GoldenGrams

We went to feed the ducks:

Well, the girls fed the ducks.  Spencer fed a dog:

When the bread was gone, Brooke tried to catch a duck:

Caroline posed among the tulips:

Brooke was very proud of herself for finding some duck eggs.  We were proud of her for not disturbing them:

Caroline found a duck to chase.  They were a perfect match; they ran at exactly the same speed so Caroline never made any headway…

…until the duck stopped and she snuck up on it.  Then she gave it a few rough pats:

It was so cold, so of course Brooke didn’t want to wear her jacket.  I put it on Spencer for an added layer of warmth:

We ended the evening with swinging:

The kids participated in an Easter egg hunt.  Here we all are:

The girls were dying to find the eggs but had to wait until everyone arrived:

Caroline’s age group was first:

Then it was Brooke’s turn:

Spencer enjoyed popping bubbles:

After the hunt Brooke inspected her loot.  Notice her outfit – her Easter hat, necklaces, a skirt, and a tutu.  She insisted on the skirt, the hat, the necklaces, and the tutu because she was marrying Wyatt and needed to look “super beautiful.”  Yes, apparently she still fancies Wyatt.  I asked her why she is going to marry Wyatt and she said because he’s a boy.  I pointed out that she has other friends who are boys and she never says she’s going to marry them.  Her response was, “Oh, it’s because Wyatt has such a cute…”

In the split second after she said “cute” I nearly died thinking she was about to state how cute she thought Wyatt was.  I mean, I do think he’s a really cute kid, but surely she’s too young to notice or care about that, right?  RIGHT?

Thankfully she ended her sentence with “bunny.”  Yes, that’s more like it.  The way to Brooke’s heart is certainly through stuffed animals.

When we first looked at our soon to be new come here is what we saw.

When we returned with the inspector now that reality of actual ownership is upon us, this is what we saw

Hopefully with some tender loving care we can return to the higher vision of our new estate and our home can be the mansion it was in our mind .  It is still over double the size of our current home.  In my mind it is still a mansion because we have far more space than we know what to do with.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Bridal Veil Falls.

Why are kids so fascinated with throwing rocks in water?

Really.  This would entertain them for hours.

And if throwing rocks wasn’t fun enough, they found a big one to climb on:

Spencer busied himself by pushing the stroller all around.

When Spencer had his birthday, I meant to do a post about his year stats.  I dropped the ball a little, but here we are a month later!

Spencer was merely 18 pounds at his checkup.  That put him at about the 6th percentile for weight.

He’s also the 2nd percentile for height and the 60th percentile for head circumference.

He’s such a little guy.  The part of me that wants him to stay little forever is loving this.

The last couple of days Spencer has been transitioning from a crawler to a walker.  Walking now seems to be his preferred mode of transportation.

So I suppose even if he’s not getting much bigger, he is still growing up.

Today we are coloring Easter eggs

…is this:

But it did take some work to catch that shot.  The first picture I snapped was quite unfortunate:

A garbage truck drove by causing her to plug her ears:

Not sure what’s happening here:

Awkward arm placement:

Not the greatest pose:

Bingo!

I’m glad we persevered.

Hooray for spring! It’s great to be able to go outside and play again.

We had a busy day on Spencer’s birthday, so we had to rush to squeeze all the birthday festivities in.

I made his cake from scratch.  Coincidentally my mom needed to make a chocolate cake also.  I sent her the recipe I was going to try and asked her to report to me.

She said the batter made so much cake, she filled three cake pans.  The only problem was all the cakes were caved in.  She sent a picture of her attempt (we loved the sunken heart-shaped cake):

I was pretty sure that my mom did something wrong and I was convinced that I could follow the recipe with exactness and my reward would be a perfect, delicious cake.  Imagine my horror when I pulled this out of the oven:

So all you bakers out there — what did we do wrong?  What makes a cake sink in the middle?

Luckily Spencer didn’t care what his cake looked like and Dallas thought it would be great to just fill that hole with a gob of frosting, so we managed our way through that little hurdle.

Spencer opened his presents:

While Dallas was assembling the toy I told everyone to smile.  This is the picture I got:

Cake time!

Despite the crater in the middle, it was a delicious cake.  Spencer loved his piece…and the next day when I pulled it out again, he nearly hyperventilated from excitement.

Yesterday was Spencer’s special day.

We held a little photo shoot to document his one-year-old cuteness.

Yes, I am posting a million pictures of my kid in the same pose.

With the same prop.

Yes, I know you think the changes in his face and posture are minimal

and that he looks pretty much the same in all these shots

and that posting one picture would have been (more than?) sufficient.

