Christmas 1

Its crazy how long its been since I've blogged, but here I am.  I will attempt to do Christmas in 2 posts and then move on with more current stuff.  This post's pictures are in backwards order, but I'm choosing to be OK with that for the sake of FINALLY getting a blog done.  

This was our year to be in Montana for Christmas so we celebrated with the Spencer Fam the weekend before.......

klp and Paw Paw getting ready for the day

Aunt Mo brought a fun drawing game over for the kids to play.....actually, I think this pic was from Thanksgiving, but I'm going to pretend its not.  

me and Q with "Baby Mare" as he calls sweet Baby Marion.  For a while every baby he saw was Baby Mare.  Then Christmas came along and Baby Mare had to take turns with Baby Jesus....or more often, Jesus Baby.  :)

A favorite treat at Gay Gay's house is to eat breakfast (and maybe lunch if you're lucky) while watching cartoons on her little kitchen TV.   Here are 6 out of the 8 little ones piled in catching up on Word World or something.  

These 2 are very VERY silly (and I'm thinking Thanksgiving again since Ro has her cast on....)

klp loves to play in this closet and he usually recruits Ro to play with him.  They were pretty annoyed that I opened the door, but they were sweet to give me a smile.  

q and Mal Mal rocking

We were actually quite pleased with the group picture we got.  I guess Ro holding Marion inspired klp to hold a stray doll...

These are some SWEET kids.  Quinn, Nolan, Landry, Kanyon, Roselyn holding Marion, Avery, and Mallory

My parents gave klp his very own rocking chair.  There is not a more perfect gift for that boy.  Q got a little "bike" but we had to take it back, it kept tumping over.  We're now on the hunt for a replacement.  

Mallory got a fun little nursery....Quinn was trying out the baby bed while she fed him yogurt melts.  

We had a great time and the kids had a blast. I think it just gets more fun (and CRAZY) every year, but you just can't beat it.  

Now pretend like this part was BEFORE the Paris part.  

We sort of have a little tradition of getting Christmas trees with some the Spencers, Fords, and Bowers.  We ate a yummy dinner at the Bowers then headed to Home Depot to pick out the perfect trees.  Except we don't get our tree there, we just go for the company.  This year the Owens joined us in going along for the ride but forgoing the actual tree buying.  The kids had a blast while the parents argued....I mean carefully considered all of the qualities of each tree.  Here's Drayton, Quinn, Kanyon, and Jed playing on the cart.  

The next day, our little family headed to the tree farm to find our tree.  This year the drought hit the farm pretty bad so it was slim pickins but we found a good one....

Here are the boys in front of the one we picked.  qsp was waving at the tractor passing by.  

The boys were lots of help cutting it down....especially Quinn.  

Sheesh!  What would Daddy do without his helpers??!!

klp got his turn to cut...

then q had his turn.  

headed to pay for our tree

Again, q provided valuable help

while klp observed and shouted orders.  

We really had fun with all the Christmas stuff this year.  This was the first year that Kanyon has really paid any sort of attention to any of it and Quinn was old enough to enjoy it too.  FUN FUN!

Stay tuned for our Montana Christmas.

Quinn's "Bear Party"

 We celebrated our Q man last  Friday night and had a great time.  The theme was Camping/Bear.  Quinn has a bear that he LOVES, so we somehow settled on a "bear party" but for fear of it becoming a baby-ish teddy bear party....(no baby stuff for this big boy!) We went the camping/bear route.  The days leading up to the party, he just kept saying "bear party" all the time. And now he calls all cakes "bear cakes" or, as he often said, "cake bears".  My fam came in to town and our cousins/aunt and uncle that live here came over and we had a great time.  The weather was PERFECT so the outdoor camping thing worked great!  

He's holding "THE BEAR" that started all of this in the picture.  

Helping paw paw get the fire started.  We borrowed my aunt and uncle's fire pit, set up a tent, and roasted hot dogs and s'mores.  It was fun.  

Cousins in the wagon.  Sucker Paw Paw pulling them all over the yard.  

