Demon birthday(s)

Mason turned 2 on July 7th. He had three parties - one on his birthday with a small group of friends, one the day after with a different group of friends, and one the weekend after with family. He got lots of new toys and some new clothes and of course had cake at each party. While he was excited about all of his presents, the ones he showed most enthusiasm about were those related to Thomas the Tank Engine (a couple of books, coloring book, pajamas, two tracks with trains). He is obsessed with Thomas. We're not sure how this happened but are actually ok with it, since his train sets and books keep him occupied for hours.

First day of preschool

Mason started preschool the first week of July. He goes two days per week from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is in a class of 10 (all are 2 - 3-year-olds). So far it's going great. The only strange thing that we've seen is that he won't eat at school. We're not sure why but are assuming that he'll work through it eventually. In just two months we've noticed a big improvement in his vocabulary. He's learned some yoga and new songs and talks about his new friends. We're wondering if being cute is a prerequisite for being accepted at this school, because all the kids there are adorable.

Mmmm...Cake

Last Friday we had a little party in our building's playroom to celebrate Angel's 2nd birthday. I made a cake (the first cake I've made since I was in Girl Scouts!), which turned pretty well - though I give the credit to Betty Crocker for making no-fail cake mixes. Here are some adorable pictures from that afternoon.

Fist-Pumping Tunes

Dalila brought this little laptop toy to the house today, and to my surprise, Mason loved it! It's not easy to get him to dance on command, but this little thing got him pounding the table in excitement.

Being Nice with Baby Arden

We have successfully taught the concept of being "nice" with the baby. Whenever Mason sees her, he says "Nice? Nice?", which means, "Can I touch the baby gently?" Here are some adorable pictures of us practicing the "nice with baby" concept.

Pajama Party

Dalila babysat overnight last week so that we could go out to a late birthday dinner with Trent. I thought this picture was particularly hilarious. Two buddies catching up over over a frosty cold milk.

Sunday Morning Art

Mason loves to draw/scribble with crayons (well, and pens, pencils, markers - whatever he can get his hands on). We were up bright and early today drawing and coloring with some new organic crayons that we got on Friday (Clementine Art Natural Crayons). They have really great color and write on the paper without having to press very hard, but the drawback is that they break easily. The red one and half of the blue one already had to be thrown away. Boo.

(Oh, and if you look closely, you'll see Mason has a chipmunk cheek, which was a big wad of fried egg that ended up getting spit out about an hour later.)