Playing Catchup

This post is playing catch-up for about the past two weeks!

Jason turned two a week ago, and we celebrated with a knights and dragons themed party! He was beyond thrilled watching the cake come together. Everything from watching me put scales on the dragons to running around in his knight costume from Nana and PopPop had him in a euphoric birthday frenzy! He absolutely understood that the day was for him. We held a combined party for our friends who are moving to Germany and his birthday. There was a bouncy castle, which he was also super thrilled about. I'll have to figure out how to post pictures and share some, it was adorable to see the kids bouncing around having duels with the foam swords in their knight masks. Chris went to the party in his knight getup as well, he loves to follow the theme for the kids.

This past Friday, Aria had her very first soccer practice! She is so like me, she was excited for soccer, but when the day came, she was afraid to go to the practice. Branching out and trying new things can really freak her out, it's situational. She stalled with everything. Shorts were a fight, socks were a fight, shoes were a fight. While Chris was packing up the car, and I was in the back pantry packing snacks, Jace was alone in the kitchen and decided to taste test some tea tree oil. I came into the room with him making the "oh, yuck" face, and the open bottle in his hands. We called poison control on the way to practice.
Aria was adorable at practice. She's number 10 on team Purple Pony. Apparently the team coaches wanted to make it relate to My Little Pony. She was a great listener, and behaved well. As we were leaving the field, she said, "I love soccer, I want to do it every day!" It might just have been the snack talking, but I'm considering this a win!

Saturday we went to Aulani Disney Resort for an overnight stay with the Jones. They have kid-care, so after playing in the pools, splash pads, lazy river and slides all day, we dropped Ari off and went to a mostly adult dinner. Jace wasn't able to go, since he isn't potty trained, but he fell asleep on Chris at dinner. The pictures are adorable. We had a two-bedroom suite in the hotel, and each family had their own room/bathroom/balcony, which was really nice. We had some issues with our stay, but I'll fill that in later. Jace ended up with a rash on his face from the life-jacket zipper, (poor kid inherited our sensitive skin issues) and we didn't think much of it because he gets one every time he wears it. The next day he had a diaper rash, but I thought it was from the chorine or the straps that go between his legs causing another rub rash. On our way home from the resort, the rash moved to all over his body. Turns out, he has hand, foot, mouth. Poor kid. He's been super grumpy and a fussy sleeper for the past few days while fighting it off. Tonight when Chris was brushing Aria's teeth for bed, he noticed she also has the blisters in her mouth. So we are 2 for 2 in the disease department. Yay us.

Prayers 2.0

I thought Jace adding onto his prayers was going to be a one time thing, but it's continued, and has become one of my favorite moments. This entry will be dedicated to his silly prayers.

Tonight he thanked God for "Tony, and Pop Pop, and Santa, and bubbles...mine popped. And Ari's bubble...it popped!"
Backstory: Nana and PopPop bought the kids a large Wubble Ball while they were visiting in November, and they loved it until it met it's untimely end. We bought mini versions for the kids for Christmas, and they weren't nearly as sturdy as their larger cousin. I think Aria's lasted 30 minutes before popping in her hands, and Jason's soon followed. We are weeks past Christmas, and he still remembers! Smart little suckers!

Short and Sweet

  Today the minions were running around, playing "Everything is Dangerous!". They had foam swords and sock hands and all sorts of plans to take out bad guys around the house. Jace took a short break for a tea party, and when Aria saw she turned on her most dramatic voice and said, "Jace, NOOOoooo! Don't drink that! It is the very most dangerous drink, and it is from the bad guys. They are trying to get you, and it is SO dangerous and bad and gross. It will make you SO sick. It's very, very dangerous...it is juice that has been left out too long!!!"

I think this kid has been around me too long!

