Travel Day Two

You are in the midst of a long car trip when the child who is sitting in the far back car seat says "I need a cracker".....what do you do? You are on that same car trip when the child sitting in the far back seat starts to cry because he has dropped his best friend "Goober" and needs it back this instant.......what do you do? Mommy and Daddy were scratching their heads on the drive to SD trying to figure out an easier way to meet these child demands without causing bodily damage to ourselves crawling from the front seat into the back.

The answer not only came to us while we were in Great Grandma's house in Iowa......the answer came HOME with us too! We borrowed (and will return on our next trip through Clear Lake) Great Grandma's "Grabber" which not only made it easy to pick up or transfer things to the back of the RSV, the boys thought it was hysterical to be handed a sippy cup or an animal cracker from this weird grabber thing!

Travel Day

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa today so that we could work our way back home to Illinois. As always, we had a great time and are anxious for the next time we get to see them! After a brief lunchtime stop in Sioux Falls with Mommy's best friend Jannelle, it was on to Iowa. The boy's swapped car seats throughout the trip home. The change of scenery must have been very relaxing for Spencer because he took good naps throughout the drive!

Christmas in November

Since we head back to Illinois tomorrow and we aren't able to spend the Christmas holiday here in South Dakota this year, Grandma and Grandpa suggested that we have an early family Christmas today! Uncle Seth, Aunt Ann, Nolan and Lauren came over too so we were all able to share a very nice early Christmas together. Some of Spencer's favorite Christmas decorations that he loved playing with were the musical snowmen!

Needless to say, part of today's early holiday involved all of the kids opening some gifts. Spencer was somewhat interested in tearing some wrapping paper.........

.....but he was much more interested in playing with the torn paper along side his baby cousin Lauren! Just goes to confirm: give a kid a new toy and he will be more happy playing with the box it came in!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Spencer spent his first South Dakota Thanksgiving holiday at Great Aunt Bev's house. There were lots of cousins to get better acquainted with......

.......and even a playground right down the block where we could burn off some of the yummy turkey we all ate.

As an added bonus, we stopped by Great Grandma Irene's house on our way home and got to chat with Great Aunt Maxine and Great Uncle Jim who were there too!

Spencer and his family hope that all of you each had a wonderful Thanksgiving today too!

Yes, I Take Requests!

First of all, we are happy to report that Spencer's temperature is almost back to normal, so we are pretty sure it was due to his new tooth that's coming in. Grandma and Grandpa's church had their Thanksgiving service tonight but before we could go, the boys had something they needed to do. Grandpa plays the organ at church and since he needed to practice his music this afternoon, Spencer and Brian needed to "help" him!

101.9

101.9 - is that a radio station? Nope, unfortunately it's what Spencer's temperature was this evening. We are hoping that it is teething related and not a bug of some sort. We will keep you posted.

How do you spell........well, anything?!?!

Isn't it funny how a toy can seem completely different when it belong to someone else? Refrigerator magnets have never had a real draw to the boys but when they saw all the alphabet letters on Grandma and Grandpa's frig - they couldn't keep their hands off them!

Travel Day Two

We only made a couple short stops on the second leg of our trip today because we wanted to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house by mid afternoon. Grandpa sings in a barbershop quartet and they were singing at a concert today that we wanted to go listen to. After having sat through a 6 hour car trip and only getting a short 45 minute break to stretch their legs and run around at Grandma and Grandpa's house, the boys did a remarkable job of sitting through an hour concert so that they could hear Grandpa sing! When we got back to the house - Spencer was ready to kick back and do some serious relaxing!

Travel Day

Spencer and his family piled into our RSV (red sport vehicle) this morning and got started on our way to South Dakota. The weather was great so we all enjoyed a nice leisurely drive to our midway stopping point for the day. Truth be told, this picture wasn't actually taken while we were the overnight guests at Great Grandma's house in Iowa, but the boy's just looked so cute in their jammies, I thought I would post it anyway.

I'm 15 Months Old!

Spencer turned 15 months old today and you know what that means......time to go see the doctor and have his 15 month old well being check. In addition to the doctor confirming that Spencer is a very healthy boy who is growing and progressing exactly as they want to see, he was weighed and measured and here are his new stats.

Weight: 25 pounds 2 ounces (which is in the 60th percentile), up from 24 pounds 13 ounces at his 12 month appt.

Height: 32 inches tall (which is in the 75th percentile), up 2 inches from his 12 month appt.

Head Circumference: 47 cm (which is in the 75th percentile), up 1 cm from his 12 month appt.

Also......Spencer and his family will be hitting the road tomorrow morning heading to South Dakota so that we can spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Grandma and Grandpa. If we aren't able to get an Internet connection for a couple days, we will be sure to get Spencer's blog updated as soon as possible.

Lost and Found

Would the owner of this hairband please report to Spencer's Lost and Found office to pick it up. There is no rush since Spencer is putting it to good use to keep his long luxurious hair out of his eyes!

Official Photo

It's been a while since we posted another of Spencer's official one year old pictures so......here ya go!

Here We Go Again!

That's right - we have another climber on our hands! Here's the proof........

