Surprise trip to Las Vegas!

Gramma Airplane with her two favorite kids in the world! Justin picked out her birthday cake...and a card that played "Are you ready for some football" :)








.....and guess who picked out her flowers? He said he wanted to get her Sponge Bob flowers; I never thought we'd find any but he did!















Justin playing around on the patio. If you look to the right you can see how there are no neighbors behind them and it's just a view of the valley and mountains - so pretty!















Justin and Mason in the tub - I love the way Mason is looking at his big brother! (I couldn't get this to publish the right way!)














Mason just chilling on his airplane blanket



















And hanging out in his new swing!


















Justin getting his hockey puck from the "goal" aka the hot tub :)







Gramma and Mason










Yummy - Cold Stone is about a mile from their house!!

His new t-shirt...he's addicted to SB!

Papa, Mommy and Justin

Me and my best buddy having fun in the pool

Gramma and Justin playing the rolling game - Justin won!














Justin and his lollipop - just like in his counting book!


















Justin and Sponge Bob!


















Justin "coaching" Gramma at putt-putt....I love how he stands :)


















Justin sitting next to me on the pirate ship (the thing that swings back and forth - he LOVED it!














Justin driving his airplane :)














Justin trying to pop a balloon...he didn't but still got a prize!













Mommy and her angel baby :)













Gramma feeding Mason













Justin giving Mason the seal he won for him playing the fishing game













Mommy and Justin on the merry-go-round












On the school bus ride!













Mason loved riding and looking around at all of the lights and sights of the Adventure Dome!















Grandpa Chucky with his second great-grandson...who has his middle name! :)














Grandpa Chucky and Justin walking into the casino for dinner

Viva Las Vegas!

Hello from Las Vegas! Me (Melissa) and the boys got here Thursday afternoon to surprise Gramma Airplane...it was so fun; she had NO idea! We are staying for a week to just relax and play in the pool :)

Justin and Mason were both ANGELS on the flight here. I was a little nervous about flying alone with them...but all went off without a hitch! Other than the extra $50 I had to spend because my suitcase weighed 65 pounds... oh well; still easier than carrying two and I still would have had to pay $40 for another bag! And I didn't do it all by myslef. Ms. Stephy dropped us off at the airport and helped as I got us checked in and got to get rid of the carseat and suitcase and then helped us in the security line..thanks Ms. Steph! We could NOT have done it without your help!

Justin just behaved and watched movies Mason slept the entire way here! Everyone kept telling me how well behaved they were and they didn't even realize there was a baby and toddler around them :) I was so proud!

Now that we are here it's a different story. Mason did not sleep more than 60-90 minutes at a time last night and all day long today he only had one nap longer than 10-15 minutes and it was still only about an hour. He has to be SO TIRED. I hope so anyways because Mommy is! I went to Target tonight and got a travel swing (one of the littler ones that is close to the ground). He is in it now next to my bed and he's asleep so I'm going to cut this short and try to sleep too! Here are a couple pics from my iphone. I have more on the camera that I will have to upload soon!

We miss you so much Daddy! Hope you're having a nice relaxing weekend and catching up on sleep (...and chores!!) Love you!!!

Rockstar!

Justin and Lauren LOVE the Rockstar song by Pink...here is the typical dance when it comes on :) They lose focus about 35 seconds in; probably tired from jumping!

Rivermen Season Opener - October 3rd

Last night we went to the first regular season Rivermen game! We had SO much fun! They lost the game, but we were in great company...we went with the Beusters, Ericka & Brandon and Stephy & Derrik. Justin had a blast with everyone there! Here are some pictures from the night....

Mason Charles

Okay - everyone knock on wood for me. I hope I'm not jinxing us.

Mason has been happy all weekend! As in, no bad gas pains, sleeping at night and being content throughout the day!

