We've Been Busy

The last few weeks are a blur. I am not used to being this busy, but I am sure getting used to it. For Moms 'n Tots last week we all went to the Aquatic Park. Jace loved it. He was fearless when it came to the water. He could have cared less if he was sprayed in the face, all the mattered was that he had someone else's toy in his hand and he was cool from the heat.
Last week Jace and I had some girls over to play. They love Annie and are the one's who are so nice to take care of her when we go out of town. They tell me to go out of town almost every time I see them because they want Annie to come to their house. They can get Annie to do just about anything and she sits in the most hilarious positions on them. Such cute girls.
Last Saturday we went to the pool for the first time this season. Jace had fun for the most part except for he thinks he can do whatever he wants. Sorry bud, no slide for you yet. He loved the big turtle.
And he loved the beach ball someone left there. If anyone else wanted to play with it he would "yell" at them. And for the worst news of the week, while we were chasing after the beloved ball, we had an incident where Jace fell in the water and hit his mouth against the side of the pool. It started bleeding and it stopped pretty quickly so off he went to play. While we were getting him ready to go I noticed my worst fear had occured. He had chipped his tooth. It is a pretty significant chip but the dentist shaved it down a bit and will fix it whenever we feel we want to. If anyone has any advice let me know. I still want to cry everytime he smiles at me because I feel so bad.
Monday our dishwasher started making a weird noise, Jace was concerned.

Daddy let Jace help wash the cars on Memorial Day. He couldn't have been happier. Jace absolutely loves cars and his obsession shows no signs of being over any time soon.

Trying to take a drink from the sprayer.
Here he is checkin out under the car.

He had lots and lots of fun.

Change

Three weeks ago, JJ came home from work and I was in the middle of mopping the kitchen floor. He was trying to talk to me and I was lost in thought. He could tell something was on my mind and I began telling him that I just had a "bad" feeling something was going to change with my calling in our ward. Right now I serve as the CTR 5 teacher, but I could not help but feel weighted down about something. I knew they were reorganizing many of the auxiliary organizations and I was literally feeling anxious about something. The only other time I had this feeling was right before they called me to be a RS teacher two years ago, which at the time I felt was the scariest calling ever! Any way, weeks passed and nothing happened so I wasn't thinking much about it any longer. Until 9:15 Thursday night. I got the call. "Hi Sister Bills! Would you be available to meet with us Saturday morning at the church? We have some things we would like to discuss with you about your calling." The feeling came back. What would it be? There really was something that was going to change! I don't know why I get these feelings, but I think it is Heavenly Father preparing me for change since he knows I don't usually deal with it very well.



Oh how I will miss my little kids in my class. We've had our hard Sundays, but overall, they are the cutest kids ever. I stared teaching them as Sunbeams and they moved me up with them as their CTR teacher this year. I will miss their smiles and excited faces when I see them in Sacrament meeting and in the halls. I will miss their hilarious stories they tell so out of the blue. I don't know why but I will miss continually reminding them that we don't sit backwards and upside down on our chairs showing everyone our underwear. I will miss them sweetly singing primary songs when they think no one is listening. I will miss all of them trying to get my attention at the same time just so I will look at them and love them. I will miss their sweet little prayers. I will miss so much more too. To Matthew, Kaycee, Faith, Amber, and Natalie, I will miss you so much and love you dearly.



Here are a few of the things they have made me over the last little while with them. I will also miss getting these every week. At the top of this one it says "Sister Bills and Faith". She would always say the most grown up things. I love that neither of us have eyes.
These are some 'Pants' made for my by Kaycee. She made them about 4 months ago and today when she saw I still had them she said, "Hey those are the pants I made for you." They remember everything!

Amber made these for me one Sunday and asked me for a few weeks after if I still had them. The first and last ones say things but you can't see them unless you blow up the picture. I love their little gifts of love.

Just as much as I will miss my primary class, I am equally excited about my new calling. I will now be serving as First Counselor to our wonderful Relief Society President. I look forward to building friendships with all of the sisters in our ward that I admire so much but have never had the opportunity to meet with until now. I also look forward to the things I will learn and gain from a leadership calling. I don't consider myself a good leader so this will definitely help develop some traits I currently lack. I know there will be challenges but I also know it is right. It wasn't a "bad" feeling after all. It was a good change about to happen.

Sugar and Smiles

For a little treat for Jace and I tonight, I thought I would make a healthy smoothie for us to share. Once he got a hold of it, he wasn't letting go. No worries, even with a boost of sugar before bed, he still fell asleep just fine.
Jace is still learning the concept of straws. He has been able to suck from them for a while but still doesn't realize he doesn't have to tip the cup for them to work.
When I turn around and look at Jace upside down through my legs, he thinks it is the most hilarious thing ever to run right at me and pretend I am a tunnel. I thought this picture was pretty funny because it is exactly what he looks like coming through.

"Show", A Little Puppy, and New Words

I don't know whether to be happy about this or not, but Jace's new favorite word to say is "Show". If the word is said, every thing else is forgotten about and nothing else matters until he is able to watch one. He prefers J and I to watch a "sho" with him so we are especially enjoying some extra snuggle time with our little bud. When J gets home from work and wants to relax with Jace, all he has to say is the magic word and Jace is all his! Therefore, tv time is saved for night time with Dad.
For those of you with dogs, I am sure you have seen a mess like this at some point in your house. I have a few times in the past. However, this mess I could not blame on Annie. Jace was the culprit. This was just a small glimpse of what the real mess was. It spread all over the bathroom and into our bedroom. Daddy was not pleased as it happened right as he was leaving to work.
I have been promising a few of you out there a video of Jace's new words he says. The first word is "Car". It sounds more like "Cah", and he says it....hmmmm.... probably about 900x a day. He is obsessed with any car or anything that looks like a car. The book at the beginning of this clip is his new favorite. He will listen for the entire book and wants me to tell him what each one is from the 'giant front-end loader' to the 'wheeled excavator'. Each page he repeats "Cah" over and over.
The second word is "Shoe". Say the word shoe and nothing else matters until his shoes are on his feet and we are on our way out the door. If it doesn't happen that quickly, watch out because his biggest tantrums arise when he can't go outside.
And the third word is "Show". As you can see once I say the word, he is on his way towards the tv wondering why I am not getting up to go with him. "Sho, Sho, Sho......."

