Christmas Morning Magic

I have so much I want to write about our fourth (!) Christmas with Spencer, but until I have time to do it justice, please enjoy these videos we took when he woke up on Christmas morning.

A Tasty Surprise

One of our favorite books is You Can Do It, Sam which tells the story of a mama bear and her son who bake delicious cakes for their friends on Plum Street. The mama bear encourages her little guy to walk up to the houses all by himself and leave the cakes at the doorsteps. Each cake has a note that says "A tasty surprise."  All month Spencer has been asking if we could do that. So today we dropped off some cookies we baked together and a few other treats to Jenni and Mitch and then the Buchanans. Spencer delivered the goodies all by himself and was so proud.

Wimberley Trail of Lights

Thanks to a hot tip from Ella's mommy, we ventured over to the Wimberley Trail of Lights this evening. What a neat display! I loved the small town feel of it, too. We could barely keep up with Spencer - he was flitting around from one thing to the next and had zero interest in posing next to the pretty lights. So we didn't make it home with many pics. I think the first one below captures the vibe of the evening!

As a bonus, we drove by a live nativity at a church in Wimberley. Even though it was already after 7:00, we just had to stop. Spencer loves hearing the story of the Baby Jesus and I had actually been trying to find a live nativity in Austin. We lucked out!

Spence fell asleep on the drive home and we pulled off another car-to-bed transfer. Until recently we thought those were the stuff of legends and fairy tales. I honestly could not imagine ever being able to move my sleeping boy from a car to his bed - sleep has always been so tricky for us. Holding that big boy in my arms tonight made me almost get weepy. He's growing up so fast and getting so heavy that sometimes I wonder how much longer I'll be able to tote him around. Gotta keep soaking that up while I can - and lift weights! 

Christmas, Round 1

We went to Columbus yesterday for Christmas at Aunt Bobbie's. Spencer's holiday spirit was contagious. He was so excited about everything. When we had the four second cousins standing in front of the tree for a picture, Spencer kept saying, "Merry Christmas!" over and over as he turned from camera to camera. Every present was the best present he ever received - he even yelled, "Wow! New clothes!" when he opened a snazzy warm vest from Aunt Bobbie. Between the new puzzles, games and Stomp Rocket, his cousins and he were busy until we headed home around 6:30.

He had so much fun playing with Sarah, Lee and Elliott. I heard him walk over to Lee at one point before we left and say, "I had a good time with you guys today." Spencer loves his family so much - it just about makes my heart explode! Looking forward to more holiday fun this week as we start the official countdown to Santa.

Sick People and Computers, Plus a Train Exhibit

Oh my stars! Where has this month gone? The last week has been nutty. First, Spencer stayed home from school last Friday because he said his tummy was hurting. He ended up "spitting up" as we say several times throughout the day and night, but seemed fine the next day. He got to hang out on the couch watching Frosty, Rudolph and all sorts of fun stuff so he didn't mind being sick. Then around midnight Sunday/Monday, I got hit with whatever he had. It. Was. Bad. And then Spencer had a little relapse Monday night. Poor Dave was such an MVP taking care of us and everything else, including my computer, while trying to fight a touch of the bug himself. Yes, my computer crashed - that's the other reason I've been absent from the blog. But now we are slowly getting back up to speed and determined to squeeze every bit of holiday magic out of the next week!

Jenni and I took Spencer to a neat model train exhibit downtown on Sunday. There were lots of trains to look at, plus Spencer was able to "drive" one for a few minutes and he thought that was really neat. Afterwards, we got some hot chocolate and a sandwich. It was a super fun afternoon with Jenni! I hope this video works the way I've uploaded directly here...

On the way home, Jenni had the awesome idea of stopping at a business on S. Lamar that has a bunch of old fashioned lawn decorations in their front lawn - including the elusive Baby Jesus display! Yes, Spencer has been on the lookout for Baby Jesus and I'm glad Jenni was able to help us fulfill that request.

We have more holiday activities scheduled this weekend and I promise to update the blog sooner rather than later!

Decking the Halls | Brrrrrrrrrrr!

We decorated our Christmas tree yesterday. Spencer loved pulling out all the ornaments and asking me about them. Before we had Spencer, Dave and I always did a more "designer" tree, but now I love using old fashioned ornaments, many of which have a story behind them.

