pace's real birthday!

a few pace-isms we adore:

if he thinks something is crazy:  oh my goodness, that's bonkers!

if he's totally excited about something:  pace so 'cited!  (while jumping up and down, clapping hands)

if he's asking permission to do something:  muh?  pace do this?  yeah or no.  yeah?

if he wants his binkies outside of nap/bed time: my mouth hurts!  binkies make my mouth feel better.

if he wants you to hurry up:  well, c'mon then!  let's go! (who do you think he got that one from?!)

i asked him a few questions the other day, just to see what he'd say:

favorite food:  pears.  ("pace, that's a fruit.  do you have a favorite vegetable?"  "mmmm, blueberries."  "that's a fruit, too. do you have a favorite vegetable?"  "mmmmm...."  "how about spinach?  we always put spinach in smoothies."  "um, yeah.  pace like broccoli, too."  that's the truth.  whenever we go to the store for produce, he always asks to get broccoli, and then he immediately takes 2-3 big bites out of the broccoli head!)

favorite color:  green.  ...and black and purple and white and purple and orange and ...

favorite book:  do-day book (richard scarry's what do people do all day? book)

favorite game:  trucks (his most recent truck game is playing sheer tractor demolition.  we build a tall tower with blocks and then he gets out his hand grabber--the same one we used to catch his lion on the lion hunt--and he grabs the building like a sheer tractor)

favorite thing to do with mama and daddy:  play

favorite scripture: night-night (by that i think he means the fact that we "read" scriptures every night before bed...and by read, i mean we look at a scripture picture and talk about it)

what are you afraid of?  shadows.  "but what makes the shadow go away so you can be brave?"  "flashlights!"

    

since we'd been counting down on his birthday calendar, pace knew what day his "real" birthday was.  when everyone was up and going, i said, "pace, do you know what day today is?"  his eyes lit up and he said, "my real birthday!" it was hard to keep him contained while david was getting the camera ready!  he could smell trucks in the air! 

i'm so glad these boys think the birthday glasses are fun, because i think they are simply adorable in  them!  we found some really high-quality trucks (bruder brand) for a fraction of the cost at tj maxx.  so we stocked up and gifted some for birthday (and the rest will be for christmas...shhh, don't tell!).  bishka sent out another fun gift (a house memory game).  and then later that day, the doorbell rang, and rang again...presents from uncle jon erik arrived!  he is so generous with these boys!  pace thought it was awesome that package after package came for him, and he had a blast opening them all!  

right before naptime, papa jay showed up!  he had an overnight connecting flight on his way home from visiting cousin asher and aunt robin and uncle christian!  we had a fun lunch and then everyone went down for naps.  we unfortunately didn't even get photos because...  

not even an hour later, pace and max both woke up crying.  i ran upstairs thinking i'd just pop some binkies back in crying mouths and everyone would go back to sleep.  instead, i found pace crying, saying, "pace throw up".  sure enough...birthday boy caught the birthday stomach flu.  instead of going to ride the carousel and the toy store with papa jay, pace laid in my lap all night, pale green, whimpering, and not keeping anything down until 2am.  right when i thought he would pass out from exhaustion and we could sleep for at least a few hours before everyone else woke up, pace looked up at me and said, "pace awake now."  and then very quickly followed that up with, "i'm hungry, muh".  needless to say, muh didn't sleep that night.  we've spent the rest of the week in pj's and laying around.  pace would play for a few minutes, and then just lay down on his blanket or on the couch, trying to store up more energy.  

it wasn't until yesterday around 530 that pace said, "muh, get dressed now?  go outside?"  of all weeks to be sick...we have two mandatory roadshow rehearsals, two roadshow performances, one relief society presidency meeting, one funeral (and in this ward, the relief society is responsible for set up, food prep and serving, clean up, etc), die-hard potty training (after months of prepping pace for this moment, he'd dutifully respond to my questions, "pace, when you turn three, what are you going to wear instead of diapers?"  "unnerwear!"  "where are you going to put pee and stinky?"  "potty chair!"...i was planning on going cold turkey and putting pace in underwear, and learn from his messes...looks like that will be starting next week), running a total of 21 miles (training for a half marathon on thanksgiving), a family photo shoot/david on his bike photo shoot...and a partridge in a pear tree.  sometimes the stars throw you for a loop to let you know it's time to slow down and cuddle with your little guys in pj's all day.

happy birthday pace!

