't exactly the temperature of bath water in there!

He did love the water slides though!

I love this picture!  My two opposite boys :-)

When Erik was growing up his family vacations consisted of a day at Noah's Ark and then dinner at the Pizza Pub.  We decided to keep the tradition going.  Nothing like delicious greasy pizza after a day of swimming!

This is the best picture I could get of Erik and Kade going down a water slide.  You would think I could've gotten a better shot since they went down only a few dozen times!  Mason and I ended up leaving these two at the park so we could go to bed.  I think they finally came back to the room around 9:00pm.

Mason and I hung out in the room and had a little photo shoot.  I can't get enough of this smile!

  

This is what we came home to on Saturday morning!  There's still an inch of dust on every surface upstairs, and I can't even think about the clean up in the basement without crying a little, but I sure do love my new floors!

The Last of the Holiday Pictures

Although Christmas was just 2 weeks ago it seems like forever ago.  I figured I'd use this week's post to put the last of our pictures up from all of our Christmas celebrations.  I forgot the camera when we celebrated with my family so these are all from Erik's family's celebration.

After that it's time to focus on the New Year--which is already a week old!!  2015 is proving to be moving along just as fast as 2014 did.  When does time slow down??  Mason is going to be 11 months old tomorrow!!  How is that possible?  I feel like it was just yesterday we got the call to come pick the little man up from the hospital and that was 11 months ago already!

Anyway…we decided to not exchange gifts amongst the adults this year with Erik's side.  Instead we did an old fashioned Christmas.  We had a sleigh ride…

And we roasted chestnuts over an open fire…

Except instead of a horse drawn sleigh it was the old Farmall 806 pulling a hay wagon.  And instead of chestnuts it was Brrr beer.

This is almost a family picture.  Unfortunately Mason isn't in it.  He chose that day to take one 4 hour nap so he missed out on all the outdoor activities.  Joe, the mini horse, made it in the family picture though!

Gotta love a tractor with a bucket--makes snow fort building much easier!!

Mason woke up just in time to sit on some presents...

And to open some too.

We all know that Kade is a Daddy's boy.  So, I've been trying to make Mason a Mama's boy but it's not happening.  If Erik is in sight, Mason wants to be with him.  Erik tells me that someday I'll appreciate the alone time.

I didn't take any pictures on New Year's Eve either, besides this one.  We didn't need to keep a very close eye on Mason because these 3 girls never let him out of their sight.  He was a lucky boy and he didn't even know it!!

Christmas Eve and Day ended up being our 2 most relaxing days of the entire holiday season.  Normally we'd be celebrating with our immediate families but this year was a bit different.  Erik's side didn't celebrate until the Saturday after Christmas, they usually get together Christmas Eve.  And since my parents were in Kansas City with my brother and his family over Christmas, we didn't celebrate with them until the Sunday after Christmas, normally we get together Christmas Day.  That left just the 4 of us to enjoy each other's company with nothing to do and nowhere to be (except the Christmas Eve service at church).  It was amazing!

A family picture before church on Christmas Eve

After church we let the boys open 1 gift each and then we had popcorn and punch and watched a Christmas movie.  Well, everyone except Mason, he had a few puffs before bed :-)

I love this picture because it fully encapsulates Erik.  That is "the look" I get from him All. The. Time.  As you can see, Kade is starting to master the same look.  I can't help that I'm super cool and they wish they could be :-)  Trust me, when Erik reads this I'll get that look again.

The next morning the boys sort of slept in--I think they made it until about 6:45!  It was a Christmas miracle!!  We had a big breakfast and took our time opening gifts.  I was impressed with Kade's restraint, he didn't just tear into every gift in less than 20 seconds.  He would open one, we'd put it together for him and then he'd play with it for a little bit before opening another gift.

Mason's favorite gift.  He spent most of the day in that ball pit.  Unfortunately it no longer looks like that.  There is now a plethora of holes and the entire left side is deflated.

Kade has discovered that if he wants to play in a Mason Free Zone, he needs to put his toys up high.  Our dining room table is now Kade's Domain.

Mason is going to be riding in style this summer!  

I couldn't resist buying the big bear for Mason because our nickname for him is "Bear Cub".  He's playful, he's into everything he shouldn't be, he's strong and you should see the paws on that kid!  His hands are huge!  And when he crawls they look just like a bear cub's paws--hence the name :-)  The poor kid was teething over Christmas so there wasn't a whole lot of smiling going on.