First of Many

And so it begins. I imagine we'll have a recital or two in our future :) Abbey did so well at her first performance. She didn't look nervous, didn't hesitate to jump up there, {seriously} didn't rush through her song. It was so cute to see this bitty body sitting at that enormous Steinway.

The last few months have given me a little glimpse into what my mom did for me for years. I wish you could have been there, Mom. I realized that all of Abbey's grandparents are not only out of state, but are all actually out of the country right now. So I uploaded this video for you, thank you, world wide web!

I spent the rest of the recital walking the halls with a loud kid. I imagine I'll have a lot of that in my future as well :)

Why I Don't Post To My Blog Anymore

Oh, that boy. I can't quite articulate what he does to my heart. It's different. With a boy.

To be fair, he has demanded so little in his six months. {Ya heard, six months!} But that little has sucked away any of the free time I had with two.

It's hard to explain my time. I've been feeling the need to be more efficient with the time that I have, but am having difficulty with the HOW. I am in my car. A lot. I am feeding mouths. A lot. I am navigating ridiculous meltdowns. A lot.



It went on like this for a while. Poor little chicken. She wants five kids in our family, Abbey wants more. (Abbey will not be winning this argument, by the way.) My mental reserves are exhausted trying to find a way to validate these sorts of feelings all the day long :)

All and all, loving this busy life of mine right now.

Off You Go, Little Lamb

My gal started kindergarten. Full-day Kindergarten.

I was in serious denial through August. Then I was just down right sad the day before she started. Like, really sad. The actual day was much too chaotic to wallow. First, she was assigned to the wrong bus route, but handled it like a champ. I was following behind in my own car until Hayden just about wet her pants. We had to pull over and lost track then didn't know where she was for a while. Yikes!! The principal was on it and figured out what route she should be on, so, problem solved. Then Justin wanted to pick her up that afternoon only to call twenty minutes later when the driver wouldn't let her go to him. You see, you have to have photo ID to get a kindergartner off the bus. He didn't have any. Nor had I even put him on the list of people who were allowed to pick her up. **New Student Parent Alert** Luckily this kid has confidence to spare and kept teasing me all weekend about letting her go on the wrong bus.

Still not used to this. I don't like that so many of her memories now will be when she's not with us. And I hate the crazy rush when she gets home to squeeze in all we missed out on during the day. Trying to be more positive about this... :)

...because I am fairly certain she will rock it.

Bob It

because someone got a haircut from her sister first!

It could have been worse, but luckily Sophie (Katherine's much more obedient child) came down and asked if she could have a haircut, too. Ha ha, oh man.

After surveying the damage, I thought about leaving it and just pulling it up in little ponytails until it grew back...in a year. I did love those golden locks. But I really love short haircuts and that chunk taken out of the back was the reason to do it.

Abbey had to earn the money for the haircut. But she still insists it was a good idea and she liked it. As it turns out, she cut her own bangs as well, and it does look cute. Nobody tell her that! Later that week, Hayden wanted to pretend to cut Abbey's hair. Abbey asked her how old she was and Hayden answered, eight. Then Abbey said, "Oh, sorry, you have to be nine to cut hair." I flipped around and said, "No! You have to go to school. Ok? Nobody cuts hair until you go to beauty school!"

Three Months

loving the extra manliness around here

Stars and Stripes

oh me, oh my, how I love the fourth of july!!!

The weekend started off at the water park with a few families from the old neighborhood. And this is where I learned that I am responsible for WAY too much skin. I applied, reapplied, and re-reapplied sunscreen to the girls but I ended up with some crazy tan lines and Bennett's cheeks got more sun than I realized. Boo, bad mommy. Then we enjoyed a quiet BBQ at Kara's house that night since everyone's kids were exhausted from the day :)

I asked the girls to turn around and smile for one picture. This one picture in the seven hours we were there. I guess Abbey talked to J later and said, "I just came here to swim and have fun and all mom wants to do is take pictures." First of all, puh-lease! Second of all, ....touché. Sometimes it is too much. After that admonishment I was timid about bringing out the lens at J's work party the next night. Which is a bummer since it is held at the most picturesque piece of property and I look forward to getting a few shots there every year.

Great food, great company. Everything was great until, dun dun dun. The fireworks started. Big fireworks. Good, illegal fireworks. The girls had just found their eggs from the chicken coop and didn't have hands to cover their ears. Hayden was cracking us up by using her arms instead.

