Helper in the kitchen

Jace is usually ready for dinner before dinner is ready for him. He likes to be right in the middle of the food preparation and he likes to sample everything.

Saturday night Joel made French toast. Jace ate two pieces before anyone sat down at the table.

Things you don't want to hear at dinner

"Where nut go?"
While we were enjoying a yummy dinner of mango, pistachio rice Jace decided to poke a pistachio up his nose! Aghhhh!

3 days of Halloween - Sunday Boo at the Zoo

The warm weather continued to Sunday (Halloween day). We headed to the Zoo for their annual Trick or Treat event. We got there early and it was still very busy. Jace has definitely figured out the candy incentive for the costume. He didn't like dressing up but he got in the costume when he realized that was the way to get the candy.

"Shrick a Shreet"

I think the converse sneakers are a nice touch.

The scarecrow gives the lion a lollipop.

Only at the zoo do you see lions and tigers and bears waiting in line to ride the train. Jace absolutely would not let us leave the zoo without riding the train. He still tells everyone he meets "I ride train!" (Or "I ride combine.")

3 days of Halloween - Saturday pumpkin carving

Our Halloween fun continued with an afternoon at Sullivan's house carving pumpkins.

Jace helped sort the pumpkin seeds and tossed golf balls down the drive way while we hollowed out our pumpkins.

Jace didn't care much about carving pumpkins but he made friends with Uncle Pete. He also chased the dogs around and dictated what movies we were all allowed to watch.

Patrick and his friend carved a couple pumpkins before they headed out (in Patrick's new jeep!) to Pearl Street.

We didn't get as many pumpkins carved as we have in years past but we had a fantastic time, delicious food and lots of laughs.

3 days of Halloween - Friday night party

The Marsik's Halloween party was amazing, as always. Our Wizard of OZ costumes turned out great. Jace was the best cowardly lion. Halloween had him very nervous this year. At one point during the party Joel and I were trying to convince Jace to come out of the bathroom. He was comfortable standing in the hallway bathroom at Marsik's because he could see the costumed guests walk by but no one could come up behind him. Jace refused to participate in the rowdy kids games at the party but he also refused to leave when it was time to go home.

I'm sure next year he will enjoy Halloween more.

Frightening fireworks and fall break fever

We visited Wray at the end of October. I was on fall break and corn harvest was in full swing. Jace had been excited about visiting "Grandad's house" for weeks.

We rolled into town on Friday evening just an hour before the Yuma vs. Wray football game. It was a beautiful evening for a ball game so we all walked to the field carrying our lawn chairs and Jace. At first Jace was excited about running up and down the big hill at the edge of the field. We all settled it to watch for a while. Then Wray scored and the cannon went off. Jace freaked out. He came running from where he was playing and jumped into Joel's lap. Then Wray scored the extra point and the cannon went off again. It's a little blurry but you can see Joel pointing to the firework going up. He is trying to explain.

This is two seconds after the firework. A moment after I snapped this shot, Jace started crying and running back to my parent's house. He took off so fast it took me 50 yards to catch up with him. I could not talk him into staying at the game. He kept saying, "No, No! Go Home. Go this way." pointing back toward the house. Mom and I and Jace walked home (me carrying Jace). I would have been disappointed but it turned out the football game was a blow-out. Wray killed Yuma.

On Sunday morning Jace woke up feverish and didn't feel like doing anything - not even play with Grandad!. He was sick off and on for much of the rest of the week. It was kind of a bummer for our vacation but at least we were able to take it easy.

He was feeling better by the time Halloween weekend rolled around.

a painful lesson

Yesterday afternoon we were just hanging around the house. Joel and I were working in the kitchen and Jace had some cars playing under the kitchen table. All of a sudden Jace started screaming crying.
After half an hour of tears and talking, ice and Tylenol, sitting on Mommy's lap watching a favorite movie, Jace summed up what he had learned, "Bug. No touch it. Bite you."
That's Jace's version of "If you find a bee on the floor, don't touch it because it will really, really hurt."

overheard at breakfast

"Oh no Mommy, I sit juice."
Indeed, he had spilled the juice and he was sitting in it.

relaxin' on Sunday

Awesome Autumn Weekend

We had a fantastic first weekend in October. We really tried to pack it all in. We started bright and early Saturday morning at the Wizard's Chest. It's time to figure out costumes for Halloween and what better place to start. Jace was excited about the outside of the shop because the facade looks like a castle. Inside the store we tried to avoid the scarier Halloween stuff. We pointed Jace in the direction of the hats and sunglasses. He tried on some silly looks. Jace found some giant plastic scissors in the props section for clowns. He proceeded to try to chop off each of our legs. We left the shop with some ideas but not much merchandise.