This was the first time I've ever done any sort of treat or favor (I guess I'm a lame party thrower).  But I saw these ideas online and thought they were too cute.  Little s'more treat bags. Marshmallows, Golden Grahams, and Chocolate Chips.  The favors were flashlights (what kid doesn't LOVE flashights) and bear shadow puppets. I saw the shadow puppet idea somewhere and had to search a little bit to find a good bear to use for the cutouts.  They had fun doing the puppets in the tent and of course the flashlights were a hit.  And, again, the beloved bear is in the picture. 

Singing to the Birthday Boy!  He was bashful but thrilled with the singing! :)  

He did great trying to blow out the fire/candles, but after a little drool dripped on the cake....

I decided I better help him. :) 

Big Brother was loving all the cousin fun and since the boy could live outside, he was in heaven.  More on the butterfly bandages later.... :(

My little fit thrower.  SHHHEEEEESH!  He didn't want his picture taken.  That only made me take more. 

hahahaha!!!

The marshmallow and chocolate/ketchup face only adds to the greatness!

Paw Paw, klp, and KLP chillin' by the fire. I think they were the last ones to come in....somewhere around 10:00!! 

When we all got in, the cousins that had to drive back to Paris got their PJ's on and we opened presents they brought. Its always funny and cute to watch them ALL be SOOOOO EXITED!  We got Quinn a baseball tee, so we're excited for him to get to hit the ball off of the tee instead of KLP's hand! 

I wish I had a picture of his face! He would open his mouth real wide and gasp when he tore the paper open.  He could barely even see the present in the crowd of excited "helpers" but he's definitely got the exaggerated reaction down! 

Gay Gay and Paw Paw got him a new belt buckle just like klp's to go with his new boots Gram and Chief got him.  He's been in between sizes in boots, etc. for a while, so he's excited to have them again! 

All the girl cousins have matching PJ's and we were trying to get a picture.  Mom took a picture of us trying to get them to look and smile.  Aren't we sooooo cool and funny.  Sheesh....embarrassing.  

It was a great night....in fact, so great that it was 11:30 before my kids went to bed! :)  Happy Birthday Quinn!

Quinn is 2!

December 8th our Quinn Man turned 2.  He's been cheating and saying he's 2 for a few weeks because he started making a 2 with his hands so I went with it.  Of course, since turning 2, he only makes a 1 or a 3 with his fingers.  Oh dear.  

He's talking more and more and it is cracking us up!  We love hearing things just pop out of his mouth that we had no clue he said.  He's done awesome with the Potty training and in the last 2-3 weeks, I'd say he just about has it 100%.  We still have our moments, but they are few and far between.  He's healthy, strong, and energetic....all the things a little boy should be.  He can spot an airplane or a pump jack (what a good little East Texas boy) from a long ways away and loves to identify sports fields.  He's relatively obedient, but doesn't take NO for an answer (at least not with a good attitude).  He's hilarious, wild, loud, and cautious.  He's the best 2 year old I know :)  

Here he is the morning of his birthday showing (and saying) "tattoo" and pointing to his tattoo Gram sent him.  

He may be big now that he's 2, but his Fruit of the Looms are still baggy and Daddy's boots are still too big! 

Trying to give me the stink eye, but cracking a smile instead.  

It seems silly to try to describe how great I think he is because he's too great for words.  Instead I'll share a COUPLE (get it....2) things about him

Favorite Books:
Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?
 Here Comes Santa Claus

Favorite Food:
Fruit (particularly "chawbees"/strawberries and "Oor"/Oranges
Sweets...ANYTHING sweet.

Favorite activities:
"writing"
playing with any kind of ball

Funniest words:
Unnerwear (underwear)
I would say Buttball (football) but he DOESN'T SAY IT ANYMORE!!! BOOOO!!!

Personality Traits:
Nurturing and sweet (he pats, rocks, kisses, etc. all his stuffed animals)
Fussy and LOUD (he cries LOUD at the drop of a hat.  Work in Progress.  WORK.IN.PROGRESS)

Quirks:
He still kicks his legs when he's going to sleep. He's literally done this his whole life
He knows where the Donut shop is and says "Don Don" every time we pass it. Oops.

Favorite Songs:
Take Heart (from Seeds of Worship series)
"Jesus" not sure what specific song he's talking about, but every night when I'm rocking him he tells me to sing  "Jesus". So i just think of a song with Jesus in it.

