Pumpkins

Pixel decided to go as Elvis Dog!

Ace designed and cut his very first pumpkin this year.

Twenty One Months Old

It's hard to believe that my little girl is speeding towards two at such a rapid pace!   She's gaining such a vocabulary, expressions, beauty and amusement as her personality develops and every day is fun.     She has her first doosy of a cold of the season but she weathered it well.  

 

Firsts this past month:  jumping, first midnight snack, yes she woke up in our bed and her father was eating fritos and so M enjoyed a few and eventually returned to sleep after her request for more was sadly denied because they were all gone, finally letting us leave her bedroom after saying good night.

 

Yes, the sleep department for Mae is trending very similarly as it did for Ace.  For months we've had to sit for close to an hour sometimes until she finally falls asleep and we can creep on out of the room.   Still waking at the end of one sleep cycle 3-4 hours later.   Finally in this past month she's been willing to let us leave the room and sing her a song at the door.    She still gets up 3-4 times to request another song but rarely protests our telling her to return to her bed.   The freedom of my evening is a sigh of relief and a sign that there is light at the end of the tunnel for this conundrum our children call sleeping through the night!   This past month she once returned to wanting Piglet around all the time at bedtime - the month prior she wanted nothing to do with him.  She also attached herself to 'Bear Bear' a teddy bear and both have been required at night.  'Piggy' also occasionally accompanies us during the day places as well.  

Mae loves to play 'wee wees' (This little piggy went to market) and 'cake' (patty cake) and very recently asked me to do 'knuckles' and she showed me her fist.  hehe silly girl.   She asks to have her picture taken and LOVES to give hugs.   It's so sweet.  She's gotten really good at them too with the bear hug around your neck.    She LOVES her dada and spending time with him, but mama still reigns supreme.  She loves to hug her brother and spend time with him as well.

Mae loves to color and 'ride bikes' even if riding the bike involves someone pushing her, as she cannot yet pedal.   She loves to do anything her brother does and loves to watch shows.    She learned to jump this month and is full of energy.   She loves her baths and finally is feeling comfortable enough to even lay on her tummy with her brother in the tub too (which often is like a simulated wave pool with the him in there as well.)    She is pretty fearless!

Just before her 20th month we cut out mama-milk at nighttime and she's been doing pretty well with that.   She still wakes every 4ish hours asking for it but most nights is content to have a sip of water and return to sleep (usually in our bed after that first stint every night.)       She has entered the "broken record" phase which we are praying is short lived - you know the phase where she just says one word over and over and over again - yah it's super not fun for those that have to hear it ;)  but there are worse things and we assume she'll out grow it and we won't be left too scarred by it.

She loves to read, brush her teeth, and color.  She is growing up so fast and it's so much fun to watch her change and advance.   She loves to have her hair brushed and loves to have bows put in her hair - but they never stay there long.     She is a joy and we love her.

A Monsterous 4th Birthday Party!!

Yes, this year Ace turned 4 and with it we decided to have a monstrously themed and exciting birthday party to celebrate it.   It truly was his first 'kid party'  as last year we were in Mississippi and he had one guest his age at his party.  While fun it didn't have quite the chaotic and energetic feel of a true kid's birthday party and so this year we introduced him to that magic!   

What better way to have a monster party than to have eyeballs on... everything!   The wreath that greets the guests at the door, the table cloth, the party hats, the snack cups, in the jello!!! Eyes everywhere and especially on the cake!!! 

I apparently didn't take a picture of this on the door and I'm too lazy to do it at the moment.  :)

One of my favorite parts of his birthday party is the cake.  I love to try new techniques on cake and figure out fun new things to do.   This year I decided to try some piping.  His first birthday I learned how to tackle fondant,  his second was shaping cake and using spray paint food coloring (lots of fun!), and his third I used candy to create a story with the cake.    This year I used cake pops and piping to make a orange monster cake (and I also used some orange spray paint dye to give the orange a bit more pop!)   

 

 

For games and activities I wanted the party to have a free flow and nothing that I'd need corral the 14 kids ranging in age from 4-10 months old.  So I set out ahead of time to have different activities that for the most part could be unsupervised and accomplished without much assistance.    So for that I created a photo booth and used Ace's camera he got for Christmas last year as the main device to take pictures with so the kids could do it themselves.   I found monster eyes at a local party store, used an orange sheet as the backdrop and then bought some monster mouths here and taped them to straws to hold them.   Tossed in a few accessories and created a few monster cut outs which I drew freehand and then painted the week leading up to the party.    Oh the fun!  

They look thrilled - lol I think Ace was not happy to be asked to stand still.  :) Kaylee was suspect.

The camera wandered away from the photobooth which is fine - it got a great perspective of the party!

