Spencer's Banana Bread Baking Talent Show

Spencer has more interest and talent in the kitchen than any of his friends, and his absolute favorite thing to cook is banana bread.  What better skill to bring to the talent show?

Spencer shows off his bananas, his egg-cracking prowess, and some mean mixing skillz. But the proof is in the pudding-- how is the bread?

Well, his class was impressed.  Even though a riot didn't break out as the plate was passed, its clear that the kids of college park will never look at a loaf of banana bread in the same way.

Well done, Spencer!
 

Spencer's First School Picture

In this age of ubiquitous digital photography, where it feels as though every moment of our children's lives is being recorded for posterity (and blogged about by their inconsiderate parents), its refreshing to be reminded that there's still an industry out there dedicated to capturing the most forced, artificial smiles that our children are capable of producing.  Good thing we remembered to have Spencer wear his extra-special Puma t-shirt for his very first school picture. ;)

Haircuts for the Boys

Forget those specialty kids places that charge an arm and a leg for a haircut just because they show Nemo.  We're going to Great Clips.  And is there anything cuter than a freshly shorn 2 and 4 year old?

Spencer's Version of Wall-E

Over a year ago, Phil & Nikki gave the boys Wall-E on DVD for Christmas. It's pretty much the only kids movie we own, so suffice it to say Spencer has watched it a LOT. We didn't realize just how much until we saw this drawing on a pad of paper in his room.

Ryan with his Boys

Well if we had two mama's boys back in the early days, the tide has clearly shifted. These days its all Daddy, all the time.

Here's one of our favorite photos of Ryan playing with the boys (or more appropriately, serving as pack mule). The double-decker piggy back ride is indeed a back breaker, but essential at times to prevent sibling rivalry. ;)


And here's a photo of the boys playing with Ryan. (Hmmm... future dentists in the making?)

Chinese New Years at College Park

Spencer and all of his classmates got dressed up in traditional Chinese outfits for the Chinese New Years celebration at his school. The morning started with an assembly in the gym that included lion dances and martial arts demonstrations, followed by a parade around the school. The morning wrapped up with an amusing attempt to take a class photo. :)

Gaby's Birthday at Cirque du Soleil

For Gaby's 4th Birthday, she invited Theo and Spencer to join her (with parents) for "Ovo," Cirque du Soleil's newest show. It was quite an adventure, including a fun ride on caltrain up to San Francisco, oohing and ahhing at all the crazy "bugs" in the show (Spencer's favorite was the grasshoppers), and staying out way past their bedtime.

We suspect the train ride alone would have been party enough for the kids. :)

Spencer had a blast. Happy Birthday to a special girl, and a special friend!

Spencer Interprets his Art

Spencer loves drawing - with crayons, markers, water colors... All of his drawings illustrate elaborate stories that he makes up in his head, usually involving fires, trains, or bears.

Here's a short video of Spencer interpreting his art for the rest of the world...

Concert in St. Louis

One of the highlights of our trip to St. Louis was a special concert put on by the Tangs. Valerie and Melody had just performed in their first public piano recital back in Dallas, which was organized by Jennifer for all of her piano students, so they were eager to do a repeat live performance for us.

Valerie, never one to be shy, announced that she would go first, performing "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Melody, Jennifer's star pupil, went next, memorizing two songs, "Riding on a Mule" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."

Not to be left out, Paxon, just two years old, showed us that he wasn't afraid to "perform" either.


A surprise to us all, Spencer asked to take a turn as well. He had been banging aimlessly on the piano all week before the Tangs arrived, so we were all amazed at Spencer's performance, clearly inspired by what he had just heard...


Jennifer wrapped up the concert in style, separating the pros from the amateurs...


The Tangs' influence on Spencer went beyond music to include theater. Melody, Valerie, and Paxon love putting on "shows" for their parents and friends. Spencer was fascinated by this concept and put together a few shows of his own:

Pre-Holidays in St. Louis

Eunice took Spencer on a trip to St. Louis to visit Po Po right before the holidays (she hinted that it might, just might, be her last in St. Louis!). It was a mini-reunion, with Jennifer and David's family coming up from Dallas and cousin George and Lindai's family driving out from Peoria.

Click here for the full slideshow....

Eunice and Spencer arrived a few days early to get in some quality time with Po Po. We had fun visiting a butterfly sanctuary, riding the merry-go-round at historic St. Louis Carousel, listening to Christmas music at Eunice's childhood church, eating lots of yummy home-made food, and of course, making a special trip to McDonald's for the a nostalgic McRib. :)

With the arrival of the Tangs and Lins, the relative quiet of the house exploded with six kids chasing each other around the house and putting on "shows." We also took them on some fun outings riding to the top of the St. Louis Arch and making two visits to the truly magical Magic House, one of Jennifer and Eunice's childhood favorites!

Try explaining the elevator ride up the arch to a bunch of nervous kids!


Best of all though was the quality time spent with old childhood friends and family. Thanks for hosting a very special Christmas, Po Po!