We went inside to save the girls from imminent doom and got talking with my awesome OB who delivered Bennett while the kiddos played hide-n-seek in her basement. By the time we wandered back outside, the last of the partiers had gathered on the front lawn to watch the neighbor's firework show (who also fancies the good, illegal ones). It was perfect. We were close enough to have a good show and far enough away that the girls were not so frightened of the noise. I was so happy to see them finally enjoying fireworks, what a treat. And we were the last car to leave, as usual.



To cap off the perfect weekend, some friends invited us boating the next day. We hit up the church breakfast that morning. Well...we slept through breakfast. But made it for the flag ceremony and patriotic talk. It was nice to have a reverent moment to remember those who have fought and this wonderful country we enjoy.

We thought we'd be boating for 2-3 hours, but were able to keep the boat all day and got in a good six hours on the lake. I loved watching my kids on the tubes. They've surprised me lately with their bravery.

And this time I was not messing around when it came to the sunscreen.

We barely had time to shower and change before heading out to the last BBQ of the weekend...so we didn't. Didn't shower or change, I mean. By this point, nobody cared what anyone looked like, it was all about how much fun you could squeeze into a day.

Hayden picked up this piñata at a garage sale a few weeks ago. That girl knows how to party.

The concerned lad in the background asked, "Why are we hitting a piñata from Italy on the 4th of July?"

Yeah, what gives? They had nothing to do with this.

The adults laughed and marveled that the youngster knew Italy's colors and never really answered his question.

After the kids each got about three or four turns and their faces were turning from excitement to frustration, J stepped in to finish the job. Luckily, no one was harmed in the process.

Then off to squeeze in just a little bit more fun, really use up every minute of the weekend. We met over in an open field to watch the big boys play with their toy airplanes :) I've given them a hard time about it, but the thing is actually pretty cool.

As you can see from Abbey's face, clearly it is time for this day to come to an end. Can't wait for next year!

Road. Ro-aaad.

So last night I was trying to think of the word 'nicotine'.

And for some reason, I could not, for the life of me, remember how to pronounce 'nicotine'. It just didn't sound right. Nicotine. ˈNikəˌtēn.

J told me how it was pronounced. I didn't really believe him. Sometimes he likes to mess with me about things that aren't at all important.

After sitting in bed, failing to sleep, I finally grabbed my ipod and found an old podcast about nicotine. And he was pronouncing it right. And I listened to the whole podcast. And I should have been sleeping.

And apparently I blog about things that aren't at all important.




And it still doesn't sound right.

'Happy' Birthday

Abbey invited some of her girlfriends over for a water party (which turned into a 'scramble-for-new-activities' party when the forecast predicted chilly weather.) J wanted both girls to have their own party, which was a really good idea this year. Both girls needed to feel special and have the spotlight on them for a bit. Which is why it totally broke my heart when Abbey was in tears at her party. When I pulled her away for a minute to regroup, she said, "Nobody wants to do what I want. Nobody cares about me." A bit dramatic? YES! I thought, what a waste! This whole thing was a bit much for me to be doing right now and it was all for naught if she didn't feel special.

She bounced back all right. Presents and chocolate cupcakes didn't hurt.

(Abbey's signature pose these days :) I could post dozens of pictures with her in this exact pose with different items...flowers, friends, dolls, Bennett....)

Anyway, felt like that party was a bit of a bust. Her friend got her a slip-n-slide, the sun came out, and all the kids ended up out on a hill in our backyard and had a BLAST. But I felt frazzled and had another party coming soon. Yes. Another party. Abbey's dad is the fun parent, remember? I kept shooting him angry eyes at this point, I couldn't believe we were throwing another party. But he really wanted to do something with the neighbors and his work friends. So another BBQ.

And it totally rocked. Dad saved the day! And made her this awesome cake, can you believe it? She wanted 'a chocolate cake with ice cream cake and pink sprinkles and cupcakes and strawberries and chocolate vanilla and chocolates on top and pink frosting, etc, etc.' I was good with cupcakes, but he indulged.

We've never been big on getting our kids toys until this year. Until their age appropriate toys got AWESOME. We found this stomp rocket (which just sounds way too close to snot rocket...ew) and it's a party.

Happy Birthday, gorgeous. Hopefully next year there will be less tears. But in the end, mission accomplished. You were so excited that night and couldn't believe how you got to party all day.

Abbey at Four

And now some pictures of Miss Abbey from June 2010 to...

(the pictures we took to announce to our families the new member coming to our fam--it didn't make sense like I hoped it would, ha ha!)

...June 2011. Not too much of a change :) But that is her at four. And now some pictures from the beautiful gardens:

My gorgeous Abbey. It's funny to look at these pictures and realize you still look very much the same. I'm glad. We are not ready for you to grow up. I asked you if you were going to like fireworks this year and you said, "I don't think so." I said, "Well, you are a year older now, maybe they will be fun now," to which you said, "Well, I'm still the same size!" Even though you haven't grown much this year, you have definitely matured.