Our next stop was the Fall Festival at Four Mile Historic Park. Parking was tricky but the festival was worth it. Jace wiped out running down the sidewalk on the way to the park so we had to clean him up and apply a Buzz Lightyear band aid to his wrist (The pictures show the scratch on his forehead that always appears in the same spot. He apparently leads with his forehead when he falls.) Inside the park there were stagecoach and hay wagon rides. Jace loved the horses. You could make your own scarecrow. Jace was interested in the ones people had left along the fences. We had lunch and explored the festival offerings. Jace danced to the live band. We sampled Indian fry bread and homemade root beer. Jace explored the pumpkin patch and managed to pick out one of the most expensive pumpkins (those little white ones are pricey). When Jace was too tired to manage anything more we made our way back to the car: Daddy carrying a pumpkin and a leaky bottle of root beer, Jace carrying a giant bag of kettle corn and Mommy carrying the other pumpkin while she tries to get a picture.

Today Jace fell on the playground at school, got a minor scratch and showed off his Band-Aid for the rest of the day.

He came home to find Grandma and Papa visiting. He made popcorn for them.

He helped Mommy and Daddy do the grocery shopping and managed to slip an item past us into the cart. When we got home Joel asked if I had decided to purchase the Silly Band bracelets. No, I did not!

Jace learned what the little Jack-O-Lantern bucket was for. I taught him to say Trick-or-Treat and when he went to the kitchen and said it for Daddy he got some candy in the bucket. He was super excited. It should be a good Halloween.

Joel had the forethought to lock the bathroom door. Jace was surprised to find it locked and spent several minutes trying to unlock the door using various plastic toys as keys. The whole time Jace was reassuring Joel, "Unlock it Daddy." (like he would soon rescue him from the locked bathroom)

There were some overly dramatic tears when the Band-Aid came off.

It was a full day around here.

Grandad's House

Jace had been talking about going to "Grandad's house" for weeks and we finally made the trip this weekend. We had not been to Wray since July and Jace definitely noticed. On the way out on Friday we stopped at Brush for dinner. Everyone in the small restaurant knew that Jace was on the way to visit Grandad's house because he talked non-stop the entire time we were there.

We had a fun visit. Jace got to spend lots of time playing with Grandad and getting out all the toys in the basement.

On Saturday we enjoyed a beautiful fall afternoon in the country. We checked out the equipment at the edge of the corn field (all ready to start cutting on Monday). Joel helped me gather ears of corn to take back to the preschool for our sensory table. Jace loved walking between the rows of corn. We had some yummy roast beef and watermelon and saw lots of 2nd cousins at the Kitzmiller BBQ.

Today we had a fantastic chicken noodle dinner at Grandma and Papa Courtney's house. After lunch the guys helped Grandma push start her VW Bug. By the time we got in our car to come home Jace was exhausted. He was even asking to "sleep". He napped most of the way home but by the time we got home he was asking again for "Grandad's house."

We will visit again soon little man. I promise.

Jace insisted that Grandad join him on the kitchen floor this morning while he snacked on crackers and milk before breakfast.

Daily Jace: Tonight I got out some wrapping paper to wrap a gift. When Jace realized what I was doing he came running over to check it out. He stopped right next to me and said, "That's cool." I wasn't sure I heard him right at first because I've never heard him say that before but he said the same thing twice more while he helped me with the tape. "That's cool."

long day

I spent about 30 minutes with Joel and Jace today. Between the preschool and my class tonight I had no time at home.

Daily Jace (from what I saw): The first thing he did when he got home from Grandma and Papa's house today was take off his tennis shoes by himself and ask me to help him put on his new boots. He really loves his new boots. They look so big on him. I can't believe how big his feet are.

Locked out

Daily Jace: He entertained everyone at dinner tonight by singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star then danced around the living room during the opening of Dancing with the Stars.

I called to check in with Joel during my lunch break today. I was curious how the Playschool drop off went this morning. Joel said it went pretty well but that they were lucky to make it there on time. 10 minutes before they needed to leave the house, Jace locked Joel out of the house. Joel stepped out to water the flowers on the front step and heard Jace flip the dead bolt. Yikes! Luckily Joel could see Jace through the window and was able to convince him to unlock the door. We will be making some modifications at our house this week.

He was excited because he figured out how to work the voice recorder in the car and could play back his silly noises.

a hot day in September

I'm so far behind on blog postings there really is no way to catch up. Maybe I'll find time to do some flashback posts. Maybe.

Getting a drink from the sprinkler.

We are settling in to our fall schedule. I'm back to work. The days are active and full and go by quickly in the preschool classroom. I feel like a week goes by in a moment. I'm also taking one class in order to finish one of the Early Childhood credentials that the state requires. Jace is at a childcare center two days a week and spends much of the rest of his week at Grandma and Papa's house. Joel does everything that would not otherwise get done. He works for Gary, takes care of Jace, packs lunches, cleans the house and still manages to run 5 days a week as part of his marathon training. It is amazing to me.

