1 . . . 2 . . . 3

Clark enjoys counting to three these days. I will find him pointing to objects and saying his version of one and two and then THREE! I thought this would make a good title since today I had 1, 2, 3 little boys! Yes, Gabe and Ty spent the day with Clark. Clark is always so excited to share the day with his cousins. He and Ty can giggle at one another for long periods of time. The boys all enjoyed playing with playdough. For some reason playdough can entertain for over an hour at a time. I think Gabe would have kept playing through naptime if I had let him. Ty liked to squish it but I had to watch him carefully to make sure it didn't go into the mouth. I'll say one thing that boy is fast!

After naptime the boys were watching some IPTV on the couch. They soon entered into a wrestling/tumbling match. There were lots of giggles and suprisingly no complaints from any of them even though they each took a turn at the bottom of the pile.

It was a fun day but I believe after Clark is put to bed I will spend the rest of the evening with my feet up :)

Weekend Plans

This past weekend found our family a long distance apart and yet we spent the time with other family members which was great fun as well. Alan is now on the National FFA Board of Directors and had his first meeting in Washington D.C. He was able to spend some time with Emily and he did enjoy seeing all of the set-up that was going into preparing for the Inauguration.

Wintery Iowa as viewed from the air as Alan left Des Moines on the plane.

Alan and Aunt Em in Washington, D.C. -- Alan sent plenty of pictures home so Clark could keep track of the trip.

Meanwhile, back in Iowa, Clark and I traveled up to visit Grandma and Grandpa Clark. We wanted to work on sorting more items at Great-Grandma's house. We found some wonderful treasures -- including Great-grandma and grandpa's love letters to each other when Great-grandma was in college at ISU and during her first year of teaching. Oh the things we learn about our loved ones in letters written over 70 years ago. So sweet! We also sorted through a lot of old magazines and plenty of other items destined for the trash.

Clark watched Grandpa Clark blow snow. He enjoyed time outside with grandma and grandpa (and mom). It was amazing how badly the snow blew over the weekend. We actually spent all Saturday morning sorting some of grandma's drawers and cleaning them up (Carl and Em be warned there is "stuff" headed your way).

Sledding with Grandma Clark!




Clark playing in the bathroom sink! He and grandma both seemed to enjoy this playtime!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Blow?!

Well, cabin fever has officially set in at the Spencer household between the mounds of snow, the ultra cold temperatures and a child with an ear infection -- now seems as good a time as any to update our very out of date blog.

So, this is a brief overview of what we did over Christmas break:

We cut our trees out of Grandpa Clark's tree farm. These two balsam trees were actually growing together so two for the price of one. Here is the little tree in Clark's room. He decorated it with lots of snowflakes and old ornaments we had collected over the years.

Clark helped me light the big tree in the living room. This is a fraser also from the tree farm shop. Clark liked watching all the lights go on. Our second balsam tree that we cut went in the kitchen/dining room area with lots of cookie cutters and gingerbread men.

Clark helped light the ceramic tree in the bathroom too! He actually liked the little train set that was set up with this tree.

Clark helped his dad shell hazelnuts for some yummy hazelnut crinkle cookies.

But frosting and sprinkles held a lot more appeal. Nothing like licking the beaters after making frosting.

Clark wrote the Spencer Christmas letter this year! Ha! Ha!

Clark dressed up for Christmas Eve service at church.

Christmas morning -- Clark's in his Christmas p.j.'s waiting for his grapefruit. Honestly, he loves grapefruit--Clark will eat a whole grapefruit all on his own. We also had pecan sticky rolls for breakfast.

We also worked on the porch. We have put in insulation and hung drywall. All we have left is sanding and painting. Clark loves to help and play on the porch using a combination of his tools and dad's tools.

He's really good -- he knows exactly how to use the screwdriver!

Playing in the snow was fun too! This was before the current round of snow. Clark liked climbing the snowdrifts.

Clark also had a lot of playtime with Gabe and Ty (and Aunt Em who came home for the holidays). Clark and Ty really enjoyed listening to Alan read stories one day.

Our little superman also enjoys reading a good book by himself in his chair every now and again.

We also took in an ISU basketball game with Carl, Hollie, Gabe and Ty. Amazingly the boys all made it through the entire game. Lots of popcorn was enjoyed by all!

Happy New Year!