Jace @ 18 mos

Jace had his 18 month checkup today and, due to a shot shortage, managed to escape with only a finger prick. Below are my big boy's stats:

Height: 34 inches (91st percentile)
Weight: 27 lbs (64th percentile)

*Just out of curiosity, I looked back at Rylee's stats from her 18 month visit: Height: 33 inches (83rd percentile) Weight: 23 lbs 6 oz (35th percentile)*

I feel like I never have time to post about Jace's adventures.  He and I have had lots of fun lately while Rylee is at school.  We found an awesome story hour to attend on Wednesdays (reminds me of Hallett's story hour back in MN) and now that the weather is nicer, we've been hitting the parks.  It's a bit of a workout chasing him around - he's a daredevil on the slides and everything else.  :)

Last Friday, we went to a park with a splash pad.  Jace loved playing in the little fountains.   Check out the new hands-on-hips pose he picked up from his sister!



 

Both kids made the most of their long weekend.  On Saturday, we had Rylee's best school friend, Kenzie, and her sister, Mikaela, over for a playdate.  Sunday was a fun park day with Rylee's friends, Alexa and Ryan.  Jace had a great time trying to keep up with everyone.  Yesterday the kids got some much needed Miller, Norah and Caleb time at Monkey Joe's.  We even braved lunch out at Panera afterward.  Fun times! 

 

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Fall Fest Dance

There was a Fall Festival in Weston on Sunday and Rylee's dance school had a little performance.  Rylee's class danced to the "Witch Doctor" song and wore their Halloween costumes as their outfits.  We decided to go with Doc McStuffins again since it has pants for easier dancing!  The pics aren't the greatest, but you can see some of her moves.  :)

Wave your hands in the air!

 

 

 

Not sure what this is called - a go go move?

Arm rolls (aka the wheels on the bus!)

The arm wave

 

 

They didn't really have a number choreographed, the teacher was just calling out moves from the side of the stage (which is why Rylee is looking to the side in all the pics).  It was still friggin' cute!

 

After her performance, Rylee got to partake in some of the fun like face painting...

 

games...

and crafts.

 

Weekend Update

On Friday, Rylee dressed up as Princess Leia again for the costume parade at her school.  A lot of kids were absent from Rylee's class (too much Halloween fun the night before?) but we got to see all the kids from baby on up so it was fun to see everyone.  Not sure if I mentioned, but her school had a big party day on Halloween.  The kids rotated through all the different classrooms playing games and making crafts.  They emptied most of the furniture from Rylee's classroom since their room was the dance party.  So fun!

Friday afternoon, we attended a park birthday party for Rylee's friend, James.  It was fun to go, but Jace didn't have the best time (he was overtired and missing his nap).  Luckily, he transferred to his crib for a late nap even after he fell asleep in the car!  Now that he's older he doesn't do this as easily.  :)

Saturday morning, Jon and Rylee had some father/daughter time at Home Depot where they tried the kid's project class.  Rylee made a Pilgrim ship - our new Thanksgiving centerpiece!  She even got a Home Depot apron and project pin.  They had fun (minus the heat from working outside) so I think they'll be making this a regular outing. 

Venessa invited us girls over to swim on Saturday afternoon.  Their pool is heated so it was quite pleasant and Rylee loves any time she can spend with little Madison!  :)




Sunday was jam packed too.  Rylee had a dance performance in Weston (more on that later) and then I had dinner out for Venessa's surprise birthday party dinner (the big 4-0!).  It was a great weekend all in all!

 - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

More Halloween

A couple more Halloween pics before we get on to November.

First, a couple closeups of my awesome R2D2 costume...

 

 

 

 

 

Jace, in one version of his Ewok costume.  The Ewok hood is actually from one of Jon's stuffed Ewok animals.  It was a perfect fit too! 

 

 

 

I forgot that originally I wanted Rio to be R2D2, well "Rio2D2" actually, but I couldn't find an R2D2 dog costume.  Anyway, here's a better look at her as Yoda.  :)

 

 

 

This year's collection of pumpkins.  I'm not sure what the toilet paper monstrosity was supposed to be (I'm guessing a mummy), but Rylee brought that home from school.  :)

 



 

 

I loved Jace as a Jedi, and I'm a sucker for the group costume, but I really should have dressed him as something that roared, ruffed or mooed (three things he can actually say!).  I was surprised how much he enjoyed Halloween though.  He actually tolerated wearing his costume, he spent part of his time chillin' in the wagon eating cereal and the other part walking and getting candy at people's doors.  He totally figured that part out and wanted to be part of the trick-or-treating action.  He was adorable!

