Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Lazy Day
The weather has been insanely gorgeous lately so my friend Melissa and I had planned to take the boys (Jace and Marco) to Playland this weekend to ride the rides and enjoy being out in the sunshine. Of course we wake up Saturday to clouds and rain! Mel suggested we spend the day together anyway, but in our pajamas playing board games. It was an easy sell. I am a firm believer that some of the best days are the ones spent just relaxing and enjoying the company of people we love. The boys had a great time playing games, running around the house, and even got to make and decorate Valentine cookies. Oh how I love a lazy day.
Monday, February 6, 2012
My Little Chef
(Please forgive the awful iPhone pics! I have been pretty bad about remembering my camera lately.)
A couple of weeks ago we went to a birthday party for Jace's good buddy Gabriel at Young Chefs Academy. We had never been and I am SO happy that we got a chance to check it out. First wonderful thing was that the kids all went into the kitchen with 2 Chefs while the parents ate lunch and got to visit in the next room! Hello! Second wonderful thing, my son totally discovered his love for cooking!!
Jace got to help measure the ingredients...
Roll the dough...
Top with his favorite toppings...
And enjoy his masterpiece!!
He loved it so much that we went back today, with his buddy Marco, for a Mommy & Me cooking class. When I saw that we would be making homemade pita chips and fresh fruit dip I was a little worried. I knew Jace would enjoy the cooking, but this child is NOT into eating any sort of fruits or veggies lately. I have heard before that if a child helps prepare the meal, he is more likely to eat all of it (even those fruits and veggies), but I really didn't think Jace would fall for that little trick. After getting to chop up the fruits all by himself he TOTALLY ate it up! I did not hesitate to buy the handy dandy kids safety knife (like this one , but only $5 at Young Chef's Academy) on our way out! After dinner tonight I had him help me chop up fruits to put into muffins for the morning. He LOVED it!
Here he his mixing the batter for our muffins...
I am beyond excited that Jace is so into cooking!! It's something that I love to do and it is something really special that we can do together. (You are welcome future daughter in law!!) I am just as excited that this may be the key to getting him to eat his fruits and veggies. No doubt I now have the cutest little sous chef that a mommy could ask for!!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Trains Trains Trains
Jace loves him some trains! We have fun by switching out the train sets on his train table every now and then. This weekend his daddy came and helped him build his Thomas the Tank Engine Lego set that Grandma Linda got him for Christmas. (Good thing he was around to help because I'm discovering my Lego building abilities are lacking greatly. Lol)
Monday, January 30, 2012
How Boogie Helped Me Celebrate My Bday!
Head on over to my new personal blog and check out how Boogie spent his Saturday. CLICK HERE
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Oh The Joys Of Winter
Coughing, wheezing, and breathing treatments seem to rule the Hawkins house each winter. This one is turning out to be no exception. Thankfully Jace is so good about doing these treatments when his Asthma starts getting the best of him. We are totally blessed to have insurance that allows us to have this little breathing machine! I can't imagine all the visits to the ER we'd have to endure if we didn't have this little life saver at home. Still, it breaks my heart to see him go through the same struggles with breathing as I did as a kiddo. He's such a trooper though and it never seems to slow him down too much. One of the many reasons I am ever in awe of my little love. 
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
40 lbs of Dog Food and Important Life Lessons....
...Also known as Costco.
