Easter, Earth day and the rest of Apri

We are dogsitting Rusy again and Spencer couldn't be happier. Spencer had a great time at Easter this year. On Saturday we went to the primary easter egg hunt. The leaders limited the number of eggs each child could find so once the older kids found their limit, they helped Spencer find some eggs.

On Sunday we went to Frank and Elaine's (Jared's Parents) for dinner and another Easter egg hunt. Jared's brother, Todd, and his family were also there. It was a fun night.

This Easter Spencer discovered that Easter eggs contain candy and choclate. He loves both of those and the first thing he did in the morning was go straight for his easter basket. He was so excited with the choclate eggs that he didn't bother unwrapping them before he took a big bite. He bit me really hard trying to get the foil out of his mouth. It was a lot of fun watching Spencer enjoy easter.

This year Jared had a booth at our local Earth Day Celebration. Him and his nephew, Conner, stayed all day giving out coupons. Hopefully we will get some business from the event.

While Jared and Conner were working the booth, Spencer and I enjoyed the rest of the fair. It was a neat event with a small planetarium, Ronald McDonald, an African music playing band, and a petting zoo. The petting zoo was Spencer's favorite part. I had a hard time keeping up with him, he was so excited to pet the animals.

Cake and Chiropractor

A few days ago Spencer did the cutest thing. He found a box of cake mix. The box had a picture of a piece of cake on it. This very smart little boy brought the box to me and was trying to open it. I opened it to let him see what was inside and he was very confused. He looked at the bag of cake mix and then looked in the box and back at the picture on the box. He repeated this a few times and even stuck his hand in the box to make sure there was nothing else in there. I realized he thought there was a piece of cake in the box. It was adorable.

The last couple days Spencer hasn't been feeling well. He is cranky and has been pulling at his ears. My chiropractor had mentioned chiropractic care can help ear infections. When I realized Spencer was running a fever today I decided to try the chiropractor. Spencer went in for his first chiropractic adjustment today. He did very well. The Doctor also used one of those ear looking in things to look in his ears. His ears were red and irritated. She then recommended some vitamins and ear drops to help him. On the way home we stopped at the store to get the stuff. The lady at the store gave Spencer a sample of a child's chewable vitamin. He choked on it and then threw up all over both us. It was not a fun trip to the store and we didn't buy the vitamins. The ear drops seemed to help him but he threw up again after we got home. I hope he will feel better tomorrow. I am interested to see if this chiropractic thing really helps him or not.

Toddler

It has been a long time since I have done an update on here. I keep meaning to download pictures but that is not going to happen tonight. Over the last month and a 1/2 Spencer has been growing and developing at super speed. He no longer looks like a baby, we seem to have a full fledged Toddler. This month I took a wonderful parenting class based on the Love and Logic approach to parenting. One of the things the instructor told me to do was to start giving Spencer some responsibilities. I was amazed to realize he is capable of helping out. He has started helping pick up his toys after his bath, he kind of helps me do the dishes (mostly he just plays in the rinse water), and he has started helping me cook by dumping in the ingrediants after they are measured. Spencer has also been responding to us in ways that we know he understands. It is amazing watching him try to communicate with us. Lately he points at things and says "That" when he wants something. He has also started trying to say other words and he gets frustrated when he can't say what he wants to communicate.

This last month Jared has been getting more work which is great. I also started teaching basic estate planning classes to the community. I had my first class this month, it is a two night seminar and the participants go home with a basic will, power of attorney, and health care directive. I have three more class scheduled. The first class seemed to go well and I came away with some ideas on how to improve the class. My next class starts next week and I hope it will also go well.

Overall we are happy and healthy!

