Category: Uncategorized (Page 46 of 212)

Pictures from the 23rd (with a surprise snow fall!) and the 24th.

We woke on Thursday with no school and snow dusting the ground.  It fell in beautiful crystals.

We took the kids to Hammond’s Candy Factory for a tour and to try their sweets.

(Sam looks tired, but he had a great time too – it just doesn’t show in the pictures).

That night Jack had his first belt testing.  It was a long time for the boys to sit quietly (two hours) but they did very well.  Jack seemed like the top of his belt class to us 😉  He had strong form and was quick to obey commands. While waiting for scores to be tallied Jack gave his brother some pointers.  We will get scores at his next class after Christmas, fingers crossed that he earned his gold belt.

Today we had a sitter come mid-day so Ben and I could do some last minute shopping.  We had a pleasant lunch together, the stores were abustle and our tree is now positively brimming.  I executed the fastest Fancy Tiger visit possible, perhaps ten minutes only.  I was getting some yarn to make Ben a birthday hat.  I must really love to knit.  After Christmas I’ll post pictures of the products of my holiday knit-a-thon.  I’ve done five projects since October 21st.  According to my ravelry notes, and estimating the times I had to re-work the project, I’ve knit approximately 4,092 yards.  That’s equal to 2.325 MILES of yarn.

The Grandparents Masons arrived this afternoon, successfully slipping through the mountains between snow storms.  The boys had their usual fun scurrying around the house with them, showing off and enjoying treats and trinkets.

This evening Amanda came up to share presents before leaving for London.  We had Chinese food a couple days early and watched the Muppet Family Christmas Special.

Have you seen the Potter Puppet Pals on youtube?  Amanda showed it to the boys earlier this year.  They giggled to no end and sang the song for weeks.  She amazed them today by gifting a box of replica puppets she had made.

They are lucky nephews indeed!

We took the boys up to Flatirons Mall for lunch, dino-land playtime, and to soak up some Holiday Cheer.  On our way out we passed by an intriguing cart selling “Nitro Dragon Breath.”  They explained that this was a Korean cracker cooked in liquid nitrogen that tastes sort of like Cap’n Crunch.  We got a cupful to share and it was super fun!

Not exactly tasty (we skipped the optional dipping sauces), but totally worth $7 for some fun!

Tonight our church Christmas party had a formal take on the word “party.”  After visiting Santa at 5:30 (Sam was too shy), late dinner at 6:45, then finally a Nativity program at 7:40.  As you can imagine, the kids were fairly DONE.  But my boys mustered their strength to perform.

Jack received much praise for singing well and dealing with his brother in a very patient and kind manner.  Sam received much praise for standing up with the kids in front of all those people, and for keeping his clothes on.

It was rather late at the end, so we had to grab our dessert to go.  I snagged one of the cupcakes I had contributed. We gobbled our treats, lit the menorah, opened Hanukkah socks, and chucked the kids in bed.

It’s 9pm and the kids are singing Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel loudly, clearly not going to sleep any time soon.  Hoo boy, Christmas excitement is high in the Mason home.

Sam really enjoys having a LEGO advent calendar. Every day he rebuilds the growing scene, often in creative ways.

It’s especially exciting to lose a tooth while at school!

Jack helped his Cub Scout Den collect donations to the food bank.  A great start to the Thanksgiving holiday!

While Ben got in some work hours, I took the boys over the mountains to grandparent-land.

Thanksgiving was everything it should be: parade and dog show, snacking, all our family together, games, and loads of delicious food.

Friday evening we mustered all the Waterhouses together for a group photo.  It came out shockingly well for how little prep we did, and how many people had colds and boys were out of patience!  We look coordinated, but apparently we all wear the color blue!

Halloween was a week long stretch of festivities.  Two Trunk-or-Treat events (one moved indoors because of snow), two school parties, pumpkin carving, and the actual Halloween night.  Ben took them trick-or-treating with a pack of 6 neighborhood kids.  After dropping off Sam they hit up some special, spooky houses by car.

I’m exhausted from it all but the kids had a great week.  We got an enormous collection of candy, all of our costumes worked beautifully and received many compliments, and the kids have heads full of memories.

These pictures posted in reverse order (I still can’t understand the upload), sorry I’m not going to rearrange them.  It starts with candy and “dinner” on the 31st.

How many more seasons can we trick them into thinking yard work is fun? It’s a shame that they’ll probably figure out it’s a chore around the same time they actually become effective at raking leaves.

I experimented and discovered you can bake banana bread in Bundt pans. Why would you ever use a boring loaf pan again?

“ Something smells especially delicious in here, Mom!” -Jack