3 years old!

so i finally got around to taking jace's 3 year old pictures last week. it did take a little bribing on my part to get him into the clothes i wanted and out the door. we didn't have much time because it was threatening to rain on us but we still got some good ones.

actually we got a lot of good ones. here is what i've edited so far.





this last series is one of my favorites. it totally shows what happens when i want to take his picture. the first picture he is saying "mom, do i really have to stand here and do this?" the second shows him so often distracted and interested in something other than the camera. and the last is his nice little cheeser. man, i love this kid!


more to come when i get around to editing them.

it's a girl, for sure!

we had our 20 week ultrasound last friday. jace accompanied me to see baby sister. jared did not. he was working. jace was pretty excited to see baby sister on the camera and listen to her heartbeat.

the doctor says she looks good and is measuring right at 20 weeks. my placenta is low (but not covering the cervix) so he wants to do another ultrasound later in the pregnancy to see if it has moved.

anyway, here she is...


and her name? mallory kate.

it is jared and jace's favorite. i liked it too but wasn't ready to decide. however, they have been calling her mallory kate for awhile and now it's just kinda stuck. and besides, i think it's really cute the way jace says it.

10 today

1. i have been feeling more like myself (physically and emotionally) the past few days. it's great! friday will be the half way mark for us and we will celebrate with an ultrasound to see how our little girl is doing.

2. it's gotten cold here and we have really been enjoying the fall weather. i love the seasons and the changes they bring. fall brings cooler weather, football, beautiful scenery, lots of holidays and lots of fun.

3. i love these guys so much! they bring me so much joy every. single. day.


4. my name has officially been changed to "lightening mcqueen" courtesy of jace. he is currently known as "moto" and will not answer to anything else. i don't think that i have been called mom for about 4 days now.

5. jared went on his first ever hunting trip with my dad, little bro jacob, brother-in-law troy and nephew wyatt. he came back exhausted but with some good stories to tell. he really had a great time and wants to go again. he said he didn't even miss watching college football (including byu).

6. while the boys were hunting my mom and i headed to my sister ginger's house. jace got to play with his cousins (which he loves) and we went to lunch (which i loved). we had a great time and wished they lived closer so we could see them more often.

7. jace has entered into a rather whiny, temper tantrum throwing, stubborn stage. i have to say i'm not loving it. we have had to leave stores a number of times and he sat on the floor crying for an hour because he didn't want to pick up the cheerios he spilled. any advice on how to get over this fast?

8. we spent one evening at the park last week and had fun playing together.


9. this is one of jace's favorite things to do at the park. he can spin for a good 15 minutes. jared tried it and only lasted about 1 minute. why is it that little kids can spin for so long?


10. i bribed jace into letting me take some photos of him tonight. they are his official 3 year old photos. stay tuned for more...

photography

after a couple of months of not picking up my camera much i am in the mood to take pictures again. as much as i love to take photos of jace, he gets kind of tired of it. i have always toyed with the idea of doing it for others. so, to see if it is something that i would enjoy doing and if it would be a good fit for our family i thought i would give it a try.

what you would get: a one hour session and a cd of the best photos, edited.

what i would get: practice. practice. and more practice.

so, if anyone is up for it, i would love to take pictures of you or your kids or your family. just let me know. i would love you forever! you can leave a comment here or email me at jm.mclaughlin@gmail.com to set up a session.

p.s. i am in the process of updating my photo blog if you want to check it out to see some other photos i've taken.

amber (jared's cousin) took some quick snapshots of jace and i last spring when she was visiting. i have been meaning to post them but never got around to editing them until last week.

i love. love. love. having these pictures of me and jace. we have such a great time together and i always want to remember this time of our lives.


thanks amber!

monster birthday

we had a fun monster party for jace's birthday this past weekend. he got to invite four of his friends that he plays with often. we had pizza from papa murphey's, drinks (sprite is jace's favorite) and cupcakes with monster suckers stuck in each one.

for the activities we decorated monster bags, played monster bean bag toss, and had a monster bounce on the trampoline with monster balls. we topped the party off with a monster pinata full of candy and monster tattoos, which the boys were actually able to break by themselves.

jace had a great time and i think his friends did too. i was supervising the party and jared was on camera patrol. he took mostly video but did get a few photos.




i love this picture of jace just waiting to hit the pinata. i think the other kids were jumping on the trampoline.

play

we went to the children's garden the other day with friends. jace built this bridge in the natural play area. there is a troll wedged under the bridge who does not let anyone across unless they answer one of his riddles.


jace picked this flower for me and wanted me to wear it in my hair. he kept checking on it all day to make sure it was still there.


one of my favorite things is listening to jace play. so creative. so fun.

