Basketball

Spencer has finally discovered basketball.  I was wondering when it would happen since he has such an athletic, sports-minded dad.  All it took was watching a few of Alan's church ball games and he was hooked. 

 

We took him to the park last weekend to shoot some hoops.  He tried really hard, but got a little frustrated because a 10-foot hoop is just too high for him right now.

 

So, Alan decided it was time for us to get a kids hoop at home.  We found a decent one at Target and set it up in the garage.  Perfect for this time of year.  Spencer LOVES it and has gotten pretty good.  He and Alan have been shooting hoops after dinner every night.

 

 

 

Alan won some tickets to a Blazers game a couple of months ago and took Spencer.  They had a great time so when Spencer started asking to go to another basketball game this week, we decided to take him to a high school game.  Not my favorite activity, but my boys had a great time and it wasn't too bad for me.  Spencer actually pays better attention than I do.  I mostly just liked watching the dance team at half time. ;)  I think I'd better get used to going to games though.  I have a feeling that I will be watching a lot of them in my future.

Valentine's Love

I really like Valentine's Day.  Besides the fact that it gives us something fun to celebrate during my least favorite time of year, it is just wonderful to celebrate all of the different kinds of loving relationships we have.  We have been so blessed with wonderful friends and extended families.

We always make a big batch of sugar cookies to deliver to friends and neighbors.  Spencer loves adding gobbs of candy after Alan and I frost them.  This has been a tradition since I was a kid.

Spencer was also really excited to help make Valentine cards this year.  We copied my talented sister (tutorial HERE) and made these cute cards for Spencer's preschool class.  He surprised me by being willing to write his own name on the back of most of the cards.  That's a big improvement for my anti-writer!

 Spencer woke up to this on his bedroom door on Valentine's morning.  Not the most original idea ever, but he liked it.

  

He popped out of bed nice and early to help me pack Alan's lunch with some fun snacks.  Then, Spencer had a super fun party with tons of sweets, games and friends in preschool.

 

I had to work until almost 6:00 so we didn't have much time in the evening, but we did have a yummy dinner of stuffed french toast, personal heart-shaped frittatas, pink milk and chocolate mousse.  The mousse was too runny and had to be frozen so it was more like chocolate ice cream.  Still very yummy with bananas!

I think the highlight of the whole day was the scavenger hunt Alan set up for Spencer and I when we came home from the YMCA.  It was a simple hunt with 6-7 notes hidden around the house, but you would have thought Spencer won the lottery by the level of his excitement.  The hunt ended with us finding Alan in our spare room with a little basketball for Spencer and a nice card for me.  I was quite impressed.  Great job honey!

Alan brought me some pretty pink tulips and continued his tradition of giving me flowers BEFORE Valentine's day.  He says he doesn't want to be one of those guys running to the store at the last minute on Valentine's day.  Sweet, huh?

I think we all went to bed feeling very loved and happy.  It was a good day.  I am so blessed.

P.S.  I just read the 5 Love Languages book by Gary Chapman the week before Valentine's Day.  And it has been great for Alan and I.  Great read for anyone who wants to understand themselves, their significant other, or any other relationship better.

Sunshine

We had a rather long, boring week of being stuck inside while Spencer was sick, but he was feeling well enough to go out and play in the sunshine on Friday afternoon.  I always complain about how rainy and dismal winters are in Oregon, but in reality, we seem to have a nice week or two every January/February.  And, I've learned that true Oregonians drop everything to get outside when the sun does come out.  I'm not super good at that yet, but I'm getting better. :)

Spencer and our cute neighbor, E., terrorized a poor cat and rode various vehicles around most of the time.  I soaked in some sunshine while I tried to repair the holes a mole made in our lawn, dug moss out of the cracks in our driveway with a screw driver, and swept the whole garage and driveway.  It was lovely and Spencer was not happy when it was time to go in.  That running around may have been too much for him though because he wound up with an awful ear infection later that evening.  I'm so grateful for good pediatricians and antibiotics so my buddy isn't in pain anymore.  I've never had an ear infection, but I've seen one reduce Alan to tears before I wouldn't wish that on anyone!