This Brud's For You

Mason boy is 6 months old today! We love this giant baby. I actually don't have his official stats yet. He and Jensen will go to the doctor next week. But we have no doubt that he's a big one! He loves to play on his tummy and to be held by Mom. Mason has discovered his voice as of late. He can squeal and growl in the same sentence! He also loves to play with his big brothers. Carson and Jensen both have become experts in making Mason smile and laugh. While a mellow baby, he has struggled in the past few months to be a good sleeper. I am blaming this on teeth. He already has 2, and mark my words, more are rapidly coming! I think we have more names for this kid than any other baby we've had! He gets called Mason (thank goodness, he does hear his actual name!), Mason Cutie, Little Mason Cutie Pie, Big Baby, Brick, May-Dub, Little Guy (ahh, the irony), Mason Buddie, Mason Boy, Chunky Guy, Chunky Man, Chunky Monkey, Chunky Chunky… you get the picture. And now that Mason is 6 months old, guess who just signed up for a family membership at the YMCA? Hopefully some of us will get a little less… chunky! :)

Last night we went on a family date. I found a coupon for 1/2 price bowling, so we picked up Dustin from work and headed to the bowling alley. The boys had so much fun- Carson especially.I took some videos of each of the boys bowling, but blogger is taking forever to upload them, so I'm giving up on that. Jensen had fun, but I honestly think he was more excited about the gum he was chewing. But Carson had a blast. He was keeping a close eye on the score the whole game. He said, "I'm winning, Mom! Everyone else is winning, too!"

Mason and I got to chill and watch the big boys. And apparently, my iPhone takes crappy pictures. Sorry.Then we finished the date off by going to Carson's favorite place to eat- Five Guys Burgers. It was a fun evening.
(P.S. Thanks for coming with us, Lauren. It's nice to have an extra pair of hands when going out with our little ones. Plus, we like hanging out with you! Next time we'll make sure Clake can come to.)

So for those of you who know me well, you know I get my kids pictures taken a lot. And because I do, I go for the most economical portraits I can find, while still getting nice, professional pictures. Hence, we are on a first name basis with the photographers at JCPenney. I'll admit, we've had some bad experiences at some of their stores. But we love the manager at the San Marcos location. He has taken our pictures more times than I can count, and today he did it again. Mason got his 6 month pictures taken and Jensen had his 3 year portraits done.

Is this not the cutest? He captured Mason's smile just right!Hello chubby cuteness!Jensen was fine when he got up this morning, but as we were leaving he decided to be Mr. Grumpy Pants, and he DID NOT want his picture taken. Of course, by these pictures, you can't tell- thanks to the magic of said photographer and a very cool ball.And since the little boys were getting pictures, I decided to have Carson sit in on a few to see if we could get all 3 boys together. I say it every time we do this, but that photographer earns his paycheck doing these shots!I should also add a thank you to my mother-in-law who often comes with me to get pictures. Today probably would have been utterly impossible without her help.

Jensen really loves Buzz Lightyear (and what little boy doesn't) so he wanted a Buzz Lightyear birthday this year. Since I didn't want to have to clean my house, we had his party at a inflatable jumpy place. Jensen and his friends were stoked! The kids had a blast running around and jumping for 2 hours. Since J's birthday fell on a Wednesday, I was really hoping that we would have the place to ourselves, and we practically did. It was perfect. The adults even got in on the inflatable fun and a bunch of us went down the giant slides and obstacle courses!Jensen loved it so much that he didn't want to leave. In fact when we were getting ready to leave we couldn't find Jensen anywhere. We frantically searched outside and in, until we finally found him playing on an inflatable obstacle course back in the corner all by himself. I guess the birthday boy needed to go one last time!

He loved all the thoughtful presents everyone gave him as well. I told my mother-in-law on the way there that I would be happy if no one brought him any presents, because we don't need anything, but that probably wouldn't have been very fun for Jensen! And thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Jensen for their gifts and Great Grandmother Marlea for the card. Getting stuff in the mail is a big deal around here! :)So, Happy Birthday to my funny Jensen boy! You make us laugh everyday. You have such a sweet heart and so freely give your love to us. We love you so much and we can't imagine our family without you in it.

CHEESE!

It actually happened. Snow in Texas. Dustin always gets upset (along with everyone else that has lived in the cold before) because everything shuts down when we get ice or snow. But it's for a good reason. Actually, a couple of reasons. First, I think it's because we haven't been acclimated. Seriously, it was almost 80 degrees on Sunday. Then there's the driving. People here have no idea how to drive in this, like the guy in his rear wheel drive Mustang trying to go up an icy freeway on ramp that they kept showing on the news all morning. Yeah, prime example. And it's not just the drivers. Since we get weather like this once every couple of years, they simply don't have the equipment to prep or properly treat the roads. So it is a real mess. Thankfully, I don't have to go anywhere today, so we're staying home and playing in the pitiful amount of snow that we have. As long as my power doesn't go out and we have heat, today will be a fun break from the norm.