My silly boy!

Spencer knows the way to his mommy’s office and isn’t shy about getting out all the snacks-whatever he can find. He is especially fond of the mini vanilla wafers and million bottles of water that I have left over from conferences and other children’s events. Currently, he is pulling out water to insist on drinking a little from each on. I have a refrigerator with magnets, but those are unimportant-what is important is pushing all the buttons on my printer, making it print test pages and generally goofing it up for the next time I try to print something. I haven’t been unable to make it start working, and it is just not high enough to keep him away from it, so I suppose I will have to wait.

 

Speaking of pushing buttons, do all children have this huge obsession with pushing buttons? He always has to open and close the garage door (by pushing the button), turn off all the lights (not exactly a button, but the same idea), and we have already talked about the buttons on the printer. He can even say button!

 

Oh well, I guess I can use this time to begin teaching him how to turn off lights when he leaves a room, close the garage door behind him, etc.

email blogging

Hey blog world. Did you know that you can set up email blogging? Now I can just send an email to a "secret" email address and it will magically appear on my blog. How sweet is that?!?

Hello my name is andria

and i am addicted to sweets. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to stop! As long as I don't have any sweets, I don't crave them too much. But once I give in once, I can't stop! This weekend, I ate whatever I wanted; i figured we walked enough, I walked all of it off.

but now I am not walking all day, and I am still eating sweets. On Tuesday, we had a meeting with boxed lunches, including cookies the SIZE OF MY HEAD. Then, we had some leftovers, so i had another one today...along with another cookie. THEN, to top it all off, I had a Nutty Buddy ( i think it was actually called a Country Cone or something like that, but they were called Nutty Buddy's when I was growing up) after dinner (at Cici's Pizza no less).

So, it is time to hit the gym again. I have been working out during lunch, but have taken a break for this or that reason this week. So, I think I will get back on it tomorrow. I work out at the church gym, which is fairly good for a free place to work out. There are two elipticals now, which is my favorite, and a lot of TV's so everyone can see. For a while, there were remotes so you could watch whatever you wanted, but I guess people were not watching the most appropriate shows, and they must have gotten complaints. I know I was tempted to watch All My Children, but I didn't want everyone else working out to have to see it, plus, HELLO, I was in church-not exactaly church material, right? I usually watched Food Network, which is kind of weird while you are working out! But now, all we can watch is MSNBC. So what do you like to watch while you work out?

Click here to view this photo book.

It's good to be back

Spencer and I are home alone tonight and though we have had a few tantrums, both of us, we are now having lots of fun. He is fearless, guys.



Who cares about toys when you can climb everything?

I finally have had to try to put an end to it because he wants to stand up.

Seriously how many times do I have to pull him down? Now I am sitting on the end table myself and he is trying to climb up behind me.

Can you say stubborn? Ok on to more fun.
Blessings!

We are in texas

After a somewhat turbulent flight and a fussy flight attendant we are back in Texas and headed back to see our little boy!


Blessings!

So after the cruise last might we want to the galaxy diner, then ice skating!!



We ended the night with cookies in our room that were as big as your head!

Now we are here in Carve getting ready to go home. See you soon.


Blessings!

Did you see me

Matt and I were on Today!! Right behind the anchor lady.




Then we went to central park and strawberry fields.



There was a race for haitiin the park.



This is where John lenin lived and Yokohama Ono still lives.



Next on to the museum of natural history- from night at the museum






On to






On to a subway ride to the guddenheim- from when in rome.




Now we are on a two hr semi cirlce cruise.



And the day is not over yet.
Blessings!

News flash

We are in dean and delicate waiting for the outside portion of the today show. It's supposed to be on at 8:30 Texas time.





Blessings!

My one big thing for this trip was To go ice skating at rockefellar center and to be on tv at good morning america. I am not completely sure they shoot outside on sat., but we are going to give it a try! We even have a sign!

One other thing I wanted to do but wasn't a huge deal was to go to the America girls store. When we walked right by it I had to go in. It was very cute; not what I expected but I couldn't really get into it without a little girl anyway.

Tonight we ate at
Roxies deli; I think matt posted the crazy big portions. I am so glad we shared, even though I needed a big meal after a long day of walking. So tonight we are coming in early so we can
Make it through tomorrow ( and next week too)!





Blessings!

Vacation 2.1

Here I am ready to go before 3:30 this morning.











Lesson2: check your terminal again before you leave the hotel so you won't have to tale the terminal link fr c to a. Ok nevermind we must walk. Ok nevermind we will ride. All checked in and approved. And no strip search!




Later...
And now, several hours later, we are here! Welcome to New York


Aren't we excited!
Blessings!

Vacation part one

Day one of our weekend getaway is done! We are in the the evening because we are leaving at 4 am in the morning.