Friday night he cried from about 9-midnight and Rob and I figured we were in for another long night, but he went to sleep at 12 and slept until 4am and then got up for a bottle and back to sleep until 8am! Last night he went down at 11pm and didn't wake up until 4pm to eat and then back to sleep until 7:30am!! It's been so nice! And he is sleeping in his crib and really seems to like it. On Thursday we switched to soy formula and it seems to be helping. It was so hard seeing him cry from the gas pains and we have tried EVERYTHING - mylicon drops, Dr. Brown's bottles, moving his legs for him, heating pad on his belly, etc. Finally I called the pediatrician back and she suggested trying soy. It smells HORRIBLE, but he seems to like it and I think it's helping! He has been able to poop without prune juice which he could not do on the other formula. I am so happy that he's not been in pain - it is so, so, so hard holding him and knowing he's hurting and I can't do anything else to help him. I would just cry along with him at night. It's hard having family so far away too because the crying really can ware on your nerves. I know he can't help it, and it's not that I was mad or angry...it just wares on you after hours and hours. I think the worst part was just feeling like a bad mom since I knew he was hurting and uncomfortable :( Please say a prayer for us that those days are behind us! I'm not going to get too excited yet, but I am definitely hopeful!

Here are a few random pictures of Mason! The first one is my favorite - he smiled at us! He hasn't really done it much since then (yesterday), but he did it a few times and I actually got it on camera!!

Rivermen Banquet

Last Wednesday we had the Rivermen "Meet the Team" banquet for season ticket holders. It was a fun time :) The team has a lot of new players this year! Here are a few pictures from the evening. Some I took and some I got from a friend. The players are generally nicer to little kids, so Susie borrowed Justin for a while to get some pictures with the players - it's a win/win...she gets to talk to the players and I get cute pictures of my kid with them!!


Mason looking all snazzy ready to go :) Yes I know horizontal stripes are not flattering on his figure, but he's still a doll!


















Justin getting autographs













Justin with Yan - one of our favorite players to watch!


















Justin and some Rivermen











Getting more autographs!

Mini-Mites: PYHA (Peoria Youth Hockey Association)

Saturday morning Justin had a busy schedule! He started off with skating class for 45 minutes and then had an hour break and had to be on the ice for his first hockey lesson! It was a clinic that just gave the mini-mites a chance to get some ice time before their season starts.

He did pretty well, but he is not used to skating in all of the equipment. About 25 minutes into it he had a little meltdown and came over to where Rob and I were watching him and he was crying. He said he didn't want to do it anymore. Rob took off his chest protector/shoulder pads and put on his smaller jersey so he could move more freely and he was happy. I think it will just take some time to get used to :) It was nice because I got to watch him. Usually I'm in the warm lobby with Mason trying to see him, but can't. Saturday the nurse who helped deliver Mason was there with her kids so she watched Mason for me so I could go watch Justin.

He called it quits about 10 minutes early. The poor kids legs and ankles had to be killing him! He was pooped! He sat down to get his gear off and I told him how good he did and he said that he didn't do good because he fell down a lot. It broke my heart to hear him think that he didn't do good! I showed him the video I took (see below) that shows him scoring goals and he thought that was pretty cool so now he wants to go back :)

AND.....his dad is his head coach! Rob signed up to be an assistant coach this year, but Zac (guy in charge of the league who Rob plays on men's league with) said that he needed another head coach and asked Rob to do it! So he'll be head coach and have two assistant coaches to help him. It should be interesting - 11 kids from ages 3-6; many who have never played hockey before! Oh, and Thermosystems (my company) is sponsoring his team so Justin will have a Thermosystems jersey on at his games...how cute!

Justin showing off his cup :)





And some on-ice action shots.....

School and singing :)

As you know, Justin is no longer in daycare at PALS. We were lucky enough to get the best two teachers from the school though to come to our house! The best part is that they are not just here as "babysitters". They are still teaching the kids the same things that they would learn at PALS. We get lesson plans every week and daily reports and art/learning projects galore! I also love the fact that Justin and Mason get to be together most of the day too - it's some of the benefits as if I were a stay at home mom, but still getting to bring in two incomes! We love you Ms. Ericka & Ms. Stephy :)

Here are some pictures and a video of the "school room" and Justin & Lauren singing one of their morning songs. They are hamming it up a bit (imagine that!) since the camera is there, but you get the idea!

Here is the room that they use for the "school room". Ignore the mess - this was after Justin went to bed and before I cleaned up :)












Here is the calendar/weather board...I'll get a video of them doing morning circle and doing the weather and date soon!
















Here is the walk in closet where E&S keep all of the learning supplies/cots/etc. It's nice to have that space!












Here is the little table that Ms. Stephy's boyfriend Derrik's (some of you met him at J's birthday party) grandpa made for the kids to use. It's perfect for them to do projects/puzzles/reading!