Peek into Christmas Morning

I still need to download and sort through our Christmas pictures, so until then, here are two videos from Christmas morning. The only things Spencer asked Santa to bring were some Magic Treehouse books and Clarabel the train. Santa must've thought Spencer had been a really good boy this year, because he threw in another neat gift called Magna-Tiles. Spencer thought it was odd that Santa didn't wrap his gifts. (Warning: I don't have the ability to edit videos, so the first one of these is loooong and only for diehard fans.)

School Christmas Party

Tuesday night was Spencer's Christmas Party at Roz-Mina. First everyone listened intently as a former student (or someone's big brother?) played his violin.

Then the students and teachers sang some songs for us that they rehearsed all month. The video below is dark but will give you the flavor. Spencer was such a precise bell jingler.

 

And then, guess who showed up? Santa! Though after careful inspection, Spencer determined that he was not the real Santa, but just one of his helpers. I think he was right about that. But he did have a toy in his sack just for Spence.

After that we ate dinner outside. The kids had so much fun running around outside in the dark. It was a sweet and simple little celebration.

Flying Foxes

December catch-up continued... Two weeks ago we went to the Waldorf School's Winter Fair. We were excited to finally check out the school because we want to explore the possibility of Spencer going there (if we win the lottery!). Anyway, it's a magical place and the Winter Fair was neat. You could go from classroom to classroom and do little crafts. Spencer made a pretty, glittery spinning top and two ornaments - one foil and one felt.

But the highlight was the Flying Fox - a zipline that Spencer and Daddy rode. This video does not do it justice - I wasn't in a good spot to film it. But they had fun and went so fast! We were proud of Spencer for being brave and wanting to try out this ride. He wanted to do it again but the line was miles long and we were starving.

Later that day, Spencer started running a fever and it got up to 104.5. That was the second weekend in a row he had fever, so Daddy took him to see Dr. Bayer first thing Monday morning. Turns out he had strep. Ugh! But luckily the little guy didn't really feel all that bad. He enjoyed having a few days of TV and couch rest. Unfortunately it meant he couldn't go to Piper and Beckett's birthday party or my Christmas concert. We were all so disappointed to miss those events!

And speaking of sickness, we found out our little Olive has hyperthyroidism and a bout of pancreatitis. Unfortunately, hyperthyroidism is treatable but not curable - she'll be on twice daily meds her whole life. She's feeling so much better and is back to her old spry self again!

Christmas Magic

Oh my! It's practically mid-December and I haven't done a single blog entry this month. To kick-start my efforts, here's a picture that feels so magical to me. We lit Grandma Rives' angel chimes last night. The quiet ding-ding of the bells is so peaceful (and captivating to a 4-year-old).

Thanksgiving at Pine Fork

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration at Pine Fork. We joined Geep, Pop, Paw-Paw, Aunt Dianne and Uncle Scott for a delicious meal and lots of fishing, exploring and playing. We were enjoying ourselves so much that we decided to stay an extra night and just hope Henry and Olive had enough provisions (they did).

When we first arrived Wednesday, we were blown away by how huge the Spencer Spruce has gotten. We planted a seedling when I was pregnant and just look at it now!

I think I'll just let the November photo album tell the whole Thanksgiving story and use this last bit to say how thankful I am for my boys and all the love, fun and adventures we share.

Pre-Thanksgiving Catch-up Entry

As I was organizing the remainder of this month's photos, I realized there were a few photos I wanted to highlight before moving on to the Thanksgiving update...

An un-PC Thanksgiving celebration at school :)

Cute turkey craft

Sweet little hands helping sew our felt leaf garland

We took an incredible family hike on a cool fall morning

Water break in dry Barton Creek

Wonder what they found? Amazing that this is practically in our backyard!

Walking sticks - adorable

 We've had a wonderful November. Trying to spend more time outdoors and doing projects at home.

What I Want to Remember About Today

Spencer and I went on a long hike today, just the two of us. I want to always remember the effortless way he took his jet backpack on and off, either to add a treasure to our collection or to get a drink from his water bottle. His super loud, raspy "whisper" voice while we were tracking a snake (it was actually a bicycle tire track that we pretended was made by a giant snake). The way we left clues to help find our way back - either rock stacks or arrows made from sticks pointing us in the right direction. How he told me he was okay when he tripped and fell down because he has "strong skin." The way every so often he would take my hand, not because he needed help navigating a tricky incline or fallen tree, but just because.

Road Trip to Glen Rose, TX

Paw-Paw took us to Glen Rose, TX this weekend for a road trip adventure. Our first stop was Dinosaur World. It's a kitschy little place and perfect for the preschool set. We ate a picnic lunch we toted along, then walked through the trails to see the giant dinosaurs. Spencer also got to do a fossil dig and was able to keep three items he found. He selected a shark tooth, ammonite and a piece of dinosaur bone. We decided to make one more quick trail run-through afterward and this time we imitated what we thought each dinosaur would sound like. We laughed so hard! Funny moment: I told Spencer he could pick out a souvenir in the gift shop and he said, "OK. What type of thing do you recommend?" He picked out a rubber pteranodon (like the one on the sign below) that he said he wants to hang from his bedroom ceiling and I also "recommended" a dinosaur dot-to-dot book.

Our ultimate destination was Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, just up the road. We stayed overnight in the Foothills Safari Camp in "tents." Some people call it "glamping" (glamour camping) since we had electricity, A/C and a bathroom - and that is just my speed! The tents are situated close to a big watering hole, so all evening we saw various deer coming to drink. There were a couple of other families staying there, so Spencer got to run around with some kids for a bit.

Daddy and Spencer at the Oryx tent.

Paw-Paw had the Grevy's Zebra tent to himself

I made a tactical error and didn't come prepared with all the food and drink we needed, so we had to run back into town for dinner. We had yummy food at The Green Pickle and then headed back to camp. We roamed around with flashlights, listened to the wind in the trees and tall grass, and investigated a really weird sound that turned out to be a huge deer herding all the lady deers. We were prepared to stay up as late as Spencer wanted, but he was tired so we told Paw-Paw goodnight and then started our nighttime routine.

Spencer planned to sleep in a sleeping bag on top of a mattress between us. I lay down with him to read books and when we were done he announced that he was ready to go ahead and get in bed with me. We slept just fine and I enjoyed snuggling with my little guy.

We all fell asleep by 8:30PM, so we were wide awake at 6:30AM. It was so quiet and peaceful at the camp. Spencer and I got dressed and set out to take some pictures, climb a tree and roam around. Then we all had breakfast at the pavilion and afterwards Spencer got to play with those kids again.

Spencer took this one. See the cold front coming in?

We packed up and headed out after breakfast because we had a reservation for a family safari tour. It was cold and a bit rainy, so the animals weren't as active as usual, but we really enjoyed the safari. The property is so scenic and our tour guide was knowledgeable and really nice. Spencer asked lots of questions and was a little trooper in the chilly wet weather.

Glen Rose is such a neat area. There's even more to do, including the Dinosaur Valley State Park where you can see real dinosaur tracks. I would love to go back soon and stay at the camp again.

Thanks to Paw-Paw for a memorable weekend!

p.s. You can see more pictures in the November web album.