Yard Work

It has been a full summer so far. We have spent the last two weeks working non-stop on our yard. Mason enjoys helping out with many of the tasks as well. Some of his all time favorites are:

watering the oak barrels,

checking the bean plants for ladybugs and, well, beans,

heading to the home improvement stores for more supplies,

helping mom shovel gravel,

and being an all around great helper!

Father's Day Bake Off

Our fabulous friends, Nora, Pedar, and Casey, all came over last Saturday. That was a blast, but that is not what I am here to talk about today. Nora was telling us about meeting a lady in the supermarket who said that she was making cinnamon rolls and bacon for her hubby for father's day. This got me thinking... Hummm, what do I want for Father's Day breakfast? I had some left over pizza dough, and, dough is dough, so:

The next morning, Mason helped me roll out the dough and spread the butter, sugar and cinnamon while Jen went to the store for some pecans, raisins and sausage (I don't really like cooking bacon... too much grease!). Mason was a bit hesitant about getting his hands greasy, but once he learned that sugar+butter+cinnamon=salivatory bilss, he was dandy.

Once the raisins and pecans were in place, and I was able to keep Mason from picking them off the dough, we rolled up the dough. We were not feeling patient to let them rise on this day, so we popped them into the oven.

We spent most of the 30 minutes of bake time just staring at the sugary carbs of wonder as they baked away. I believe I have quite a sioux chief in the making. Thanks for giving me a great Father's Day treat. I wouldn't be even a fraction of the father I am without Jen and Mason. I am grateful for all they have allowed me to experience in my life. I would not be a father without them.

Donut King

At times, our healthy lifestyle gets thrown aside, and we give props to high carb, high fat, high sugar treats.


Mason has been recently introduced to these small rings of carnal delight and has even developed a preference. When I placed an old fashioned on his napkin, he looked at the plate of other selections and reached for the rainbow sprinkle (that's my boy!) and placed it on his napkin instead.






M for Mason. MMM for donuts!

Summer Reading

Mason loves a good book before bed. Usually he sticks to the classics: 8 Silly Monkeys, I See A Monster, Meet Snoopy. However, a few nights ago, he had a taste for something a bit more racy. So, he dug up this trashy romance novel from my bookshelf and took it to bed.



I bet you didn't know dates could be so scandalous!

Artist in Residence

So, I had this old desk in my classroom that nobody (myself included) wanted. I don't even know where it came from. I just walked into my classroom one day, and there it was. Kind of like The Shoemaker and the Elves, but less cool and less useful... until now.


Jen has been busy transforming our patio into a playroom. This is very useful. Kids, it turns out, come with their fair share of stuff. We have not even bought any of this stuff (probably the work of the desk elves). Anyway, I took that desk, lopped off the legs at the ankles and now it is a fine art desk for Mason.

The summer of recycling continues with this easel. This showed up in our driveway one morning and was partially broken. It was originally built for three artists, but, being a crowd, I repaired the two useable portions and now...


Ta-Dah! Art for the masses. Well, for two.
We wanted to limit Mason's color palate to promote his creativity. That, and, well, we only had orange.


Apparently the elf suppliers are experiencing some sort of paint embargo.

Just a little corny!

With summer comes delicious corn on the cob. Mason has discovered this tasty treat and finds it to be the perfect summer vegetable. It is sweet, juicy, fun to shuck,



portable, and you get to stab little plastic holders into the ends of it.



Lucky for us we had a long, narrow weed patch on the side of our yard that we have transformed into a corn field. Mason helped push the seeds into the soil and this week they are about 3 inches tall.






I can hardly wait to see the look on his face when we pick the ears later this summer.

Summer Break, Woohoo!

June, ah June. The beginning of summer. This year our break came a week early, and with the cooler weather we were inspired to begin our many projects we had been plotting. We started our spring garden this year and it was off and running, yet we had a corn field to plant and many new things to add to the garden. Mason has been a huge inspiration to the many "areas" we have been creating. He loved our sugar snap peas this spring and was happy to harvest many of them daily.



The sunflowers he planted are taller than him now and we are eager to see what he does when there are vegetables to munch later this summer.