Mother's Day!

Since this blog is pretty much done for the Mother's in my life, I couldn't forget to make sure you all know how much I love you and how grateful I am for you.

Mom: What would I do without you. It is your daily phone calls that keep me going strong and feeling grounded. When I haven't talked to you, my day is not complete. I admire your strength and patient example so much. Thank you for being there when I really needed you last year and for continuing to be there when I need uplifting. You understand me, which comforts me greatly. I thank Heavenly Father every day for a mother like you. I love you.

Anne: Thank you for always being so giving to me. Thank you for your calls to see how we are doing here so far away from you all. Thank you for keeping us updated on all the family information and fun gossip. That means more to me than anything because as you know I miss you all so much. Thank you for your help with RS lessons when I needed a different point of view. I love you and also appreciate your advice on Jace. I often think back on things you have told me about being a mother and I am better for that! I love you.

Chris: My wonderful mother-in-law. I am so blessed to have you in my life. You are so giving and I absolutely love the memories we have of staying with you last year. Thank you for all the help you gave us with Jace. Each gesture of help meant and means everything. I was grateful to have someone that "understood". I love your calls and your emails. Talking to you makes me miss you all the more. Thank you for loving me as your own. I love you.

At Church yesterday they gave everyone a rose. A few days before we taught Jace how to smell things. He was very into smelling the rose every time I asked him too.

I have the most amazing husband. He cares so much and tries his hardest to be sneaky with little things just to make me happy. Ever since last summer whenever J has asked me what I want for Christmas, or my birthday or just anything, I say a sewing machine and then change my mind. I love to sew and want to be better at it. I had no clue he had researched sewing machines and surprised me with it yesterday morning. All adorned with a huge Toblerone chocolate bar....my favorite. I love you sweetheart and thank you for always thinking of me. Because of you I am a mother to our most precious Jace. Thank you for that.

Rough Nap

Today at 4:30 we went to wake Jace up from a long long nap. We had things to do and we also just wanted him to be awake with us. By the looks of his hair, it must have been a rough nap. We had a busy morning visiting Mckell, Johnny and new baby Livy. While in Katy, Tx we also went shopping, ate lunch, and played at a little spray park. He loves the water and so I stripped him down and let him run wild. With no sunscreen on hand, the fun was only momentary. It was the hottest day yet this year in Houston reaching in the 90's. Thanks Mckell for letting us come and play today.Dinner made every thing all better. It may have been a rough nap but the food was fantastic.

Shoes

Jace has a thing for shoes. I hear most babies do. Each morning he finishes breakfast and then proceeds into the bedroom and starts taking all of Daddy's shoes out of his closet. While I am getting ready in the morning he will go in my closet and bring me different shoes to try on. He never fails to bring me my black boots first. Here are some pictures of his obsession! As I have stated before, he also has a thing for making piles. Here are the two obsessions colliding.


We went to dinner with our friends the Jacksons last weekend and when Jace and Joel were talking, he kept showing Joel his shoes. Joel seemed very interested. Cute little crocs.

Working Together

Jace and I had some friends over to play Monday. My friend Karla is the go-to on Organic and BPA information so I wanted to pick her brain. Jace had a lot of fun following Matthew around. Matthew is almost 2 so he was the leader of the two. While Karla and I were conversing, we turned around to find Jace and Matthew had somehow lured Annie into her crate and they closed the door on her. She was so patient with them as they investigated the situation.Notice: Matthew is missing a shoe. At one point he and Jace were wandering in the kitchen and Jace came running over holding Matthew's shoe. I wish I had seen how he got a hold of it!!!!!

Mowing the Lawn with Dad

Saturday, J and I had a big day of yard work. Jace was interested immediately when J turned on the lawn mower. He followed him around the backyard and would not move when the lawn mower came right at him. Daddy showed him how to help push it and that was the end of J mowing the lawn quickly. I like how they match too.
Jace was so serious about his chore to mow the lawn. No smiles....just extreme focus. How's that for an expression?
Here is a video of it all....

Past Due Pictures - House Painting

Back in February, I mentioned that we were in the process of painting a few rooms in our house and doing a few more updates. J and I love our house, but from the time we moved here in July 2006 we have been talking about replacing the wallpaper in the kitchen. J found a company that gave us a great bid and we jumped right on it. Here is a picture of our kitchen before. This was taken in January at Jace's Birthday party. It is dark, but at the right angle you can see a good before shot.

Here is the after picture of our kitchen. We have decorated some since this picture was taken, I promise it doesn't look this bare. We love it. It makes the rest of our house so open and light. It was not easy to remove all that wallpaper and texture the walls before painting everything. I am so thrilled it is done though.

Here are two pictures of our new family room. We painted the walls darker, and had beautiful crown molding put in to match the rest of the house. J and I both love the richness the darker color gives the room.

We also painted our room an even darker brown color. I don't have a picture of that yet but we love it. Enjoy!