Papa Visit - Week 2

Fri - Papa babysat so I could clean the house in preparation for the holiday, I made Grandma Sandy's famous lasagna for dinner

Sat - My Mom and Dad spent the day with friends on the other coast so Jon and I took the kids to see Santa at Bass Pro

Sun - the men watched the Vikings game at the bar while the women did the final holiday chores, Papa's favorite takeout Chinese dinner

Mon - Christmas Eve (detailed post with pics to follow)

Tues - Christmas Day (more to follow)

Wed - the kids and I spent the day at Gaga's since it was Papa's last day in town :(

So it was a super quick trip for my Dad this year.  We were sad to see him go, but excited for him to get back and give us updates on my parents new house.  It looks like the build will be completed and they will be able to move in within a month!  Rylee cannot wait for her new bedroom at the lake.  We're all excited that the new place has a bathtub, but a little sad to say goodbye to the white trash baths.  Maybe we'll have to pull out those Rubbermaid tubs just for fun...

Christmas posts to follow once I get all the photos downloaded!  :)

Holiday Photo Outtakes 3

Just a few more!  Some funny (but still adorable) outtakes of Jace...

 

 

Raarrr!

 



Whoopsy daisy!

 

Talk to the braid...

 



 

A true ankle biter...

 



 

I don't know what I was thinking with this setup at all, but these two are kinda cute... 

 

 

Merry Christmas!!

Holiday Photo Outtakes 2

A few funny ones... :)

Puffy coats!

 



 

 

What's this thingie?

 



 

 

I think Mom accidentally gave us the spiked egg nog!

 



 

 

This thingie is fun!

 



 

Jace, stop touching my pom pom!

 

 

Mom, make him stop!

 

 

Holiday Photo Outtakes 1

These photo outtakes are mostly sweet (rather than funny) but I couldn't help sharing.  :)

 

Inside jokes...

 



 

Hugs...

 

 

Christmas magic...
 (too bad we hadn't cut Jace's hair yet, he looks like he has the Donald Trump comb over)

 

 

Secrets...

 



 

Man, you're heavy for a little guy...

 

 

Kisses...

 

 

Oh, and one not so cute one...  :)

 

 

Santa Scaredy Cats

Per usual, Rylee refused to sit on Santa's lap again this year. She did sit on the step (and only looks slightly terrified in the photo). In Jace's defense, he's actually more tired here than scared.  Ho ho ho!
 

 

Mater Mouth

These last couple of weeks have been busy for Jace...

He got his first tooth (top left) so I joked that he wanted his two front teeth for Christmas.  I guess he really did - the top right just started to break through.  Right now he looks like Mater (from Cars) with one big tooth and one little tooth when he smiles.  Adorable!

He had started sitting up, but was still toppling over once in a while.  Now he sits up for as long as he wants and can even roll down to his tummy (much more graceful than the toppling) when he wants to crawl away...

...which is all the time!  He's only doing the army crawl so far (although he's practicing getting up on his knees) but he sure is fast!  His favorite things to crawl to are: the TV/stereo volume knob, the dog's water dish, and the open dishwasher.  Luckily, Rylee is on Jace patrol.  She grabs him by the ankles and drags him away from all the no no's.  Jace thinks it is a great ride!

He's been saying "da da" for a while and just a few days ago, he started saying "ma ma!"  He likes to really over-enunciate the m's so sometimes it sounds like "mum-mum" but I'll take it.  Right now he mostly uses my name in two ways: when someone else is holding him and he's looking for me and when I'm feeding him his baby food.  Apparently I never shovel it in fast enough, because he yells at me between each bite.  :)

His one (slightly-annoying) new skill is screaming like a pterodactyl.  He's most vocal at dinnertime.  He really wants to eat with us and he lets us know it! 

There you have it - that's Jace (month 7)!  :)

Papa Visit - Week 1

I haven't been on the blogs since my Dad arrived.  We've been too busy having fun - not a bad problem to have!  :)

Thurs - Papa arrived (Rylee was disappointed that she couldn't meet him at the airport, but she did get to run to him outside), both my Mom and Jon were busy that night so my Dad had dinner with me and the kids

Fri- breakfast at Gaga's, relaxing day, delicious kabob dinner by the pool

Sat- Jon watched Jace so the rest of us could go to Lion Country Safari.  Of all the things Rylee loves about this place, her favorite might be that she can ride in the car but not be strapped in her car seat - such a novelty!  We saw the cutest baby zebra and fed the giraffes.  Rylee also had a blast riding the rides and playing a few holes of mini golf (she managed a par 3 - lucky girl). The weather was perfect (overcast and not too hot) and Rylee was a peach during the hour car ride up and back, playing her iXL the whole time (it was a true Christmas miracle).