Jace seems to like the childcare center. The first few weeks were rough at drop off (again, Joel is awesome cause he had to deal with the tears). Now, Jace asks for his teacher on days that he is not going to see her.

This weekend was the last big sailing event of the season, the Colorado Gov. Cup at Cherry Creek. Joel spent two long, hot days on the boat. They were able to win Vern a trophy for the end of this season.

Last night Joel and I joined Becky and Justin downtown for the Great American Beer Festival. It was a huge event at the convention center. Hundreds of American Brewers were pouring 1oz. samples of their beers for four hours. The crowd and the noise was unbelievable. It was definitely an experience. There was such a variety of beers. There was a wild cherry ale that tasted like malty cool aid, a winter brew that smelled like oranges and cloves, a sweet bourbon flavored stout, a weird one that the server described as "smoky" and I described as "this tastes like a box of Band-Aids", and a flavor failure that was just called "Mango". My favorite of the evening was a Rye Ale from Montana. I took notes in order to remember some of what I sampled. It was a unique event that I would like to do again but one that I would only want to do once a year.

Today was long and hot. Jace is fighting a cold that had him coughing in the night. He seems fine during the day but has trouble sleeping soundly when congestion settles. He and I spent a quiet afternoon at home. He had a good nap. We went to the store to pick out snacks for his first day of Playschool at the church tomorrow. After sailing, Joel came home and grilled burgers.

Photo: He picks my flowers and dances with them on his head singing, "la, la, la." It makes me laugh so he gets away with picking the flowers.

Daily Jace: While we were making dinner Jace found a penny that I had in my pocket. He was excited because he knows that the mechanical horse at the grocery store takes pennies. He danced around the kitchen saying "horsey, horsey". Then he accidentally dropped the penny and it bounced directly into the furnace vent. Jace was a little sad when I told him the penny was gone. He moped around for a few minutes. When I found another penny in my pocket I handed it to him saying, "Be careful don't loose it again." The words were not even out of my mouth when he ran to the vent and dropped the second penny in. This time on purpose. Joel and I both said something like, "Well, that's it, the pennies are all gone. We can't get them back." Later, at dinner he asked about them again. "Where go?" We said, "Sorry, they are all gone. We can't get them." (in our slightly sarcastic parenting voices) Jace had a solution. "Oso get 'em." Joel and I both had to laugh. Oso is a James Bond like secret agent panda bear cartoon. He shows up when kids have problems and helps them learn how to do simple things like fix a wagon wheel, or feed an animal at the petting zoo. Jace is pretty sure Oso could get the pennies back in "3 simple steps". Thanks, Disney channel.

Outdoor artists

Becky, Dylan and Taylor came to our house for a visit.

We found a fun way to use the shady side of the townhouse and entertain the kids for about 20 minutes.

After these adorable photos, Jace decided to paint a purple glob on Dylan's carefully planned masterpiece and the whole scene ended in tears (Jace) and a speedy clean up.

I'd do it all again just for these few peaceful moments of artists at work.

Wray Daze

We love Wray Daze. This year was no exception.

Gary and Elaine and Aaron all joined us this year. Elaine, still in the cast from her ankle surgery, braved the weekend with her scooter.

Fun Night was hot and crowded but the ice cream and pie were totally worth it. Jace really enjoyed the live band. He and Grandad Doug danced until well past bed time.

Jace with Grammy & Grandad, enjoying ice cream at Fun Night. (Jace got coconut ice cream from home.)

Joel and Jace collected two full buckets of candy at the parade. Jace ate more candy than he ever has before and followed it up with potato chips for lunch at the barbecue.

Joel, Jace & Aaron crossed to the empty side of the street in order to get more candy. (Those are the two buckets that were full by the end of the parade.)

Joel and Jace wave to the tractor.

Jace and Grandad watching the duck race.

Luckily, he had a good nap and was ready for playing in the sprinklers and celebrating Grandad's birthday.

Play Ball

Tonight, as I lay down to snuggle with Jace while he fell asleep, he requested one of his current favorite songs, "Take me out to the Ballgame". I sang, he joined in a little. He likes the "1, 2, 3 strikes your out". I continued to hum the tune a few more times as we quieted down and got ready to go to sleep. It was silent for several minutes, then, as Jace rolled over and pulled the blanket over himself he said, "Play Ball!". It took everything I had to keep from laughing.

I have lots of cool photos to post from the last few weeks. Unfortunately, I've taken so many digital photos over the last few years that I have completely filled the hard drive. I keep getting "critical error" messages and Joel keeps reminding me that he got me a back up storage disk for my photos. I guess I have to spend a little time cleaning out the old stuff before I can edit and post anything new. Hopefully, I can get that done in the next few days, before I start back to work.