So far we went to Frisco and stopped off at IKEA, where we bought Spencer some plastic plates ( exciting right). But we also saw some really cute toddler beds that we might ce
Back to look at when Spencer is old enough.

Then we drove around trying to find a
Place to eat. And we learned our first lesson of the weekend: even if it is right by a
Baseball field, a
Restaurant named Third
Base is NOT about baseball. Think about it.

So we went to texas land and cattle for our last Texas sized burger of the trip.



Here is our stuff all ready to go!

Blessings!

Time to Go. almost

so it's 11:37 and it is almost time to start the vacation. Before we can begin, we have to have lunch with Matt's mom, who is going to keep spencer for 4(!) days and nights. We have to give her the 10-4 on his habits, as well as his insurance card, just in case...well, i don't even want to mention it.

Then, we have to go home, finish packing, load up the car, take the dog to the vet (tired yet?), and THEN, it will be time to go. almost. Because tonight, we are going to spend the night in Dallas so we can get up at 4 am instead of 2 am to catch our 6 am flight. Spencer would have had to stay with his grandma anyway, because i am not getting him up at 2 am to take him to her house, and she is not getting up at 2 am to come to our house, where there is no bed to sleep in. and she offered to pay for our hotel room. And my parents are paying for the puppy's hotel bill, i.e. the vet's bording house.

THEN, at 6 am it will be time to go. I will try to keep you updated through my iPhone's blogger app. I probably won't share it on facebook so people don't get tired of my trip, so just check back here periodically!

The Countdown Begins...and MORE

In less that 36 hrs, I will be getting to the airport. Check back over the next weekend to see what Matt and I are doing, and how much we miss Spencer.

I have spent most of today trying to tie up loose ends so I can leave knowing that everything is under control (as if my presence really keeps things going). I think I just about there.

In the morning, Extreme Home Makeover will be having a rally here for a project in East Texas. I have watched the show a little, not a lot, because it makes me want to cry, and I don't like to cry. Matt's work was looking for volunteers but we are a little too slow on the uptake and there weren't any more places available. It is interesting to see how quickly people jump to a thing like this; of course, there's the chance to be on TV, but also, I think it is exciting to be a part of such a big effort. It makes you feel like you are a part of something big (and it is something big, I suppose). I hope people will also see that they do have time in their lives to make a difference, when they really make the time. I hope that it will inspire them to find ways to make a difference in smaller, every day ways.

I was glad to see that the Extreme Home Makeover team was participating in the Food Bank/Blood Bank's Fill the Banks campaign. That's the kind of small difference people can do without a camera video taping them. But the media attention will draw out a lot of people who otherwise would not give (as a side note, I have not personally given either, so I can't say a lot, this is just an example). But I hope it makes a lasting difference in our area of people getting out there to help their neighbors; of Christians getting out there to show the Love of their Lord to their neighbors; of people just caring about those around them.

So there's my little bit of rambling. Hope it made some kind of sense. Sorry to get serious on you for a moment, but sometimes, I think about more than a 16 mo. old (not often, but sometimes).

Part two

So, it is kind of weird to be taking our first vacation really since we found out we were pregnant two years ago. I know everyone is tired of hearing about it but this has been a dream of mine for so long. My college roomie Kammie loved in NY for about three or four years after graduating and I never made it even though I told her every six mos or so that I was coming. Just a few years late, Kammie! Since then, Kammie has lived in Korea and Guatemala, and strangely enough, my brother and his family live really close to her family. And I have lived...well... In Tyler.

I haven't even traveled by air since 9-11 so I have to keep reading what I can and can't being since we aren't checking our bags. Can matt bring a razor? Makeup? We will use hotel shampoo- hope they haven't quit doing that to save money!

Anyway, it is strange to think Spencer is going to be here all alone. We are going to try to get on the today show or good morning America on Saturday so look for us. I will try to send a text if we make it! But I want Spencer to see if we can.

But be in prayer for us-more for mom and dad, then maybe for nana, who is watching him!


Blessings!

A different kind of movie night

Tonight was a different kind of movie night at the Horton house. No, we weren't watching movies, we were MAKING them. Spencer can do amazing things, and we just haven't taken the time to video him-or when we got around to it, he quit doing his tricks! So tonight, we pulled out the camera and went crazy. First, he danced to his wiggles. Hot Potato and Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car are his favorites, and one way or another, he can actually request them. He can sign music (usually whenever we get on a computer, since he watches the videos on the computer) and can do almost all of the motions to Hot Potato-especially loving the Whew, Wigga Wigga Wigga. Then, Toot Toot Chugga Chugga always comes up next and he says, Toot Toot! It's pretty awesome when he can tell us what he wants-though we don't always like it!