10 today

1. jace this morning: "most people call me a big boy mom, but i'll still be a baby for you so you can feed me." lucky me!

2. still hoping that i wake up one morning and feel like myself again. no more nausea or allergies or congestion or being tired. wouldn't that be great!

3. jace went to a friend's carnival birthday party last weekend. he wanted his face painted like a cougar but settled for a tiger (the face painter didn't know how to do a cougar). for the rest of the day he was known as "the tiger." he would say things like "the tiger is hungry" or "the tiger needs to go potty."



4. jace and i got tickets to the byu game a couple hours before the game started so we got to go with jared. minus the disappointing performance by byu we had a good time. jace would clap and sing the fight song every time it came on and gave high fives to all those sitting by us. and he would get up and dance to the songs they played. he had a good time but it is exhausting to take an almost 3 year old to a fb game. so sorry you were sick adrienne but thanks for thinking of us.

5. if it were up to jace he would pick a tree over a toilet every time.


6. friday we went to see the new baby elephant at the zoo. she was pretty cute. we also saw the baby giraffe and the baby snow leopard. jace told jared that the giraffes were almost as tall as his dad.

7. last night jace picked "scootering" for our fhe activity.


8. yesterday jace and i went to see cloudy with a chance of meatballs. good movie!

9. and because i have nothing else to say, another picture of jace.


10. happy first day of fall!!

a little jace talk

jace said to me this morning:

"oh yeah, i decided i want a dog mom, instead of a baby sister"


such a fun age right now. he cracks me up often throughout the day.

yesterday he spilled his food on his shirt while eating dinner:

jace: "dangit"
me: "remember we say 'ah man' not dangit"
jace: "no this is a dangit moment mom"
(i had spilled food on my white shorts earlier in the day and had said dangit...he doesn't miss a thing)


frequent phrases that he uses:

"those are not my choices mom!" (when he doesn't like the options i give him)

"this is the problem" (this prefaces pretty much everything he says whether it's a problem or not and he always holds up two fingers while saying it)

"is that the plan" (usually after he finishes telling us whatever he had to say)

"what was your favorite part" (usually when we put him to bed but sometimes after we do an activity. we also have to go through everyone in our family, his friends and their families, too.)

"i'm still your baby, mom" (he tells me this at least once a day)

whenever we give jace a compliment he turns around and gives it back to us. example, the other day jared came to watch him play football.
jared: "i'm so proud of you jace for playing football"
jace: "no, i'm so proud of you dad for watching me play football"

10 today

1. i have recently become one of the worst bloggers ever. i only posted 3 times in july and 2 times in august.

2. even worse, i haven't taken any pictures since the 4th of july. that's bad. especially since i usually average around 250 photos a month.

3. i just bought myself this purse. it was desperately needed (at least i like to think so). and i can fit my camera in it when i don't want to haul around my extra lenses and camera bag.


4. jace is playing "itty bitty ball" this month. they learn the basics of a new sport each week. last week was soccer and this week was football. he thinks its great and i have fun watching him. when they played a game of flag football all the boys were more interested in pulling each other's flags off than the actual game of football. i was just happy jace didn't tackle anybody because he kept telling us that "i just tackle those football players" in a really tough voice.

5. my mom gave me the wicked sound track for my birthday and we have really enjoyed listening to it. jace has surprised me by his excellent listening skills and intelligent questions about the songs and story.

6. jace got a haircut yesterday. i wanted to keep it longer but it grows so fast i have a hard time keeping it looking good and even (and his dad has been lobbying for shorter hair for awhile).


7. jared had his semi-annual work golf tournament this morning. his team lost which i thought was pretty good since the losers each got two movie tickets. which means a win for me because now i get a free movie date night. anybody have any movie recommendations for us?

8. i am 15 1/2 weeks pregnant now and i am running out of things to wear that fit. most days i am feeling better, some days not so much.

9. jared is playing fantasy football this year which means we get to watch more football. every year it's a little more. first it was just byu then it was all college games and now it includes all nfl games. it's not too bad though because he just wants to have it on while doing other things like dishes or playing with jace.

10. jace is turning three next week so we are planning a monster birthday party at his request. details and photos will be forthcoming. it should be fun!

and one last thing, go cougars!! no. 7 is awesome!