September in a flash

September was chock full of visits, birthday parties (including Mason's and Frank's) and lots of good ol' fun.  Frank's parents visited for a few weeks during some really great weather.  Maddie literally leapt into their arms when they walked in the front door.  I think this was the most excited she's ever been about their visit.  She's almost five now so she really understands that time with them is special.  Mason, of course, tried his usual bashful routine.  It didn't last very long and he was laughing and playing....and cheesing it up. 

Mason trying on Frank's glasses.  Cutie-pie times ten! 
One of my favorite pics of Mason -- ever!

In late August, we took our first family vacation to a hotel and stayed at Great Wolf Lodge for a few nights.  Of course we've stayed at my parent's beach house and my aunt and uncle's beach house.  But this was different.  This was a room (gasp!), not a house.  I was nervous.

We let Maddie decide on what to do on our vacation and gave her a choice of another trip to the beach or water park.  I think all we got out of our mouth was "or water pa......" before she started screaming that was her choice. 

On the road early, stop at Cracker Barrel for yummy lunch, and then naps in the car.  By the time we got to Concord, the kids were slap happy.  Maddie could.not.wait....

Here they are as we are pulling up to the hotel to check in. 
Are these kids excited or what?

Their first hotel bed jumping experience.  Maybe you didn't do that as a kid, but I did. 
That's the first thing you do on a hotel bed -- because Mama won't let you jump on the bed at home, right???   They loved it.

We got a room with a separate area for the kids.  It was a bunk bed with paintings on the walls to make it look like a tent at camp.  And a flat screen TV mounted to the wall....they were lovin' it.  Mason immediately wanted to climb to the top bunk with Maddie. 
Here we have the trademark smiles. 
See their eyes?  Nope, me neither.  That's how I know they are happy!

After three hours (!) of non-stop water park madness, we grabbed some pizza, watched Dora and put them in PJs.  The first night was pretty horrible.  We had to turn all the lights off at 8:30 so they would sleep....ugh.  But the second night was awesome.  We were all so exhausted, but it was a happy kind of tired!

Here we are watching the singing show in the hotel lobby on the second night there.

We took a trip to the local outlet mall and candy factory.
I think this caramel and M&M apple was bigger than Maddie's head.

Wow.  That's a big wolf.

Back at home, the vegetables were waiting to be picked. 
Maddie loves garden tomatoes and will beg to eat them off the vine. 

The next weekend, we took a trip to our favorite park, Yates Mill Pond, and enjoyed the amazing weather.  We talked about mushrooms and fish and rocks and tree rot.  Maddie is fascinated by all things nature and handed me about ten "keeper" leaves during the hike.

Mason getting scrubbed the night before his birthday.  Frank can take all the credit for the sudsy mohawk. 

Next up, birthday time.  I decided to make Mason's cake myself this year.  He loves Dinosaur Train on PBS so I ordered a figurine, put together a plan, spent an unreal sum of money on specialty candies, and hours later, a cake emerges.  I had to document this, of course...
The night before, I made trees.  Pretty cool stuff.  Royal icing and sugar cones = evergreens!

Maddie wanted to help so badly with Mason's party, so I put her and Oma to work making Mason a special birthday safari hat with dinosaur stickers. 
Of course, she had to try it on first.

"Here Mason.  Happy Birthday."

First present was a stick horse from Maddie.  She picked it out months ago and then bought her one also with some of her birthday money.  Did I mention that Mason does an awesome "yee haw"?? I didn't?  Well, he does.  Wonder who taught him that??

Then back to the cake.  Maddie seems to doubt how this will all come together. 
Oh ye of little faith....ok, now back up (smile).

Trees: check, licorice railroad ties: check (thanks, Laurie), candy rocks: check, glitter lake: check, Buddy the T-Rex and a train car figurine: check.  Maddie and Oma help with the details.

Finally!  It was worth being covered in icing. 

Pre-cake playtime.  The dinosaurs were meant to be table decorations....um, but at least they were put to good use.  I think he would have been happy with just these as presents...silly boy!!

Cake time.  He actually blew on the candles and ate some cake.

Since he cried last year when I gave him his birthday cake, we were ecstatic that he not only liked his cake but ate it also!!  Frank documented the moment!

It was such a beautiful day, so we moved the party outside for presents.  It was a small party, just grandparents and Uncle David, so we all fit on the porch.  First up, a tugboat for the bath.

Maddie was such a great big sis and "helped" Mason with all his gifts. Here he looks over his German train set.

And the huge t-rex.  Um, Maddie liked it too.

After all the presents and cake, I remembered I had a fun game planned -- a dinosaur picture coloring contest.  Look at those determined faces!!  Mason was the only judge.  May the best dinosaur win! This was actually hilarious.  Everyone needed more time to finish coloring.  And there were complaints about the limited color options  Really?.  Still, I have all the dinosaurs and plan to do something fun with them for Mason's big boy room.

Grandaddy was the winner -- I think his dinosaur was orange...
Mason has played with all his toys and really had a great day. Thanks family for being here for his special day!   Chili+cake+presents on a porch...what's not to love?!

The next weekend, we went to the Greek Festival at the fairgrounds.  I think Opa has a soft spot for Maddie -- maybe just a little one.  We think there was some promise of a tiara or headgear from one of the Greek vendors at the festival.  In the end, after dinner, cheering the dancers, and some amazing Greek desserts, Maddie ended up with this very sparkly um, thing.  She thinks it's a Greek princess tiara of sorts.  She was the only girl with one of these on.....and got lots of smiles!  What a cutie!

Since we had a few extra hands around the house, we decided to redo our entry from the garage.  It's a small space and we don't have room for a full mudroom, so I did some research and Frank did some measuring and we created a mini-mudroom.  I wish I had a before pic, but it was basically a bench and a small hook.  Now the kids can hang and retrieve their hats and coats.  Yay!  It's not finished, but it's close.  Way to go Frank!!!  Thanks to Oma and Opa for watching the kidlets while we finished this project!

Fast forward to late September, Oma and Opa left to check out New England.  The kids learned how to occupy themselves again, and we decided to take advantage of this wonderful weather.  Here is Maddie on a class field trip to Genesis Farm in Chapel Hill.  I went with the class and it was so much fun. She loves animals but is shy with them.  She actually brushed Patches the mini-horse and wanted to stay around him the whole time.  Way to go, Maddie.  I was so proud of her for getting close to him.  They learned how to milk a cow, make compost and even played in a maze.  Cool.

They had a picnic on the farm and headed back to school.  I took the rest of the day off and had some Janet time for my birthday.  That night, we did an easy dinner and our first ever family movie night with popcorn.  I know, we are wild!

Here they are riveted by the movie Bolt, which they have only seen 13 times before.  They both love popcorn and had to have their own bowls.


That's all for now.....pumpkin pics to come.