Mason

Because I have done many posts on Mason and all that is him in the past I will try and keep this one short. I just finally pooled enough photos together to make him his own little collage. Mason hides from the camera like you would not believe. You can hide it and think he won't know, but he does. He is the stinker of all stinkers. He waits until you have put that camera away. He even knows if you have lied and said you did put it away. He won't come in the room until you honestly have, he just has the knowledge. It is quite disturbing sometimes.
Mason is doing great. He is learning and sometimes that is not always good with this kid. He mnipulates us better than any child coule. He was being very loving towards me the other day. got ready for bed without an argument, I was totally impressed. Until I realized he just wanted to watch a movie! Goodness, I thought he really cared. :) Just kidding, he does really care. He, as you can see loves dad.

Speaking of dad...this is a side note and those that only trully read the blog will get this at this point. The reason we were going private is because Mike was deploying. Now he has some back issues that need to be fixed first. So no more private! YIPPEE! I already told you we didn't want to. So I will post about his back later, but that is why after all this time we still are not private.

blogging slump

I feel like the first couple months of the year are so boring for our family. We are busy with school, work, day to day 'stuff' that just piles on top of one another. So I am forcing myself to blog about something...

Okay, I know Brennan is a couple weeks past 7 months, but I forgot to post this. Mike made such an effort to make it. I couldn't let it go to waste.

Brennan at 7 months can... Crawl, put not on hands and knees. He kind of pulls himself up and launches forward. It is something quite cute. He has two teeth. He loves food! Solids and mommy are the staple of his diet. He has a high pitched squeal of a laugh that makes just about anyone smile back in return. He is VERY ticklish. Can sit up and just today pulled to stand on one of his toys. He did need some stabilizing once there. He has just figured out that mom does in fact leave him on occasion. Mostly just to another room and he feels this is no longer appropriate considering he can follow he now. So he turtles himself after me. He can sign for milk and is oh so cute doing it!

Castle Exploring again...

We went on some more site seeing trips around the country here. I never realized how much fun these trips could be for the kids. I thought they would start thinking, "You've seen one castle, you've seen them all." They trully enjoy and look forward to our adventures. Due to it being sick season only half our brood went to this outing that we had previously planned. Dad and Mason were sick. Brennan joined them in the warm house while Mom, Carter and Taylor braved the elements for some fun. Don't let those clear blue skies fool you. It was SSSOOO windy here today. Wind that bites right through you because of the moisture it carried with it. Still, not nearly as cold as ND, it holds its own for sure!

Castle Rising

Begun in 1138 by William D'Albini for his new wife, the wido of Henry I, in the 14th century it became the luxurious exile-place of Queen Isabella, widow(and alleged murderess) of Edward II.

Castle Acre Castle

Situated on the Peddar's Way, a major trade and pilgrim route to Thetford, Bromholm Priory, and Walsingham, it is a very rare and complete survival of a Norman planned settlement, including a castle, town, parish church, and associated monastery. All this is the work of a great Norman baronial family, the Warennes, mainly during the 11th and 12th centuries.

First came the castle, founded soon after the Conquest by the first William De Warenne, initially as a a stone 'country house'. During the frist hald of the 12th century, however, more disturbed conditions prompted its progressive conversion into a strong keep, further defended by stone walls and an immense system of ditched earthworks. Still impressively visible, these are perhaps the finest village earthworks in England.

*Both discriptions taken from the English Heritage Guide Book.

Carter just needed to have a post of his own with all of his personality attached. He has been working so hard over the last few months. He is growing up into this little man and is such a force to be reckoned with. The English school system runs about a year ahead of American schools and Carter has been hard at work to 'catch-up' to his peers. He has fabulous teachers that have committed a lot of time and effort into making sure he is loving learning. He is reading like a champ now a days and is wanting to read chapter books, but does get frustrated that he can't do it yet. :) He writes stories of his own. Although he did tell me he is rubbish at drawing airplanes which he apparently needed for a story he was writing.
Carter wanted to wake up with me and go running, however, he decided he was going to wait until it is warmer after his first time. He is very creative in building things. He is particular about how things should go, in size, shape and color. Carter is quite the expert at TinkerToys. He can build anything with those and takes pride in his work. He also is very intelligent about the church and the gospel. He blows me away sometimes with the things that he says. He trully understands many things that one might think a child wouldn't. If you can't tell, we kind of like him.

