Saturday, October 9, 2010

Look Who's 3!

Full Week for the Birthday Boy

Spencer had a lot going on last week as a new 3-year-old. My mom came to visit and was here for his birthday on Monday. We let him open our presents but we waited to have his party on Saturday when more guests arrived. I love his happy expression!



Tuesday, we had an intensive day of potty training, using a method recommended by a friend (thanks, Emily!) and it went very well. I could only do it with someone else there to watch Esther, and with Daniel so swamped with school, the only chance I had was while my mom was here. (Thanks again, Mom!!) Spencer caught on and appears to "get it" so no more diapers for my big boy! In the picture he's using an old phone to call everyone to tell them he goes pee pee in the potty now, not in his underwear, and that he's a big boy. His list of contacts ranged from Grandpa to uncles and aunts, Bob the Builder, our home teachers, friends back in Utah, friends in his Joy School, the Wiggles and Daddy. We are sure proud of him!


For the next few days we skipped the pants and just let him get used to one layer at a time. He absolutely loved these new birthday toys and kept asking me to take pictures of them. Thank you Aunt Kristy and family!


Friday, my dad and sister Megan arrived and Spencer was happy to have more attention. He latched himself to grandpa pretty quickly but started calling him "Jim" because he kept hearing my mom call him that. We tried to correct him and tell him to say grandpa, but he just got confused and started calling him "Jim Grandma"


Grandpa, "Jim", made a train cake and Spencer was super interested in helping and watching each step.



Aunt Megan is helping him with his new spiffy computer keyboard. It was so spiffy, in fact, that she was tempted to get one for herself to bring to college.




Saturday Daniel's parents joined the party. Here's Spencer with both sets of grandparents. He may not always have the right names for them but he sure loves their attention and is a lucky to boy to have them in his life. Thank you again for coming everyone!



Sunday, September 19, 2010

On the Go

Esther is no longer content to stay still and is all over the place as she scoots and climbs here, there and everywhere. Just a few pictures of our little go-getter of late.







"How did I end up on this thing?"

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Esther can crawl!

Miss Esther is definitely mobile and we've been busy baby-proofing the house these last two weeks. She is rapidly improving and is even pretty good at dealing with Spencer's 'love taps' that usually knock her flat on her face.

Chicago

We were able to go to the temple last weekend with the double bonus of getting to see Daniel's sister and her family, who volunteered to watch Spencer and Esther for us. Thanks Kristy! We even got to go to the zoo together on Saturday before heading back. It was so good to see the cousins play together and we all enjoyed the unexpected cooler weather (notice the sweatshirts).







Esther slept most of the time at the zoo in our new nifty double stroller


The three of them held hands all on their own while looking at the statue--I just love the sweet innocence of children.


This looked so comfy to me. Who needs pillows or a bed when you have a gorilla to sleep on?

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Priorities

Like Kip, I love technology, but not as much as I love my family, and I love blogs, but recently that has not been my top priority, as if you couldn't tell. For anyone who's wondering, we do love our new home and the community is very welcoming and we're very happy to be here, but it will be some time before we really feel settled, naturally. Daniel has been swamped with school stuff and I'm currently thinking what a miracle it was that my mother raised 8 children when I'm feeling overwhelmed with 2. The move has been harder on Spencer than we anticipated and we are fully aware of the reason behind the phrase "terrible twos." I am just praying for more patience and love, patience and love, PATIENCE and love. It is amazing how much the Lord will give us strength, change our perspective, or fill us with more of that patience and love if we will only ask. Thank you to everyone who has continued to be a support to us--we miss you all and hope you're doing well in your part of the world. (For those who read the fine print, this is Becky typing even though Daniel's name appears at the bottom--I was too lazy to log out of his account.)

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Rice Cereal

After weeks of having Esther try to pull the food off of our plates (and our plates off of the table) she finally got to try some rice cereal. Bland rice flakes mixed in lukewarm water, a magical floating green spoon, and a beautiful pink bowl to boot - doesn't it just sound so yummy? Here was Esther's first take on it: