So it has been awhile since we posted.  And now Mason is 2 years old!  And surprisingly I am not shocked.  I feel he has acted like a two year old for the past 4 or 5 months.  He now talks in full sentences fits in 2-T clothes and still copies everything Knightley does.  He and I were very proud of his cake, a dinosaur.  He loved it and still sometimes mentions it. 

And Mason loved his presents, most of which were GeoTrax.  He played with is new toys for 3 days straight.  Knightley loved Mason's new presents too. His big present was an exploding toy story bridge set. 

The day after his birthday Jeff and I build a sweet track for Knightley and Mason using all their Geo Trax.  We had a blast building it and the boys loved it.  

They were so interested in their trains that we couldn't get them to look up for the picture.

Well, my little boy is growing up.  He turned 3 the day after Thanksgiving.  Because we went down to Missouri for thanksgiving to visit Jeffrey's family this year we had a little birthday party for him before we left.  Both my boys are REALLY into cars, but more specifically Race Cars.  So that is what he got for a cake (hand made by his loving mother:).  This year's celebration was the best, because Knightley actually realized it was his special day.  He may not have understood exactly why we celebrate someone's birth day, but he knew it was all about a "special boy's special day."  Every present he opened was his "special present," and he still treats the toys he got on his birthday with extra special care and attention.

Enjoying the cake batter (Knightley likes cake batter more then actual cake).

My beautiful creation.

Complete with rear spoiler.

All race cars have a lightning bolt across the side,

and racing stripes.

By the time we ate the cake, the tootsie roll windows melted :)

The cutest little cake eater ever!

Knightley mostly ate the goodies off the cake instead of the cake itself.

We went to Florida in the middle of October, but are just getting around to posting about it :).  It was a fantastically fun, magical time!!  We hung out with Deb's parents and her brother and sister-in-law and their family.  We went to an alligator farm, the beach, and just enjoyed the wonderful weather.  We then went up to Orlando and went to Disney World for the magical experience, and the next day we went to a children's science center which was great as well!  We loved it and our kids loved it.  It is all documented in the video below that Deb put together.

Florida Vacation 2011 from Debra Jacobson on Vimeo.

Back at the beginning of November we had our good friends from Utah, John Kylee and fam, come and visit for a long weekend!  We had an absolutely joyful time together!!  Knightley and Mason had a blast playing with their old friend Ellie, and loved making their new friend, Baby M, laugh (they can't pronounce her name so this became her new name).  While they were here we saw the sights of Madison, and played a lot.  The weather was perfect the whole time, so we were able to do everything we wanted.  It was so much fun.

We went to the Zoo

Saw the giraffes

Became apes

Played with blocks

Played at the coolest park ever

Don't they look like best buds.....well, they are

We went to the capital (which is pretty awesome)

Our kids, the East Side Gangbangers on the streets of downtown Madison

Knightley's favorite treat to date (and the best tasting big cookie I have ever had in fact)

Every night we played games, a lot of games.  We played multiple rounds of all the games pictured here (note: guesstures is not in the picture but should be).

Our families together (minus baby M)

Halloween was so fun this year.  We actually went trick or treating in our neighborhood, which we have never really been able to do before.  Knightley and Mason loved it!  They ran from house to house and thought it was magical that they got more and more candy.  We got to go with Dave and Brianna and was a blast!

On Saturday we went up to Devil's Lake Wisconsin with my brother David and his family.  They usually go up there every year and love it.  On our route to Devil's Lake we traveled across a river where you cross by ferry.  The kids loved riding the ferry and frankly so did Jeffrey and I!  When we got there we all had a picnic lunch and the kids played in the leaves and then on the beach.  The whole area was beautiful. I felt I was walking through one of God's paintings the entire time.  

Mason was wearing pants which very quickly got soaking wet. Cousin Elsie is in the back.

Dave, Brianna, James and Wesley in the paddle boat we rented.

Our family on the paddle boat.

I love this picture.  This is what we did all day.  Enjoy the beautiful scenery and watch our kids and their cousins play at the beach.  The little girl in the picture is my niece Clarine.

For those of you who don't know, which will probably almost everyone, Sheboygan is a city in Wisconsin right on Lake Michigan.  And last week Jeffrey and I had our first weekend away from our children in Sheboygan.  The only time I  have been away from Knightley overnight was when I was in the hospital with Mason.  What encouraged us to leave the kids (with Jeff's wonderful sister Ashley) was none other than BRIAN REGAN!  One of the best comedians ever!

We stayed at a family resort called Blue Harbor and this was the view from our room.  Who says Wisconsin isn't cool?!  The resort also has a large indoor water park, with 4 decent sized water slides, large pools, and hot tubs!

Then the main event, Brian Regan!

This is us in our seats, which were incredible.  The very very front and center!  I kind of talked my way into getting these awesome seats.  You could see every facial expression, so funny!

Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures of Brian Regan but this is the view from our seats.  We were literally 5 feet away from him.  Joe Bolster performed first for about 30 mins and he was so funny too (he is now also a favorite)!  Then Brain performed for about an hour.  By the end of the show our faces hurt from laughing so hard! The whole event definitely goes down in our personal history books!

Our whole weekend was so fun.  We played in the water park, walked around all the little shops in Sheboygan, went out to eat for every meal, walked on the beach, and all with no kids!  We were gone from Thursday afternoon till Saturday afternoon and it was such a nice small vacation.  Hopefully we won't wait three more years to have another adult only weekend!