Happy Birthday To ME

Dec. 1st was my 31st Birthday. I was excited because Jake had asked my brother and sister-in-law to come down and baby sit while we enjoyed a late lunch without a toddler at the table! Our plan was to enjoy a late lunch and then grill out for dinner with Carlisle and Katie. I was excited about the day.

If you know my husband you likely know that he is horrible at keeping a surprise when it comes to something for me. Bless his heart I can usually figure out what gifts I'm getting because he's so not sly at giving clues. Secrets he can keep - surprises you can kiss it good bye!

So, you can imagine my surprise when we walked in the house to see decorations everywhere and then my total SHOCK when two of my greatest friends, Rachel and Janice, jumped out screaming SURPRISE!! I was initially so confused. I was thinking how did you get here, why are you here, is everything okay. Then I remembered it was my b-day and they were here for me. They traveled 6 and 8 hours to come for less than 24 hours. I have the best friends ever. I was so amazed to find out that Jake had put it all together! He CAN keep a surprise! :)
I had a GREAT 31st B-day!!

Carlisle and Katie always make me the prettiest and yummiest cakes!

Thanksgiving

I have been horrible at blogging lately. So sorry!! Been decorating, wrapping, sending out cards, etc. ect....

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Jake's family. It was a much easier Thanksgiving this year than last. Last year we were still unpacking boxes from just moving here!!!

Spencer had a blast with His Oma, Opa and Aunt Katie S. He especially loved his Opa's imitation of an elephant!!! He also had a fun time eating!!
I think his favorite was the apple pie with ice cream. He's gotta sweet tooth!

I am thankful for family, health and NOT to be unpacking boxes this year!!!

Funny Story

Well, I say funny story, but when it happened it was FAR from funny...to me at least.
My dear friend Lauren gave me a gift certificate to get a manicure/pedicure for my birthday. She set it up for me to get it in DC so she could keep Spencer while I got pampered. So, I go and let 11 months pass and have yet to get my day of pampering. Not that we haven't been to DC enough. I can't count the number of times we have been there, but I just kept forgetting. The gift certificate expired the 1st of Dec and I was determined I was not going to let it be waisted. I was hoping to go on a weekend, but you know how that goes when the holidays start. So, my sweet hubby decided he would take off the Thursday before Thanksgiving and we would go up to DC for a day. I was so excited. Of course the day was just gross. It hadn't rained here in forever, but was pouring the morning we left. And the traffic to DC is never light. Despite the rain and getting somewhat wet crossing the street from my brother and sister-in-laws house to the mall, we were all still happy and enjoying the day together. Jake and I both spotted the spa, Modern Day Spa, when we came in the mall. He and Spen took off walking the mall while I enjoyed an hour of pampering. After my fingers and toes were all done I happily handed over my gift certificate. The girl looked kinda funny and said, this isn't MODERN NAILS. I was confused for a split second and then realized that she was saying that I was not in the right place. I wanted to scream and throw my fingers and toes up on her counter and say just take it off I don't won't it any more!!!!! I guess you can't take back a manicure/pedicure, unfortunately for me. I was just devastated. That was the whole reason we came to DC was so I wouldn't lose my gift certificate. I could have PAID for a spa day in Richmond!!! I was H-O-T hot!! How stupid could I be. I mean who cuts out a coupon for Clorox and picks up 409?? Jake is so laid back he just says as long as you enjoyed it, that's what matters. Well I enjoyed it until I realized that I had to PAY for my manicure/pedicure that I thought I was using my gift certificate for. We found MODERN NAILS told them the story. They were really nice..said no big deal and extended the gift certificate for another year. I guess I should have called and asked them to do that in the first place. Should gift certificates even have an expiration date? I mean it has been paid for?? So now I'm laughing about it all and I am looking forward to my next spa day. I'll be sure to go to the RIGHT place this time!

Feeling Better!

A few weeks ago Spencer thought it was funny to go around saying he was "ick" (sick) and he would do the sign with it too. I'm not sure why he started this, but I think he really enjoyed having me say "You are not sick!" He would laugh and then say Jake or I were sick.

