Sleepy Bud

So, this morning, I put Ace upstairs in his play-yard and went down to my office to work. I turned on the baby monitor and he was playing away. About 45 minutes later, I stopped hearing noises and when I checked the baby monitor I didn't see him. Sometimes he crawls out of view but crawls back in a few minutes later. 30 minutes later, I still hadn't heard or seen him. I just went upstairs to check on him and he was SLEEPING!!!!

The Fun

After getting super messy with the smash cake, we just dunked Ace into the baby pool. He had such a good time!

Honey bought this blow-up, bouncy extravaganza!

The kids weren't the only ones to get in it either. Honey, Aunt B, Jonathan and I all took our turns getting in the bouncy castle with the babies. I don't know who had more fun.

The Family Turnout

On the invites, we said that prizes would be awarded for the most team spirit...I think everyone went out of their way when it came to their outfits!!!
Aunt Barby made t-shirts for her and Uncle James. The front had a huge 1 on it with a monkey and bananas (because everything for Ace now has to do with monkeys). The back of their shirts had "Team Ace" on them and they wore football whistles around their necks.

Meme won the prize for the best outfit. She came out of her bedroom on Saturday morning with old Walmart sacks stuffed into her clothes for muscles!

Aunt Leah was limited in her outfit choices because Braedyn is HUGE. His baby shower is this weekend and I'll post pictures of her belly.

Honey and Sunny made their jerseys. They even put their ages as their team numbers: 34 & 55!

Gabby and Pops had authentic red and blue jerseys! One of their neighbors went to school whose colors were red and blue and they ordered especially for Ace!

The Presents

Thanks Aunt Leah, Uncle Allen, Brookelyn and Braedyn for Ace's tunnel. He TOTALLY loves it. Ace and Aubrey were chasing each other through it on Monday when she came over. I especially love it because I put the tunnel on the couch at night to keep Hula from sleeping on it!

Thanks Honey for these cool blocks with everyone's photos on them. On Sunday night, Jonathan interuppted my bath to show me that every time he turned the block to Aunt B's photo, Ace said "Hi." He doesn't do it with anyone else's picture, just hers. Isn't our Aunt B special?!

Thanks Aunt Barby and Uncle James for the awesome car! He loves to turn the radio on and honk the horn. I pushed Ace and Aubrey all over the house on Monday and we will be going to daycare in style in our car from now on!

Thank you Gabby and Pops for all of the goodies. Ace loves his ball from Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Bill and he's getting really good at playing ball.

Thank you Aunt Hilary, Uncle Nathan, Aubrey and Brynley for the aborable puppy dog and clothes! The clothes are perfect for our everyday: comfortable and cute.

Aunt B and Uncle James we love Ace's new monkey. It was made for his room.

Honey and Sunny we think Ace's new airplane chair is too cute for words. I can just picture him lounging in it, watching football with his daddy come Fall.

Thank you Uncle Patrick and Aunt Leann for the signing catepillar. All this week I've heard Ace playing with it in his PlayYard upstairs through the video monitor I have in my office.

The Cake

Thanks to Aunt Hilary, we had a fantastic birthday cake. The cake man even made a smash cake JUST for Ace. The stadium was so neat. He even airbrushed little windows and gates onto the sides. The football was textured just like a real one. The cake man's name is David Halfaday and I totally recommend him!

Bluebonnets!!!

We took Ace to get his photo taken in the bluebonnets on Sunday afternoon. We drove up to Chappell Hill and found about 20 cars pulled over and everyone was out, taking photos of their kids, families and DOGS (yes, there were several dressed-up dogs posing for pictures). It was quite a funny sight to see so many people putting their kids into the Texas weeds - also known as bluebonnets.

This photo was a fluke and turned out to be my FAVORITE!

Here are some other good ones from our photo frenzy.

On the way out there, Jonathan said he smelled poop but I told him to keep driving because I didn't. About 20 minutes later, I got a whiff and we had to pull over at the nearest gas station. As I pulled him out of his carseat it erupted out the back of his pants. As only a mommy can, I managed to save his outfit.

Monkeying Around

Since Ace's room came with a monkey mural, everything we've bought has been monkeys. Well, it was time for Ace's first backpack since he's going to daycare so, of course, I went with the CUTEST monkey backpack I could find...

