Jace decided he wanted to be a cowboy this Halloween. Joel and I thought that sounded fun.
I spent part of fall break working on Joel's Eastwood style poncho. We all found hats and boots and we were ready for Halloween parties and trick-or-treating. Jace did remarkably well at the Halloween party this year. At first he was scared and shaking as guests arrived in costumes. He hated most the little boy with a black robe and red, glowing eyes. Jace kept calling him "the ghost" and refused to go upstairs because "the ghost is up there". Luckily, once everyone arrived at the party they started taking off masks and joining in games. Jace relaxed and latched on to a little girl, about 8 years old, who was wearing a witch costume and a very pretty mask. Jace followed her around for much of the evening. At first she tried to get away from him but later on she and her friends started playing with him and helping him with some of the games. We all had a nice evening.
Sunday we carved pumpkins at Sullivan's house. The weather was beautiful. Jace played ball with Bella in the backyard. We watched the Broncos get stomped on and enjoyed Lea Ann's yummy chicken stew and apple crisp. DeeDee and Pete entertained Jace for much of the afternoon. Joel and I had time to carve our pumpkins and visit with everyone. Lily and Patrick are so grown up now and we have been carving pumpkins with them for a long time. 
Halloween was a work day but our school had a pajama party and lots of fun activities scheduled so it seemed special. I hurried home to get ready for a fun evening at our house. Joel did some fantastic decorating to make our home look spooky and festive with boards over the windows and cobwebs draped around the entry.
Gary, Elaine and Janet joined us for dinner, Dancing with the Stars and passing our candy. Joel and I took Jace out trick-or-treating to a few neighbors' homes. Jace was excited at first but got rattled when the first house he knocked at had a loud dog barking. After that he made Joel or I ring the door bell while he stood back several feet from the front door to say trick-or-treat. We had a fantastic evening. Jace really enjoyed all the kids coming to our door. He was right in the middle of handing out candy and wishing everyone a "Happy Halloween". 
I start this blog with a Halloween post 3 years ago. A lot has happened since then. Though it is not always consistent, this blog is the best record I have of the last three years. It's so fun to look back. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! 
Now we are literally counting the day's until our Thanksgiving vacation to Florida. Jace has a calender that he is marking off at the end of each day because he kept asking, "Today Florida?"
I spent part of fall break working on Joel's Eastwood style poncho. We all found hats and boots and we were ready for Halloween parties and trick-or-treating. Jace did remarkably well at the Halloween party this year. At first he was scared and shaking as guests arrived in costumes. He hated most the little boy with a black robe and red, glowing eyes. Jace kept calling him "the ghost" and refused to go upstairs because "the ghost is up there". Luckily, once everyone arrived at the party they started taking off masks and joining in games. Jace relaxed and latched on to a little girl, about 8 years old, who was wearing a witch costume and a very pretty mask. Jace followed her around for much of the evening. At first she tried to get away from him but later on she and her friends started playing with him and helping him with some of the games. We all had a nice evening.Sunday we carved pumpkins at Sullivan's house. The weather was beautiful. Jace played ball with Bella in the backyard. We watched the Broncos get stomped on and enjoyed Lea Ann's yummy chicken stew and apple crisp. DeeDee and Pete entertained Jace for much of the afternoon. Joel and I had time to carve our pumpkins and visit with everyone. Lily and Patrick are so grown up now and we have been carving pumpkins with them for a long time. Halloween was a work day but our school had a pajama party and lots of fun activities scheduled so it seemed special. I hurried home to get ready for a fun evening at our house. Joel did some fantastic decorating to make our home look spooky and festive with boards over the windows and cobwebs draped around the entry.
Gary, Elaine and Janet joined us for dinner, Dancing with the Stars and passing our candy. Joel and I took Jace out trick-or-treating to a few neighbors' homes. Jace was excited at first but got rattled when the first house he knocked at had a loud dog barking. After that he made Joel or I ring the door bell while he stood back several feet from the front door to say trick-or-treat. We had a fantastic evening. Jace really enjoyed all the kids coming to our door. He was right in the middle of handing out candy and wishing everyone a "Happy Halloween". I start this blog with a Halloween post 3 years ago. A lot has happened since then. Though it is not always consistent, this blog is the best record I have of the last three years. It's so fun to look back. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! Now we are literally counting the day's until our Thanksgiving vacation to Florida. Jace has a calender that he is marking off at the end of each day because he kept asking, "Today Florida?"
The special activities continued at home tonight where we are hosting Teddy the bear. We found him PJs and read him a story before bedtime. Jace's homework is to care for the bear and help write a journal of the Bear's activities while he visited us. 
The image quality is so much better than what I usually get. I love the stabilizing feature and the simplified controls. 
Jace was tired but he is always up for the train ride at the zoo.
I snapped this photo at mile 19! He was doing great and we had such fun cheering him on.
This weekend is the Denver Marathon which Joel will compete in for the second time. We rode the train downtown Friday night to pick up his race packet. Jace won a medal at a ball throwing game at the race expo then we walked a few blocks over to meet Palmers at the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner.
Jace turned 3!
A busy weekend trip to Wray where we watched the calf branding with Grandad,
gathered sunflowerseeds beside the highway,
helped Grandma Courtney start her garden
and celebrated Mother's Day.
Joel snapped these pictures of the little man getting ready.
He got a little help from Daddy during the egg hunt.
Jace carefully puts the finishing touches on his colored eggs.
Lots and Lots of stickers!
During the short carousel ride I snapped lots of pictures. I just kept trying to get an image that showed how excited he was. My favorite was this one: he was really hamming it up.
That's Joel's hand - good thing he is there to make sure the two of us don't fall off the ride while we are goofing around.
And here is what he looked like 7 minutes into the ride home from a super fun morning at the Zoo. He has a brand new elephant to add to the menagerie that is his bedroom and he is snoring softly.
I did not help with construction. 
It took a couple tries for him to get the tunnel wide enough for his trucks to fit through.
The first few days of potty training looked like this (every 30 minutes, when the timer sounded). The cartoons were the reward for trying. Now that he is getting the idea, we can spend a lot more time playing and not so much time worrying about trying to potty. 
Joel was trying to show Jace the way to hit. Jace just wanted to do his own thing. This shot cracks me up.
The last day of spring break, Jace and I spent the morning at home. I did some chores while he used the paint program on the computer and moved every book he owns out of his room and into the hallway. So much for getting any spring cleaning done. This afternoon Jace got a haircut and we enjoyed the best weather of the week by running around the park before dinner. I think we will have tons of fun this summer.