Easter

I don't like to make a huge deal out of the Easter bunny, so Easter is fairly low-key at our house. I had great plans to do a fun, religious-based Easter activity with Spencer every day of Easter week, but birthday planning and partying kind of took over my time and it didn't happen. We did hide a few eggs around the back-yard for Spencer to find on Saturday however. I think his smile tells the story best.













Growing up, my family went on Easter picnics. I don't remember if we went every year, but I remember several fun ones (and one not-so-fun one in the New Mexican cedar trees and sage brush!). I've wanted to make that a tradition in our family as well, but this is the first year we've had nice enough weather to make it happen. We didn't go far, just Spencer's favorite park in town, but it was perfect for us. I just wish we had left a little earlier in the afternoon so we would have had more time to enjoy the sun.










When your church doesn't get out until 5 pm, Easter dinner gets a little rushed, but we still had a nice time with Alan's parents and grandparents. We're so lucky to have them close!

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Spencer turned3 yesterday! Each year it gets harder and harder to remember what my life was like before he was born. I feel so much more complete now, if that makes any sense.

These next few paragraphs are for my own benefit. Feel free to skip it if you don't care about every detail of Spencer's life. :)

Spencer is such a fun, happy kiddo. He's a very routine oriented guy (probably my fault because I am too) and when he's unhappy it's often because of a change in routine. He is obsessed with Thomas the train and most of his conversations revolve around trains. He also likes Disney's Cars, but will only watch certain parts of the movie. He still loves listening to stories, but hates baths. I love reading to him while he sits on my lap and often read for 30 minutes at nap time. He loves to play outside and prefers just running around as opposed to throwing a ball or riding his tricycle.

Potty training has been easier than I expected. He still wears a diaper at night, but wakes up dry 95% of the time. He takes maybe one nap a week these days, but still gets quiet time in his crib everyday. He will usually play with his stuffed animals for awhile and then look at books for another 30 minutes. According to the measurement we took against our wall this morning, Spencer is 39.5 inches tall. That's above the 90% for his age. People are always commenting about how tall he is.

Spencer eats cold cereal and/or oatmeal for breakfast every morning and an avocado and cheese sandwich for lunch most days. He has to use a certain sippy cup that's missing its valve so he use it to pour his own cereal milk. He loves cheese, gold fish crackers, fruit snacks, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, strawberries, home-made mac & cheese, and re-fried beans. He loves weekends because Alan is usually home and looks forward to making waffles with Daddy on Saturday mornings. After dinner every night, Spencer wants to either play "running games" (running back and forth between the bedrooms) or drive Alan's remote control car with Daddy.

He got one of his presents a day early because I couldn't keep it hidden from him. We weren't planning to get him this slide/basketball hoop, but I scored it for $25 from someone in our ward. We need some outdoor toys and this is perfect. It will be living in our garage until we get some grass in the back yard though.







The weather was dry and fairly warm so I took him to playgroup at a park in the morning. It felt so nice to get out and run around. In the afternoon, Alan surprised us and came home from work two hours early! He took Spencer to another park while I finished getting ready for the party.




This was my first attempt at decorating a cake and it was obvious that I didn't know what I was doing. :) Spencer and I spent a considerable amount of time Googling Thomas the Train cakes before coming up with this idea. I learned a lot and it didn't turn out quite as bad as I was afraid it might though.




Spencer really didn't care what it looked like as long as Thomas was on it.







We decided to invite a few of Spencer's little friends and their families over for cake and ice cream. Hosting parties stresses me out and I realized that I was kind of dumb for putting myself through the stress this year. Spencer would have been just as happy if it was just Alan and I. Oh well. At least we didn't have to eat the whole cake by ourselves.

Nearly every present was Thomas related. Big thank you's to Spencer's Grandma's for their thoughtful gifts - Thomas flash cards, a shirt and a computer game! After scouring Craig's list for a month, I found a set of Thomas engines and tracks for a decent price. Spencer loves them and hasn't touched his other toys for the past two days. He gets mad whenever we have to leave the house because all he wants to do is play trains.

A Real Man

I came home totally embarrassed by the state of our yard after walking around the block with Spencer last Friday. So, we headed to Home Depot on Saturday to purchase our first lawn mower. Alan was quite excited to own such a great machine and I asked him if he felt like a real man now. He said yes because now we don't have to mooch off our neighbors to mow our weeds. He put the mower right to use and our front yard looks MUCH better. We still have major work to do once it dries out and warms up a little more, but at least it looks like we're trying to take care of our yard now.




Spencer usually covers his ears when there's a loud noise, but he got all excited about the lawn mower and ran back and forth on the side walk most of the time Alan was working.




Since we had some great spring weather on Saturday, we decided to finally cut down our cool umbrella tree on the front lawn. I liked the tree, but whoever planted it allowed it to grow crooked and it was hanging way out into our driveway. I took a couple of clippings before we cut it down, so maybe I can grow a new, straight tree. I think cutting down trees makes Alan feel pretty manly too. ;)




A few of my tulips have bloomed! They make me so happy!

Funnies

These might not be funny to anyone else but me, but I want to remember what Spencer's funny, little personality is like right now so here you go:

One of Spencer's favorite scripture stories is Lehi's dream about the Tree of Life. We probably read that story every night for a good two weeks awhile back. Anyway, once he had to use the bathroom while we were at the library. I always take him in the biggest stall if it's available because it's just easier. When he saw the hand rail next to the toilet he said, "Look Mommy, the iron rod is leading to the potty!"

Lately, he's constantly asking me, "Did you know..." Usually he completes that phrase with something about trains or Disney's Cars movie, but a few of them have been more random. After watching a segment on the news about the cobra who escaped from the Bronx zoo last week, Spencer said, "Did you know that snakes like pink?" We currently have a library book with a picture of a lion standing on a ladder to get a book off a library shelf. Every time we get to that page, Spencer says, "Did you know that lions like ladders and libraries?"

Spencer also likes to pick his nose. He knows that I'll tell him not to do it and to put his booger in a tissue if I see it, so he cleverly hides his booger in his fist and says, "Don't see my boogie Mommy." What a little trickster!