World Cup Crazy

Our house is all about soccer right now. For the past month, with our contractor-marathon, soccer has been the only time Ace and I have gotten out of the house (Thanks to Jonathan who actually left work early so that we could make it to class twice!).

Here's Ace sporting the Greek soccer uniform that Daddy bought him when we were in Athens last year. It fits him at the perfect time. We watched Greece play Korea and Ace was excited that he was dressed just like the players on tv.

Here is Ace waiting patiently at soccer class for his coach to come throw his hula hoop so he can run after it. This is a big development - following directions.
Then a set back - not following directions. Hey, he's THREE! I wish I could just lay down whenever and wherever I wanted and rest.

This face cracked me up. I laugh throughout the entire class.

I love the last few seconds of this video. You can tell that Jonathan and I are big on praise because Ace has started to praise himself!

Memorial Adventures

Honey and Sashi visited over the weekend and took us all down to Moody Gardens' Aquarium and Rainforest. Ace was in fine form, running from exhibit to exhibit with total enthusiasm and wanting us to see everything.

The penguins:

Loving on his Honey.
I'm ever wanting a family photo. Jonathan can't see, Ace isn't looking and I need to work on my posture! I call this one a success.

All smiles on the way home. We really thought he'd fall asleep in the car on the way home. Nope. He was a chatterbox the ENTIRE way home while Honey tried to sleep.

(I rectified his shaggy hair on Monday. Didn't realize it was THAT bad!)

Jus cus

I've just been feeling guilty for not updating the blog lately so here's random pictures off my camera. We've really been up to nothing. Went to Willies for Mother's Day. I just love his face in this photo...need to crop my yucky face out.

Tried to get Ace interested in his bike but he just wanted me to push him around on it. Doesn't matter, he looks super cute in his gear.
Ace started soccer on Monday - an hour of laughs.

Just loving lazy summer days. Too lazy to get out the camera even.

Bye Bye Pacifier

Been gone from the blogging world WAY too long. Had to make it through busy season at work, plan Ace's birthday party (which I can hopefully blog about later) and went to Cancun for a week to recover. Came home from Mexico and we decided it was finally time to get rid of the pacifier.

I have been DREADING this moment for so long. I was SOOOO tired of random people (and some male family members) telling me that I need to get rid of the paci. Those people and men didn't offer any help, only their judgement of my parenting. Yes, I got bitter about it.

Had to make sure Ace understood exactly what we were doing...

Mommy, Lily Kate and Ace walking to Baby Braxton's house and waving at Daddy. (Yikes, can certainly see those extra 30 pounds on me!)

Knocking on his door.
The hand off. (Braxton is actually Nana's grandson - the lovely woman that takes care of Ace on Tuesdays and Thursdays for me.)

The reward!

The aftermath:

When we put Ace to bed that night, we had a meltdown. He said to give the bike back to the fairy! It was a difficult half hour full of tears but THANKFULLY that has been our only real hiccup so far. He's mentioned the paci a few times but we've ignored his comments and he's moved on to other things. I'm pretty impressed that that was his only meltdown. With the allergies of the past week, even I have wished for my OWN pacifier.

Now, everything ELSE has been going in his mouth. He chews on every toy he owns as if he's teething. Now all I dread is his reaction when Lily Kate comes home with a pacifier.

Sometimes, the anxiety is worse than the real thing.

Man School?

Seriously?!

Do boys have some unofficial man-school that they attend when mommies aren't looking that teach them these things?

Twice in the past week Ace has decided to walk around with no shorts or diaper. I've kept my calm (and just noted where his hiny's touched for later cleaning) and he's asked to put them back on within about 20 minutes. What phase is this?

Easter - The Risen Part

At least I know he can repeat the important part of Easter.

Nothing sweeter to my ears.

Easter - The Bunny Part

I go back and forth on Easter and Christmas...do we stick only to the true meaning of these holidays or is it harmless for Santa and the Easter Bunny to visit??? It's kind of misleading him on one hand: Christmas doesn't really culminate in presents and Easter is about an entire week of events not just the night the Bunny comes.

Luckily for Ace, I married Jonathan and his Daddy ensures that Mommy quits taking everything so seriously and making everything into a monumental, spiritual crossroads.

He followed some cascarones (thanks Honey because when I went to Walmart they had completely RUN OUT of plastic eggs!) to his presents. They were also out of baskets in case you were wondering why his gifts are in a wheelbarrow. (Couldn't get the video of him finding his gifts to upload...Arrrrgh.)

The Easter Bunny definitely scored big with his choices. My favorite was the alphabet flashcards. We've already been through them twice. Ace loved those little capsules that dissolve in water and turn into things. Here his is using his big imagination...

Here's (in my opinion) the best item in his Easter basket...after all, I am originally a Gilliam.