While Mom's Away the Boys Will Play!

So Chrystal headed out to Kentucky to see family and attend the World's Largest Chicken Festival.  She took Paisley along leaving Spencer and I at home for a boys weekend.  We started our day off today with T-ball.  Spence has been playing for a month now.  We will post pictures I promise.  After T-ball, we went and got a fishing license so I could pass my master angler skills on to him.

Green Mountain Falls has a little lake in the middle of town that is stocked by the DOW.  Spence is set up with a Buzz Lightyear fishing pole he got a few birthdays or Christmases ago.

We had some bites early on thanks to the trout nugget power bait we got at Walmart.

He was working hard to get the first fish!

Dad caught the first keeper, but Spence netted it for us.

He kept chugging along.  We ended up fishing for over 2 hours.  Amazing it held his attention for that long.

Spence caught the second keeper all on his own.  He made the cast and told me he had a fish on.  I thought he was kidding until he reeled it right up to the bank where I netted it.

I was absolutely amazed when he caught the fish on his own.  We were lake/pond fishing without bobbers and the kid hooked one all by himself!  I was a very proud dad to say the least.  We will definitely be heading back.  We just haven't decided yet if mom and Paisley will be allowed. 

9 Months of Excitement

So it's a week before she is actually 9 months, but we went in for the 9 month check up today.  The stats are 17 lbs 3 oz and 26.75 inches long.  Both are right on the average line the doctor shows on his laptop.   I obviously told an untruth when I said we would be back with Mother's Day pictures.  Here is a photo summary of the past 3 months.

We fed the ducks.

With Mimi!!!!!

We went to a children's museum where Paisley fell in love with the full length mirror.

We went swimming.  Spence took like a fish to water.

Paisley watched us swim, but did get in with Mom and Dad at point.

Spence got himself stuck in the sand at the beach.

One of Paisley's many trips the doctor's office with several ear infections.  We are on the door step of tubes.

We went to see Brave as a family and played in the fountains outside the theater.

The 4th of July brought out some baseball practice.

Gotta keep the Spencer to Paisley ratio in line here.

We went to the Renaissance Festival.  It was Ian and Kim's first trip so Ian got the joy of taking the kids on the elephant ride.

We will get better at posting as our summer is more open instead of weekend event after weekend event.  We will be back sometime soon.

6 Months of No Sleep

We have been at this family of four thing for six months now.  Paisley went to the doctor for her check up and is getting rave reviews.  Her stats are 13 lbs 12 oz (29th percentile) and 25.6 inches long (70th percentile).  Our little string bean continues to grow.

Big brother and little sister are proving to be photogenic.

Here is her latest trick.

Mother's day is right around the corner so I am sure we will be back with more pictures from Auntie Kristen's house.  She is cooking for all the moms this year!

April's Update

So we figured we shouldn't miss a month and wanted to squeak a post in.  Chrystal decided to physically scar our daughter for life by having her ears pierced. 

The Before

The "Marking/During"

The After.  Its kinda hard to see in this picture but the pink pearls are there.

Easter was a great weather day so Spencer spent some time blowing bubbles.

We also flew his kite the Easter Bunny brought him.

Again, the earrings aren't visible, but this one was cute.

Mimi made a visit and gave Chrystal and I a little time without the kiddos.  The kids loved it, as did Chrystal and I.  I know this is a quick one, but peanut hit the 6 month mark and we head to the doctor on Tuesday so we will be back soon with stats and some more pictures.

4 Month Checkup

Last Monday was Paisley's 4 month check up.  She was 11 lbs 6 oz (36th percentile) and 23 1/8 inches longs (48th percentile).  The past month has been a little hectic as I have been traveling for work during the week and leaving Chrystal to get both kids to and from daycare.  She has been a real trooper, but luckily the travel is over until summer for me.

Today the weather was amazing and let us get some time spent outdoors to burn off a little pent up energy.

Only 364 more days until tee ball tryouts!

Good thing we have a little time to work on it.

It was a big game for the Wildcats today and Paisley was decked out for it.

She is obviously the more photogenic one.  

Otherwise all is going well.  Paisley is sleeping well for 6 - 7 hours at a stretch over night.  We are getting some rest, but there is still some room for improvement.  Aunt Alex (and soon to be Uncle Brad ???) are coming down this month and Chrystal thinks they are going to take Paisley to get her ears pierced.  After consulting with Pa, I may have to veto that idea and earrings don't work well under a softball batting helmet.

3 Years Old

Spencer is 3!  Hard to believe its been three years since we became parents.  His big day started with a trip to the doctor.  No shots this time so the day was off to a good start.  He was 36 lbs and 39 inches tall.  That puts him in the 88th percentile in both categories.  After the doctor appointment was a quick haircut then off to Monument to eat lunch with dad and play in McDonald's.  That night we did a small cupcake with candles and turned off the light so he could blow them out.  He thought that was the coolest thing ever.

So excited to blow out the candles.

We had a party on Saturday the 28th.  We started out with ice skating @ Sertich.  It was fun to watch the parents get out and work with the kids to help them along.  We are all very thankful for the buckets pictured below.  We then all came back to the house for cake, ice cream, & presents.

A whole sea of presents.  And that is Allie in the background.  She made the trip out all the way from Georgia.

The buckets were back savers.

By the end of the day we were doing better!

We couldn't put up a post without pictures of Paisley as well.

She is a smilin' fool.

We did have a tragic event in our lives recently as Chrystal's dad passed away.  We want to say thank you to everyone who was able to make the services in Louisville as well as Omaha.  The outpouring of support and well wishes through the tough times has been amazing and we are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

Christmas Update

So Christmas has come and gone as has the new year.  We did get a trip in to see Santa of course.  Spencer was actually willing to sit next to the man in red and told him he wanted "lots of stuff" for Christmas and that Paisley wanted "baby girl toys."

Such a big improvement from a year ago.

We spent Christmas in Kentucky.  The kids were great on the flight as and soon as our Crown Victoria rental got us to London we had plenty of helpers willing to take them off our hands.  Thank you so much to Johnny and Paula for being such wonderful hosts.  Thank you also to everyone for the gifts.

Look Ma! No oxygen.

Uncle Don was Spencer's hero as we got to go to the fire station and see the fire trucks.

Getting this picture took a lot longer than it should have.

As I mentioned Paisley is off her oxygen.  We are so thankful to be done with it and have a child that doesn't have a tube connected to her.  She just had her two month check up today: 8 lbs 9 oz (30th percentile) & 21.5" long (66th percentile).