Photography and "Ba!"

I got my 50mm lens back!!!!!!!!!  Can you tell I am excited??  

When I went to take Mason's 9 Month pictures, I pulled out my camera with the 50mm lens attached and started to shoot, only to discover that the lens would not focus.  Like, at all.  Blast!

So, 10 months later I finally decided to cough up the money and get it fixed because I missed it so badly!  In the mean time I used my wide angle lens and really developed an appreciation for that and learned more about taking pictures with a different lens.  Now I am relearning the 50mm.  But enough about lenses.... here are some photos I took with the 50mm because I was so thrilled to have it back.

How about that bed head??  

This was how he woke up every morning and after every nap before I finally decided to give him a little hair cut.  It was  hilarious but it was a huge frizzy mess that was hard to tame.  See below...

It took some effort to get it back to normal and it was still a bit crazy.

Mason is still infatuated with bark.

And driving his truck (with the soccer ball in the back).

And he eats the entire cookie at one time only to realize he needs to spit it out but doesn't want to spit it out.  Then, I will hold my hand up for him and he spits it in my hand. Sometimes he will grab my hand and hold it up to his mouth so he can spit out his too big bites.  Don't ask me why he has to spit it in my hand?

Mason loves his soccer ball (and all balls) and has learned how to dribble it.  He will bring us the ball and say "high" which means he wants us to throw it up in the air really high.  Then he will chase it and bring it back. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

He still loves flowers and always wants to smell them. Sometimes he says "ooooh."

Mowing the grass is his favorite past time. He is all over the yard with that thing and apparently it never gets old!

We like to explore the outdoors and see what we can find.  He is infatuated with all the little things in nature and I love showing them to him and teaching him what they are.  He is obsessed with the moon and talks about it all the time.  He always asks where it is, even in the day time. When he sees it he waves at it and blows it kisses.  The new moon was difficult to explain.  He kept asking where the moon was and I was like... uhhh, it's hiding!

He has mastered the art of sliding and LOVES it.  I took him to the park the other day and he kept going down the curly slide.  I would see him coming down on his belly, backwards, upside down, backwards AND upside down..... it was hilarious.

He likes to look through the holes...

Here he managed to pour a cup full of water on his head.  It really surprised him too!

Here he is with his "Ba!" 

I made the mistake of taking Mason's basket ball with us to the park thinking he might want to play with it some in between playing on the slides etc.  

Wrong! He wanted to play with the ball while on the equipment and slides.  He would not put it down!

I took it away from him at one point because he was having such a hard time getting around with it but he cried. I tried to hide it so he would play and forget about it, but he found it.

Here he is trying to climb the steps while holding the "ba."

He might be a tiny bit stubborn.  No idea where he gets it.

High School Friends

I have written a lot about my friends from high school, most recently when I wrote about Leslie's wedding in May.  Well, we hadn't seen each other since May and decided it was time for a little reunion.  

We included the kids, of course, because how are they going to be best friends if they never play together?

After all, they are the second generation and they have to be best friends.  They were born into it and don't have a choice.

So Mason and I headed to Homewood to meet everyone at a park to play on the play ground, catch up, and eat supper.

Leslie brought cupcakes to celebrate Ashley's birthday.  Mason was beyond excited.  I stripped him down and gave him a giant chocolate one.  

The bigger kids apparently have better cupcake eating skills and can control their icing.

Notice that half of the icing is already gone and he has progressed to the other side.

I am pretty sure that Mason ate more cupcake than anyone else.

Sam is wondering if Mason is going to get sick on the way home.

But who cares, these are cupcakes!

Thank you, Leslie!  And thank you, Ashley, for a reason to celebrate!

Emma Kate (Haley's 3rd) and Julie (Lauren's 2nd) are two of our newest additions to the group.  Ella Rose was just born right before we got together so she and her mom, Mary Beth, were not able to join us.  We have had 3 babies added to our number this year!  What a blessing!

I love this picture of Mason and Sam, Haley's son.  When Haley and I first met each other in kindergarten, we were introduced by our dads and we exchanged the exact same blank stare that Sam and Mason are sharing above.  The funny thing is that we both remember it exactly to this day and laugh about how we first met and just stared blankly at each other.  

I see a lifelong friendship in the making.  It is definitely off to a great start!

Nothing like filling up a car with wood chips with your buddy.

And here we all are!  Lauren, me, Ashley, Leslie, and Haley (we missed you Mary Beth!).  Some of us have been best friends since before kindergarten and others later, but each just as special.  I am so thankful for each one of them and their precious babies, too!

Messes and Fun

After eating dinner at Cracker Barrel, I let Mason walk around the store area while Ben waited in line to pay.  Don't ask me how he knew the way, but he went strait for the toys.  The toy tractors to be exact.  "Tac-tor!" "Tac-tor!"  He kept saying excitedly as he picked up various toy machines in their cardboard boxes.  I wanted to buy him every one right there on the spot.

Watching Mason get excited about the tractors brought me so much joy.  I remember what it was like being little and how exciting it was to pick out a new toy.  Cara and I would beg our grandfather to take us to the "candy store" (Shop Right) so we could get a "prize."  We even made up a song to entice him... the words were "Papaw's taking us to the candy store in his green truck."  It was really original.  He would quickly oblige and we would load up in his old green (yes, green) truck and off we'd go to the Shop Right for candy and mainly a notepad of blank white paper and some pens.  Eventually mom and dad told us that we were not allowed to buy any more pads of paper and pens because we had so many.

Reflecting on these things brought this passage to mind that I recently read in Matthew:

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" 7:9-11

How wonderful is that?  I have learned so much about God's love just from being a mother and knowing how much I love Mason.  It is very hard for me to comprehend that God loves me even more.

 (John 3:16 says it all.)

We have been having a lot of fun around here lately, as you may be able to tell from the pictures.  Mason got to participate in making his first batch of brownies and he loved it.  He was a huge help adding the oil and all....

Then he helped clean the bowl....

And when he was all done, he decided that the dogs deserved a treat, too.

 There is a wonderful website, Productive Parenting, that my mom and my friend Heather both shared with me that gives TONS of age specific learning activities that you can do with your child.  I have done several of them, one of them being homemade finger paints.  

The finger paints consisted of flour, water, and food coloring.  I only made 2 colors to start out with.  That was a smart move.

  Mason took one look at them, dipped his hands in, grabbed a handful, and then rubbed his hands  together smearing the paint all over them.

Then he sat down in his chair and rubbed the paint all over his belly.  I was dying laughing and so thankful that I thought to bring my camera outside.

This is Mason hearing an airplane.  Every time he hears one he makes the "airplane" noise and moves his hand like it is going across the sky.

This baby loves some flowers.  He loves to pick the petals off (unfortunately) and then smell them, holding them practically in his nostril.

One thing I love about having this blog is that I can document all of the little things he does in pictures that I wouldn't necessarily print out to frame.  Also, I can share with my family (and all of you who care enough to read this) the little aspects of his personality that you may not know about otherwise.

Like how dirty he got while finger painting for the first time....

 Or the way he always crosses his feet.

Or his random little curls...

 And his constant curiosity...

Or the way he waves and blows kisses to everything from chickens, to the trucks on the shirt he is wearing, to random people that walk by, to inanimate objects on his book shelf....

Or how much he loves his Bunny...

And carries it everywhere...

Often in his mouth if he needs to use his hands for something else...

Or how Daddy is his favorite!  (But he loves his mommy a whole lot, too!)  And the feelings are mutual on both accounts.

Thanks for stopping by!