{April 15-21}

This was in the middle of all of our backyard projects....I can't wait to show you the finished project....but I'm trying my best to keep things in chronological order. :)


Jon got a new tee-ball set and Mason helped him try it out.


The next day, Mason watched as they played more tee-ball next door. It wasn't long before he was being passed over the fence to play too. We are constantly passing them back and forth depending on what is going on in each yard.


We went to have lunch with daddy at school and Mason got to play on the school bus....one of his very favorite things to do.


Mini-school boy with his cute little lunch box.


In the mornings when I am getting ready for work, there is no telling what I will find Mason doing. Even though I check on him every other minute (it seems), it doesn't take him long to empty out a drawer or two like he was doing this particular morning.


Playing in Poppy's boat with fishing lures again....its becoming a must-do on every trip to Poppy & Grammy's house.


We celebrated Mason's 2nd birthday with a little family party at my parents' house. We all had a blast, especially Mason. More pictures from the party coming up next. :)

{April 8-14}

Easter morning sweetness.


Everyday sweetness.


We've been slowly introducing the potty for a few months now. Mason was really afraid to sit on it and would cry if we even asked him to. So one night I decided to put it in the bathtub with him as a toy. I figured he would enjoy filling it up with water and dumping it out...and he did. The next night I did the same thing but this time he sat on it right when he got in and played the entire bath time from his little seat....meanwhile going pee-pee on the potty for the first time! We got to get all excited and we gave him a little treat. We also let him flush it down the big potty which was a big hit! Since then, we have progressed to just leaving it outside the tub and he will sit on it for a minute each night before he gets in. He's asked a few other random times during the day to go pee-pee on the potty.... "I pee-pee potty"....but nothing consistent. We aren't really pushing it yet but I'm thinking we might be ready to potty train sometime this summer.....we'll see.


Mason still likes to feed the kitties before he goes to bed. He also still makes a mess.


Mason and Jon (our little buddy next door) are still best buds. One night we were all grilling out together and the two of them were just sitting on the steps jabbering as if they were carrying on a conversation. They are so adorable together.


Bath time cutie.


My dad came down for the weekend and helped us get started on our patio. Mason LOVED having Poppy here for the weekend. For several days after he left, we would open the back door to go outside and Mason would yell for Poppy. I told daddy we were going to have to build him a treehouse so he could live in our backyard. :)

Easter morning pictures

Growing up, I vividly remember a few Easter mornings slipping into a brand new fancy dress [and by fancy I mean lots of layers that could stand straight out as I twirled]. It was always such a fantastic day just because of these big fancy dresses. My mom would always take lots of pictures of us in our "Easter dresses" and after church we would always go to my grandparents house where we would have even more pictures taken of us. And really, we couldn't have enjoyed it more. The twirling, the attention....we felt like royalty. But eventually as we grew older, the itchiness of these fancy dresses outweighed our fascination with the twirliness factor and we graduated to less layered and fluffy Easter dresses. Somehow we have fallen into the same tradition of taking pictures before church on Easter morning.....except without the fancy dresses. Mason's first Easter was last year and it is so fun to see how much he has changed since then, you must check out this post from the past.

For a minute, I attempted to get a cute shot of Mason standing still, but I quickly knew that wasn't going to happen. Which is when I added Ella into the mix and thought maybe he would sit still with Ella for a minute....well, we all know how that turned out (go here if you don't know what I'm referring to). But still those pictures as well as these are cuteness to the max, and very much indicative of this age for Mason. He is a little busy body, and that is okay. :)

Ella just gets more and more beautiful. Its crazy to see how much she has changed since this time last year.

This was Mason's attempt at sitting for a moment, sometimes it seems as if he wants to, but something in his little body just won't allow it. ;) I love being a mom to a boy and getting to see this "wild at heart" thing going on in front of me.

I eventually sat him up on the guardrail along the porch for about 10 seconds and got the shot on the right by singing a funny song to him. One key for him (and most toddlers) is just to get their feet off the ground...then run distraction...and do something funny....all in a matter of 5 seconds. Then you're done.

As an aside, there are brief moments in time where he sits still. One of them being when he discovered this little school desk at my parents' house. He sat and drew for about ten minutes....which might as well be an eternity. Cute little school boy.

Aunt Haley wanted to get a picture with both the crazies. Easier said than done. But now she has an updated picture for her locker...and her Facebook...and her phone background. Teenage life seems to be so different these days. When I was a teenager I used to walk to school in the snow, up hill both ways....did anyone else's dad used to tell them that? She just got her driving learner's permit, by the way, *sniff, sniff* our little baby is growing up.

And speaking of babies.........I am going to be an aunt again!! Kellie and Aaron are expecting, and Ella is SUPER excited because she is getting her very own little brother!!! She has always called Mason her little brother but doesn't like that I will not let him live with her. So I am excited that Ella will get her own baby boy and will stop trying to steal mine. :) I am SO excited for all three of them!!

New branding and website for Sprouts!!

I am so excited to say that my new website for Sprouts is live!!! Its alive!! It lives!!! Picture me dancing around with hands in the air!!!! The new look that you see has been quite the labor of love and I couldn't be happier that I can finally cross this big project off the to do list! I'd love for you all to come over and check it out!! Let me know what you think!! WWW.SPROUTSBYHEATHER.COM

Easter Easter Bo Beaster

We've been singing that little diddy with every little word here lately so I just couldn't help myself.