Then, we pulled out one of our favorite books, a prayer book called Ark Angels-with of course, a lot of animals. And boy can he name all the animals! He loves to point out the animals more than read the prayers, but we fit it in. Anyway, I will see if I can add the videos, once i get them on my facebook, where people actually comment (ahem, ahem).

Not Me! Monday

Today is "not me" Monday, a day to discuss all the things we (you and I) did NOT do this week-no way-not us-we would never do something like that! So he

This was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So, this week, I did NOT neglect to clean the bathrooms, and chose instead to visit my parents, drop the boy off with them, and go to a movie with my honey! Nah, that would be crazy.

I also did NOT stay home to play in the snow with my little guy. It only happens once in a while here and we all have our weaknesses (and for my co-workers, i did come in once the hill melted a little).

I did NOT decide last night around 7:30 PM to redecorate my child's room, or let him stay up late so I could finish. I also did NOT leave all the trash laying around the hallway for a later pickup.

So, those are just a few things I did not do this week. What about you?

Feels like a Sunday

Except for the fact that we didn't get up to go to church this morning, today feels like a Sunday. Yesterday (which was Friday), we woke up to 6 inches of snow. Now, we got an email Thursday saying the church WILL be open, but don't endanger yourself to get here. So, when I saw Matt slide down our hill (when he was supposed to be going up it), and when I called the daycare and they were closed, I decided I wouldn't endanger myself!

So, Spencer and I stayed home to play in the snow. He was just a little too short to be able to walk in 6 inch snow, so all he did was face-plant. Then, I had to fulfill the many requests from his fans (grandparents and father) who couldn't be there, to post pictures of us playing. So, I oblidged. So I am not going to post pictures here. It is just too much work. Sorry, but you can look on my facebook page.

It was a fun and relaxing day, but I am not sure about being a stay at home mom. I guess if I stayed at home all the time we would find a routine and I would find easier ways to do things, but we just have trouble getting simple things like fixing meals done! Congras to all you stay at home moms out there!

Today, on my Saturday-that-feels-like-Sunday, we went to visit my parents and Spencer stayed with them while we went to a movie. Now, even before Spencer was born, we rarely went to the movies. It is just hard to shell out at least $25 if you want anything to eat or drink; but we got some free movie tickets for Christmas and just now have had time to use them.

We went to see When in Rome, a really cute chick-flick. I would recommend it is you just want a no-thinking movie to watch where you don't have to think at all and can leave feeling warm and fuzzy.

We are also getting ready for our trip to NEW YORK CITY next weekend. If there is a special place you think we should visit, let me know! We are only going to be there for about 1 1/2 days, so we can't do everything, but we are especially looking for places to eat. Otherwise, our game plan is simply to ride the tour bus through town and enjoy the sites. Neither of us have been there before, so we just want to SEE everything. Plus, we have tickets to a few museums (including the Guggenheim-which was in When in Rome).

All this to say, I only have to work 3 1/2 days next week, and Thursday morning is an Extreme Home Makeover Pep Rally at our church, so I think I will go to that then have a relaxing morning! Sounds like a good way to start off a vacation, right?

Snow day part two

So, I had a huge headache when we got home tonight, so when Matt got home and got the dishes done (yes he is a good husband and his chore is doing dishes), I had to lay down for a bit. When I woke up, it was a winter wonderland. We waited for Spencer to go to sleep, then went outside to play!

So, not knowing what else to do with snow, and not knowing about snow ice cream, we built a snowman! Here is Matt rolling out the head. I rolled out the middle section.





He's a pretty tall snowman... and we don't have any snow left around the yard...




We didn't have coal or carrots, so we borrowed some of Spencer's blocks for the face.




and here is the final product. Remember the mums from earlier? Now they are hair for the snowman-maybe he should be a snowwoman?









Here's me and my new BFF, Snowmum... and matt guarding Snowmum-or something like that.





Now we are just waiting to hear if we have to go to work and if the daycare is going to be open. Still deciding about the healthfair tomorrow-i hate making these kinds of decisions. No matter what you decide, you always wonder if you made the right decision. I guess I will wait til tomorrow morning to see if the roads are clear and if it is supposed to freeze tomorrow night. For now, I am just glad I have been able to enjoy it!
Blessings!

Snow Day

While we are still in school/work (maybe we will get out early???), IT'S SNOWING! Spencer and I went out to check it out. It is not his first snowfall, since it snowed in Dec., but this one actually stuck to the grass a little bit, so it was a little more exciting.

Here he is in his big snow coat. He's gotten to wear it a couple of times this week.




Here we are checking out the melted snow on the driveway. The temp is still up so nothing is sticking yet, but it is only supposed to get colder!





