Past Due- Trip To Minnesota... Lot's of Lovin Going On!

My Brother in Law Brian got TONS of great pics of Mason and Jackson, I love this one! 

Jackson loved playing in the leaves with his Great Grandma Verna and Auntie Britty.

My mom loved getting tons of snuggle time with Mason.

Matt and I loved getting two days and one night to get away and go up the North Shore. We stayed at a house my parents are flipping up there and enjoyed seeing the sights together.

 

My parents loved their two days of 2 on 2 time with the boys!

Matt loved all of the time he spent learning to Grouse hunt with my dad. On the last day they got one!

Mason loved my brother Jake's dog Barley (Jackson was so scared of him though. He would run away screaming from her every time).

Jack loved all the bubbles in the tub!

Jackson LOVED playing with all the trains in the bonus room!

 

My dad and Mason's Auntie Britty (Jake's wife, not my sister), spent lots of time teaching Mason how to crawl. The funny thing is he started crawling the first day that we got home!

Vacation

Last week we took a WONDERFUL vacation to Minnesota to relax and see my family. It truly was a vacation in every aspect of the word. Our trip involved:

-Time with my Grandma, Grandpa, Parents, Aunt, Jake and Brittany (and their puppy Barley), and Brian and Brittaney.
-Family Game Nights (Around the world ping-pong and Cranium)
-Scrapbooking (for Jess)
-Grouse Hunting (for Matt)
-LOTS of playtime for Jack (leaves, trains, wheelbarrows, and sticks)
-LOTS of snuggling for Mason (and some crawling lessons from Auntie Brittany)
-Good Food (Sven and Ole's, Mom's Shrimp Pasta, Culver's, and Jake's)
-A 2 day trip for Matt and I to the North Shore (with no kids!)

The only downside of the whole trip was that it was a 19 hour drive to get there, and 19 hours back home. The boys were actually pretty good, and Mason was able to hold on to his nickname of "The Peach". I will try to get all of the pictures together and posted over the next few days!

Sweet Potatoes and Potties

Mason is on to solids now, so last week I spent a while cooking up some baby food. I made Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Apples, Pears, and Squash. Hopefully once we're back from MN I will get a chance to make even more so that he gets a good variety. 

So far Mason has really enjoyed all of it!

Our unintentional potty training is also going great. Jack loves pooping in the potty! We're still not on to pull-ups, or peeing in the potty, but we've made great progress on the poop!

Potty Time!

This morning Jack and I were eating breakfast, when all of the sudden he said, "Mama! Potty! Pooop!" (in a very urgent voice). I quickly grabbed him out of his booster, pulled off his pants and diaper, and threw him on the toilet. To my amazement he pooped on the potty!

I still don't think we're ready for real "potty training", but if he keeps this up it will be a breeze (hopefully I'm not speaking too soon)!

My Little Look-Alike

Whenever Mason makes certain expressions I completely see Matt in him. I just pulled up this baby picture of Matt's, aren't they cute little look-alikes?

For Diane- Bears Fans

Now that football season is in full swing, I had requests from Diane for a picture of the boys in Bears gear to replace the Cubs baseball pics. So... today we broke out the full Bears attire, and took a few pics. We must have been their good luck charm because they won!

Old Friends and New Friends

Yesterday my friend Meghann from High School was in town, so we went up to Fort Collins to get together with her and her family. Her baby Sienna is 6 days younger than Mason, and they had a GREAT time getting to know each other. Even Jackson was in love with her! It was great to get to catch up with Meghann too.

Ordering Pictures

When I posted the pictures the other day, I forgot to mention that the ones I posted are low quality, low resolution pics. If you want to purchase any worth framing here is the link.

Bathing the Baby

Jack LOVES to help give Mason baths! Mason is almost strong enough to sit in the ring and take baths with Jack, but until then Jack enjoys being our helper!

Just a few items.

Last week there were TONS of great deals at Target and Safeway. My goal is to spend $80 or less a week on groceries, but this week I spent $144 for all of this. I figure had I paid full price for everything it would have been WELL over $350! I probably won't shop for anything other than milk and some produce this week though.

8 Boxes Special K at $1.50 each= $12.00
16 Boxes Dry Potatoes $.60 each= $9.60
8 Boxes Toaster Struedel $1.30 each= $10.40
4 Bags Tortilla Chips $1.50 each= $6.00
6 Bags Kettle Chips $1.50 each= $9.00
2 1/2 gallons chocolate milk $1.25 each= $2.50

4 Crescent rolls $.50 each= $2.00

2 Grands Biscuits $.50 each= $1.00

3 4-packs Vanilla Activia $1.25 each= $3.75
15 packs applesauce $.75 each= $11.25
10 boxes ice cream $1.75 each= $17.50
12 boxes Kleenex $.83 each= $9.96
6 boxes Playtex $3.00 each= $18.00
4 packages cream cheese $FREE$
1 Big box huggies $7.50  (regularly $36!)
3 Bags Starburst $1.50 each= $4.50
4 lunchables $.50 each= $2.00
10 bottles apple juice $.75 each= $7.50
2 Bags Shredded Cheese $FREE$
4 Packages String Cheese $2.50 each= $10.00

6 month Comparison

This is Mason October 6th, 2010. He was exactly 6 months and 12 days old.

This is Jackson March 1st, 2009. He was exactly 6 months and 2 days old.

10 days apart, wearing the same outfit. Jack was much chubier, but I think that they are about the same length. Both cuties though.

Success!

Even though both boys were sick, we made another attempt at a family picture, and we were sucessful! No, Jack and Mason aren't smilling, but everyone is looking at the camera! We went to our favorite portrait studio, and brought our own prop... Jack's wagon from my parents. I am so happy with how the pictures turned out!

$50 of Groceries for $18.70

10 Packages Kraft Cheese ($1.00 each after coupons)
2 Angel Food Cakes ($.74 after TPC and coupon)
Bananas ($1.21)
2 Jennie-0 Turkey Bratwursts ($.69 after TPC and coupon)
4 Gallons Milk ($2.24 each... no deal there for Jack the milk monster)

10% off TM Discount, 10% off Rewards Coupon= $18.70