Happy 7th Birthday, Spencer!

My boy is seven years old today. SEVEN. How does that happen so fast?

Spencer is my sweetheart boy. He's so sensitive, yet so stoic. He's my peacemaker and my helper. He is full of love and compassion for people and things, but yet shows this in quiet, subtle ways:

Like when he counts the money in his piggy bank and decides he wants to give money to his siblings so that they will all be more "even".

Or when he notices that Chase and Leda are fighting over something he'll often walk over to them and offer up a toy to distract the one who is whining.

Or the other day when I heard him encouraging his siblings to pick up their dirty clothes and put them in the hamper because of our new family goal discussed in family council that we'd all pitch in a little more without being asked by Mom or Dad.

These are few of the reasons why we love our Spencer so much. Last night Aaron and I were reflective of how our lives were before we had Spencer. Bottom line is, there wasn't really much worth remembering before he joined our family. We are forever changed because he made us parents and his sweet spirit make us better people.

Some things I want to remember about Spencer at this age:

-He likes to sleep (or hang out) with his shirt off because he once saw his cousins Carter & McKay do that and he wants to be like them.

-Chase now sleeps with his shirt off because Chase wants to be more like his big brother.

-He loves school, always gets 100% on every timed math test and most of the time nails each and every spelling test. He's becoming and great reader and begs us to read with him whenever we have down time.

-Whenever I ask him how school is, it's always a one word answer: "Good" or "Fine" usually covers it. He's a man of few words.

-His 1st grade teacher, Mrs. DiBene calls Spencer a quiet leader and notices that people around him want to be with him and want to be like him.

-He loves to eat at Subway (pepperoni sandwiches), & he'll choose that place over most other places around.

-His favorite dinnertime meal is still salmon, rice and broccoli.

-Whenever he comes into the kitchen and asks what I'm making for dinner, and he determines it's something he likes, he'll say, "YES!!" and run around the house announcing what's for dinner to his siblings.

-He seriously idolizes his Dad right now. The two of them can be in tickling matches and Wii standoffs for hours and hours. Most nights I have to gently remind Aaron that it's time for his "little buddy" to get to bed and these two playmates have to say goodnight until next time. I love seeing this bond. There really is no one else Spencer would rather be with.

-He loves to play outside in the front yard on our steps with Lego's with all his neighbor friends: Jose, Jordan, Noah, Kyle, Johny, Luke.

-He says such sweet prayers and still says, "Bless our blessings" which is something he's said since he was two.

-He refers to his siblings as "the kids" as if he's not one of them.

-Even though he's getting bigger, he'll still hold my hand when we cross the street...and if I squeeze his hand 3x, he'll do it back. It's our code for "I love you."

I could keep going, clearly I'm in love with my kid and we're so grateful he's a part of our family. We're so blessed.

Happy Birthday Spencer!!

Spencer's birthday breakfast this morning, complete with sausage in the shape of a "7"

Early birthday party

We celebrated a week early this past weekend because Daddy will unfortunately be MIA for his real birthday.

This year is Spencer's "family-only" party where he gets to invite one friend to hang out with us to celebrate his big day. I had the genius idea to go bowling as a family (FUN!) but Spencer had his heart set on good old Chuck E. Cheese because, "I can win LOTS of tickets and get to win cool prizes!"

(Okay, buddy. I guess you are only turning 7 so I'll let you believe, for at least a few more years, that Chinese handcuffs, pencil erasers and tiny little plastic army men are still cool prizes.)


So off to the mouse house it was (along with everyone else in the city),Spencer's BFF Garrick, and our good friends Michelle, Jim and their daughter Mackenzie (Leda's BFF). Oh and of course no family party would be complete without Grandma and Grandpa.

Spencer requested a General Grievous (Star Wars) cake for his birthday. What? Why do star wars characters have to be so ugly---and detailed? I had grand plans for this cake in my head, but just couldn't get the details executed. Oh well. I ended up drawing a simple sketch on a piece of paper, walked into the room where Aaron was sitting, held it up and when he said, "Oh, that's General Grievous" I said to myself: perfect. I'll throw away all other plans and do a simple sketch. Done.

happy son + yummy cake=mission accomplished!

Here's a peak into our night:

Look closely at Aaron in the back beside the two boys and you'll see where Spencer might get influenced to throw away a perfectly good picture taking moment by making a funny face or not smiling at all. I give up.




And yes, The birthday boy looks ticked (or constipated?) and the button of his jeans are undone, but hey, it's the only family shot we got that night so it's a keeper.


Happy Birthday Buddy!

My confession:

(I stole these words from my friend, Jen because I liked it and it suits me also)

"My name is Marcy, and I'm a total period drama geek."