Our new blueberry bushes are picked clean as soon as they ripen. I don't think I have even tried one yet.



I am in love with our garden. It is so magical to see the new seedlings "pop" out of the ground. The other night we released ladybugs in the garden. Mason giggled as one of the "bugs" crawled up his arm to his neck.




June, ah June. The beginning of summer.

Vrum, Vrumm!

Mason loves to play outside. Mason loves to do things like mom and dad. He climbed up on the mower and complete with sound effects pretended to drive around.

His latest imitation was when he found the dental floss. He pulled out a long strand, had me help him clip it off and then proceeded to try to floss, or at least what he thinks flossing is.

Did we stay in Costa Rica forever you ask?

Ah, I know many of you are wondering how the tale of our "International Babe of Mystery" ends...

Will it forever be a cliff hanger? I cannot answer such things, however, I can attempt a long overdue update. Josh is at a CPR training. Mason is asleep. We have watched all of our Alias DVDs and are in need of the next season, which we shall acquire on our upcoming mission this weekend. No new shows on ABC.com until Thursday, except for The Bachelor. Pile of laundry in the other room is not calling my name loudly enough, so here I rest on the couch and begin to ponder...Where do I begin?

With such a lapse in blogging, (such a funny verb, don't you think? Reminds me of the Tenacious D skit..."Do you like clogging?" Okay, okay random obscure reference, back to the task at hand), how do I just pick up and go? What has our little one been up to? What have we been up to? Oh my!

Well let's see...a recent summary:
Spring Break was a hit, nice weather and much to do in the re-landscaping arena. By the way, we have a huge yard. Sometimes I forget this fact, especially when I spend time indoors which is tiny. Many a back-breaking hours have been spent out there these past few weeks and we are loving it.
Mason loves to pick sugar snap peas from our garden.
He finds them to be like mini treasure chests. He gobbles them up by the handfuls.
Mason is trying hard to talk.
Mason is on the go all the time.
Mason's favorite toy is his wheel barrow.
Mason's favorite stories: Big Bulldozer, Trucks, Machines at Work. Do you notice a theme here? Don't worry he still loves those classics such as Eight Silly Monkeys, Curious George and the Bunny, Time for Bed, and the wonderful lift the flap book, Monster Tales, Pumpkin Patch Party.
As you see here this one is great in any season, not just limited to the fall season as the name would imply.



Hmm, so I was attempting to load some photos to this entry and suddenly it closed out on me. My computer is feeling overloaded. I shall attempt it again, but maybe it is a sign. It is out of practice. Oh good here we go.

Remember that horribly annoying song: "I don't want to work, I just want to bang on the drum all day..." That seems to be the spring time feeling. Let's all just play all day.

Mason - International Man of Skin Tight Clothing

Day Four:

In which Mason contacts headquarters, executes a training exercise, and takes naps.

While three of the bodyguards left for their underwater training, Mason and his accomplices engaged in training exercises of their own.

First, Dad contacted HQ to update them on the mission status. Mason supervised this transmission.


Next, it was to the decontamination zone to remove any bugs or biohazards.






Mason also wanted to try out the decoy disguise he had been busy perfecting. He had Dad test run this disguise with him, and, though this reporter had a tough time telling the two apart, Mason was not totally satisfied with the test and informed his bodyguard, Dad, that he would be placing him on a strict weight management program just as soon as they returned to headquarters. Dad did not argue.



Mason and Gretchen also performed amphibious training together. Check out their moves.





After lunch, followed by another nap (this is how they do things in Costa Rica, and who was Mason to argue), Mason slipped into his Navy SEAL gear and made his way to the pool. Gretchen had informed him by way of her bodyguard, Jeanne, that there were UHMs (Unidentified Howling Monkies) in the trees just outside his room. This turned out to be true, and Mason pointed them out to Mom. He assured her that they were harmless other than the occasional flying poo.



After securing the pool, Mason and Gretchen rendezvoused on the beach, and, after a brief assessment of the sunset, made their way to la tienda and finally back to the hotel.



Day four was coming to a close, and, after a briefing back at Conner’s room, the three made their way to their quarters. Tomorrow would be another challenging day, and our hero needed his cutie sleep.


…to be continued…