Family History

We made a pretty cool discovery this last week. My (Hollie's) great(x5 we think) grandparents are buried in a village that is about an hour from here. The family line is the following--for those family members who come to the blog and might want a line to follow. Hollie daughter of Victor, son of James W, son of Victor W, son of Mary Jane Bone, daughter of John Bone, son of William Bone Sr., son of Thomas and Elizabeth Bone who are buried here in St. Mary's in Northill, Bedfordshire, England. We were not able to find the exact grave stone. We found only a few that we could still make out being in the correct years. However most of them were washed away from years of rain, sun, wind, etc.. It was very neat to walk the place where my ancestors were. See the place where they would have worshipped. We do know where their records on a census are kept and the old church archives are in the same location. So we will be getting those in the next little while. Family History takes on a whole new meaning when it is tangible. Trees that were more than likely there the same time they were. Houses that were dated in there time. It is amazing the ties that can be felt. I know that Thomas and Elizabeth understand the hundreds of lives that have come from their union. This was an emotional family trip and we are grateful for it.

There was a cemetary across the street and also a few sites on the actual church grounds.




Entrance to the cemetary.

Carter had been asking about this trip since our lesson in Family Home Evening on Family History and the importance of Temples. He got all ready himself to go on our expedition. He kept saying he found the right names. Although we did see plenty of Elizabeth wife of Thomas we never found the right last name and date.

We did see on a list outside that there was a Mrs. Bone who helped clean the building. Maybe a very distant relative??? The possiblities are pretty crazy!

My two teeth

Brennan got two teeth coming in this last week. This kid is so darn cute. Our friend Darrah and Mike contributed to getting that mouth open and tongue back so we could get a good shot. You might be able to zoom to see those pearly whites.

Rochester Castle

Just some interior shots of the castle. This was an amazing castle with many arches and fine detailed work still in tact. Buildings on this site started in 1088. The keep that we explored today started in 1127 and took 12 years to build, which was a very fast accomplishment. It is over 100 feet high. The walls are 12 feet thick. It is amazing the workmanship that goes into these amazing buildings that are still standing for us to explore and learn from. Sea Shells were mixed into the castle walls. Both as a defense for people trying to climb and to help hold the walls together. It was pretty cool to see these full shells through out every wall.

The church that is across the street was closed today so we weren't able to go inside, but it was very beautiful. 200 stairs were throughout the castle and meant for some pretty steep climbing. Mason had daddy help him for parts of the climb. Taylor and her medievil headband that she got in the shop. Taylor LOVES castles. We went to the temple for our church in the morning and then to the castle. Since Thursday she has been saying, "temple, castle, fun."Carter spent a couple dollars of his allowance on this ring. At the top of the castle Carter was looking out over the river. He asked me to walk away and was just staring out. After a few minutes he came up to me and said, "Mom, I need to whisper something to you, but don't laugh." So preparing myself I got down and heard, "I closed my eyes and kept my mind wide open." I asked if he was able to see how the castle was back when it was all finished. He said he saw so many things that no one else did and walked away from me. Love moments like those. :)Just a very cool top on a tower that was nearby the castle grounds.

This was taken from the other side. I just zoomed for faces to be seen. In the top collage you can see where this spot would have been.
ANY OF YOU THINKING YOUR JOB IS BAD?

Going Private for a short time...

I hate private. Let me start with that. Mike and I feel like we need to for a duration of our year. If you could please make a comment. I am going to block others from being able to read comment section. That way it is only I you will be giving your email address too. Please, Please, Please let us know if you check in, even every once in awhile....we don't want to go private, but we need to for just a time.
Thanks so much!!! If you do not have a google account to be able to sign into private blogs when I send the invite it will tell you how to do this.

Does this count?

