Six Years

Elliot is 6 years old today. The day began with being student of the day at school. Which means you get to help and be the line leader. It was a very big deal for Elliot. I took in his VIP poster and treats for his class. The kids get to ask questions for the VIP to answer as you pass out snack. Dylan, Elliot's buddy at school, raised his hand and said, "Um, Elliot, I love you! You're awesome." Not really a question, but so cute.

We endend the day with Elliot's dinner requests: lasagna, corn and grapes. After dinner we had a Utah cake. (It was supposed to be red . . . I know it's pink.) Elliot presents included a coyote - for his Yellowstone collection, a Wildcats uniform - see earlier High School Musical posts, Wildcat warm-ups, and a new bike.

Happy Birthday, Elliot. We love you.

Teddy

Finally, it snowed in Utah! The boys have been literally praying for snow. Right after school today Elliot and Charlie went outside to make a snowman. There wasn't much snow. But they shoveled enough snow from the neighbors yard to make Teddy the Snowman.

Lucy loved the snow as well. She was grinning ear to ear.

Thanksgiving

We took the kids to visit their cousins in California over Thanksgiving break. It was an action packed weekend.

Our first stop was the tide pools at Half Moon Bay. The kids found sea stars, anemones, and hermit crabs. We spotted harbor seals resting on the rocks just off shore. Elliot and Charlie were in heaven! However, the highlight may have been the raccoon stuck in the dumpster that each boy had to see . . . over and over.

On Friday we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Charlie's favorite part was the otters exhibit. Elliot loved the video games at the otter exhibit. Lucy loved the slide at the otter exhibit and threw a tantrum when we finally hauled her away. The boys also loved the petting station. Where they both held sea stars, sea cucumbers, crabs, and kelp. We also got to see our second great white shark. This one was much smaller, but still amazing.

Saturday brought the San Francisco Zoo. The highlight was definitely the petting zoo. The goats in this petting zoo are a little pushy. Charlie fed all of his food to one little brown goat. As he turned around the goat rammed him in the back. In true Charlie fashion he took a swing at the goat and said, "Don't goat, I don't have any more food."
We had such a great time visiting the Cali Lyons!

Pedestrian

Lucy is WALKING! After weeks of faking us out, she is now spending the majority of the day on her feet. Yeah! I am impatient when it comes to crawling after 1. It drives me crazy! Charlie didn't walk until he was 15 months. He weighed about 30 pounds and ruined all of his clothes. I know I should enjoy each moment and stage . . . whatever. Hooray for walking!

Lucy is blinded by the flash. Sorry you can't see her face. But she's really excited about walking!

Oxymoron

The boys invented a new game tonight: High School Musical laser tag. Basically, they run around the house shooting each other while dressed in their new East High gear (courtesy of Grandma). Every so often Charlie will sing a bar of HSM, "Soaring, flying, there's nothing to reach." (his version of 'breaking free")

It's nice to know that deep down Elliot is still a 6 year old boy. All the Troy talk, bangs, singing and dancing had us convinced he was becoming a 10 year old girl.

Happy Halloween

We've had quite an eventful night! We started out with a jack o' lantern pizza for dinner. Then we headed out into the night for our trick or treating extravaganza. At about the 10th house Charlie was sprayed by a fog machine at one of the many "spooky" houses.

Next we headed over to the haunted garage on the corner. Men dressed in jumpsuits and masks led the kids through a garage filled with strobe lights, sheets, smoke and scary noises. As Elliot exited he said, "That wasn't very long." To which the man of the house replied, "Tough crowd." Sorry, my kids don't scare easy.

After the haunted garage came a house where the kid handing out candy was covered in blood and was moaning, "Take just one." When his father saw my kids were not sufficiently scared he lumbered over to them and said, "Not scared, eh?" He then proceeded to fire up his chain saw about 10 inches from Elliot's face. Elliot decided the best response would be to growl at the guy. When we were a safe distance away he shouted, "That wasn't even scary!" Yeah, right.

