Mason and Reese are 9!

Time really flies.  I like to post updates here once in a while as a journal of Mason & Reese!  These cousins are practically siblings!!!  They're in 3rd grade now!  Sometimes I almost have a panic attack when I realize that Mason only has two more years left of elementary school! 

Mason just finished his first travel basketball season.  His team didn't win many games, but I saw a lot of growth and leadership develop over those few months.  He really has a passion for both basketball and football, and I hope he really works hard to develop the skills he's going to need in the future to do well.  But we always tell him that he is not defined by his success in sports or school and that his relationship with Jesus should be number one!! 

MYA & MASON  11.23.19

Reese got to dance at halftime of the Ohio Bobcats game in November.  She was amazing!!

JAMIE, SARAH, REESE 11.9.19

REESE 11.9.19

This was at Mason's class Christmas party! Everyone is always in a good mood on the last day before winter break! 

JAMIE & MASON 12.20.19

Reese came to cheer on Mya at her game!

MYA, REESE, MASON 1.30.19

Here we are after Mya cheered at the 7th grade basketball tournament.  We were all headed to Mason's game right afterwards: 

JAMIE, MYA, MASON, JIM 2.1.20

Mason's Valentine box:  a Browns jersey! 

MASON 2.12.20

Reese participated in a kids cheer camp and got to cheer at halftime of the high school game! 

REESE, MYA, MASON 2.19.20

Sometimes I snap a pic of Mason at the bus stop!  This was a frigid winter morning and we were eagerly waiting for the bus to come...🥶

MASON & JAMIE 2.21.20

Mason and Reese are 8

Mason and Reese are 8!!!!

It's hard to believe the cousins are now in second grade!  We had a great weekend celebrating both of their birthdays!

Mason, Reese, Mya and Jamie:

Mason opted for a basketball party this year and Reese had her annual football one!

Sarah, Jeremy gave Mason a LeBron jersey for his bday: 

Mason and Reese - January 2018

by Jamie

Wow, it's been a while since I posted!  I wanted to put up some more recent pics of Mason and Reese!!!!

January 2018 Dad & Mason getting ready to head up to Cleveland for the Cavs/Warriors game.  Poor Mason was crying when the Cavs lost.  His love for basketball has not changed!

1/13/18 Mason building a snow fort

Mason & Reese at Mason's 7th Birthday Party

Reese and Aunt Jamie at her 40th birthday party

Mason & Reese at the Ohio Bobcats game 11/24/17

First Day of School 2017

by Jamie

Mason started first grade yesterday!  He's just about as tall as big sis!!!! 😮. We're predicting he takes her by Christmas!!!!

Mason and Reese lost their first tooth!!!!

by Jamie

These cousins are 6 days apart....and they lost their first tooth 5 days apart!!!!!

Mason lost his first tooth last Saturday, October 15th!  It had been a little wiggly, then Friday night, he fell and hit his mouth on the railing in the hallway.  There was blood, his lip was bruised, he was so upset...and it REALLY loosened the tooth.  The next day he was eating a fruit snack after his basketball game and I noticed the tooth just sitting on his lip!  He didn't even have to pull it, it just came out!

Reese lost hers on Thursday, October 20th!

They're growing up too fast!!!!

Mason and Reese are 6

by Jamie

Wow, 6 years gone by already!!!!  This is as close to a baby book as I'm going to get with Mason, so I'm going to write all the little details I want to remember about this boy!!!  First of all....he is so tall!!!  Still 99% for height...51 3/4"!!  In fact, he was tall enough to do the zip line at the pumpkin farm we visited last week!  He loves kindergarten!!  He goes alternating two or three days per week and is usually pretty tired when he gets home!

Mason on the zip line!!! 🙀🙀🙀#zipline #pumpkinpatch #fallfun

A video posted by Jamie (Stickel) Rathbun (@jamierathbun) on Oct 14, 2016 at 9:52am PDT

Mason & Reese, age 6: 

He's been learning a lot of his sight words at school and the teacher is now testing math facts.  He loves math, thanks to all those sport statistics and scores he's always checking on his iPad!!!

The boy LOVES basketball!!!  We got a court put in the backyard a couple months ago, and he's out there playing day, night, rain or shine!!!!  He knows so much about the game and truly enjoys everything about it!

And let's not forget his LOVE of the Cavs!! He got to go to a preseason game the other night!

Mason is still a happy guy!  He's very kind.  At our parent-teacher conference, Mason's teacher said she noticed he wasn't eating his lunch one day in the cafeteria.  She asked him why and he said because he was busy learning sign language from Jonathan (a special needs boy in his class)!  My first prayer each day for my children is that they are loving and kind to others and they are the little lights in a world that is so desperate for Jesus.  I know I fail all the time as their mother and I let my impatience and frustration get the best of me.  But that's when I know I serve a loving God who never changes.  He is never impatient.  He won't fail them.  He won't fail me.  Ever!!!!

Mya, Reese, Mason, Carson & Colton

Happy 5th Birthday to Mason!!!!

by Jamie

Wow, today Mason is 5!!!!!  We had a great weekend celebrating his birthday and Reesie's too!!!  I arrived at Reesie's Princesses & Pirates party as Cinderella!!! I have a separate post on my other blog with photos from Mason's Thomas the Train Party!!

Me with Mason

Me with Reesie 

Me, Sarah, Jeremy

Mason is still a very happy guy!  He loves people, talking, playing with trains (still!!!), playing with Legos and Minecraft, and he loves school!  He plays flag football, always asks to go play with the big boys in the neighborhood, and rides his bike very well!  I'm so thankful for our sweet boy!  We pray together every night when he's in bed, and I pray that God will use his strengths and abilities in a positive way and that he'll be a kind-hearted, loving boy!  He's still strong-willed, and is very expressive and gets mad when things don't go his way.  I'm sure I let him play on the iPad way too much, but he really loves playing Looney Dash and Minecraft;)  He goes to school two full days a week and is always very exhausted at the end of the day (yay!!)!  It's been a roller coaster these 5 short years, but I'm grateful for a healthy, happy little man!!!