So I haven't been blogging lately and I didn't even realize it!  I have just been reading blogs, pinning on pinterest and keeping busy with things I guess!  So I will do a quick update on my family since I've thought a few times lately that certain things should be documented and not forgotten about!  First, some pictures!

The other week Jermey took the kids after nursery out onto the lawn of the church to run around while I finished cleaning up the room and things (which I really appreciated!) and a few days later I found out he'd taken some pictures of the kids who happened to be matching pretty well that day!  I thought they were cute!

I put up our Christmas stuff also a few weeks ago and left the stockings out since we weren't going to need them but I was still working on the other stuff.  Brenna disappeared for a while and came over to me like this saying that the socks were too big and she wanted help with the hat.. haha kids are silly, she didn't understand why I had the stockings if not for actual socks!

 Mason thought it was a good idea though and came waddling out like this a minute later begging for help with his socks too!

We got our family photos taken at Portrait Innovations the other week too.  It was a bit of a circus getting them done, and Mason was less than cooperative most of the time, but we got a few good ones and I'm glad we did it since we don't have almost any good family pictures! 

He was happy when they let him play with a present, but not so happy when he got it open and it was empty!

 This was the funniest part of the shoot for sure.  They were scared of the santa arm, and also very confused why she was offering them milk and cookies that they couldn't actually move or eat.  It was fun to watch and made me laugh.  Brenna kept poking the milk inside the cup and Mason kept trying to pry a cookie off, all the while keeping a wary eye on Santa!

We babysit a little girl in our ward every once in a while when her regular sitter can't do it.  She is a good little girl and we like having her around once a week or so, however she wasn't napping well, so when she comes over I let Mason sleep in our bed so that she can have the crib and the dark room all to herself.  It has helped a lot with her napping, and I get cute pictures of Mason sleeping!  He sleeps actually a lot longer when he's in our bed too.. maybe he needs a grown up bed too!

 Brenna started a gymnastics class again for a few weeks.  It was a daily deal thing and really cheap, but it turns out that for now she is the only one in her class.  Lets just say it is interesting every week.  I think we are going to switch to a girl teacher this week and see if it's any better... Brenna just wants to play with all of the things and has a hard time focussing on one thing at a time in there!

 Since she is the only one though, the teacher lets Mason play on the things in the room too, which is a big plus for me!  He has fun running around on everything and saying "ta-da!" whenever he thinks he's done something special!  

We did a few non-christmas pictures of the kids at the photo shoot as well... this part did not seem to be going well at the time, but we got a few cute ones in the end!  

Little miss Brenna.  Well, she is officially fully potty trained!  She has been day-trained for a long time, but still wearing pull-ups at night, but a couple of months ago she decided she was done with pull-ups.  The only problem was that she was still wetting the bed every night... until a few weeks ago, right when I was about to insist on pull-ups again, she just stopped having accidents, and hasn't had a single one in over two weeks.. It's great!  She does wake me up once a night to inform me that she will be using the potty, but I can deal with that!

She also has developed a very sweet habit of wanting to sing to Mason every nap time/bed time.  I always sing to the kids when putting them down, and now everytime I'm doing Mason, she runs in and sings him twinkle twinkle really quietly then gives him a kiss and a hug.  It's very sweet, and especially so because Mason loves it just as much and allows the loves afterward with no complaining!

She is 3 and a half now and starts primary in a couple of weeks.  She is growing fast and it's fun.  Her favorite things to watch on tv are Christmas movies and superhero cartoons (spiderman and Iron Man are her favorites).  Her favorite color is definitely pink and she loves to look pretty.  We went to Enchanted Island at Encanto Park this weekend as a family too and she had the time of her life doing all the rides (there are only like 6 rides) but there were no lines and she just stayed on every ride until she was ready to get off.  She was afraid of the dragon "roller coaster" though and wouldn't do it all night, then as we were leaving she decided to be brave and go on the scary dragon ride!  She LOVED it!  Like hands up screaming and smiling and giggling, rode it 6 times in a row loved it.  It was fun to see her be brave and do something that made her nervous and then enjoy it so much! 

Masey Facey.... Or the Masonator.  He answers to many names, and he is also getting to be a big boy, which is good since he will be a big brother in a few short months!  He is 21 months.  He is obsessed with balls and trucks.  When we're in the car he is literally constantly saying truck, truck, truck every time we pass a truck, or anything resembling a truck!  He will play ball with you until you put a stop to it too.  He has a very infectious smile and laugh.  He also has a frustrating whine and cry.  He has always been not a great sleeper, and he is still waking up most nights and needing to be put back to sleep.. multiple times.  It is really annoying and I get frustrated a lot, BUT last night, he went to bed at 6:30 since he had no nap and was quite a tyrant, and he slept solidly until 7:30 this morning.  I was in complete shock and almost like giddy about it.  I did hear him once, but he went right back to sleep on his own (a small miracle in itself) and continued sleeping!  I was still up a few times trying to get my pregnant belly comfortable, but it was such a great night, I am pleased every time I look at him today!  

Mason was at Encanto Park with us too... and we had bought him a wristband (another daily deal thing)... only his got almost no use.  He was afraid to sit on all of the rides and even spent the entire carousel crying when we forced him to ride (with Jeremy holding him onto the horse).  So he just ran around a wreaked havoc and had his own fun.  I did take him on the carousel one more time as we were leaving and we sat on a bench, and he was mad at first, but finally decided that was ok and had fun.  

He's a sweet boy and although he's sort of a softy and a mommy's boy right now, I have no doubt that he will toughen up when the time is right and be a big tough boy.  I may or may not baby him a bit, but I can't help it, and soon he won't be the baby anymore and I am anxious to see how that goes!  Lots of changes coming up for Mason including potty training (soon) and bed changing and growing up!  

We are grateful for our little family, and although our baby is still nameless, he is making his presence known and we are getting really excited to welcome him into our family!  I can't wait to hold another little bundle in my arms and watch our family grow!

We will also be in the market for a new van in the new year (not actually new) so if you know of any good deals or people selling, let me know!