Kickin it!

Tonight was our final soccer game for the Spring--we won 3-0. Spencer and IV both scored goals!
After the game, we had snacks (including my ugly yet yummy butter cupcakes) and Melissa gave out their little trophies. What a great bunch of kids!
Afterwards, we went for dinner and then stopped by Wal-mart for Pokemon cards and then Gamestop -- the boys had gift cards burning holes in their pockets!
Spencer declared that this was the most awesome day ever....but he says that often. That kid is doing alright I guess.

Trumped!

My mom had a big note on her wall calender that said, "GET COOLERS!!!"
Thinking I was *so* funny, I changed the "l" to a "t" to make it read "GET COOTERS!!!"
It took her a couple days to even notice it--but when she finally did, did she change it? Oh no. She just added "for Cassandra" at the bottom of the note. Damn that woman!

Another First for Spencer...

First broken bone!

Spencer had quite a soccer game this morning. He came crashing down chasing down the ball. He immediately started shaking out his hand but jumped up and kept running. Between quarters, it looked like he may have jammed his finger, but he kept on playing--and scored two goals to tie the game. By the end of the game, he was hurting, nauseous, swollen, and the finger was starting to turn purple. Off to the pediatrician....who sent us to the ER for X-rays...who said, "Yep. It's broken."
SO...he missed his baseball game this afternoon--and we spent all afternoon at the hospital. Fun. Fun.
Luckily, it is a clean break at the bottom of the finger and should heal in about four weeks. He will have a little splint until the swelling goes down and then will have it buddy-taped for a month. The splint has a nice, little gel cold pack insert to help with the swelling.
The problem is his hand will be immobile for a while-- no baseball, no freestyle at hip hop class, no goalie at soccer, limited PE at school...and get this: even though he is right handed, he WIPES with his left hand. WHAT??? Seriously. Who does that? Poor kid is going to have to learn some new ambidextrous talents!

Loo Loo Crew

Some of my scrapbooking friends came in for the weekend. We cropped, made cards, worked on jewelry, etc. We went to IV & Spencer's soccer game on Saturday morning. They were playing against my friend Laura's oldest daughter's team so I got to see several friends all weekend! Although the weather was absolutely beautiful, by Saturday afternoon, all of us were snotting, sniffing, coughing, etc. from the surge of spring allergies. I didn't include the picture of me sneezing in the collage to emphasize the allergies, but to show the bruises on my arm from last Sunday's full-contact egg hunt--haha!
Tonight, we closed out the weekend with dinner at LongHorn. Spencer and I shared the Surf and Turf. And by "shared" I mean I was lucky to get two bites of the lobster tail. Why can't he order Chicken Fingers off the kids menu like a normal 8 year old? I tell ya, when when go on the Alaskan cruise this summer, that kid is going to get his $$ worth at dinner....

Warped

IV spent the night with Spencer on Sunday night. Even though I had told them fifteen times to go to sleep, they were still lying in my bed giggling loudly. I stomped back to the bedroom fully expecting to find them farting and holding each others' heads under the blankets and to my surprise...they were laughing hysterically at The Far Side cartoons! It was even more amusing when they would explain to each other why the jokes were so funny... "Get it IV? The deer has a birthmark that looks like a bullseye. BWAAAHAHAHAHA"
It was a proud moment.

Team Alderin: Eggs-tremely fun

Happy Easter friends!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. Spencer and I spent Friday night goofing off in Chapel Hill, shopping and having fun. Saturday, we dyed eggs and had dinner and movies with the family.

Sunday, the Easter Bunny accidentally left a lame Easter Basket. Spencer was mildly disappointed that the Easter Bunny did not realize that he already had the Thomas the Tank Engine cars and the dinosaur toys that were left. The gift card to GameStop and the new bird house were hits at least. The Easter Bunny needs to pay attention....

After church, we went to Mom and Dad's for our traditional Easter Egg hunt. We are the only family who has a full contact egg hunt. The smack talk, the bashing, the tripping, the shoving, the tackling, the egg tossing, the full hip checking into the bushes....it's not for the weak or the meek. An it's not about the $$$--it's all about the bragging rights.

Spencer had on his "lucky" boxers and made a special T-shirt with Team Alderin on the front and Team Wright as the losers on the back.

