Winter

Winter is here. [sigh] The only thing that keeps me from being depressed during this dreary time of year in Idaho is that my favorite holidays are in the winter. Thanksgiving & Christmas. Come January though, it is depressing. Any ideas on how to keep kids busy indoors during the winter?

This is just a random picture that Alicia took that I never posted. I think it is hilarious. I am glad Tanner has friends his age. We love David, and his mom. :)

Hopeful

My #1 goal as a Mom is to help my kids build a strong foundation so they can stand for what is right on their own later. I am grateful Tanner has already made prayers part of his daily routine. When one of us takes Tanner to bed he always says "prayer" and he kneels down by his bed. He will repeat after us, but isn't saying full sentences so usually just gets the last word. Here is a video. All you can see is his night light.

I tried to take it with the light on, but this is what we got. :)

What the boys are up to

Cleaning up crayon he colored on the wall. He enjoy cleaning. Cleaned really well too! You can't tell there was crayon there. When he was done he asked for a crayon. LOL.

Dallin learning to eat solids. The scratches on his head are from Tanner. I caught Tanner sitting on Dallin's face the other day. Dallin will be tough; he'll have to be to survive Tanner as a big brother.
Dallin has discovered his feet. Is always playing with them.

One of Nate's many talents

Just kidding. I mean, he does a good job, but he was just helping me. I am trying to finish Dallin's stocking before Christmas.

By the way, I am pretty proud of myself. I got $100 worth of groceries yesterday at Albertsons for $35, $25 if you deduct the $10 check I am getting for doing a survey about formula I bought there. I love a good sale & coupons!

And my sweet Dallin

Our Halloween

Nate was "Sick & Tired" and I was a pirate, thanks to Michaela.

Tanner and Joel went trick-or-treating together. They loved it. We had pizza and donuts with the Drakes (The bishop of our singles ward in Medford and his wife; they moved here) before they went.

Dallin spit up on his pumpkin outfit.

Walgreens did a free picture. Here is one I took on my own camera, hopefully theirs is better. But it appears that Dallin may be allergic to straw, or hay, whatever it is. He got the hives soon after and here is a picture of his hand after he got a scratch from some of the stuff. My poor allergic kids!

Chillin with the pumpkins.

My Skeleton & Pumpkin

Isn't Tanner scary? Most 2 year olds are cute things, but Tanner is a scary skeleton. I'll get more pictures later.

This was the sunrise this morning as Nate was leaving for work at 7:30. Gorgeous! It is usually in the 20 degree range these days and it is about a mile walk. Crazy! That is what we get for having one car. Works for us though (easier for me than him). :)

Picky eater

Well, not much is going on to post about. Tanner will go trick-or-treating this year (Nate's idea) so I'll have pictures tomorrow. I would have put off trick-or-treating for at least another year. Candy is the last thing Tanner needs. He has a horribly unbalanced diet. The only veggies he likes are corn and potato, which are more starch than vegetables. Any tips on how to get him to eat better???

Dallin will start solids soon. I wanted to put it of until 6 or 7 months, but he's showing interest in it already.

Spence Family Fall Pictures

Nate & Kelly

Matt & Mickie
Jordan & Michaela
Braden
Tanner kissing Dallin

Brothers

The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you. ~Kendall Hailey,

Chewing on Dad

Dallin loves to chew on hands; his, dad's, anyone's really.

Poor Tanner. This was yesterday when I was making dinner. He just laid on the floor and looked miserable. He is getting 4 teeth too.

100th Percentile!

Dallin is 29 inches long now putting him in the 100th percentile. That is only 6 inches shorter than Tanner. At this rate Dallin could catch up to him in a couple months. :) Dallin is also 16 1/2 pounds (73rd).

Where has the week gone?

Time flies when you are sick in bed. I've accomplished nothing this week. I am hoping for a more productive weekend, but I am afraid Tanner is acting sick. :(

Nate is going to apply to another Physical Therapy school in Spokane, WA. So he is applying to ISU, U of U, Pacific University and now Eastern Washington. We're feeling good this time. Pretty sure he'll get into at least one. He'll know in December at the earliest.

Mr. Mom

I woke up sick yesterday. Throwing up every couple hours and feeling miserable, so I called Nate and asked him to come home from work. He was so wonderful. Took care of the kids as if I wasn't there, because I pretty much wasn't. I couldn't get up off the couch, unless I was running to the bathroom. He cleaned and took the boys out to play. I am not puking today, but I feel super weak and dizzy.
Here are a couple pictures of our weekend.

Croquet

We got a croquet set at the DI (a thrift store), so we tried it out. Fun game.



Tanner gets his lack of a butt (that's why his pants are practically under his diaper) from my side of the family. Oh, I have one, but all the boys don't.

New family picture

We took some fall pictures this evening. The rest of Nate's brothers did theirs last weekend, but it got too cold for our kids, so we waited to do ours until today. Michaela took them, here is just one. She is turning into quite the photographer. I'll post more when she finishes editing.

It's getting cold outside

We've had our first snow of the season already. The leaves are changing and half gone. Boo hoo. Alicia and I are tough and still walk outside. We went when it was 36 degrees earlier this week. Luckily we have tough kids too, or at least bundled up kids.

Horrible, yet kind of funny reality

If you had purchased $1,000 of Lehman Bros. stock one year ago, you would have $49 left.

With Wachovia, you would have $16.50 left.

With AIG, you would have less than $5 left.

But if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It's called the 401-Keg plan.

I'm not saying you should do this, I just thought it was interesting, and funny.