Remember to check out the rest of the circle! Click on Kaylon's letter after you finish mine to continue around the circle. When you keep reading and clicking, you'll land back here!

My Sweet Mason,

First things first. Your birthday is speeding towards us....you will be five in a little over two weeks. FIVE! I don't know about you, but that makes me feel sad, old, and like I want to hug you super tight and not let go. Hopefully I'll get a birthday post up for you later in April, but in case I don't, at least you'll know that it was my intention to do it. :)

At the beginning of the month, we met Grandma in Winchester at Chuck-E-Cheese. It was almost a halfway point between the two of us so it was a pretty easy drive to spend half a day together. You and Rylan had a lot of fun eating pizza and playing games. You liked the one a lot where you run on a hamster wheel type thing. You also liked the giant cookie that we got at the end of the day. :) You chose a whistle, stickers, and a ring pop for your prizes.

We also had a fun day with Nonni later in the month, where we went to the mall, McDonalds, the park, and an art show. You had a little trouble listening by the end of the afternoon (aka trying to touch some art pieces), but you did well overall. You loved the crazy swing at the park that almost has like a roller coaster feeling....the one that's on a pole and swings around super fast. You also liked the tire swing and the big slides; I don't think you're afraid of any of those things anymore!

The month of March held your first participation in an Awana event. You and 2 other Cubbies were called up to the big leagues of Sparks to do Sparks-a-Rama with them. Let's just say.....you were all very cute. And I laughed more than I have probably ever laughed at an event like that. You Cubbies have not been around Awana games very much, and you didn't really know what you were doing. In fact, on the way to Richmond I asked you about the rules to running around the circle. You happily told me that there aren't any rules. The pressure of the crowd may have also added confusion during the actual event. Some of you ran around the circle the wrong direction, you often ran inside the pins instead of outside, etc..... But you seemed oblivious to the fact that your team was not doing well. You told me you had fun, and you asked me at the end if you won. (Your team got third out of three teams.) Anyway, you were precious. And you did an amazing job of staying where you were supposed to on the line and listening to your coaches. We stayed and watched the T&T kids do their games later, and they did great. By "we watched" what I really mean is that Daddy (who had only slept about 2 hours, since he was in feeders the night before) took you and Rylan outside to run around and play while Mommy held Elli and watched. We got to go to P.F. Changs afterwards with Nonni and Poppy, though, so that delicious food made us all happy. (At least the adults.)

We took all 3 of you to Michaela's wedding in the middle of the month. Rylan was the first to have an explosion of noise/screaming right during the vows (or some other important time. All I remember is whisper-yelling at Daddy to cover Rylan's mouth.) Elli was great until the very end when she started crying. You stayed relatively quiet the whole time, so that was really impressive. At the reception you really enjoyed the food, but you especially loved the s'mores!

Speaking of good food, we also had the yearly free pretzel day at Miller's Bake Shop, which was wonderfully delicious!

You had one sick day in the middle of the month where you woke up from your nap and seemed lethargic, but then you started playing. After an hour or so, though, you were dragging again, and you laid on the couch for a few hours without really moving. You had a fever and your tonsils were swollen, so we went to the doctor the next day to check for strep, and the test came back positive. I was thankful we caught it so soon, though; you barely seemed to feel sick after that first night.

Our biggest news of the month is that Aunt Heidi's family came home last week to start their furlough! They are staying with Nonni and Poppy for now, until their house renovation is done. It's a crowded but fun time when we're all over there. You and Rylan have been having so much fun playing with your cousins. The 5 of you big kids are so wild and crazy together. You copy each other all the time and make up crazy sounds and songs while running around and doing somersaults.

As for you, we have been trying to figure out your sleeping stuff for the past couple months. You started getting "super scared" at night again; it got to the point where you were waking up 4-5 times at night and crying on the monitor or yelling out of the bottom of your door. It was bringing out the worst in all of us, and we knew we had to come up with another solution. So now we have a "deal" where you can ask on the monitor, in the middle of the night, if you can come down if you're very scared. We put a sleeping bag and pillow on the floor beside our bed, and you can come sleep down there in the middle of the night. Daddy takes you up to your bed in the morning. We've been doing it for two weeks, and I think it's safe to say that we've solved the problem. I think you were just really really scared before. But now that we've gone to our new deal, you sleep so well; it's hard to describe how much different it's been. You sleep the instant you come to our room, and you go right back to sleep when Daddy puts you back in your bed later. It's been so nice for all of us.

You have been practicing your letters a little more, but you still say you don't want to go to kindergarten next year (more like 4 months....ah!!) You are becoming a really great helper. Daddy says that you help him a lot with outside jobs. You're able to put your own clothes away and are good at helping me clean up too. Sometimes you have trouble being nice and making good choices when you're in Cubbies or your class in church; like when you chased someone with a pair of scissors a few weeks ago. But other times you do great! We're still working on it. You and Rylan have been working on your "path" outside by the swingset for a while now. You use shovels and a wheelbarrow....I'm not sure exactly what it's supposed to be, but you work on it a lot.

You (and Rylan) have an obsession with Steven Curtis Chapman, which Daddy and I really love. You spend many rest times in your room singing "Saddle up your horses...." over and over and over. Today you told me that you sound just like Steven Curtis Chapman, and then you gave me a demonstration. We've also been listening to some old Adventures in Odyssey episodes this month. For some reason you have decided that you hate the interstate. You say it so much that you've convinced Rylan that he should hate the interstate too. Although I need to mention that you're never totally sure when we're actually on the interstate....you have to ask first, and if I say yes we are, then you groan really loudly and remind me that you hate it. There is a pretty white kitty that has been hanging out at our house lately, and you love it. You know how to be sweet, mean, funny, helpful, and silly. I love it when you decide to skip the mean one. :)