I just learned that a new version of Jane Austen's "Emma" is playing over the next four Sundays on Masterpiece Classic. I'm seriously GIDDY over it.

Wanna be giddy too?

Find out what's coming up next for Masterpiece Classics HERE.

A diary of Anne Frank is coming in April, how great will that be?!?

"My snowman"...

Spencer brought this home from school today:



"My snowman can drive a car."
"My snowman is cool."
"My snowman likes chicken wings."
"My snowman's name is Spencer."

We especially enjoyed #3.

It appears he's a man (or at least like his Dad) already: mildly distracted by cars and food--and in that order.

Thanks for always cracking us up, kid!

Oh Chase.

Will this kid ever stop giving me a run for my money?



I don't think so.

The other night he sure had us hopping. A few hours after being tucked into bed, he woke up coughing (honestly had not been sick, not even a runny nose) and it was a bad case of the croup.

Now, I'm not a "nervous nellie" when it comes to croup. I know the drill: cool air, get them outside if you can, give him his breathing treatment if needed...as you can see, I've been through this once or twice with him before. But after 30 minutes of attempting all of the above, nothing was working, so we headed to the ER.

I kept the soundtrack to "Glee" (yep, he loves it!) and the light on in the back of the van to try to keep him calm on our way, as all he wanted me to do was hold him and I couldn't very well do that while I was driving the car. Poor baby. This was his worst croup attack to date.

Soo, two breathing treatments, a shot of steroids, three nurses, one doctor, a midnight visit from Grandma so she could give him a kiss (ahhh) and one private viewing of "A Toy Story" later, we were on our way home at 2am.





Nothing like zoning out to "Buzz" at 1am, without the interuption of your siblings to take your mind off of things, eh?



I counted up in my head on the way home that this was Chase's fifth trip to the ER since his birth. This guy really does like to keep us on our toes! Well, it's that, or it's that he really likes to see us drop our $100 copay at Mission Hospital while receiving VIP treatment.

Nevertheless, we are grateful for good care and that Bubs is on the mend...with an appointment next week with an allergest to get to the bottom of his woes.

CTR

Tonight Chase had something of Leda's. I told him he could hold it for another two minutes and then he had to give it back.

Two minutes later:

Me: "Chase, give it back, please."

Leda: "Ya Chase, give it back...remember Choooose the Right!! Wait, (looking towards me) um, what does Choose the Right mean again?"

This little conversation had me thinking the following things:

1. She learned and remembered at least half of something in her new CTR class yesterday, bonus!
and
2. No matter what (& especially in times when she can assert her bossiness) Leda will always be looking out for her little brother.
(Oct 2009)

Sunbeams!

Leda reminded me this morning that she was essentially passing on the torch to Chase.

Meaning, that because she was moving on up to her new CTR class (aka: "the BIG class, Mom") now "Chase can go to my Sunbeam class with the little chairs, okay?"

Okay Leda. Thanks for explaining to me how it all works.

Chase knew something exciting was going on today. He knew this because I'd gone out the day before and purchased his first little Book of Mormon for him to take with him to Primary. He now gets to carry one like his siblings do.

(the carrying case is coming, as I have yet to bust out my new sewing machine I received back in August for my birthday, but don't fret, if it turns out, I'll blog about it. You know I will)

Chase was looking forward to going to Primary because he got to go with his siblings. I was a little afraid he'd miss the church nursery, but nope! He wanted to be with his big brother & sister. It was all very sweet. They didn't even fight all morning long. Shocker.


My bubs before church:


And after: All decked out in his most darling sun necklace and "I am a Child of God" crown. His teacher (Sister Allen) said he did exceptionally well (whew!) and that he was particularly thrilled to receive his treat at the end of class. He got a lifesaver because they talked about Jesus and how Jesus is a life-saver. Chase told me that. I wonder if he's taking it literally? And if he'll ever look at a lifesaver again in the same way? lol


I cried happy tears on my way home from church because I was so grateful to be listening to all the excitement coming from the backseat from each of my children. They were talking about their new classes, what "CTR" means (Choose The Right), how it was neat for Spencer and Leda to see Chase in Primary with them sitting in the "little" chairs and how Leda is sooo big because she now gets to sit on the "biggest" chairs in Primary. Who knew chairs were such a big deal in Primary? I sure didn't!

But hearing all these things? Priceless.

(It almost made me forget that Aaron is on day 5 of a 9 day business trip, almost ;) )

I am so grateful to belong to a church with such an inspired and fantastic youth program that's called Primary. I'm filled with gratitude for those who serve my children and do it so well. Grateful that after their Primary years are over at age 12, they get to move up to be apart of the Young Womens and Young Men program where they get to learn even more. Today I just feel happy. I'm grateful for this church that I belong to and grateful for my cute, proud, new Sunbeam!

Here's to a great year!