Update on Spencer's "stash"

In my last post, I reported that we haven't found out where Spencer's "stash" is.

We have now.

1 of the missing measuring tapes have been recovered.


We were driving home from church on Sunday.

I happened to glance down into the little "cubby" compartment on the side of the car door by my feet.

It drives Todd crazy that I put things in those cubbies. Like the school coupon book I feel obligated to buy from all my children who are currently at the elementary school level, an extra diaper or two, or the empty coupon carrier. It also houses the windshield scraper (on the driver's side).

As we drove down the street I glanced down and saw something shiny.

When I reached down, I started to laugh.

I had located one of the missing measuring tape.

How Spencer got it there no one knows.

Daddy's Shadow

Spencer is a craftsman in training.

Since we started our addition project, he has followed Todd around wanting to help and do what Daddy is doing.

He loves to be outdoors and if it's with a hammer in hand he's even happier. When Todd took a week off to work on the house, the first thing Spencer said when he woke up every morning was: " I get dressed and hep (help) Daddy.".

In the last 6 months, Spencer has walked off with 2 metal measuring tapes and Daddy's carpenter pencils. Who knows where they are???

We haven't figured out where he keeps his "stash".


Spencer actually got this piece of siding to stay put. He went and found his own plastic hammer and a scrap of siding. He then put a handful of tar paper nails in his pocket and proceeded to pull the nails out one at a time and nail them into the holes in the board. (I found the leftover nails in his pocket that night when I got him ready for bed.) Spencer calls the 2 step ladder "his ladder". He goes and gets it if Daddy has his ladders out.

I think Daddy helped him find the holes in the existing siding to hold it in place. But Spencer put in several nails to make sure it held in place. He even holds the nails between his fingers (like Daddy) so that he can hit the nail and hold it in place.

When Daddy moved around to work on the garage siding, Spencer decided he would just help nail the siding up that Daddy was putting up and I ended up with roofing nails as high as Spencer could reach between my garage doors.


It sure makes Daddy proud.

Even if he has had to replace his measuring tapes and pencils.

When the Cat's away the Mice will play

When Todd & I go out for the evening our kids play with the camera.

Taking all sorts of pictures of themselves as well as things in the house.

We're not informed of the photo shoots. They just show up on the camera after a night out.

But we figured it's not the worst thing they could do while we're gone.

And they all seem to get in on the act.

There wasn't enough room to get a picture of Spencer in.

Janelle is the one taking all the pictures. She would much rather be behind the camera than in front of it.

The Case of the Missing Silverware

What might you ask is this??



It's a picture of my silverware drawer after Hannah & Spencer decided to help unload the silverware from the dishwasher.

This one comes with another story though:


We had guests ( a new family in our church) over for dinner one night. When this occasion happens we bring out the "Sunday" dishes and silverware. These dishes and cutlery are stored separately from the everyday things. (At least they used to be until we started tearing the kitchen apart).

The next time we went to set the "Sunday" table, we noticed we were missing not just a little bit of silverware, but A LOT of silverware.

We couldn't figure out where it could have gone.

We had it all when the company came for dinner but it wasn't all there now.

The only thing we could think of was that perhaps it had gotten thrown away with the dessert plates.

This mystery went unsolved for several weeks.


Until one Sunday I went to choose a table cloth to put on the table.

There between two table cloths, on the bottom shelf in the pantry, laid the missing silverware.

Just where the 2 year old hands had "put it away".

Don't let the smile fool you

We have a ritual at our house on Sunday afternoons.

We call it our sacred Sunday nap.

The youngest ones usually don't even make it home from church before they are off to dreamland.

This ritual comes with some rules though.

1. If the babies wake up before Mom & Dad, the older kids are to take care of the babies.

2. Don't let Mom & Dad sleep past 5:00.

3. Keep the noise down because if you wake up the babies..... refer to #1.

One Sunday when I got up, the older kids didn't know where Hannah was. The light was on in

the pantry but the door was shut.

When I opened the door this is what I found......

Hannah had found a bag of powdered sugar and decided to help

herself.

