Dear Andy,

I hope your grad school class went well tonight. While you were gone Mason did multiple laps around the house instead of putting on his jammies, he learned that he could take off his diaper and he also had a grand time STANDING on Mr. Zebra. We miss you and will try to survive alone.

Turkey, turkey and MORE TURKEY!

Yay, poultry! We had a grand time at Dana and Darren's house for Thanksgiving with lots of cooking, eating and drinking (Darren just put in a kegerator in the basement, yum yum). The house was beautiful and as always it was lovely to spend time with family. On Saturday, the three of us headed out to a local tree farm so we could cut our own Christmas tree. I'll be honest, it's a little challenging to decorate a tree with a curious one year old hovering about.

This is literally a Mason sized Christmas tree, so cute! We went with one a bit taller.

John Popper?

I think my favorite part is the super tiny dance move at second 30.



Now if we could just learn more than the one note...

In and out

When Mason and I get home in the evening, I open the back door so he can go in and out of the house. It's awesome when Mason comes back inside with presents like rocks and flowers. He hand delivers them with a huge smile. Me likie.
Today however, I had a brand new present. A baby slug! He kept saying, "Ba, BA!" No buddy, not a bug. Just really, really gross.
This video was taken after the slug incident but I thought it would be a good one to post. Look how much better Mason is walking!



Speaking of gross...Mason pooped in the bathtub tonight. I have no words.

Lady Bug, Lady Bug...

Go away! Our house is once again the home to many lady bugs (they are not actually lady bugs but they look pretty much identical to the aphid-eating, gardener loving species. Oh no, these are in fact an invasive Asian beetle) Anyway...it has been the perfect opportunity to teach Mason a new word, "Bug." Due to the number of non-ladybugs in our home, we've had lots of practice. This is not the most exciting video but you do get to hear our little guy's attempt at communicating.

Sorry strangers!

The grocery store has recently been the location for some uncomfortable moments. When spoken to by pretty much anyone Mason responds with the following expression...

We truly did not encourage this until after a few weeks of witnessing it. If you ever get the stink-eye, we apologize!

My Little Lion

For Halloween the three of us headed to Burke and enjoyed the day with the Gormans, Pappy, Mama and Gram. Mason played at a fall festival dressed as a lion. It took him a little while to get comfortable in the costume but once he did he was running around enjoying the slide and dirt. At the end of the day Mason was able to give a little "rar" when prompted. I haven't called him Little Lion since we brought him home from the hospital...isn't time a crazy thing?

Evening Fun Part II

So the father/son evening wrestling has begun. Don't most people wrestle on carpet instead of the tile kitchen floor? Mason then decided it was time to play a version of Hide in the Dining Room only tonight is was Hide in the Bathroom. This proved to be a much more dangerous game...listen carefully around second 28.

It just makes me laugh...

So I had to post it. This video is from Mason and Mommy's day at home when the car seat was with Andy.

Evening Fun

I think the happiest part of Mason's day is the moment his feet touch the driveway once we get home in the evening. He immediately takes off running to go pick flowers, gather acorns, point at the tractor and demand a ride as well as explore the fire shed, look for airplanes, relocate leaves and attempt to break into the barn.


The three of us enjoyed playing Mason's newest game which I call Hide in the Dining Room. It is a very complicated game and we played about twenty times.



Mason's bath toy additions have included a pumpkin and an old juice carton. Just trying to keep things new and exciting! It was a sad time for Mason when he was not allowed to play with my orange puff thing which I'm pretty sure he also thought was a pumpkin. Poor kid.

After Mason's bath we let him run a round for a bit upstairs without his diaper. Not a good idea. We found him peeing in our bedroom on the carpet.

Andy's Birthday

Was super fun! We had a nice weekend spending time with family at Jim's house in Basye (take a look at those pics! Haven't Jim and Andy come a long way with the house?!) and with Nancy in Sperryville for lunch on Sunday. Mason was a trooper at the restaurant and enjoyed sucking on a cloth napkin stuffed with an ice cube. It was the perfect fall weather weekend which would make anyone fall in love with Virginia.

Birthday Card for Daddy

Is anyone else noticing a trend?

One of those days...

This morning I turned the car on early because it was 31 degrees outside. I went back inside to wake up Mason and get him ready for the day. It was going to be a big day at work with a field trip. I still needed to organize my class into groups for the chaperons. Mason and I bundled up and walked out to the car only to realize that Mason's car seat was unfortunately in Andy's car...which was in Manassas...about 45 minutes away. The panic slowly started to creep in. "How am I going to get to work in time before the buses leave for our field trip?" "What am I suppose to do?!" I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!"

So I called Andy and there was no creep to the panic in his voice. It was immediate. "I just got to school! I've been out for two days and need to get things taken care of! I don't know what to do! #%@!"

Because I am usually a calm and logical person, the answer came with a lovely, serene feeling. I would take a personal day. YAY! It ended up being a gorgeous day and Mason and I have had a grand time playing outside. Here is some footage from our day.

Barn Fun

Mason found these in Daddy's barn and we couldn't resist.

Airplanes, socks and shoes

or rather "ocks" and "ews."

Our weekdays are pretty busy with work and playgrounds but we find time to enjoy the smaller things in life, like putting acorns in cups and rocks in ketchup bottles. Mason had the unfortunate experience today of learning that Mommy will under no circumstances let him walk into the street. There were tears. Lots of them. And the hiccup breathing but Mason was eventually distracted by reddish colored rocks that appeared to be quite fascinating.

