What I am Thankful For....Travel Version

I am thankful for:
1. a van that will hold an enormous amount of stuff
2. coffee
3. iPods
4. mother nature provided clear skies and no bad weather for the travel days
5. my own bed with my electric blanket
6. visiting family that you haven't seen in a long time
7. lots of good food

8. watching cousins play
9. diet Dr. Pepper

10. fabulous in-laws
11. Taco Johns

12. a van that can play DVDs at the push of a button

13. the Disney movie Cars ("ightning mckeen" and "mater")

14. multiple bathrooms

15. a fantastic brother and sister-in-law (Kayla you rock, even with a nasty cold)

16. a fourteen year old nephew that chose to stay with his family instead of go to a movie with his friends

17. Spencer NOT falling down the stairs and requiring a trip to the ER

18. Spencer NOT breaking anything from all of the balls thrown in the house

19. casual pictures

20. Spencer learning LOTS of new phrases, "AHHHH, MAN"

21. an awesome house-sitter

22. an oil-less fryer

23. a husband who braved the 14 degrees to cook the turkey

24. pumpkin pie

25. two happy, wagging tails to greet us at the door and who showed their love

Packing

When we are getting ready to go on a trip, I tend to annoy the living daylights out of my family. I get stressed, very stressed. Adding to that stress is trying to pack for a 2 year old. One which requires an insane amount of extra things. So, there I sat in his room carefully planning out his outfits for the week. As I laid them into the suitcase, in went Spencer. He decided he was going to help me pack.
He decided that his goal was going to be plan out the number of diapers he would need for the week. So, in went his little arm into the drawer and he began to bring me diapers. I brought them into the next room where is diaper bag was and began to pack. He on the other hand, had a different idea.

He decided to line them up all in a row.

After this shot was taken, he added about 5-6 more on both ends. He eventually moved the laundry baskets and the magna-doodle out of the way in order to squeeze more in. He was VERY proud of himself.

After the packing, he worked up an appetite, so he decided to feast on some chips and salsa. Ah, can't find good help these days.

A Great Arm

Out of the hundreds of toy options that Spencer has, his favorite is a ball. Any kind of ball. He is simply fascinated by them. He has no qualms about throwing them either. He will throw them in the house or outside. He will throw small ones, medium ones, large ones and balls he can't pick up he will kick. If it isn't a ball, but it can be thrown like one, it will be.

Upon picking him up from daycare one of the dad's comments to me was, "he has a really good arm! I have never seen someone so young that can throw like he does." Great compliment right? My response was, "Do you know how many times he gets put in a corner everyday for throwing?" Unfortunately, it is true. Timeouts don't work. The nose in the corner works for a bit, but not long. The boy doesn't get it or simply doesn't care. He is going to throw anything and everything that resembles a ball.

This weekend's paper was filled with the toy catalogs from Target, Walmart and Toys R Us. I thought it would be fun to start looking through them for ideas for Spencer. I sat at the table with sharpie at hand ready to circle away. I came across a Weeble set. Cute, age appropriate...wait, he would throw the weebles. Nope. Every possibility that I came across, my mind immediately looked for the parts that could and would be thrown. Our wish list was limited to books, a sit and spin and legos. Legos technically can and will be thrown, but since he actually builds and stacks them, I let that one slide. I did find the perfect gift for him..... a nubby sensory ball.

A Very Dark Halloween

We started the afternoon cooking a big pot of chili. About 5:15 the power went out. We decided to go ahead and get the kids ready, hoping that the power would come back on. Spencer was hysterical when we tried to put on his puppy costume. He ran in terror, so we improvised with regular clothes and he went as a golfer.
Madison was not trick-or-treating this year, but wanted to hand out candy with her best friend Alexis. So Madison was the patient and Alexis was the doctor. They were hilarious!

We took off trick-or-treating while we still had some daylight and after about 1 block, we headed home. It was simply too dark. No street lights, no porch lights, the only light was flashlights or some lighted candles. It made things very difficult.

Spencer has already figured out the candy thing. The candy bowl is now on the top of the refrigerator: out of sight, out of mind. All in all, not a very good Halloween.