For as long as the tradition has been around, Team Alderin has NEVER lost....until this year. It's Obama's fault. All this "Change" has trickled down to our egg hunt.

Mom and Dad hid 77 eggs in their front yard.

I found 20 eggs ($21.00 and 2 lotto tickets)
Spencer found 16 eggs ($23.00 and 1 lotto ticket)
Jimmy found 17 eggs ($23.00 and 5 lotto tickets)
Melissa found 15 eggs ($31.00--good thing she found that $20.00 bonus, huh?-- and 7 lotto tickets)
IV found 9 eggs ($21.00)

Team Alderin found a combined 36 eggs and Team Wright found 41 eggs-- not too bad for two vs. three, right?
Well, not really. We found less money. Even though I found more eggs, I found less money!Not counting Lotto tickets, Alderin got $44 and Wright got $75. But notice in the pictures, Mom still hides the giant "special" eggs for Melissa since she is "egg challenged." Since the heifer actually won this year, she doesn't get special treatment any more! Even playing field from now on!

The lotto tickets are for Wednesday, April 15. The only solace I could get from losing to my brother would be to hit the lotto on Wednesday. And oh yeah, I would do the "suck it" dance all the way to the lotto office with my Easter egg basket on my head and my Team Alderin shirt updated to read, "Don't call it a comeback....."

But yeah, the likelihood of hitting the lotto is pretty slim. We should just gear up for Team Alderin in 2010!

Champions!!!

What a game! I can barely sit still long enough to update my blog!!
Thanks to all my friends from all over the country texting me during the game and sending my team good "mojo".
Thanks to Kristin for wearing her lucky Nebraska sweatshirt for me.
Thanks to all the cool CONGRATS emails after the game.
Seth Davis can suck it. (normally I like the guy....)
Spencer and I are making plans for a run to Franklin Street for championship T-shirts!
On a side note-- I love that kid. I let him stay up late and watch the first half of the game. He put on his lucky T-shirt. Got out his lucky mascot. Sat beside me on the chair and cheered, high fived, argued calls and was into the game like any other true blue fan. I'm raising that boy right!

Sweet Ride to the Final Four

Friday night was Girls Night Out with the "hoochies"--- we had a blast. Laura was Chief Hoochie since she had "connections" and got us reserved seating. And she was the designated driver this time. Win-Win.

Speaking of my friend Laura, despite being a Duke alum, she made us Carolina Tar Heel white chocolates. Evidently it brought us good luck as we are now headed for the final four! Woot!

While we watched the game tonight over at my brother's house, Spencer and IV played outside with chalk. As we were leaving, they showed me their hopscoth--and I thought, "well, that's kind of retro-cool"....until...they showed me how they drew bombs in the squares and how it would blow off appendages forcing them to hop around on one leg, flailing an arm, faking death.....
Never underestimate the graphic creativity of little boys!

Coonfest 2009

click on collage to enlarge

What can I say about my coonfest weekend without having an "overshare" moment? How about a few observations:
~ I don't care how excited you are about going on vacation, 6 am flights suck. ~ Coonass = Redneck ~ I can't play Guitar Hero ~ I talk too much when I drink ~ I talk too much when I'm sober ~ I don't care if it *is* March Madness, if you are at a bar called Wayne & Layne's--they are NOT going to have on basketball or even ESPN. I bet if there were a frickin Bill Dance fishing special on, every TV in the joint would be tuned in.... ~ When out of shot glasses, coonasses use measuring cups ~ I ate real Cajun food (gumbo and crawfish etouffee) and enjoyed it ~ The Rabbit Festival didn't sell anything rabbit related other than what was on the menu ~ Kristin does NOT need her passport to get to Cancun from Lake Charles ~ Lori was our designated driver and ironically was the only one who ended up with a tattoo ~ It was fun watching the UNC/LSU game while in Louisiana ~ You can judge the quality of a casino by how the cocktail waitresses look ~ and last but not least.......
~Tinkerbell shirts appear to be manufactured in select sizing: Little girls up to about a size 8/10 and then no other Tinkerbell shirts are made again until a Women's 3X. Maybe a 4X. Seriously--if you don't believe me, walk around Wal-Mart, a Golden Corral buffet or a flea market and you will see.....

and then....

okay..so I am a little behind in my blogging. Thanks for the calls and emails asking why I am getting lazy.....

