More Quotable Quotes and Gardening

I was cleaning my desk this morning and found a few recent quotes from Spencer.

• "I just burped. (Puzzled look on face...) It came from my neck."
• "C'mon, Daddy let's find it. C'mon big boy!"
• Telling me a story: "Once upon a time a boy was making raviolis. He put salt and pepper on them."
• Mommy: "You're in a good mood this morning."
  Spencer: "Yeah, I am. I love you."

Spencer has the sweetest way of saying "one upon a time" - it's comes out sounding something like "puncepontime." He's very into telling stories right now and playing I Spy. Lots of imaginative play going on at our house. It rocks!

We planted a little garden last week and now we are watching our watermelons and squash (zucchini, yellow, acorn) sprout away. We got a late start on our summer garden and we know it'll be an uphill battle in this heat, but it's fun trying. Now we have to prune away some of our plants because they are too close together. I'll have to take some pictures....stay tuned.

Fun Day with Friends

Today we had an awesome time hanging out with Steffani, Chad, Ella and Steffani's mom, Carol. I hadn't seen Carol in a very long time (probably 15+ years) so it was a real treat to catch up with her. We swam and had a yummy cookout. Steffani has already documented the day on her blog (awesome pictures, Chad!), so click over there to get a recap of our day.

Spencer fell asleep not five minutes after we left, so Dave took his time getting us home so Spencer could nap. Well, that wasn't enough - Spencer continued his nap on our bed and didn't wake up until 6:45 PM. That was about a 3.5 hour nap. Tonight should be interesting...

Love That Boy

Tonight I was lying on the floor next to Spencer's bed while he fell asleep. He was facing me, head resting against the bed rail. I was looking up at his sweet little face through the bed rail slats as he was drifting off to sleep, when he opened his eyes and said, "Mommy? Thank you for cooking that food tonight." You're quite welcome, my little love.

Father's Day Recap

We spent Father's Day weekend at Pine Fork with Pop and Geep. And as an added bonus, Paw-Paw met us at the ranch Sunday morning then drove back to Austin and spent the night with us. We gave Pop an inflatable swimming pool, so there was lots of splashing around to keep cool, in addition to all the usual activities. It was Paw-Paw's first time at the ranch, so Spencer was excited to show him around on the EZ-Tractor (and point out the Toothache tree), show him how good he can cast his fishing pole, and play in the sandbox together. We had a nice weekend and loved celebrating the wonderful fathers in our lives!

Ta-da! Best daddy ever

Fishermen getting ready to reel one in

Showing Paw-Paw the sandbox

Quiet moment with Geep - watching Tag the deer visit the feeder

Summertime and the Livin' Is Easy

Ooh La La!

I am hijacking Spencer's blog today to tell you a little story...

I've been to Paris once. It was a very quick work trip - 3 days in December 2006. I was interviewing for a job with my company's Paris office and I was working under the assumption that I would be returning with David in the following weeks to explore whether we would seriously entertain the idea of relocating overseas. I really only had one day to sightsee, so I did not try to pack in all of the "must-do" Paris activities while I was there. Louvre? Check. Chocolate croissants, crepes and delicious coffee? Check. Shopping along the Champs-Elysées? Check. But I did not do the most important thing of all... I didn't go to the Eiffel Tower. I saw the tower of course, but I didn't visit it, or even take a picture of it for that matter. After all, I'd be back in a few weeks with my husband, right?

Well, things didn't go as planned. The exploratory return trip turned into "if you take the job we will fly you and your husband back to look for a place to live." The stars just didn't align for us to move to Paris and ever since I've tried to ignore that nagging resentment about not making the most of my earlier visit. I realize of course that if we had moved to Paris, things would be so different today - namely, we wouldn't have Spencer, so for that I am grateful we stayed in Texas.

Why am I telling you this story today? One of my favorite blogs, Oh Happy Day, is giving away a really cool trip to Paris and I want to throw my hat into the ring. The contest is pure luck of the draw (after you meet a few criteria, including posting a link to the contest on your blog), but daydreaming about Paris made me want to get that story out of my system. So if you're still reading, thank you for indulging me.

  Here's a link to the contest details: http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris.

Weekend in Dallas, Part III: Waffle Off

This might be one of those "you had to be there" moments, and I would give anything to have a recording of it. We ate breakfast at the La Quinta Saturday morning. There was a make-your-own-waffle-station. Step 1 was to spray the griddle with something called Waffle Off. Geep, Pop and I were talking to Lane and Amelia when we heard Spencer say loudly, "Thanks, Waffle Off!"—it was straight out of a commercial. The whole place cracked up.

