summer project

summer is almost over for me. I have to go back to work on Monday and we did absolutely nothing this whole summer. My poor kids are so bored! I however have been very busy with all my projects that I wanted to work on during the 6 weeks that I was off. My biggest project was painting all the cabinets in my house. I started with the bathrooms and then I tackled the kitchen. I just finished painting but now that I have painted the cabinets I need to get new countertops (because mine now do not match with the new paint), I need to paint the wall and get a backsplash and then of course I will need all new appliances! I won't show you the whole kitchen because it looks so unfinished- everything is white. So here is just a preview of what I did.

Before



After


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Samson aka Sammy

We have added yet another dog to our family- Sammy the chihuahua. Sammy is dog #10 for our family. Shawn has repeatedly brought home abandanded dogs left at Petsmart and I have repeatedly gotten rid of them. I am not a dog lover of messes and chewed up furniture and dog hair everywhere but I don't get much of a say when there is 4 against 1. Everything seems to be going ok so far but it has only been one day. Wish me luck, I am not excited for the potty training.

special olympics

Mason participated for the first time in special olympics with his team from our school district. It started early Friday morning and ended Saturday afternoon. We spent most of our time on Friday just sitting around waiting. Mason did his preliminary race and then there was opening ceremonies where we walked in the parade and had a special guest jump out of a helicopter into the field with the American flag hanging from his prosthetic legs. And of course the lighting of the torch. We had a wonderful time and will continue to do it every year.

Mason with two of his friends, Rachel and Kolton just waiting


Opening Ceremonies parade


Mason competing in the softball throw


Mason got the bronze for the softball throw. There were only 3 boys competing and notice the winner was a cute little blind boy.

Mason running the 100 meter race

gold winner

During the preliminaries we almost didn't think Mason would end up running the race. He was all ready to run and then they fired off the gun. Mason hates loud noises so he just stood there with his hands over his ears not moving. They spent several minutes trying to talk him into running. He eventually did so we spent the rest of the day talking to him about it so he would be ready for the real thing.


Mason was so cute when he was racing. He was smiling the whole time, having a hard time staying in his lane but as he got close to the finish line he started skipping because he knew he was the winner!



Mason was very excited to win the gold medal. He has been talking about winning the gold for months now. After he got his gold medal he tried to give them back the bronze from his softball throw. He said he didn't want the bronze anymore just the gold.


We are so proud of Mason! He has come a long way these past few years. He has started talking and even teases and plays with other children. It is so exciting to see him progress. He is doing so well in school and has started going to regular ed class for part of the day. While talking to other mothers of special needs kids I found out they have a Miracle League in Arlington for special needs kids(baseball). I can't wait to get him involved this fall!

Easter 2010

Easter this year was very relaxed. We enjoyed our time at home watching General Conference on T.V. In the evening we went over to Brandon and Sherie's house for our family dinner and the kids had a little Easter egg hunt.

rocket ships

In cub scouts this year they decided to build rocket ships instead of the traditional pinewood derby cars. At first we were really disappointed. The boys really like to race their cars and plus this was Masons first year in scouts but once the day came to launch the rockets they had a blast. Each scout got to launch theirs twice. I ended up making the rocket ships by myself and I was a little worried about whether or not they would launch. Haydens turned out fine but Masons had a little problem, but they both shot up in the air really far and the boys had a great time. When we left Mason asked me when we could do rocket ships again.

spring break 2010

Over spring break we went to visit Dane and Christie in Arkansas. We had a great time with them hanging out. Christie and I worked on some crafts while the kids played video games practically the whole time. We did go do a few things- went and saw Diary of a Whimpy kid, bowling and ice skating. While we were bowling it started snowing. The kids stayed up late that night building a fort in the back yard until midnight. I got very few pictures because I dropped my camera while running in the Cowtown 5k so I have been using my phone to take pictures now.

I made the curtains before we left for Arkansas and I made the wreaths at Christies house.

5k race

Mason and I ran the Tannahill 5K (the indermediate schools race). Hayden was supposed to run it with me since this will be the school he will go to next year but he decided that morning he didn't want to run. So I recruited Mason. Mason was very excited to run. He wanted to win the race so he ran way ahead of me and I had hard time catching up with him. Luckily some of the kids up ahead stopped him and made him wait for me.



Hayden and I ran the Cowtown kids 5k back in February. We ran it in 15 minutes thinking we did really well this year compared to last year but we come to find out the police blocked off the streets wrong and we only did 1.8 miles.

Mason's 2nd grade performance

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Mason is in the middle with the white turtleneck and blue hat.

Happy Valentines Day

Imagine a lollipop in his hand- these are the valentines Mason will give to his classmates tomorrow since we didn't have school on Friday.

snow

We ended up getting a foot of snow yesterday! Thursday we woke up and there was probably and inch or two outside and the kids were so mad that we had to go to school- we didn't even have a delay. As the morning went by it kept snowing so they ended up letting us at noon and while we were finishing up at work(trying to get all the kids home)Hayden and some other students (principals kids)built a snow man. They had a great time in the snow also having a snowball fight. Then we made it home and Hayden and his best friend Trae spent several hours outside playing. They are planning on building a fort since we are out today. Mason won't have anything to do with the snow! I can't say I blame him. Its beautiful but I like to be warm and dry!

Home Depot

On the 1st Saturday of each month Home Depot has a kids workshop where you can bring your child to build something. I take Mason every month and he loves it. Callie had a slumber party Friday night and her and her friends thought it would be fun to go and do it too. (although I think they are too old but they let them anyway).

Poor, poor Hayden