"Santa" the elf

This was our first year doing the elf on a shelf. He came with a book and in it is says that you need to give him a name. I asked Mason what he wanted to name his elf and he said, "Santa." So there you have it we have "Santa" the elf who reports to the big Santa at the North Pole every night. Mason seemed to enjoy it although a lot of the time he forgot about him. I'm not quite sure if he really got the concept but he never tried to touch him. We started Dec 1st and when Santa came to drop of the presents "Santa" the elf went back home with him until next year.

Here are our 24 days with "Santa" the elf.

Mason is THREE!

Hard to believe that tomorrow I will have a three year old. Mason loves to do EVERYTHING by himself. He speaks in complete sentences but only when he's with us or people he's comfortable with. I think he's starting to talk a little more at school but he was pretty quiet the first couple of months! Happy Birthday Mason! xoxo

He's beginning to cooperate *a little* bit for pictures now.



Here's a couple or Ryder at 15 months.



We let Mason pick out his cake. We showed him a truck cake and he said no. Showed him a machine cake and he said no. Showed him a motorcycle cake and he said no. We were starting to think he was going to say no to everything. Then we showed him a Mickey cake and we got a yes! So there we had it, a mickey party it was.

our holiday card

I've been dying to share this but wanted to wait until our cards were sent out. It was the only way to get a picture of both boys together!

This was on the front.



And these pictures of the boys on the back.

Our Tree

We always cut down a Christmas tree. For the past several years we were able to get one for free because Chris new a builder that bought an old Christmas tree farm but his building was put on hold. This year that didn't work for us though because the trees weren't maintained and had gotten too big. We went to a tree farm and Chris, Mason, Nonna, Grandpa, Poppy & Gracky went hunting for a tree. I was in the car with Ryder who fell asleep on the way to our second location. I only have this one picture from our front location.



As usually Chris found the biggest tree that would fit in our house. The boys had such a fun time decorating.



And here is our tree!



and here is a fun tripod blooper. No lenses were hurt in the taking of this shot!

Dare devil

When Mason first got his balance bike he wasn't too interested. Well he loved it until he fell and then it sat around for a little bit. This summer he has taken more of an interest in it and loves to ride it. He calls it his dirt bike. As he continues to get more comfortable with it he picks his feet up for a few seconds at a time. The other day he was even riding down the trailer ramp! Chris can't wait for the day that Mason can get his very own dirt bike. Our deal is that Mason first has to be able to ride a two wheeler and he has to be mature enough to listen WELL.



I'm pretty sure he'll be getting one of these before I'm ready!



We got a kids quad from a friend and Mason got to test it out for a few minutes.

The boys are in a band

excuse the horrible quality. These were taken at night in horrible lighting. I love them anyway :)

Thanksgiving

We had a couple Thanksgiving dinners this year. We went to my mom's on Thanksgiving Day. The boys had such a fun time.



Thanksgiving #2 was the day after. The boys loved playing with their cousins and they loved dinner!