It was chilly this morning so Spencer had to bundle up for school. Wait til you see the other hat I bought him this weekend...gotta get a picture of that one. 

Also, I finally added a November photo album, but Picasa is acting weird and all of the pictures haven't loaded yet. You'll have to check back later because I have to scoot to band practice now.

Note: I discovered the problem - I ran out of Google storage space. Upgrading now and pictures should be online tomorrow.

Thanksgiving at Pine Fork

We had a really nice Thanksgiving at Pine Fork. This year we did a combo family event. From the Rives/Ruston side we had Paw-Paw, Aunt Dianne, Uncle Scott, Aunt Renee, Steven and Chris. From the Horridge/Smith side we had Geep, Pop, Aunt Janice, Uncle Gary, Austin, Uncle Rick, Aunt Susan, Shelby and Eric. We thought about Grannie a lot, but being all together in a relaxing environment like the ranch really helped!

We didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a few scenes from the day, including Pop and Spencer fishing; Uncle Gary and Spencer hanging peanut butter pine cones for the birds; Dave carving the turkey; EZ tractor rides; and a fun family photo in front of the Spencer Spruce, which, along with some other trees on the property, was beautifully decorated for the holiday.

Oh, and did I mention that the Texas Longhorns beat the Texas A&M Aggies 27-25? Hook 'Em!

Pre-Thanksgiving Thanks

We had a pre-Thanksgiving celebration at Spencer's school last Friday. Paw-Paw was visiting and got to join us. There was lots of yummy food and all sorts of fun decorations that the children made. That little turkey hand is one of my favorite things ever!

You might notice the scrape on Spencer's cheek. He took a terrible spill last Wednesday - he tried to step up onto the couch while holding a banana and glass of milk. He fell off and hit his face on the coffee table. I guess his skin rubbed against the glass really hard and it created something like an open blister. We thought he would have a black eye for sure, but luckily it just has a hint of blue around the big ole' scab.

Weekend Roundup

I haven't been updating Spencer's blog much lately, huh? Will try to do better, starting now with a little weekend roundup. Went to our first birthday party at Build-a-Bear for one of Spencer's classmates on Saturday. I was not looking forward to this event because that store just sort of creeps me out. I think Spencer was a little overwhelmed by all the choices but he ended up having a pretty good time. He came home with a karate bear he named Heart.

After the party we watched the second half of our football game (blah) with Garven, Kit, Patrick and a few other folks. Spencer was such a little gentleman at Kit's house and everyone was commenting on how polite, sweet and fun he was. It was a really great day!

This morning Spencer and I made "cloud dough." This is an activity we will do again for sure. We mixed flour and baby oil and the result is a damp sand-like substance that is fun to dig in, mold and smoosh with your fingers.

Later, I packed a picnic lunch for all of us and we headed to Butler Park. Spencer rode his scooter for awhile. This was the first time I've gotten to see him ride in a park where he can really get going. He is so cute on that thing - and brave! He took a little spill and scraped his knee. It really didn't seem like a bad scrape at all, but for some reason he got extremely upset to the point that we eventually had to pack up our lunch and leave the park. I started thinking maybe he had injured himself some other way - like strained a muscle or something - but he kept saying it was just the scrape. Part of me thinks he got embarrassed about falling because there were some other people around. It was hard seeing him that upset and nothing we did helped. But before that little spill, he was a total thrasher!

Spencer and I took a stroll down to Starbucks this afternoon, too. Then he played his guitar while I practiced my clarinet for a little while. I really enjoyed having so much one-on-one time with him today. He told me, "Mommy, you're the loviest lovey-est Mommy in the world." Sigh...

p.s. If you get emails when I update the blog, sorry for the multiple notifications. Trying to fix some weird spacing...

Trick-or-Treat 2011

Hard to believe this was Spencer's fourth Halloween. He was just 3 weeks old in 2008; had chicken pox in 2009; was a cute little cowboy in 2010; and this year, Spencer the Happy Ghost made the rounds. Thank goodness the random 105° fever he had over the weekend didn't last!

