Memorial Weekend, the unofficial start to summer!!  And these pictures prove that summer has finally come back.

Chillin' in the hammock with Grandpa Ranger

Driving the old tractor with Dad.  I think this was Mason's first time on the 806.  His smile leads me to believe it won't be his last time on it.

A "Pants Optional" pool party!

And a "Country Style" car wash (again, pants optional).  I say country style because no soap was used in this wash.  When you live on gravel roads what is the point?!?

Violet and Kade sittin' on the front porch, in matching shirts and rocking chairs, eating ice cream.  Doesn't get better than that.

The kids begged Jay to pour a cold bucket of water on their heads.  Jay asked them about a million times if they were sure they wanted him to do that.  They said yes every time.

Violet took that bucket of cold water like a champ!!  Kade, on the other hand….

…was a bit more dramatic :-)  

They both loved it and decided to take a bucket together.

And finally, a nice ride around the yard courtesy of big brother/cousin Kade. 

Ahh summer, how I've missed you and longed for the days when you would return to us.

When we were going through the adoption process our social worker told us, "A lot of times, the child so closely resembles one of the adoptive parents that people who don't know would never guess the child is adopted".  We kind of just nodded our heads and didn't give it much thought.  We were way more concerned about how long we'd have to wait to be chosen, we could've cared less if the child looked like us!

Recently our daycare mom told us she gets choked up thinking about our boys and how they were destined to be our children.  She is just so impressed with God and His plan for the 4 of us.  She said there is no question that Kade is Erik's son and she thinks Mason looks exactly like me.  She said he has my coloring.  Mason is tan, his hands are so tan they look dirty most of the time--even when they aren't, which only happens at dinner time :-)  I've NEVER been described as "tan".  Never.  I'm extremely freckly and under the freckles I'm extremely white.  He also has brown eyes and brown hair, I'm blue eyed and dirty blonde (well, I would be if I hadn't discovered the beauty of hair coloring), so I kind of laughed to myself when she said that.  But it made me think:

Kade is exactly like Erik.  Don't get me wrong, they look nothing alike but when people see the 2 of them together they always say it's obvious Kade gets his size from his dad.  Erik is naturally good at everything he does, so is Kade.  His love of sports, being outdoors, working, farming, tractors, etc. have been apparent since he was 6 months old--he was born with those passions--and they are the same things Erik loves.  Kade is a very responsible kid, he's a hard worker and rule follower, just like Erik.

Mason is only 15 months old but he is definitely showing signs of being like my side of the family.  I think he even looks a little bit like my brother, their eyes are the same shape and their hair color is exactly the same (when my brother had hair, anyway).
I mean this as a compliment, in the nicest, most loving way possible--Mason is a smart ass!--just like my brother and I are :-)  Obviously he can't talk yet but his facial expressions, gestures, and actions lead me to believe we're going to have our hands full with this kid.  He's funny and he knows it.  He's naughty and he doesn't feel the least bit guilty about it.  When he's about to do something he knows he shouldn't be doing he'll wait for someone to look at him, pause for a split second with a little hint of a smile on his face, then proceed with whatever he shouldn't be doing, followed by an ear-to-ear grin with a cute, little giggle.  As Erik so perfectly put it, "Mason is THAT kid" and my brother was "THAT kid" as well.

I guess our social worker was right!  Although I don't think our boys look like us (Erik and I joke all of the time that it's obvious our boys are adopted because they are so darn cute.  We always say if we'd had a biological child it would've been one ugly kid), they sure do share a lot of similar characteristics with us!

Mason 15 month

This past weekend we went to Wisconsin Dells.  There was 6 kids 7 and under and 4 adults 35 and over.  One guess as to who was ready to crash first at bedtime!!  Hint:  it was not the 6 energizer bunnies!!

It's about a 2.5 hour drive for us.  The whole way there Erik and I asked ourselves, "Why are we doing this again??", which might have something to do with the fact that Mason slept for 20 minutes and screamed/cried at the top of his lungs for 2 hours and 10 minutes.  He more than made up for it on the drive home though when he slept for 2 hours and 25 minutes.  As usual, we had a great time and on Monday morning we were definitely wishing we could do the weekend all over again!

Owen and Kade on the swings.  

