Is This for Spiders?

Yesterday Spencer walked over to this and asked, "Daddy, is this for spiders?"



Catching up on Quotes

I found some old Spencer quotes on my desk today that I thought I'd include with some more recent ones. No pics, just some funny, sweet memories.

From way back in January 2011:

• "I love the new showerhead."
• "This is my home." (Just said this out of the blue one day, very sweetly.)
• While looking in the hallway mirror: "I love my new shirt. I am handsome!" (Healthy self-image I suppose...)

2011, I'm guessing April/May:

• Announced proudly to a kid on the playground: "That's my mommy!"
• "I don't want no _____." We used to hear this often. Those double negatives are tricky.
• Uses the word "actually" a lot. (Actually, this is still true today.)

Some sleep-talking comments from June 2011:

• "Do we have chicken and ketchup?"
• "Mac-n-cheese!" (Going to bed hungry?)
• In a frustrated voice: "Oooohhhhh where is it? I think Daddy took it. I can't find it!"

November 2011:

• After his 3-year well check (and a vax): "It's so hard that they shot me."
• "Hey Mommy! I need to tell you something. My poop was big and round like a meatball!" (I realize that is TMI, but c'mon - it's funny!!)
• While looking at my feet, he pointed to some veins and asked what they were.
  Me: "When you're older, sometimes you can see your veins."
  Spencer (looking SO puzzled): "YOU'RE OLDER??!!"

January 2012:

• After a trip to the library with Daddy, he told me about a neat book they read called Where the Terrible Things Live. Daddy clarified that they had read Where the Wild Things Are.
• I bought some fiber snacks called Monkey Bars. He took a bite and when I asked him how they tasted he replied, "Like monkey." After taking a bite, too, I had to agree.
• Spencer: "Hey! That looks like a long, nekkid dinosaur."
  Daddy: "Nekkid?"
  Spencer, gesturing: "You know, like a brontasaurus, a loooooong-nekkid dinosaur."
• We were talking about space and the moon during our drive home from Angleton yesterday. I told him that astronauts have been in space and walked on the moon. He wanted to know some names. When I mentioned John Glenn (yeah, I guess I need to brush up on my space program history...), his eyes got huge and he asked, "You mean Geep's brother?!" Hated to disappoint him, but Uncle Glenn has not in fact traveled to the moon (yet).
• "I love you in the whole world. I love you in the whole world in the sky." This is his way of saying how much he loves us.
• This morning he woke me up by saying, "Good morning little mama!" Sigh...

Now we are up to date with Spencer sayings! Except for one I'm hanging on to for a future music post...

Adventures with Daddy

Spencer and Daddy had a couple of fun adventures this week. First, they rode the Capital MetroRail for the first time. They caught it downtown and rode all the way to Leander, then back downtown again.

Yesterday, the guys exeperienced the "Architects of Air Mirazozo Luminarium." Now, Mommy was feeling sad to miss out on the train ride, but I really had a little pity party for myself for having to stay home during this outing. It's an art installation on the lawn of the Long Center—you enter a plastic structure and see colors that come from the daylight filtering through the colored PVC of the luminarium. They had a blast exploring this creation and said it was definitely worth the 45-minute wait!

Low-Key Weekend

We had a nice, low-key weekend. On Saturday mornning we headed to BookPeople to see our new favorite band The Que Pastas. We were excited that Ella and her mommy, daddy and nana met us there. Later that afternoon, Sarah and Ken came over to play, then we went to Phil's/Amy's for an early dinner and of course ice cream. You know you might treat your child to Amy's Ice Creams too often when he walks up to the counter and confidentally says, "A tiny Belgian chocolate, please!"

It's kinda neat now when one of Spencer's friends comes over to play and they can just run around without constant supervision. At one point things were a tad too quiet for my taste, so I peeked in on them and this is what I found:

Sunday was a super fun "Spencer and Mommy Day." We made pizza pockets for lunch...

Then we made a cardboard heart-shaped bird feeder and hung it in the yard. (We will relocate it today - that wasn't the best spot to hang a birdfeeder.)

Both of those activities were compliments of Spencer's Highlights High Five magazine. Our friend Christa sent him a subscription for Christmas and we're really enjoying it.

After that, we spent a few hours at Zilker park and even took a ride on the Zephyr. It was a great day!

15 Minutes of Fame

Back in October, I bought a Groupon-type-thing for a photography studio called 15 Minutes of Fame. The photographer does rapid fire shooting for 15 minutes (thus the name...) and then does some cool effects on the photos. We ended up with 150 images to sort through! I posted some of our favorites here. We love the weird/artsy ones of Spencer and Dave making funny faces.

It took way longer than I expected to get these back, so I didn't do a Christmas card. Still hoping to get a Happy 2012 card out...

Spencer's 4th Christmas

Sometimes the big events in our lives seem too "big" to blog. The perfectionist in me is so worried about capturing all the memories "just right" that I get paralyzed and just never do it (for ex., I never did manage to blog about our fabulous vacation this summer...). Something to work on in the new year, I suppose. With that said, here is my positively imperfect retelling of Christmas 2011.

On Christmas Eve we met Paw-Paw, Renee and Chris at Dianne and Scott's house in Katy. We decided that the first Christmas without Grannie needed a change of venue and Dianne and Scott were kind enough to host. It was a fun afternoon and Spencer got quite a haul of goodies, including a cash register and two Thomas the Tank Engine track sets. After a delicious BBQ rib feast, we headed back to Austin to prepare for Santa's arrival.  

Spencer changed into his official Christmas jammies then prepared a plate of milk and cookies for the Man in Red. Daddy also suggested that he leave some carrots for the reindeer. We didn't get to visit Santa this year (when we went to the Kerbey Lane Doll Shop on the 23rd, we found out one of Santa's elves was sick and Santa couldn't be at the store that day), so Spencer dictated a letter for him. Santa liked it so much that he even wrote a note back to Spencer - and got sooty fingerprints on it in the process! And the reindeer must've enjoyed eating their carrots - we found part of a gnawed carrot outside on the patio. Once the preparations were complete, Spencer went to bed.

Spencer woke up around 7:30 on Christmas morning and was excited but patient as Mommy and Daddy  got out of bed, grabbed the camera and made our way into the living room. If you watched the videos in the previous post, you got a glimpse into his sweet little reactions to everything. What a joy to watch him experience the magic of Santa and Christmas! Luckily Santa was able to make Spencer's wish come true - he delivered a train table with all sorts of new tracks, trains and gear. We opened lots of gifts, including a bunch of awesome dress-up gear from the Loves, and then played with the new toys until it was time to go to Geep and Pop's in the afternoon.

At Geep and Pop's there were plenty of fun gifts, including more pieces to add to the Busytown playset Spencer received from Mommy and Daddy. Geep and Spencer baked gingerbread cookies before dinner (how fun!), then we sat down to a beautiful meal. Before bed, we took a drive through the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

We were blessed with a wonderful holiday and such generosity from our family and friends. This is just a glimpse into the festivities - peruse the December photo album for even more of the story. Here's to health, happiness and love in the new year!