We ended the night at the Jensens, who send children running and crying from their property every year. There was a group of 10 year old boys standing in street debating if it was worth the torture for one piece of candy. The Spencers decided it was. As we approached the front porch, I could see someone hiding behind a sheet and knew this was going to end badly. When Elliot reached for the candy a skeleton, Mr. Jensen, grabbed his candy sack and wouldn't let go. Elliot tried to kick him and then ran away. When it was Charlie's turn the skeleton just stroked his hand. Charlie looked at me and said, "Who's that?"

Happy Halloween!

Princess Lucy

Lucy turned 1 yesterday! We can't believe it. Her birthday is during football season so we met Justin in between school and his game to celebrate. (Hopefully she won't need too much therapy in the future!) We had hot fudge sundays at McDonalds and opened presents. She was so excited! She got a baby doll that looks just like her, so we call her mini lulu.

As for 1st milestones, we are still working on walking. She will stand in front of you as long as she wants. But if you try to get her to walk to you, she'll sit down and crawl or go limp if you try to help her. Talk about stubborn. Her temper is starting to show itself. She lets her brothers know if they have crossed the line or taken something she wants. Last night she threw her binkie and bottle at Justin because she was mad. Yikes! She loves to grab your nose and thinks she is super funny.

Happy Birthday, Lucy.

The middle child

Ten reasons we love our middle child
1. At birth he weighed 5 lbs. 9 ozs. 2 months later he looked like the michelin man and weighed a lot.
2. He's got angelic blue eyes.
3. He shadows Elliot day and night.
4. He's built like his Grandpa Joe . . . broad shoulders.
5. He rules at sports. His golf swing is something to behold.
6. To get him to eat we pretend bites are characters from cars or birds (depending on his mood.)
7. He loves vegetables and will eat salad or bushes (brocolli) before anything else on his plate.
8. His laugh is contagious.
9. His temper is not.
10. He could identify NFL teams by their helmets at age 2.

Futbol

Soccer season is in full swing at the Spencer house. Elliot and Charlie are both playing this year. And Justin and I are coaching both teams! The boys are having a grand old time.

They love to score goals. In most games we have to put a limit on Elliot and tell him to pass to his teammates. Charlie scored about 10 goals in his last game. But if we tried to make him pass to his teammates no one would know, since they are mostly tackling one another or laying in the grass.

We try to focus on just having fun. But they both want to know who won the game. Our conversation after each game goes something like this. "Mom, did we win?" "Yes, Charlie." "Sweet! Elliot we won!"

Countdown to the big "1"

Lucy was 11 months yesterday. Here are 11 of her faves.
1. Walking with her new baby stroller
2. Ham and string cheese for lunch
3. Her pink blankie
4. The toilet - Which is nasty alone, but you throw in two brothers and siiiiiick!

5. The pantry
6. Any cupboard she can open and empty
7. Saying,"Up!" At least it sounds like up and she's usually at my feet when she says it.
8. Her brothers
9. Dogs
10. Chewing on her toothbrush . . . and Elliot's or Charlie's if she can get her hands on them.

11. Reading stories

Lost Tooth

Elliot lost his first tooth this morning. We pulled it out right before school. After the bleeding stopped he thought it was pretty cool. Does anyone know the going rate for the toothfairy these days?

Seriously

This is what a Sunday night bike ride looks like, thanks to hand me downs from Ellie, at the Spencer house.

And it begins . . .

Today, Elliot is a kindergartener. He got out of bed with the biggest smile on his face! He continued smiling through breakfast and asking as many questions as possible, which made it hard to eat. We walked him to his class and without further ado he went through the door. I know he'll do great. He's kind, smart, funny and fun to be around. He'll make friends easily and do anything to please the teacher. I can't wait until school's out so I can hear every detail of the day!

Is there an echo in here?

