Our Mason at Five

Mason is Five Years Old. He loves growing and learning, and doesn't seem intimidated by much. He is still so sensitive to the needs and happiness of those around him, but he has grown into it so that it's not debilitating like it was before. He goes out of his way to sooth his little brothers when they are upset. He smothers his baby brother with kisses (wow, huge change from when D was born). Throughout the day, Mason and Donovan play together, cracking each other up in the process. Of course they fight as well, they are siblings, after all. Here are some pictures from the last few days as we continued celebrating his birthday:

Birthday Present from Uncle Nick. Nebraska finally has some representation in this house.

His actual birthday. We went to the indoor pool.

We wore him out at the pool. I love that he will nap in public.

He burst into my room that morning (rather early, I will add), saying "Moooom I'm five years Ooooold!"

Brothers!

Mason can read. Justin works with him just about every day. They have to "earn" TV time by practicing words and letters.

Mason also learned how to tie his shoe. We are prepping for Kindergarten.

LOVE YOU MASON!

Mason Turns Five!

Wow, this boy was excited for his birthday. And he kept changing his mind about what kind of party he wanted to have. Fighter Jets, Hot Wheels, I don't remember them all. So I suggested just doing a Chuck E Cheese party, and he said yes! Even though he had no idea what went on at Chuck E Cheese, he's seen the rat on commercials, and that's all he needed. That's good marketing.
Luckily, we have the nicest Chuck E Cheese in the region, apparently people drive hours to come to the one just a few minutes away from us because it's clean.
It turned out great. A bit of chaos (not in my house), some food (which I didn't prepare), cake and ice cream (ordered from Target and they cut and served it.), and presents. And someone else cleaned up the mess. Perfect for this month of my life. I will host parties for my kids again, it just wasn't going to happen this time.
We've met some great people here this last year, I'm grateful that Mason has good friends. He even invited his primary teacher from church, Sister Waadt. He loves her!
Happy Birthday Mason! I love being your Momma!
PS - I have a video at the end of most of this if the gagillion pictures I'm about to post are not enough.

He spent most of his time on this game. I was the same way when I was younger. It was cute, he would throw each ball seven or eight times before it went in, but he never gave up or got discouraged!

The best Daddy a boy could ever hope for.

Thank you, Target.

He's not excited or anything.

Party Animal

This is him showing me what Grandma got him, lol.

And Here's the Crew. This was the best photo I could get out of about twenty attempts, lol. I'll take it!

Quick Birthday Trip to SoDak

Justin had a few days off, so he suggested going home to South Dakota to celebrate his birthday. I'm usually up for a last-minute adventure, so we did it! The boys did great on the drive, we are so lucky. Weston had about an hour of crying on each leg. Could be better, but certainly could be worse. And we lucked out with great weather. It's always a gamble to drive that area of the country at any time not technically considered "summer." It was so great to see Lee, Mary, and Sarah again!

So Much Play Time!

Opa teaching Mason how it's done.

Happy Birthday, Justin (37)! And Mason(almost)!

Mary and Sarah got them such a nice cake!

Everyone loves Aunt Sarah!

You're Welcome.

Selfies. We have some work to do.

Justin's Actual Birthday on the Road.

We Drove Through Cow Farm Land.

Mason at the Cognitive Development Center

When Weston was born, I received a few pamphlets about various projects at CU in the Cognitive Development Center, and they are always looking for kids to come in so they can observe them while they play. I guess my sociology background helped me recognize the need for normal subjects in various research projects, so I signed all the kids up. They called Mason to come in on two different days. He mostly played computer games, and they videotaped him to study later. It was fun to see. I didn't prep him at all because I was curious about his behavior. He had a good time and they rewarded him with little goodies. My favorite part of the study was the delayed gratification test. This was the only part he wasn't on a computer.
It's a study that they mirrored from Stanford. They put him in a room by himself, with only a table and a camera. In front of him they set a dish of m&ms and a bell, and told him if he wanted to eat the m&ms, he just needed to ring the bell and they would come in and he could eat them. However, if he waited until the woman returned to the room without eating the m&ms, he would get twice as much candy. I was in a room right next to him, watching it all on a computer monitor.
He smelled the candy, arranged them in a circle around the dish, filled the bell with the candy, got up and walked around, talked to himself about how he was starving and how it was taking so long...
But he didn't eat the m&ms. He waited TWENTY MINUTES.
I admittedly was shocked. I didn't think he would last five minutes, based on how he acts sometimes at home. I wouldn't blame him at all for eating the m&ms, that was a really long time for a four-year-old.
They gave him the huge pile of m&ms and he ate all but three of them right away. The last three he brought home to share with Donovan.
I am so proud of my son.
Here are some pictures I snuck while I was watching him on the monitor:

Afterwards I asked him how it went and he said it was "really really really boring." Ha.