sweet february

Ohio seems to have been playing tricks on us this month...the weather has been beautiful! We've been to the zoo and the park and grilled outside a few times. It's been a nice little gift for our last winter here.

In other news, Russell turned 31 and got to celebrate for about a week straight. Here he is with the boys on the big day:

A few days later, we had 30 of our closest friends over for Sunday dinner, cake and ice cream. It was fun to get together with our ward family!

As many of you know, Russell asks for rainbow chip cake every year, so I decided to mix things up this year and go with a 4-layer "Pollyanna" style.

Russell was able to take off half of Valentine's Day. My valentine came home with flowers, chocolate dipped strawberries, an amazing chocolate cream cake thing called a devil dog, and eclairs. He knows me well...

I made him some chocolate peanut butter truffles, which I also helped polish off. Thanks for the delicious recipe Heathe!

There was no shortage of chocolate around here...

In keeping with tradition, Russell made chicken cordon bleu for dinner...

which was excellent! We enjoyed a sweet night home with our boys.

And finally, we're excited to announce that Russell matched for residency in Ft. Worth, TX and we'll be moving there in June after graduation. The adventure continues...

lazy january

in january, we spent a lot of time in cozy jammies to detox from the busyness of the holidays. it helps that we live in ohio and most people don't want to leave their homes in winter anyway. i did learn to make bread via skype (thanks to my sis Heather!), so i can cross that new year's resolution off my list already...yes! unfortunately, this achievement interferes with the "healthy eating" resolution that is always on said list (it's so good w/ butter right out of the oven that we end up eating most of one loaf before it cools)!

here are my boys making some interesting winter fashion statements:

(mason wears his basketball suit over anything he can)

december 2011

busy month of treat-making and treat-consuming...

"gingerbread" (graham crackers glued with frosting to rice crispy treats)
and the traditional sugar cookies

Christmas Eve

Missionaries in our ward, Elders Reddish and Irwin, joined our festivities

Christmas morning was magical

we got dressed and went to church, then came home

and put jammies back on to open presents...

Calvin's 5th birthday!

we celebrated that night at red lobster - his choice - and guess what he ordered?...

Russell thought it would be fun to tie their napkins as pirate hats...and it was!
Mason kept saying "arrgghhh" to everyone that walked past our table.

First "friend" birthday party...complete with 12 friends, sports theme, pizza lunch, games, prizes, presents, and a big basketball cake! It was exhausting, but lots of fun.

We sure love this boy, who is already talking about what he's gonna do when he's 6! He loves preschool, and although he's the only kid in his class who never naps, his teacher tells me every week how polite he is. Calvin is inquisitive, imaginative, tenderhearted, and helpful. He is patient with his little brother and enjoys sports, Hotwheels cars, dinosaurs, Transformers, and riding his bike and scooter. His current favorite foods include seafood - especially salmon and shrimp cocktail, sushi, pasta, hot wings, and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Calvin LOVES to sing! He is almost always singing or humming a primary song or preschool song, sometimes with his own lyrics to describe what he's doing. He is such a joy in our family!
We're so grateful for this 5 year-old.

FINALLY a t-ball game

After years of anticipation AND a week with a rained-out game and practice, he finally got to play yesterday...

there was no shortage of parents to remind their kids to spread out on the field and watch the ball...

love the "action fielding shot" with his team-mate taking a break to sit down and check out his mitt during the game

our friend ashley came to cheer for calvin and the black team

and of course mason couldn't resist swinging a heavy metal object with his helmet on backwards. he can't wait until it's his turn too!

calvin did a great job and boy was it fun to watch!

father's day

this may be the first time i've ever posted about something that same day...and let's be honest, probably the last.

anyway, here are some pics from father's day 2011:

we usually do homemade cards, but it was a long week, so we had fun picking out cards for dad at the store. (still working on getting everyone to look at the camera and be still at the same time)


mason being a goof in dad's hat and my shoes after church


some help opening new luggage!

steak dinner

and perhaps the best present of all...
russell gets to go to scout camp for 2 days! he leaves tomorrow and the boys had a ball helping him get his gear packed up.

happy father's day to the best! love you!

biting the bullet

i've been stuck in a vicious cycle for 8 months. i think: "i should update my blog." so i go to it and realize my last post was in 2010. then i think: "i wonder if anyone else still blogs." so i look at my friends and family blogs. most of them still update, some every few days. this doesn't help me feel better about myself, but i love seeing what you guys are up to. then i think about how much has happened in the last 8 months and ALL my pictures and i get overwhelmed in yet another area of my life, so i just watch a food network show on hulu instead.

well i'm breaking the cycle tonight! it will be a struggle against some obsessive-compulsive tendencies of mine to catch up and post updates out of order, but these two little boys are growing up WAY too fast and there are grandparents, aunts & uncles, cousins, and friends that are missing it. and it's likely that most of you who read this blog stopped checking months ago, so this is also for posterity and to help me feel better about my lack of journaling.

i will start with most recent events and work backwards to october 2010, so this will show up as the newest post chronologically for awhile. but i will catch up so feel free to scroll down if you want to be caught up...

we begin with MASON'S 2nd BIRTHDAY! yep, he's two and boy is he ever. those brown eyes and curly locks have saved him from the time-out chair more times than i'd care to admit. he has a knack for teasing and mischief, but we sure love him!

we partied on memorial day, which was sunny and perfect for playing in the mini pool. the water was a little too cold for the birthday boy, though!

calvin and friends kade and kanigh loved the water.

mason requested a red race car cake...

and i think he wondered why we let him get so close to fire. calvin helped blow out the candles...

he ate the frosting and was done

on tuesday we celebrated as a family

mason is a talkative two-year old and seems to come up with something new every day that makes me wonder "where did he get that?" just a few weeks ago, he would say "mm hm" for yes. around his birthday he was saying, "yeah." yesterday he started with, "yes." today i asked him what he was doing and he said, "nothing." and EVERY time i ask if he needs his diaper changed he pats his bottom and says, "no, i fine."

speaking of diapers, i think mason's trying to potty train himself. i'm not ready for the commitment, yet, but he has started telling me when he needs to go and then actually going on the potty. he'll sit there for 15-20 minutes sometimes reading a book and then tell me when he's done. it sure is making my job easy and i'm hoping he doesn't realize that and change his mind!

mason loves cars, trucks, planes, motorcycles, boats, any sport (sounds like two other boys in this house!) and wrestling with calvin. he's such a boy and wants to do anything his brother or daddy are doing. he is the only kid in nursery now at church and just loves all three ladies that teach him. =) he's learning to pray by himself and loves to help.

so thankful for our sweet mason!

rocket bike

calvin has earned his bike! he picked out the red rocket bike at the store months ago and earned a square on his chart every night that he stayed in his bed all night. he earned a new helmet after 15 days, a bell after 30, a light after 45 and finally his bike after 60 days.

since it stopped thunderstorming everyday, he's been able get in lots of practice.

we were cleaning out the garage and found the knee and elbow pads...

i love the ears!

a little more balance and the training wheels will be off...such a big boy!