way back when Mason turned 7.

I haven't been the best blogger lately.  Usually I'm satisfied with just having the kids' birthdays documented, and a few other major holidays.  But even that hasn't happened.  I don't give up easily though.  So I'm going all the way back to February for Mason's tie-dye party. 

And there's not much to tell you except there was a lot of tie-dye.

For the cake we followed these directions.

It was such a fun cake!  And those aren't my hairy arms.  I had some pretty awesome help after throwing up the entire night before and begging Mason to postpone the party to the next day or let us move it to the bowling alley or something where Dad could manage alone.

But he was so sad at the thought of it.  And every hour, I got a little better.

We made a dual purpose hippy van for a table decoration and photo prop. 

We kept it if any friends ever want to borrow it.  It was way too cool to get rid of.

 

  

Somehow I got no pictures of tie-dying t-shirts.  Quite possibly because my hands were covered in dye.  But they were gnarly, I promise. 

Peace out. 

And next time I'll try not to be 4 months late.

 

the start of mason's birthday celebrations

February 28 we celebrated our new 7 year old. 

Before the weekend, we got to celebrate at school.  

To see him get called to the front and listen as his teacher prays over him is something that will forever be etched in my heart. It wasn't new to me.  The same thing was done with Taylor.  But it doesn't keep my eyes from tearing up each time as if it was the first. 

He loves that sweet teacher of his.  And we do too.  So glad we won't be done with her YET.

 

 And then Saturday was his actual birthday, and the first indoor soccer game of the season.

Soccer games, a friend party and cupcakes all in one day...the best.

So the only thing that wasn't the best about this day was that I threw up the entire night before.  It started in the Walmart parking lot the night before (sorry to the person who pulled into that parking spot after us) and continued into the wee morning hours.

Yeah, not good.  An excited boy, cupcakes to still be made, a party to still be decorated for.  

I begged him to let us call the bowling alley and maybe we could throw something together there and Dad could supervise.  I begged him to move it to the next day and we'd just do our friend and family party back to back.  But the sadness on his face was too much to handle. 

7 year olds are SO not okay with a cancelled birthday party.  And I don't blame him.

Dave kept telling him he could handle it all.  And I know he could.  But like my normal self, I had left a lot to be finished up at the last minute.  And how awful to be stuck in a bedroom while his friend party continued without me.  I prayed hard.

Every hour that passed I felt better and better.  And with a few extra hands to help, we pulled it off.

Tie Dye Party up next!!

Mason turned 6! {a March Madness Party}

I would love to skip right to the cruise we got back from about a week ago, and pretend I'm still soaking up the sun in the Bahamas.  

But I'll be a good mom and not skip over the fact that our 2nd baby turned 6...awhile ago.

He's all about basketball these days (really, you could probably find him playing inside or outside at any given moment at our house), and with a February 28 birthday (March 3 party), it was the perfect timing for a March Madness party!  

We decided to throw in both of his favorite teams and the ones he was cheering for in the tournament - the Shockers and Wildcats (the RIGHT Wildcats, not the wrong ones). 

We had concession stand food for dinner...hot dogs with chili and other toppings, nachos, and I threw some coordinating colored fruit out in case someone needed something that wasn't junk on their plate.

 Figuring the cake out was pretty easy.  I borrowed the Wilton ball cake pan for the basketball. 

But piping all of those stars...holy smokes...my hand cramped up many times. 

And then, wouldn't ya know...the morning before the party, a certain little 2 year old decided to help himself to a bite of the cake when no one was looking.  I thought about patching it up but would have had to make more frosting.  I left it.  I think it added character. 

 Mason was so excited the entire month of his birthday that Aunt Rebekah would be here.  She and her best friend got picked for Megan's craft weekend, and it happened to fall on Mason's birthday weekend.  It was hard to explain to them that she would be in town but NOT at our house...they weren't so happy with that. So we waited till she was done on Sunday and got to have her at the party and for an extra day. 

 Give this boy some Legos and he's a happy guy.  But seriously, if anyone has mastered how to organize those things...HELP!!!  Honestly, I think it's way too late. Most of the sets he's gotten in the past are a complete mess and mixed up with others.  I get overwhelmed even looking at his Lego area and have no clue where to start in order to get them all back with the right sets.

For the most part we stick to family parties and let the kids have a friends party on the "big deal" birthdays...like 5 (although Taylor did 7 also), probably 10, 13...  

We haven't stayed completely consistent with that.  But it's working for now and the kids are happy with it.   They love having a house full of family and have tons of fun with their cousins.

 

 (it looks like he's picking his nose, but he wasn't)

 Man, what is it with these candle pictures...they got me all emotional.  Just looking at him and seeing how big he's gotten.  What a sweet sweet time celebrating him. 

And to make the weekend even better....

School was cancelled due to the cold the next day!  So we got to get up and head to the donut shop with Aunt Rebekah and Megan before they headed back home!

 Next up for this little guy is Kindergarten shots.  Shhhhh...he doesn't know yet.

Good Friday will not be so good for him :-(

a big month of soccer

 We have had a blast watching Mason play soccer for the past 6 weeks.

 Dave is coaching again which makes it even more fun.  His patience with those 5 year olds is pretty outstanding.  At any given practice you could probably see over half the team doing something completely different than what they were supposed to be doing. It was quite comical at times.

 We went an entire indoor soccer season scoring zero goals this spring.  But we have made quite the turn around in outdoor.  Although they don't really keep score and announce a winner, I'm pretty sure they won all but one game.  And they scored lots of goals! It was especially fun to see a handful of different kids score...it was pure joy watching their reactions!

I'd say that many times games are one based on the goalie. And this particular game, it wasn't too hard to score on this goalie who got distracted and left the goalie box.  His foot even got stuck in the net and he couldn't get it out when he saw the other team coming to score.  It was a little sad and a lot hilarious.

 And while we're on the topic of soccer, we also made quite the trip to Indianapolis to watch our nephew play in a soccer tournament.  With a sister fighting cancer, his world has kind of been turned upside down.  He and Dave have a special bond and Dave really wanted to support him at this tournament, since it was only 11 hours away...as opposed to 16 to their home in Michigan.

The trip was originally just going to be Dave and I.  We didn't think it sounded one bit fun to have kids ride for 11 hours just for a day and a half of soccer.  But plans fell through and after our plans changed 15 thousand times in the few days before, we finally decided to just pack them all up and take them along.  To be honest, it wasn't one bit fun.  Until we were out of the car.  We used to travel so well, even with a 3 and 4 year old on an 18 hour trip to Florida.  But this baby of ours does NOT like to travel.  So he has decided to make us all know about it.

  But as awful as the car ride was, it was worth it to see this guy play soccer and hang out with him and his mom for a while.  Unfortunately, the weather caused the tournament to be cancelled on Sunday, so we only saw his 2 games on Saturday.  Such a bummer too, because being the #1 team out of Michigan in that age range, I'm pretty sure they could have won the whole thing!

 

 Mason has loved playing soccer just like Jeremy.  When he scores goals, the first person he wants to call is Jeremy or Uncle Jason.  And this past game, with his 3 goals, Jeremy taught him that he had a "hat trick".  Mason thinks "hat tricks" are pretty cool now.