pace is our big three year-old!  he is really, really into all things trucks--construction, farming, city trucks--you name it, he loves it.  so we did a truck-themed birthday party.  i asked him which friends he'd like to have over for his party, and he said, "mama, my friends good to me."  mama-heart-melt moment!  i said, "who's good to you, pace?  who do you want over for your party?"  his eyes lit up after thinking for a minute and he said, "abby and kyra!"  (a 7 and a 10 year old girl, respectively).  a couple days later i asked if there was anyone else.  after thinking, he said, "heather and jack!"  (heather is my good friend, and jack is her 5 year-old nephew).  i asked him about two boys his age in nursery.  when i mentioned one boy, pace looked down at his arm and then shook his head.  this particular boy had bitten him in nursery a while ago.  the other one he didn't even really know.  i love that my son is an old soul with sweet friend-girls...

welcome to the construction zone!  pace was so, so excited ( "pace so 'cited', as pace says) when he heard the first door knock.  we opened the door and everyone came in at once!  pace turned into the gracious host, "c'mon, friends, come see my truck cake!"

   

everyone put on their hard hats!  i had pace try on a hat earlier, and he accidentally pulled the elastic when he was taking it off, and it snapped on his cheek.  he immediately started crying and said, "pace don't like hard hats!"  ...so pace didn't wear a hard hat... 

and then we played pin the present in the dump truck.  pace helped me paint the dump truck that morning--he did the dirt and the sky.  the little ones didn't want to wear the blind fold.

after everyone had a turn, i asked if anyone wanted to go again.  everyone was ok, but all the girls said, "wait, max didn't get a turn!"  

and then we built our city!  costco graciously gave us lots of boxes, and we got other fun supplies from the craft store.  everyone got to make whatever they wanted--a house, a skyscraper, a garage, or an "applesauce factory", as pace said.  he's recently gotten into mr. roger's neighborhood, and loves the "field trips" he goes on--his particular favorites are the crayon factory (also my fav from my childhood), the backhoe episode, and the applesauce factory.  building our city was a really fun activity--everyone got focused on their own designs.  they all turned out really cute--and we had instant take-home party favors!  

oh, wait--we had to make a tunnel first.

emma made our house, and drew our family inside of it!  she left it up in pace's room for him.

it was a perfect day outside--so we set up a table and chairs for our pizza and cake.  abby's birthday was on sunday, and pace's official birthday was monday, so we had them blow out the candles together.  

the slide and the sandbox of course came out to play...

and the presents.  trucks, trucks, and more trucks.  after this birthday, i think we are going to have to build a garage just for his trucks!

i made a sock dog for abby, and she thought it was an octopus.  ha ha!

after naps, david and pace built the sweeper truck we got for him.  it really sweeps!

2 for 2

i think i am going to get rid of the little toy bus we have...this makes 2 out of 2 boys that have tipped over on it and gotten bonked pretty well.  we were in the garage so i could gather the tomatoes from the plants, and the boys were playing with trucks.  max, being max, decided to ride the bus backwards, and then he leaned over to reach for a truck.  good thing his face caught him, or he could have really gotten hurt...yeah, poor max totally face-planted it, no hands attached.  he had a little bloody nose, cried for a long time, and then fell asleep in my arms.  the next day the bridge of his nose was bruised, and i was afraid he'd maybe broken it.  i called the pediatrician's office and they said to just watch him; at this age there's more cartilage than bone.  so all in all, just a little scratched up. 

general conference

david decided to get up early saturday morning and run up squaw peak before conference started.  he ran it 5 minutes faster than his time from last summer!  he's laying on the couch today, sore, which is a rare occurrence for david.

today in between the morning and afternoon sessions, we decided to get together with our neighbors for our first annual cul-de-sac conference mexican fiesta!  why haven't we ever done this before?!  it was so fun to pull out tables and chairs, and share a yummy potluck meal!

our first snow!

usually i am awoken by pace sticking his face about 2 inches from mine, and whispering, "wake up, muh, it's a nice day!"  (i love his new name for me--mama is too long, so he's shortened it to "muh").  friday, however, pace ran into our room and nearly shouted with excitement, "there's snow on our grass!"  i looked down the stairs out the windows by our front door, and sure enough, there was a dusting of snow on our lawn.  the night before david had commented the weather report called for snow, and we did pull our tomato plants and basil  so i could finish harvesting them in the garage to make tomato sauce, tomatillo sauce, and pesto, but i think we had expected it to be a cold rain. 

the first order of business, of course, was donning boots, snow pants, coats, hats, and mittens over top of pj's, and playing in the snow with all of pace's favorite trucks.  while pace was excited about the snow, max was mad his snow boots were too big to walk in without help.  he eventually made it out to the playhouse to put his feet up for a rest.  after some convincing, we made it back inside for some breakfast.  what a fun morning!