Friends

Ben, Mason, and I have had a lot of fun with our friends and family this summer.  We are so blessed to have a great group of friends from church as well as many wonderful neighbors to spend time with.

And we just gained one more!  The Sirmon family just welcomed their newest addition, Harper Lilly, and I was honored to capture their first photo as a family of four!  Harper is so tiny and precious and big sister Hadley is so excited!  And who believes that Kellie just had a baby?  She looks great!  We are so excited that Harper is here and look forward to watching her grow.

Mason is so quickly changing from baby to little boy and while it is bittersweet, I love all the new things he is learning and it is such a joy to watch him with his friends.  

I can just tell that he is having so much fun and he loves being around other children.

Can you tell from his expression that he thinks he is a BIG boy?  At our lifegroup on Sunday night I saw him chasing a couple of the little girls while screaming (he just learned how to run and scream from the bigger kids in the group).  The girls were running from him and he thought it was so funny.

Last week we took a trip to the splash pad with Mason's buddies Caden (19 months) and Parker (12 months).  The boys and mommies loaded up in Lindsey's SUV and off we went to downtown Montgomery.  

It was a blast!

It took Parker a few minutes to get used to the water shooting up out of the ground, but he was up and running through the big spouts in no time!

Caden is fearless.

While Mason loves his friends, he has not yet learned about personal space and sharing water spouts.

This picture makes it look like Mason shoved Caden down and left him in the water.

There were lots of squeals every time a train came by.  Oh, and see the mud?

He somehow managed to have as much fun in the grass and mud surrounding the splash pad.  I kept having to go get him and bring him back to where the water was.

This is my attempt at a group shot.  Mason is headed for the grass again.

Now in dry clothes and clean diapers, we are calling it a day.  Exhaustion has set in.  

It really is a joy getting these boys together.  It wasn't long ago that me and their mommas were expecting these babies and dreaming of what it would be like when they all arrived, knowing what good friends they would be.  What wonderful memories we are making!

Izzy and Lily have been hanging out with Mason too.   He likes to show them his "melmo" videos on ipad and give them kisses.

Mr. Peterson likes giving them kisses too.

It is hard to believe these little 18 pound chunks of sweetness were barely 5 lbs each just 6 months ago.

They love the pool! Isabelle is deliberately trying to drink the water, she isn't falling over, just in case you are wondering. Their momma has mastered juggling 2 babies at once.  Impressive, isn't it?   

Mason is still enjoying the pool as well and also loves exploring the perimeter and hanging out in the flower beds playing with bark (when he isn't trying to clean something... more on that later). 

I love this picture of the girls!

Another group photo attempt.  I am really awesome at getting these group shots. 

Twelve Month Pictures

I have been meaning to post these for a while now but kept forgetting!  These pictures were taken in 2 separate sittings.  The first ones displayed were taken when he was a few days shy of 13 months.  I was cutting it close, huh?  The little bubble was made by my cousin Sarah and I just loved it on Mason!  

The following pictures in the 2 piece outfit were taken the day before he turned one.  I was at the park taking pictures of a friend's little girl and decided to dress Mason in one of my brother's old outfits and get a few shots of him too.  He didn't really cooperate but I managed to get at least one good one and a few cute ones as he was learning the ropes of walking.  It is amazing how far he came in one month!

Corn Obsession

First of all, Mason's procedure on his tongue (linguinal frenulectomy) went perfectly!  I could not have asked for this morning to go any more smoothly, so thank you all so much for your prayers for my little boy.  The doctors and staff at Children's were wonderful and they have definitely created the perfect environment for treating kids.  We are blessed to have such a good hospital close to home.  

And without further adieu...

My child is obsessed with corn.  Corn on the cob, that is.

He can't get enough of the stuff.

This all started at Sam's birthday party when he got his first taste.  He has never been the same since.

I should add that half of an ear is not ever enough.

 

So don't think you can cook an ear, give him half and then eat the other half yourself.  You would be sadly mistaken.  

Here he is placing his corn on a tray and then picking up his foot (with his hands) and putting it on top of the corn.  I don't know why he felt the need to do this.

Here he is double fisting.  Someone obviously thought they could get away with giving him just half of an ear.  He will get his hands on the second half, believe you me.

Oh, and you don't wanna know where that corn has been.  "Berkley, wanna lick the corn? Awesome.  Should I roll my corn around on the floor?  Perfect.  I'll just set my corn down in this chair while I climb up and then start eating it again.  Should I push my lawn mower with one hand while holding my corn in the other hand? Sounds good."

The corn made his 4th of July complete.

This is my personal favorite.

You can see he started out with half an ear of corn but ended up with 2 halves.  The second half was mine. 

I can't fail to mention that you should not attempt to take away the corn, no matter how long he has been carrying it around. 

He falls to pieces.

"Hey Lily, have you ever tasted corn??"

So, if you wanna win him over, just give the child some corn on the cob.  We learned that if you put the corn, husk and all, in the microwave for 1 minute and 45 seconds, you have perfectly cooked corn on the cob!  The husk and silks just practically fall off, easy as that.  

My brother is seriously concerned about Mason's corn consumption.  He keeps asking if we are going to just let Mason have as much corn as he wants.  He should just be happy that he isn't the one changing the diapers!