No Self-Esteem Issues Here

Oh yes, I have a blog...we've been busy with all things Christmas and a few not-so-festive things like the stomach bug so my blogging has been neglected.

In the past month Noelle has made 2 comments that really capture her current attitude - the word 'princess' comes to mind.

1) We wrote letters to Santa Claus this year.  Not that the girls believe in Santa but it seemed like a festive thing to do and Noelle got to practice her letter writing.  I told her that one of the things she needed to include in her letter was a rating of herself.  She had to tell Santa, on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best, how good she was this year.  She readily replied, "Oh, I'm a 10!"

2)  I had a parent-teacher conference a few weeks ago and before I left for school I asked Noelle what I should expect her teacher to tell me.  She confidently said "She'll say, 'Noelle's awesome.' and that will be the end."

We've Been Busy

We've had a lot going on at our house since I last blogged.  So here's a quick overview:

First we installed a wall to enclose our basement.  We liked the openness, but this is simply more practical.

Here's a 'before' shot. (ignore the box spring on the right)

This is Brad and Alex McCall after the railing is out

Framing up the wall

Drywall goes up

Mostly complete

I don't have any pictures of the final look.  It's painted with trim around the door, but there are still some trim pieces to install.

Now with an 'extra' room we were ready for company.  Brad's brother, Dave, came out with his family for Thanksgiving.  We enjoyed many fun times...and one trip to the ER that you can read about on my SIL blog.

Noah and Ethan, making a turkey

Buddies; Noelle and Noah

Spence Sandwich

Singing and Dancing

Making a Thanksgiving banner

The 4 cousins: Noah, Ethan, Sadie and Noelle

Noelle reading to Ethan

The kids got along great and it was so fun to hang out with Dave and Elizabeth. Good times.

Pandora

I just love Pandora.  My new favorite station is "Sovereign Grace".   The majority of our worship music on Sunday is from Sovereign Grace Music but I didn't think Pandora would have it...but it does!
It's a great station to listen to to counteract any frustrated moments you may be having with your daily life - I'm guessing you can relate:)

If you're not familiar with Pandora, it's a website that plays music from your computer.  All you do is enter a song or artist that you enjoy and it picks songs that are similar.  Brilliant!

Man Goes on Three Seperate Dates in ONE Day

Can it be...there is a man so popular that he has 3 dates lined up for him in one day!?
Yep.
No, he's not The Bachelor
He's my man:)

Today Brad went to Noelle's school to eat lunch with her.  Fine dining with corn dogs and a hundred first-graders.

This afternoon he took Sadie out for hot chocolate at Reality Tuesdays.

And this evening we have a movie picked out and a few sweet treats of our own.  so gotta run...

The Phone Call

We have a number of old cell phones that the girls play with.  Yesterday Sadie was talking on her phone and I thought I heard her say "Chloe" so I asked her if she was talking to Chloe Petri.

Sadie: NO, Chloe is FOUR.  She's not old enough to have a phone.  (disregard the fact that Sadie is only 3)

Me:  Then who are you talking to?

Sadie:  Tinkerbell.  (oh, that's a whole lot more realistic then a 4-year-old)

Applesauce Making and Trick-or-Treating

My parents are visiting for the weekend so we took advantage of the extra hands and made applesauce on Saturday.  Mmmm....

 Then we had a great time Trick-or-Treating last evening.  Our 2 fairies walked a long way and got some great candy!

Pumpkin Fun

Free Stuff

I'm cleaning out some stuff and I wanted to see if any of you wanted anything before I give it to Goodwill. 

• wooden chest
• brown pottery vase - crackled paint
• mini rocking chair
• basket
• blue clock
• oven Cleaner
• ice Cream Ball
• globe light bulbs
• basket hanger
• clear, glass vase

Sadie Cuteness

Ok, I know I'm biased, but Sadie was looking exceptionally cute yesterday so I had to take some pictures of her.

Brad said only girls can go through the emotional swing of the last three pictures in the 10 seconds I was taking them.

Grandpa and Grandma visit

Brad's parents were in town this weekend for Counseling and Discipleship Training at our church.  We got to spend some down-time with them Sunday afternoon so we headed to one of our perfect-weather locations: The Purple People Bridge/Sawyer's Point.

Isn't this the coolest playground!?

Lots of concentration

Grandpa and Grandma Spence

Cold Stone Creamery to top of the perfect afternoon & evening

Piglet

It is not uncommon for Sadie to call from another room and say "Mom" to which I answer "Yes?" and she replies "Nothing".  I'm not sure why she does it, but it reminds me of this quote by Piglet:

I think it's sweet, so I thought I could start calling her "Piglet" but then I thought it might not come across as that endearing.
And then I remembered...there was a point while Brad and I were dating that he called me Piggy.  I think it stemmed from the movie "Babe".  Brad has wised up matured a lot since then and realized Piggy is NOT something to call your wife.  I do get called Babe sometimes and that's perfectly acceptable, but Piggy is only for young love where you're so enamored by each other you could be called Big Bertha and think it's cute.

A Little Laugh

I just saw this video on another blog and it cracked me up.  I thought I'd with any ladies that are getting older.

Ahh, Fall

Fall is just a wonderful time of year.
Cozy sweatshirts
Fires burning
Golden sunlight
Crisp, dry weather
Flickering candles
And lots of baking
This is the time of year I bake a lot and I love to make as many things as possible with pumpkin and some of my favorite spices.

So far this year we've had pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin muffins and a pumpkin bundt cake.  The muffins and cake were new recipes and definitely keepers. (if you try try the muffins, increase the pumpkin to 1 cup.  If you try the cake, check it after 45 minutes of baking)

Today I mixed up Molasses Cookies with my cute helper.  Chewy Molasses Cookies with homemade applesauce...mmm..mmm.