Weekend in Dallas, Part II: The Zoo

We went to the Dallas Zoo Sunday morning before heading back to Austin. When we got there, Spencer said he wanted to see skunks, unicorns and snarling leopards. We were 0 for 3 on those animals, but saw gorillas, cheetahs, chimps (including a toddler chimp!), giraffes, elephants and many more creatures. We even ate lunch in a restaurant that had a big window where four lions were sleeping and trying to stay cool in the heat. There was also an area where you could climb through a tunnel and then pop up into a dome inside a mongoose enclosure.

We saw something really funny happen during a bird show. The presenter pulled two volunteers up on stage to have a big owl fly right over their heads. When it was over she was distracting the volunteers by giving them a key chain or something. Meanwhile, someone opened a door to let a couple of chickens onto the stage. They came running over to where the women were and one of them was so startled that she fell into a big pool of water onstage trying to get away from the chickens. (It was not part of the act.) Spencer retold that story to me last night before bed so it made an impression on him, too.

Our boy slept the whole way back to Austin - he was plum tuckered out from our big weekend.

Weekend in Dallas, Part I: The Wedding

We spent the weekend in Dallas for the wedding of Dave's cousin Laura and Tanner. I'm not sure what Spencer thought "Dallas" was because he asked me, "Do they have bathrooms at Dallas?" when we were packing. When we first drove into Dallas, Spencer had just woken up after sleeping the whole way there. We pointed out the Dallas skyline and said we were in Dallas and he said, "Can we go inside?"

The wedding was at the Four Seasons Resort in Las Colinas and we spent Saturday morning and afternoon at the pool there with Geep and Pop. It was awesome - a saline pool with a beach. Daddy bought Spencer a neat swim vest that gave him a little more freedom in the water. He was in heaven!

After swimming, we all took a nap (yes, in a bed!) and got ready for the big wedding that evening. Spencer and cousin Caroline played together at the pre-wedding cocktail hour (unfortunately I didn't get any good pics of those cuties together - hoping someone else did?), then we rode in golf carts over to the ceremony site on the 18th hole. I was nervous about Spencer talking during the wedding, but he was quiet when it counted. We stayed at the reception until about 10:30 - and Spencer even ate a cupcake at 10:00. We definitely cut loose and all survived. He looked so tired when we got back to our room and eventually fell asleep at 11:30, but we slept until 9:30 the next morning!

Thanks Aunt Janice and Uncle Gary for a wonderful weekend. And congratulations to Laura and Tanner!

New Videos

I just realized I uploaded several new videos recently but forgot to add links to the Videos section on the right side of the page. You can check those out, and here is a little preview:

Busy (HOT) Weekend

We took our first swim of the season Saturday afternoon. We met Piper, Beckett, Coy, Garven and Kit at Deep Eddy. Spencer had a blast and to our delight had no fear of the water. He was all smiles the whole time.

We also went to Jenni and Mitch's house Sunday morning and then headed over to Mills Pond to feed the ducks, geese and turtles. I think the thing that most impressed Spencer was that Jenni and Mitch both have iPads. "You have TWO of these???"

Late Sunday afternoon we were surprised by a sudden rain shower. Spencer said, "Mommy, can we go outside and play in the rain? It will be fun!" How could I argue with that? Deep Eddy and the rain were definitely the only cool moments of the weekend (temperature-wise, that is).

"I Know the Secrets That You Keep..."

"...when you're talkin' in your sleep." I know some of you will get my 80s reference. :) Spencer has been sleeping with us a lot lately (okay, pretty much every night starting sometime after midnight, but it's okay). I didn't realize how much he talks in his sleep. Here are a few quotes just from last night:

• "Do we have chicken and ketchup?"
• "MAC-AND-CHEESE!" (This was said very loudly and with a lot of gusto...sounds like someone needs a bedtime snack before he hits the hay.)
• "Ohhhhhhhhhhh where is it? I think Daddy took it. I can't find it."
• "Get it!" (This was said in a somewhat, shall we say, demonic voice...)

He also cries out a lot saying things like "No no no!" or "Stop it!" Dave is not surprised that Spencer's a sleep talker because he's put up with my nighttime shenanigans for years.

Since I don't have a sleep talking picture, I will end this post with a picture that just makes me smile - so much joy in this moment. Happy Friday!

Gardening Update

Wow! We've had some major sprouting in less than a week. The marigolds and zinnias are growing (not sure which is which) and the beans are taking off like crazy. The leaves were just starting to form yesterday and this morning they were huge. The rosemary isn't doing anything, but 3 outta 4 ain't bad.