BOO BLAST

Carowinds hosts an event every year called Scarowinds...this year they decided to add an event for younger kids thats not so scary...BOO BLAST! They hired dad to create some pieces for the event and thanks to his talent we scored some free tickets to the park! I was really excited for Mason to get to have his first trip to Carowinds and I'm so glad the family was all there too!
Heres a house and cat that Dad made for a puppet show featuring "Scaredy Cat"...this was pretty lame!...Mason kept asking me when the show was going to start...who knew Dad could have made some extra cash by writing them a script ...maybe next year!

I love this cat box! They even colored the fountain RED!

Aww, I love these two boys! Soon I'll have 3!!!!

Let me just tell you Mason is obsessed with his cousin Owen! He loves him so much, he talks about him all of the time and follows him around just to copy anything he dose...thank goodness Owen is a great little boy!

This is the ONLY thing I could ride!

Mason loved these air planes the best! They were his favorite he ended up riding them 3 times...he liked it because not only could he make it go up and down but they had a button you could push to make the horn blow!

Mason told me in Late September that he wanted to be a Lion for Halloween so I safety pinned this lion mask from the Target $1 spot to the top, spray painted some leftover yellow fur that dad had and wala...ROAR hes a lion!

Its been really cute, every night when we lay Mason down one of the last things we do is talk about our day and all of the things we did and then we all tell what our favorite part of the day is...well even though we went to Carowinds about 3 weekends ago...Mason still says his favorite part of the day is going to Carowinds and riding the airplanes! Then he laughs and tells his actual favorite part of the day.

Anyone want to go on a worm Hunt?

Anyone wanna go on a worm hunt? Were the words I heard Joya say and then lots of kids surrounded her and her little yellow bucket, glove, and shovel...my cousin Chris and dad had another type of hunt in mind...gross craw fish!!

Chris Sain is kinda weird...and these were HUGE...they found like 13 of them or something and attempted to fish with them, then Chris Sain attached some to some balloons and let them fly away...so sad to treat little creatures that way!

Joya and the kids did successfully collect some worms and Skylar caught this HUGE catfish...but she really didn't want to get too close to it!

Olivia ...so cute in her little pink life jacket!

Owen decided to feed the fish some leftover carrots...the Sains have trained the fish around to love their dock they always feed them...its actually kinda like being at the zoo, you drop some food in and like 20 fish fight over it!

As soon as Mason climbed up on the bench he looked at Joya and in a very serious voice said, "Its okay for me to stand up here to see the fish, I have my yife jacket on for safety" :)

Joya gave him a fishing pole and he said, "Aww, yook, its just my size" We need to get a fishing pole for this kid, he really stayed at it for a long time...I was surprised his attention span lasted that long...he would say, "Ohh...I feel somephing"...but alas, he got tired of "fishing" so Joya took over and worked her magic then at the right moment asked Mason to give it one more try...WALA!!! This time it worked! He caught at fish!

He was soo proud of his fish! I wish everyone could have been there to see his face, experience the emotion in his little body as he looked at that fish hanging from the pole that was just his size!

Then it was Owens turn...Joya worked her Magic again!

Mason loved it...He was so excited for Owen...he said, "you did it Owen!! Good Job"

I over heard Mason tell Jaxon who was tired of waiting on a fish..."its okay sometimes you just have to wait and be patient...its yots of fun to catch a fish" But Jaxon is a little older and he caught on and called Joya out on her "Magic"

Something Special For Micah

Heidi is my cousin on my dads side...Me, Heidi and Jessica are all due with babies. Jessica is due with her first but this will be baby number 2 for Heidi and I so the Mauch family gave us a joint baby shower at Karen and Lewis' house. I wasn't planning on having a baby shower for Micah, but Heidi said she wanted one and I'm glad we had one! We had so many baby showers for Mason so it was fun to have something just for Micah!
When I looked back at these pictures I was like ....WOAH....I'm huge! I am 35 weeks pregnant in this picture!...How is there still room for Micah to grow for another month? I'm so thankful that I still feel so good, even if I look so huge!