Sun - We all went bowling in the morning.  I was extremely rusty so Rylee almost beat me my first game.  In the end, I managed to break a hundred (barely).  The boys went to the bar to watch the game so the rest of us hung out at Gaga's.

Mon- Monkey Joes (bounce house), Rylee's dance class, pizza from the place next door (they conveniently offer a 2 for 1 on Monday nights)

Tues- Gaga and Papa had a day to themselves, the kids and I went to Ooopsy, did our grocery shopping, and caught up on some chores.  That night Jon volunteered to watch Jace again so we could go look at Christmas lights (we have two amazing places a few miles from us, both of which have been featured nationally, plus we drove through Tradewinds Park and also a couple of other neighborhoods that are known for good light displays).

Wed- The kids and I went to Rylee's library class and then we all spent the afternoon at out house.  Gaga and I baked fudge and other goodies while Papa and Rylee played in the kiddie pool (the big pool is officially too cold for Rylee!).

Today- Jace had a doctor appt so I dropped Rylee off at Gaga and Papa's.  Afterwards, Papa babysat the kids while my Mom and I ran a few errands.  We were all supposed to go Christmas light gawking again, but Jon was at basketball and Jace was too tired.  My parents ended up babysitting so Rylee and I could go to those two fancy places again (there was a snow (read: foam) machine tonight so Rylee had fun with that).

Santa Letters

We finally got around to writing our Santa letters tonight.  Rylee wrote hers herself.  With spelling help, she wrote "Dear Santa" at the top.  The she made a list of three things she wanted, but it was just a string of random letters.

Me: "Tell me what you asked for and I'll write it next to your word so we make sure Santa knows exactly what you want."

Rylee: "Oh, Santa will know what I want."

Me: "Can you tell Mommy and Daddy what you want?"

Rylee: "No!  It's a secret."

She was not making it easy on me!  It took some persuading (and a few disparaging remarks about Santa's reading ability), but I finally figured out that she asked for a pretty necklace, an Ariel book and a toy.  :)

Next, we worked on Jace's letter.  According to Rylee, he asked for a "chew toy."  She wasn't taking any chances with her brother's letter so this time she was trying to sound out the words before writing them.  Of course, the beginning sound 'chuh' is a blend so she needed some help with the spelling.  When she got to the word toy, Jon was about to spell it for her when I reminded her that she already knew how. 

Me: In my best Sheriff Woody impression, "You're not a real Space Ranger.  You are a toy..."

Rylee (finishing): "T-o-y, toy!"

See she does learn something from memorizing her favorite movies!  :)

First Word!

A few weeks ago, Jace started saying something that resembled "Dada."  First it was mixed in with a string of his other babble-y sounds, but then it was its own stand alone sound.  I was hesitant to call it his first "word" since he was using it pretty randomly. 

Well tonight, he kept saying it over and over and he was either looking at Jon or trying to get his attention so I'm officially declaring it his first word!  :)

I've been working with him on "Mama" but when he tries he mostly just sticks his tongue out in an attempt to imitate the "m" sound.  Dang those tricky soft consonants!

So Big!

Jace accomplished some impressive firsts this week...

He can sit up now (or at least for fairly long periods) without topping over. 

"Look at me, Mom!"

 

 

His first tooth finally broke through!  It's his top left.

"Cheese!"

 



 

"Ok, that's enough now!"

 



 

"Well, one more... for Rylee."

 



 

 

P.S.  Jace did indeed have his first cold (alien green boogers and that awful croup cough), but he was a trooper.  He hardly fussed at all.  What little bit of fussing there was seemed to be more from his tooth.  Hopefully he'll be back to healthy for Papa's arrival on Thursday!

Behind on Blogging

I am WAY behind on blogging so you'll have to settle for the abridged version of what we've been up to.  :)

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap
Thursday
First off we had a wonderful, and amazingly relaxing, Thanksgiving with our friends.  Thanks go out to the Froyd Family for hosting!  Rylee played with the kids so she was out of our hair most of the day and Jace slept through dinner (we couldn't have timed that bettter if we tried).  Speaking of the kids, they practically outnumbered the adults (not quite, but close).  The kids table was quite the riot at dinner time.  It was fun to listen to their conversations.  And yes, my daughter did yell out "boobies" during the meal.  Good times, good times...