The day before Easter we gathered at my grandparents house for food, family, and a good ole Easter egg hunt complete with a dozen cameras. Paparazi I tell you!! We are nuts! So everyone else in the family is good about sharing their pictures online within a week of any given event, but me....well....how many weeks ago was Easter? I stay behind....on everything it seems. But anyways, the Easter egg hunt. Pre-hunt the three little ones were playing out in the yard, plotting who knows what. They all had their baby dolls....oh wait, it was only Mason that had a baby doll. And it wasn't his, but he carried that baby girl around on his hip like he knew what he was doing.


Grandmama gave them all a little bag of goodies and as soon as Mason opened this little car, the poor baby got body slammed and Mason ran around driving the car on every smooth surface in sight. You'll see this little car in most of the pictures from the day, he didn't part with it for a second. It even went for a little joy ride on Ella's face the next morning.


Once it was time for the egg hunt, we had to first hunt down a basket for Mason to use. I've been a little slack on the whole Easter basket thing the past two years, how bad is that?! Its just always right at his birthday so I forget to buy all those little things and....well, I'm just a slacker when it comes to things like that. Maybe next year. :) Look at how cute Ella and Caitie's Easter baskets are.


So with borrowed basket (and red car) in hand he ran off and began the hunt.


It didn't take long before his competitive genes kicked in and he was gathering the by them armful.


Afterward, the three cuties sat around and looked at their loot. No really, we sat them there so we could take a million pictures of them---duh!! But the baskets were a good distraction. I think most things we do are just a setup for pictures.


They were getting restless and squirmy so the three mommies jumped in to herd the cats. I know, we all look so much alike! And its crazy because the older we get, the more we blend. From the left that's me, my cousin Cristy, and my sister Kellie.


Mason even decided to share a piece of candy with me/shove his dirty little hands into my mouth. It doesn't bother me one bit to wipe his snot with my bare hands, but for some reason when he tries to put stuff in my mouth with those (always) grubby little fingers, it gets to me a little bit.


We "played" (Mason) dump out and (mommy) pick up at least a dozen times, our egg supply diminishing each time as scavengers (little girls) stood nearby.


Mom wanted to take a picture of the 4 of us older grandchildren with this picture from Easter about 25 years ago (this was a decade before Haley was born). My how we've grown! And red has always been Grandmama's color. :) That's me in the front in the blue dress with the boy haircut.


We also snapped a  picture of the three kiddos with their great-grandparents. Mason was thrilled. He was just not in the mood to sit (even for a second) for pictures this particular weekend. Actually, he is never in the mood to sit for a picture. People ask me that all that time....how do I get him to sit still for pictures....but I don't, he doesn't. I usually just shoot him on the run  and doing whatever he is doing. If he is looking at me or smiling or looking like he is smiling, I am talking or singing to him. Maybe that would be a good post topic sometime. :)


And here is the car's activities for the day. He is still obsessed with this little "red car". He has so many matchbox cars but for some reason this is the one we spend half of our time trying to find.


The shot on the left is one of my favorites from the day. The light in this spot was beautiful, I wish I could have gotten them to play here for a few minutes....but a few seconds and they were on to the next thing. Ella and Caitie seem to always be in cahoots about something and playing little pretend games and then Mason comes in and you can just tell he is looking for a way to pick on them. Boys!! ;) The mischief is just oozing out of his little body these days! He is so funny with Ella & Caitie, he is definitely turning into a little prankster.


The fun day was finished off with a little ice cream treat, just another photo op. ;) More pictures from Easter morning coming up next!

Two great articles

If you have some spare time this week, here are two excellent articles (small excerpts below) by Kristen Howerton, an adoptive mom. I love her words and couldn't agree more.


http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com/2012/05/where-is-mommy-war-for-motherless-child.html

"I don’t much care if you breastfed your kid until they started kindergarten, or if you fed them formula from day one. I don’t really care if you turned your infant car-seat forward-facing prior to age 2, or if you homeschool, or if you send your kids to daycare while you go to work. Do you cosleep? Did you circumcise your son? I DON’T CARE.  Do you babywear? Push your kid around in a stroller? Use a leash for your kid at Disneyland?  Whatever.  Good for you. 

When it comes to issues of motherhood, there is one issue I care about: some kids don’t have one. All of these petty wars about the choices of capable, loving mothers is just a lot of white noise to me, Quite honestly, I’m often astonished at the non-essential parenting issues I see moms getting their panties in a wad about. Particularly when there are so many kids in this world not being parented at all."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristen-howerton/mothers-day-adoptive-parent_b_1504010.html

"Probably the most common concern I hear from people who are considering adoption is whether or not they will be able to love a child that isn't "their own".  I can tell you, though, that the moment my first son was placed in my arms, he was very much my own. My love for my children is not dependent on our biological connection.  Adoptive families, step-parents, and blended families know well that family bonds transcend biology, and that family connections can be formed in many ways."
"Adoptive parenting is not a noble pursuit, and I squirm a little any time I hear people perpetuating the narrative that adoptive parents are saviors. While it's certainly true that adoption can save a child from a life of living in an orphanage, adopted children should not be required to bestow special gratitude to their parents.  Adoptive parents are regular, imperfect people.  Adoptees have the same rights as biological children to be resentful, annoyed, or ungrateful towards their parents, without being reminded that they've been "saved" by their parents."

a boy and a girl

I hope to get back on track soon to catch up from Easter until now, but until then I had to share this series of pictures from Easter morning. You can tell what I was trying to do. And you can tell which one was determined for it not to happen.



















I never got the shot, but she did get an apology.