Dueling Spoons

Mommy and Daddy try to keep our meals "Spencer friendly". What that means is that since he likes feeding himself, having foods that he can use his fingers to eat are very important. Breakfast can be complicated since Spencer's typical breakfast consists of a bowl of oatmeal. That's not to say that he hasn't eaten oatmeal with his hands before, but we are encouraging him to use his utensils. A trick that we used with Brian is working with Spencer as well and it's called......"dueling spoons"! With a spoon in each of his hands, he can eat from one while we refill the other one. Additionally, as long as he has a spoon in each hand, he is less inclined to grab a handful!

You Will Be Missed!

We received very sad news that Aunt June's mother passed away today. "Oma", as she was affectionately known by her grand kids (and us) was an amazing lady. This picture of Lottie and her daughter June, son-in-law Kevin and grand daughter Erika was taken at Mommy and Daddy's wedding. She touched many lives during her lifetime and we will all miss her. Lottie may be gone, but she will live on in our hearts forever.

Snack Time!

Spencer had a little Cheerios snack this morning. Some kids might like eating their snacks out of a bowl but Spencer has found that a much better way to go is to just dump them out and eat them right off the floor!

Bedtime Reading

At some point during the day, the boys usually spend some amount of playtime in Brian's room together. This is great because Brian's room has been modified to be pretty much "mischief proof" (IE: everything they don't need to play with is either moved up, latched close or strapped shut). Today, within just a few moments of them both being in the room, they ended up in Brian's bed. The fact that his bed is now a toddler bed makes it much easier for Spencer to crawl in and out by himself. Once inside, Spencer imitated whatever his brother did which today meant, they were doing some reading!

Spaa.....lash!

Mommy is feeling much better but she hasn't been taking too many pictures over the past few days so, here's one more from our day at the Kohl's Children's Museum. They have an area that is completely devoted to water and all the fun stuff it can do. As far as Spencer was concerned though - it was a room that he could completely devote to getting as wet as he could by splashing to his heart's content!

Super boy!

Could some one explain how it is that the smallest child can outlast the bigger ones?

All the boy's blog pictures for the last few days are from our recent visit to the Kohl Children's Museum with cousin's Krista and Erika. As you can see they wore themselves out having lots of fun.

Daddy now returns control of the blog to Mommy. Actually, when Mommy reads the blogs for the last few days I think she may change the password and not tell Daddy the new one!

HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER SOON MOMMY!

Cashier Spencer

Since Brian is not allowed to leave the house by himself, he decided to take Spencer with him to his new job.





Not being one to just sit around Spencer decide to run the register.
































Unfortunately, the boy's were both fired shortly after Spencer started handing out these ten dollar bills......

Behind the scenes

Remember in the Wizard of Oz when Toto pulls back the curtain revealing who the Wizard really is?

Well I'm pulling back the curtain to reveal who is really controling the blogs!

Dr. Spencer?!

Since driving lessons have been cancelled, Spencer has decided that he would just go to medical school and cure Mommy all by himself!

Driver's Ed

Even though Spencer isn't old enough to be a Boy Scout he is still believes in being prepared.

In case Mommy decides to go to the doctor Spencer is taking driving lessons!

I'm not sure I approve of 8 year old cousin Krista giving driving lessons...... I'm gonna have to talk to her Daddy about that!

Daddy's taking over!!!!

Mommy has been sick and laying low the last few days. Knowing how important the blog updates are, Daddy has decided to take control so hang on to your keyboard this could be a rough ride!

Not to be outdone by his brother Spencer had to try on the Wheaties hat!

Spencer says this will be the newest style in the spring........we'll have to see about that one.

Yard Work!

Spencer has been practicing his raking skills so that he would be ready to go to Great Grandma's house in Iowa tomorrow to take part in "fall yard clean up weekend". Unfortunately, Spencer got the bad news today that "fall yard clean up weekend" has been postponed. Since the weather forecast this weekend is for it to be snowing in Iowa, he will have to put his rake on hold until we go try it again next spring!

Congratulations!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was election day for Grandpa, who was hoping to win his seat in the South Dakota State Senate back for another two year term. Spencer fell asleep before the results were all in so he had to wait until this morning to hear the outcome. Mommy and Daddy couldn't fall asleep until they knew how this race was going to end so they were both glued to the computer watching as the South Dakota results come in. By about 10:00 it was official. The race was close but when it was all said and done - we are thrilled to let you all know that Grandpa won! Congratulations Grandpa - we are all very proud of you!

We Did......Did You?

Daddy, Mommy and the boys exercised our right as Americans by going out to cast our vote this morning. Spencer proudly wore his "I Voted Today" sticker all day and even had it on his jammies after tonight's bath!

Two Points!

We were out playing in the yard today and Spencer suddenly took an interest in the basketball hoop. He had to really stretch but he sunk nearly every shot that he took! Maybe he are looking at a future forward for the Chicago Bulls instead of a linebacker for the Bears!

Cutie-Pie!

Mommy and Daddy thought we would post another of Spencer's official "1 year old pictures". His smile is infectious!

She's Pretty!

We went on a short trip today to visit our families newest member! Daddy's cousin Bill and his lovely wife Kristin got a wonderful treat for Halloween - their new baby girl! We were pleasantly surprised that Brian and Spencer were allowed to come into the room with us and they were both on their best behavior as they met little Kendall Faith.

Holding this tiny girl, it's hard to believe that at her 9 pound birth weight, she was almost 2 1/2 pounds heavier than Spencer was when he was born! Congratulations to you both Bill and Kristin - she is adorable and we are all looking forward to getting to know her better and watching her grow up!