Friday
Friday night, we had our first girl's night sleepover at my Mom's.  We played games, colored, watched movies and ate popcorn.  It was really fun.  Rylee went to bed with no issues so my Mom and I stayed up late watching those cheesy TV Christmas movies we like so much. 

Saturday
We invited Jon and Jace over for brunch the next morning and then the kids and I hung out for a while longer since Jon had to run into work. Later, we spent a few hours hanging out with the Froyds and our college friend, Andy, was was down visiting. 

I don't remember Sunday so I'm thinking it must have been a relaxing day.

Last Week
In addition to running the kids to their usual activities, the highlights were:

- my Mom babysat on Tuesday so Jon and I could have a date night (Food Truck dinner -delicious!-followed by Xmas shopping)
 - my Mom and I hosted book club on Thursday night (huge thanks to my Mom since she did all the hard work of cleaning and cooking for me!)
 - my Mom and I took a girls day (no kids!) to the other coast on Saturday to see our friends, Greg and Sharon.  We spent the day shopping and then had a fun, chatty dinner before heading home.

The biggest reason for my busyness though is Christmas preparations.  Shannon's Workshop is only open from the hours of 9 pm to midnight so I'm behind on all other things: housekeeping, blogging, TV watching etc.  I want to have everything wrapped up (get it?!) before my Dad arrives on the 13th. 

I have some interesting Jace news, but I think I'll save that for his own post.  :)

First Haircut

Jace had his first haircut today. :)

The Before:
If you squint, you should be able to see a mohawk of oddly long hair.  (Sorry, I guess I could have cropped this one for you.)

 

During:
Gaga, giving me a cheesy mid-cut smile, since I was pestering her to look at the camera.  :)

 

The After:
Goodbye Dwight Schrute, hello Han Solo*. 

 

 

(*We've been watching a lot of "Star Wars" these days since Rylee is suddenly obsessed with them so I have Han Solo on the brain, but you can insert any handsome character you like.)

Just Jace

I haven't had a chance to blog about what Jace has been up to lately.   First off, he turned 6 months back on Nov 11!   Half a year down - already?!  :) 

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...
I had to post the following pictures because they remind me of ones I have of Rylee, except she was kissing herself in the mirror!  (Pardon the clothes drying rack in the background - it was laundry day.)

 



 

This one looks like "they" are conspiring against me!

 

Baby Scootin' Boogie
I already mentioned that Jace is steamrolling all around. Well the past couple of weeks he's added scooting to his repertoire. He pushes with his legs (and occasionally his face) if he's after something really good - like a stray dog toy. You thought I was going to say Rylee's toy? Oh no, his sister doesn't even let him look at any of those!

Chewbacca
Jace gave me his first kiss the other day.  He grabbed my face in his hands and sort of chewed on my cheek.  Considering that is what I do to him most of the time, he was spot on!  (I can't help it, look at those chewable cheeks!)

Foodie
Last week, we decided to try him on cereal again.  I wasn't having any luck feeding him so we brought in the big gun...

 

 

Even though he doesn't look like he's enjoying the flavor, Jace actually ate best for Rylee!  (In honor of Thanksgiving, this week he gets to try sweet potatoes.) 

 

 

Just the Facts

Below are his stats from his 6 month appt today.

Height: 28 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 18 lbs 6 oz (66th percentile)

He was a trooper at his appt again.  He didn't cry for his first shot, made a face for his second, and let out a little wail for the third.  He had finished crying by the time I picked him up and even managed to give the nurse a smile before she left.  He didn't make a peep when I ripped off his three bandaids.  By comparison, Rylee got a little scratch on her leg today and she could barely walk.  Plus she screamed bloody murder when I even suggested we take the bandaid off!

 

Snuffleupagus

It looks like Jace has his first cold.  I've thought he was coming down with something before, but then nothing really materialized.  Today he's been sneezing and his nose has been running (that's a definite first).  He was also running a fever tonight, but that could be the result of his shots too.  Hopefully he'll be on the mend by the holiday.  :)

 

 

Gaga's Back in Town!

