Trip to Maryland: The Ball

Wednesday evening was the Graduates' Ball. Wednesday was also my Grandma's birthday, so we all attended the ball to celebrate her special day. It was fun having everyone get so dressed up, and then we had a blast dancing at the ball. Jace loved all the lights and movement, and Josiah, Micah, Cami and Liesl were quite the dancers!

Jace with Grandma before the ball.


Dan, Anna and their kids looking great!


I LOVE this picture of Nolan and Jace!


The four of us kids--Dan, Me, Tim and Mike.

My parents and Tim in their backyard before the ball.

Us with Tim before going in the ball. Jace and his cousins got quite a bit of attention due to their cuteness!

Family self-portrait.

Uncle Tim and Jace dancing together.

Jace was very quick to give Great-Grandma Steiner lots of smiles and giggles. Grandma loved it!

Trip to Maryland: Blue Angels

On Wednesday we went on the yard to watch the Blue Angels do a show. It was a very hot day, especially in the beating sun. Jace had a hard time with the heat and bright sun (he'd never really seen the sun) and then when the planes started flying over us VERY loudly, he decided he'd had enough. But after a little while of sitting in the shade of an umbrella and drinking a bottle, he fell asleep and missed the rest of the show. The rest of us loved watching the crazy stunts though!

Cami and Jace before everything started. Cami decided she didn't want to sit in her stroller, so I put Jace in it. Of course, she then wanted to be in her stroller again!

Waiting for the shuttle buses to take us back to the football field where our cars were parked.

Trip to Maryland: 1st Plane Ride & 1st Morning in Annapolis

Our long awaited trip to Maryland for my youngest brother, Tim's, graduation finally arrived bright and early on Tuesday, May 25. We stayed at Nolan's parents in Clackamas the night before, and were off to the airport at 4 am. Jace was an amazing little traveler! I think he loved the fact that he got more bottles between the two flights than he normally has all day!

At our gate waiting to board.

The flight attendants on our first flight were wonderful and moved the person next to us so we could have a whole row to ourselves. Jace loved being able to wiggle, and eventually fall asleep, on his own seat.

My mom borrowed an exersaucer from a friend for Jace to play in. This was his first time in an exersaucer and he loved it!

The next morning my Grandma and Grandpa Steiner, aunt, uncle and cousin came over. This is my grandparents with all of the great grand kids and my cousin Liesl.

My brother, Tim, with Jace. Tim met Jace for the first time at the airport the night before.

Modified Dress Shirt for Jace

We're getting very excited for our trip to Maryland next week! While we're there we'll go to a ball for all the graduates. Jace is going to look so handsome in his little suit (which also matches his cousins' suits).
The only problem with the suit is that the shirt didn't stay tucked in very well. And if it didn't stay tucked in well in the few minutes Jace was modeling for this picture, I knew it would be bad news at the ball! But then I remembered a tutorial I had seen on a blog a week or so before that showed you how to make an "always tuck me in shirt." Check it out here.

We started with his nice, white dress shirt:

And then I cut off the bottom of a stained onesie that he's outgrown and sewed it on to the bottom of the shirt (I did it with his Easter shirt first to make sure it worked knowing it would be a great improvement for that shirt as well). In just 5 minutes, I had transformed his shirt in a way that no one at the ball will ever know (although I'm sure they'll all be so impressed by how good Jace is at keeping his shirt tucked in).

Ta-da!

Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

So there aren't really shoulders, but there's an attempt at Jace's gums!


HEAD
We're headed to Maryland next week for my brother Tim's graduation from the Naval Academy. Since we'll be seeing a lot of sunshine, and Jace hasn't worn a hat since the day we brought him home from the hospital, I thought it would be a good idea to start getting him used to a hat. We went for a walk on one of our rare sunny days, and he didn't fight it at all!

GUMS
Guess who's teething! Jace had some really fussy days last week, and sure enough, there are two little teeth starting to make their appearance. That means that during 80% of the time he's awake, his hand is in his mouth. His first finger has been the favorite. I tried to capture a picture of his gums, but after three unsuccessful tries, I figured you can just wait to see them.

KNEES & TOES
Our little guys legs aren't so little any more. I had to get a picture of these chubbers!

A little something work related...

A while back I was asked to contribute to an e-book called, "What Matters Now in Children's Ministry." I was really excited to be a part of something that fellow Children's Ministry leaders from around the world that I highly respect would also be contributing to. The only thing that made this less than wonderful was the fact that I had to choose one word that represents, to me, what matters most in ministry to children. Oh, and I had to explain it in 200 words or less. Several drafts later and after many reminders of how much I'm a longer-winded story teller, I finally had my main point and 200 words that explained it. I got a sneak peak at the book last week, and today it was fully released. Imago did all the art work as a gift to the project, and the whole thing looks beautiful! And since the book is free, I thought I would share it with all of you. Even if you have no connection to Children's Ministries, it's still great to read through and see such a great representation of people who are passionate about seeing today's children grow up to be leaders in the future. Enjoy! What Matters Now in Children's Ministry

Three Months Old!

I can't believe Jace is 3 months old already! He's changing so much every day. Our latest exciting accomplishments are: a consistent bed time at 8:30, with a feeding between 5 and 6 am, he loves sucking on his hands and fingers but still has a hard time getting his thumb to stay in his mouth, he's started actually noticing his hands and likes holding them together and looking at them, when put on his back on the floor, he'll arch his back and look around like he's getting ready to roll over, he loves to squeal and giggle, especially when Daddy plays peek-a-boo with him, he enjoys hearing himself speak and talks very loudly, he still eats every three hours, but eats a lot more at each feeding, and he brings us so, so, so much joy every day!

Getting a smile was quite the accomplishment as he is mesmerized by the camera and was also in a grumpy mood today. Notice the wet belly--this boy is ALWAYS spitting up.

We finally changed clothes when his previous shirt got soaked. This outfit is a 6 month size! A little baggy, but not too much. Jace is long and lean.

Jace turned 3 months on Uncle Mike's birthday! We met up with Mike and Amanda at King Tin in Corvallis to treat them to lunch for Mike's birthday. Mike and Amanda are pretty fond of our little guy.

We took a happy picture just before this, but Mike and Amanda were out of focus. Jace was pretty content to sit with them until he remembered he was hungry.

Josiah stayed with us for the weekend, and Jace LOVED talking to him and smiling at him. It was sweet to watch Josiah love on his little cousin. Josiah had a soccer game on Saturday, and Jace discovered that he hates sunshine and wind. This was a brief, peaceful moment. We eventually just put him back in his car seat with the blanket blocking the wind, which made him very happy and talkative for the rest of the game.

Josiah did a great job of kicking the ball and keeping up with the game!