Mason's 6!

This guy:

turned 6!  And we had a lot of fun celebrating our favorite Mason!  

His big day started with these streamers across his door which is a tradition now I guess!  Not my favorite one, but they ask for it!  It's hard though because I started it when Brenna was still in diapers so no big deal, but now they are getting up to go potty and things and so I have to wake up early and put it all up!  Anyway, he reminded me he was expecting it!  

I don't have many pictures of his big day because it was honestly the craziest day!  We had to get ready for school early so that we could do presents in the morning because it was our only time!  Then I had to get them off, drive to the dr. across town a ways to get sadie's cast off, hurry to pick up donuts to take in to masons class for his birthday treat (he loves donuts so much!), then do a quick grocery trip before he gets home from 1/2 day kindergarten!  Then I had to make cupcakes for soccer practice later, then when Brenna got home we had to hurry and get ready for soccer, We got nuggets for dinner on the way (to make it quick and special I bribed Mason into a fastfood birthday dinner by getting him a kids meal instead of just nuggets!) then off to two hours of soccer practice, one of which I was coaching, then hurry over on the way home to pick up my stuff from a freezer meal exchange I was supposed to be at, then Karli came over to sit with the kids because I had bookclub and it was my book, and Jeremy had a play off basketball game at the church!  Whew!  So it was busy but I think Mason still felt special!

He got to have a party today though and he was so excited!  I have almost no pictures because again, it was crazy busy!  But we had a lot of fun!  We played balloon darts, eat a doughnut on a string, musical chairs and a pinata!  Then had personal pizzas made to order, presents, cake and ice cream!  And he even got two grandparents and one grandparents "special friend" to his party too!  He had a lot of fun and felt special!

He wanted a How to Train Your Dragon cake... I was not up to the challenge so I took the easy way out!

Grandpa surprised Mason after the party by asking if he'd like to go to the store with him to pick out a present!  And Grandpa had something in mind!  He came back with a skateboard, and all the pads and helmet and stuff to go with it!  Mason was sure spoiled!  You'll remember Grandma and Grandpa Smith also got him a bike already!  So he's all set with wheels of all kinds!  

Grandpa said he tried to talk him out of the mohawk helmet!  haha

 He skateboarded in the backyard till way after dark!  Then we ended the day with showers and clean kids ready for bed!  

Mason is such a sweet boy with lots of energy and he's oh so smart!  Although school is not his very favorite since it doesn't have recess or PE which are the two things he most wants!  He still excels academically when he is put to the test!  He recently got tested into the gifted program too so I guess it's more than just his adoring parents thinking he's a smarty!  
Masons most favorite things though are sports, and climbing stuff.  He will climb anything and everything... which is often not a good thing!  But I need to find a positive outlet for it!  I'm thinking I should take him to an indoor rock climbing or something.  He is playing soccer right now, and he can't wait to try all the other sports too!  Today he had a really good game!  It was his first game of the season, and he's still in the youngest age group, but he got out there and scored the best goal ever and it almost made me cry to see him thinking and executing so well!  He dribbled the ball up the field, dodged around the defender in his way and made an excellent shot right past the goalie!  It was really fun to see! (Brenna also made a goal in her game, so we had a great soccer day!) 
Mason also really loves the old used Wii we got the kids for Christmas, and especially the Super Mario game we recently downloaded.. the original!  Which I am happy to sit and play with him when I get a chance!  He loves Ninjago, How to Train Your Dragon, and any animal show, whether documentary or Wild Kratts or Octonauts style!  He would be happy to be left to play games and watch TV for a long time, so our struggle is keeping that to a minimum!

We love our Masonator so much!  So happy he's in our family and looking forward to the boy/man he will become.  We hope he felt special on his big day this year and that he always feels the love that surrounds him!  LOVE YOU MASON!

Sadie's leg and other news!

Life has been nothing but busy lately!  We have been enjoying it almost all the time!  There have been times when I've felt the need to slow down too though!  

The most interesting things that have happened lately, in a nutshell, are: Sadie's broken leg, two new callings, parent's visiting, camping trip, and soccer starting (which I'm now coaching, What?!)!  Not in that order really!

The first Sunday of this year I was called to be in the Relief Society presidency in our ward.  I am now the 2nd councilor!  Which has been a big change from Primary Chorister, but it's been good!  I miss primary but I am enjoying this too.  I have a lot more meetings and activities and things now, but on Sunday's Sadie started nursery so I really enjoy all of the lessons I get to hear now!

Jeremy just last Sunday also got released from his calling as the cub master and is now the ward's financial clerk!  So he hasn't done it yet but will start having to stay after on Sundays probably next week!  Which only stinks because we have 2:00 church, and we don't get out till 5:00 and so no fast Sunday Jeremy will be one hungry cookie!  

My parents came into town, which was so nice!  We got to spend quite a bit of time with them and we enjoyed seeing them for a bit!  We went on some walks and to some parks and on one hike!  Gotta get those steps in!  We had a really nice visit, but part way through, Sadie broke her leg!

