AYSO

Pretty sure he was giving Kevin a lot of attitude in this pic!

Action shot!!!!

Mason and I attended Brandon's second soccer practice this am!  The AYSO U5 soccer (Jamboree) is pretty cute, they work on warming up, doing some drills, and then playing a scrimmage for the remainder of the hour.  Brandon appears to be the biggest boy on his team, especially height wise, go figure!  He did really good for the first half of the game however I think he lost interest after about fifteen minutes.   
Poor little Mas so badly wanted to be out there with Daddy and Brandon but hung out with me in the shade, being bribed with Brandon's post practice snacks. 

Outside play

a rare moment...caught on camera working together!

"Using my shooter!"

As summer is ever so slowly turning into the fall, the boys and I are drawn outside.  I love this time of year, the evenings are getting cooler, the days are getting shorter, and the boys and I can't wait to start decorating for the different seasons/holidays!
Today we used our pipes to construct a water feature and Mason made a "shooter", his version of Dad's gun!  It's was so cute, he walked around the yard looking for birds to shoot out of the sky.  I can already tell he will be heart broken when Brandon becomes old enough to go hunting with Daddy and he has to stay behind with Momma....

Silly boys....

Waiting for our popcorn!

Mason teasing Lily with his raspberry fingers....

More kids hike pictures...

Kid's hike @ Mt Lemmon

Easton showing us how it's done!

4 of the 6 kiddos we took on the hike!

Always trying to be like the big boys....

We went on another kid's hike today with Grandma Diane and her hiking group.  Our hike started out overcast and ended with us all wet and a little chilled, but it was fun.  Of course, I didn't think to bring rain-gear but we all dried out during our picnic at Molina Basin.  Brian and four of his kiddos were able to make it (we missed you Peggy & Brooklyn) and Brandon was Easton's little shadow, as always.   

My Engineer in training....

Thanks to Grandpa Bill for introducing us to a world of "wires" and homemade gadgets!!!

My inventor, hard at work!

Brandon has always been a "think outside of the box" kinda kiddo, usually adapting his toys to be used in ways not intended by the manufacturer, but today we took it up a notch!  Brandon begged to go to Michaels today, even willing to use his own money (and a 40% off coupon Momma found) to make this purchase.  He was so excited to start inventing....he held the box in his hands the entire car ride home; then we proceeded to spend several hours this afternoon making motors and such and this evening making the tiny light bulb turn (thanks to Daddy, lets just say my engineering skills are a bit lacking)!  Brandon does like to tell us he is going to be both a mechanical and electrical engineer.....

Mason is potty-trained!!!!!

Yay Mason, it's official, he is potty-trained! We are no longer buying diapers or pull-ups, with the exception of night diapers for Mason of course!!!!!!   I can't believe how differently he as taken to the entire process, I though for sure this would be a long process like it had been for Brandon (he insisted on going #2 in a pull up for the better part of 6 months to a year until one day he was okay sitting on the potty).  Can we take credit since he is our second child?  I don't think so....I think it has to do with the temperament of the child, not to mention that Mason was more easily bribed than Brandon.  Whatever works, right?
Now I am becoming very familiar with the exact location of every restroom of every store/place we happen to visit as Mason has no issues with going to the bathroom in public places!