Daddy and Spencer carved our jack-o-lantern Monday afternoon. Spencer wanted him to have a grouchy/grumpy face and Daddy worked his magic.

We have to give major props to Daddy for constructing Spencer's costume. Spencer had been telling us for two months that he wanted to be a happy ghost this year. So Daddy borrowed a sewing machine from Lisa and created the cutest little ghost costume while I was in Minneapolis last week. For you Project Runway fans, it was definitely a "make it work" moment!

We trick-or-treated in our neighborhood for about an hour. After he got acclimated to what was going on, Spencer had a blast and came home with a pumpkin full of candy. I told him he could have a treat so he sat on the floor and started digging through the bucket, but then he said, "I don't want to eat any candy. I just want to get ready for bedtime." Ahhhh, music to my ears! For those of you who are afraid we don't let the child eat sweets, here is evidence to the contrary - having a Twix after his school party. (Whatchoo talkin' about, Willis?)

Remember the I'm a Cowboy video from last Halloween? I took a little footage at the same house this year for comparison. Our little guy sure is growing up. Hope you had a wonderful and spooky Halloween!

Still Our Little Pumpkin

We went to the Tarrytown Methodist Church pumpkin patch today. Got a little nostalgic looking at the pictures we took there in 2009 when Spencer was just a year old. What a difference two years makes!

First Trip to the Dentist

We took Spencer for his first dental check-up this morning. We chose a pediatric dentist that I had heard some good things about on the Attachment Parenting forum I follow. The ladies at the office were very sweet and Spencer felt comfortable at record speed. It didn't hurt that Daddy had recently walked by the office on his way to see our accountant, so he knew there was a train table inside. That was good motivation for Spencer this morning!

The dental hygienist looked at his teeth, counted all 20 of them, brushed/polished them, showed us how to floss and applied a thin layer of fluoride foam. She gave us a score of 1 on their scale of 0-18 (the lower the better), and said Spencer has been doing a good job brushing. Then Dr. Thiel came out and did a quick look-see and we were on our way. Spencer got a goody bag with a new toothbrush and toothpaste, plus he got to pick out a couple of toys from the toy bins. All in all, a very positive first dental experience. We are proud of Spencer for being brave!

Weekend in Galveston

We went to Galveston last weekend for Shelby and Eric's wedding. We headed out after lunch on Friday and Spencer slept almost the whole way there. That set us up for an awesome evening because he was rested and ready to go. We met Geep, Pop and Aunt Carol at the hotel before going out to dinner with a big group of family. At the hotel, Spencer asked me if maybe someone could ride with us to the restaurant and we had this cute little exchange:

Me: "I bet Aunt Carol would like to ride in the backseat with you."
Spencer: "Yeah! Or maybe Uncle Dan?"
Me: "Oh, Uncle Dan didn't get to come this time. He is in New York."
Spencer: "Well THAT'S disappointing!"

We met up with all of the Bullocks, Glenn, Margie, Katie and Willie for a big group dinner at Rudy & Paco. We just assumed this was going to be a casual Mexican food restaurant or something, but it's actually a really fancy place - definitely the fanciest place Spencer has ever been. He was in a spectacular mood and really enjoyed himself. He sat across from us next to Geep and was just a little gentleman the whole evening. The waitstaff was very accommodating to him, which helped too.

The next day, we played on the beach for a little while, then spent several hours at the hotel pool where a bunch of people were staying. Super fun!

Dave and I made a major tactical error by not taking Spencer for a drive that afternoon so he could nap. The poor little guy was tired before the wedding even started, but he held it together for the ceremony. By the time we got to the reception, he was done. We thought that the music would give him a little pick-me-up, but the poor kid just wanted to go to sleep. I took him back to the hotel and we shared his leftovers from the night before and were both asleep by 9:00.

The three of us went to Moody Gardens before heading back to Austin. I gotta admit, I'm a little lukewarm on that place. I mean, it's cool and all, but it's expensive! I think it's better suited for ages 4-5 and up. Spencer enjoyed the aquarium, but the rain forest required too much searching for things and he sort of zoomed right through it. We'll probably try it again when he's older.

 And our little traveler was asleep before we'd barely made it out of Galveston. Awesome weekend! Congratulations to Shelby and Eric!