She had the stuff everywhere.

Hannah has this really mischievious streak in her.

She's gotten into my purse and found my makeup bag and been

caught red-handed with mascara on her face.

She unwinds the toilet paper off the roll if the bathroom door isn't kept shut.

She puts her hand on Spencer's carseat in the car just to hear him squeal and scream.

She will hit or scratch Spencer and then smile about it. But if Spencer happens to retaliate...

she's the first one to cry.

She's probably the most mischievious child I've had. I wonder what she'll find to do next?

What kept me busy all summer

This year I took on the job of swim team manager for our neighborhood swim team. I spent literally hours at the pool.

Too bad the only good tan I got this summer was a flip-flop tan on my feet.

One funny story.....

On the first day of practice I went down to the pool to help set up lane ropes and make sure that everything was ready for the first day. Our meet manager was also there to help. We decided to get the lane ropes in the water. We rolled out the big spool that holds the ropes.

We got the first and second lanes in without any incident.

The meet manager headed down to the far end of the pool with the last lane rope. She didn't hear me when I yelled to stop (too much noise from the swimmers), since the last lane rope was attached to the spool and needed to be unclipped so the whole big thing didn't end up in the water.

It didn't end up in the water.

I did.

Fully clothed.

When she didn't stop and kept pulling, the spool shifted and pushed me into the pool.

It was a great way to start the season.

All four of the oldest swam again this year. I realize there isn't a picture of Janelle. She has a great talent for evading the camera. She would rather be behind it.

Russell turned 8

A week ago our Russell turned 8!!

This was his year to have a friends party and after some thought he decided he wanted an Indiana Jones party.

So I started to surf the web for some ideas.

I found out how to make "treasure rocks", Indiana Jones pouches, and what to hide in a pile of sand for an archeological dig.

I put Todd in charge of an Indiana type obstacle course. He does much better thinking outside the box than I do and he turned out a winner for the 12 boys at the party.

We gave each boy a Holy Grail journal with an alphabet code and some messages to decode. There was also some Indy trivia to answer while they waited for everyone.

Todd's obstacle course included swinging water tubes (the swinging swords from "The Last Crusade"), a swing over a snake pit, a pass over a bridge of faith ("Last Crusade"), natives armed with ammunition in the form of small plastic balls ("Temple of Doom"), and a dig for treasure in a huge pile of sand.




















The boys decoded a secret message to find The Lost Ark with it's hidden treasure and had punch in coconut cups with lunch with funny names.

It was great that Russell got to have his party on his actual birthday. I don't think that has ever happened in our history of parties.

He is such a sweet boy. I can't believe that he is now 8.

He will be getting baptized in a week. We are expecting his grandparents this week and look forward to spending some time with all of them.

Besides all the gifts from friends, a new DS game, and scriptures with a scripture bag (from Mom & Dad) Russell got his summer buzz cut for his birthday.

Don't you think he looks handsome?


Some things that make Russell who he is:

*his laugh. No matter what I'm doing, if I hear Russell laugh it makes me smile (I'm smiling just thinking about it)

*his love of video games. Right now he's all into his Nintendo DS that he purchased with his own money.

*his love for music. He plays the piano and actually is enjoying it now. He also loves to sing. His favorite church song is " I Believe in Christ"

*his drive. Russell played baseball this spring and is now on the neighborhood swim team. He loves to improve himself.

*his smile. Russell has a deep set of dimples and when he smiles, he lights up the room.

*his sweetness. He always makes sure he gives me a kiss after family prayer (he also makes sure he gets one in return.)

It makes me a little sad to think my boy is growing up but I can't wait to see what he becomes.

When Russell was younger he loved to have me sing "Puff the Magic Dragon" to him at bedtime. The phrase "Dragons live forever, but not so little boys. Painted wings and giant things make way for other toys" always choked me up when I sang it to him.

It does even now as I think of how Russell's growing up and moving on to "other things". That song will always hold a special place in my heart and I will always associate it with my Russell.

Happy (late) Birthday sweetheart!!