Go Blue knight!

On Tuesday I found out that the ITT office on the base was giving away tickets to medieval times for Thursday night. So I of course called Sean immediately to have him go down and grab us some. I was really excited for it but nervous at how Jace would do.

Fast forward to tonight:
Let me tell you he LOVED it. From the sword fighting, to the horses and even the food, this boy was in awe. It was so amazing to experience the show through his eyes. I loved watching the way his eyes sparkled when the horses did a trick or the way he would throw his arms up when a knight came by! He even sat there for 2 hours with no complaining! He ate like a king, he had ribs and chicken, zucchini, potatoes, tomato bisque soup, garlic bread and an apple crisp! Unfortunately our knight didn't win but we all had a great time regardless!

All in a days work...

Just wanted to share some cute pictures of Jace from the last two days! Lately he has been all about the baby toys stashed in the garage, not sure why but it does give me some peace and quiet for 20 minutes so ill take it. He also got to try a cookie beater for the first time. He wasn't quite sure what to do with it at first but once he got the hang of it he was pretty obsessed. The past two nights have been pretty stormy here which leads to mud puddles, so I decided to take Jace puddle jumping. He loved it!! It was too cute to watch him run around in the rain getting dirty, such a boy! We also learned how to make funny faces! His favorite is sticking out his tongue, I'm sure ill regret teaching him that later. Haha!

Too cute.

Oh Jace, when you aren't acting like a crazy you really are the sweetest little boy. This morning you insisted on rocking your Mickey Mouse stuffed animal and then you noticed your elephant on the floor and wanted to rock him too. You sat up there for 10 minutes on your rocking chair just patting their backs, talking to them and rocking. One day you will be such a great big brother.

My candle is lit...

Today, October 15th is national pregnancy and infant loss awareness day, and unfortunately tonight we light a candle for our own little angel. While the subject is still pretty fresh for my family and Im not ready to share too much other than I had found out I was pregnant at 3 weeks (pretty early I know... it was August 29th the day we found out). Something inside of me just knew I was pregnant. Unfortunately at 7 weeks I developed a subchronic hemorrhage and ultimately lost the baby. It has been extremely hard on myself as well as Sean, but we know God has a plan, a plan much bigger than anything I could imagine and for that I trust in Him and his plan for my family. While I lost the baby early on, and some even feel that it is "lucky" I had hopes and dreams for this baby, I had loved and prayed for this baby. This quote sums up exactly how I feel. "I didn’t get to feel you kick, or look into your eyes. I didn’t hold you in my arms, or hear your little cry. I didn’t get to see your smile, or even know your name. But, you’ll always be my baby and I love you just the same."

Boys will be boys...

We are very lucky that we have become friends with our neighbors. In California we never met a single neighbor, in fact I could have been standing behind our neighbor at the store and I would have never known it. But we are very fortunate that not only do we have a friendship with them as adults, but they also have two little boys; 26 months and 3 months! Jace just loves Mason (the older one) and adores Conner (the baby). In the evening or on the weekends we go outside and let the boys just play in the yard, and they play so well together. Its so great that Jace has a playmate so close and that mommy can get some adult interaction as well! Its so funny how God works, it was about our 3rd month here and I was starting to get down that I had no friends, and just felt alone.... that same afternoon Jace and I were outside and our neighbor came out to introduce herself and her family. Totally a God thing, and I am so thankful!

Meet Annie!

So the crazy person in me thought it would be a good idea to adopt a kitten. After days and days of searching we found one about an hour away. The lady takes in cats in her area and spays/ neuters them. She has done this for about 50 stray cats. She also rescues kittens and gets them adopted. So after emailing back and forth with her and seeing some adorable pictures, we found one we loved. Bringing her home Jace was so excited! He calls her Meow, but is sounds more like Mowe, or A. He loves to play with her, kiss her, hold her, put her in his trucks, sit on her, etc. Every morning when he wakes up she is the first thing he asks for! Molly is even doing great with her, I think she likes having a buddy! I on the other hand now have something extra to take care of, and I swear she acts like a newborn! Crying, wanting food, wanting to be held! Its a good thing Jace loves her so much! ;]

[[Fall]] into Fun!

Well its officially fall, and Illinois doesnt joke around! For the first time in my life I actually get to experience a fall season! The leaves are changing, the weather has started to get cold, and its actually looking like fall! I am so in love with everything about it. I'm so sad that my family in California doesnt get to experience this, at least just once!

So my mom came in for 2 weeks, we are so blessed she comes to visit us so often. While she was here we stayed very busy! Pumpkin patches, Mops meetings, visits to a light house, gymnastics and swim lessons, Santa's Village, Church BBQ, Libertyville, yummy food... just typing that made me exhausted, Whew! The day after my mom left we had a bit of a family emergency so my amazing family pulled together and my mom came back out the next day to be with us for another week. That week seemed to be the week from hell however, the second day my mom was here we got into a car accident. The man driving behind us did not see us stop to turn and slammed into the back of our car. We were pushed into a ditch. Luckily we all were ok, my mom suffered the worst of the injuries and was taken to the hospital where they told her she had a sprained neck and back. It was pretty scary.

Sorry for all the pictures, but there is just too many cute ones!

Here is Santa's Village, which was literally the cutest place ever. Its geared for younger kids, with the exception of one ride (The dragon roller coaster) Jace could do/ ride everything which is not too heard of at an amusement park with a 19 month old! He loved the rides, and doing them by himself.

Grosse Point is a lighthouse down in Chicago, it was beautiful. Its by a very small beach and surrounded by gardens. Its located right next to Northwestern University and the town is so quaint and like something you would see in a movie.

Our church had a fall bbq, it was really cute, they had cold stone, inflatable jumpers, petting zoo, horse rides, popcorn, and food! We weren't able to stay long as Jace was pretty much done, but he did get to enjoy some popcorn and a horse ride!

Pumpkin Patches: well we went to 3 haha! One was a cute little farm called Krolls, they have a corn maze, tractor rides, and a small petting zoo. The second was Apple Holler which is in Wisconsin. We went last year when we came to Chicago, only this time when we went it was packed. So after eating their delicious homemade apple donuts and drinking some cider we moved on to our third, which was Jerry Smiths Pumpkin Farm. It was the absolute cutest thing. Besides the jumping pumpkin everything was free! The decorate the pumpkin to look like scenes out of movies, books, cartoons. They had so much to do. Seriously my favorite pumpkin patch ever!

Krolls:

Apple Holler:

Jerry Smiths: