Annual birthday trip to Build-A-Bear

Tonight was our annual trip for the birthday Build-A-Bear. This is Marley's 8th year, and Mason's 2nd year. I think the adults that go have as much fun as the kids; I know I do!

When we walked into the store, Mason spotted an Iron Man outfit. He is really into Super Heroes right now, and that was it. He knew what he wanted. He chose a black teddy bear to go into the Iron Man outfit.

Marley, on the other hand, took longer to chose her stuffed animal. That's half the fun, looking at everything and trying to decide. She finally chose a pony.

The next step in building your bear is to get it stuffed. Mason, again this year, was a little leery of this.



Marley, on the other hand, is a pro.



Then you put a heart in him.



And then you can add a sound. They have all kinds of animal sounds, Happy Birthday, etc., or you can record your own. Marley chose the horse sound, but Mason wanted his bear to say, "I'm Spiderman." So...Mark recorded it, but the first couple of times Mason said it was too scary. Mark finally got it right, LOL!




The next step is to brush your animal and fluff him up. Mason really liked this part. In fact, he kept going back to do it some more!



Then it was time to pick out clothes and dress them. This is one of my favorite parts. They have so many cute outfits. Marley dressed her pony in a Western outfit, checked shirt and denim skirt, cowboy hat and saddle! Mason had the Iron Man suit (with a light saber which was supposed to go with a Star Wars outfit, but when you are almost 3 anything that you like goes!).



Mason was so proud of his bear showing Baba.







Marley's pony is adorable!



Then it was time to name them and fill out the birth certificate.





Ahh....another successful birthday trip to Build-A-Bear. This is so much fun; I almost wish I could come up with an excuse to do it more often!

This boy loves sports!

This boy LOVES sports. Tonight it was too wet and buggy to play in the yard, so he played basketball under the carport. We have a kids basketball hoop, and tonight Mason wanted us to put the hoop up higher. This kid really has good aim.





Mason has also been loving baseball this Spring. Of course, Mark loves to play baseball with him. But really, he has a good eye. He also has the lingo down. I was pitching to him a few nights ago and when he missed the ball, he asked me what I was supposed to say. When I said "what", he said, "keep your eye on the ball." He also says, "I got a piece of it" plus, numerous other baseball sayings.

Mark (and I) were playing with him in the yard the other night, and here are a few cute pictures....











Minnie was watching from her perch in the cellar. LOL!



On May 12th Mark had a tennis match at the Enfield Tennis Club. Paul and I went to watch Mason while he was playing. Big Baba went too. The club has a second floor where you can watch the games going on, and also it has a room for "little tennis players." Mason and I played "tennis/baseball" (playing with a racquet and tennis ball, but hitting the ball like a baseball, LOL) for almost the whole two hour match. He just can't get enough of it. Here are some cute pictures.....

Mason's "Bible Quiz"

For a while now, Mason has been calling his Bible, his Bible Quiz. I am sure this is because of all of the talk of Marley in Junior Bible Quiz. Last week in Prims Miss Pat was teaching the girls how to use the Table of Contents in the Bible and had them looking up scriptures. I was passing out Bibles and I asked Mason if he wanted to use a Bible. He said, no, that he had his own Bible Quiz.

This week, Mark and Janelle packed his "Bible Quiz" in his bag, and tonight he sat in the story circle with it. Before Christmas break, he was sitting in the story circle for the whole story. Since the break, he hasn't wanted to sit in the circle. Tonight though, since he had his own "Bible Quiz, he agreed to it, at least for a little while.

He is such a little character!

Are we still in Agawam?

Sometimes lately since Mark has been in school, on Friday nights it is Marley, Mason, MARK and the Babas. This afternoon he came over a little early so that Mason could play in the backyard. Mason just loves to kick the ball around with Mark.

Just to backtrack a little though - Mason has been learning to say his full name, Mason Jofuf Rackey is what it sounds like! He also knows that he lives in Springfield, and that Grandma and Baba live in Agawam. While he and Mark were kicking the ball around, it went into our neighbor's yard. He and Mark crossed the fence and went into the neighbor's yard to get it. Mason asked his Dad, "Are we still in Agawam?" Too cute!

It was too cold out there for me today, but Paul took some pictures of them playing in the yard. Warning - lots of pictures. I just couldn't decide which ones to post so I posted most of them!

320/365 - Old lady pocketbook

I got this pocketbook a few months ago. I like it. It's big enough that I don't need to carry another bag to work and basically anything extra I need can fit into it along with all my regular stuff.

Paul has called it an old lady pocketbook since I got it.

Usually when we leave for work in the morning Paul carries out the two travel coffee mugs. This morning he forgot and I had to carry out my pocketbook, a box of Kleenix (I have a cold), AND the two coffee mugs. When I got into the car, he apologized for forgetting the coffees. He said, "I'm sorry. You had to carry your Kleenix, the coffees and your old lady pocketbook." I just looked at him. Then he said, "It seems to happens to all ladies when they reach a certain age. They all get a big, black pocketbook. It happened to my grandmother, my mother and now you. And no one seems to think anything of it." Yikes. I couldn't even reply!

Maybe it's the Star of Bethlehem

So, I don't know how many of you have noticed Venus shining in the night sky this January, but it is very bright. And, if you have read my previous posts, you know that Marley spent a lot of time practicing for the Children's Musical Hotel Bethlehem and singing about the Star of Bethlehem. So, we were driving home from Junior Bible Quiz tonight and Paul said that whatever that was in the sky was almost too bright to be just a planet, and one of us (I can't remember who) said that maybe it was the Star of Bethlehem again. Marley said that if it was, we would have to follow it. I said, "What do you think we look more like, shepherds or kings?" She said emphatically "shepherds." When I asked her why, she said, "Because we don't have any gold or frankenstein." Too cute. These are the things that I don't want to ever forget!!