Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Balloon Glow and Country Living

Several weeks ago, we decided to go to the Forest Park Balloon Glow. We had heard amazing things but dreaded fighting the crowds. But, one mention to Spence and it was all he could talk about. Plus, apparently a couple of his friends at work mentioned they be there, so he was ademant. So, Friday after a long day at work, Jarrod, Spence, and I packed up baby juice, mama/dada juice (aka wine), crackers, cheese, diapers, wipes, the monkey (a leash if we're honest), and the stroller headed toward Forest Park. One way to beat the crowd seemed to be to ride the metro. When the train pulled in, it was PACKED! Jarrod literally pushed people out of the way for us to get on. Spence held on to our leg like a little champ. When another couple finally pushed their way on at the next stop, they said "Look, you can tell he's definitely a city boy..." Kinda made me sad....



We arrived at the balloon glow and it was absolutely beautiful. It was a gorgeous night and Spence loved the balloons and the firework display that followed. By the time we walked back to the metro, it was 10:00 p.m. and Spence was dead asleep in the stroller. Since we had a sleeping baby and had not yet had dinner, we stopped at the corner bar and had dinner - all while Spence slept peacefully. It really was a perfect night.


Then....this weekend, we went to the Johnson Family Reunion (Jarrod's grandmother's family) in the country. We finished off the weekend at Uncle Joel and Aunt Brenda's farm. We discovered that while Spence loves the tractor in theory, reality is much different. He refused to participate in the hayride...waiving bye to everyone without any hesitation. I didn't take any pictures but Caroline took one of the grandkids with G and Pa. Spence had a great weekend with his cousins and misses them already. This weekend we are taking Spence fishing (okay, Jarrod is going fishing while I attempt to entertain a 2 year old). Should be interesting and pictures will definitely follow......

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Do Not Repeat After Me

We've officially reached the stage where Spence is repeating EVERYTHING we say. While I'd like to say it's precious (and there are precious moments) for the most part, it's only made me realize that Jarrod and I need to clean up our mouths! Seriously, we should keep soap on us at all times and wash out our mouths at even the thought of a bad word. In the past week, Spence has repeated minor curse words (said by me when bumping my toe), insisted on calling toots "farts", and told the neighbors dog to "shut up" (a phrase he learned at school and not from me- thankfully).

Last night was probably the worst example. I had purchased funny drinking straws for a friend's bachelorette party several years ago. When we didn't use them, I brought them home and they have remained in our pantry (even through the move) for years. While we were unloading groceries yesterday, these wonderful straws --- okay, I'll just say it-- penis straws fell out of the pantry. Jarrod picked them up and said "Seriously Linz, we still have these penis straws." Well, for the rest of the night, Spence carried around his penis straw begging for more. Oy vey....

On a sweeter note: Jarrod usually reads books to Spence in our bed before he gets put in his crib. Lately, Jarrod has asked me to lay in bed and read with them. Unfortunately, I've had 100 other things to do and haven't. In response to my refusal, Jarrod taught Spence to say "Mama, you're breaking my heart." It's precious. And, everytime I say "no", I get to hear "Mama, you baking my hawt." :)