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Spencer's 3rd Birthday

My baby is 3!

He's really, really, really not a baby anymore. I just don't know how that happened. How did that happen? Anyone?

We woke up in Pinetop and had a waffle breakfast with everyone. Then we loaded up in the car and spent 5 painful hours stuck in traffic with every other person in the state. Apparently 99.8% of Arizonans spent the weekend in the White Mountains. Once we finally made it home we took the required by law birthday pictures.

Spencer with his blocks.

Spencer with his 3 shirt (I made it. Impressed much?) (OK, all I did was iron on a patch.) Spencer with his daddy.
Spencer with his mommy.
Spencer with his mommy and daddy. No Ginger this year since she was still on her staycation in Tucson.
After all that busy picture taking we went to The Olive Garden for dinner. The wait staff sang to him. It was fun.
Then. Finally....presents!The day after his birthday Spencer decided that this little CD player was dirty and he stuck it under running water to wash it. We still haven't been able to get it to work. I love toys that last 12 hours.

He was pretty freakin' excited about the Mickey Mouse clubhouse. He actually gasped and squeeked.

The loot

P.S. Don't you worry. A flashback to previous birthdays and legally required photographs is coming soon.

Pinetop

I did really good with new posts for a couple of days. Then I got hit with a double punch- we went out of town for the weekend and I got negative feedback in the form of NOT ENOUGH COMMENTS. Come on people. I don't do this for the comments, but a little love never hurt anyone. Make me feel better about myself.

Pinetop

A little background (that I've probably given before). Karen and I became friends in 5th grade. Chelsea joined us in 7th grade. Laura joined us in 9th grade. We were living in different states (and Karen was in Switzerland) for a long time, but now we're all back in AZ, all married and all with babies (Chelsea with 2). Over the summer we decided that for Labor Day weekend it would be fun to put 4 families in 1 house in Pinetop for 3 days.

This is what happened when that idea became reality.

We ate a lot of food.

The kids played outside in the cool temps.

Karen and Tyler dressed like twins.Josh toasted with corn on the cob. Chelsea made a delightful praline topped french toast casserole for my birthday breakfast. Laura and Sara dressed like twins.We took my family birthday picture (sans Ginger who is having a staycation in Tucson with my parents) in the forest.

Families had quality time.

Spencer wore his jammies.A lot.This little girl was CUTE. Friends laughed.We were together on my birthday for the 1st time in 12 years.

Cupcakes were prepared.

Big kids got to eat at the counter. Boys on the eve of their 3rd birthday were impressed by cupcakes. Cupcakes were enjoyed.By all the kids.
Presents were given and appreciated.Waffles were enjoyed on 3rd birthdays for breakfast.

Looooooooong car rides were tackled on the way home.

Oh my gosh it was fun. My stomach muscles still hurt from laughing so hard. We had a word of the weekend. We repeated it. A lot. I cannot type it here. It's bad. Really bad. I'll tell you in person if you're not my mom, dad, in-laws or related to me in any way by blood or marriage. Basically I'll tell Maryellen and Kara.

Lessons Learned:

Making a Duggar family size grocery list pays off in the end. We rocked that grocery shopping.


When the dads leave the moms to go play golf the children will start melting down by 5:10 pm and the moms will start melting down by 5:12 pm.

When the moms melt down the kids have to go to bed early.

When the kids go to bed early the adults have a lot more fun. And repeat the word of the weekend. A lot.


Do NOT go to see "The American" on your birthday or any other day. That movie is awful. Really terrible. I'd rather watch paint peel.


When you forget to bring Chelsea a pumpkin spice latte she will hold a grudge and she will not forget.

Karen gets annoyed by the overuse of the word "circa" in conversation. It is a word to be written, not spoken.

I have great friends. I have a great husband. I have a great kid. I'm a lucky girl.

Love

Spencer has become enamored with Ginger. He wants to lay on the couch with her. He gives her lots of hugs and pets thoughout the day. He'll ask about her when we're not at home and agree that we should get home to her because she's probably sad without us. He asks about her first thing when he wakes up. He'll actually get out of bed just to go say good morning to her (Spencer loves to lounge in bed in the morning, so that's a big deal). He follows her around the house and will talk to her non-stop (mostly a recap of what he's done during the day or the last several hours). I don't have the heart to tell him that she keeps moving because she's trying to get the hell away from him.

I love every minute of his love for her. Every dog needs a boy and every boy needs a dog.

I was moving some books last week and Spencer decided that Ginger needed to be read to.I think she was thrilled with the autobiography of a prisoner at Alcatraz.