Ice

Yesterday (Friday), Mason, Maddox and myself went to Brighton Beach to check out the ice. We have been studying Emperor Penguins and Antartica (one of my favorite units), so we headed out there. It felt like Antartica. I still have windburn on my face. We were only there for a half hour, but it was beautiful! the ice was a gorgeous blue, however you can't really see that color in my pictures. We will definitely go back on a warmer day. I need a different sled for Maddox though. I just heard about this one that encloses the child somehow, i think I will check it out.

That is the hardest thing with the 5 year difference. Mason and I could have stayed at the lake for a while longer, but it was just too cold and windy for Maddox...even with 15 layers.....

They Come in Handy...

While scrapbooking with Mason he suddenly exclaimed "It's a good thing God gave me two hands!" (while holding up a pair of scissors in each hand). "I can cut with 2 scissors at once. " "They sure do come in handy!!"(referring to his hands)

Mason made the sign below to keep Maddox out of his room. The little guy figured out how to open Mason's desk drawers...and so it begins...:)

Mason periodically plays with this Teddy, dressing him up and taking him on all kinds of adventures. He feeds him breakfast, dresses him up, dresses him to play outside (see below), uses him on spy missions (he tapes a magnifying glass to the bear as well as a toy camera) and even has an "alarm clock" to wake up Teddy in the morning. (the bear's name is Teddy). He has another teddy bear that is a little smaller, and his name is "Ted". It is fun to see him with the bear. Maybe someday we will get a pet....but I don't know..

Bed Head

It is time for a haircut for this little one! The hair is getting out of control.
just got up from a nap

Nic, Auntie and Maddox

He has already gotten a little better about biting. Instead of trying to bite me when upset, he bites himself....hopefully he'll figure out that isn't going to work (he usually goes for his toes).

Today he did start this thing where he'll come up to me on the couch smiling and then bite at my toes. He's just like a little puppy sometimes!

And....drum roll....he is beginning to walk!!!!! (no, not sleeping quite yet...but we are getting closer!)Junal was over this past weekend, and we were having him walk between us, and today he walked about 3 feet without any help or encouragement!!! So...I am sure the stories with this one will really start flowing as he gets his feet under him!

He is also trying to make up his own signs. We have been doing a little bit of signing with him, so now, he is trying to do some signing when we don't understand him. For mitten he rubbed his hand...so that helped, but otherwise it's really hard to know what he wants. He's getting frustrated with that, so we'll try teaching him new signs. This can be such a frustrating age (I forgot about that). He knows what he wants to say, but just can't do it yet. When he is able to though, watch out! There won't be a quiet moment in the house between Mason and Maddox talking :)

1st Time Out

Well, Mr. Maddox had his first "time-out" tonight. I told him "no" about something and he was upset and tried to bite my leg...I wasn't too sure if it was intentional or not, so I said "No. No biting". He looked at me, then went to bite my leg again! So into the playpen he went. It did impact him, so I hope we don't see more of that :)

I know I'mnot supposed to compare Mason and Maddox and I do know they are supposed to be different, but wow. In some ways they are polar opposites! We will definitely have to parent them a bit differently.:)

So happy to have his Rice Chex in the morning!!

We went to the library yesterday. As soon as we got home, Mason grabbed the bag of books and hunkered down next to the fireplace. He looked so cozy!

Nana called this morning, so me and the boys went over. Mason helped Nana with her 2000 piece puzzle. That boy is a puzzle boy! Tonight he and I scrapbooked together. It was so fun. I love the titles he comes up with on his pages.

He is such an amazing boy. So compassionate, detail-oriented, persistent, and lovable. I could go on and on and on and on with adjectives to describe him. I love being his momma and being able to stay home with him (even when we lock horns)

And Maddox is also such a wonderful boy. He is joyful, silly, warm, persistent, and of course lovable. I also love being his momma!

It has been fun (for lack of a better word) parenting these 2 gems and seeing the different personalities God has gifted them. I never have a dull moment around here...speaking of the gems, Maddox is awake for his nightly feeding...so signing off and looking forward to a great night's sleep (I hope)

Fun Weekend

We had a fun weekend. Mason and Maddox enjoyed spending time with their Uncle Randy. He helped get Maddox ready for bed, played "spy" with Mason and Spy Trackdown with Craig and Mason. Uncle Randy even read Mason his bedtime story!! Maddox enjoyed sitting with Uncle Randy...once he warmed up to him.

On Sunday afternoon, my parents called and held an impromtu brunch. The spread was incredible and the feasting began!! We all ate until we were stuffed. Junal, Vinnie, Nic and Gianni were there and Dominic and Krystle stopped by for a little while (although I don't have a picture of them) Mason, Gianni, Vinnie and Nana got to work on a 2000 piece puzzle. The almost completed the edges!