 

And as you can see by their loot, both kids made quite the haul...

 

 

It took us about an hour and a half to make our loop of houses, and when we returned, the cauldron of candy I left out was empty!  I guess the kids didn't heed my "take two" note (go figure!).  Next year, I'll only put out half our candy.  Lesson learned!  On the bright side, we closed up shop and got the kids to bed by 8:30. 

Star Wars Halloween

Rylee loves "Star Wars" (like her Mommy and Daddy) so when she declared that we should all go as Star Wars characters for Halloween, we were pretty excited. 

Rylee knew she wanted to be Princess Leia from the get go - duh!...

... but the rest of us had some indecision about our costumes with so many iconic characters to choose from.  So, drumroll please, introducing....

...Jedi Jace

 

 

We really wanted Jace to be an Ewok, but all the costumes seemed too big, too hot, too something.  In the end, I remembered that I had an Obi-Wan-like sweater.  A few strategically placed safety pins and a dollar glow-stick light saber turned him into Jedi Jace!  I wish the pictures did his light saber justice.  It was a big, foam stick that glowed bright green.  Jon wrapped one end in duct tape and "walla" (as Rylee says), we had a toddler-friendly light saber.

I wasn't fond of the Princess Leia costumes they sold either.  I wanted to use Rylee's own hair (with the help of some donut buns) so we didn't need the wig.  This Angel dress was cute and super cheap.  A ribbon belt and the light saber her Dad made her for Christmas last year was all she needed to complete the look.

 

...C3P0 and Yoda

 

 

Originally Jon wanted to be Chewbacca, but when I wouldn't allow him to purchase the $350 full hair costume (go figure), he opted for "3CPO" as Rylee mistakenly (dyslexically?) calls him.  Poor Rio got forced (get it!) into this Yoda costume.  I couldn't resist, even though she only wore it for this photo op.  

 

 

 

...and finally R2D2



 

 

 I decided to ignore Rylee's request that I go as Han Solo (although in retrospect I'm not sure why).  I wanted a cheap costume so I looked online and found a do-it-yourself R2D2 costume out of posterboard, blue painters tape, and duct tape.  I went my own way with the "hat" - duct taping and decorating a colander.  I even added the three dimensional parts by duct taping on Dixie cups.  Although I look ridiculous, I was quite proud of my skills.

 

More on our Halloween and trick-or-treating success tomorrow, R2D2 needs to power down for the night.  Happy Halloween!

 

The Doc Is In

Rylee had a Halloween party at her dance class on Monday night.  Since she had to be able to dance and tumble in her costume, we decided to reuse her "Doc McStuffins" costume from last year.  Her hair is much longer than last October.  She looks more Pippy Longstocking than Doc, but the curvy braids are too fun not to do.  :)

Of course, Jace wanted to get into the picture too.  :)

 

Here's a blurry cell phone pic of her class.  Jake, Izzy and Cubby (from "Jake and the Neverland Pirates") are triplets (two girls and a boy).  Rylee adores those three!

 

 

Pumpkin Patch Pics

We finally had time for a family trip to the pumpkin patch on Sunday morning. We went early (before the festivities) so it was pretty much just pumpkin picking and fall picture posing.

We were excited to see Mater this year - a new addition to our pumpkin patch.
 

Pumpkin pics...

 

Not sure if these are exactly smiles, but close enough!

 

The "big chair" pics...

 

 

 

 

I have a love/hate relationship with this pumpkin patch.  Or rather it has a love/hate relationship with me.  Two years ago, mid-visit, my camera just stopped working for no reason and I had to buy a new one.  Last year, I fell on my butt (with Jace in my arms).  We weren't hurt, but it did happen right in front of my old Assistant Principal!  This year, Jon accidentally dropped my camera on the ground.  Next year I'm going to wear padded underpants and leave the good camera at home - just in case!