Our latest babies....

We discovered a quail had laid six eggs in our potting soil bag this past week and we all have been waiting anxiously to see or littlest babies...here are three of them (sorry the picture is a little off, I had to take it through the window).  Here's hoping they survive the wild of our backyard!

Visiting the Payne cousins

Melanie and Ashley

Easton showing the boys how to catch the crawdad's

the littlest munchkin, Brooklyn

Ashley

Ashley and Taylor

We were finally able to visit Brian's family this weekend.  Of course, we picked one of the hottest weekends this summer to spend the day outside, but thanks to a little playtime on Fry Mesa, we cooled off in the water!  
Brandon absolutely loves his cousin Easton.  I am pretty sure that Brandon did not let Easton out of his sight all day.  Easton was such a good sport about it, maybe even enjoying having a boy to play with (after all, he has four younger sisters).  The cutest part was as we were leaving and Brandon told Easton, "I just love you so much!" and gave him a big hug.  Melted our hearts, even Daddy and Uncle Brian's.
Everybody had a great time and we can't wait to see them all again!

All smiles....

Can anyone resist this handsome little face????

Family night

We decided to finally decorate our gingerbread house tonight, only six months after the holiday....

Just like the picture, right???

Sleep eating

Mason insisted he needed to keep eating even though he kept falling asleep at the dinner table, thanks to Momma serving one of his favorite meals (salmon and rice).  Every time I tried to move him, he'd wake up just enough to request another spoonful of food!  This is definitely not the first time one of the boys has fallen asleep while eating. 

Post bath bliss

The boys usually protest taking a bath but LOVE to play once they are in the tub!  It wouldn't be a usual night for us if someone wasn't protesting something.  If the timing is right, both boys are pretty happy after bath-time and ready to unwind. 
Mason has taken to being quite a night owl....maybe it has to do with being second born, since he does seem to get away with far more than Brandon did at his age!  Brandon is still by far the best sleeper we have, most nights he zonks out and sleeps til 5 or 6am.  Unfortunately, he still hasn't outgrown being an early bird but lately it's thanks to not wetting the bed at night (super excited for not have to wash sheets daily but boy I miss sleeping in...four years and counting).

So silly

Mason found a Christmas item, somewhere in the house, and now loves to put it on and say, "Look at me!"

Father's Day 2013

Checking out the new aquatic center from the park!

Add caption

This was the best I could get...Brandon was being a bit .....uncooperative

What, Momma in another pic?????

Mason reminds me of the little boy on my favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story, eating his dinner like a little "piggy"! 

Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful Dads out there.  We started our day with our traditional IHOP  breakfast, followed by a trip to the park by our house.  The boys even let us sleep in to 6AM....I know amazing right.  Well, for me 6AM sadly seems like sleeping in, as usually I am up with one of my sweet boys between 5-5:30am.  It was a great day together and I'm sorry to see the weekend come to a close.

Daddy, our hero

The boys miss Daddy and can't get enough of him on the weekends.  Which makes this weekend even more special, being Father's Day and all.  Today we hosted a Father's Day dinner at our house and it was a success.  Thanks to all for coming over and spending a hot summer afternoon with us. 

I gave in....to social networking

I did it, after five years (or how ever long it has been in existence) I gave in and finally joined Facebook....probably one of the last people on earth to do so.
Over the years I have been pretty resistant to joining, always having a "valid" reason for why I am always "out of the loop" but have finally realized that I am just isolating myself from connecting with people!
So as of yesterday, I have started "friending" people, all the while silently hoping that I won't be rejected....what is this high school????
My goal is to still primarily blog (since this is for a smaller, more intimate audience) but I have to admit, it sure is fun (so far) being on Facebook.....

Just a box or art???

Ah yes, Brandon insisted on decorating the box...for days.  This, I remind myself, is the beauty of childhood....an endless imagination and tons of creativity!!!!

Early start

Thanks to an active day swimming yesterday the boys went to bed early and what do you know, Mason woke up at 5am ready for the day! 

We went swimming at Nama's yesterday and Brandon is finally over his "fear" of the pool, or so we think.  Thanks to Nama for all her work with him, he really trusts her in the water and all our progress is because of her.  If it had been up to me (lacking the amount of patience of a grandma), I would have taken him in kicking and screaming.  After just a few minutes in the water, he let all of us take him into the water, even into the deep end (on his request).  He insisted on holding our hand but he worked on floating, kicking, swimming to the edge, and finding the steps.  Hopefully next weekend he will continue with the progress, as I'd like to enroll him in swim lessons again this year (Mason too, since he is fearless).