Update

This last month has been busy. Right before Christmas the batteries in our camera died and I didn't have any others so I don't have many pictures. The week before Christmas we got a lot of snow, over one foot! That was unusual for this area. We spent Christmas day with Jared's family. The sewer had backed up and two of his brothers couldn't get there due to the snow so Jared and his Dad spent most of the day working on the sewer problem. It was a unique Christmas. The day after Christmas we flew to Boise, ID for my brothers wedding to Brittany. The wedding and reception were both lovely. It was the first time I got to meet Brittany. She is so sweet and I am excited to have her in the family. On the 28th we flew home and had our real Christmas celebration with Jared's family. The following weekend we went to my parent's, opened gifts, and attended Mike and Brittany's second wedding reception. The week after the wedding reception our we were hit with flooding. Thankfully our home did not flood but a lot of roads in the area flooded and part of our city was evacuated. The weather has just been bizarre this month. I also received a lot of work (which I am grateful for but am also trying to figure out how to balance my time). Jared has been a trooper, stepping up and watching Spencer a lot for me so I can meet with clients and work. I am so grateful for his help and teamwork. Spencer continues to grow and to just amaze us. The other day he figured out how to drink through a straw. He also likes to try to sweep the floor and help in any way he can. Below is a picture of him helping sweep and of his first full haircut. Jared cut his hair and did a fantastic job. We hope you are all doing well!

Spencer is 1!

It has been a while since I have posted anything so I will try to give you a good update. November was a busy month. Mid Novemeber Spencer and I went to Spokane for five days. We had a wonderful time and got to see many friends. For Thanksgiving all three of us went to my parents house. Jared watched Spencer for a lot of hours while I went shopping with My Mom and sisters, Chelsey and Emily. That was pretty nice. The Saturday after Thanksgiving Spencer started walking!!! He is doing a great job and improving everyday. On Saturday we went to our church Christmas Party. Spencer walked to the front of the room right as a speaker ended. Everyone started clapping and Spencer thought they were clapping for him. He turned around towards the audience and put his hands in the air. It was so so cute. On Sunday Spencer turned 1! I can't believe it has already been a year since he was born. My parents came to celebrate with us on Saturday and then we had a little party with Jared's family on Sunday. It was a fun weekend. Spencer has brought so much joy to our family. I love watching him learn and grow and I am so grateful to be his Mom. Here are some pictures from the last month.

Spencer's Birthday Party. He got his very own cupcake.


Spencer got a Mickey Mouse doll for his birthday. He loves it and gives it lots of hugs!



We tried to get Spencer's picture taken with Santa but all Spencer would do was scream in terror. Santa had me sit on his lap in an attempt to make things better but as you can see that didn't help.

Here is a picture from Saturday's birthday with my parents and Aunty Em and Aunty Tess.

This is the Sixth Christmas we have been married and I have never really decorated because I always had finals right before Christmas and last year we had Spencer right before Christmas. I was determined to do more to celebrate this year so I sewed Christmas stockings for us. It was an enjoyable project.

Busy little bee!!!

This was Spencer's first Halloween. For Halloween he dressed up as a bumble bee. Jared was a bee keeper and I was a fuddy duddy without a costume. The week before Halloween we enjoyed our church harvest party. On Halloween night we went to the Grange (a service organization and a place where older people play old time music, dance, and socialize). The Grange building is just a few houses down from ours. Partway through the music they stopped and had a costume contest. We entered Spencer and he won 4th place. He was the youngest contestant by at least 50 years and he beat out some neat costumes. I was so excited that he won. They gave him a piggy bank as a prize. Ever since we bought the costume spencer loves to play with it.

Weekend, Watermelon, and Adventures of Spencer

This Morning I found Spencer sitting in his baby basket. When he was a newborn he slept in the basket next to our bed but now that he has outgrown it we keep some of his toys in there. Lately he has started climbing in and out of things, it is very cute.
Last week Spencer quietly disappeared while I was cooking dinner. I found him in the bathroom closet playing with the toilet paper. You can't see it in this picture but he took a bite out of each roll of toilet paper he was playing with. He is such a busy boy. After trying all summer to grow watermelons we decided to harvest one of them and see how it turned out. I got three to grow about the size of the one in the picture. As you can see Spencer thought it was delicious. It wasn't as red or as sweet as store bought watermelons but it was alright and I am glad we could eat it.

Last weekend we went to Goldendale Washington to visit my Grandparents. Spencer is their first Great-Grandchild. My Parents and three of my sisters were there along with my Aunt and Uncle and there family. It was fun to get to see everyone. Below is a four generation picture of Spencer, Me and Jared, My Dad and my Grandpa Morgan.