I'm a Big Kid Now

This afternoon we came home from church, had a snack and Jace went down for a nap. Yesterday we finished re-staining and putting together a toddler bed. Jace took a nap in it yesterday and did well last night. This is what happened at today's nap time: As we laid him down we told him to stay in bed when he wakes up and we will come and get him (this worked yesterday and this morning). He slept for at least two hours and then we heard a noise we did not recognize... As I went to check on him I could not open the door more than 6". It looked like his blanket was in the way but I realized when he got up and ran to his bed that it was his pant leg. When he reached his bed he turned around and said "oh, Hi". I think he made a record for the 8' dash. He had been laying on the floor looking under his door for who knows how long. We thought it was funny but hope he does not make a habit of it. Jace really enjoys his new bed, I think he feels a little more grown up.
Written by Blaine

Our Little Reindeer

Someone in Denver gave us this cute little reindeer costume and I was saving it for a special occasion. I don't know how the tag got misread, but I had it in my mind that it was size 24 months. Much to my disappointment when I got it out, I read 12 months! We decided to give it a shot and this is what we ended up with. It's a little short, a little tight, but still cute as ever. I guess I need to get my eyes checked.

First Name Basis

I supposed Jace and I have developed a close enough relationship to be on a first name basis--at least that is what Jace thinks. It all started a couple of weeks ago when I took a few moments to myself on a Sunday evening and escaped to the front porch. I later found out that Blaine and Jace took some time out and started looking for me. Blaine went throughout the house calling my name, "Ang?" with his little shadow right behind him calling out for me as well, "Ang?" When they finally found me and Blaine relayed the story, we got a good kick out of it. And still to this day, once in a while, a little 2 year old will call out for his mother by her first name, "Ang." We are currently in the process of teaching him that, to him, my name is Mommy.


Last week we watched one of Jace's friends while her mom was on a field trip with another child. I was gone getting a haircut, but Blaine told me that he came into the living room on one occasion to find that both of them had pushed or pulled a present out from under the tree, put it in front of the TV, climbed up on top and were happily watching their movie. Ever since then, that has been Jace's favorite spot to hang out.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

It's that time of year again- break out the lights and tinsel, it's time to decorate! My favorite time of the year and this year was and will be more fun with Jace being old enough to understand and enjoy it. He knows who Santa is and what he says, but also in our defense he also knows who Baby Jesus is. Jace has been pretty good about leaving the tree alone, although he does get some ornaments urges once in a while, but we combat that by putting plastic ornaments and balls on the bottom two feet of the tree. He really enjoyed helping decorate it.

Countdown!!...or up.

Jace is quite the scholar- totally into books, reading, questions, and now counting. After a little work and some number magnets, our little guy not only counts to ten, but can also recognize the numbers in or out of order. We think he is a prodigy, but we may be a little bias.

Slide Fun

One good thing about Tennessee is that you're able to play outside in fairly good weather in the middle of December. That didn't happen very often back home. It does rain quite a bit and our lawn stays pretty soggy so we put Jace's slide on the back porch so he can still go outside and play. I put the rug at the end of the slide after we discovered a sliver in Jace's foot- plus added padding can't hurt for this little daredevil.

Attempt to Dress Himself

Jace was inspired to go solo with putting his pajamas on one night. To say the least, we did have to come to the rescue. But not bad for a little guy- he is on the right track.

Thanksgiving Pies

We had Thanksgiving dinner with some great people in our ward. It was a lot of fun with good food and good friends. We were in charge of pies so we documented our creations. And they tasted good too.

Caught!

I was busily cleaning the house when I heard something coming from Jace's room. Upon inspection this is what I found. Have I mentioned that he loves to read?

Play-by-Play

You may recall one of Jace's favorite pastimes! Yes, I'm referring to the transfer from the ottoman to the sofa by way of acrobatic attempts. We thought we would offer the exclusive play-by-play for your blogging entertainment. We hope you enjoy your experience!

Living Room Campout

Again the boys were feeling adventurous, but it was too cold and wet to go outside, so they set up camp in the living room. We impressed even ourselves with the fort we made and ,of course, Jace loved it. Him and Dad got out the sleeping bags and flashlights and bedded down for the night. Unfortunately, sleep did not come for another two hours. Jace was obviously in charge of the flashlight, whether we liked it or not!

