My Funny Valentine

Instead of exchanging valentines at Nature's Way, the kids were to make a valentine at home with their family and bring it to school to show their classmates. I had all sorts of ideas about Spencer's valentine, but learned the lesson (again) that sometimes you just have to let the child lead. While working on it, he excitedly grabbed a brown marker and drew a big blob in the center of the heart. He explained it was poop... because he loves that he learned to poop in the potty. And to make sure everyone understood what it was, he spelled it out in sticker letters. He was proud of his work and so were we. It might not be the fancy, glittery, Pinterest-worthy creation I had envisioned, but it was from the heart and that's the best kind of valentine!

 

And speaking of things from the heart, I just don't see how anything can be better than a homemade valentine from your child. Just makes me so sentimental. I will cherish this heart forever.

 

Quotes and a Score

A couple of quotes from the last week.

• "Why do you want to bother my nerves?!?" Said to Daddy while they played Life of George.
• "Can I have sauteed mushrooms instead of french fries?" Mushrooms are a new love, and when I saw them on the menu at a restaurant he excitedly requested a substitution.
• "Mommy, when are you going to have another baby? I would just like to be able to play with someone you had born." Ugh, that one just about broke my heart. :(

And I was lucky enough to capture Spencer scoring a goal during a recent Soccer Cubs scrimmage. Team Cherry dominated! And it was Crazy Socks Day, in case you're wondering.

Winter Hats, How I'll Miss You

I have enjoyed all the cold weather in Austin this winter. Coats, scarves, hats, boots - my kind of gear! Every Groundhog Day, I cross my fingers that Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow so we can keep spring away for a little longer. The older I get, the more it feels like one long summer around here, with a few days of chilly weather thrown in for good measure. Well, Mr. Groundhog didn't see his shadow over the weekend, so if he's right, we can go ahead and pack up our fun winter hats until next year. I'm still hoping for some magic February snow though...

Mo' Money, Mo' LEGOS

Paw-Paw throws all of his change into a container and gives it to Spencer when it's full. When he came to visit us a couple of weeks ago, he dropped off a whole bunch of coins. Daddy took Spencer to the bank to trade it in for cash — and it was $116! Spencer had received $35 for Christmas, too, so he decided he would like to spend some of his money on a new LEGO City set. He and Daddy went to the LEGO store at the mall and came back with an awesome fire plane rescue project.

These sets are great because they teach him how to follow directions (for the most part he can build them on his own) and he likes to take them apart and rebuild them. Money well spent!

Tennis, Anyone?

Spencer wanted to play tennis this weekend and I went, too. Dave and I have an ongoing joke — for as long as we've known each other, we've never played tennis, despite always saying that we should. So we can now officially say we have played tennis.

 It was a gorgeous day and I loved watching Spencer in action. He's a sporty little fellow!

Return to the Cave

Spencer and Daddy went back to the cave on the cliff yesterday, this time armed with flashlights.
They didn't find anything exciting inside, but it was an exciting exploration nonetheless.

“Look deep into nature. Then you will understand everything better.”

- Albert Einstein

Flight of the Butterflies

Today was absolutely gorgeous and we had some wonderful family time. We took Spencer to see his first movie in a theater—and a 3D IMAX no less! We saw Flight of the Butterflies at the Bob Bullock Museum and it was a spectacular movie about the migration of monarch butterflies. It was so cute to see him reach out to try to grab the butterflies (heck, I did, too!). He did announce about 35 minutes in that he was ready for it to be over, but lucky for him it was only 44 minutes long. He already wants to go back to see another IMAX movie about a steam train traveling through the Canadian Rockies.

I packed lunch for us, so after the movie we walked over to the lawn of the Capitol and had a picnic. We blew bubbles and played tag, hide-n-seek and football. I filmed Spencer doing some place kicking and got put in my place for not being fully present. Message received!