Still Unpacking...

I am so sorry I have been such a slug lately. Karen, Connie, and Sandy have been trying to get a hold of me, Darby asked where I've been, Shelley tagged me in a blog and I haven't responded to anyone, I feel so loved, and I will be responding soon!

Our house has been a whirlwind of activity. Greg flew in last Wednesday, I picked him up and we went straight to our inspection of the new house. On Thursday morning we had packers in first thing, to finish packing the things I hadn't gotten to, which wasn't much! Thursday afternoon we closed on our new house. That's a story all in itself! Let's just say I will NEVER use Remax! Our agents from Coldwell Banker were fabulous! Thursday night we did a few pre-move things and Friday the truck came to load us up. By Friday night (11 hours) later we were all unloaded and I was on my way to the airport to pick up my Mom. (Thanks Mom for coming out, you were a life saver!)

On Saturday morning Gabe broke out with spots all over his mouth, feet and hands...yep Hand, Foot and Mouth, AGAIN! Everything I've read says you usually only get it once, but Gabe's had it at least three times! Sunday night Greg threw out his back and Monday he started vomiting. He went to the emergency room and found out he had strep so he was out of commission for the next three days. It's been crazy! Thankfully we are starting to regain some normalcy. Our house is almost unpacked and we are starting to feel like we are "home". Sam LOVES his new school and our neighbors are wonderful. When the weather is nice the boys spend hours in the cul de sac playing with the other kids! Today is Greg's last day at the Army Test and Evaluation Center; tomorrow he checks in at the Major's course on Belvoir. We are really looking forward to some calm, relaxed summer days here in Woodbridge!

I'll post more soon, including our day yesterday when we met the REAL ELMO and ROSITA! It was SOOOOO cool!

Worth Fighting For

In the last couple months I have learned of 3 couples (the girls I knew from high school) who are getting divorced. This makes me so sad. I know I got married knowing it would be forever, and I know Greg felt the same way. I am thankful that my children first learned about divorce on the movie "Enchanted", in front of us, so that we could explain that Mommy and Daddy would never ever get divorced, that it's something they don't need to be scared of. I love that at the end of "Enchanted" (which did I mention is my favorite movie) that the couple gets back together and realizes that you can't hold on to the bad times, you have to remember the good ones.

Greg and I's marriage has not been the easiest but through it all we've fought for each other. There is a new song on the radio by Warren Barfield called "Love is Not a Fight". I love it! Great words. It's funny, Nancy and I were at TJ Maxx the other day and the song "100 Years" came on by Five for Fighting. I mentioned how I really liked the song and that the words always made me tear up a little. Nancy also said she liked the song but had never listened to the words. Sometimes I think it's a curse, but I hear every word in every song and give me two listens and I can sing it for you. It's crazy! This video is not the real music video of the song, but it does show you the words. It's worth a listen:



I love the visual image of angels guarding the door. I know they've guarded ours!!

Urban Legends...

I am fascinated by Urban Legends.  I am not an email "forwarder" but I do like to read about the Urban Legends going around on www.snopes.com.  I read this statement on there today and chuckled out loud, I don't normally laugh out loud so I had to post it here.  If no one else laughs, I know my Dad will!!

One day I had to be a bearer of bad news when I told a wife that her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct.  Not more then five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family that he had died of a "massive internal fart".    Submitted by Dr. Susan Steinberg

Who knows if it's true, but I giggled even just typing it.  I think all these boys are getting to me!

First Words

I was trying to catch Joel dancing in this video. He didn't really perform much and the video is a little long, BUT at about the 55 second mark I swear he says GEE WIZ. Check it out!! Don't bother watching the rest, I was trying to get him to crawl, but no such luck (he can, but no luck catching it on video!).



Coincidence? What do you think? So sorry, this is an annoying Mom video!!

Tom Sawyer

Shameful

In looking for a new home we looked into two foreclosure properties. Greg and I have some sympathy for these people. They felt that they had the American dream and then suddenly they are unable to pay their mortgage. I cannot imagine how upsetting it must be, I hope I never have to imagine. Last Sunday the kids and I drove by the house, we also drove by one of the foreclosure properties. On Sunday there was a light mist falling and much of our ground is heavily saturated; yet with all this, the owners of the foreclosure had backed their U-haul right up on the yard, right up to the front door, destroying the front lawn. Using the drive way would have only cost them an extra six feet or so, but why bother it's not "their" home anymore. This is where my sympathy for them ends. Just because you got in over your head does not mean you should be allowed to destroy someone else's property. Evidently this is a common problem:

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=7316709

The video is a little long, but worth the watch. It is sickening to think people will sink this low. I'm not sure how they can be angry with a bank when the bank is simply repossessing something that is rightfully theirs. Please help me understand if I've missed the boat here. And answer me this, why can't these people be brought up on charges and imagine what this kind of behavior teaches their children??

Colon meets Semi-Colon

Finally to what I had hoped to blog about yesterday... For those of you who don't know my brother, he is a character to say the least. It's amazing after all the years we spent fighting, literally clawing at each others eyes, that we have managed to work out some sort of friendship. Gregory is a self made man. At 26 he's seen the world (or at least the country) and had opportunities many never dream of having. Fresh out of college he worked for Go T records (Toby Mac of DC Talk's record company), he toured with a band who's music has been on commercials (or at least one)and the other day he texted me to tell me he was currently in the studio with the fiddle player from Big and Rich. Nothing surprises me about my brother and one day he will probably be a millionaire. (Read: Spencer boys, starting brown nosing now!)