Running through the snow! He doesn't get to go in the front yard too much, so that is a treat in and of itself. But walking through the snow was a ton of fun.




Even the flowers that somehow appeared in my flowerbed a few days ago were covered. I think I saw some similar flowers in my husband's truck the day before...



We ran all the way through the neighbor's yard, fell and slid on the hill, and enjoyed every minute of it. We were on a search for snow puppies (or favorite things).




Hope you are enjoying your snow day. Seems like everyone is having one today!


I had to cancel my Bible Study for tonight, but hope to be able to have a health fair at the Pine Creek townhomes tomorrow. We will just have to take this thing one day at a time.


Blessings!

Happy Valentine's Day!

So, as you may know, I have taken up the art of cake decorating. As I think I have said, I am not as much interested in the cake part as the decorating part, so when i found a shortcut to these "Valentine's Day Petit Fours," I thought, this is just for me! PERFECT!

Now, to give credit where credit is due, I stole the recipe and the picture "tutorial" from this website: http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2010/02/valentine-petit-fours.html but I didn't use all of her ideas.

I made these tonight for Spencer's teachers. He went over to his Nana's house for a little visit, and Matt was supposed to bring him home around 8:00, so it gave me just enough time to stroll through Target, then rush in to another local store that will remain nameless for the corn syrup that you will see at the end of the recipe, then come home and assemble. But I wanted you to see what I did so you can do it again, but improve upon it because I really didn't have much time to be creative.

So, here is what you start with: Oreo Cakesters, Fondant (storebought for me-remember-decorating not taste so much), a rolling pin and a little Wilton food coloring.


Next, I colored a little fondant pink. (TIP, use the white first, as the coloring will stain your hand and taint your white-oh, the horror)!




Because I was using 3 colors and had 12 cakesters, I first divided all my fondant into 3 sections, tinted the one section pink, then divided it into 4 sections. Maybe I am a little OCD, but it works for me! At least I knew how much I had for each one.





I rolled out one of my balls of fondant and layed it on top, cut around the edges, and tucked the edges in underneath.





So sweet...and it is hiding a delicious suprise!





I did it for all the colors and all the cakesters.





With the leftover fondant, I used heart cutters to make some toppings. Then I added corn syrup to the sides and dipped in sugar.







Ta dah, a final result!




One specially wrapped gift for a friend (girl) because Matt had to have one and to have one, he had to take 3 in order to keep the colors even. OCD again, but look at the next picture and you will see why.





Ta dah Ta dah, the final product. Hope his teachers like them.



It really didn't take that long, and didn't require too many skills. A lot easier than the footballs! If you want the real deal and some other cute ideas, visit the original website and let me know how yours turn out!
Blessings!

Will it snow?

Brrr, it was cold today. Spencer pulled out his big coat for the cold but only got to wear it about 30 seconds in the actual cold. Not hardly worth the effort since he couldn't really wear it in the car ( and probably would have burned up if he had). But he looked so cute so thatade it worth it.

Tonight he is going to his nana's so I am trying to decide what I want to do. So many choices but I will probably end up just going to target. Wild night, I know, but I don't get these times often enough to really be able to do anything. But hopefully by the end of the evening I will
Have some lovely valentines day delicacies to show off!


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A little of this...

So we finally had a very relaxing weekend and did almost nothing-almost. But here is a picture post of what we DID do this weekend.

First I made football cakes for our Sunday school super bowl party at the Cottons. This was my first try at fondant, and they turned out really cute.






Then, we ate popcorn. We looked all over Hastings for a New York movie, but really spencer just walked around and by the time we got to looking for movies, he had had enough and we had to leave. So we watched Sinfeld. When I eat popcorn, I usually have a puppy and a boy right in front of me begging, so Spencer got his own bowl this time. Daddy even had his bowl, so puppy had 3 people to beg from!







Then, we went to church on sunday morning. Spencer looked so cute, I had to take his picture. The funny thing was, I never dreamed that people would think his name was Tommy. But everyone called him Tommy all day. We didn't have the heart to correct them. He got to run around before Sunday School opened because i had to be there early, and boy did he wear himself out. He had to take a nap in the nursery, even though he hasn't had morning naps in a month. But he was still cranky when we went to lunch. I guess Sunday afternoon lunches are out of the question for a bit.


That's all the pictures I have, but after lunch, Matt and I passed out flyers at one of my apartment complexes while Spencer napped at Nana's. Then we went to the super bowl party (with our cakes) and had a blast. Thank goodness for DVR's, we were only about 2-3 min. behind by the end. Spencer fell asleep in the car and didn't stir when we got him out.

Now, its back to the work week! Good luck to you all!

Eat bananas

Bananas are the best breakfast food according to Spencer. He has one banana almost everyday with either toast pancakes or waffles.



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