Hip poppin

Check this girl out! Mona got her ready for school and snapped a quick picture. She is totally posing here! We are in trouble!!! :)

Feed me!!!!

Mason may not be walking yet or have very many teeth, or sleep very much, but the ONE thing this kid does is EAT!!! Sometimes I feel like the only time he's quiet is when he's eating. This is a stark contrast from his big sister who turns her nose up at every.little.thing. Seriously, she will ask what's for dinner and before you can even finish your answer she says, "I don't like that." O.M.G!!! So thankfully, this boy shoves food in his mouth like we've been starving him for weeks!

FUSSIN

Mason has been full of vinegar and piss (is that the saying????) lately. You pick him up and he pushed away and wants to get down. You put him down and he screams and cries. This kid doesn't know what he wants. Mona has been saying for months now that "he about to do something" like get more teeth (since he still only has 2) or walk (FINALLY). So far, he's done neither. I'm ready for him to do SOMETHING besides fuss at us!! Thank God he's cute, huh?

Impressed

I have to say I'm quite impressed with Paige. The curling iron wasn't on but she was able to clamp her hair and twist it up by herself. I think that's pretty impressive fine motor skills! And if I would have let her she would have had a full face of makeup too! I've got quite the girly girl on my hands (sorry Sylvia!)

Crawling and climbing

It's becoming harder and harder to get any type of picture of Mason that's isn't blurry. He is ON THE MOVE! He isn't quite walking yet but he's got the climbing thing down. I would say a few more weeks and we will have a walker!

HAPPY

Oh my goodness! It's been a rough couple months for us and Mr. Mason. He has been such a bear. Whiney, crabby, screaming, throwing food...you name it and it was happening in our house. But somehow we have (hopefully I'm not jinxing myself here) crossed that road. He's finally my happy little boy again!!!

Following directions

Like I mentioned before, Paige has been giving us "lessons" from her new desk. Tonight she gave Joe and I a piece of blank paper and a marker. Then she told us to write the word "Christmas" on the paper. Then she gave us a different marker and told us to write our name on it. Then another marker and told us to write her name one it. Can you guess which one is mine and which one is Joe's?!?!

Isn't it funny how one set of directions can end up with two totally different pieces of work?

Two of a kind

The picture with Joe and Paige is definitely a rarity in our house! Neither of them ever stop moving so this was just precious.

The second picture shows their continual growing relationship. They truly love each other, but Mason has started becoming quit vocal with Paige. Can't say I blame him sometimes!!

Movin on up

We had to make more room in Paige's room for her desk, so Mason inherited the princess couch! He would climb all over that thing every time he went into her room so we just moved it over to his room! Never mind that it's princess!!

Merry Christmas from the Merino's!

All in all it was a very successful Christmas! Christmas time is getting more and more fun as the kids get older. It's also going to get harder as they get older to really get the whole Santa thing across! Right now, Paige didn't ask too many questions, but I'm sure (SURE) it's coming! Paige got her very own desk and entire craft area for her own room. At first, I don't think she really understood what it all was, but once we got it together she spent HOURS in there! Mason didn't really understand Christmas, but did enjoy the boxes and bags.

Cute lil butts

There's just something about little baby butts that are just so cute!! Pretty sure he will kill me for these pictures later in life.

Snow day

Paige had her very first snow day off of school!! Not sure if she was excited or sad to miss school?! But all day she was DYING to go out in the snow. Unfortunately, Joe was at work and I had Mason so I couldn't go out with her, but she was able to go out in the back yard. Mason got a kick out of watching her play in the snow.

Jingle's Jigs

Here are more of Jingle's Jigs he performed at his time at our house. On Christmas Eve night, we told Paige that Santa told us that if she wanted she could give Jingle a hug and kiss because this was his last night. We told her that it wouldn't break his magic. Not sure we will ever forget the look on her face when I handed Jingle. It was like she was really holding magic in her hands!

Big KIDS

This picture was taken of Paige just before her second ever field trip at school. Can you guess who gave her this shirt??? For their field trip they went to an elderly home and sang Christmas carols then they went to Fun Run. She had a blast. They went with their high school "buddies". Paige's buddy is Audrey, but all she kept talking about was a boy named Michael...we are in trouble!!!

Mason Monster got another haircut and I think, actually I know, it was harder on me than him! His hair was getting pretty shaggy, but I loved it and still thought of him as my little baby. While we were getting it cut, I looked over said, "OMG that is so short!" The hair stylist freaked out a bit because I think she thought I wasn't happy. It is much shorter, but looks good. Now I'm thinking it needs to be even shorter so we can really spike it up!!

Stuck like glue

Mr. Jingle got into the stickers and decided to play Paige's "DS" as she calls it. Shhh, don't tell her that it's actually a MobiGo!!

Workin it out!

Jingle decided he needed to get a workout in. Full with an ipod and weights! We were quit proud of ourselves for this one!!

Loud Lawn

Mr. Mason got several new toys for his birthday, one of which is this lawn mower. It's a bit loud! What's funny is even Paige said, "This is kinda loud!"