Adidas

On the way to soccer practice Jane asked me.  "Mom do you know what Adidas stands for?"  me:  "No what does it?"  Jane:  "It stands for All Day I dream about Sports".   me: "Sounds like Spencer don't you think?"  Jane:  laughing "Yeah it should be his motto."

The obsession continues at our house.  Spencer prefers to sleep with a ball and insists on wearing "athletic" clothes.  If a piece of clothing does not have a picture of a ball a number or some sort of stripe he wants nothing to do with it.    His vocabulary of sports is getting quiet extensive and can identify specific balls.   My favorite is he calls footballs "Fritaball"

He's lucky he has a dad who likes to watch sports and will sit right up and watch it too.

Over Spring Break I took my kids to a trampoline park.   Spencer was mesmerized by the dodge ball cage fasinated with all the balls being thrown around.

This kid is not all show.   He got quite the kick on him and has no problem getting right in the mix of playing ball with kids both young and old.   Spencers officially banned from attending his siblings sport games.   He is so miserable and makes everyone else around miserable because he can't go out on the field and play.    The worst was at Aaron's first soccer game of the season they gave each of  the players a brand new soccer ball.  Spencer was beside himself so angry that he did not get one and wanted Aaron's who needed it for practice out of the field and did not let up about it.   


I'm not one that feels you should push your kids into sports too early but man with this kid I'm signing him up as soon  or earlier than he meets the age criteria.

Yay Fun

Spencer is now 2 and terrible he is not (most of the time 😉)!!

My parents stopped by a week or so ago.  Spencer not having a shy bone in his body sat up in between them and turned on all of his charm for "Becky" and "Dick" as he calls them.   My mom commented that we should all be as happy as Spencer and that maybe he's so happy because he got out all of his screaming the first year of his life. 

I've always loved Spencer but recently I simply enjoy being with him.  He's my little buddy.  He's still as strong willed and opinionated as ever gets bored easily but the more he is able to express himself the more collected he seems to stay.  He's got a lot of charisma and passion!  He chats all day long and is constantly saying "Yay fun" even for things like when I plop him down from his self directed dance party on my counter top.

I made his cake with all the things he loves.  Balls, Mickey mouse and chocolate cake.

Feeling lucky his birthday fell on a Saturday and the weather was beautiful we invited all the cousins and Papa and Nona to join us at Lagoon.   Pretty sure Spencer had no or very little memories of Lagoon from last year but he was happy as can be on the way there knowing we were going somewhere to have fun.

This was also Spencer's first time with a ride pass at Lagoon.  Following tradition his first ride had to be the boats.   The line was long so Bart took the others off on the big rides while I waited with Spencer.   He seemed excited in the line but as soon as he was strapped in he was NOT a fan.   He screamed the entire time reaching for me to get him out as he floated by but I just smiled and said "Fun right."  He wasn't amused.

I tried the cars next and again he let me know his dislike of being locked in compartments by himself.

Meanwhile back with Bart and the kids it was discovered Aaron is officially tall enough for the big rides so off on the Colossus he went with dad and the girls!  He loved it!  No fear in this kid (unless its the middle of the night)

I then called Bart and told him to come back and see if having his siblings on the rides with him would help.     That was the ticket!     All of the sudden angry Spencer was lovely Spencer again giggling his heart out.  He especially liked it when Jane jerked the elephant up and down.   Jane was exactly the height limit 54" on the kiddie rides and I commanded her that she is not to grow even an inch more this summer because Spencer needs her to ride with him.

On the way back to the Terrace John reserved for us we ran into Suzanne's family.   The kids loaded up on the moonracker which provided a very cute picture.

Then we had lunch with the bunch, ate some cake, and opened presents. Spencer immediately demanded to put on one of his new Mickey Mouse shirts.  Off went the big cousins and Aaron went off with the rat pack.

Here's Spencer in the car exiting Lagoon.  He didn't even make it to the freeway before he was out.  The sign of a perfect day for a 2 year old if you ask me.

A big thank you to these two who graciously give us the opportunity to experience where fun happens at Lagoon with the cousins each year!

Again?!!!

Jane came home last week and proudly announced she is the CEO of the month.  Again Jane are you sure was my reaction since she just got it a couple of months ago?   Yes I'm sure I have the proof said Jane as she handed me the letter inviting me to the award ceremony.     Excellence was the value they were honored so why should I be surprised that it would be anybody else but Jane. 

Spencer and I attended and listened to these kind words from her teacher.  I like how the principle before hand said that excellence is tied in closely to growth because it is through hard word and growth that you achieve excellence.   I'm excited to watch Jane continue to grow and achieve all sorts of excellence in her life.

As I was looking through my camera I noticed a considerable amount of pictures of Jane's hair. Lately Jane will come up with an idea for her hair and she patiently instructs me on how to complete her idea.   I'll have to say I've come along way from 4+ years ago with this post.   Braids
Instead of old school get out a hand mirror and look into the other mirror like I use to have to do, she'll ask me to take a picture and then look at it before she gives me her approval.   Here's a few of our masterpieces.  I'm still working on the dutch braid but my fingers don't want to cooperate.

And this is how long her hair is.  