It occurred to me today how many life lessons Jace learns in a shopping cart. There are the basic ones like why we should have patience while waiting in line when others don't seem to and that occasionally all those little samples actually DO qualify as lunch, but then there are the really important ones that I am astonished he takes in at such a young age. As most kids do, Jace has taken to loudly exclaiming his every thought for the entire world (or aisle) to hear. Nothing terrifies me more than walking into a store filled with elderly people, as they seem to fuel the most commentary. The first real run in was with a lovely group of elderly women with poorly fitted hairpieces that he wouldn't go near because "Their faces were waaaay too big!!!!" My darling child proclaimed this from the top of his lungs, much to my horror. (Can't lie, not much of a lesson was taught there. I was too mortified to do anything but smile and run.) So today when we walked into Costco the hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I saw that it was clearly senior citizen day. We weren't in the door 3 minutes when I heard my son ask a woman why her face was so grumpy. Ahhh, this was going to be a fun one. I explained that it's not nice to talk about people's faces and we moved forward. 2 aisles later...grumpy old man. "Mom, why is HIS face all grumpy too??" Figuring I better nip this in the bud I pulled over my cart to have a chat. I told him that sometimes people just look grumpy when they really aren't and that it could hurt their feelings when he brings it to their attention. I then explained that sometimes people are just grumpy. Not everyone is happy all the time and that is ok. Either way, we don't talk about the way people look. I told him that whenever he sees someone with a grumpy face he should look them in the eye and simply smile. I explained that smiles are contagious and that, for some people, seeing his smile might be all they need to put one on their face. He seemed to understand so we went back to our shopping. As we walked down the aisles, now filled to the brim with grumpy faced senior citizens, my sweet boy turned and smiled at everyone we passed. It took a few tries, but eventually he got a smile back. His excitement and the fact that he really got the lesson melted my mushy mommy heart. It was such a great reminder that instead of getting mad and scolding our children when they don't behave like the little angels we'd like the world to think they are, we should realize that we are in the perfect position to teach them important lessons that will help them for the rest of their lives. Who knew Costco trips could be so profound?
It occurred to me today how many life lessons Jace learns in a shopping cart. There are the basic ones like why we should have patience while waiting in line when others don't seem to and that occasionally all those little samples actually DO qualify as lunch, but then there are the really important ones that I am astonished he takes in at such a young age. As most kids do, Jace has taken to loudly exclaiming his every thought for the entire world (or aisle) to hear. Nothing terrifies me more than walking into a store filled with elderly people, as they seem to fuel the most commentary. The first real run in was with a lovely group of elderly women with poorly fitted hairpieces that he wouldn't go near because "Their faces were waaaay too big!!!!" My darling child proclaimed this from the top of his lungs, much to my horror. (Can't lie, not much of a lesson was taught there. I was too mortified to do anything but smile and run.) So today when we walked into Costco the hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I saw that it was clearly senior citizen day. We weren't in the door 3 minutes when I heard my son ask a woman why her face was so grumpy. Ahhh, this was going to be a fun one. I explained that it's not nice to talk about people's faces and we moved forward. 2 aisles later...grumpy old man. "Mom, why is HIS face all grumpy too??" Figuring I better nip this in the bud I pulled over my cart to have a chat. I told him that sometimes people just look grumpy when they really aren't and that it could hurt their feelings when he brings it to their attention. I then explained that sometimes people are just grumpy. Not everyone is happy all the time and that is ok. Either way, we don't talk about the way people look. I told him that whenever he sees someone with a grumpy face he should look them in the eye and simply smile. I explained that smiles are contagious and that, for some people, seeing his smile might be all they need to put one on their face. He seemed to understand so we went back to our shopping. As we walked down the aisles, now filled to the brim with grumpy faced senior citizens, my sweet boy turned and smiled at everyone we passed. It took a few tries, but eventually he got a smile back. His excitement and the fact that he really got the lesson melted my mushy mommy heart. It was such a great reminder that instead of getting mad and scolding our children when they don't behave like the little angels we'd like the world to think they are, we should realize that we are in the perfect position to teach them important lessons that will help them for the rest of their lives. Who knew Costco trips could be so profound?
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Self Portrait
Yesterday Jace was drawing, which he loves to do since Great Grandma got him a cool easel for Christmas. He called me into his room to show me the awesome Transformer he drew. Jace is more of a scribbler than anything so I was stoked that I could actually make out a pair of eyes, arms, and legs on his creation. This morning he woke up, drew a smile on his Transformer and said, "There! Now it's me!" Love Love Love that the smile is what made his vision of himself complete! So, without any further ado I present Jace by Jace..,
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