Keeping Up With the Joneses

We had a great Christmas, but I'm afraid to say I'm sort of glad it is over. It was fun and wonderful, but also pretty exhausting. We had all of Marshall's family over Christmas eve, and then most of them back Christmas day. Then my parents came on the 27th and left today. We loved spending so much time with our family. The kids doing the nativity. We couldn't find the costumes, so we used sheets. Mason refused to participate, except to put a towel on the baby Jesus. These kids sure love their grandparents. Myles opening his stocking. He got some Thomas trains and Mason was very interested and wanted to make sure Myles appreciated them. Myles' favorite present was the fisher price sound stage from Grnadma and Grandpa Goates. He absolutely loves it. Mason's favorite present was his train table that Santa put in his new playroom. He still thinks Santa took William's train table and gave it to him, but he is happy to have it.

Here are some more of the professional pictures of Mason and Myles.

I got pictures of Mason and Myles taken for Christmas by my neighbor (michelereyes.com) and here is a little preview. Myles really does smile a lot, just not at the same time as Mason!

I left Marshall and the boys in Utah and came to Pullman, Washington to visit Scott and Annie and to make chocolotes (a Goates family tradition). It was great fun, and we figure we made over 1000 chocolotes. Quite exhausting but great!

Myles and Mason both have another ear infection (or maybe the same one as a month ago but it never healed). I took them to the doctor's last night because Mason was really fussy and I was concerned about Myles' cough. By the time we got to the dr's office, Mason was in a great mood, talking and bouncing off the walls. I felt so embarrased for taking him to the after-hours care when he obviously was fine. But the doctor looked in his ears and asked how much pain medication I had given him. I replied that he hadn't had any all evening, the doctor said he was surprised Mason wasn't screaming because his ear drum was bulging and was about to burst. He then looked at Myles, who was having a coughing fit and could hardly breath. The doctor had to keep sitting him up and patting his back so he could get a breath. I asked what I should do about the cough and he said "the cough is the least of your worries, he has a horrible ear infection." So they are both on ant...

We had a pretty good weekend, especially since it was so nice to have Marshall home for it. On Saturday we went to the carpet store to look at carpet for the playroom, then to Walmart to finish some Christmas shopping (I'm done everyone but Marshall now!). Santa was at Walmart, and Mason was a little nervous. He wouldn't sit on his lap, but he stood by him and told him he wanted Thomas presents and got a picture taken. We then went to Lowes and bought some carpet which we will pick up Monday. That night we put the second coat of plaster on the walls. Hopefully just one more coat and we'll be ready to paint, carpet, and BE FINISHED!! Our goal is to finish it by Christmas and I think we will make it. Today was Stake Conference but not until 2, so we had a nice leisurely morning. I finished 3 rag quilts that I started a few months ago and then put away so I could study. They are Christmas quilts and so they will be fun for the next couple of weeks. Both boys and I still have ...

Today Mason and I had a kind of scary conversation. Mason: When I'm a big boy you will let me drive your car. Melissa: When you are very big. Bigger than Aubrie. Mason: Yeah, and I will take your car and leave you here. Melissa: That will be sad. Mason: Okay, you can come with me. Melissa: Where will we go? Mason: We will go to WALMART!!!! Melissa: Walmart!? Mason: Yeah, and I will crash into something! Man, I don't want him to grow up!

Mason dictated a letter to Santa today: Dear Santa, Please bring me lots of Thomas presents. I would like some stickers and a pink table. Please bring Myles a train so he won't play with mine. Actually, I would like William's train table and he can have a pink one. And Myles can put his train on my table. I have been a very good boy and Myles has too. Then Mason wanted the pencil so he could scribble his name.

After being gone an entire week (and expecting to only be gone 3 days), Marshall finally got home around midnight last night. The last few nights Mason has been waking up with various concerns. The night before last it was "mommy, you won't let me have milk" (of course I let him have milk) and "mommy, you won't let me go to Walmart" (well, not at 4 in the morning!). Last night he woke up at 4 again and Marshall went and got him and Mason again complained "mommy won't let me have milk". Well, Marshall got him milk and then told him he could just play with his trains until the sun came out. Push over! But it is so nice to have him back. Myles was just thrilled to see him this morning. I brought him into bed with Marshall and he jusst grinned and bounced up and down.

Okay, I've been tagged by Jessica. A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning. B. Each player answers the questions about themselves. C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog. 5 Things I was doing 10 years ago: 1. Finishing up my first semester at BYU. 2. Majoring in Communications and realizing that I didn't like it. 3. Signing up for a ski class--I would ski 1-2 times a week that winter. 4. Just starting to learn to use the internet. Funny story--my roommate and I emailed our math professor and told him he was hot. We had no idea that email wasn't annonymous! So embarrasing! 5. I had no idea how to spell psychologist (Psycologist?) 5 Things on my to-do list today 1. Finish my Christmas quilt (but my sewing machine is packed away) 2. Finish mudding the crawl space (we're building a playroom) ...

I recently set up the high chair for Myles and Mason loves to pull a chair over and play with him. They are so funny together--they just laugh and laugh and laugh!!

Yesterday morning it snowed and when Mason woke up at 7 and saw the snow, he immediately wanted to go outside. So at about 7:30 AM I put Myles in his pack and play with some toys (Marshall is still in Denver until Monday) and went outside with Mason. I don't think he remembers much about snow from last year and I think he thought it was the coolest thing ever. He ran all around the yard, threw snowballs at me, and made a little snowman. He had a fit when I said it was time to come back inside. Then around 10 Myles fell asleep and so I went outside to shovel the driveway. All the neighborhood kids were out there, so I bundled up Mason again and he ran across the street to help them build a huge snowman. After about half an hour he came back across the street and he was missing one glove! His hands were ice cold but he was still so mad that I made him come inside. Isn't he cute! This is a snowsuit that was William's last year. He grew out of it so Nicole gave it to Mason a...