Friday, Dee's sister comp'd us tickets to see the Johnny Winter Band. She is the talent agent for the opening band (and the drummer's girlfriend) so we had great seats. This is a cell phone pic from the concert:

That's not a great picture, right? wait...
*this* is a picture from their website:

yeah--our concert pic is looking better about right now, huh? Despite their "factory haunting" looks and Johnny's decrepit age, they can still jam. We had a pretty good time!

Spencer watched the space shuttle launch via teleconference with Boppa. I watched the previous shuttle launch off the coast of Florida from the cruise ship. This one was a bit less fun sitting in my living room without a fruity drink; however, it was nice to see Spencer get excited.

Snip Snip

This week was a big week for Bowser. He had the little snip-snip done! The vet told me that he was one of the more "energetic" dogs she has seen and he acted like he never even had surgery. I think she meant he was a total spazz and nothing--even losing his boys--phases him.

Happy 7th Birthday IV

click on collage to enlarge

My nephew, IV turned seven today! He celebrated with a special breakfast, a skating party, soccer practice, then a pizza party with the family. We all had a great time--and little IV was diggin' being the center of attention!

Shutter to Shudder......ugh!

For those of you whom I annoy by constantly taking pictures....it's about to get worse. I am in a photo challenge and I need (1) lots of pictures and (2) lots of practice. I will be taking oodles of photos...so go ahead and get the eye rolls and pissy looks out of the way now...
As part of the photo challenge, I was outside this morning (trying for morning light...fail!) and I noticed my little angel statue. This little thing has always sat at the bottom step--a good luck gift to myself years ago. Somehow I remember it to look sweet, angelic and calming....but dude--what the hell happened? Has it always looked that way? That's just a special kind of creepy right there. If a sweet statue decides to "change" into a meth head looking troll, of course it would be mine. ughhh!
Now I can't decide what to do with it! I have been writing Craigslist ads in my head all day for it...haha!

Gimme 5!

Normally people don't get excited about 5 inches....but when you are talking about snow in NC, then yeah, that's kind of a big deal. I'm not sure who enjoyed it the most-- the boys, the puppy or my idiot brother.
I freeze in the warm house so I was NOT interested in playing in the snow. But I did have a warm bubble bath and hot cocoa ready for Spencer when he came in from his brief playtime. (Brief because he is just getting over strep!) I thought he was going to complain about me making him come in from his snowball fights with IV, but he went straight to the warm bath and afterwards slipped into a nice little nap. That kid has it made.

2009 version of a latch key kid

I work from home. Spencer is usually at school, daycare or Nana's while I'm at work--but today we have 5 inches of snow (which is a LOT for NC) plus he is getting over a weekend of bed rest from strep--so he has to be quiet and keep himself occupied while I'm working. Between meetings today, I went to the kitchen to get water and check on him, and there he was: sprawled out in my chair. Eating toaster muffins. Drinking milk out of a wine glass. Thankfully my camera was on the table--I would hate to miss this photo opportunity!

Feeling a little Ashy

Last night was the Ash Wednesday service at church. It was the first Ash Wednesday service Spencer has ever attended. It seems like he is sick every year this time and normally misses it.
Anyway...we were given a small piece of paper to write down one of our sins. Then we could surrender the paper at the foot of the cross, receive the ash cross on our forehead--all symbolic of acknowledgement and forgiveness of sin. I'm not deeply religious--more spiritual, but I thought this would be a good learning experience for Spencer. And besides, who am I kidding? My soul could use a spiritual enema about right now, don't ya think?
I thought the "sin" part might be too deep or troubling for Spencer. But instead of writing one sin on the paper, my poor kid filled up the entire sheet and was flipping it over and starting on the back! Sin #1 was that he kicked Bowser! What??? My kid isn't cruel to animals!!! I was itching for the service to end so that I could talk to him about his list!
At the end of the service, Spencer told me that he felt much better and he liked Ash Wednesday. He said that he is going to be a better kid now that he is forgiven and gets a new start. (okay--so he "gets" it much better than most adults I know, including myself!) I asked him about kicking Bowser and he said that one day Bowser had gotten into the trash and he was trying to hold him back while he tied the bag and accidentally kicked him. Whew! It was an accident--and he KNEW it was wrong--so I feel better now.
Then, the little smart-aleck asked me which sin I wrote down. Before I could even answer him he said, "I bet it was cussing. Especially when you are driving. You probably should work on that."
Ooops.

