Hurricane Earl

We are bracing for a possible hurricane in the next couple of days.  Hopefully it stays off the coast of North Carolina, but we'll be prepared if it decides otherwise.  Earl is proving to be pretty powerful, so say a prayer that he stays offshore!

We are headed to the beach this weekend to celebrate Labor Day with David's parents, and where I'll be running in the Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon relay with my sister in law.  I've been running 3-4 days a week training for this event.  I'm still in the run/walk stage of my training, but I know that I'll get across the finish line! 

August went by so fast!!! I can't believe how quick the summer slipped away. Here are a few pictures of some things we have been up to!

With Love,

The Spencer's

Back to work and 1st free weekend

Whew! It has been a busy couple of weeks.  Lots of celebrations, traveling, and getting ready to go back to work. Andrew is growing and talking more and more every day.  We are completely amazed at the progress he has made in the last several months.  His preschool itinerant teacher will be coming back after Labor Day to work with him some more on social skills. Hopefully by this time next year, he won't need any kind of support anymore!
Speaking of Labor Day, I will be running in the Rock n' Roll Virginia Beach 1/2 marathon relay.  My relay partner is my sister (in-law)! I really wanted to be able to run the whole thing, but that's not going to happen. I will do a great job at run/walking though.  Run 3 miles, walk 1/2 mile. Run 3 miles, walk 1/2 mile, then Run the last .3 to the finish line! I haven't raced in a long time. A little nervous and excited.  I hope this race will give me motivation to keep running and get back into competitive racing. 
David has a birthday coming up this next month, and will be turning the big 3-0!! Busy working on plans to make it a great day and a birthday that he won't forget.  Trying not to overwhelm him (he's a little underexcited about turning 30), but I'm thinking 30 tombstones in the front yard will be a nice touch :)
I hope that everyone else is having a great summer as well!

These 2 pictures were taken at Tucker Lake.  A little gem about 25 minutes from our house. A natural spring fed lake that has been turned into a water fun park! We had a great time there, even though it felt like 1 million degrees that day.

Happy 50th Birthday to Momma Debbie and Momma Tracie. We went out to Virginia Beach to help Momma Debbie celebrate, and Momma Tracie we will see in October and help her celebrate!

Andrew working out with momma! He definitely keeps me motivated when I work out on the wii. Somedays he outlasts me :)

With Love,

The Spencer's

Monster Truck Rally

After awhile playing make believe by yourself gets to be boring.  So here is our answer to his monster truck loving ways!

Started off with a think piece of plywood cut down to 24"x36". Sprainted the outside green to reflect grass and the inside brown to reflect the dirt.

David cut out wedges for me that I ended up using hot glue to piece together. These pieces became the ramps.

Hot glue for the cars to stay on.

Used Mod Podge to keep put some dirt down so it would look more realistic.

Then used some clear acrylic spray to help keep most of the dirt in place.

After gluing the cars down, I glued down rocks on the outside to create more of a rough terrain.  I didn't get a whole lot of in between pictures, but you can see in this picture and the following pictures where the ramps went and the dirt piles.

This has provided hours of fun, which has been fantastic since we have been running in the 100's here on the east coast. 

We have a busy weekend planned--birthday parties, mom's only craft night, and husband golfing on Sunday! We will see how much actually gets accomplished.  They are calling for 100+ temps this weekend (not counting heat index). 

Here's to a hot weekend!

Signs of Summer

Whew....it's a hot one here on the east coast (as it is almost everywhere in the great states).  For the next 7 days they are calling for 98 to 101 (without heat index).  This is our hottest and longest summer on record and is proving to be brutal.  But, none the less, we are enjoying summer! Here are some pictures of summer around here.

Yummy! First time making smores with our 3 year old! He wasn't a big fan of the mess it created.

Bug spray! We bought the new Off that is the smooth and dry.  Like it better then the other regular spray, but doesn't keep those pesky gnats out of your face.

Sundown on the porch and enjoying some tiki time :)

And of course some time in the kiddie pool! I don't know what we will do next summer when he has outgrown this. Our neighboorhood doesn't allow above ground pools, and I don't know about you, but we don't have 25,000 laying around to put in an inground.  Maybe someday (sigh--dream!). 

I've been working hard getting stuff around the house completed...especially the pesky porch that we started back in April.  We are almost finished and will post pictures when we are complete!  I have also enjoyed getting some crafts on my craft list started and completed!  I'm excited to show some of those this coming week :)

Have a great day/week family and friends.

growing up

From baby (with a complicated medical history)

to toddler

to now preschooler,

 it's amazing to see the growth my son has made over time.  He has an amazing will to live and love life.  Despite a long history of bad news, yesterday we had fantastic news from the speech therapist.  She believes that he has made so much growth that he doesn't need speech therapy anymore.  We will come back and re-evaluate him on his 4th birthday, but to those that know our story, will know how huge this is!  My little boy has given me the strength to live and love life.  I believe I saw the sun for the first time the day he was born :)

With that being said, we have been working on transitioning his little toddler room into a room fit for a preschooler! Enjoy the pictures of his room!


Before:

After:

I am working on a project to fill this space.  Hopefully I finish soon, so I can get a picture of it up!

(The vinyl monster trucks on the wall came from fatheads.com)

Have a great Wednesday!!

patriotic smore's cups

Using my cricut expression, independence day cartidge, vinyl, and some creativity....I came up with some party favors for our family 4th of July fun!

I took the graham crackers and packaged them and large puff marshmallows in a snack size zippie bag.

Then I made a large image and put onto a cheap gift bag to use as my tote to transport.

I had such a fun time making these.  Happy 4th of July USA!!!!

wood

The heat finally subsided enough to go on a walk tonight.  I'm in a neighborhood where they are still building homes.  While walking we came across some awesome scrap wood that was thrown away!  This is free gold!  I am so excited to get some crafts planned out with this wood.  I have lots of blogs that I love to give me a good start :)

My little K.C. in the background :)

Jessica