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!