Baby Prayers

Every night Chris and I split the kids up for bedtime routines. We all do teeth-brushing together, then one of us will put Jace to bed, and the other will get Aria later in the evening. I was on Jace duty tonight. I read him his current favorite bedtime story, "Say Moo". He is so cute, and loves making the animal sounds even if he gets them all sorts of mixed up! Then we said prayers. My nightly prayer is "Thank you, God, for today, for giving us everything you gave us. Thank you for our family, for Mommy and Daddy and Jason and Aria. Thank you for the good day we had today, (Insert applicable list of good things) where we got to play outside, then go over and play with Nick and Krystal and Bree and Julius. It was a good day, Amen." Then I sing Twinkle-Twinkle, You Are My Sunshine, and Hush Now, My Baby. 
   I was a few words into "Twinkle", when Jace interrupted and started saying, "Tony, Tony!" I realized he was adding Tony to the list of people he was grateful to play with today, it was so sweet. So I said, "You're right! Thanks for letting us play with Tony!" He seemed satisfied, and layed back down to snuggle for the song. It was only a second before he popped back up, and said "And Nana! And PopPop, and Grandma, and Grandpa, and Daddy, and Jace, and Ari and Mommy!" I thought it was the sweetest thing that he wanted to add all the names to his prayers. I can't believe how big he is getting, and how much he understands. <3

HopHops

      Tonight we painted for some Christmas crafts that are super top-secret. Needless to say, the kids both needed a serious scrub down afterwards! When Chris was throwing the washcloth into the laundry room, Jace snuck into our back storage closet, which has a makeshift pantry. He grabbed the peanut butter and followed Chris around with it, claiming he was hungry. When we asked to confirm if he was hungry, he said in his hopeful toddler voice, "HopHops!" We initially thought he was saying "PopPops", which is something requested about twenty times every day, so I told him it was too late for candy. Chris put the peanut butter on the counter, and Jace kept insisting, "Hophops!".  Then there was a HUGE hiccup! The poor kid had been trying to tell us he had hiccups the whole time, and in our family, the magical cure is a spoon full of peanut butter. He's now very happily marching around, with a spoon full of peanut butter, and some cured HopHops.

Bedtime

  A few weeks ago, while I was in Washington for a wedding, Chris decided to rearrange our house so that the kids were sharing a room. Ari had been begging for months, wanting to sleep in Jace's room on the spare bed almost every night, so it was time to make the switch.
  Ever since rearranging, the spare room has just been a staging room full of mattresses, but tonight we finally got it set up for Nana and PopPop's visit. Ari was so thrilled to see it clean, with the bed made, that she fell right back into her old habits and was begging to sleep in there again. I always thought that Jace was the perk, but I guess she just likes the change in scenery! We told her that if she stays in her bed until Jace is asleep tonight that she can switch over. We did the normal bedtime routine: diapers, brushed teeth, two stories, and then their songs. Jace was in a silly mood,  toddler singing just slightly louder than me through the songs. Chris and I couldn't stop giggling about his interpretation of "You Are My Sunshine". I'd much rather him be singing that than "Love Me Like You Do", which he actually knows the words to. (I promise to sensor my music!)
  Now I can hear Aria over the monitor, patiently singing loops of the bedtime songs to Jace, trying to coax him to sleep. She may be manipulating him to get what she wants, but I'm going to pretend it's sweet. My Mommy heart is happy and overflowing with love. These are the moments...

Silly shorts

One of my favorite toddler things is their misprononciations and interpretations. Here are a few recent Aria-isms.


Aria-"Prince, where is your princess?"
Chris-"She's sleeping."
Aria-"Oh, she is a Sleeping Booty!"
*maniacal laghter*


After a tantrum:
"Mommy, can I have an issue?"
"You already have plenty of issues, but yes, I can get you a Kleenex."


While listening to Taylor Swift:
"The bad guys will be good for a weekend?!? Well...that will be SO nice!"


Cinnamon toast crunch is "cinnamon toast crust"


Cookie Crisp is "Cookie Chris"


Helicopters are "Octacopters"


Mabo Tofu is "Mama tofu"


Aria Evonne is "Aria Kylonne" (she mixes her middle name with Jason's)


Granola Bars are "Gra-banana Bars"


Movie Theater is "Movie Elevator"