Workin' at the Carwash (2013 Edition)

Last year around this time I posted about Spencer washing my car. That video is one of my all-time favorites. Well, he and Daddy were nice enough to wash my car this week and make it "shiny as ever." Such a nice little helper!

A Lovely Idea

At the grocery store yesterday Spencer said, "Daddy, do you know what would be lovely? If we bought flowers for Mommy." I agree. That was lovely!

Constructions, Contraptions and Reading

It feels like Spencer is growing and developing so much right now. Sometimes I look at my tall boy and wonder how did he become such a big kid all of a sudden? See what I mean:

Today I want to jot down a few things I want to remember...

First, the way he calls instructions "constructions." As in, "Mommy, where are the constructions for my helicopter?" We never correct him because it's just too darn cute.

Second, the way he loves to build "contraptions." He's like a junior Rube Goldberg, putting together ramps and boxes and blocks to roll cars and balls down. Daddy really gets into this activity!

Finally, he is starting to read. He spends an hour every day for quiet time, mostly looking at books. Just about every day he emerges with a new word he's figured out. He'll type it on his toy computer (from memory) and proudly show us. We've been reading chapter books lately for bedtime, especially the Magic Tree House series, and he will stop me so he can try to point to a word or phrase I just said. He also loves to rhyme words. He's just really interested in words and language in general right now and it's fun to witness.

Comets and Telescopes

Last week was full of astronomical adventures. Spencer and I had the rare treat of seeing a comet. One evening after dropping off Daddy downtown for SXSW, we returned home to find our neighbor Gail looking into the sky. She told us that the comet Pan-STARRS was supposed to be visible in Austin over the next couple of days.

Well, we never spotted it that night, but the following night after we dropped Daddy off, we were driving down South Lamar and I spotted it. At first I thought it was an airplane, but the streak was not changing or moving and I finally realized what I was seeing. When we got home and realized we could see the comet so well from our yard, Spencer said, "Let's text Gail and tell her to come outside!" I told him that I don't know Gail's number and he replied, "Well, email her then!" I suggested we do it the old fashioned way and knock on her door. As the sun went down, the comet appeared slightly reddish — look closely and you can see it below.

We also got to see a full-scale model of the James Webb Telescope during SXSW. It is the successor to Hubble and the largest space telescope to ever be built — as big as a tennis court and as tall as a 4-story building. 

NASA also had a tent set up with all sorts of educational activities and giveaways.

Looking at sun spots.

Interactive model of the universe.

Thermal camera - that's Spencer on the right. He put his had in a warming glove and in a bucket of ice water to see the difference on the screen.

 We definitely had some fun Spring Break adventures this year!

SXSJ (South by San Jose) and Gin Jars

I took off Friday afternoon and we headed down to South Congress to soak in some of the SXSW excitement. The Hotel San Jose was hosting free concerts all day so we listened to a little music then roamed around. On our way back to the car, we passed by a group buskering on the sidewalk. Spencer was mesmerized by the Gin Jars from the start. There was a banjo, standup bass, slide guitar and fiddle and the group played 1920s style music. We must've been there for 45 minutes - Spencer just didn't want to leave. He plopped himself down right in front of the guitarist and was studying him so intently. Dave and I were joking that 20 years from now, we'll be interviewed about our famous slide guitarist son Spencer and we'll recount the day it all began on South Congress.

Rodeo Time

Spencer is on Spring Break this week so I took today off and we went to the Star of Texas Rodeo carnival for the third straight year (Daddy, too!). Spencer's pal Koen and his mommy and baby sister went with us and the boys had so much fun together. It's the perfect age to have a little pal to go on the rides with. Koen was a daredevil, so that helped Spencer stretch out of his comfort zone a bit. This was one of those outings where we just didn't get very good pictures (and we really didn't take that many), but here's a little peek.

Spencer had two particularly brave moments today. First, he went down the big super slide all by himself. I wish you could've seen the look on his face when his blanket started going a little sideways. That's him in the pink lane.

And Spencer's second big moment was riding a little roller coaster for the first time — the Dragon Wagon. He was a little unsure at first, but by our third loop he was saying, "Wheeeeeeee!" The picture below is the "before" shot. He was all smiles afterwards.

We also went to the petting zoo, saw the K9 Kings dog show (lame), had corndogs and lemonade for lunch, and ended the day with an ice cream cone. Spence fell asleep on the way home and I was able to get him to lie down with me in our bedroom and we ended up sleeping until 7:00! It's made for an interesting evening, but well worth it. Fun day!