Berry Good

click on collage to enlarge
Spencer and I made chocolate covered strawberries for everyone for Valentine's Day. As we headed to the door Spencer said, "Mom. Can I keep the money?"
It took me a second but I then realized that the poor kid thought we were going to sell the chocolate covered strawberries. I explained to him that they were GIFTS, but still--- he cracks me up.

I finally treated myself to the ice wine Patti sent. It's so good. Too good. But as you see in the picture, there is less than 1/2 a glass in the ENTIRE bottle. That makes it expensive as hell-- but oh.my.goodness........If I hit the lotto, I am buying it by the case.

Spencer and I made up a new game this weekend. It's called "What will Bowser NOT eat?" The dog is a spazz and eats everything-- shoes, pillows, food, buttons, cat turds, bread wrappers, chewing gum....anything. So we thought-- well, geez, let's see if there is anything (actually considered food) that the dog will not eat. We started off with things we thought for sure he would pass on-- lettuce, tomato, onion, etc. Nope-- he ate them. He exhausted the entire kitchen. The list of things he would NOT eat: dried apricots and black walnuts. So think about it-- this dog will eat ANYTHING except those two things. It makes you kind of wonder if we should eat them!

You know it!

There are just so many captions I want to write for this picture. I actually paused the TV and hit rewind *just* to get this photo. Coach K is screaming his head off, his goons are ignoring him.....you can almost hear me giggle.
Go Tar Heels!

Can you dig it?

The weather was beautiful today! Warm, sunny--no wind. So we did what Spencer and Bowser love to do-- we walked to the turnip patch and let Bowser dig up turnips. Yeah, we know how to party.

Girls Night Out

click on collage to enlarge

For Laura's birthday, we did a girls night out party. We started the evening at the movies- seeing "He's Just Not That Into You." It was pretty good-- but a little heavier on story and lighter on comedy than we expected. But that's ok, we made our own comedy tonight.
Following the movie, we went for dinner and drinks at La Hacienda. We laughed throughout the entire dinner--sometimes a little louder than probably appropriate. Somehow we all flashed back to 21 and the drinks were awesome and the conversation all revolved around good times, hot guys, fun friends and "polishing cones." The restaurant closed at 11:00 (what the hell?) and at 10:59 the waiters were clearing their throats loudly and making "cock-a-doodle-doo" noises. Seriously. Pretending to be a cock seems like a good idea?
We decided that the next girls night out needs to involve live music....and a place that stays open later than 11:00! Laura had just gotten tipsy enough to break out her "back in Italy" stories.....

Super Bowl Sunday

click on collage to enlarge image

Following our usual tradition, we celebrated Super Bowl Sunday and Melissa's birthday together. Believe it or not, Spencer and IV were quiet and played in Boppa's room the entire game. I know. We were shocked, too. The rest of us enjoyed fun snacks, a few drinks and since no one had a vested interest in the outcome of the Super Bowl, we enjoyed the game as well.

Guessing Games

Has a kid ever shoved something in your face and gleamed, "I made this for you! Guess what it is!"
Hint! If you get it wrong, it hurts their feelings.
If you have absolutely no idea, go for the funny angle: Uhmmm....monkey vomit? your lower intestines? glittered dog turd? dork detector...beep beep beep!!!
Yeah, Spencer wasn't buying any of that tonight. He actually asked if I needed glasses because I didn't know what his little projects were.
Dude, my eyes are fine. Did he just call me old??
Let's see how well you do: (ignore the world map place mat--that's NOT part of his crafts)

Well??? Did you get them? Need some help?

Left to right:
The blue one is Ramses (The UNC Mascot)
The yellow one is a caterpillar
The feathered one is a flamingo
and the one on the right with the hearts is a love bug......duh!

Girls Gone Mild

This past weekend was another all weekend crop at Mom's house. We cropped from Friday evening until Sunday with plenty of breaks for laughs, dinner and drinks. Oh and crazy pole dancing demos from Jen. (Everyone has at least one hoochie friend, right?) Yes, we all have matching T-shirts for each crop--cause we're goobers that way.
We broke away from the crop Saturday night long enough for the senoritas to have Margaritas at La Hacienda--and then we were back yapping, giggling and scrapbooking until the wee hours....
It was fantastic!