Ace's Honey bought him the lunchbox on the left that's shaped like a monkey. It's perfect for our weekend outings. The middle backpack and right-hand lunchbox I ordered from

http://www.aspecialgift.com/children-gifts.htm .

They embroidered his name on both his backpack and his lunchbox and let me pick the thread and lettering style. So, so fun! I'm more excited than Ace over his new gear.

Political Vomit

I'm so sick to my stomach with the response to General Pettraeus' testimony before Congress. Let's just do what the Democrats want and totally pull out. Let's get all of our troops home and then watch Hilary and Obama backpedal when it all literally blows up over there. I'm so tired of hearing Obama belittle our troops' service and call their efforts a failure. It just makes me so mad. I don't use the word often, but I hate politics. I am so grateful that our soldiers are over there keeping Ace safe. They want to get in office and donate billions to Africa - couldn't we consider the war a donation to Iraq?! Ah me.

HEB Children's Festival

Taking advantage of being in a big city, we went downtown on Saturday to the HEB Children's Festival.

Right when we entered the park they had this contraption of pots and kitchen utensils. I love the look on Ace's face in this photo! My second favorite smile is when he smiles through his pacifier. (Just FYI - My first favorite smile is when I steal his pacifier and put it in my mouth - I put it in backwards, I don't actually suck on it!)

The Festival had bubble machines everywhere and even a bubble van! Ace probably thought he was fixing to get a bath - we have a bubble machine attached to the shower wall in his bathroom and we play with bubbles every night in the bathtub. FYI - The best bubble machine that always works properly (because mommies know they never do) is at Walmart!

Those with a sense of humor will see the irony in this. The Statue of Liberty was handing out crowns in front of a stall that was blasting the Latino radio station. Oh well, it is Houston.





Ace did not keep that hat on for long. Despite our many attempts with cowboy hats and baseball caps, he is just not into having anything on his head. I'm not giving up the fight though.







Second Baptist had an entire section of the Festival with two stages, singing and dancing. Ace LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the puppet show that they put on. We must have sat there dancing for at least 30 minutes. There was a lady with a shopping bag sitting next to us and Ace was bound and determined to get into her sack! At least she thought it was funny.

First Day At Flo's

Thursday was Ace's first day at Nana's Day Care. It took me about two hours to get all of his gear together and get him fed. I had to WAKE him up at 8:15 to eat breakfast and go.

After loading Ace into the stroller, we walked the block to Flo's. She lives about 3 houses down from the mailbox. The fact that she lives so close is a huge blessing.

I found Flo's through our neighborhood yahoo group. I was asking for suggestions on daycare because I wanted something just part time but that would keep Ace all day. I got several e-mails that same day recommending her, including one from a mom that has moved but loves Flo enough to recommend her even though she's moved!

So Ace will be going to Flo's Tuesday and Thursday from about 9am to 4pm. She said that he didn't even cry when I left on Thursday. He played super-hard because he snuggled up to Jonathan last night practically begging to be put to bed. (Notice the two babies in the background of this photo playing under the chair!) She keeps 4 other babies ranging in age from 1 to 2 (with Ace being the youngest). I'm so, so excited. God just dropped this in my and Jonathan's laps and we are super, super thankful. Once again, I just know that the Lord takes care of us mommies!

THE RIGHT STUFF!

I hope that EVERYONE saw the New Kids on the Block on the Today Show this morning! I feel like a 12 year-old again. I smiled the entire time they were on tv. They look so much older but Joey is still cute as anything! Between NKOTB and American Idol, I'm in excitement overload.

AI comments for the week: I'm not surprised that Ramielle went home because I never really remembered her performances although she was super-cute. It's got to be Kristy Lee's time soon. I agree with Simon that those show stylists should be fired for Carly's outfit on Tuesday - but let's hear it for a girl who isn't a size zero. Jonathan's still in love with Brooke (has anyone noticed that she looks identical to Britney Snow whenever the judges comment on her performance). David Cook is my favorite. I'm intrigues by the rumors that David Archuletta's dad is a serious stage dad - he's such a sweetheart, I hope it's not true. I hope they do more of the "Idols - Where are they now." Way to go Dolly with Jesus and Gravity!