 I created a coloring wall and drew on a large piece of paper several monsters that could be colored.   A lot of these monsters I drew using examples on the Internet, but I free handed them.   Spiced it up with the Happy Birthday and painted the letters using the water colors and stapled it to the fence.  A bucket of $1 worth of crayons and a whole activity made for under $2! :)  Quite the hit - although I am still finding a few crayon pieces in the yard!

The next activity was SLIME!  Yep set up a station and used the slime that Ace had already enjoyed playing with and put out a few aprons.  This activity probably could have used a bit more supervision as ultimately it ended up in a few kid's hair and used as a chasing device around the yard.... so since it is made with chemicals the dog probably shouldn't ingest there was a bit of a walking activity for some adults and myself later in the party to verify all large chunks were picked up... it was a hit though!

 Final activity that I put together was a bean bag toss.   I drew a monster and my husband constructed the actual bean bag tossing structure.   I also sewed 8 bean bags using some adorable monster fabric that I found at a local store and filled them with rice so if those broke open no big deal.   The kids loved this - and as I suspected having more bean bags would have been a good idea but I ran out of time!  :)

For both Ace and Mae (and myself, hehe) I made appliques and put them onto shirts for them to wear at the party.  Myself, I had some monster fur and hair extensions - we were quite a wild bunch! Dad was pretty 'normal'  :)   Ace had a great time and was running all over the place and at one point screamed as he was running around "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!"   Made me smile.    It really was a good day!

What party is complete without presents!!   Ace received his present earlier this month in the form of a play structure.  It was a huge hit with the kids at the party and both Ace and Mae LOVE it.   It was another free-form of entertainment to keep the kiddos happy!    His friends brought presents too and boy oh boy was he excited about all of them!  

As the party favor we had a station to 'Adopt a Monster'  - yes the day before I took four hours of my morning and made 15 monsters for the party guests to adopt and I did pretty well with my calculations and everyone (even Ace and Mae) had a monster to take home.  Whew!   Me and my mad skillz with felt.  hehe each monster was different.  Sadly the best photo I have of all of them is a cell phone pic, but better than nothing!  :)

and as the party came to a close I grabbed one more picture with my FOUR year old boy!  

***Courtesy reminder - if you wish to pin this to Pinterest PLEASE DO NOT PIN PHOTOS THAT CONTAIN FACES OF KIDS.  There are plenty of alternative pictures!   Thank you!!***

It's coming...

 

Fall is on its way... as are more posts:

The Monsterous 4th Birthday Party

Ace's 4th year in video

First Day of Pre-K!

Mae turning 20 months old!

Stay tuned!

Four Years Old

Four!?  Yes Ace has had a wonderful fourth year on this planet and I couldn't be more proud of him.    He started out his fourth year in Mississippi and it comes to a close back in the NW.   He's quite the U.S. traveler! When we last checked in with Ace he was as busy as ever.  No slowing down since then.  :)

New things for his fourth year:   Potty trained (day and night!),  fully independent and sleeping through the night after we say good night (YAY! HOORAY!! REJOICING!!!), a *big* boy bed, first professional haircut, first filling, and preschool!

Yes, the Monday after he turned 3 I told him that all the diapers disappeared.  I prepped him all of August, made it a big exciting deal that potty training full force was happening and it was.   He of course did great.  Early progress can be read about here.  Overall, he's done great.  In January I decided that he had done so well with the night time pullups (I couldn't remember the last time he had peed in one in weeks and weeks) and so I told him when they ran out they were all gone.  They ran out the beginning of February and we've not had one accident.    A fully potty trained and self-sufficient pottier is what we have now!  Hooray.  Hopefully this marks the end of toilet talk for our eldest son! :)

In general I am in awe at how smart Ace truly is.  He uses sentences like "Actually mom if given a choice, I choose to do this because it seems like the best choice."  or "I just assumed we would be there shortly and that was why I made the decision not to take a nap in the car."  I know adults that aren't that articulate!  He is a sponge for language and words.   Every now and then he still has something just ever so off in his vocabulary or phrasing.   Our dog he calls "Pixeled", he still refers to yogurt as logurt.  It drives his father crazy because it is true Ace when pressed will properly call it yogurt, I find it endearing and cling to the shred of toddler he ever had in the first place when it comes to language.   My favorite misstep in language though has to be the dirty hamster.  I nearly die laughing every time he says it and since it's not a regularly discussed topic in our house I forget about it and it makes it all that much more funny... because honestly how often does one talk about the dirty clothes hamper?  hehe dirty hamster!  I love it! :)   He often thinks faster than his words coming out of his mouth and so this leads to a jumbled repetition of the early phrase of whatever his sentence is while he works out the rest of his thoughts.   Patience is key in these moments, but sometimes we have him stop and think and then speak.  :)