They had two tables set up one for Heidi and Max and one for Mandy and Micah! It was cute we got some matching outfits and similar gifts, maybe we can make an effort to really hang out with them so the boys can be close!

Everyone brought a covered dish and it was very yummy! The weather was so nice, not too hot, not too cold...a perfect fall day! I'm realizing now that I think every fall will bring memories of being pregnant with my boys! Watching and feeling the seasons change along with my body knowing that the current year is coming to a close and that life as I know it is going to be different. Mason looked at the trees changing and noticed some leaves falling off and said, "Oh No Mommy, the tree is losing its leaves" When I explained that it was okay and that's what was supposed to happen so the trees could grow even bigger and prettier in the spring. I must admit though winter trees aren't very pretty to look at... I love the trees in all the other months but not so much in winter... it reminded me that every year has things that are good and things that are bad, things you want to keep the same way and things you are ready to get rid of. I know that life changes and somethings I'm in control of and others I'm not...but what I am certain of is that change is going to happen. The years are going to pass me by, every fall the leaves will change colors, fall off and the current stage of life will come to a close...but in the spring new life occurs, new growth, new memories, new challenges,...so in the moments of life's "winter seasons" I hope to take advantage of the opportunities to be still. I know that right now being so pregnant there are times that I have no choice but to just lay down...rest... I'm just simply too tired to carry on with normal activities...I must accept that I have to be still. So I've been praying lately that as I approach this "winter season" of my life, where I know my normal activities of service for God and involvement in others lives will have to change as I care for two young boys that I will look at it in a new way, as an opportunity to grow closer to God, taking advantage of the opportunity to hear His voice, feel His presence, be refreshed in a new way as He shows me how much he loves me. I know he loves me when I'm "doing" or "accomplishing" something for Him, but I also know Hes more interested in what I am becoming than what I am doing! If only I could really embrace this concept... to know what its is to be still and know Him.

Micah will be Maw Maw and Paw Paws 6th great grandchild! Guess if you have 5 children of your own then you also get lots of grandchildren and great grandchildren!

Devin, Heidi, Tori and Baby Max

Joya took lots of pictures for us...not really sure what kind of poses we are striking here??

We are so thankful for all of the great gifts!

Chris had the following day off work so we went shopping and bought any extra stuff we needed...so we are ready for him to come!...well...I still want him to grow some more...but as far as things we need for him, I think we've got it!

Me and Mason...hes enjoying his cupcake after a battle of us telling him he had to eat some of his lunch...finally at like 3:00 he ate his lunch so he could get his cupcake...hes pretty stubborn, we are hoping that his stubbornness will be great as he gets older, as long as we can help him choose the good things he should be stubborn about!

YUMMY, YUMMY Cupcakes! Mason is really getting excited about Micah and so are we! He says hes going to teach him everything! And he will randomly tell me things like..."Mommy did you know babies don't know how to be good yisteners? , and Did you know that sometimes babies cry for no reason? , and did you know that Micah is going to me my yittle brother and I'm going to be the big brother?" So I feel like as much as his almost 3 year old brain can comprehend he is understanding a little about a baby. Mason loves to play animals ALL OF THE TIME...to play animals you pretend you are animals, he tells you what to say and how to say it and there is usually always a baby and a mommy or daddy or now a big brother character. He loves to have you pretend you are the baby animal and make it cry while the older animal brings something to comfort the little baby...could be a toy, food or a blanket. If I ever don't stop crying when he brings his "fix" Mason gets pretty nervous as if his brain is saying..."OH NO, Now what...I've given this baby what I think it should need to make it happy and its still crying"...then he proceeds to forcefully re-give the baby animal the fixes all over again...I really want to remember to keep an eye on my little helper once Micah gets here...I'm pretty sure hes going to want to "help out" and there might be times when he goes a little over the top!

