Halloween Fun

My mom found a pattern for a gingerbread boy and thought it would be fun for Spencer to be one for Halloween this year. It turned out great--he looked so cute! I only managed to get him to wear his hood once for a picture, and even the suit took some bribing to get on each time he wore it. We went to a party with our ward on Monday, a party on campus for children on Thursday, and though we hadn't planned on it, we went out for some trick-or-treating Saturday night. I decided last minute that it sounded fun, even though Spencer won't be eating the candy, and it turned out that he loved it. He tried to walk inside the first house we went to (since that's what you normally do when you go knock on someone's door) but then he got the hang of it and kept saying "more homes" after leaving a house. He had no fear knocking on the doors, talking with perfect strangers and taking the candy they offered him. I kept smiling and laughing as I watched him at each door--it was just so funny to see him walk up resolutely and knock with full expectation of being greeted by someone who was happy to see him. This may be a good sign that he'll do just fine tracting when he's a missionary some day.

(His mouth looks funny because he's eating candy, it was the only way I could get him to wear his costume.)

He had so much fun with his friends at the ward party, as well as the balloons, and even got to try eating a donut without using his hands.

It was impossible to catch a clear picture of him on this slide at the campus party so I took a video that shows how much he likes it. As soon as he got down he would run back over to climb up and do it again. He is certainly an energetic little boy and it's fun for us to watch him discover new things he can do. I have a feeling he's going to be excited for Halloween next year, we'll just see what he thinks about wearing a costume.

Birthday Boy

It's hard to believe that Spencer is 2!!!!!!!! We had a great time celebrating with all my siblings who are in town, Kevin making it back just in time to join us. We've certainly hit the "terrible twos" but I can't imagine life without our happy, talkative, energetic, precious son. It melts my heart when I see him folding his arms for prayer or when he says "Thanks, Mommy" when I hand him something he's asked for, and all the tantrums and power struggles don't seem quite so bad anymore. Thanks everyone who joined in our celebration and for being so good to us and our little family!

He was getting pretty zoned so I didn't get any good smiles, but he really did have fun with everyone and loved his fun new toys.

Spencer was more interested in playing with the party hats than wearing them, but Neil made up for it by putting on a few extra ones.

For Spencer's first birthday I broke all American tradition and fun and did not make him a birthday cake. My main motivation was that I didn't want him to have all that sugar, and though we still keep desserts to a minimum for him, I decided to be a good sport and make him a cake this year. I decided on carrot cake, because it sounded delicious to me and I could at least feel good about there being some good stuff in it along with the sugar. I even attempted to make it look cute by cutting it and frosting it like a bunny, as you can see. Well, all my guilt for not having a cake last year melted away when Spencer didn't even try the cake. All he wanted was ice cream. But for posterity's sake he'll at least have a picture with a good-0ld-fashioned birthday cake, even if he's not smiling.

Videos from Iowa

Though it's a bit late, I wanted to post these videos of Spencer playing with his cousins and Aunt Nancy while we were in Iowa this summer. It was a treat for him to see Olivia and Charlotte, his cousins who came from Chicago for a day just to see us. He loves watching home videos, and while so many of his cousins are so far away, this is the best way for him to remember who they are. That's one way technology really shines.

We're excited to announce ...

... we're having a girl!!!

For those who haven't yet heard, the due date is January 26 and we are as happy as can be to welcome a little girl into our family. The pregnancy has gone really well and it's hard to believe we're already half way there. Woo-hoo!!!

We had a great visit to Iowa and were so happy to see everyone there. Spencer had a blast with his grandma and grandpa, both of whom he called "Grandpa" and also played lots with his aunts and cousins. It was a relaxing two weeks, minus some car troubles, and I'm so glad we went in the summer. Once again I'm writing this post at night when I'm tired but I wanted to get the pictures up even if I don't feel like writing very much. Thanks everyone for such good times!!

I didn't get pictures of everyone but it seems that I got a lot of Spencer with Evangelina. He had no trouble warming up to her, or anyone else, even though it had been a full year since he'd seen them. Here they are sneaking up on a squirrel, Spencer learning how to tip toe as quietly as possible.

Yummy popsicles.

My mom wanted Spencer to dress up in some pioneer clothes for a picture and the surprising part was that he loved it! We may need to have some more costumes for him to play with at home.

We got to visit Kalona, a small Amish town close to where I used to live about an hour from Davenport. It was fun to visit some of the Amish-owned shops we used to go to and to see the horse drawn carriages.

This "family portrait" didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped, but the corn sure is beautiful.

And, surprise Amy! I caught this picture after talking with you out on the swing. What cute cousins: Katie, Spencer and Annabelle! (I'll email you the original if you want it.)

Stringing words together

Spencer has been putting more words together just the last week or two with a lot of two word phrases like "no bath" and "Daddy book" (for "Daddy, read me a book") and an occasional full sentence with a subject and verb, as in the video below. I think it helps that he's been hanging out with some older kids at the playground and wanting to copy what they say. It is fun to see how excited he is to express himself better, though some places aren't as good as others. Today in sacrament meeting he was eating some craisins and at a particularly quiet moment he practically shouted in my ear "I drop it!" when some craisins fell out of his hand. We now have the new challenge of teaching him to have an indoor voice, or at least when to be quiet at church.



(I called the pens crayons because that's what he calls everything you write with.)

Celebrating the 4th

We've had a mini family reunion this week with my parents and sister Jenny who came out from Iowa, my brother Kevin who came up from Arizona, and my aunt Margaret and cousin Sarah with her nephew Jonathan who came up from New Mexico. Another bonus for still being in Utah. It would have been cool to have everyone together but it was great to have this many at one time. Family always makes a holiday more meaningful. Thanks for coming everyone!

Daniel, Spencer and I started out the 4th by going to a nearby duck pond which Spencer absolutely loved.

He has this habit of walking with his hands behind his back which always cracks me up. He seems so serious and intent on getting where he's going.

I think he looks so much like Daniel right here!



We got caught in a little rain and Spencer tried out the umbrella while we waited it out under some shelter. We got more wet later when we went swimming in the afternoon, and though Spencer was hesitant at first, it was hard to get him out of the pool by the end.

Sarah, Emily and Jonathan joined us for fireworks in the evening after a yummy BBQ at Neil's.

Spencer was so excited at the fireworks but I think it was more because he was outside so late than it was to see the fireworks. He slept in till 8:30 this morning, which is 1 to 2 hours later than he usually gets up, so it was worth it after all. Plus, it was great to end a fun holiday with my two favorite people in the whole wide world. (And that strange glow in my mouth is just from the flash as far as I can tell.)