Now, if you know nothing about my brother, know this: the man LOVES semi-colons. That's why when I came across a blog quiz entitled, "What Punctuation are You?" I immediately thought of him. I took the five question quiz and found that I myself am a colon:

You Are a Colon

You are very orderly and fact driven. You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue. You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched. You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions. Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice. (But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!) You excel in: Leadership positions You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

This is ironic. Gregory is a lot like me, notice the afore mentioned fighting. He is probably also a colon. Note, "You get along best with: The Semi-Colon" So maybe under all of his crazy decisions, under all that crazy hat wearing, under all his homeless man looking ways...maybe just maybe he's on to something. Maybe for him it's not "Must love dogs", it's "Must love semi-colons", and maybe that's okay. Maybe the crazy decisioned, crazy hat wearing, homeless looking (Lord help us) girl he one day marries will appreciate his Colon ways! (poor Greg I know he puts up with mine)

Philippians 2:3

This wasn't what I had officially wanted to blog about today, but there was no way I could not post this video. We've had a rough couple of days. It has been rainy and Sam had a long weekend so we were all royally getting on each other's nerves. Yesterday I had had enough of all the bickering, conniving, selfish behavior. Enough was enough and the boys spent an hour on their own blanket without any toys or entertainment thinking about how rude they had been. During that hour, I enjoyed the quiet, ate some dinner, watched some TV and thought about how we could change the dynamics of our house. I knew the boys and I (I was guilty too) needed a heart change, so during that hour I decided that we would memorize Philippians 2:3, which says:

"Don't be selfish, don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better then yourselves." (New Living Translation)

After memorizing I was amazed at the attitude adjustment in our house. Today people were bending over backwards to not be selfish and think of each other first AND they want to learn other versus that apply to our daily lives, it was wonderful. Here is a video of Gabe saying his verse...he's so sweet and that sweetness on his face, is pudding...

Puzzeling Isn't It

Sam is really into puzzles right now. I introduced him to 100 piece puzzles over Spring Break. He's gotten really quick and is now pushing me to buy him bigger and better puzzles. Here are some pictures of a few of his latest:

Shall we go on a Picnik??

Technology is amazing. When I think back to how far things have come even since just my college days, I am aghast.

I love blogs and am currently following (read: stalking) 35 different blogs. They range from craft blogs to fashion to family. Thank goodness for Google Reader or I'd never be able to keep up!

One blog I love to read is "it's the little things". She makes AMAZING jewelry and her blog is beautiful. One of her recent posts was about a new site called Picnik. I am IN LOVE. It's a photo editing website and it is so much fun. She is one million times more talented then I am on it, so check out her site for the "stuff" she's done, but here are a couple pictures I played around with this weekend:

You can make the picture black and white and then remove the black and white in certain areas. Here I did Gabe's vampire teeth and eyes.

Another effect on this picture of Joel and Jillian. FUN!

Ethan helped me with this one. He wanted me to draw on the mustache but then had second thoughts. The words were his words.

I was raving about the program to the two Greg's in my life (my bro and my hubby) and they both informed me of adobe's new program photoshop express (I believe). Well I checked them both out and for ease of use and abilities I definitely like Picnik better! Go check it out!!

Harold and The Purple Crayon

As I mentioned last year, Dr. Suess' birthday is a big affair around here! Back at the end of February we had a "character" parade to celebrate the big day. Sam's not much of a "dresser upper" so I knew we had to pick a character that wouldn't require too much. Nancy thought of Harold from "Harold and the Purple Crayon", perfect! I set about making a purple crayon and we bought a big blue shirt to match Harold's jammies. Isn't he cute?!

Sweet Pink Baby Cheeks

I was trying to capture "I just woke up from my nap and I have sweet "I slept so hard" pink baby cheeks" but all I got was "MOTHER, I'm so tired, I can't see straight". Equally as cute, I suppose.

Baby Kiwi....who knew....

The boys and I love going to Trader Joe's. We went on Sunday afternoon and we always immediately head back to the "taste" section, as we like to call it. Most days they have almost an entire meal there and Sunday was no exception. They had Chicken Parmesan, vegetables, blackberries, juice, cookies, and Baby Kiwi. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Well we hadn't and we were all a little hesitant to try them. They looked like little tiny (non furry) watermelons. Being the good mother I am (note the sarcasm), I was the King's tester, there was no way I was "popping it in my mouth like a grape" as the women behind the counter instructed, but I did take a little nibble. YUM. They are so good. They have little hard ends on them so I still can not imagine just throwing a few back, but if you cut them off I think they very well maybe one of my new favorite fruits. The boys LOVED them and insisted we buy a pack. At about $.40 a kiwi, we only bought one pack but we sure enjoyed them yesterday!

Baby Kiwi

Don't they look like cute little watermelons?!

See really is Kiwi inside....

I was a total sucker and bought every sample item they had, including the juice! Here was our dinner last night. So yummy, can you believe, TWO of my children went to bed at 6:15 because they were refusing to eat! Silly children!!