Sunday Night at Our House

This is what Sunday night looks like at our house:

Watching America's Funniest Videos, which we call The Baby/Dog Show!

Miss Personality

We've got cold weather!!! Bring out the fuzzy slippers! (And maybe some pants?)

Wearing Mr. Potato Head's glasses

And when you can't find your own fuzzy slippers, your sister's will have to do.

It's That Time of Year Again...

Aaaahhhhh!!! Time for Christmas pajama pictures!

It takes a little work, a little pleading, and a lot of shots, but it's all worth it! Since I love Christmas pajamas so much, every year I get the kids new ones, take their picture, and put it on a mug for Grandma and Nana. This is not the winning picture! I don't share that or it would ruin one of their gifts. Here are some more amusing shots from tonight.

Allie learning about silly faces!

Sense of Humor Required

I've decided one of the top things needed to survive this mothering adventure is a sense of humor. Without it I'd be bald and probably wearing a straight jacket.


This was the scene in our kitchen this morning. Spence, who started running a fever last night, wanted juice. But no juice was good enough. Not the regular juice in the orange cup, or the purple juice in the green cup, or the green juice in the blue cup, or the red juice in the Sponge Bob cup, or the blue juice in the straw cup. They all tasted yucky according to Spence because they didn't have that thing. We could never pinpoint what "that thing" was. I am happy to report that we found the combination that worked this afternoon: red juice in a blue cup with an orange lid. Yay for Nana for finding the winning combo! And a big thank you to Nana for coming to stay with the little sicky so I could enjoy my Women's luncheon!

Happy Monday!

Allie woke up feeling good for the first time in over a week! And Spence slept in until after 9. Awesome morning! When Allie saw Spence at the top of the stairs, she got so excited and was pointing at him, smiling really big, and saying, "Sence! Sence!" Then she grabbed her purse and headed up to sit by him. He was glad to see her too, but was still waking up in this picture. Look how happy she is though. I love it!

Today's Ha Ha

Today Spence and I have gotten to spend a lot of time together. It has been so fun! He's a little character. We've had several ha ha moments. While driving to the park, Spence noticed the guy in the car next to us:

Spence: Look, he's got jealous in his hair. It's all spiky!

That would be gel! But no way did I tell him that. It's just too funny when they call things by the wrong name!

And then later we were playing "don't let the balloon touch the ground." I'm guessing you can figure out the point of that game without further explanation. Anyway, he began playing by himself and was doing really well keeping the balloon up, so I said:

Mommy: Wow Spence. You're doing really well at that now!
Spence: Yeah. I'm pretending like I'm in 8th grade!

At about the same time as the riveting balloon game, I noticed Allie chilling in the bean bag checking out the Kohl's sale paper! She was looking at the shoes, and when I got the camera, she said, "Shoes!" That's my girl, and Grandma's too!

Happy Veterans Day

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. -Elmer Davis

Today we honor our veterans, who have made sacrifices for our freedom. Thank you to all our veterans and their families! Grandpa, we will make sure Coleman, Spence, and Allie know what a true hero you are! Coleman's poster is being displayed on his school's wall of honor.

Happy Birthday Spence!

Spence, you're 4 years old today! We love you so much. You make every day interesting! Here are a few things about you:

• You love peanut butter on toast and usually eat it twice a day. You also like fruit and Capri Suns (which you call Capretty Sun). You will not even try a vegetable.
• When it's your night to pick what to play with Daddy, you make up a game with a wacky, I mean unique, name. Daddy says he doesn't know how to play, and you tell him there's directions. Then you start running around in circles, shoot at things, and fall on your knees. This usually ends with you wanting to swing on the tree swing.
• I'm hoping this will be your year to learn the definition of hurry! If I ask you to hurry, you sometimes start to cry and tell me you can't because you're as slow as a turtle. This is very true. However, I'll love you even if you never learn to hurry.
  
• You have the runniest nose I've ever encountered. But crust and all, it sure is a cute nose!
• One kiss is never enough for me! You have to kiss me on each cheek, then I kiss you on each cheek. You like to kiss on the lips, but I tell you no during "sick season." You don't like this.
• You are handling being the middle child very well. And with Coleman at school, you are stepping up and being a great big brother to Allie!
  

Here is what Coleman said about you this morning:

Coleman: He doesn't look 4. Maybe it's 'cause it's his first day being 4.

A Pirate's Day

It's hard to believe our little Spence will be 4 years old tomorrow! He wanted his birthday party at a park this year and decided on a pirate theme. I love taking a theme and running with it, so needless to say I had a blast planning a pirate party! A friend came over on Friday and helped me with the cake. There were games to plan and treasure chests to fill. And of course no pirate party would be complete without a treasure hunt! It was so much fun!

The cake

Spence liked it!

Our first game was Walk the Plank. The kids put on pirate masks, then walked down a plank, "jumped in the water," and swam to shore (a tree) all while being attacked by flying sharks! This is Spence after he walked the plank.

Coleman dodging sharks

The party-goers each got to keep a shark. Paul David was so cute - he didn't want to be a pirate, just a shark!

The next game was Cannons Away! They had to throw water balloons at the pirate ship. I think we had about 50 water balloons and they just kept launching them until they were all gone! We played another game called Swab the Deck, where they had to use a mop to sweep ping pong balls from one end of the deck (sidewalk) to the other. I think it was a little hard, but they seemed to enjoy it.

Spence was looking at the treasure map getting ready to search for long, lost treasure. Brian aged my map by crumpling it, dipping it in tea, coating it with oil, then burning the edges. Doesn't it look authentic? The kids got so excited when they found the treasure!

Our family at the site where the treasure was found

Just being sweet

We waited until we got home for Spence to open presents. This awesome fireman outfit was from Grandma and Grandpa. He loves it! I think he enjoyed his fourth birthday party!

Pooped!

Pooped after a pirate party at the park! Details and pictures later...

The Last of Halloween... Really

Can you believe none of our kids had ever been trick-or-treating before last night? We've always had a church carnival to go to on Halloween, so it's just never worked out. I never minded not taking them trick-or-treating, but after last night, I don't want to miss that again! It was so much fun! Brian and I both said that growing up we had to drive around to trick-or-treat. Or Brian said they would drive to a friend's neighborhood and trick-or-treat there. It was fun to walk around our neighborhood and chat with neighbors and see other kids dressed up. The boys did great saying, "Trick or treat!" and "Thank you!" And Allie caught on to holding out her pumpkin to get filled up with candy.

One last picture of the characters

Heading out for their first trick-or-treat adventure! Even Maestro came!

Allie has a new-found love of suckers

Check out all that candy!

And whoever said taking candy from a baby is easy was wrong!

And since I promised this was the last of the Halloween pictures, I'll add our pumpkin carving and carnival pictures here also!

Ready to carve!

I know this isn't the greatest picture, but I got such a kick out of it! I think Coleman needs some new jammies, Spence is bustin' some moves, and just-bathed Allie is down in the dirt!

This is the game Brian made for our carnival. I helped a little, but it was mostly him. It's a football toss with the largest hole being pee wee level, the next hole high school level (with our neighborhood high school's logo), the next hole college level (UT Longhorn), and the smallest hole professional level (Go Texans!) I was so proud of my handy man!

The train ride

Bouncy baby ballerina