Sorry I haven't had a chance to post all week, we've been enjoying our time with my Mom.

Rylee and I picked Gaga up at the airport on Sunday afternoon.  The first thing Rylee said to me when she woke up that morning was: "we get to pick up Gaga today!"  Then she proceeded to ask me if it was time to go to the airport every ten minutes for about six hours.  While we were waiting at baggage claim, she complained: "I see a lot of Grandma's here, but none of them are my Gaga!"  When she finally saw my Mom, she started jumping up and down and ran to her.  My Mom had to throw her things down (including the dog) to catch Rylee in mid-air practically.  :)

Monday was Rylee's "Gaga day."  We went over before breakfast and hung out all day until her dance class.  Rylee demanded Gaga make her a "dipping egg" since Daddy and I don't make them right.  She's eaten at least one a day since to make up for her time without them!

We made Gaga come with us to Ooopsy on Tuesday.  And then later, Rylee decided she wanted to go home with Gaga so Jon, Jace and I had the dinner hour to ourselves.  We all agreed it was eerily quiet without Rylee around!

On Wednesday, Rylee decided we should all go to her favorite restaurant for breakfast: Ikea!  She can only eat the bacon there, plus orange juice and a little fruit.  What kid wouldn't love a breakfast of bacon?! - no wonder it's her favorite restaurant.  (3 meals for under $6 makes it my favorite too - even if I have to give up my bacon to my daughter.)

We didn't get to see Gaga on Thursday since it was her book club night, but we did get to babysit Angel so Rylee deemed that acceptable.

Today, my Mom played with the kids over here so I could clean my house.  It was delightful not to be interrupted every two minutes.  Rylee also got Gaga to make her homemade dumpling soup - which she ate for lunch and dinner.  (She also made Jon and I chicken spaghetti!) 

We are so happy to have my Mom back for a couple of months.  As Rylee said: "it's just better with Gaga here."  :)

Silly Snipit Saturday

Rylee:
Last night we had dinner rather late so Rylee complained to Jon: "My belly's going empty!"

To her brother during a moment of frustration: "Jace, I don't speak cry."

Rylee has discovered "The Secret of NIMH."  She has watched it three or four times recently even though she finds parts of it scary.  She curls up into a ball, holds her lamby doll and covers her face.  It's the same position I use for scary movies if you substitute a pillow for the lamby doll.  :)


Jace:
He is getting squirmy and strong.  If you're holding him and he sees something he wants, he practically lunges out of your arms.  He's starting to roll when you change his diaper so he ends up wearing the diaper thong.  I predict he's going to be a handful when he's mobile!  :)

His hair, which was once so cute and only stood straight up, has been going through an awkward phase.  He's basically rubbed it all of on the sides so he only has the really long top and then a patch at the back of his neck.  It usually parts and falls so that he looks like Dwight from "The Office."  I'm thinking Gaga might need to take her scissors to it.  :)

Rylee's Thankful

Rylee had a little pre-Thanksgiving assignment for her library class yesterday.  She had to write what she was thankful for.

(in her words): "I'm thankful for Jesus, the stars shining on us, Mommy making me delicious food and Daddy too."

Rio, Jace and Gaga were all honorable mentions, but didn't make the list (because there wasn't much room to write!).  Later, in the car, she talked about how she was thankful for the rest of her relatives and friends so if you're reading this you were probably included in that list.  It was looooong... it kept her busy our whole drive! 

Speaking of Jesus, I have to recount a funny tale from the dinner table last week.  Rylee is pretty familiar with our dinner-time prayer so she asked to say grace all by herself.  When she was finished and had said amen, she was so proud of herself that she reached over to Jon, gave him a fist bump and then they both blew it up.  I burst out laughing.  I've never seen an amen fist bump before!  I think it could become a thing.

Speaking of Gaga, she arrives in 4 days!  Rylee couldn't be more excited (and truthfully neither could I).  We have missed her so much this Fall.  See you soon, Mom!  I hope you're excited to see the kids, because I'm so dumping them with you as soon as you get settled.  You see, I've also been missing my babysitter!  :)

Trick-or-Treat

I never had the chance to post pictures of what we did with our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.

Mr. "Pumpkin" Head

 



 

The classic "Charlie Brown" pumpkin

 

 

*Rylee has been enjoying "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" this Halloween season. She calls it the Snoopy show. 

 

Our favorite and hit with the neighborhood kids last night...