A lot of that maturity has come from preschool. I love your school but it was hard for me to give you up every day. And you LOVED preschool. Last fall, Dad asked you what you learned that day and you said, "We don't learn anything at that school." So funny. It could seem that way, I guess, but I can tell your reasoning and problem-solving skills have really improved. And you take a lot more ownership of how you feel. You're still having growing pains but I see you recognizing when and how things upset you and then beginning to work through it or explain to me why you are mad. Sometimes I react like you are still a toddler throwing a tantrum, but you've surprised me a few times and when I sit and listen to you, you have very valid reasons why you are upset. I'm glad you forgive me so easily.

I love your drawings. You spend so much time creating these days and your pictures are so detailed and fun. You come up with great ideas and games; if I was five, I'd want to be friends with you! You know, if I was five and liked to be bossed around :) Just kidding. You are definitely a leader but your teachers have been helping you to see that other kids have good ideas and you can have fun doing their plans as well. You funny kid, you have such a big personality in that little body.

What I love most is seeing this little person emerging with exciting passions and interests. It has thrilled me to see you taking to the water this summer. We went boating yesterday and you hopped on a tube by yourself--all of a sudden I saw you five years down the road and realized how much FUN we are going to have together. The independence you will get this year tears my heart a bit, but it is exciting to watch you grow up and to get to do new things together.

Of course I love that you love pictures. You are my best little poser. And you will be entertained forever with my point & shoot camera. I snapped cute pictures of you at the gardens in about one minute then spent the next two hours trying to get anything from Hayden. Dad grabbed out this smaller camera for you and you were happy the rest of the time.

love you, gorgeous

Let's Go To The Movies

I hope you all have that song from 'Annie' stuck in your head now.

Our Hayden turned three years old in May! I had yet to throw the girl her own birthday party, so this was the year. It worked out to have the party while Aunt Allison and Uncle Noah were in town (it would not have happened without them!) In fact, five minutes before people showed up, I was nursing Bennett and still needed a shower. It was my own fault, I had in my head all day the party started later and it wasn't until that moment I realized--'no, no, no, they are going to be here in five minutes!!'

So all the Pace girls were a tad disheveled; Abbey pretty much wore a princess towel for a crown the whole night. Oh man, we are awesome these days.

The invitation was a sleeve with tickets inside for each kid in the family. After walking up the red carpet outside, they handed me their ticket to get inside and later got their cash for the concession stand. I didn't make a plan for how to handle eight kids all wanting things from the table at once, but they were so polite about it and dutifully paid for each toy or treat.

Of course, every girl was dressed up in some form of pink princess or ballerina :)

An hour or so before the party, J started setting up the trampoline in the front yard and giving the girls water balloons. Why? I don't know!!! He's the fun parent. It's been established. I had my 'what in the world!?' face on, but the trampoline turned out to be the unplanned hit on the night.

Hayden at Two Years

A few pictures of my Hayden from May 2010 to....

...May 2011

My baby girl. You truly are startlingly beautiful to me. Sometimes I'll catch myself just staring at you, amazed at your stunning blue eyes and golden hair. We were laughing the other night about how you sleep with your eyes half open. Nana said it is because they are too big for your eyelids to cover :)

You were so fun this year--such a pleasant two year old. Sometimes I would forget you were only two because you are just so ready to jump into Abbey's world. You love her and love to drive her crazy. It's surprising how good you are at teasing her already. The two of you can play so well together and it amuses me to see you so engulfed in your pretend play--I wonder where the two of you go in your imaginations. You also play wonderfully on your own. I like to listen to you have conversations with your dolls. It usually reflects pretty accurately how I have been acting at the time!

You are a rather aloof child. Maybe that's not the right word. I call you my quiet stubborn one. Because you rarely throw fits or scream or cry, but you do find trouble. And usually when you are being scolded, you will half close your eyes, tilt up your chin, and get the smirkiest grin on your face. Maddening! And a little endearing, you sneak. I actually hope I never forget that particular face you pull.



I took you to a peony garden last week to get some three-year birthday pictures (of which you had absolutely no interest.) So I'd slyly walk behind you with the camera and ask you every now and then about the flowers. You'd run from bed to bed, smelling each variety. Then you'd throw your head back like this and say, "Mmmm! Stwawbewwy!" or "Mmmmm! Chocolate!!"




I love you, sweet pea. You are going through something major right now with the new baby here. I wish I could dig into that little head of yours and know just what you need from me to make it better. But you still delight us every day and I hope the next year is as good as the last.