First Halloween!

Today was Spencer's first Halloween! He was all dressed up as an adorable baby elephant.

For the beginning of festivities, he went with the rest of his daycare friends trick-or-treating at a few of the businesses in Harrisburg. After daycare, his friends Grayson, Izzy, Judah, Jeremiah, Judah, and Krystian all went around the neighborhood together, dressed as various zoo animals. Of course, parents went with.

One of the highlights of the night, though, was that uncle Jesse and BFF Samantha came with! They are "home" from Alaska for a few days, so they can celebrate Spencer's first birthday (tomorrow)! Uncle Jesse did most of the trick-or-treating with Spencer.

I hope to have pictures to share in the next fewdays, but our computer is currently broken, so I am writing this on my phone. However, if you visit http://www.YouTube.com/ninjasj there are a few videos of Spencer in his costume from the photo shoot we did on Saturday!

Cake Smash!

This morning, Spencer had his One-year photographs taken, with Staci of Something Clicked Photography. She did our family photos this summer, as well as Spencer's 4th of July Patriotic session. I love her work, so naturally, when it came time to schedule photos for his birthday, she was my first choice photographer.

The photo session was at 10:30. Spencer woke around 9am, and had breakfast, then played until we got ready to go. I figured he wasn't super tired since he slept in, but he started to get groggy and doze off in the backseat on the way to the session. I drove slow, thinking maybe he'd take a quick power nap then, before we got there, and be happy and refreshed.

I was wrong. He didn't sleep, and when we got there, he was in a "questionable" mood. He wanted to hang on me, which isn't totally abnormal since he's going through that "I need my mommy" phase. But, he wasn't very smiley, that's for sure. More often than not, he gave us both serious and silly expressions, as opposed to smiles.

It didn't help either that he's started taking steps (he took his first steps on Thursday! And now he keeps trying it over and over. You can watch a video by clicking here.), and crawling, and doesn't stay still for anything. And then, he kept tipping over chairs, crates, and such, that were used as props, and banging his head and face on the floor and the wall. He's hit that super clumsy stage, it seems, as well. He also kept pushing the crate, chairs, and bucket across the floor and room, right off the photo set. It was sure a busy hour!

But, Staci did a great job! She uploaded five preview shots on her Facebook page tonight, and I LOVE them all. My gosh, I think I have one of the cutest kids in the world.

I don't think you'd be able to tell his not-so-smiley-clumsy-cranky mood was going on by the shots she's shared already. Now that's a great photographer, right?

He did enjoy parts of the session, though, don't get me wrong. He LOVED the balloons. He kept crawling around holding onto them, and bringing them all over the room. And he loved banging on the metal pail. And, of course, he had a good time with the CAKE SMASH! Yeah! He was actually pretty focused and a little serious about it, but it was fun to watch! He got frosting EVERYWHERE. All over himself, all over the floor, all over me... all over... well, pretty much anything within reach.

It was awesome.

Spencer will be one in like... 10 days! WOAH!

Pumpkin Guts!

For the first time today, Spencer (and his daddy, actually, also!) experienced "pumpkin guts" for the first time. For me, carving, de-gutting, and harvesting seeds from a pumpkin has been a long-time "love affair" stemming from my childhood. Jake... not so much. I guess they didn't have those traditions in their family?

And of course, it's Spencer's first fall, so he hadn't experienced this all before.

Needless to say, I took it upon myself to make this a family affair.

Spencer didn't have much of an "outward" reaction to the slimy, gooey, seedy insides of our pumpkins, at least vocally, I guess. But, he did make quite a few funny faces for the camera. We took video, but who knows if/when we will get it actually put online.

I can't actually gauge if Spencer liked or disliked the experience, to be quite honest. He wasn't too fond of the idea of sticking his arm into the middle of the pumpkin, but he didn't seem to mind the stuff hanging from the "lid."

He was a big fan of the seeds. Really. He discovered them almost right away and was having a hard time picking them up and holding onto them, because they're slick little buggers. When I was de-gutting my pumpkin, he was glad to be of assistance, though, and was all up in my way and stealing seeds from my bowl.

Love that kid.

And, Jake had fun too! He laughed his way through feeling the pumpkin's guts and proceeded to de-gut and seed his entire pumpkin all by himself. I was so proud!

I carved mine already, but haven't taken pictures because I don't have a candle. Jake hasn't carved his. Spencer has yet to paint his miniature one. Oh! And I made a second pumpkin of mine into a chalkboard pumpkin.

It was fun. The end. :)

A short update with a few pictures.

I just feel like I should write a short update about Spencer's life and activities lately, although, I guess, there aren't any "developments" or anything of that nature to report.

Let's see.

Last weekend, Jake, Spencer, Wendell, and I packed up our things and headed to Jake's mom's house, or as Spencer will refer to it, Nana Mindy's. He had a good time, as far as we can tell! He enjoyed playing with Wendell and Jeb, getting kisses, and trying to pull to standing using them. He had supper, breakfast, and lunch with everyone, and did a really good job eating what we did! Mostly, anyway. We discovered he likes grapes and bacon!

He witnessed his first bonfire there as well, and was very entranced by it.

He also met a new friend, Morgan, daughter of my life-long friend, Miranda, and her husband, Brandon.

The other night in the bathtub, he was squatting in the water, and proceeded to stand all by himself in the middle of the tub, without using any assistance.

It freaked me out! It has only happened the one time, though.

He has also taken his bath-time splashing to a new level, as seen here.

He loves this video, by the way.

Today, he went to a funeral with me, and didn't even yell "uh-oh Nicole!" during the mass, like I was terrified he would.

Unfortunately, though, he's been a little bit crabby and restless lately. I am pretty sure he is getting a few more teeth.