Dog Trained

In my attempts at potty training Spencer I feel like I've become an expert on potty training a dog.     I started with reviewing the 3 day potty training guide and stocked up on lots of juice boxes,  treats and underwear.     Spencer was so excited when a package from Amazon contained some underwear with different balls on them.  He immediately put on all 5 of them by himself (of course the wrong way) and was happy as a clam.   We spent the next couple of days hovering around the bathroom waiting for something to come out. 

Turns out Spencer has a constant small stream of pee coming out most of the time so getting it in the toilet was a breeze.   By day 3 he woke up dry and could "pee on command" and even made a number 2 in the toilet.    I was feeling grand thinking he might be the easiest kid I've potty trained. 

Then the weather turned warm and Spencer started spending a lot of time outside.  He's obsessed with the trampoline and is totally content running out there by himself and jumping to his own delight.     I've loved having him outside because my guard is down without carpet and rugs to soil.    Spencer lets his guard down as well and like all of my other children his bowls work best when in motion.   

Needless to say we've had very few bowel movements in the toilet.    It's often I'll look out and observe a photo such as this one......   

Yes Spencer is on the trampoline naked waist down and if you look closely you'll see some soiled underwear disregarded on the grass.    It hit an all time low when Spencer was playing outside and came in the house, took off his pants and underwear told me yucky because they were wet and promptly bee lined it back outside.    Not even 5 minutes later he came back saying "potty outside"  I followed him outside and he showed me where "like a dog" he pooped. 


I'd put him back in diapers except for he is great at peeing "if not outside" and isn't scared of the toilet or stubborn about it.     So instead I took a trip to the dollar store and spend $20 on toys and told him he could have one each time he pooped in the toilet.     He asked for one of the balls in the sack daily and since then he's made it to the toilet twice so knock on wood it might be slowly sinking in.   


Word of advice....  If the movie Winnie the Pooh comes on TV during the potty training process quickly turn it off.  All day Spencer kept saying Poop and I'd run him into the bathroom just for him to throw a fit and say "Watch Poop"  I finally figured out he wanted to watch Winnie the Poo again.  He even found a Winnie the Poo figure and decided that Poop need  Poop.  Confusing!!

Aaron bo Daren

Aaron makes me happy.  I tell him all the time that he is my favorite 5 year old boy.   That makes him smile every time so I keep saying it.  He's  proud of his accomplishments and is always asking me to come watch him do such things as a front flips on the trampoline or swinging on the monkey bars.  He's constantly on the go mostly cruising the neighborhood with the gang and when he's not on the go he's scrumming through my fridge and pantry trying to fill his endless pit while he watches his favorite shows like "Henry Danger and Loud house".   I just love his easy going loves to have fun personality.  I like to suggest ordinary things like stopping by McDonalds on the way home from preschool and taking it to the park for a picnic or asking if I can fix the hole in Mickey Mouse because he gets as happy as Christmas morning about most anything and readily says "Thank you momma your the best"   

He asks me all the time to take pictures of him.   He's such a tall handsome guy just like his dad!!

I laughed when  I came into the laundry room and found him like this doing his Upstart computer learning program.  He told me he needs to be comfortable to do it.    He's been doing so well on the program I went to the library and checked out the  reading books "I am Sam".  He buzzed through level 1 like no big deal and is now chopping away at level 2.    He's so confident with learning to read and is really proud of himself that he works hard at it.    Jane came home from school saying they had the kindergarteners come into her class and read aloud and it's the end of kindergarten and they don't read as good as Aaron.  Boy did that send Aaron over the moon with pride!!

Now if only I can get him to stay put in his room all night.   He's good to go to sleep on his own but between 3-5 he's up wandering down the stairs and camps out on our floor.  On good nights he falls fast asleep but on other nights he's restless, scared of robbers coming in the house and or can't get comfortable.  Occasionally on really bad nights he lands in our bed between us and snuggles up to one of us (his favorite spot).    Here he is on a night he found a stick horse and Bart was away and he scored Bart's side of the bed.

Emily's book

Emily saw an advertisement for a story writing contest on KUED and decided she wanted to write and illustrate a book and submit it.   She took the lead completely on her own.  I did help proofread and edit it but this was pretty much her own thing.     I absolutely loved it and told her I'm sure the contest was rigged.  Her book was way better than the winners and I know it is the best book I've ever read by a 6th grader and that is all that matters.

5+ years later

Shout hurray the weed patch is finally gone.  No more prickly pears (i.e goat head) owies.  Say hello to soccer field/playground.    It took me five years to convince my Richards (do it yourself ) sort of husband who was way to busy to complete such a big project himself to let me hire it done.      It was truly magical last September when the crew arrived and transformed  the eye sore into a beautiful lawn in two weekends!   

  

Soon after Fall and winter arrived and the lawn sat dormant.  Then like magic I called a playground equipment store ordered a steel swing set and a few days later it was delivered  and set up in a couple of  hours.  Magic I tell you.   The hardest part for the kids and frankly the entire neighborhood was waiting four days for the cement posts to dry.  Tonight for family night the swings were hung and 4 kids were happy as clams despite the sprinkling cold wet weather outside!!  

The old view from my kitchen sink window

The new view from my kitchen sink window!

 Let summer begin!!!