We have an outdoor baby who wants nothing more than to have his butt in the grass, his toes in the dirt, and fingers wrapped around anything that grows out of the ground (including Gram's pretty flowers, sorry Nancy!).

Your food storage problems...

SOLVED! Mason has a plan...



A messy plan, but still a plan.

Mason News

After becoming a big one year old, Mason has decided that he would like to do and say more things. Andy and I lovingly refer to these developments as, "Mason's Party Tricks." To name a few: Mason's first word is officially car and he says it a lot...especially in parking lots. Mason can raise one finger when asked how old he is, walking is no longer a total disaster, he high fives, knows where to find his head and tongue and my favorite, Mason can give kisses. Really, it's just an open mouth lick but I'll take it! Mason also dances which I have yet to capture on video but I'm trying!




Why didn't I put these shoes on Mason earlier? This occupied us for easily 35 minutes.

Happy Birthday, Mason!

Wow! Our little guy is no longer zero but one! Andy and I enjoyed the official day by reminiscing about our time together twelve months ago. Life was just a tad different than it is today. On Saturday we enjoyed a Mason's Favorite Things themed birthday party with the fam. We headed to Rady park to grill, play and splash in the stream. After the park, we all headed home for some cake and the viewing of the birthday video. If I can figure out how to post it, I will!

Here is Pumpkin on his official birthday. What a big boy.

AJ and Mason got into the beers at the park. Just like their daddies.

Our little soccer champ is now trying to kick any ball that he sees.
Dax enjoyed wearing his rain boots in the creek looking for critters.


Mason got a Colossal Splash n Play Pool from Mommy and Daddy and boy is it chilly! It is really funny when Mason accidentally sits in the water. He sure is quick to stand back up! Any time you're up for a swim, come on over.



Ahh, yes. The tractor cake. When I told Andy that I thought a tractor cake would be neat, he immediately envisioned a THREE DIMENSIONAL cake. Oh, geeze.

So, Andy baked the cake and gave verbal directions as to how it should look. I'd say it was a success!


Mason did a fabulous job eating the cake even though it was way past his bedtime.
Happy birthday, Mason. Happy birthday to you :)

Just saying hello to the neighbors

olives and tantrums

For the record, Mason had already had plenty of olives and it truly was time to take an olive break. In other interesting food news, Mason is a huge fan of our homemade spicy, pickled beans. Crazy kid.

We're walking!

It is official! And we have the bumps, bruises and scratches to confirm the milestone. Mason is our little pinball these days.

Florida!

Last week we were in Florida for Liam and Meredith's beautiful wedding. They were married on the beach with a gorgeous bridal party surrounding them. Their wedding album I'm sure will be spectacular.
It was great seeing so many friends and family on the trip (not quite a vacation when traveling with an eleven month old). We had lots of helping hands with Mason which was awesome. Mason loved his dance party with Gabe and Catalina, sharing Cheerios with Maddy, swimming in the Gulf, tasting sea shells, spending many midnight hours in Pappy's arms as well as claiming his territory out on the balcony and in Andy's lap. I guess that's what we get for letting him "air out" for more than a brief moment.

The slight glow coming from Andy's face is the extra Water Babies SPF 55 that we had to do something with. That stuff takes awhile to rub in!

A clean balcony after the piddling incidents.


Gabe, Catalina and "Baby Mason"

The best part...

of our morning is when Andy puts Mason in the hiking pack for the traditional morning stroll. Mason's squeals are awesome.

Just a little pathetic

Looks like someone doesn't want to be in their pack-n-play.
*sigh*

Garden Update

For four years we have been working on making the garden a fantastic place for veggies to grow, fruits to ripen and to provide those who walk through a simple sense of serenity. That was the original vision. Between our first year here and now, a few things have distracted us from our ultimate vision to include deer, drought, voles (not moles but similar), plant diseases, squash bugs, cucumber bugs, bean bugs, weeds and pregnancy. I had grand plans last year for the garden but hauling around a nine-month pregnant belly in the heat just didn't equal fun.

Since the first year of garden hope, a fence has been built to keep the deer out, rows have been dug to provide wide and deep beds for our plants to live, an irrigation system has been built and fabric has been put down to stifle the weeds.

I have to say, this year the garden is finally the vision of four years ago. We've already picked multiple pounds of burgundy beans and can't wait to taste the other delights that await our mouths and bellies in the weeks to come. Come by and visit anytime!

PS. Dad, thanks for all the help to include the fence, seeds and positive words of encouragement. You garden looks beautiful as well. My cucumbers send your cucumbers love. We hope they feel better soon.

Three years ago Dad and I worked all summer building the fence with a post hole digger, tamper and a lot of Pepsi.
Two years ago, with the fence complete, our vision seemed within reach. A rainbow visited to say good night.

I don't have any pictures from last year because we were a little busy.

However, this year...TA-DAH!

There are no weeds in our rows and the tomatoes, beans, peppers, strawberries, asparagus, artichokes, and rhubarb are enjoying being loved daily. Can't wait for the fall planting of peas, spinach and lettuce.

Fresh cut flowers from the yard. Ahhh...summer.
Come by and visit!
We can sit on the porch and catch up. Happy Summer! Love, Andy, Jenni and Mason