Imagination is an Amazing Playground

I have only bought one toy for Spencer since he was born (not counting books). All of the toys we have came from family or friends. The toys were all "baby" toys and so Spencer was loosing interest in toys and wouldn't really play for any period of time. I tried rotating toys to see if something "new" would appease him, it didn't.

We were back in Iowa for a couple of days to pick up Madison from my mom's house and my brother gave us a big bag of toys. Once we got home and dumped out the bag, Spencer immediately latched onto a couple of toys that he thinks are really fun. Madison started building all kinds of things with the duplo blocks.

First is an Elmo doctor's kit. The stethoscope plays Cookie Monster and Spencer just smiles when the button is pushed. Justin now talks like cookie monster and he thinks it is just funny!

Next is an Elmo cell phone. Spencer quickly grabbed this and hasn't really let go of it. He was playing in the pile of toys and turned to look at something else when big sister Madison grabbed the cell phone to look at it. Spencer turned back around and started looking for the phone. He saw that Madison had it, crawled over to her and yanked it back from her, dirty look and all. She tried to take it back from him and he disagreed with that attempt by screaming! Needless to say I would have never thought that our 11 year old and 11 month old would be arguing over the same toy!

On Thursday night, Spencer sat in the living room surrounded by all of his new toys and played for over an hour by himself. This was definitely a first for him.
Thanks to Uncle Chad and Aunt Julie for the awesome toys!

Las Vegas Recap

Justin and I spent 4 days in Las Vegas to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. Justin's mom and dad graciously offered to use their vacation to come and stay with Spencer and Madison, so we could take this trip (love to you both)! Justin and I never had a honeymoon unless you count moving to South Dakota from Iowa in a Ford Escort station wagon pulling a U-Haul that wouldn't go faster than 50 mph. This was a big deal for us and it was hard to leave the kids.
We arrived on Monday evening and checked into New York New York hotel. The hotel was fabulous and was set up to look just like the streets of New York. Loved it!

Our room was on the 22nd floor to the left of the guitar strings. That evening we just walked down the strip and watched the fountain show at the Bellagio, very cool.

On Tuesday we went to Mandalay Bay to the Shark Reef Aquarium and visited the Luxor hotel. We changed for dinner and went to PF Chang's. My feet were hurting pretty bad at this point because we had walked quite a ways and I had NEW flip flop sandals on. We stopped by the Treasure Island show (horrible, not worth the effort to stand there) and I bought some band aids--the most expensive band aids ever purchased! They offered some relief, but not much. We still had to get to the Venetian for the Phantom of the Opera show, so we took the monorail, still more walking. We saw the show and I have to say it was AMAZING. Fabulous theater, fabulous singers/actors, WOW! We got back to the hotel and soaked my feet - OUCH!

On Wednesday we decided to head out and look at the hotels. We went to Cesars Palace, which was great. Loved the fountains, throughout the hotel and mall. We shared cheesecake and The Cheesecake Factory and headed to Bill's Gambling Hall and Saloon. Justin played blackjack and I played the penny slots - whoohoo, I know. Justin did well, he didn't loose anything. Justin was really sweet and put up with me complaining about the smoke and my feet hurting.

We walked through the Botanical Gardens at the Bellagio, very cool and FREE - you gotta love that! We finally got to see the Cirque Du Soleil "O" show. There is no way to explain this show except that it celebrates the artists love for earth, wind, fire and water. The show is an engineering masterpiece and Justin enjoyed watching it both for the engineering aspects as well as just for entertainment. It was wonderful! Justin was great and we got a cap ride back to the hotel so I didn't have to walk - gotta love him for that!

On Thursday morning we road the Manhattan Express roller coaster at New York New York. Happy anniversary to us! Justin loved it and I have decided I am too old for roller coasters. We headed back to the Luxor to the Titanic artifact exhibit. I don't have enough room to go into details about this show. This was creepy, amazing, sad and downright breathtaking. This exhibit will be there for the next 10 years. If you are in Vegas, this is a must see!

It was time to shop! We headed to the m&m store and I had an absolute blast buying things to bring home. I LOVED the wall full of m&m tubes of various colors. My favorite has to be the sky blue m&ms. We also shopped at the Coca Cola store and of course the Hard Rock Cafe.

After shopping we both agreed we were pooped and ready to go home. We ended the evening at the New York Bar at Times Square with the dueling piano players who played 80's and 90's requests only. FABULOUS, A MUST SEE.

We left Friday morning and we were both ready for real food, our kiddos and our own beds.

We had a great time, enjoyed time together and came home with money - HA!

Shake it Baby!

Spencer has learned to dance. As soon as he hears music he starts boppin along! This was him this morning jammin' and boppin'.

