Oh, Spencer

We all say Spencer is a crazy handful these days. There is seriously never a dull moment around here! Enjoy the next few photos showing some of the crazy fun we have each day:

He insisted on taking his 3 pillows to drop Alex off at school.

Getting cozy in a laundry basket with space goldfish and fruit snacks.

Charming cutie getting a haircut.

He ran to find me and said “emergency” after running over a ball.

Who knows why this happened?

Playing in Grandma Lisa’s dog door.

Spencer’s Big Boy Bed

Tim has the same 2 week break for Christmas and New Year’s as Alex, so we decided to use the time to transition Spencer to his toddler bed. Alex made a big deal about Spencer being a “big boy” and brought toys to his room for him to play with when he wakes up. Spencer was soo excited and played in his room pretty much all morning. Naptime that day was … interesting. He kept getting out of bed, opening his door, and just playing in the hallway. After the third try, I put a child door knob cover on the inside and he went right to sleep. We have already been able to take the cover off and he still goes right to sleep. Of course, yesterday he did realize he could jump right out of bed as soon as he wakes up. I hope he doesn’t start waking up at 6:00 in the morning!

Party in Alex’s room! The boys always love rearranging.

Spencer trying out his new “big boy bed”.

Fast asleep … for now!

This is how I found Spencer a few nights later … see his foot in the back corner? He’s sleeping under his pillow.

2015 Christmas Tree

We really wanted to cut down our own tree this year, but I guess we waited too late in the season. All the farms relatively close to Charlotte were already closed by the time we went looking for our tree (we always wait until after Alex’s birthday). Luckily, we did find an awesome tree lot right by our house that is run by police officers who use 100% of the proceeds to take terminally ill children shopping for Christmas. I wish we had know about this lot the past 2 years! The boys loved running in between the trees and picked a HUGE one. Of course, it was too tall … but we did find a perfectly fat tree that would actually fit in our house.

The “perfect tree” according to Alex.

Alex was very helpful with the ornaments this year.

The boys loved discovering all the different ornaments.

Spencer was actually helpful, as well!

Alex’s 4K Holiday Show

Alex’s class sang a few songs for parents on the last day of school. The songs were “Santa Was His Name-o,” “Jingle Bells,” and “The Reindeer Hokey Pokey.” They all did such a great job! After the show, the kids ate cookies and received a small gift from their teachers. It was a great way to end the first half of the school year!

Alex was very serious during his three songs!

Alex really loved his new shirt!

Alex’s classmates contributed to gift cards for the teachers and the kids all brought cards. Check out Alex’s Christmas trees!

Such a cute Christmas tree ornament.

A nice holiday wreath for the front door.

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Mommy’s 1st Sub Day

I was called in to be a sub in Alex’s class before Christmas break. Well, I was a sub for a sub … but still, I’m glad I was useful! Since I would be there all morning, the 3K teacher offered to let Spencer join her class. He was so excited to go to school with a backpack, just like Alex! He didn’t even look back when I left him on the playground. Incredible! I checked in during Alex’s recess and found Spencer eating snack with his new friends. The teachers said he had participated and done a great job so far! Alex had a great morning as well. It was fun to see him leading the class on updating the calendar (his job that week) and I got to see a preview of the holiday show. I had fun spending the morning with 16 4-year-olds. Maybe I have a future as a preschool teacher??

Alex and Ms Niki counting the days in December so far.

Spencer and a friend eating snack.

The 3s class doesn’t eat lunch at school, so he joined Alex’s class for the last 45 minutes.

Rehearsing for the holiday show!

Alex’s 5th Birthday Party

Instead of the usual themed birthday party at the house, we decided to branch out and host Alex’s party in a different location this year. After a lot of looking around, we settled on a Lego party at Discovery Place Kids. It was great! Alex and his friends (basically his whole class!) met at DPK and played for an hour or so. Then we went up to the party room for snacks, Lego fun, cupcakes, and presents!! We ended the day with a dance party on the center stage. Of course, party day was after two days of family fun! Then … on Alex’s actual birthday, Spencer and I read snowman stories to Alex’s class and handed out snowman parachutes. We had so much fun playing with them on the playground! I’d say 4 days of birthday celebrations is pretty good for a 5-year-old!

In between family visits, we gave Alex his gift … an XBOX One and Lego Jurassic Park. He was SO EXCITED!

Kelsey helped with cake decorating this year! We went with Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon … Alex’s favorite movie.

Most of the party guests … getting ready to start building and crashing.

My sweet Alex … ready to blow out his candles!

Alex had a very excited crowd of friends around while he opened his presents.

Dance Party!

I’d say the party was a success!

Thanksgiving 2015

We had a busy Thanksgiving Week this year! The Tuesday before, Alex had a feast at school. He and his friends were so cute in their Pilgrim hats and Native American head bands! Then, Thursday we ate Thanksgiving dinner on Lake Norman with a beautiful sunset and all my mom’s side of the family. Friday, we attended my cousin’s wedding on a beautiful tree farm north of Charlotte. One the way home, we drove through the Christmas Lights at Lazy 5 Ranch and visited with Santa! We are thankful for good food, lots of wine, fun with family … and a Sunday to rest after it was all over!

Alex’s serious face in his Pilgrim hat.

Alex and his class made a list of all the things for which they are thankful.

Loving the tire swing at the lake (they had just gotten off their bikes).

You can see pure joy in these faces!

My cute family, watching the sunset over the lake (photo credits to Unc!)

Alex was excited to see Santa. Spencer backed away and said, “No!”

An Arm or a Leg?

I woke up to hear Spencer playing and singing in his crib the other morning. I checked the camera and saw this:

Hmm, is that an arm or a leg sticking out from under the pillow? I kept watching and saw this next:

Ok, so it was a leg. Why is he completely under the pillow though?

When it comes to Spencer, there is no point in even asking, “Why?” I love that crazy, crazy boy!

Sleepover

Alex has been asking for a while when he can sleep in our bed. He’s never spent longer than 5-10 minutes in our bed after wandering to our room in the middle of the night. For some reason though, he’s been begging to sleep in our bed. Tim had to work out of town Monday night, so I told Alex he could have a sleepover in my bed. He was SOO EXCITED! I told him to bring whatever he wanted to my bed while I was singing to Spencer. I came into the room to find his pillow and about 10 stuffed animals! He ended up sleeping like a champ … I did not! It was an adventurous night, but I loved it!

This is how Alex fell asleep.

The next morning … notice my pillow is halfway off the bed!

This boys has always been a crazy sleeper! This is how we found him a week ago.

Alex’s Fire Fighter Gear

After the fire fighters came to Alex’s school, the boys played a lot of fire rescue around the house. I love Alex’s tactical fire gear …

He has on his Spider Man mask to protect his face and the Iron Man Mask as his oxygen mask.

Spencer also joined in on the fun!

NC Zoo in the Fall

We met Tim’s cousin Tony, his wife Maeghan, and baby Rocco at the NC Zoo a few weeks ago. It was a surprisingly cold day, but we still had tons of fun! The leaves were beautiful and the animals seemed happy to play in the cooler weather. Plus, we got to see the dinosaurs!! If you haven’t yet been to the NC Zoo, you should go!

It is ridiculously hard to get three children under the age of 5 to look at the camera!

We were finally able to convince Alex to ride an animal on the carousel.

Sweet brothers!

We also saw the dinosaurs!! Alex loved it, but Spencer was a little unsure …