We spent the day at Echo Reservoir trying out the new boat with the abuelos. Elliot is learning how to water ski. He got up for a couple of seconds a couple of times. After water skiing, El wanted to learn how to 'lake' board. This proved much more difficult. He still managed to get up once! Charlie, of course, wanted to ski as well. (This is where some parenting should have taken place. Such as, 'Charlie, when you're 5, you can ski.) The last thing Justin said to him was, "Hold on tight." So Charlie held on tight, fell and continued to hold on tight. Grandpa dragged him for what seemed like an eternity . . . although I'm sure it was only a couple of seconds. Charlie then decided to play on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. Our new boat mantra is 'Fall down, let go. Fall down, let go.' Lucy loved the beach! She crawled right up into the water and splashed away the day. All in all it was a great day at the beach!

1 little, 2 little, 3 little 'pencers

Bath time at the end of a long, hot day is a favorite at the Spencers. Some other favorites:

1. Elliot dancing in front of the tv to High School Musical 1 and/or 2.

2. Charlie's camo hat.

3. Lucy's army woman crawl.

4. Elliot singing, 'Get your head in the game' while playing bball or just walking around the house. (He's obsessed with HSM)

5. Charlie's impersonation of Joey pitching ie nodding and shaking off pitches.

6. Lucy's toothless grin.

7. The Spencer five playing tennis or hitting a bucket of balls. (We've made a point of going to the golf course since our neighbors asked the boys to stop using their garden as a sand trap.)

phrase of the week

"Ewwww! Charlie's burp smells like varmit."

dies meses

Lucy is 10 months old! Her hair is just long enough for barretts. Although, the fright wig is still evident. She loves to read books and point at the pictures. She's one tough cookie! She yells at the boys if they bother her, and I swear she tries to head butt Charlie on a regular basis. We love you Lucy!

Hunting 101

The boys have created a new game in the kitchen. 1. Create a 'blind' using kitchen chairs. 2. Wear camo swim shirt and olive church pants to create hunting attire. 3. Take mom's hair elastics to shoot at one another. 4. Take turns being various animals (elk, moose, deer, skunk, etc.) while your brother shoots you with said elastic. 5. After a good shot lay dead on carpet while the shooter says, "That's a fine lookin' buck!"

I don't really know how to respond to this game except for, "What?!!!!"

Happy 9 Months

Lucy was 9 months old yesterday! She was such a good lil' traveler on our trip back East. She's turned into a very proficient army crawler getting into everything in sight. She says dada regularly, although not to Justin. Her hair is coming in blonder every day. And also more and more fright wig every day. She has 2 teeth and does not like pureed turkey, but can you blame her? We love you, Lucy

The District

We spent 5 days touring D.C. with Morgan and Geoff. With 3 kids in tow we managed to see the: White House, Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Air & Space Museum, Natural History Museum, Mount Vernon, Arlington Cemetary, National Zoo, a Nationals game (which they won, go figure!), Baltimore Aquarium and Alexandria's Old Town and the Lyon Hill splash pad and park. Whew! We are now pros at manuvering a jogging stroller in a crowded metro, keeping kids hydrated in the heat and sweating without stinking . . . too bad. At the end of each day we ate some yummy food and fell right to sleep. Only to wake up and do it all again. We love D.C. and can see why Morgan and Geoff do to! Thanks for sharing your space with us!

North Carolina

We had the best time in North Carolina! We spent 6 solid days on the beach. In that time the boys learned to boogie board, skim board, build sandcastles, hunt for crab, body surf and have tons o' fun! We had many animal encounters . . . chasing crabs at night, seeing dolphins, encountering many different bugs in the wildlife refuge, frogs, ospreys and pelicans. But the highlight for Charlie was the blueberry filled scat we found at the refuge. (For those of you not in the know, scat is animal cr . . . poop) Justin and I took a surfing lesson. I got up for 1 glorious second of the 2 hour lesson. Justin had much more success. The boys soaked up every possible second they had with their cousins and Justin and I enjoyed late night games of pit and canasta. (Who knew you could enjoy that game before the age of 80?) All in all, the Spencers heart the Outer Banks.