Our Family

Ace had his first HOMEWORK project. I was so nerdy-excited over this and wanted it to be perfect. He had to put photos of his family on a house that the teacher sent home. As soon as he got up from his nap we were printing photos. I knew I couldn't do it for him (as badly as I wanted to) so I thought my circle hole-punch would make everything clean looking.

Ace punched the photos and the white paper. Then I told him he could draw a picture of everyone on their white circle...it ended up more like scribbling.

I had some brads in my craft cabinet so we covered the pictures and made "windows" in the house.
Even Hula made it although you can't really see her in the lower right corner.
Ace used Elmer's glue which ended up soaking through the photo paper and giving everyone pink splotches in the middle of their faces!!!! I thought to myself, when Ace goes to school tomorrow, I'll just redo the whole thing. Then I came to my senses and just left it as the 3yr old's masterpiece that it is.
Here's the pic we used of Lily Kate. Looking more like her Daddy every day.
I had to take this picture of Ace because he's been OBSESSED with my iPhone lately. He can use it better than I can and I frequently find my wallpaper changed or my ringtones mixed around. He even called one of my clients! Yikes!

I LOVE this pic of the kids. Lily Kate isn't smiling very much yet but she will give those rare treats to her big brother.

My three loves.

Mommy does exist! (You'd never know it from most of our photos.)

Two more weeks of maternity leave then our world will change again. For now, we are really enjoying preschool and time together.

Precious Moments

Here are some of our funny/ memorable moments from the past few weeks:

Ace sitting across from Jonathan at the dinner table asks, "Daddy, how was your day today?" then "Did you have a good day Dad?" I melted just listening to them!

Lily Kate let out a blood-curdling scream yesterday (while I was looking at her). I ran over to her to discover she had a death-grip on her HAIR and was pulling it out!

We call boobs "minnies" (I don't know why) and we use the same word for boys and girls. Ace asked me if Lily Kate would eat from "Daddy's minnies." I WISH!

Everyone has given me such a hard time for teaching Ace that his you-know-what is called a "don't touch." So I tried to change it and teach him it's called a weenie. He was in the bath last week and told me he was cooking his weenie for me to eat, that it would help me grow "big and strong." Commence faint.

Ace doesn't like to be taken out of the car by the ladies in the car line at preschool. Here's our conversation every schoolday morning:
"Mommy, you take me in."
"School doesn't let mommies come in, only kids."
"Even you?" (My heart melts at this point.)

Wish I could get all of these moments on video. This is the best part of mommy-hood for sure!

Ace's 2009 Yearbook

Today is MOMENTOUS! I finally finished Ace's 2009 Yearbook!!!

I used Picaboo.com for Ace's 2007 and 2008 yearbooks and thought I'd look around to make sure it was still the best product for me. I wanted the ability to make my own layouts, determine the size of my text boxes and position everything where I wanted it on the page. Picaboo hadn't previously allowed me to do any of those as all of their layouts and sizes were set.

I tried Blurb and SmileBooks. I liked that these two offered complete customization but it was taking me FOREVER to complete just one month. After two full days of frustration at my lack of progress, I went back to Picaboo and discovered that it actually revamped its software and now calls it PicabooX. PicabooX let me change the size and position of photos and text, yipee!

One thing I absolutely love about PicabooX is all of the fun backgrounds. I'm sure my affinity for Picaboo comes somewhat from the fact that I'm familiar with it and can produce a book quickly. I also love that they are always running promotions. When I ordered my book today, I got 40% off!!!! (That meant that I saved $78 and paid $125 for his book. If I compare that to the cost of getting all of the photos printed at the store and putting them in a paper scrapbook, I know I saved a ton of money.)

Here's a link to my masterpiece. I will be eagerly checking my mailbox all next week for it!!! Now I can actually start working on the current year. (Since I've already taken over 500 photos of Lily Kate, I need to start the editing process early.)

http://app.picaboo.com/WebView/Project.aspx?clientID=f81c46b73ce54dc583536282ffd269ae&version=42957

First Day of School

In hot, humid Houston our first-day-of-school photo is a little fuzzy because the humidity got to the camera lens! I woke Ace up and started singing "I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it" which he wanted to sing all the way to school!

He indulged me with a photo in the hallway. When we got out of the car he wanted to know if I and Lily Kate were going to stay in class with him. I was scared to tell him no but he didn't seem to mind. Phew!
His little backpack is even bigger than he is!
Here's the play-by-play of him going into his classroom...
"Peeking" in to see Mrs. Maywald.
The teacher asked him to get his little lunchbox out.

