Welcome home, cousins!

We got to see Mason's cousins, Will & Natalie, a few times while they were home from Haiti for about 3 weeks. After the earthquake hit, my brother and his wife thought it best for them to come back to the States for awhile while they figured out how things would work in Haiti. It wasn't the reason we wanted them to come back, but it was so good to see them!

My brother & sister-in-law came back last week to pick up the kids and have some meetings. It was so great to see them too, even though their stay felt much too short as they were here less than a week. We got to spend an evening with my whole family at my parents' house, and they spent Tuesday afternoon with Brent, Mason and me at our house before they left to head back on Wednesday. Mason absolutely loved having Will & Natalie here to play. Big kids are the best as it is, and when they are cousins that you haven't seen for a long time, even better! they had such a great time, and I even let Mason skip his nap that day to enjoy it.

Thankfully they made it safely back to Haiti on Thursday. The visit was too short, but we'll take what we can get! It is amazing how good it feels to see them in person and have conversations face to face. I am really glad that Mason got to see them all, too. I think he needed a little reminder. Now he has been talking about Aunt Stacey and about how Will & Natalie are from Haiti, and he was really excited to see them on Skype today. They plan to be back for a few weeks again this summer. Think the snow will be melted by then?! As I told Stacey about our next impending snowstorm this morning, she bragged about her short-sleeved t-shirt and capris--how rude! :)

More Fun Times with Friends

Mason has had lots of great times with friends lately. Thought we'd share some pictures.

Mason got to have a fun morning with his friend Malik one day last week. They're quite a pair. At one point they really got to giggling, and I couldn't help but laugh too! They thought it was an hilarious game when Malik chased Mason with the cool 80's sunglasses on. They also made farm fence necklaces, played a little music, raced the cars and watched Caillou together. Fun was had by all!

Putting on a show

Racing the cars

The Sunglasses Chase is on!

He also tried sledding at his friend Chloe's a few weeks ago. They have a great hill. It was naptime, so he wasn't as thrilled as I'd hoped he would be. And then after the sled flipped and his face was dragged through the snow a little, he was much less than thrilled!! Oops, Daddy. He did enjoy playing with Chloe's outside toys after that, though. Anything we can do outdoors at this point in the winter is a good thing, right?! And more snow coming...sigh. At least the kids still love it!

Chloe & her daddy ready to take the plunge!

Daddy pulling Mason before "the incident"

Fun Times

Once again a belated blog post, but what have I missed really...I mean, just little events like Christmas. You know, nothing big. I was just looking back at past posts, and it does make me want to get better at keeping up again. It's so fun to be able to look back on those things, and I can honestly say that it made me a bit more grateful today to remember.

Here are a few pictures from the last week or so of some fun Mason has had playing with friend & cousin Tori.

Obviously they take after their mothers. They think working out is fun!
Tori may need a little work on her technique, though...or maybe she just really hates working out!

Tori found both of Mason's winter hats and decided they both needed to wear one.
She loved the hat and wore it for quite a long time! Mason's didn't last long. Guess it's not as fun to wear your own hat.