Uh-Oh, Mommy Caught Me!

Gate the steps, lock the cupboards and remove all potentially dangerous articles from anywhere that is between the floor and 3-feet high! Mason has begun to pull himself up on things, and he thinks it's pretty cool. Of course, the let-downs are not as smooth...I guess that's why God gave us all that padding on our behinds!

"I love pasta with sauce so much, I wanted to become one with it!"

I'm sure every mom feels it, but I continue to be amazed at how quickly Mason learns new things. Personally I'd like him to slow down a little bit! His latest tricks include So Big, lots and lots of clapping, eating more table foods, getting more curious about everything, and getting very close to moving from scooting to truly crawling. If you see him, he would love nothing more than to tell you how big he is, and, in fact, he may tell you even without being asked. We think it's pretty sweet and give him a round of applause every time (I wonder why he claps so much???).

I just love our little guy more than I can say! What a sweat pea. Thanks for loving him with us!

Just put your lips together and blow!

A couple weeks ago Mason developed a new skill and has since been honing that skill, though he has lost some of his initial gusto. It is the skill of blowing. It cracks us up, so we thought we'd share it. I'm not sure what purpose it serves in his little world, but I'm guessing it's just the thrill of discovering something new he can do...or maybe simply to entertain his parents! If you listen closely at the beginning of the video, you can actually hear a quiet whistle. And we feel he is especially talented because he can blow and jump at the same time. There are big things in his future! :) Toward the end of the clip you'll see another of his favorite pasttimes--making noise! Enjoy our blowing boy!

Celebrating Cement!

Yes, it's true, we are celebrating cement as we admire our newly poured garage floor and driveway. The garage floor was done earlier in the summer, and the driveway was just completed on Saturday. We are thrilled not to have a mud driveway, and I think Brent may even be a little excited to scoop snow now that he's not scooping mud and gravel with it.

This is a shout out to our faithful cement crew, including all the men of the Nikkel family and Brent's dad. The Nikkel Crew has been on tour this summer, doing multiple family cement jobs in Sully, Killduff and Pella. We are thankful they hadn't run out of steam yet! And the price is right, too. They'll do a lot if you give them lunch and cookies. :) Thanks so much, guys!

The Cement Crew

Mason with Grandpa & Cousin Will on the Skid Steer
Already very much a little boy, he loved to watch the action!

Mr. Funny Face

Weekend Adventures!

Swedesburg or Bust!
This weekend's first adventure was our Southeast Iowa Tour. It was our annual Swedesburg gathering of the Swenson clan, which is Brent's mom's side of the family. It's always great to see everyone...and snack constantly from all the yummy treats people bring right up until the time we gather for a huge supper. (Thankfully we also got TONS of exercise because we played tennis on the Wii and did a little DDR as well, so I'm sure it all evened out!) It was a fun day and thankfully not as hot as we thought it might be!

Mason's second cousin Ava, who is 2, loves babies, so she was quite taken with Mason for awhile. It was very cute. "He wants me," she would say. I had to include a picture of them together.
Boating with Buddies
Our second adventure was on Lake Red Rock Sunday afternoon with the Punts & the Dunsbergens. With three children under 18 months on the boat, it went surprisingly well! Mason hates wearing his life vest because it basically swallows him whole, so hopefully next year when he's a little bigger he will be a bit more comfortable. He did enjoy the water with Daddy for a little while, though, before the scream fest began. (I think I could actually hear him saying, "Get this thing off me!" I can't be sure, but...) In the end, Mason fell asleep, which I could not believe, especially because the water was somewhat rough as we were cruising back to the boat ramp.

Floating with Daddy

Some quality time on the boat with Mommy after I could no longer stand my life jacket (we won't pay attention to whatever Mommy's hair is doing!)

Daddy & Mason have some serious "boat hair"