Ace has such a kind heart and it only continues to grow.  He has great patience for his sister - in spite of her right on track status of a younger sibling.   Don't get me wrong they still have struggle wars over non-sharing,  he still gets frustrated when his sister hits him, stands in his way of tv, etc.. but on the grand scheme of things he is quite the loving brother.   He is good to share with other kids in school, church, and play dates - yet doesn't let himself get bullied either.    He has a kind heart toward 'other kids' that are in need and is generous at giving away toys to others.   A sign perhaps he has too many toys himself, but I've known plenty of kids that have too many and still don't want to share with the less fortunate.  If I have to choose one I'll take the kind hearted motivation.   I think one of my favorite things is that on Loving Husband's birthday Ace came running in the moment he woke up and said 'Happy Birthday, Dad!' and then ran off to go potty (typically the first thing he does every morning.)  It was so sweet!  Made me smile, and I'm sure it made his dad smile too.    He is very good at giving positive feedback to others as well.   We were coloring something the other day (he, myself, and his sister) and he was quite the motivator.  "You're doing a great job, mom!  That looks really nice.  Sister's is very pretty too!"  I of course returned the compliment on his fine work as well.    

In this last year Ace has gone through waves of gratefulness and ungratefulness.  It's a learning curve for sure between entitlement and appreciation.    We had a few bumps but for the most part Ace is very quick to tell me thank you and to show me that he appreciates the things and activities that I do for him.  Loving Husband tends to get a shorter end of that stick and we're not entirely sure why other than maybe Ace doesn't feel he needs to provide as much feedback to his dad.  It's a current existing question mark as we trudge into Year FIVE.

Ace is growing!   In this last year he has gained 3lbs and grown 2.5" topping off at 32lbs and 39.5" in the charts.  The end of spring was met with a huge growth spurt that resulted in the need for new shoes.  The others made it about nine months.  Not bad.  :)  In all this growth somewhere along the way his car bed just became impractical!   Every night we'd hear him thumping his arm, leg, head, hand... everything on the side of that small toddler bed.   The next morning he'd complain my ___ hurts.  Poor kid was beating himself up!  So we knew we needed to upgrade.  I looked at a twin but figured that width wise and his star-fish sleeping habits that it wouldn't last long either and so we jumped head first into a full-size bed!  Yep my giant 3.5 year old now slept in this bed that made him look tiny... and I loved it!   He still looks pretty small once again after another summer growth spurt but that first night or so he looked utterly tiny to me and I cherished it!   Sleeping through the night has been in full swing most of this past year - but around 3.5 he was in massive stall before bed mode.   Thankfully as a general rule that has been eliminated and he is pretty easy to put to bed.   Napping is about 70/30 these days with 70% of the time no nap occurring.  For the most part I'd say he still NEEDS the nap but he avoids it and I don't push it unless it's dire.   I suspect in a few months they will cease entirely.

Ace started preschool in January.  We waited until January since our return from Mississippi landed smack in the fall semester and we didn't want to just throw him in right when we returned.  We wanted to ease him back into the NW and give him a good start in preschool.   Overall it was a great experience for his 2 days a week half day program.   He made one really good friend and the two of them started on the same day.  Ace loved school, being able to take a toy to show and tell on a few occasions, being the "special leader" and doing the music program there.   It was so great to attend my first Mother's Day program and his first graduation!   This mommy couldn't be more proud to watch my son sing (and squirm) on stage and sing to us. 

As far as favorite things goes his dad ranks #1 for sure.   He always wants to know where he is, when is he coming home, when is it the weekend and he's STAYING home?  It's adorable.   He has declared that his favorite song "is that one that says 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' you know that one that girl sings"  Yes, it's true Ace's favorite song is Stronger by Kelly Clarkson at the moment. :)  A favorite series of phrases he's been on a roll with lately have been along these lines  "Sometimes I like to do stuff with just you, me and sister; and sometimes I like to do things with just me and you; and sometimes I like to do things just me and dad... yah."  He alters the the order, the coupling of people, etc but he always seems to say it in this soft and sweet voice sometimes with his head tilted and his eyes squinted.   It's adorable.    I also love his phrase "That's so sweet of you."    Ace is a people pleaser and is always trying to make those around him happy.   As I've said he has a very kind heart!

It's been a great fourth year for our little man.   He's kind, sweet, nervous at times, strong willed, opinionated, and full of energy and we love it all.  I love that he's so aware, engaged, and loves his family.    He loves to do 'something special'  nearly every day and as a mommy I try my best to find fun activities that create lasting memories, lessons, and excitement.   I can't wait to see what year five has for us!!!

1. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE T. V. SHOW? Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Meeeee (said singing.)

2. WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST?  (Skipped this question as we were still in bed and had yet to have breakfast and I wanted him to focus and finish... mentioning breakfast would have not worked in my favor.)

3. WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE NAME? He repeated his whole name (No just your middle one.) I don't know.

4. FAVORITE FOOD? Apples.

5. WHAT FOOD DO YOU DISLIKE? Avocado.

6. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? Black

7. FAVORITE LUNCH?  Apples (Seriously, what else?) Peanut butter and jelly (Hmm maybe I should make that more as I can't recall anytime recently that I made it.)

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING TO DO? Go out with my dad.

9. IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD ON VACATION, WHERE WOULD YOU GO? The owl park! (said with enthusiasm and it a park near our house, sounds like a cheap vacation and same vacay as last year.)

10. FAVORITE SPORT? Soccer.

11. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY? August 24th!!!!!

12. ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT PERSON? A daytime to person that loves to eats apples.

13. PETS: Yah, Pixel.

14. ANY NEW AND EXCITING NEWS YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH US? Um... I don't know.  We don't really have that kind of stuff.  You guys do but I don't know I don't... I mean my birthday is exciting!

15. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP ? I don't know yet.  I just don't know yet. (An improvement from last year where 'nothing' often was the winning 'choice' for a profession.)

16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CANDY? Blueberries!!!! (That's not a candy) The red things that are in red packages. (Skittles?) Oh yah Skittles. (He hasn't had them in months, but sure why not.)

17. WHERE IS THE FURTHEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN FROM HOME? Mississippi!

18. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK? The King and His Six Friends  (He and his dad do read this one together.)

19. WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?  I don't know... spending time with you?  (I'm not looking for a RIGHT answer but that's sweet.)

20. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE?  The Avengers with dad (He hasn't actually seen the movie - he just watches episodes of the cartoon with his father.  But in general  he has abandoned movies a lot in place of many many episodes of a variety of tv programs)

21. WHICH CAME FIRST, THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG? I don't know... The chicken... or the egg.  The chicken came out of an egg and grew up into a chicken. 

Nineteen Months old

Mae this month has really expanded her vocabulary.  Including her first phrase of "Hep me!" (Help me!)  It started out as one word but I think she now recognizes that it is two words.   I have since lost track of every new word she has but some of my favorites whether new or old are:  Luv you,  tick-all (tickle), Pix-uhl (Pixel), and Mommy! 

New things for Mae in her 19th month:  her first ice cream - which now she asks for regularly "creeeam... bowl... taebull(table)"  It's cute and watching her eat the sticky mess was a lot of fun too!

She sings in church, loves to dance when there is music on, folds her hands to pray - and constantly say 'more' when any of it ends because she always wants more singing, dancing, and praying.   I  love it! 

She LOVES her brother and wants to do everything he does.  He makes her laugh and she is pretty good to not bother him TOO much.   Mae loves to do school just as much as her brother and we sit at the dining room table with her in her high chair and do school all together.  :)

Mae is still itty bitty in size but she's feeling heavier and I'm  happy for that that she's growing!  She LOOKS bigger and as of today (even though I'm woefully late on posting her 19 month blog!)  She was 18lbs and 1oz!  Hooray!   She also has had seven weeks of totally healthy and I'm so thankful that we've avoided any summer colds!!

This past month has also been an experience with tantrums.  Mae also has received a few more time outs this month.  A time out for Mae is in the Pack-N-Play.  Since she sleeps in her bed or our bed, the PnP is really only for TOs.   She's nearly 2 now so the time out is 2 minutes.   On one venture to the pnp she decided to strip all her clothes off in protest.   Silly girl... a few days later she upped the atte and stripped off the diaper too and then fell asleep.  lol.   She was out cold and so I was able to put a new diaper on her before any accidents occurred but oh my!    Never a dull moment!!!

I cannot believe that we're rapidly approaching her second birthday.   With the holidays looming that milestone will arrive even more quickly!    She's a joy and SO happy! She wakes up with her BIG EYES and just smiles as bright as the sun.   She still loves her mama milk and to snuggle next to me all night.    Can't wait to see what is next for her!

Mae recently has been able to recognize TWO of something and can hold up two finger - she often wants TWOOOOOO crackers.   She can count two things.. although not ... 1, 2... just look at it and say TWO!  Very happy with a giant smile.  :) 

Mae's teeth count of fully in teeth is 5, but she's got 3 more broken through and descending rapidly, one of those being a molar.  The other molars are just about to break through and we're looking forward to that so that she can enjoy eating more variety in foods with better ease!    Eating wise she does ok - still eats like a bird many meals but then at other times we're wondering where on earth she's putting it!  Quite the adventure!!

Happy Birthday, Ace!

I can't believe you're four!   More to come... but for now mommy needs to sleep!  I have a monsterous list of things to accomplish before your Monster Party in roughly 14 hours!  I love you!