So at bed time Sadie was under the bed with her brothers who were pushing their feet up on the mattress to lift it (it's supposed to be a bunk bed so it's just slats on the bottom) and so I said to cut it out.  And the boys listened!  Miracle!  We were reading scriptures so I went back to reading and wasn't really watching when next thing I know I hear screams!  So Sadie had stayed under the bed and was pushing up still and Mason had instead gotten on top of the bed and happened to jump right where Sadie was pushing up!  So her leg was stuck straight like it just got jammed!  But I bent it for her (gently) and she eventually calmed down, but she wouldn't put any weight on the leg.  She was very sleepy though so I put her down and decided that if she still wouldn't walk on it in the morning, I would take her in right away!  So she wouldn't, so I did!  I spent the whole day going from place to place and on the phone making appointments!  So if you think your kids leg is broken, go straight to the Orthopedist, because otherwise you'll just spend a ton of money with someone else telling you it's broken but that you still have to go there to get it casted, so then you also have to pay them a ton of money to cast it!  LAME!  It was a really long day, but it got better after that!  She took one week to walk on it, and then after that only a day or two before she was running on it and acting pretty normal!  But it was still annoying and we couldn't wait to get it off!  Which we did, yesterday!  Getting off was terrifying for both Sadie and I... I wasn't totally sure that the guy wasn't going to nick her with the saw and she was not happy!  I was trying to be brave for her, but secretly I was almost crying too!  Now she is so happy!  She is still walking weird, but should be totally normal soon!

Also Jeremy took Brenna and Mason to Yuma with some of his family for the long weekend last weekend!  We couldn't go because sand and casts don't go together very well, but I think they had a lot of fun riding around the sand dunes and the kids loved being with their cousins!  And I quite enjoyed my weekend with only two kids and trying to get some things done!  I really missed the other half of our family though and we were all glad to be reunited!  Jeremy was very sweet and left a scavenger hunt Valentines/10 year engagement anniversary gift!  He proposed with a scavenger hunt and so it was fitting, and very sweet!  I sure love that guy!

And so here are a ton of photos from our life lately!  I need to keep on top of this so I'm not so bad at photo dumping!  Because I hate trying to organize them in here!  So these ones are not necessarily in order!  

Mason thinks that he doesn't sleep but just lays in bed awake all night till morning... so I took this one night to prove to him that he sleeps!

I thought Brenna looked cute one day so I asked her to smile for a picture... I got like 20 totally goofy faces and barely any smiles!  She's such a fun girl!

This is Sadie ready for bed.. we had to put a sock on her cast so it wouldn't bother her at night, so sad!

 Mason got an early birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa Smith while they were here... to say he loves it is an understatement!  He rides it every day and we have to take it to the park and he feels very cool with his giant bike that even has a kick stand!!  Thanks again Gramps and Gran!

The kids looked especially nice one Sunday so I tried to get some pics!

Sadie really loves her brothers!  For a bit there she kept trying to sleep with them at bed time and they loved it!  It was pretty cute!

She's cute!

So every day we wait for the boys bus at lunch time, Sadie LOVES this!  And she is so happy when they arrive!  And also so happy to run around out front for a while.  

She is also quite the daddies girl.  She often wants to sit on his lap while he finishes dinner, usually stealing bites despite refusing to eat hers!

Ahh a peaceful moment with all kids quiet and getting along... too bad a tablet is to blame!

So we played a clean up game one night and Jeremy had said if they did good they would get a prize, and they were all lined up waiting to hear if they got a prize or not!  The suspense is killing them!  (they won!)

goofball

This was literally my best result from pre-church pic efforts when my parents were here and we went to church in Gilbert... I guess it's harder the more kids you have!

In the dryer fun!

Ok here's the day she broke her leg, this is at urgent care before we knew for sure.  It's her left leg.  She was happy as long as nobody was touching her or trying to make her walk!

This is the make shift cast the urgent care put on until we could see the orthopedist.

And this is the final purple cast!  She looks happy in all these photos, but it was not a super happy day!

The next day we had planned to hike, and so thankfully Sadie's awkward leg still fit in the backpack and we could go!  But man she's heavy!

I caught this sweet moment between Jeremy and my mom.  haha such a good picture!

I will have to post the videos of Sadie walking with her cast and also walking all gimpy after it's off!  I have more but they're on my phone and so for now this will do!  I have been coaching Brenna's soccer team too which is ... interesting!  We had no coach and nobody would step up and Jeremy couldn't do it because he's busy studying for his CFP exam on Wednesdays... so long story short, I'm coaching and mostly winging it!  Hopefully nobody minds!  It's actually been fun so far but our first games are Saturday and I'm nervous!  I also had to teach my first RS lesson this month and that had be very nervous too!  Things usually turn out ok though!  

We have also loved seeing Jocelyn and Jeff a couple of times and hope we can do it more often now that they live here!  And now it's birthday season around here so we just had Mason's yesterday and Owens is in a week and a bit and so I will have more posts to come!