2013 Preschool Pics

This year's preschool pictures have arrived. First we have classic shots from Roz-Mina Montessori. These just kill me — the slightly impish quality of the first and the sweet baby-face in the second.

And a Hummingbirds class photo from Nature's Way. This is just a screen grab, but had to share. So much sweetness and happiness in this picture. Wish all 8 kids were in it!

Erth's Dinosaur Petting Zoo

Several months ago I saw an advertisement for Erth's Dinosaur Petting Zoo coming the Long Center. Well, I couldn't pass that up! We found out that the group was going to do a free preview at Zilker Park this week, and the parade started at Spencer's preschool. At first I have to admit I was kinda bummed that he was going to see the dinosaurs (for free I might add...) before the petting zoo event. But Dave shot the following video, which made me realize a little preview was definitely a good thing. You can hear kids screaming in the background and at about 0:35 Spencer tells Daddy he wants to get away RIGHT NOW.

So this morning we went to the petting zoo. Spencer decided he would rather sit in the bleachers instead of on hay bales up front to keep a safe distance from the crazy T-Rex. First, two "handlers" brought out a couple of baby dinos. Then a little bit bigger one, then a huge dragonfly, and finally the T-Rex. The puppets seemed so lifelike — the puppeteers do a great job with the movements.

Leaellynasaura was my favorite.

T-Rex was the star of the show

T-Rex trying to "get" the hostess.

Everyone got to pet the T-Rex at the end. We got a little closer to the action but I'm the only one who petted him.

Today was not a stellar photo/video day. The Long Center sent an email saying photography wasn't allowed, so we didn't bring our big camera. But that was bad info — you just couldn't do flash photography. I was bummed because we could've gotten some great shots with a long lens. But here's a little sample of what the show was like:

I took a vacation day, so we went to lunch after the show, then I took Spencer to play putt-putt golf. It was a great way to spend a day off!

Map Jam

Last weekend there was a small music festival called Map Jam where bands played at all sorts of random venues in East Austin. I'd been wanting to check out the group Mother Falcon for awhile, so we hopped over to cool place called Tillery Street Plant Co. and caught a bit of their set. 

Quick self-portrait during Mother Falcon's set.

Looking like such a big guy.

Heartbreaker!

Checking out a little fish tank.

Really cool swing.

Strolling thru a mini jungle.

Spencer took some pictures with my phone while we wandered around. I love seeing things from his point of view.

He said he included the little sign so we'd know what kind of plant it was later.

Quick Catch-Up: Trip to Angleton

Been awhile since I've posted anything so I'll do a quick recap of a few things.

We finally bit the bullet and bought a new (used) vehicle. The ole' Saturn VUE was on its last legs and we didn't want to put any money into it to fix a couple of problems. Just had to get one last picture with Spencer's first car. You know me, I was feeling sentimental since it's the car we brought him home from the hospital in and all the jazz.

Two days after we bought the car, Spencer and I got to take it to Angleton. Since we both had Presidents Day off, we headed out Friday night after soccer and stayed until Sunday evening. We didn't arrive until 9:45PM so the boy was asleep when we got there. But he insisted that he needed to "sit on the couch and visit with Paw-Paw for a few minutes." We woke up bright and early Saturday and checked out the Brazosport Museum of Natural Sciences, which is a neat little museum that I had completely forgotten about. I used to go there when I was a little girl and loved looking at the rocks, minerals and seashells.

After that Paw-Paw suggested we hit the Sea Center in Lake Jackson - we always enjoy going there.

Then we ate some yummy fried shrimp at Rudy Roo's. I was cracking up because I had pulled the tails off Spencer's shrimp so he didn't have to deal with them, and at the end he was making me dig out the remaining pieces of meat from the tails. No DNA test needed to know that's my son!

My cousin Allen's daughter, Bethany, was having a birthday party at a gym that afternoon and she was nice enough to invite Spencer when they found out we'd be in town. It was such a fun place to have a party - there was gymnastics stuff, a trampoline, rock wall, bounce house, ping pong, air hockey and more. Aunt Renee went with us and we got to visit with Aunt Sandra, Uncle Bubba, Allen, Sarah, Jennifer and all of their kids.

On Sunday we visited my cousin Pam and her family. It was a great family-filled weekend!