He put his lunchbox in the designated basket.

Then he put his backpack on the table.

Then he found his name on a little monkey and picked out his cubby.

After he stuck his name on his cubby, Mrs. Maywald said he could go play and he said, "Thank you" and went straight over to all of the plastic animals he played with at his classroom visit last week. He didn't even tell me goodbye. I swallowed the lump in my throat and snuggled Lily Kate all the way back to the car.

Can't WAIT to hear how it goes!!!

Best Big Brother EVER!

Ace has SHOCKED me with his treatment of Lily Kate. He constantly wants to hold her and kiss her. He told me the other morning, "I'm going to give Lily Kate all your kisses!"

Right now, his big thing is for her to lay on his chest. He says, "Mommy, I want Lily Kate on my chest" and he pats himself with his sweet little hands. Melt my heart!
He really likes for me to tell Lily Kate about him. He'll say, "Mommy, tell her I'm her big brother," "Tell her I love her," "Tell her my name is Ace." This morning, we listed all of the things he'd teach her. His list included: all about Blue Angel airplanes, how to wear a hat, how to pee pee in the potty, how to kiss, how to brush her teeth (when she gets some) and how to play Transformers...just the important things I guess.

If I can just keep him from smushing her and poking her head. Wish I understood his fascination with those. Golden Rule: Never leave him alone with her!

But I am thrilled that they love each other so. She stops crying every time he holds her and just stares up at him with what I imagine to be complete adoration. I'm loving it while it lasts. It's not likely to go much past her ability to grab a monster truck!

Classroom Visit

Though I wish he'd stay little forever, my little man is getting big and getting geared up to start school next week. This week started with a home visit from his teacher. This was THE best thing that could have transitioned Ace into school. The home visit was awesome; I got to ask all of my "stupid" questions and his teacher got to meet Ace in his environment which made him so comfortable. I feel really fortunate for the home visit to be a part of this experience for us.

When we visited his classroom today, the ONLY reason he went into the room was to see Mrs. Maywald's familiar face. Here he is outside his school.

He was really scared to go into his classroom so it took us a while to actually get IN to the room. But he said, "Mama, I want to see Mrs. Maywald" and I peeked my head in the room and told him she was there and his face lit up.
Here he is outside his door. (Nope, he didn't have to go to the bathroom. Just posing.)

It was fun to see all of the stations they have set up around the room and learn all of the skills he's supposed to develop at each one. He gravitated to all of the animals (JUST like at home) and stayed there the majority of the time.

It was funny when he told me, "Mommy, don't touch my computer." Hmmm, he's heard that once or twice!

He really had a great time and didn't want to leave. He even told Mrs. Maywald that he loved her!

He impressed me by being very well-behaved: sharing, no tantrums and very little whining. Of course, he was the loudest kid there (no surprise as we have been asking ourselves lately why he talks so loud and so much). I warned Mrs. Maywald about his talking.

I'm so excited for him to start this little class. The kids in his class seemed pretty shy (Since Ace never knew shy, he should be good for them!) but really sweet and friendly too. They all stuck pretty close to their parents. I can't wait for him to tell me all that he learns when he starts next week!

P.S. Lily Kate was a trooper through it all. She just hung out in the Baby Bjorn the entire time. She and I are headed to parent orientation tonight. Wish us luck!

How it's going...

Everyone asks, "How's it going?" So here's an update.

We are alive.

Today was my first day at home alone with both kids. My head is pounding and I had a tiny breakdown (but got rid of it with the thought of a bath and the Bachelor Pad).

Ace doesn't want to take a bath with Lily Kate yet. I think he likes the one-on-one attention he gets during bathtime. Other than this, he's pretty much wiling to share anything with his little sister.
Jonathan and I are both trying really hard to make Ace feel special. Jonathan was convinced that I should get out of the house and go to the mall (on tax-free weekend...a circus). A carousel ride with Daddy was super special.

And Hula has not been forgotten in all of the excitement (although I think she wishes Ace would forget about her - he terrorizes her so).

Overall, Ace is a great big brother so far. He is constantly saying he loves her and wants to know where she is every minute. He wants her to tuck him in for naps and asks for her first when I wake him up in the mornings.

I hope his sweetness towards her continues. The only thing I've had to watch closely is he likes to snuggle/ smush her. He isn't quite as jealous as I worried he would be.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Hopefully more smiles.