NOT safe in the backyard

I turned on the hose for him to water the garden. I set it at a low spray and stepped back in the house for a second. He turned the hose on full blast and aimed it at me. I barely got the door closed in time. After I documented the situation with both the camera and video camera, I began to worry about how I was going to get the water turned off.
He solved my problem for me. He sprayed himself in the face several times, became frustrated, dropped the hose and turned the faucet off all by himself.
That means he knows how to turn the hose on all by himself. Therefore, it is not safe in the backyard (if you want to stay dry).

A Saturday in Boulder

We found ourselves with no weekend plans. Joel was supposed to be sailing in the Aspen Open Regatta. Jace and I were going to tag along. It was going to be a huge adventure for all of us. It was going to be Jace's first camping experience (and our first time trying to camp with a toddler). I was anticipating the whole weekend with a mixture of excitement and dread.

All our plans changed suddenly when the owner and skipper of the boat that Joel crews on ended up in the hospital. It sounds like he is doing OK but he has several weeks of recovery ahead of him.

Joel and I decided that the long drive to Aspen wasn't really worth it if he didn't have to sail. So we headed out to find a little adventure closer to home.We spent a day in Boulder. We dropped in on my cousin Patrick at his new Starbucks job. We took a picnic lunch up Boulder canyon. Joel and Jace played in the creek. We stopped at LeaAnn and Pete's house so that we could see everyone and Jace could rest. It was a fun, full day and I got to sleep in my own bed that night (instead of in a tent with a toddler).

Jace spots the perfect rock for throwing in the creek.

Joel obediently fetches it.

Jace explores Lily and Patrick's tree house.

Uncle Pete won a new friend for life by giving Jace a wild horsey ride. After this Jace would not let Pete out of his sight and was always wanting Pete to carry him.
Patrick introduced Jace to the joys of sword fighting in the living room.

Dylan & Taylor come for a visit

I can't believe it has been a week ago now.

We had a great afternoon with Justin, Becky, Dylan and Taylor. Jace loved having friends around to play with. I loved having friends around to visit with. We spent a fun afternoon at the spray ground. Jace learned some new water fight moves from the big kids.

I hope they all get to visit again before the summer is over.

One of Jace's new moves was figuring out how to deflect the spray right at me.

I love the little girl in this photo. I generally try not to post photos with people we don't know in them but I thought this girl's total spray ground enthusiasm deserved an exception.

beating the heat at the sprayground

I don't want to wish my summer away because our lives are going to get crazy in just a few short weeks; but, it has been too hot for my taste lately. I like to imagine that is my Dad is smiling at the "heat units" and that this year the corn harvest will be over before December. That helps a little when I'm using half a bottle of sunscreen a day and sweating like a buffalo. (Pigs don't sweat so that comparison always bothered me.)

Last week we spent two afternoons in a row at the Greenwood Village spray ground. Tuesday evening we went just before dinner time and the park was emptying out as other families packed up to go home for dinner. We had the place mostly to ourselves. When the cloud cover came in Jace started shivering, too cold in the water. He soon discovered that he could climb the steep grassy hill behind the play area and terrify us by running back down. Joel showed him how to roll down the hill, which was only slightly less frightening for me to watch. (This is the same kid who got super nervous on the carousel.)

Photo: That's Elaine with her scooter in the background and the hill that Jace started playing on when he was done with the water.

Joel and Jace, alone on the spray ground.

Scaling one side of the steep hill. The photo does not do justice to the grade.

When we returned to Palmer's house, where we were spending the night because Gary was out of town traveling, the power went out. Dinner was a little crazy as we hunted for flashlights and tried to figure out what to fix with no microwave or stove. Joel found the camp stove and cooked some hot dogs. The power, thankfully, came back on before Jace went to bed so at least his room had air conditioning. Joel and I ended the evening with a trip to Baskin Robbins. Ice Cream is the cherry on top of any summer day.

New Fence

We have been talking about replacing our fence for years. It has been broken since we bought the house (almost 10 years ago).

Joel worked and worked and worked. The old fence posts were set in a ridiculous amount of concrete. The posts were also rotted and broken so they would not pull out easily. I felt helpless because I spent most of the weekend keeping Jace away from the construction.

Sunday night, when two-thirds of the new fence was in place, Gary and Elaine came over to see the progress. It was great to have the extra hands on the fence and eyes on Jace when Joel and I were tiered out.

Joel finished the third side of the fence last Monday and the finishing touches when on this weekend.

The new fence looks amazing. The gate is functional (the old fence gate never worked). The extra height makes the yard more private (the old fence was 5ft this one is 6). I'm so proud of Joel and totally relieved that the project is finished.

Joel sets the gate that he built.

Jace helped Papa Gary remove some hardware from the old fence.Then he pouted when it was time to put the tools away.