Sweet Rewards for a good helper

I Had No Idea

Well I learned something new over the weekend.  It's not earth-shattering, but enlightening.   Anyone who learned how to type on a typewriter, as I did, was probably taught to double space after a period.  Did you know...are you ready for this?...You are only suppose to single space after a period now?!?  So basically everything I've typed for the past 13 years has been incorrect - including this post.  It's going to be a hard habit to break.

**update**
I can't remember what blog I discovered this typography tidbit (don't you love that word? typography) but here is a link to verify my new-found knowledge.

Sadie Can Drive

On the way back from Kroger today Sadie informed me that she knows how to drive and she wanted to know how old she had to be before she started driving.  I told her she had to be 16 and she has to be tall enough to reach the pedals.  Sadie's reply was, "What pedals?"...maybe she's not quite ready.

This summer I wrote down a bunch of words Sadie still says incorrectly.  They are so cute, so I usually don't correct her.  Just in the past several weeks she learned the correct pronunciation so I'll document them here so I don't forget.

becept = except
bemember = remember
shnarshnellow = marshmallow
snoot snack = fruit snack
orport = airport
eatmeal = oatmeal
ogurt = yogurt
berry  = very
pupcake = cupcake
foots = feet
my ok = I'm ok
wet's go = let's go
scunscreen = sunscreen
scunday school = Sunday school

And my 2 favorite
Sucka = Fresca
Pudge = Fudge (self-fulfilling prophecy)

Lovely Sunday

Sunday was a lovely day to get out with the family.  So our little family headed to the Purple People Bridge, taking you from Newport, KY to Cincinnati, OH.  We played at Sawyer Point and then returned home, happy and refreshed.

You Know You're Growing Up in the 21st Century When...

• You play Sunday school with your sister and one of you has a label stuck on your back that says "Allergic to:  Milk".  (they're not allergic, but they're role-playing what they see at Sunday School)

• You're 3 and you're pretending you're going on a trip.  You get everything together that you'll need; a suitcase, a purse and a cell phone.  Then just before you "leave" you consult your cell phone and let your mom know "There are some thunderstorms but my phone said it won't be near me." 

• Your watching an "old" movie (Beauty and the Beast) with the family and at the end of the movie you hear an odd whirring noise.  Concerned about this new noise you ask your parents what is wrong.  The parents calming explaining that it's a VHS tape and it has to rewind...uh, like a cassette tape...or uh...it's just something it has to do.

Campin'

Our family went camping over Labor Day weekend.  It was probably our best camping experience yet, due to several factors, but the largest success factor was the Johansson's backyard --our campground.  

That's my kind of camping - no bugs in the bathroom, no obnoxious neighbors blaring their music and a real stove within a few feet of the tent.

What a trio!

Matthew is very excited about the little tent he got to share with his Dad

Grace joined the Spence's in our ginormous tent.  Noelle and Grace are spending some time with the all-important task of sorting silly bands

4 of the 5 kiddos.  Baby William has a little growing to do before he joins the big kids

Campfire.  The men are happy!

Big Mama

Don't you love how kids just state the obvious and are oblivious to the fact that it's insulting?

Sadie loves to dress up so when she discovered the bin of clothes waiting for Noelle to grow into them, she was in heaven.  At one point she came to me with a large pair of shorts pulled up over her own shorts and she excitedly exclaimed, "Mom, these are so fat, they would probably fit you!"

Then there's Noelle...  In music the teacher was explaining that big instruments make low notes and small instruments make high notes.  She compared this to Daddy's have low voices and mommies have higher voices.  Noelle told us that she raised her hand right away to inform her teacher that her mommy is bigger than her daddy.  I'm guessing the teacher thinks I'm some large brute of a woman--with a low voice.

A Note From a Boy

I was going through Noelle's paperwork from school this afternoon when I came across a note that said "Jacob" on the outside.  I asked Noelle what it was and she answered "Oh, at one of our stations we could write a note to whoever we wanted and Jacob wrote to me.  I wrote a note to you, mom, but I forgot to bring it home." 
I'm flattered that she wrote to me, but I'm rather curious about this mysterious Jacob.  I quickly opened the note so I could examine it for ill intents.  Well, here it it...let me know if you see anything inappropriate:

In defense of Jacob, Noelle's spelling is only slightly better, but I have NO idea what he is trying to say!

What's in that Trailer?

I keep meaning to write a post to describe Sadie's funny phrases, quirks and habits for posterity sake, but for now, here's an amusing conversation we had today.

We were driving on the highway when I saw a horse trailer a little bit ahead of us.
Me: Sadie look, I think there's an animal in that trailer.  Can you see what it is?
Sadie:  What is it?
Me:  I think it's a horse.
Sadie:  No, I think it's a camel
Sadie:  Or maybe a deer

(I give her points for creativity, but I really think it was a horse)

Noelle's First Day of First Grade

Yesterday was Noelle's first day of 1st Grade.  She gets on the bus shortly before 8:00 and gets home shortly before 4:00...it's a long day for a 6-yr-old.  When she got home we asked her what her favorite part of the day was.  She said "Lunch!".  They had chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, green beans, roll AND a cupcake.  Not bad for $1.50...I guess inflation rates don't effect school lunch like everything else.

Getting on the bus

Getting off the bus

Sadie was not so sure about a day without Noelle.  By 9:00 she asked "Can pick Noelle up from school now?"  This morning, again around 9:00, Sadie thought we should go outside and wait for Noelle to get home.  Poor girl...mom's just not the same as a big sister.