J's Weekend Fun!

Jace's weekend consisted of a visit from Aunt Erin and from Grandma F. Jace was glad to see Aunt Erin on Friday night and even rewarded her with saying her name TWICE! Grandma came on Sunday bearing gifts as usual. Jace received a brand new RECORDER! Yep, the musical kind you play in elementary school. Of course this is a gift only a grandparent would bring. Jace caught on pretty quickly and plays up a storm now. Ozzy's ears don't seem to be too bothered by Jace's play. Mommy's on the other hand, may annoy him. The thing came with a book of songs so Mommy has already mastered The Itsy Bitsy Spider! Anyway, back to Grandma's visit.... She also brought Jace cookies, which has kind of turned into 'their thing'. Actually Jace turned it into 'their thing' after Grandma forgot to have cookies for him once. She knows better than to come without them again! Grandpa F. sent some apples for Jace so he and Mommy made applesauce that was oh so yummy. Ok, Mommy made the applesauce and Jace reaped the benefits. Somehow Jace also reaped the benefits of Mommy's piece of cherry pie. The sacrifices we make for our children!
And finally, some pictures from Jace's weekend........

Playing basketball with one of the neighbor boys. Jace LOVES him!

Blowing bubbles with Grandma

Practicing his new recorder.....it looks a little like a cup but it really does make music (or something similar sounding).

Snuggled in watching the boob tube.

Who Can Resist....

A face like this!!!

Ahh yes, the blanket. So Jace has moved on from Elmo being his one and only security item to having several. Mommy doesn't mind this but it does get a little tricky in the morning trying to get out the door. Jace can't take things like this to daycare so it takes SKILLZ on Mommy's part to retrieve them, get them out of view, and get Jace out the door before he remembers!

Jace attended Mikey D.'s 1st birthday party on Sunday and had a great time! Mikey D. is such a handsome little guy and talented too! He is a master walker already!
Jace really does like Mikey---not sure what the evil stare is about here.

Hmmm. Again eyeing Mikey. Maybe it's the sippy he's after!


Not a lot else to update on. Apparently Jace and another little guy at daycare had an almost 10 minute conversation today. None of the teachers could get any of it but Jace and his friend had no troubles! Jace is learning so much at daycare and it is so funny to see him whip something out at home. Tonight he started doing some clapping thing he had to have learned in music. He would slap his knees a couple of times, wiggle his booty, and shake his arms. He actually looked like Mommy in the old days! Jace also is REALLY into his Thomas movie he got from Grandma F. This coming from the kid that wouldn't look at the tv for more than 2 seconds to save his life a month ago! The movie is over 80 minutes long and Jace watched it almost 5 times last weekend and has watched it every day this week. It sounds bad (like we just plop our kid down for hours) but seriously there is no talking him out of it! Mommy has gotten some nice snuggle time in though!

Go Panthers!

Jace decided to wear his Panther gear today rather than his typical 'Saturday Hawkeye Duds'. Unfortunately for the Hawks, that was a bad decision. The Panther gear proved successful however, as they won their game and Jace got to do a little tailgating.
Maybe next week he will try combing the two!!




And speaking of 'Go Team', how about them Cubbies!!!!!!!!!!!

A Little of This and a Little of That........

Things have been pretty ho hum around Jace's house as of late. He continues to do great at daycare and seems to be learning a lot and playing hard. His daily reports used to come back checked 'Happy' and 'Quiet'. Now they come as 'Happy' and 'Active'. He has also been giving Elmo a break according to his teachers. No longer is Elmo an extension of Jace....just a friendly face on occasion. Mommy had quite a few random pics on her camera so you, Jace's loyal blog readers, are in luck tonight!

We decided to turn the front porch into a sort of playroom for Jace. We moved everything out (i.e., old boxes and junk) and redid the floors. Then we cleared out our living room of the 90,000 toys that were cluttering it and threw them all on the porch. Jace loves it because he can drive his cars really fast on the floor and Mommy loves it because she has some space back in the house.

Jace is such a little sneak. The child will not eat fruit to save his life........most of the time. The other day Daddy had been eating an apple and set it on the table while he went to the bathroom. The next thing Mommy knew, Jace had climbed up to the table and was eating Daddy's apple. Mommy can relate--it always does taste better when it's someone else's.

Catching a football game with Daddy. Jace seemed pretty into the game for a while but Mommy knows he was really just in it for the chips.

Jace was able to stay awake until 7:30 for Daddy's volleyball game tonight. Daddy plays in a million different leagues but most of his games are played into the wee hours of the night. We are talking like 7 or 8 pm people! Jace cannot tolerate staying up this late! He did fairly well although he was upset after Daddy took him on the court between games......he would rather have stayed on the court and to be their 5th man.

Jace's morning routine consists of coming downstairs, getting a bowl of cereal, turning on the t.v. and tuning in to one of his favs....Curious George.

And finally, Jace's new favorite word......cheese. We know....this kid couldn't pick stranger words to love. It started with Chuck E. Cheese as he found this cup with tokens in it. Then he realized that when he said 'cheese' by itself he got that yummy yellow kind. So Jace has consumed probably way too much cheese in the last few days but Mommy just can't resist his little lisp!