We Love to Color

Everyday I hear the same thing--color?color? Jace loves it! Anything to do with drawing, coloring, etc. He is really good at it too. He gets this look of concentration, his tongue hanging partially out of his mouth. He even holds the crayon the correct way! He must get this from his dad because there is no artistic genes coming from the Pickup side. So finally I just got the paper and the tape out and covered the entire table with it. We had a lot of fun and it ended up being our tablecloth for a few days (or weeks, but whose counting?).

Is Halloween Over?

Better late than never, right? Well maybe not, but I have put off blogging long enough so here you go--the cutest little puppy you ever did see!! We had a lot of fun at both our ward Halloween party and trick-or-treating with a big group of friends. There was close to 20 kids all together. Jace loved getting the candy and had an overflowing bag by the end of the night, but he did great and stuck it out all the way to the end!

Just a Friendly Reminder to Visit the Temple This Month

Received this via email from a friend in our old ward in Denver. Thought it was quite funny. I've already sent this to many of you, but thought it was blog worthy. Don't be afraid to comment and admit that you need to go to the temple more often:)

Age 2 Pictures--Close Enough

These are pictures of Jace taken by a sister in our ward who is an aspiring photographer. He was chosen to be in her portfolio mainly because of his red hair. I am still baffled by how she got these shots because he was not cooperating-- to say the least.

Phone Addict

And I'm not talking about me. Jace and I were outside a couple of days ago. I was staining our back deck and Jace was getting his wiggles out by playing in the yard. We had quite a bit of rain the week before and our yard is still soggy, but what can a little mud hurt? We were doing great and getting a lot accomplished. We then had to take a trip inside the house for Jace's personal reasons:) and he was too muddy to go back outside (I don't know how you can be too muddy to back out) so he stayed inside playing with his toys while I was right through the open door. Every once and a while I would call to him to see how he was doing and I would get a response like, " Aaahhh bbee ggoooooddd." So finally I finished staining and went inside to find Jace in our room with the phone to his ear. I picked up the receiver and heard nothing so hung it up. I was thinking he was just playing and the phone has since been moved out of reach (for at least a little while longer). I looked at my caller ID and saw that I had missed a call from Blaine so I called him back. He was glad to hear from me, but wondered what I needed. I asked him what he needed because he called first. He said that he had a nice 2 minute chat with Jace. We figured out that Blaine had called home and somehow I neglected to hear the phone, but "luckily" Jace didn't. He went into our room and picked up the receiver (Blaine said he heard a lot of banging around) and said "Hi Daddy" because that is what he says no matter who he is talking to. This whole time Blaine said he could hear me in the background so he thought I was there helping him, but we figured out that it was probably when I was yelling from the deck asking Jace how he was doing. All in all we got quite the kick out of it, but I am still in disbelief because we never taught him how to talk on the phone. I guess it's time for mom to cut back on her minutes!!

Yuck-O-Lantern

It's that time of year again--the days are getting shorter (but not cooler), the leaves are starting to turn colors (from brown to green because we're finally getting some rain), and fall (somewhat) is in the air. We carved our pumpkin for Family Home Evening and had a great time. Jace was not that into the cleaning part, in fact he was disgusted and freaked out anytime the seeds or orange goo got on him. It took a lot of persuasion to get him to finally stick his hand into the clean pumpkin. Blaine was the artist and carver and is pretty proud of himself. It was still light out when we finished, so we took it into the garage to light it. Jace again was unsure about what the heck it was, but he has since warmed up to our new visitor Yuck! (who should probably start counting his days!)

Crazy Kid

I had to think twice before posting the pictures with the curlers in his hair. If it makes anyone feel better, because it does me, he is very much boy! He is such a helper and just wants to be in the thick of things. He kept on bugging me to put the curlers in his hair and so finally I did. This was before his haircut, but his hair still didn't even wrap around the smallest curler. I don't know how they stayed in. He was pretty proud of himself and kept checking himself out in the mirror--he must've learned that from Blaine.
And then he came crying to me one morning when he found himself in a predicament after trying to take his pajamas off himself. You got
to give the kid some credit, he's got the right idea, just north and south are mixed up.

First Haircut

We gave Jace his first haircut on Saturday. There wasn't much to cut, just taking a little off the back and top. It was starting to curl when it got long. He did really well and I think it helped that it only took a few minutes.