Mickey Mouse!

 

 

Speaking of last night, it was our best trick-or-treating experience yet.    Here we are before we left...

 

 

We went out a little early (around 6:45) and hit a few of our neighbors houses on our way to "the street" with the most Halloween decorations in our complex.  It was awesome!  Lots of people set up their tables and candy outside so you just went driveway to driveway.  One place had an elaborate table of skulls and creepy things.  Another place had a "scare person" dressed up in the "Scream" mask and costume.  Luckily he (or she) didn't scare the little kids, but as we were walking away, Jon tapped me on the shoulder and when I turned around - Ahhh!  It was the Scream person.  They got me good!  :)

We continued around the loop and then hustled back to our place (sometime around 7:45 or 8:00).  The kids and I sat outside and passed out candy for a few minutes so I could see some of my former students, but then the bugs and Jace's need for a bottle drove us inside so Jon took over.  He turned off the lights and came inside around 9:00 when our candy bucket was almost empty and Jace was asleep. The kids don't bother with houses that are dark so no one stopped after that. 

Jace was a real trooper.  He was all smiles during trick-or-treating.  Jon and I took turns carrying him because he couldn't wear his cowboy hat in the stroller (not the best costume planning on my part)!  But he wore the hat the entire time and didn't even fuss with it so he must have been at the perfect age for it.  He got to stay up late too so he was happy about that.  Unfortunately, he woke up at 5 this morning when he pooped.  Guess I shouldn't have given him all that "candy, candy, candy, candy, candy" (Garfield speak).  Just kidding!  Though many people gave Rylee extra candy "for her brother" while we were out.  :)

Rylee was ecstatic with her candy haul.  Her bucket was over 3/4ths full and even after we deducted all the milk-based treats, it was still over 1/2 full.  The third sentence out of her mouth this morning was "Can I have some more of my candy?"  She stayed up super late too - 9:30! - watching TV, eating candy and coloring (a new found passion - she stays in the lines and everything).  At least she had the decency to sleep in until 7:45. 

Hope your Halloween was filled with fun tricks and treats also!

 

Happy Halloween!

We've been busy celebrating Halloween all week. Yesterday, the kids had a costume party with Ooopsy the Clown.  Rylee went as Doc McStuffins this time (she's a Disney cartoon doctor of toys).

Jace still went as a cowboy but since it was so chilly outside, I skipped the onesie and dressed him in another cowboy outfit with pants and a jacket.

The kids posed with Ooopsy at the end of the show, but Rylee was half un-costumed and Jace was in the middle of a bottle (hence the rocket bib). Oh well, still kinda cute. :)

 

*These are all cell phone pics so not the greatest, sorry.

 

Today Rylee had another party at her library class (as Doc McStuffins again) and then did some trick or treating at the museum. Then we went to lunch with her new friend, Liliana (plus her brother & Mommy). 

Now we're anxiously awaiting dinner (spicy pumpkin chili - okay only I'm looking forward to it!) and trick-or-treating tonight.  Hope you're all having a Happy Halloween too!

Halloweekend - Sun

On Sunday, we hosted a small brunch for some of Rylee's friends. The kids came in their adorable costumes and reluctantly posed for a couple pictures before shedding said costumes to run wild and play.

Rylee chose to wear her Wedding Rapunzel costume.  I made the mistake of telling her that Norah was also coming as Wedding Rapunzel and that sealed it.  She said, "we can be sisters... step sisters!"  I don't think she realizes that step sisters never get along in Disney movies!  :)

Miller as Bumblebee (a Transformer) and Mason as Animal (from the Muppets)

Rylee & Norah - the two Rapunzels :)

The rest of the boys: Spider Man Caleb, Fireman James & Sheriff Jace...

 

 

The kids had a great time and hopefully the adults did too.  I panicked a bit in the morning when I realized this might be our first ever party without alcohol.  Luckily, Jon had already thought of Bloody Marys and Screwdrivers and Erin brought Mimosas.  Whew, crisis averted!  (You need a little alcohol to survive a party with 7 munchkins under 5!)

 

Unfortunately, the brunch portion of my party was a bit of a bust.  The egg bake turned out okay (I like it a little crispier) and the french toast bake was an epic fail.  It was good on the top, but basically raw on the bottom.  I don't think I've ever had a new recipe turn out that badly - especially in front of guests!  It was a bit of an off weekend for me obviously.  :)