V's

slide shows

It's truth project night and I have a million other things I should be doing.....those of you who know me well or mom who can relate to me on this can snicker all you want. But I wanted to figure out how to put the slide shows I've made for the kids bdays on here and I did! except the quality is not very good, so obviously I'm not doing something right. I have also just realized that I can only upload one video per post. E's is first, many of the pics are scanned since they were from our pre digital days. I also have changed them a bit, tings like removing the slide which has their full name and birth date for privacy purposes. (which reminds me, when you comment please only use their first initial, thanks).

Part-ay

So like most parents I hope not to gyp the 3rd child, but I have. E asks me while we were making the cake if we were going to have party hats. oops.... I did do this for the other two's first birthdays, I thought about it for this one and then simply forgot. Sorry V. BUT we did have a yummy turkey dinner on the fine china! But unlike the other two, no fancy shaped cake. Although J and E said it looked like a big donut. D's parents came over for dinner and then it was presents and cake. We ended the evening watching a slide show that I put on DVD of his first year. If I could figure out how to put it on here, I would, but it is on the long side.

First bite of cake (or any dessert for that matter...well at the farm show a week ago I let him have a few bites of ice cream, but that's it!)

He actually stopped and smiled for this picture.

After a bit he really was enjoying being in the spotlight and started to share how he felt about it all.

Saturday (before his first birthday as D was happy to point out) we tried to get him to walk and he took a few steps between us. The camera is positioned between my knees because he wouldn't come to me when I had only one hand stretched out.

1 Year

I can't believe it's been a year already. Birthday pics to come.


11 days


3 months


6months


9months


1 year

Congrats

A special congratulations to my dear friend Suzanne and her husband Aron who had their second child on Tuesday. Curren John came by his mommy's very hard work as his daddy encouraged her through an non medicated VBAC. So proud of her and happy for his healthy birth. They have some amazing birth pictures but their blog is private so I can't share...but they were too amazing not to mention them. Cheers for big sister Maggie too!

Ella's party

My niece Ella turned 5 and Denise allowed me to seriously help out. I LOVE party planning. Well, small parties, definitely kids' parties. Denise had the idea for a tea party. We let the girls decorate hats, I made place mats and cupcake toppers. Denise had a lovely spread of goodies for the girls that came in their pretty tea party dresses. The girls were so well behaved and really got into the theme. Such cuteness!


One of my other niece's, Elliot.

snow

Girls wanted to play in the snow, this is after a bit of it and they needed scarves to keep their faces warm.



Can I play too?



I put him down and he was off.



I couldn't get him to sit still for a pic.



Although I didn't capture his smiles, he was LOVING it.



First play in the snow was a success. He came in for lunch and promptly went to nap. The girls enjoyed hot chocolate with marshmallows and candy cane. Ella told E "you have a good mommy because she gives you hot chocolate after the snow." Then they proceeded to talk in their version of grown up voices and pretend they were drinking coffee, saying words like "lovely" and "darling".

Spangler Christmas

Den's family waited to do Christmas together with us in January. Here the kids are starting to gather to receive goodies from Mom Mom.

The boys in their robes from Mom Mom.

Gathering around Aunt Abby's iphone.

All they had to do was walk by each other...

This is Dwayne in Den's head lock....and it stopped being funny when they nearly knocked over the tree.

I have changed the settings on my comments. This is for those of you that do not have a google account, or don't "feel like" logging in, mostly speaking to the many of you I saw on my trip west. So for all of you out there who have been telling me "oh ya, I saw that on your blog". Leave a note, and say hi, sign your name...last names not required. Yes, I'm needy like that.

Tubby time

My prayer & share leader in CO called taking a bath a "tubby" one time and I was hooked on that phrase. E really had him laughing, but I don't think I captured it. Still fun.



For those of you I told I was making this, here is the finished product. My first taggie blanket for my nephew Joash. We're having Christmas with Den's side of the family and this was the last gift! The white side is terry cloth. I strongly considered chenille, but at this time in our budget I couldn't bring myself to pay $12.99 a yard. I am pleased.

Cali Christmas

Okay, know now that there are a gazillion pictures so continue if you will, but you have been warned. We had a great time. We soaked up the sun and the family. It had been a while since both my brother and I were home at the same time. We enjoyed having the whole fam together, even squeezed in a competitive game of pictionary(no pics of that, it was too intense to pause).

We got in late the Saturday before Christmas.

We went to church.

Then we went straight to Amapola. I'm actually not into the hot salsa, but D loves it. I ate my machaca faster than I could take a picture of it.


J actually played a whole game of chess with my dad. He's been showing interest in it (I don't play, but it's on our computer). Dad said he did well, and J even took his queen.

Celebrated Den's bday with one of his favorite breakfast treats, the raspberry danish twist from Entenmann's.

We took a drive up to the college to enjoy the view when I said, "look! look!"

Because I saw a fox.

Then went to the office. V giggled while we waited for grandpa.

And he said "hiiii" for the camera.

The kids were making cookies at Grandma Linda's while we ran around.

Christmas Eve started at Grandma Lee's where we had yummy lasagna.

Then to church for a candlelight service.

Then dessert at Grandma Linda's where V decided to to be done.

We always open one gift on C Eve and we act surprised when it's pj's. E actually said to me in a laugh, "mommy, we all got jammies!"

Christmas morning...gifts, food, family and friends.

J took the squeezing of the OJ very seriously.

V did a little flirting. He would say "ahhh".

V officially smiles for the camera while Dennis grows antlers.

V enjoying his new toy.

Where you would often find J.

Where you often find E. She loved Aunt Kristina's i phone (and aunt kris of course).

Or here, with one of the dogs (john and kris have Chihuahua's) under a blanket with her.

Grandma had some jobs for J to earn some $ towards a wii. (he has to earn half and I think he's nearly there). He actually did these jobs with a bit of joy. Here he is picking up fallen fruit. I heard him subtracting as he picked them off of the ground "7-1 is 6...6-1...no 2 is 4"

My mom always takes a pecan pie at Christmas to our friends the Hurst's, so we went along for the delivery, Jeanette was my 4-H leader and she taught me to ride horses. She was so good to me those years! She is still involved with 4-H and there are fun animals at her house. Sheep are there but not pictured.

Brownie was my mom's horse who is now out to pasture.

The four of us. Why didn't we do this when we were cleaned up on Christmas Eve?

Aunt Sand and Uncle Frank came to visit a couple of days. A joy as always!

Spent some time in the desert.

One of his Christmas gifts, a Lego helicopter. He built (not all, but most of it) himself.

Helping Grandpa feed the dogs.

Tubbie in the sink.

The kids LOVED there aunt and uncle time.

Saw some high school friends and there kids. Have known these girls nearly forever. Toni (middle) and I have the same birthday. Was great seeing both of them. (Kim is on the left)

Whenever I'm in town I usually see Missy at least once. Her girls were generous to share there fabulous swing set with my kids.

V got in on the action too.

Behind my parents, this used to be weeds where we'd play and John had forts.

E couldn't get outside enough.

Everybody gets adjusted.


New Year's Eve: marshmallows and chocolate kisses.

Killing time at the airport in Houston on our way home. We had a 3 hour layover.

Now I have stayed up way too late for this. Not good for recovering from jetlag.