YUMMY YUMMY IN MY TUMMY

This weekend we went to Windy Hill Apple Orchard to pick some apples. We met up with some of our friends, the Holmans. Sandi and I along with some of our other friends had been a few years ago and a lot had changed since then but it was still fun! They had goats, pigs, chickens and roosters running around and plenty of apple trees!
Mason thought it was soo neat to get so close to the chickens he said...we should tip toe so they wont be scared of us!

Mason and I made this bag a few weeks ago this is one of the only crafts hes done all month...he used to be really into crafts...not so much anymore???

Aww, cute friends...Jonathan, Mason and Abbie!

Mason discovered this box of apples...you would have thought it was treasure!! Its much easier to get apples out of the box than from the tree!!

Chris and Mason picked out a pumpkin for Mason to take home and paint

We decided to make apple turnovers with our hand picked apples...Chris and Mason rolled out the dough

I filled them and closed them

Mason sprinkled the powdered sugar after we fried them.

Chris was the "Fry Daddy"...this is really the first time either of us has had any success frying anything other than a turkey...which Chris is WONDERFUL at!

We had so much fun with this whole experience with Mason! Picking the apples, making the turnovers and of course eating them...maybe this can become a new tradition in the Haynes family!

Mason and Benjamin

What a beautiful day it is today! Because the weather is so nice and because we had the opportunity to spend time with some great friends! I've been looking for opportunities to get Mason out of the house to expel some energy in hopes that he will nap but so far since hes moved to the big boy bed the naps have disappeared...however, he is still having some very quiet time in his room for about an hour or hour and half everyday, so I'll take it! Anyway, Mason and I met our good friends Benjamin and Patsy (and now baby Sarah) at the park to play...I found some pictures of the boys 2 years ago when we took them to the same park to play!

Here is Benjamin in March of 2007

Here's Mason March of 2007

Ben, climbing the ladder!

Mason riding the "duck"

Mason ready to swing, hes kinda learning how to pump his legs to make the swing go, sometimes he gets it backwards but he still likes to try!

Baby Sarah just relaxing enjoying the nice weather! She looks JUST LIKE PATSY!! Maybe Micah will look like Me???

Ben "SwAning" on the swing!

Hopefully they will be buddies for Life! I love this picture, too bad Mason has a mouth full of cookies...you know he wasn't going to turn down the cookies Ms. Patsy brought to share.

Thanks Benjamin and Patsy for giving us a fun morning today! We got in the car and Mason said, Mommy, Benjamin is my good Buddy right? I told him yeah he was and Mason just tilted his head to the side and grinned!

I LOVE YOU DADDY!!

Mason has been making the "I love you sign" for awhile. I love it when we are driving in the car and he says..."hey mommy, Yook" and when I turn around he's holding the sign and smiling! It takes him a min to get it he really focuses first pointing his finger, then bringing out his thumb then lastly he holds up his little finger!... Hes is so proud that he can do this and he Loves to because he knows it will make us smile. I told him that he and I were going to take some pictures of him so we could give daddy some new photos for his desk at work for his birthday and right away he started cheesing and throwing up the I love you's all over the place! Hes soo sweet!

Last night Chris was looking at all of the pictures and he said, "Oh man, there are so many to choose from, I just don't know" (because you know I have a TON more than are posted here) Chris didn't know but Mason was just standing behind him smiling and then when he heard Chris say that he said, in a very sad voice, "Aww, Daddy doesn't like them"...to which Chris explained that he loved them all...its just so cute to watch Mason begin to understand things...like he knew he was posing for daddy's pictures and he wanted him to like them. :)

Here he is playing "peek a boo" Yesterday we were in the car, he was being very quiet looking out the window and then he said, "mommy, I'm ready for baby Micah to come out, I will teach him everything" Wow, what a challenge to Chris and I...we better get it right with Mason since hes going to pass everything he knows down to Micah! Only 6 1/2 weeks to go Mason and you can meet your little brother...hope you aren't disappointed :)