Addicted to the white stuff

We got snow today! North Carolina rarely gets snow so Spencer and IV were in a little bit of winter wonderland.

Yikes!

Check out my little man. I guess I now know why he hasn't felt well all week. He broke out in this horrible rash this morning and within hours it had spread all over his entire body. I took him to the pediatrician and she said it was Fifth Disease(Parvovirus) and just has to run its course with the aid of Advil and Benedryl. He has slept most of the day and in between naps has put together Legos.

Most of you already know, but I am going to post an update for the ones that don't-- Dad is doing fine, but is still in a terrible amount of pain. He fell off the tractor last week (the large International, not the small yard tractor) trying to tuck the muffler so he could get up under the garage or carport or something. It could have been much worse, so he is lucky to only walk away with a broken arm/hand/wrist--he has several breaks and lots of little bone fragments. He has bad swelling right now so they have a soft support brace on it until they can see what will "shift" back into place when the swelling goes down and what will require surgery/pins. The day he fell, he was using the tractor to spread ground asphalt (gravel) along the drive. Once Mom got to him and they were heading to urgent care, my Dad (grimacing in pain) calls my brother and stammers out... "Son, I have fallen....from the tractor....I've broken my arm and hand and maybe a rib..... I ... need...you....to..." (and at this point Jimmy is already out the door and heading to the car because he knows he will be meeting them at the hospital.) But Dad doesn't ask him to meet at the hospital as expected. Dad continues with "....I need...you...to...go... spread that gravel for me." Geez...

But don't worry about Dad, we're taking good care of him, his bandaged arm and his swollen, fat little sausage fingers. Being the loving family we are, Mom is about to amputate the arm for him. If he doesn't stop complaining she might start with his good arm. My brother, the logical one, has offered to bring the pressure washer in the bathroom to create a "redneck bidet." He's helpful like that.

Putting the Eh! in amazing!

Having friends all around the world has many advantages, but when it is a dreary day in NC and a surprise package shows up filled with regional goodness from a friend in another country...wow..that rocks. Patti, you made our day!

I like icewine like a fat man likes a velour sweatsuit.....and Patti sent me a bottle! It is in the fridge chilling right now. I have to decide when I should treat myself....

Patti also sent Spencer a Webkinz, some candy...and oh my goodness, some Ketchup flavored chips that he went ape over. She also sent REAL Canadian Maple syrup, many many many gourmet Canadian candies, a beautiful pin for my collection and lots and lots of craft supplies. Patti-- I just can't say thank you enough! (and I can't wait to see you in the Spring!)

Sweet Tooth

Don't ever tease a puppy with a big, bright lollipop. The puppy will win. And the little boy will lose his lollipop.

Monster Jam (aka the fumes are killing me)

click on collage to enlarge

So... Saturday night was my first time with the boys at a Monster Jam show. We waited in line (while the boys played video games) then we tromped through red clay mud (while the boys ran around getting autographs and pictures with their favorite drivers), then we found our way to our seats (while the boys took us on a detour past the vendors where they got flags and T-shirts) before finally settling down with nachos, roasted nuts, sodas, and Dippin Dots. Have you ever tried Dippin Dots? Being that I'm not a big fan of ice cream (yeah, I know--that's unreal) I had never tried them until last night. Pretty decent!
On the way home, Spencer asked me what my favorite part of Monster Jam was.... now, on the inside I was thinking, probably the Nachos or Dippin Dots since the rest of the evening was devoted to holding my ears, gagging at the fumes or trying REALLY hard not to make judgments about the "whoohooing" batch of rednecks around us....But, I told him when the big truck did a donut and fell over and the wrecker thing had to roll him back over. Spencer grinned and agreed that that was a good part.
Oh,and GraveDigger won if anyone cares.

Shutterbugs

Every now and then Spencer and/or IV takes my camera and runs off about 200 pictures of inane objects and at least 50 pictures of their own faces. Must be a little boy thing.
It is always a bit of a surprise to go through all of their pictures just to see if they captures anything good. Of course, they think every picture is hilarious. Of the 200 or so they took, I kept about 11. Here is a sample of their work. Notice how good the pine cone picture in the bottom left is? Yeah, I had to weed through about 60 nose shots to get to that....