But I am his mother.  I’ve studied his little face for 365 days.  I’ve memorized his looks and expressions and features.  I see and appreciate the subtle differences in them.

I know that in another 365 days he will have replaced some of these looks with new ones, and the baby that I know now will have evolved into a toddler with a whole new array of quirks and mannerisms.

And at that moment I will be just as familiar with that two-year-old toddler as I am currently with my one-year-old baby.

But at that moment I will be a year removed from this moment, and I will have forgotten things about my baby that I had meant to remember forever.

Thus my compulsion to capture every nuance of this baby while I still have the chance.

‘Cause babies don’t keep.  And that’s a cryin’ shame.

Tomorrow is a big day for this little guy.

Tomorrow is his birthday.  He will be one!

In light of this special occasion, I thought I better make note of some of the cute things about him at this stage.

He has four teeth on top and two on bottom.  His front right tooth is chipped.  I have no idea how or when that happened.

I think grapes are his favorite food.

He can stand by himself and has taken a step or two on his own but prefers to lunge at what he wants without the added hassle of moving his feet to get there.

He can say mama, dada, and banana.

If we ask a question that begins with the words, “Who wants…?” like “Who wants to go to the store?” or “Who wants a cookie?” Spencer will say “Eeee!” (meaning, “Me!”)

If we ask what a horse says he’ll also say “Eeee!” but this time it’s a high-pitched squeal.

Speaking of high-pitched squeals, that’s Spencer’s favorite way to communicate.

He loves bath time and gets wildly excited when he hears the bathwater running.

He splashes violently in the bath causing his sisters to unleash their own high-pitched screams.

He loves playing with balls, riding bikes, knocking over blocks, and walking with the help of his push toy.

He is a delight, and we sure love our little guy.

So much so that I almost forgive him for waking me up multiple times a night for the first eight months of his life.

Almost.

I don’t know how many times Dallas and I have planned what we thought would be a fun outing somewhere for the kids only to have them sulk and whine and complain the entire time leaving us wondering why we ever try to take them out in public.

And then there are times we plan activities that we are pretty sure are a bad idea but decide to follow through anyway just for the sake of getting out of the house, giving our kids new experiences, and creating memories together as a family.

Last night we decided to go to BYU’s Museum of Art.  We knew we were likely setting ourselves up for failure by going there, but we were bored and needed something to do before bedtime.

In the car on the way, Dallas and I prepared the girls.  We told them we’d be looking at lots of pictures on the walls and that we needed to be quiet, not run, not touch the paintings, and stay close together.

Brooke had a list of questions for us such as, “But are there things for kids to play with at the museum?”

“No.”

“But can we paint pictures at the museum?”

“No.”

“But is there a slide at the museum?”

“No.”

I could tell she was weighing all the facts in her mind and had drawn the conclusion that the museum had nothing of value to offer her.

We arrived and after a little adventure of trying to find an open bathroom with a changing table to change Spencer’s diaper, we were off.  Brooke and Caroline held onto my hands while Dallas pushed Spencer in the stroller.  He sat wide-eyed taking everything in.  Brooke led us through the museum at a quick clip.  She kept us on the move constantly saying, “We need to find the pictures!” yet never allowing us to pause long enough to actually look at the art.

Despite the rapid pace, the girls stayed right by me.  They never ran.  They never yelled.  They never tried to touch the art.  They were perfect.

We visited the gift shop where the girls found toys and books to look at and Spencer erupted in loud baby chuckles when Dallas threw a ball that changed colors in the air.

It was a perfect evening.  I’m glad we made the effort to go do something different and give our children a little bit of culture…though apparently you can lead a child to art, but you can’t make her look because as we got in the car Brooke had one more question for us:

“But, wait!  Where were all the pictures?  We didn’t see them!”

Oh well.  I’m still calling the night a success.

We all know Brooke loves Pixar films.  Last post we showed you her rendition of the UP house.

Today we give you WALL-E:

The last time I posted a bunch of random pictures we got great feedback (and by that I mean my mom said she liked the pictures) so here we go again!

Caroline reading to Brooke:

Caroline playing the piano.  She was singing also.  It was adorable:

Brooke with all her animals ready to watch a movie:

Brooke drew a picture.  Can you name that movie?

(It’s the Up house in case you couldn’t tell.)

Brooke made a mobile to go above Caroline’s crib:

Brooke spent hours one week meticulously coloring toothpicks.  Why?  No one knows.

Caroline and Spencer played together:

Spencer can pull himself to standing:

We’re making cookies tonight!

…Caroline has learned how to crawl out of her crib.