update/cabin fever

wow have things been changing around here lately! mason boy grows bigger by the second. he is mastering walking and it's about freaking time! he was taking a couple steps here and there and one night while our friends were over he walked all over the place with the other kids, acting like he had been walking for months. alia is a good influence on him :) mason is also gaining a huge vocabulary which is proving to us just how smart he is. he knows what a dog, duck, and cow says and he likes to say "what's that" "there it is" "this" "that" "dad" "dog" "cup" and some others that of course i cannot think of right now! some of his other tricks include knowing where his tummy, ears, mouth, head and feet are, he knows several different signs like "more" "eat" and "bath" and he can point to everyone in the family (his aunts, uncles, and cousins too) if you ask him where they are. i can't wait to spend all summer with him!

as for me, i am obviously done with work until august. with a little luck i will be able to work in the same classroom again next year...the teacher that i worked with this year will do a little sweet talking and hopefully things will work out how we want them to! curtis is working hard even though it is summertime. he is still working full time and taking 3 online classes. if all goes as planned he will graduate with a bachelors degree in accounting next may! wahoo!! his trip to california went well and he may be going back several more times this summer. there is a chance of him getting a job down there so we are keeping our fingers crossed that it works out!

this past weekend we went up to our cabin with some of our friends. we hung out, rode four wheelers and went to mammoth caves which was just a short drive away.

mason ate A LOT of dirt this weekend. there are plenty of pictures to prove it.

brody, drew and kayla being crazy!

we girls went on a little ride and got away from the chaos for a little while.

me and cheryl working on lunch

this is ethan at mammoth caves
curtis, mason, alia, brody and kurt
the whole gang heading into the cave...there were 13 of us total. this cave required some crawling which was a little hard with the younger ones so while the girls stayed back with the babies, the boys took the rest of the kids through. we heard there was some crying, but they made it through :)

we headed home late saturday afternoon and as you can see, we were exhausted. we had such a fun time and we are so lucky to have such great friends! we have lots of activities planned for the summer and are looking forward to every second of it! thanks to kurt & noelle and tony & cheryl for letting us spend our weekend with your families!