Photo Shoot

Today is Great Grandma Austin's birthday so Jace wanted to do something special for her. As Mommy has indicated in the past, there will be NO MORE attempts at cute, fun signs as a way to celebrate special occasions. It had been a while so Mommy thought maybe Jace would be more cooperative today. No such luck. Below are Mommy's best attempts at a birthday wish for Grandma. Happy Birthday Anyway! It's the thought that counts right......







All of these shots were taken in about a 10.5 second time frame as Mommy wildly chased Jace around putting the sign next to him whenever possible. Mommy would also like to take the time to thank Daddy for his help in this endeavor (as can be seen in the background of pics 2 and 3).

Mid-Week Hello

Just a little update mid-week.......Jace is having an absolutely AWESOME week at daycare! He is such a big boy now sleeping on a cot! The last 2 days he has napped for at least 2 hours on his cot..........this is a step up from previously when he would only allow one arm on his cot. He would sleep on the floor on Elmo with one arm on his cot. Silly boy. Apparently he has figured out it is much more comfy to actually be ON the cot! Another reason Jace is totally cool right now is that he says 'yeah' to EVERYTHING! Amazingly enough he doesn't say 'no' yet. Mommy is willing to bet 99.9% of kids say 'no' first, but Jace is no run of the mill kid. Anything you ask him he will smile and say 'yeah'! We'll see how long that lasts! Our little bird has also decided to binge a little in the eating department--thank goodness! It is amazing that the kid ever grows with the caloric intake he lives on. He just has better things to do than eat! Tuesday at daycare however, he had 4 helpings of meatloaf! He has been continuing at home as he ate almost 10 chicken poppers tonight! Now that's more like Mama's boy! And speaking of Mama's boy......Mommy found a picture of herself at 19 1/2 months (just a few weeks younger than Jace right now) at Grandma and Grandpa's this weekend. It was eerily Jace, without spiked hair! Mommy just got her new laptop and has a scanner to go with it so cross your fingers she can figure out how to scan the picture in. You would swear it was Jace (with flat hair of course)! Actually Jace thought it was him!! When Mommy showed it to him, he said, 'Jace'. Of course when she shows him actual pictures of HIM, he says, 'baby'. Oh yes, and while you are crossing your fingers for Mommy's technological side to shine through, please cross your fingers for nice weather on Saturday. Jace is scheduled for his first real Iowa tailgating. Of course he tailgates in the comfort of his own home every week with Mommy and Daddy but this time it's for real.......at the actual stadium!!

Of course I know I'm awesome!

And this is how Ozzy's week has been................looks stressful huh

Giddy Up

Jace attended his 2nd Rodeo this weekend. Actually Jace didn't attend the Rodeo---Mommy and Daddy went ALONE--but he did get to see the parade and festivities. While Mommy and Daddy were at the Rodeo Friday night, Jace spent some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa F. Of course Mommy was nervous about him having a breakdown when she left but alas, he was fine. Not a peep. Ozzy on the other hand, was distraught! Apparently he paced the floor and went from window to door most of the night. What a dog!
Saturday morning Jace was able to hit the parade and score TONS of candy. Initially he was unsure of the whole 'parade process' but it didn't take long to get it down. By the end he was very unaware of the loud, crashing bands and totally annoying sirens coming down the street as he was only interested in picking up stray candy and putting it in his bag. Many of you know how the little man takes after his Mommy in the food area (i.e., junk, junk, junk and not much else).......the parade solidified that. Suckers are his poison of choice at this point and they were a flowin' on Saturday!
Sunday, Jace spent the afternoon with Grandpa and Daddy while Mommy was at a bridal shower for cousin Tray. By the time J got home on Sunday he was pooped! Luckily he didn't have daycare today so he was able to stay home for some post rodeo R and R!

Before Mommy and Daddy left.........Hmmm, he doesn't appear too upset!

Goofball, dork, nerd, etc, etc.

Mommy and Daddy sans child

Waiting for the parade to start with Superb Aunt Debbie

Looking with Grandma to see if the parade is coming

Taking full advantage of the parade treats---notice he is eating 2 suckers at once!

Glad to be home---loving the spiderman pj's--thanks to Davion!

Hiatus.................

Sorry for the long hiatus but there has been some sickness in Jace's household. First, Jace had the poops and overall icky feeling for almost 2 weeks. Then, Mommy got it---and still has it, which is why this post is going to be short and sweet. Even Ozzy got in on some of the action as he made a mess just in time for Aunt Erin and Tom Thomas to get in town and clean it up. Anyway, Jace is much better. Ozzy is much better. Mommy--not so much. Daddy--it's still up in the air. As was mentioned before, Aunt Erin and Tom were in town over the weekend for a wedding. Of course they brought Kona, who continues to grow and be more fun for the Oz-Man. So most of the pics are from their visit with a few others sprinkled in. Rodeo is a few short days away so Mommy MUST heal!

Kona was in heaven getting into Ozzy's toybox. He loved getting out every single old bone of Ozzy's and trying them out.

Kona going down the slide at the park.

Snoozin'

Gotta love an ice cream cone.......

....and a sucker!

Jace's foot fetish continues............he wanted to wear Aunt Erin's stinky socks!

Ozzy and Kona devouring their doggie dishes from the Dairy Queen

And yes, it's that time again! Jace in his Iowa gear for the 1st game of the season!