Ms. Ruth

I know I'm not supposed to have a favorite, but Ms. Ruth has been my special buddy on my Mobile Meals route for nearly ten years. She is the sweetest lady and despite being legally blind, she sees beauty and blessings in things most of us overlook.

This past weekend, we took her food and some Christmas gifts. My team did a fundraiser for my entire Mobile Meals route, but I go see Ms. Ruth between deliveries so she got her "gift basket" earlier than the rest of the route. The others will get their New Year baskets in a couple of weeks when I run my route at the normal time.

This weekend, Dee's son Jonathan went with us as part of his High School Civics project. Ms. Ruth enjoyed having us stop by and was still saying "Thank you Thank you Thank you" as I locked up for her and left.

As a side note, we do not live in a "diverse" area. Spencer's preschool, sports teams and our church were made up of white people. Spencer first met Ruth when he was quite young and referred to her as the Chocolate Grandma. You know-- kids say whatever crosses their brains in the most basic way they can describe. I was so embarrassed. Ms. Ruth; however, thought it was hilarious.

Hoppy Gnu Ear!

We welcomed in the New Year with a low-key get together. Just a few friends and family gathered at Mom and Dad's house for apps and drinks as we played video games and watched the Tar Heels whip up on Nevada. Happy New Year!

click on collage to enlarge

Post Christmas Round Up

I haven't been around much in the past few days- we have been sick. Poor Spencer had a couple days of the stomach bug. Isn't it great how he will walk (run?) past two bathrooms just to puke in my bed? Poor little guy. He was aching, feverish, nauseated, head pounding so hard that he couldn't even watch TV. I took him to the doctor and I got the infamous rapid fire speech (as the pediatrician is walking OUT the door) "It's just viral. Give him Tylenol and liquids and call us if he doesn't get better in a few days." Fantastic. After pulling a sick kid 30 minutes away to the doctor in the cold, damp air--then sitting in the waiting room for 55 minutes with screaming kids and horribly impatient parents, paying a co-pay-- I am told to do the same thing I have been doing for two days that hasn't been working. Not that I want them to medicate him needlessly or invent a disease just to rationalize the doctor visit, it is just frustrating that I can't do anything to make him feel better immediately.
My doctor, on the other hand was fabulous, as usual. He knows how once I'm sick, it takes an act of Congress to get well, so he didn't even make me come into the office--he just called in another round of antibiotics.
Glancing at Face book this morning--so many of my friends and/or their kids are sick right now! I guess Spencer and I are just part sick majority. Hopefully within a couple of days, we all will be ready to start the New Year on a healthy note!
Spencer is still enjoying all of his Christmas treasures. The Red Ryder is getting lots of attention. He has been very safe and always wears his goggles. The only "incident" we have had so far is when he elbowed me in the chin while loading BBs....


Bowser had his first play date. My friend Donna brought over her 6 month old puppy (a Welsh Corgi named Salem) and the two pups jumped, chased and played until they literally fell asleep. It was so cute! The best part was that Bowser was VERY protective of Spencer and did NOT let Salem play with his boy. Bowser would get in between Spencer and Salem every time Salem came to Spencer!

Christmas Day 2008

Spencer was a lucky boy this year- Santa left him the official Red Ryder BB gun. He also left 21,000 BBs, targets and.....safety goggles- so he won't shoot his eye out!
Spencer tore through his gifts Christmas morning, oooohed and aaaahed as appropriate, the raced outside to abuse a Diet Pepsi can with a barrage of BBs. Bowser got a stocking of treats and squeaky toys and the cat got a can of salmon. It was a fantastic morning!



Mid morning we went over Nana and Boppa's house for our traditional big country breakfast and then our family Christmas. Spencer and IV were so excited! We all got wonderful gifts and had a great time relaxing, watching the boys, and talking about our new gifts. Of course, it wouldn't be Christmas morning with our boys if there wasn't an all out war with Nerf guns and darts.



Later that evening, we had dinner at Nana and Boppa's house along with some friends and family. Christmas Evening is just a big floating party with friends and family stopping through for dessert, drinks and sometimes leftovers. Bowser came over towards the end of the evening and enjoyed all the extra attention. Julie even made him some gourmet treats--she uses her grandmother's old recipe for dog biscuits made with cheese, beef stock and garlic. The dogs go crazy over them---and the kids, too. ewww. Actually, they tell me that they taste like the little cheese biscuits from Red Lobster with a slight beef taste. It's an acquired taste of cultivated canine palettes.