Considering that he won't stop shouting this when Mike is around, and only when Mike is around, does this count as a first word? So cute!! He babbles other things throughout the day, but this special treat is saved for dad. Also you might notice how close we are to crawling. This kid can roll like nobody's business, he gets into so much mischief already, heaven help me when he can really get around!

Brennan Guy

A few shots of Brennan that I could not resist sharing with everyone. Let me explain the green bottle... The Sunday School President in our Ward gave Mike some locally bottled fresh apple juice for Christmas. Brennan got to taste test the product and just loved it so much that when the bottle was emptied, he could not resist sucking on the mouth of it to get every last drop.

Sorry that I couldn't get a picture that depicted what beautiful flowers these are. THANK YOU HEATHER. I got flowers delivered to my door yesterday and it really made my day. I had just been telling Mike the day prior that I was irritated, frustrated, just kind of out of sorts. I didn't know why, but these were a wonderful gift that I appreciated very much. All of my sisters go out of their way to stay in contact with me. Even from across the ocean they are willing to do anything they need to for me. I am spoiled! Thanks again Heather, you are fabulous!!

Hello Mr. President

Just before Christmas Mike had the opportunity to meet the commander and chief. You all might remember the Iraqi shoe throwing. President Bush came through Mildenhall for a refuel on the way home. They had told them not to expect him to come out, but Mike was surprised when out came the President. They chatted for a few minutes. He even joked around about Pres. Bush's reflexes when it came to dodging the shoes. He also suggested he should have thrown it back. :) Leave it to my Mike to suggest that to the President. The only thing Mike was irritated about was the fact that his hair was extremely overgrown--never know who is coming for a visit!

**edited** For the curious, Pres. Bush did laugh about the shoe comment by Mike. He then said he did have to uphold some professional conduct. He joked about hurrying home or he would have more then thrown shoes to worry about. :)

Mighty Mouse

Who knew the signifigance of Aunt Heathers nickname for Mason when he was only a couple months old. The name has stuck and rightfully so. Mason's newest accomplishment is drinking out of a cup! It is so awesome to see his mouth cooperate with his brain!! He will even go to the sink and get his own cup of water. There are still spills when he is responsible for the amount that goes in the cup, however he does a fabulous job. No more hunting down sippy cups, no more looking for straws--one less thing to wory about it always good!! Mason even demands a regular cup now. He is doing great. It has been about 3 weeks since he started this and I had to bribe him with chocolate to get a picture. Normally he would run away. I told him we needed to send a picture to Mrs. Santiago(our old para) and that I would give him chocolate--he just smiled that smile of his and got to work. :)

Happy Birthday to Hollie. Just a few pictures of the fabulous day that was my Birthday. It was Sunday and was a special day to remember. I say that with a bit of sarcasim. I think the children were trying so hard to be happy and well behaved that they lost it more times than normal. Mike spoiled me by making a chocolate on chocolate cake even though it would be too rich for his enjoyment. The Elders, kids, and I ate with pleasure! We found out the missionaries had no where for dinner that night so we invited them over to partake as well. We had dinner and cake and sent them on their way. We will miss Elder Jentzch as he is off to serve in London.

The kids were so fun about my presents. Mason and Carter had gone shopping with dad. Mason was eagerly handing me presents to open. Anyone who knows Mason knew it was a great sacrifce for him to hand them over and not tear into the packages himself. He LOVES unwrapping and gave up that for his mom--what love! Carter got me a card and in it was 5 dollars. When I asked what that was for he told me it was to buy him Fruit Loops!! I about lost it laughing. I told him a couple weeks ago I wouldn't buy Fruit Loops that often because I would rather him have something more healthy. This has only spurred a deep desire for the forbidden bowl of sugary goodness in his mind!

Carter picked me out a watch and was so thrilled to have me wearing it. He kept asking how many minutes he had until bed. He probably thought I needed a new watch so that when I said 5 minutes until something would happen I had to abide by my words.

Elder Martorana (from Italy) and Elder Jentzch(from Germany) playing with some toys of the childrens. The kids absolutely love having them over for dinner. So much so that when they come to the door Taylor screams, "missionaries home!" I need to record the way she says missionaries. It is so adorable!!