Girls Day Out

Yesterday Madison and I got our hair cut and also decided to treat ourselves to getting our nails done. This is not something we do very often, so it was a fun treat. Madison got her finger and toenails painted blue - a vast improvement over the lime green she originally chose. I decided to get some acrylic nails put on. My are always torn up really bad at work, so I will see if I like them.

We stopped at subway to eat afterwards and then headed into the scrapbook store. Madison picked out a 6x6 album and some journaling sheets to write about her summer vacation. We can add pictures to it after she gets back.



We decided to include Justin and went to see the movie Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian. Overall, it was a fun day.

Ear Update

Today we went to the pediatrician to see if Spencer's ears still had fluid in them. If they did, we were going to be referred to an ENT doctor. The last visit he had his ears were not infected, but they had fluid in them (the fluid had not gone away since December). The pediatrician put him on Singulair to see if that would help.
I am VERY happy to report that it HAS helped. Little Man's ears were not red and NO, let me repeat, NO fluid in them! YIPPPPPEEEEE!
We figured it had been working because he hadn't been messing or pulling at his ears for about two weeks. He won't have to be on the Singulair all the time, but probably during the spring and summer months.

In other news, we went on a quick weekend vacation to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX. My post today was going to be about that, BUT ALL, YES ALL of the pictures I took with my $15 waterproof disposable camera turned out so dark that the photo shop wouldn't even print them. Yep folks, no awesome photos of Spencer playing in the pool and on the banana boat. No pics of Madison floating in the wave pool. My only hope now is the our friends we went with, Tom, Leslie and Abby have SOME pics to share. So, I hope to have a good ole' post about Great Wolf Lodge once I get some pics!

Play Time

Justin was cleaning out the garage last weekend and Madison asked if she could bring one of Spencer's large toys into the house. We agreed, as long as she cleaned it up. The toy was a large house shape that my brother gave to us to use. It's door opens and there are tons of buttons, sounds and music. The first thing Madison did was PLAY with the entire contraption to learn every sound and song. Spencer then was introduced to it and immediately loved it. Madison plays with this more than he does! She tried to crawl through the door and got stuck. She had to wiggle her way out. Gotta love that girl!
So, last night the two of them were playing in the house and it was sooooo funny. Little Man's laugh is so infectious! I hope you enjoy the short video!

Where did May go?

I can't believe it is the end of May already. May is always very busy for us and once again, it just disappeared before I knew it. To recap this past month:

Justin took his last final on May 13th. This semester was very stressful for him and his schedule was crazy. He did great anyway, straight A's for this semester. He should be graduating with distinction in December (which cannot come fast enough)! We are all very proud of him and is determination.
The weekend of the 15th - 17th I went away for a scrapbook retreat with some girlfriends. Besides dealing with a fiasco of two photo companies messing up/loosing my pictures, the weekend was great. I loved getting away and scrappin' the entire weekend.

Madison had her awards ceremony at school on Friday and she had a fantastic year. We are very proud of her to continue to strive for good grades and being an overall good student in spite of the fact that it is uncool to be smart. Here is what she received on Friday.

1. Certificate: Outstanding Achievement in Reading

2. Certificate: Outstanding Achievement in Spelling

3. Certificate: Principal's Award for Straight A's

4. Certificate: Science Fair Blue Ribbon Winner

5. Medal & Certificate: Citizenship Award

6. Medal: High Achievement in Math (the highest Math grade in the 5th grade)

7. Plaque: 263 Advanced Reading points (100 needed for a plaque)

8. Plaque: Academic Excellence in the CCC Math Program (completing math at the 7.19 grade level)

Sorry if is sounds like we are totally bragging on her, but she worked hard this year.

So, onto the Little Man of the house. Where to begin with him. Lots to say, so I will keep it short. He is now 9 months old and pulling himself up on everything. He also loves to walk along the furniture to try and get the remote control. He seriously wants the remote control!

Here are his stats from his 9 month checkup:
Weight: 18 lb. 10 oz (10-25%)
Length: 28.0 (25-50%)

He is eating lots of new table foods and can kinda drink from a trainer cup.

The update on his ears is that there was STILL fluid in his ears. The fluid has been there since December. The PA put him on Singulair and we are also continuing with Claritin. We will try this for three weeks and go back to the PA. If this doesn't clear the fluid up then we will see an ENT. It seems like it is helping, because he hasn't messed or pulled at his ears.





He loves to watch out the window. If the door isn't quite closed, he will pull it open so he can look out.




Ah, the remote control, he got it (but it didn't last long).












Cruising along the chair.


















This weekend was the first weekend that we have spent together as a family and we went to the zoo on Saturday morning. Spencer totally chilled in the stroller. It was a VERY nice day and we definitely needed sunscreen. Madison enjoyed the water misters; stopping at everyone to get wet.

Spencer & me at the zoo.




Chillin' with his daddy.