Spencer and I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and we look forward to seeing you in 2009!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Tonight was steeped in tradition for my little man. We dropped off a few presents, went to church service, put on new pajamas, set out cookies and milk for Santa, left apples for the reindeer and then we continued a new tradition started last year: we read our Christmas cards. Since Spencer had read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" at school, we decided last year that on Christmas Eve we would read through all the Christmas cards we received and say something nice or a special memory about the person that sent the card. I think it was the highlight of our evening! Spencer has a keen memory and was reminding me of people, places and events that I had forgotten! For my friends that sent cards (whom Spencer has never met) it was fun to explain to him how I met them, how long I have known them, etc.
Merry Christmas to all my blog readers-- Spencer and I wish all of you happiness, health and an abundance of blessings in the New Year.

Rub a Dub Dub

click on image to enlarge

Spencer took a bubble bath tonight and I didn't crate Bowser. Bowser took off to the bathroom and climbed up to the tub. He saw the toys, a ball, a squeaky duck....and his boy. PLAY! He walked along the rim of the tub, played ball and caught water splashes with his mouth. I took a few pictures....and then mopped up all the water out of the bathroom floor!

I "kid" you not

click on collage to enlarge (and see the goats!)

There were three goats in my yard this morning. Three friendly goats. Spencer made some sort of goat noise (just imagine a whinny and a grunt) and they came barrelling towards us. Spencer asked me to go get them something to eat--so I returned with a loaf of bread and Mr. Salty Pretzels. That's all I could come up with on such short notice.
Spencer decided that the goats were for him, IV and Boppa. I hated to tell the kid that we were NOT keeping the goats. This puppy is enough! He chews up everything, eats all day long and poops everywhere -- I figured it out-he is part goat!
We had to leave for indoor soccer practice and they huddled in front of the car. Using the Honda as a makeshift border collie, I herded them up our l.o.n.g. driveway and to our neighbor's yard. Merry Christmas to them. Ha!Ha!
This evening, I met up with friends for dinner. Two friends had company drop by and couldn't make it tonight. And I totally forgot to call another friend to meet us there (I assumed Mom called her....) That's okay....she doesn't read my blog :-)
Anyway...that left the four of us to meet for dinner and drinks. We had a great time and celebrated Dee's birthday as well. Poor Dee was born on Christmas Day. It's tough to share your birthday with a Saviour. We try to make sure she gets birthday greetings somewhere in all the Christmas celebrations. Instead of birthday cake, Dee got a birthday shot glass of strawberry cheesecake. It was the perfect size for everyone to have "one bite" and not get all blah.

Spencer: My Toothless Wonder

Toothless Wonder...as in he wonders where the tooth went? He thinks he dropped it. He is CERTAIN that it was not swallowed this time. He wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy explaining his predicament for yet a second time in his young life. Flossie (the Tooth Fairy) normally likes to inspect the tooth to make sure it was taken care of before a child is rewarded. Hopefully, she will find the note and understand. Spencer added a "P.S. Merry Christmas" to the note to make sure she knows he is a sweet kid---- with butter fingers.

Poppin' and Lockin'

Spencer and IV had their Christmas party at Hip Hop class this evening. Even with my head cold making me miserable, I still laughed at these little goobers. Usually the parents aren't allowed to watch class, but I found out today that we could get a sneak peak at their routine while setting up for the party. The boys were AWESOME! They are tough and funky! I can't wait until the spring recital!

Gingerbread Crackhouse

This year I was determined to ice the gingerbread in stages/letting it dry so that the walls could support the weight of the decorated roof. Once I had the walls and roof in place (and dry!) I let Spencer decorate it all on his own. I came back in the kitchen a few minutes later and he said he was finished.
Really Spencer? That's how you wanted it to look?
He is especially proud of the green gummy wreath on the front. I guess even crack houses have one redeeming quality. Just when I was thinking that maybe I should mix up some fresh icing and touch it up, IV came over and said, "Wow Spencer! I LOVE your gingerbread house! Can I taste it?"
It works on a little boy level so I guess that's cool.

Look at dem big ol paws

Bowser's paws are getting huge. I think everything he eats goes straight to his feet. Spencer adores this dog-- I'm still wondering if I was insane to agree to adopt this beast. I didn't want a pony!