Maddox enjoyed hanging out with his Auntie of course!


Maddox had fun petting Tripod. Well, it was a love/hate sort of thing for him. He kept thinking Tripod was a tiger.

Bouncing on Pop's knee

These 2 are inseparable

pictures from Uncle Randy

Uncle Randy visited this weekend. He and Craig went icefishing in Brainerd today at a contest on Gull Lake .It was freezing, and they didn't catch anything, but they had fun. They may go to another one on Island Lake tomorrow. Uncle Randy had some Christmas pictures on his camera, so we put them on here.

There is also one picture of Craig at the Fishing contest.

Little Sampson

Maddox was pulling Mason around on his chair today. I wasn't able to get that recorded, but I was able to record him trying again. He is a little strong one. He can also move our bin full of Christmas stuff I use to barricade the toyroom. I can barely move the bin.

A Little Bling-Bling and a Couple of New Tricks

Mason has been into wearing this gold chain for a few days now. He even showed interest in his Golden Birthday gift (a gold chain with a charm that looks like pirate gold--his birthday was pirate themed. at the time we gave him the gift he I think he said "oh, is there anything else?")

The paperclip is a "charm" he added.

Mr. Maddox continues to come up with new tricks. He can now climb onto Mason's little chairs and stand on them---just all of a sudden, without practicing or trying. The first time it happened we were in the bathroom and I was putting on makeup and he was pushing the chair around behind me when he started squealing with delight. I looked behind me, and lo' and behold there he was. Standing on the chair.

See how proud he is!

He also figured out how to stand on his little wagon of blocks. We just never went through this with Mason. At times I feel like a new mom again. Tonight he also figured out how to climb over the "barricade" we made in front of the fireplace. He has incredible upper body strength and a grip like I don't know what. I think all that stretching that was going on while he busy growing inside me was him actually doing pull-ups and push-ups.

For Halloween I think his costume should be a tornado. Cathy, is that a do-able costume?

Two Little Bugs

These two love to do this around the house. They look like a couple of cute bugs. Maybe I should attatch a swiffer sheet to their foreheads?

Remembering.....

I'm in a sentimental mood. Just thinking about little Maddox when he was soo little. He just gets bigger everyday (as does his personality!) These are some of my favorite pictures of him. (I tried to post them when he turned 1, but it didn't work out) Mason worked in the toyroom for about a hour and a half with the door shut. He came out beaming and exclaimed"MOM!!! I cleaned up the toy room!!!!!" Almost everything was taken off the shelves and put into the closet. It's amazing he was able to stack up as much stuff as he did! He did this shortly after Maddox was born.

I almost used these for our birth announcements

All that hair!! We couldn't believe it!

look at those little legs!

the first time Mason saw MAddox

the first time Mason held Maddox. He was SOOO proud to be a big brother! Look at his face!

Auntie was the first visitor!! (even before Nana because of the snowstorm that closed both bridges)

this is what happened to Maddox with the baby acne (which we now think was actually allergies) and these pictures were taken when it was starting to clear up and look better. these are not my favorite pictures, but they remind me how far we have come. He also had a cold and he was only a couple of weeks old.

This picture just breaks my heart. He was so miserable. He couldn't breathe because of the cold, his face and head were oozing and weeping, and he could barely eat or sleep. This was one way he could sleep and be comfortable for short periods of time. The reflux also started up at this time.

During this time, Mason and Craig were also sick with a horrible cold. Mason was being nebulized every 4 hours day and night. I would neb Mason at night and hold him, then Maddox would wake up to eat, and by the time he was settled and sleeping, Mason would wake up because he couldn't breathe and needed to be nebulized again. Craig and I just kept switching off children. It was surreal. I don't think we slept at all for at least 3 nights. then we had Urgent Care visits in there and Dr visits. I think we were at the Dr at least twice a week for about a month between the 2 children.

Man It's Cold!!!

We have been trying to find fun things to do with all of this frigid weather.

We brought the snow into the house since they couldn't go outside. Maddox wasn't too sure about it.

At -15 degrees it takes an egg 10 minutes to freeze. Then we did the "throw the water in the air and watch it freeze before it hits the ground"---That was fun! But I wasn't able to get a picture of it.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day

The 1st picture of 2009

(much better than the last picture of 2008)

We celebrated New Year's Eve for 2 days. Mason made quite a few fun decorations and placemats for everyone. He came up with an idea to make a drum with Red White and Blue and made some neat "firecrackers". (I had found the craft to make, but they were too hard, and Mason came up with a much better idea).

On New Year's Eve I asked him what game he wanted to play for his last game of the year and he chose "Monopoly Jr" and...(drum roll)...I won!! For the 1st time. (when I saw I was winning, I really tried to make him win, but it didn't work out). So....he wasn't too thrilled with that. Well, he has beaten me several times this year already at almost every game we have played.