Lately

We've had some sick days, 

 But mostly we've been eating, 

 Playing games (this is Rummikub),

 Going to the fair (Grange Fair with my High School friend, Amber),

 Eating at the fair (Chase has a soft serve ice cream cone.  He was a good big brother and shared with Mason, though),

 Riding rides at the fair (but being wimpy about it.  I hope the kids learn to like rides, because I don't want to be the only one going on scary rides at amusement parks.  At least Buddy will come on anything fun that doesn't drop you from heights.  Or shoot you up like a catapult),

 Going on boat rides through a cave (Penn's Cave),

 (Inside the cave.  The boys were actually really good on the small, cramped boat for 45 mins)

 Drawing (Chase is drawing faces now!  He always is sure to draw eyes and a mustache, the most important parts :) ),

And watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on a rocking chair inside a teepee (tipi?  I guess I never really learned how to spell that word correctly, and spellcheck isn't helping.  Ps, Chase's shirt says "Ameri-cadian", a gift from my mom for Buddy's birthday today.  All three boys got a shirt.  I feel a little left out, but I'm only American....).

We're still living with my parents, waiting for our stupid bank to approve our loan.  It's been an emotional rollercoaster, but we're lucky the sellers are still sticking with us since this has been going on since the end of JULY!!!  Also, Buddy is liking his job at Wise Eyes in Burnham.  He says he's seeing a lot of medical issues, and he's actually had quite a few Amish patients, which is cool :)

Wish us luck (and pray for us) that we can get approved for our loan this week!!  It would be awful to lose this house (and the $2500 we've spent so far) after all this time.

Family Photos, Anyone?

We are in dire need of some family photos.  Since Mason was born, these are the only photos we have together:

 Creepy hand on knee and hiking clothes....

 Mason eating a dinosaur, weird Becky smile...

Chase on drugs, Mason STILL eating a dinosaur...

We've tried to have a friend from church take our photos 3 weekends in a row, but it just hasn't worked out so far.  I'm too cheap to hire a photographer, too, since I've been too spoiled having a sister that is a photographer.  She lives in Seattle, though, and now we live too far away :(  Maybe there's no hope for us...

Pictures that make me smile...

...From the past 3 months, in no particular order:

Papa Beaz would say that he's so happy because he's playing in Cardston. 

 This makes me smile because Auntie Chan doesn't realize that Mason is not as excited as she is...

 Man, I love any picture of Jadyn and Chase together.  So cute!  We miss her so much!

 see?  Cute, right?

 ...And this is something Chase learned from spending time with Jadyn.

 Oh, my goodness.  He's such a happy boy!  And he gets really excited when he sees the camera.

 And when I let him eat an entire nectarine.  Which happens every other day...

 Camera happy again.  Did I mention that he's crawling EVERYWHERE lately?  This boy doesn't stop moving.

 This is Chase scratching his face absentmindedly with his feet while watching Mickey Mouse :)  Who does that?

 I just can't get enough of these boys.  Is it just me?

 Daddy and Chase playing "Where's Waldo?"  I made Buddy do this with me on one of our first few dates.  It was awesome.

 The boys after their naps with their matching hand-knitted blankets from Celie (my high school seminary teacher).  They (and I) LOVE those blankets!

 Mason likes pulling himself up on everything lately.  He especially likes to stand in front of the screen/glass door and talk either to his reflection or to the outside world.  Can't tell which.  Both are equally cute.  

 I found out that a good place to put Mason while we're outside is in this car.  he sits in it really well, actually.  You can tell he likes it.  Or me :)  Oh, side story:  Mason LOVES his Pop Pop and especially likes his mustache, so I told Buddy maybe he should grow a mustache (since Buddy's annoyed that Mason likes Pop Pop and me better than him).  Then the other night we were all in the living room and I said to Chase "Who has a mustache?" wanting him to say "Pop Pop" since he was sitting next to him.  Chase said "Mommy mustache!"  Maybe that's why Mason likes me, too...

 This makes me smile because Chase LOVES playing in the cars.  He'll spend forever in there if I didn't take him out (for fear of breaking another rear view mirror or running the battery down).  He only plays in there when I can watch him now...

The boys love their Pop Pop.  Who we will start calling Grandpa since we found out that he prefers that name :)

I saved the best for last.  I love this picture :)

Chalk on the Trampoline

Man, it's nice to have easy access to a trampoline here--one of the many benefits of living with my parents :)  We're still in the process of buying a house--just waiting to be approved for a loan.  Apparently we haven't bought enough stuff on payment plans to have enough credit for easy approval.  It's taking FOR-EV-ER!  At this point we're actually hoping the sellers don't back out on our offer since it's taking too long and we have to set a later closing date.  Wish us luck that everything works out!

In the meantime...we've been putting the trampoline to good use here.  Any time I mention going outside, Chase will say "Tok on tamp-o-leen? (Chalk on trampoline?)"  And of course I say yes.  Because it's fun :)  How come I don't remember doing this when I was little?

 Yes, he's not wearing any clothes.  He was playing with the water table right before this, so he was all wet.

Oh, you want to see the pictures he drew up close?  Well , ok, if you insist :)

 He would tell me what they were after looking at them for a second.  I think he draws, and THEN decides what it is that he just drew :)  This is obviously a horse.

 This really does look like an ice cream cone ("eye greem goan"-with gutteral 'g's)

I think the lines were originally supposed to go IN the circle.  But what do I know?

This is exactly what he called this after he drew it.  We can thank "Blue's Clues"  for helping him learn that shape :)  I think he sounds so cute when he says it.

 And then he started rubbing his head on the tramp.  And before you think he's really ahead of his age and is coolly trying to make some static electricity (like we used to do), this is just something he does.  Anywhere.  On the carpet, on the hardwood floor, and now on the trampoline.  I hope he doesn't lose any brain cells while doing this.

Whew!  That was a lot of work!

Mason 7 months

Mason just keeps growing.  We missed his 6 month check-up, but we're pretty sure he's at least 20 lbs now (Chase is only 22 lbs).  I'm hoping Chase can at least stay taller than Mason for a while.  We've only had one person think that they're twins so far, but they're starting to look closer and closer in age. 

Mason is such an even tempered little guy, he's just an easy baby!  I have to consciously make sure I pay attention to him since he's not as demanding as Chase :)  Grandma Beazer calls him a "happy soul"  and I think she's right.  He's usually content.

 

 With his Aunt Julie.  Chase calls her "doo-ee"

 

There are a couple things I find funny about this picture.  First is Masons reaction to my mom's smiling face.  Second, look at my dad!  :)  What an enigma!  You can't tell whether he's about to smile, or is plotting something, or just being creepy... (jk, dad!)

Mason's a mover and has been crawling for a week now.  He has also started to pull himself up on things already, too, which is a little scary.  He has two teeth on the bottom that he got a month ago (on our road trip to Canada...), and is interested in eating anything that someone else is eating.  I have a feeling he won't be much of a picky eater.

 

He still prefers me, which makes me happy (and Buddy annoyed :)), and he's always very interested in what Chase is doing.  He has the cutest blue eyes, and an adorable smile.  He sleeps pretty well now, with at least one hour naps (3 of them a day) and he is starting to only wake up once at night to eat.  He slept through the night 3 nights in a row this week and I got my hopes up, but it didn't last.  We'll see.

We love this little (big) guy!