Click here for a slideshow with more photos.

Spencer's Stories

Spencer has turned into a fantastic storyteller over the last couple of months. Here's a sampling of some absolute classics:

This one is about a fire that a fireman puts out "so we don't get in trouble." That is, until there is a bear outside. And then a "bad guy."


This one is about Santa Claus... who goes to Africa several times before going "back to sleep."


Here, Spencer can't decide whether he's telling a story about Jack or singing a song, and switches mid-stream. Tyler, in the meantime, nearly drowns himself in the bathtub.


Here, Spencer retells one of his favorite stories ("Angela's Airplane") nearly word for word.....

Romp in Bed

We're not sure the title of this blog post is particularly appropriate - or perhaps we should say that we're pretty sure that Phil would not find this blog post particularly appropriate! Nevertheless, when his daughter Gaby came over for some playtime, she and Spencer somehow ended up in our bed having a grand old time. :)

At preschool, we can already see the beginnings of boys preferring to play with boys and girls preferring to play with girls, but we're counting on Gaby and Spencer's special friendship to stand the test of time.

Rainy Day

Rain or shine, the boys love playing outside. Our patio is the perfect place for them to run around in their raincoats and rain boots. The fallen leaves made this otherwise dreary day particularly colorful.

Trip to Santa's Tree Farm

Ryan and Adam took Spencer and Lilah out to Half Moon Bay to pick out Christmas trees from Santa's Tree Farm in what is turning into an annual tradition. Spencer had fun running around the hills helping his dad and uncle look for the perfect tree: it just so happened that the first one was perfect, then the second one, then the third one...

Adam and Lilah with their first real Christmas tree! Just right next to the fireplace in their home.

Ryan and Spencer found the best tree yet for our house-- very, very narrow, like it was made to fit into the corner of our living room. Can't wait to decorate it!

Train Hopping in San Francisco

Another one of KB's fantastic days in the city, this time entirely on trains! It really was Spencer's dream day-- Ryan brought him up to join KB, Lee, and Charu for this adventure, while Eunice spent some quality time with Tyler back on the home front.

We started in the Castro, catching the F train all the way down market street to the Ferry Building. We grabbed brunch at Cane Rosso, checked out the transit museum, and then continued our ride along the Embarcadero. We hopped off in Fisherman's Wharf, and then walked through Fort Mason to Grandpa Nic's house for an afternoon nap. Then we took the 22 Muni all the way back to where we started, just in time for a late night burrito at a Castro Taqueria!

I hope Sencer remembers this one-- it really doesn't get any better than this for a 3 year old... or for a 30-something year old!

Click here for a slideshow....

Light at the end of the tunnel

After months of largely ignoring each other (or worse, competing for our attention), the boys are finally starting to really play with one another - and we're starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel for the craziness that has become the norm for our family life.

All four of us playing together is still a rarity-- we've definitely decided that the "divide and conquer" strategy works best for now, but every once in a while we capture a moment with all of us together that is very happy indeed.

Whether horsing around in bed in our pajamas, or the magical stretches when the boys entertain each other outside or in our new playroom, it's the moments below that keep us sane during what's a pretty crazy time in our lives!

Daycare Halloween Party

It's time for the annual Little Kingdom Daycare Halloween party, complete with lumpia, spaghetti with hotdogs, fruit, cupcakes, and of course lots of cute kids in costumes. Animals were the theme this year-- Rosalyn was Minnie Mouse, Isaac was a Bunny, David was a Kangaroo, and Kaira was a Hippo. And of course, our boys were re-using their lion costumes from Julia's birthday princess party. And the zoo-keeper of this wild bunch? Juanita, dressed as Snow White.

Dune Beach

Now THIS is what every Monday in October should be like-- a fantastic outing to the beach with the boys, chasing seagulls (with Spencer yelling "Seagull, don't take my food!") and romping around in the sand. It's a turning point to see the boys laughing and playing with each other these days, even giving each other an occasional impromptu hug.

Click here for a slideshow....

Making Eight Treasures Rice at Preschool

One of the things Spencer loves about his preschool, which is a mandarin immersion magnet school, is that they do a special cooking project each month, where he gets to make and eat a special Chinese treat. This month, the students made individual-sized servings of "Ba Bao Fan" (or Eight Treasures Rice), which consists of layers of sticky rice, red bean paste, dried fruit, and a special sweet sauce. Mmmmm!!!

Dance Party

This morning, Spencer woke up wanting to dance. So... I turned on some music, he picked up his maracas, and started getting down in his airplane pajamas. Little did I know that Tyler had some pretty smooth moves of his own. Look out ladies - the Nichols boys are ready to hit the dance floor!

Here's a video of Spencer's impressively spastic rendition of B-I-N-G-O, paired with Tyler's more restrained moves.

Tyler decides this dance party isn't fit for public viewing...

The boys end the morning dance session with a jubilant version of "If You're Happy and You Know It." Clearly, the boys are happy. Very happy.