Well low and behold a week later he WAS sick. Of course it was a Sunday and we were out of town. We have been so blessed that Spencer has been such a healthy boy. He's had a fever here and there due to teething or shots, but nothing (until this episode) that truly knocked him down a few days. It was concluded that Spen had an ear infection and they gave him Amoxicillin. Unfortunately for us all we had to fly back home the next day! Poor kid. He was a trooper. He whined a little on the flight and pulled at his ears some, but did amazingly well considering how bad off he was the day before. Once we were home we had a few nights of practically no sleep due to Spencer getting a cold on top of the ear infections. Just as the kid was appearing to get over the hump I noticed a small little rash on his belly. Well in just a few hours the small rash stretched from his neck to his thighs! Yet again it was Sunday!!! We stopped the meds and now know to avoid that one!

So after a week and a half of fever, coughing, VERY little sleep and a horrible rash we are now BETTER and ready for Thanksgiving company! I'm wishing for another 14 months of no illness.....yeah right!!

Here's Spen in his rocker. I found him the other morning strumming the Ukulele. He was singing his all better song!! If there are any of my "W" friends reading you may remember the Ukulele??

Where is Winter?

It's November and we've only worn jackets once! Where's winter??

Well winter sure isn't on my front porch! As you can see in the picture the flowers I planted in June are still growing! I think I'm the only one in our neighborhood who doesn't have mums out for Fall. I just stuck our fall decor out with our summer flowers! I really don't have the time to dig up perfectly healthy flowers, so I'm just waiting till they freeze. I know that won't be fun to deal with, but maybe I'll just make Jake take on that job! :)
For anyone out there that thinks they don't have a green thumb I suggest getting Impatiens. These flowers are great! They have survived days of no watering and beatings by Spencer. He thinks he's doing such a great job at watering, but when he's done (or should I say when I pry the watering can from his hands so we can go inside) half of the flowers are on the ground. And yet, they come back and back and back. Who knows maybe they will survive winter...if it ever comes.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

KING OF THE JUNGLE!
That's oh so true in this house!

We had lots of fun celebrating Halloween this year. We wanted to get Spencer one of those cute outfits that are all one piece and have a hood. But would my little dude wear it, oh no! It was odd because he usually could care less what I put him in and he does wear a baseball cap all the time. But when we put the hood on him he tried to pull it off and instead of coming off it just pulled over his head. He was having none of that! SO, we had a re do and came up with our home made lion "king of the jungle" costume, which was what we always did as kids anyway.

The weekend before Halloween we attended a Halloween-Fall picnic with other mom's from the Mom's group that I am involved with. Spencer had so much fun swinging with his daddy...who swings him much higher than I do! He also loved chasing the little girl dressed as Tigger. I think it scared her a bit, but it was too funny. It was a cold day but a nice time.

On Halloween night we went trick-or-treating with our friends and Spen's little friend, Grayson. Spencer LOVED the wagon ride. We felt kinda funny going up to homes getting candy that we knew we wouldn't feed our kids. We felt like those big teenagers who don't dress up and you get mad that they come to your house asking for candy!!! We did it anyway and the boys enjoyed seeing all the scary things, "ary" as Spencer says. He didn't understand why he couldn't go in each house, but we managed to keep him out! It was a great night and fun to do with friends.

Pumpkin Crazy!

Spencer is CRAZY over pumpkins. We went to Chesterfield Berry Farms this past Saturday and he was hysterical. We took a hayride to the pumpkin field and he ran through the pumpkin patch. They have much more you can do than just pick pumpkins, but with a 13 month old we kept it short! :)

Spencer's first comment when he saw the enormous amount of pumpkins in the fields, "A MESS!" It cracked me up! He thinks anything on the floor is a mess. I guess I'm always telling him how messy his room is. I had the hardest time getting a good picture of him because he wouldn't stop. He had to hug,kiss or try to pick up every pumpkin he could. Jake and I were afraid we would be there forever as Spencer went from pumpkin to pumpkin kissing, etc! Thank goodness for the tractor pulling the hay, which got his attention on something else so we were able to leave! We did pick out a pumpkin and now have our TRIO of pumpkins out side. And believe me we can't go anywhere without going out to say hello and give them a kiss.

