Baseball

Mason had his first baseball "game" today.

He loved it!

12 days old

Today was officially my due date. I am very happy that Cassidy decided to come 12 days early. She is such a sweet baby. She sleeps great and only cries when she's hungry. She's starting to stay awake for longer periods of time and it's fun to interact with her.

Her new onesie from Aunt Megan

Cassidy always has her tongue sticking out. Right after she was born, I heard one of the nurses comment that she was sticking her tongue out. She hasn't stopped since.

Big sister, Ellie, takes her job very seriously. She is already a super big sister.

Pretty girl (notice the tongue..again)

Mason and Ellie are such great helpers.

Baby Cassidy

Cassidy

Here she is! Cassidy was born on May 8, 2010, 12 days before her due date (I was very happy that she decided to come early). I woke up at 1:45 am on Saturday with a contraction that hurt more than the other ones I had been having recently. I tried to go back to sleep, but about 8 minutes later, another painful one. I told Dave that I was pretty sure we would be having a baby that day. By 2:45 am they were 6 minutes apart, so we called Dave's mom, Nancy, and she drove over at 3:30 in the morning to stay with Mason and Ellie while we headed to the hospital. By 4:15 am, I was in my hospital bed getting my epideral. Dave was able to get some sleep, but I can't sleep at all in the hospital. I sat around for a few hours, and by 7 am I was 4 cm dilated and almost completely effaced. They started me on pitocin and immediately my contractions sped up. By 8 am I was ready to push. Two contractions later, we had a baby girl in our arms. I still am amazed when I hear my baby cry for the first time. Everything becomes so real, and I can't help but cry.

Cassidy was born at 8:07 am and weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. She has dark hair, the most of any of my kids. She likes to stick out her tongue which is funny, because in one of her ultrasound pictures, her tongue is sticking out!

Her hair!

Mason and Ellie are LOVING having a little sister. They are so cute with her. They always are eager to help and hold her. Mason keeps telling me, "Now I have two sisters to watch out for." They are lucky to have him for an older brother! Ellie is the best helper. She will get anything I need for Cassidy. This morning Cassidy was crying and without saying anything to me, Ellie went and grabbed her pacifier and put it in her mouth.

This girl is only 3 days old and already I have so many pictures of her.

He is his mother's son...

Most of you know that I'm a pretty organized person. If given the chance, I would much rather do something right now than wait and do it later. I've been like this my whole life. One of my earliest memories of this trait occurred when I started kindergarten. One night, as a 5 year old, I was laying in bed anticipating going to school in the morning. Suddenly, I realized that if I made my bed and slept on it, then I wouldn't have to worry about making it in the morning, thus saving time after I woke up and not having to feel rushed (I also decided to wear my clothes, including shoes, to bed as well for obvious reasons).

Tonight, after Mason and Ellie went to bed, Mason comes out with a bloody nose. As we're taking care of that he tells me, "Mom, I already made my bed so I won't have to do it in the morning." I go in and look, and of course, everything is neat and organized and perfectly in place on his bed. I have never told Mason that I did this myself as a child. I was totally amazed that he thinks like me. In his mind, it made sense to get this job done now, rather than wait.

Spring Game

Today we went down to Provo to watch a BYU Football spring practice. What an awesome day! The weather was perfect, the kids were well behaved, and we had a lot of fun as a family.

Mason got to meet Jake Heaps, the true freshman quarterback for BYU this year. Mason later said he was very brave for getting a picture with someone he didn't know. One day he'll thank his dad for taking this picture!

Mason being Mr. Cool, watching the players on the field.

Ellie was really happy sitting in the stands, though she may not have watched much of the practice. When we first walked into the stadium and saw the players, she smiled because she recognized the field from the games we watched on TV.

Ellie and Mason went down on the field after and had a great time running around. Mason kept falling on purpose, just to see what it would be like to be tackled on the field.

Ellie was really excited about the "white grass"

and had to run on it.

No trip to Provo is complete unless

we stop for ice cream. YUM!

Happy Easter!

The Big Girl Bed

Ellie's big girl bed was delivered today. We decided to get a twin size instead of a toddler bed, because our kids are pretty tall and grow quickly. Both Ellie and Mason were super excited to see the bed come, because not only did that mean Ellie has a new bed, but it also means they get to share a room! They were excited the entire day today. They were literally running around screaming. I was hoping that would mean by bedtime they would crash, but it hasn't happened yet. It was a very easy bedtime. Both kids were willing to put away their toys and brush their teeth. No complaints when climbing into bed and snuggling in. They have been in the room together for 2o minutes already, and I can hear them running across the floor, talking and laughing, and something that sounds a lot like jumping off the beds. Ellie has come out of the room once to inform me that she is almost 4 years old (coming from one of their conversations). I know Mason won't come out because that means he won't get to play the wii tomorrow, but I'm sure he's encouraging Ellie to do it. I expect an actual bedtime for these kids by 10 pm. They're going to have fun for the next 2 hours!

Ellie in her new bed. I don't know if you

can tell, but her favorite color is pink!

Ellie moved into Mason's room. The walls are still blue. We have

a plan to paint it a more neutral color. We'll see

how long it takes us to get that done. Good thing

Ellie doesn't seem to mind the color.

Look what I did...I sewed something!

So, I know the basics of sewing. Back in the day I made aprons, a skirt, boxer shorts, bags, even a dress. I'm not creative enough to come up with my own ideas, but if there's a pattern or steps on how to make it, I can follow it and the product turns out pretty decent. Well, I haven't made anything in about 5 years. I've wanted to, but never got around to it...until today! I finally decided I wanted to sew. I found a SUPER easy idea for making a drawstring backpack. I mean SUPER easy. I made each one in about 20 minutes. I'm excited because I feel like this is a start to getting back into sewing. Hopefully, this one successful project will lead to more!

My cute models!

(I know this may not be the most masculine

backpack, but I didn't want

Mason to feel left out!)

Speaking of masculine...Mason wanted to show

off his newest tough guy tattoo...a frog.

California Again...

Visiting California this time of year has become a tradition for us. Taking a break from the snow and cold helps us get through the winter. We had a great time visiting my family. It rained the entire time we were there, but that was a lot of fun! Mason and Ellie had a ton of fun playing with Grandma Trish, Grandpa Mike and Aunt Brooke. We ate good food, visited the great grandparents, played the Wii, experienced an 8 hour power outage and watched three seasons of Battlestar Galactica. A vacation couldn't get any better.

Grandpa, Mason and Ellie playing one of many games of Uno.

Grandma and Mason

Mason and Aunt Brooke

Ellie and Aunt Brooke

During the power outage we had to entertain ourselves

somehow, so Mason and Ellie decided to have a

dance party showing off their cool moves.

Ellie dancing in the dark.

Mason and Dad keeping warm next to the fire.

Ellie's haircut

Ellie had her first haircut today. Her hair was getting quite long after almost 2 1/2 years. She did really well, no tears at all! Here are some before and after shots. It was a pretty dramatic cut, a little shorter than I wanted, but hair grows back! I still think she looks so cute!

Before

After

Mason got a haircut today as well. He insisted on a

picture of his new haircut, though it looks pretty

much the same as the last 3 years of his life.