Dancing Machines...

We've just returned from 2 weeks of traveling and visiting family, and the kids had such a great time visiting their 4 grandparents.  We started off the first half of the trip by flying to Atlanta with my parents to see the sights there for a few days before heading to my sister's wedding in South Carolina.  We visited the Atlanta Aquarium, one of the largest in the country, and Stone Mountain Park (I'll have to post more pictures from these events later.) But for now, here are some pictures of the kids tearing up the dance floor at the reception:

Dancing with Daddy...

Getting tired, but still dancing...

Mason loved sliding across the slick floor in his dress socks...

Two pooped out dancing machines...

Ellie loved pushing the elevator buttons at the hotels, but could seldom reach them.  Here is one of the many times Mason gave her a sweet brotherly boost...

Yogurt Anyone?...

A Summer Of Firsts...

I feel like I can categorize this summer as 'the summer of firsts' for Mason.  He started out the summer by losing his first tooth, this is his first summer to jump off the diving board into the deep end at swimming lessons and he is now swimming like a little fish, he will begin kindergarten in a couple of months, and now he has experienced another 'first'--riding his bike without training wheels!  We bought him a new bike a few weeks ago.  (His old bike was a birthday gift from us when he turned 3, and it was pretty evident that he had outgrown it when we saw that his knees were nearly touching his chest when he pedaled! Matthew has been working with him, running alongside him and holding onto the back of the seat as Mason pedals.  Yesterday he let go and Mason took off by himself.  The first time, Mason was unaware that Matthew had even let go, and he didn't believe us when we told him he was doing it by himself.  He was pretty nervous once he realized that he was riding solo, but he quickly got back his confidence and did it several more times!  He's totally got the balance of riding down.  Now, we just need to work on his take-offs and landings.  He has a hard time getting started by himself, and when he feels like he needs to stop, instead of breaking and putting his foot down, he just swerves to the side and ends up crashing into Matthew.  All in all, he's doing a great job though.  Suddenly I feel like my baby is growing up so much as I see all these great changes taking place in his life.  And even though it can be a little sad for me to see him growing up, I'm so excited for him, and grateful to be able to share each of these experiences with him, and be right there on the side cheering him on through it all!

Getting some encouragement from little sis...

Enduring the occasional fall...

Splashpad And Swim Lessons...

This week Mason started his third year of swimming lessons.  Over the past year he has really begun swimming more and more independently, becoming stronger and less timid in the water.  It makes me so proud to see him doing so well in the water.  His next challenge is to go off the diving board in the 12 ft. deep end of the pool.  The thought of that is still scary to him, but his teacher is working up to it.  Today she got him to jump into the deep end, but only from the side of the pool and holding her hand the whole time.  :)

Swimming quite a distance all by himself...

Before his swim lesson today, I took Mason and Ellie to the splash pad at one of our local parks to meet some friends from church.  We are so fortunate to live in a community that has a number of pools and splash pads to keep cool in the summer. 

Ellie had fun filling her cup with water and dumping it into a mud puddle in the grass...

Mason had fun filling his cup with water and dumping it on Ellie! 

Mason and his new friend Ryan from church...

Ellie is enjoying the sprinkles of water on a hot day...

Mason The Catcher/Pitcher/Umpire...

We've been watching the Astros/Rangers series on tv for the past few days. While watching the games last week, Mason pretended to be the pitcher and the batter during the entire game, complete with baseball bat and glove right infront of the tv.  But this week his interest has shifted to the catcher and home plate umpire. During the game we were watching yesterday, he ran off to his room for a few minutes, and I couldn't imagine what he had left the game to go do.  But when he came back in the living room, he was wearing this plastic suit of armor (but he replaced the sword with his baseball glove!) He said, "Look! Here is my catcher suit!"

Later on, Matthew and I were out in the backyard pitching some baseballs to him, and Mason was the catcher, again wearing this suit. Matthew accidentally hit him in the chest with a real baseball, and quickly checked on him to see if he was okay. Mason just dusted himself off and said, "I'm okay Daddy...don't you see I've got my catchers gear on!" What an imagination he has! Here are some highlights of his reinactments during the game:

"Strike One!"

"You're Out!"

"He's Safe!"

The intense pitcher

Who Is Baby #3...

We just got back from the doctor, and we were able to find out a lot of things about Baby.  First of all, Baby is growing perfectly, and all of Baby's vital organs are working as they should be.  And yes, we were also able to find out Baby's gender.  When I was pregnant with Ellie, Mason really wanted a sister.  Even before we found out she was a girl, Mason referred to her as "she".  He was very excited to find out that his predictions were correct.  With this pregnancy, however, he said he'd really like the baby to be a boy, because he already had a sister, and he wanted one of each.  Also, most of my family and friends guessed that Baby would be a boy too.  And like I've said all along--I never had a feeling either way.  But I was honestly a little surprised today to find out that Baby is actually another girl!  Here is a picture of baby Mollie:  (The bright light on the back of her head is just my camera flash.  We don't have a scanner, so I had to take a picture of the sonogram picture with my camera.) 

In Matthew's family, on his dad's side, the first and middle initials M.O. have a lot of meaning.  This is the first and middle initials of not only Mason and Matthew, but also Matthew's father and grandfather.  That is where we came up with the first two letters of Mollie's name.  We chose the "ie" ending for her name because Ellie and I both have the double-letter followed by 'ie' ending in our names as well.  (I know I probably put way too much thought into these things, but I did this with all our kids, and their names have so much meaning to me because of it.)  Mason handled the news very well.  When the sonographer told us the baby was a girl and showed us the picture, he briefly had a disappointed look on his face.  But then he said, "At least now Ellie will get to have one of each--a brother and a sister!"  What a sweet little boy he is!

Mason's Exciting Opportunity...

Mason has been given a wonderful learning opportunity.  Yesterday we received word from the elementary school Mason will be attending this fall, that he has been selected to participate in the Spanish immersion classroom.  After much prayer and research, we applied him for this program two months ago, unsure of what the outcome would be.  Many students applied and were evaluated, but because of the nature of the class, only 11 English speaking students were selected.  It is a huge honor for him to have been selected, but it is also a huge decision for us to make, because it involves a 6 year commitment to the program, kindergarten through 5th grade, where longevity will create fluency.  In kindergarten, his class will be taught the same curriculum that the traditional kindergarten classes are learning, but it will be presented in 90 percent Spanish.  As he moves up each grade, the amount of Spanish decreases by 10 percent, so that by the 4th and 5th grades, the class is completely taught in 50/50 Spanish and English.  This seems a little scary for a mother whose son only currently knows the meaning of a few Spanish words.  But I am confident that this is the way second languages should be taught--complete immersion over a period of years starting at a young age.  The program at his school is the only dual language program in our district that is taught in this manner, and so far their student performance and outcomes show only positive results, where most students have become fluent in all areas of Spanish (speaking, reading, and writing) by the second and third grades.   I really wish that there had been programs like this for me when I was young.  As I told Mason the other day, "I would give anything to know how to speak, read, and write fluently in Spanish."  Then he sweetly said to me, "Don't worry, Momma. When I learn how, I will teach you!"  :)