It was such a nice day that they opened a few of the outdoor rides.  Trust me, it definitely crossed my mind that this was probably the first day of the season that the outdoor rides were open which means our children were probably the 1st riders.  Good thing Erik gave me a margarita!!

Kade and Rylee on the planes for the millionth time.

Mason had his 15 month appointment this week.  Everything went well.  I talked to the doctor about his tongue and we decided to still wait and see.  Mason has a few words but none are very clear yet so the doctor wants to see how he's doing at 20 months, when he should have about 10 words.  He still thinks the skin holding it down will tear (which apparently is what the Dr. wants).  Sounds terrible to me but maybe that's better than cutting it and having stitches.

I'm a little disappointed in the nurse taking his measurements because she definitely wasn't too concerned with accurate results.  She was done taking his length before I even had him laying on the table.  He only measured 2 cm taller than he was at 12 months but his pants are telling me otherwise!

Mason's stats:

Height:  2 ft 7.5 in (61%)

Weight:  28.5 lbs (97%)   

The scale said 28.5 pounds but my arms and back are saying 50 pounds, at least :-)

Kade at 15 months:

Height:  2 ft 9 in (93%)

Weight:  26.5 lbs (80%)

Last Saturday was the annual Cystic Fibrosis walk around Silver Lake.  It was a beautiful, warm day, the exact opposite of last year when there was snow on the ground!  Of course we had to feed the "geeslings" after the walk.  Every year the kids call the geese something different, judging by this year's name I think they'll have it right by next year!

Papa Rich took 5 little munchkins on a ride around his property.  We could hear them laughing from a mile away!

A couple of cuties at the park!

This morning Kade asked if he could take Mason outside by himself.  I said yes but then I spied on them most of the time :-)  They picked the flowers off of the irises, sat on the front steps and tore the petals off one by one.  It was too precious to stop them (and, let's be honest, I was just happy Mason wasn't eating them--seriously, when is this kid going to stop putting EVERYTHING in his mouth??) but I hope they don't do that at a home that actually cares about their blooms!!  

I've been feeling a bit guilty lately because I feel like my last few posts have been pretty lame.  We lead a pretty boring life--I mean, one of our favorite things to do is to stay home and do "nothing"!  I put nothing in quotes because anyone who's ever spent time with a 15 month old and/or a 4.5 year old knows that you can never just do nothing.  I never imagined that an entire day spent at home, doing nothing, could leave me exhausted and ready to crash by 7:45 but that is definitely the story of our life these days. Don't get me wrong, we LOVE it but like I said--we're boring!!  So, I apologize for my ridiculously boring posts but there's just not much I can do about it :-)

Mason has been walking full time inside for a few weeks but he's just recently taken it outside as well.  With the uneven ground and his unsteady legs, if he fell he usually just gave up and crawled to his destination.  But not anymore!!  He's officially, FINALLY, a full time walker no matter where he is!  Our arms and backs cannot thank him enough as I am fairly certain he's still holding strong in the 97th percentile (We'll find out for sure in a couple weeks at his 15 month well child appt).

Summer haircut!!  My baby is looking more and more like a big boy every day :-(

Big boys feed themselves, right?  

It's tough for me to relinquish that duty when this is the end result!!

Speaking of 97th percentiles, we just got the results back from Kade's pre-K screening.  Guess who else is holding strong in the 97th%…yep, Kado the Tornado.  The poor kid, wherever he goes people always ask him what grade he's in.  When he doesn't answer, or talks and sounds like the 4 year old he is, people look at me and wonder what is wrong with him.  When I tell them his age their eyes go wide in disbelief.  It doesn't help that I'm so short which just makes him look taller.  He did great at the screening and there are no concerns.  Although, I am a bit concerned that he's not quite grasping that school is about learning, not sports.  The other day we were talking about him riding the bus for the first time and he said:
"So, is the bus going to drop me off at my basketball tournaments?"
Me:  "Umm, no.  Kade, school is about learning new things not playing basketball."
Kade:  "I know.  But I mean after school.  Who is going to take me to my basketball games?"
Oh dear, looks like we have a little more explaining to do!!

Kite flying is easy once it finally gets in the air!!

Big brother's are AWESOME!!