The babies meet!

They met!!! Unbelievably they both came away without wounds!!!

Spencer and Harvey, Lauren's new puppy, had a blast checking each other out. I was so nervous Spencer would come away with hands full of Harvey hair (he has been know to do that with one of his little friends). Thankfully, Harvey kept his hair and didn't mind a few tugs at his tail. Harvey nibbled at Spen a little, but Spencer of course thought it was great. I on the other hand was sweating trying to keep up with Spencer so we wouldn't tear up Lauren's nice new home and/or harm baby Harvey. Well, Harvey is now added to the list of our "doggie" friends and Spencer can't wait to see him again. Let's hope the next meeting goes just as well.

Back to Real Life

After almost 2 weeks of being out of our routine we are now back to the daily grind. Jake and I had a great time at the Titan's game in Nashville. It was crazy for me to spend almost the entire day with out my little man, Spencer. He stayed with his Oma and Opa, Jake's parents, while we enjoyed the game. Thanks you Oma and Opa! Thankfully Jake's company has a suite so we were out of the sun and got to enjoy drinks and yummy food. I can't say I would have enjoyed myself if we had been sitting in the hot sun! Actually I can say I would have been one whinny wife if we were sitting in that hot sun!!! :)

We left Nashville only to get ready for Jake's parents to come visit us a few days later! They spent the weekend and we had a great time. Spencer loves calling them by name and showing off any way he can. We had a fun time at Maymont in Richmond where we saw lots of animals. But, Spencer's favorite part was when he was able to get out of the stroller and RUN like a crazy man!!!

Oma and Opa left Sunday afternoon and Bevie and Papa, my parents, came the following Tuesday!!! Oh and did I mention that Jake had a colonoscopy that Tuesday morning. I had it all planned that may parents would be here and be able to keep Spencer the morning of Jake's procedure. Guess what, my mommy brain took over and I totally told my parents to wrong day! SO, I had to take Jake to the hospital accompanied by our 13 month old child who wants to hold everything he sees, "HOLD IT, HOLD IT!!!" I was prepared for eyes to be rolling, kinda like they do when Spencer and I plop ourselves down in first class when we fly!!! Man I love to do that. Anyway, everyone was great to us and it all went well. Jake's good too and we are happy he got screened seeing that he has a significant family history of colon cancer.

We had a great time with Bevie and Papa. Spencer enjoyed reading with Papa and making him laugh. We are very grateful to Bevie for keeping Spencer over night! Yes, that is what I said, OVER NIGHT!!! The first time ever I have left him over night. And might I say I don't have one of those easy night babies who kindly sleeps through the night OR even wakes up once.....no no no....Spencer loves to wake up over and over again. Bevie did a great job! Thank you Bevie. Jake and I enjoyed a yummy dinner at a nice restaurant overlooking the water and really enjoyed continuous SLEEP!!!

Thanks again to Bevie for giving Spencer his first real haircut and boy did he need a shape up. Wow, we really put poor Bevie to work!!! She didn't seem to mind. Thank you Mama!

On Friday we traveled to DC to see my brother, Carlisle, who Spencer happens to be gaga over. He loves his uncle "arlisle" and especially loves rand sacking his home!

We have had a wonderful few weeks filled with family. Spencer's already calling every ones name, holding his little hands up and asking "where o".

Jake's race

Jake completed his Olympic distance triathlon a few weekends ago, which includes a 1500 meter swim, 26 mile bike ride and a 6.2 mile run. It was a beautiful day on the Rappahannock River. Spencer and I had a great time cheering for him.

Spencer had a blast chasing the dogs and playing with the other kids. We now have to talk about all the dogs we played with each night before bed. He lets me know when I forget one!!! Such a smart man!! Jake ended up finishing 6th in his age group! We are so proud of him.