Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas Cheer

With several days off from work lately, I hardly have an excuse not to get a few pictures up on the blog for friends and family afar.  So here are a few quick shots from our Christmas!

Mason is now learning to grill like his Daddy with his handy-dandy Little Tikes bbq grill...


Seasoned to perfection...with ketchup.


It's "ah-tuh" (hot) as Mason would say.


A couple of new train toys were a momentary diversion from his grilling.


Doesn't he make a cute little present?


Don't mind the peanut butter cup stains at the corners of his mouth...a rare Christmas treat!


Mason definitely had a nice 2nd Christmas!


That evening, cousin Leo and his mommy and daddy came for a visit.  Mason was very in to hugging Leo...Leo wasn't sure what was happening, but was a good sport.


Leo's really moving fast these days!


More hugs...


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Hopefully I'll get my tail in gear and post sooner next time. :-)

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival

This weekend we made a quick trip to the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival for some good, old-fashioned small-town fun.  Hartsburg, population 108, attracts thousands each year to its little festival.  It was a lot of fun and we might have to make it an annual tradition!

Mason was quite entertained with the sights and sounds from the comfort of his stroller.  But he was also quite pleased to hop out for some tromping around a pick-your-own pumpkin patch. (And he was less than thrilled when it was time to get back in the stroller.  Goldfish crackers did the trick to avoid a screaming fit.)  Here are a few pictures from the pumpkin patch.  It was a beautiful sunny day; so much so that a few of the pictures were obstructed by it, I think.  I'm no photography expert, but something wasn't quite right.  I think you can still catch a bit of Mason in the pictures, so I did include them.












Mason enjoys throwing pumpkins.  I guess they do look like a ball...

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Busy Man...

Thought I'd do a little catch-up from the past couple months.  Mason's gotten bigger, faster, and busier than ever.  The kid is talking, understanding, disobeying, following instructions, getting frustrated with the gaps between his feelings and his "words," and just generally amazing us with his development.

Uncle Alex (aka "Al-duh" in Mason talk) visits fairly frequently despite his busy work/college schedule. Here he and Mason were playing catch.  Mason literally was able to catch the ball when gently tossed from Alex...



He's just getting so big.  This picture makes him look like a total big boy.  I don't see a barely one-year old here (he was probably about 13 months in this one).  Mason's sporting an OKC Thunders top courtesy of Gma & Gpa Gaines (avid Thunders fans).  Maybe one day Mason will get to go to a game with them! 


Mason loves going outside ("ow-tie").  As you can see, the kid is still chomping on his hands regularly.  With four teeth coming through in the past month, you can understand why!


After a short walk around the neighborhood over Labor Day weekend, Mason was conked out in his stroller.  Mommy took advantage of this and got a bit done before moving him to a more comfortable location!  (Can you blame me?)


Cousin Leo came over to visit (and play in Mason's cottage) one day.  You can tell Mason to "go push the ding-dong [in sing-song tune]" and he will run over and, well, push the ding-dong (aka doorbell).


Leo will probably be running after Mason before too long!  He was over at our place and crawled the entire stair case (with his Daddy's close supervision)!!!  What a blue-eyed doll he is.


A quick trip back to NW MO provided a chance for Mason to get his first tractor ride.  While we were moving, Mason was a happy camper.  When we stopped, he was done.  He also wanted me up in the cab with him (thank goodness for the buddy seat...pretty sure Gpa Steiner didn't want me and Mason on his lap...).


In this picture (which Mason looked at just a little bit ago and squealed in high-pitched baby jabber "truh-ter, truh-ter," Mason and Gpa's smiles kind of look similar.  Maybe it's just me...


Mason is full of energy.  On our farm trip, Mason enjoyed running back and forth between his aunts, arms extended before take-off, as if to say "are you ready for me?"  



He even got the head-tilt into it.  What a little ham!


Aunt Martha (Mason was saying "Auh Nuh" when I was showing him this picture prior to posting this blog entry) was more than happy to let Mason rough-house with her.


As you can see, Mason was having a blast.



He smiles so proudly sometimes; it's so adorable.


Aunt Kirsten was treated to a little less wild and craziness.  Mason was enjoying pushing and stacking these [super cheap, great deal] clothes baskets.  My mom is always finding good deals at Wal-Mart...75 cents for these, I think...?


See what I mean about busy?  This kid goes from one thing to the next, terrorizing all around him (in a loving, fun way, mostly).


Well, this may just qualify as terrorizing.


Ouch, that might've hurt.


I'll try to post a little more quickly next time.  Thank you, Stacey for encouraging me to get this done.

Friday, August 5, 2011

As Promised, Mason's 1st Birthday

We celebrated Mason's first birthday with a family barbecue at our house.  For Mason's "first" cake, I wanted to make sure I made and decorated it.  I was happy with the result, considering this was my first decorating endeavor!




It didn't take Mason long to get into the cake (after some finger-licking encouragement from Aunt Tasha...I didn't get any photos of this hilarious moment, but we do have some video that will crack us up for years to come).





After lunch and cake, it was present time.  And BOY did Mason's grandparents, aunts and uncles SPOIL him in only the best way.  Cars, trucks, blocks, etc.  It was awesome to watch Mason enjoy it all.  Thank you again, family!


Daddy and Mommy got the big boy a Cozy Coupe car.  He hasn't gotten in to riding in it just yet, but we're sure he will soon.


Grandpa & Grandma Steiner got Mason the coolest tractor (just like one of Grandpa's), but Mason managed to break off the rear view mirror and half-broke the door handle.  I guess that's why they say it's 8+.  If I didn't know any better, I'd think by the expression on his face that he KNEW he was breaking his new toy...  I think he was actually disgruntled that we weren't taking it out. Who knows what damage he would have done, then!


Aunt Tasha got Mason his first house--a Neat & Tidy Cottage.  


And Grandma Gaines got Mason his first electric car!  Lightning McQueen...




This week, Mason has gotten pretty good at driving his car, but he keeps pulling the steering wheel out!  He's better accelerating than steering.  Thank goodness we're only talking about 2 mph!

In the interest of space and me getting to bed sooner than later, I didn't post pictures of Mason with every one of his birthday gifts.  On the entire birthday weekend, I think I took 500 photos.  I'm click-happy. 

These are just cute pictures of Mason running around with the watering can.  He gets so much joy from every day objects.





Here's a cute picture of Daddy and Grandma.  Tony sure looks like his mama!


And Grandpa with Leo...


And Mason and Leo getting along swimmingly...


Good job, Mason!


Grandmas proudly watching their first grandson.


And us with our squirmy little birthday boy!


It was a great 1st birthday for our big boy!