Size info:
95% for both height and weight.
Maybe this size is what contributes to this, but he is the OPPOSITE OF NIMBLE.  I'm not sure what he word is, but he is SO NOT NIMBLE.  He makes everything he does look so hard.  Like climbing, stepping up, rolling over something, ANYTHING.  He just isn't smooth and quick like that.  Its funny to watch him around other kids his age because he's bigger than a lot of them, but they would beat him in an obstacle course for sure! hahaha! Its pretty funny!

Favorite People:
Daddy
Paw Paw
(sure, he loves me, but if either of those 2 are around they are #1 choice)

Biggest Joys:
Singing (he gets in his own world and sings loud all the time.  He's gonna be that kid in Kindergarten that goes to the bathroom and forgets everyone can hear him and just belts out singing in the bathroom)
Reading (he loves for me to read to him. He goes and picks out a book, sits in my lap, reads, then goes and gets another one....over and over and over.

Biggest *ahhheem* Challenges:
CRYING
Deleting the word "no" from his vocabulary.  He says it because it gets a reaction out of Kanyon....so he keeps saying it. Oh dear.

Favorite animals:
"ping pong" (penguin)
bear

Nick Names:
Cheeky Bull (that goes all the way back to his newborn days)
Bubba (said a million bajillion times by Kanyon)

We love him to pieces and we're so proud of him.  Happy Birthday Quinn Spencer!

Kanyon's new bike

I mentioned it before, but klp just got a new bike! He had outgrown his first one, so his PT brought us a bigger one. This one is a little different and it is so great.  Best of all, klp can do most of the work himself.  We live on a hill so our driveway and our street is slanted. That makes it harder, but he LOVES his new bike.  He says, "I wanna ride me bike" all the time!! Here he is the first time he took it for a spin.  His PT was holding on with a dog leash, but we have since added a bar to hold.

Budding Rock Stars

I never thought I'd be the parent of rock stars, but I've recently learned otherwise.  We have these magnet toys that the boys were playing with and KLP showed them how to use them like a microphone (first he announced the "basketball team" then he sang the national anthem).  The microphone thing really took off with these two and they've been "building" microphones and rockin' out ever since.

This picture kills me...it looks like klp is soooo IN TO his song.

And here's a little clip of the insanity..... I mean concert.

Good Morning!

qsp wakes up happy! He always has and I just love it.  This particular morning he was going BONKERS and I tried to catch some of it on video on the monitor.  Its kinda boring, but its kinda funny when you consider this was him immediately after he woke up :)

November so far....

I lied...the first two pictures are from the week Q was potty training back in October. I felt like we were doing so much "bonding" that we needed a self photo.....

I was able to coax his thumb out of his mouth with a "CHEEEESE!" 

Poor klp.  Sometimes he just gives up on keeping his pants up when he's scooting around.  We were playing at a friend's house the other day, we looked in playroom and busily playing in the kitchen was Kanyon with his pants at his ankles.  

This pic makes me laugh out loud. He lookes like a grown man doing the Reader's Digest crossword puzzle.  

I usually save the boys' "MOOMEE" (movie) time til I'm cooking dinner.  They watch a little Praise Baby or Sesame Street (they think all movies are only 20 min!!). I  just think they are so cute watching TV. I mean on the one hand, I'm saying its cute that they're brains are turning to mush (haha...I'm being dramatic) but on the other hand, its just so sweet that they are so tuned in to it.  

q man lounging in his unders.  These are NOT boxer briefs, they are just undies that are TOO BIG! heee heee

klp had an eye Dr. check up the other day and he sat in the chair all by himself while the tech did the exam. He was so brave :)  Look at this big boy...

waiting on the Dr....playing with the phone....

While we were at the eye Dr., Quinn played at Chandler's house.  When I drove up, they were playing out in the drizzle and he was sporting this sweet lady bug raincoat! :)  So cute...maybe not his manliest look, but I about melted right then and there.....

klp, Quinn, and Chandler all on the tricycle.  

Our friends Cole and Ryan let Quinn borrow some cowboy boots until he gets his for his birthday.  He was SOOOOOO SOOOO proud to have these on.  He was lovin' it! 

KLP was hiding behind the counter the other night when he got in from work and couldn't make it til supper without some Cheetos. I said, "You BETTER NOT let those boys see you eating those!" So this was his solution.  He hideout worked.