when we opened our advent calendar for december 17th, we found a slip of paper telling us that this was the day to ride the walkersville southern railroad’s santa train! hooray! we missed the train last year, and couldn’t wait to see the big guy again this year…

we had a nice, long scenic ride before santa came and sat down next to us!

when the big guy finally arrived, the kids were pretty shy. after some prompting, jackson was able to tell him a few things from his list. and give him a hug. phoebe? none of the above.

hooray for the walkersville southern! we’ll be back for another excursion soon!!

we anticipated our trip to idaho for a long time, and finally, in mid-september, we boarded a plane at dulles at an ungodly, early hour and headed west. we ended up in salt lake city, rented a car, and after a super long day of traveling (including a visit to the golden spike national historic site in utah), we finally met up with matt, naomi, and ginger in hailey, idaho. they were the reason for our journey, and it was so great to finally see them.

we spent a little more than a week hanging out with the idaho spences. we spent a lot of quality time together. the kids got to play, a lot. and the grown-ups got to talk, a lot. we did some fishing (another post to come from dave about his super-secret adventure with his bro). we did some touring. we did some rock-throwing. we spent a great few days at the gorgeous redfish lake near stanley, idaho. we did some hiking.

but the best part of the trip was simply spending time with our family. phoebe, jackson, and ginger became good friends quickly, and really enjoyed being around each other. and that’s priceless.

and the second-best part? on the way home, we spent an overnight in salt lake city, where we were reunited with molly’s high school friend karyn. she showed us around salt lake (including a great hike up ensign peak, where we got a super view of the city) and she and molly caught up on the many years since they last met (over some awesome mole at a tasty mexican restaurant).

all in all, it was a wonderful break from the everyday. thanks to matt, naomi, ginger, cooper, camo and simon for inviting us into your home. we hope you all can come to maryland some time and soak up our sites soon. and best wishes to karyn and justin, as they prepare for their wedding in december! hope to see you both again soon (definitely in less than 15 years!).

when we were in idaho, aunt naomi introduced jackson to gymnastics, which she loved to do as a child. she took us to an open gym at a club at the end of her street, and jackson loved it. so, we signed him up for classes here in frederick! the first class was on thursday, and jackson was so excited! when he and molly walked into the gym, though, molly panicked. every other kid in his class, and every other kid at the gym was a girl. not just a girl, but a girl wearing a fancy, professional-looking gymnastics leotard. jackson was wearing a t-shirt and mesh shorts. molly started to panic a little — would jackson feel weird, want to leave? the answer was no. he loved it. and his teacher ended up being a teenage boy, so no problem at all. jackson did ask at the end of class about why there were so many girls, but he just shrugged. he’ll be back next week! (please forgive the images’ quality – they were taken by molly’s phone from an obvious distance. we’ll send the pro next week!)

today, jackson became an official kindergartner! he’s now among the oldest students in miss heidi’s class at monocacy valley montessori public charter school, where he has attended for the last two years. he has the same teacher, and is in the same classroom, but now he is the “big man on campus,” and gets to stay all day, eat lunch with his friends, and help the younger students get acclimated. he’s in school from 9 to 3:45 every day, and now has music, gym, spanish, and art classes as well.

it’s hard to believe that only 2 short years ago, we pushed jackson in a stroller to his first day as a preschooler at mvms! today, he rode a two-wheeler the whole way to kindergarten. he’s gotten to be such a big boy!

when molly asked jackson how he got such big, strong legs to be able to bike all the way up big hills to school, he replied, “from santa!”

on his first day of preschool, jackson had the jitters. on his first day of pre-k, he was shy and nervous. today? no nerves at all! he just strode right into school, all smiles.

ms. king, the principal at mvms, hands out a carnation to each student as they arrive at school, and asks them to give the flowers to their teachers. it’s a nice little tradition! jackson hung up his backpack in his new kindergarten spot, then headed into the classroom without a second glance. he truly felt at home there, and that’s an awesome feeling for us, too!

while big brother was at school, phoebe was a little lost. she asked “where did brother go” several times, but generally she had a great day, playing and pretending. she even helped mom bake up a special surprise just for jackson!

mom’s special chocolate cupcakes with orange icing and a “k” for kindergarten! (yes, molly did use tweezers to position the sprinkles. don’t judge.)

jackson couldn’t have been happier about the cupcakes. he said it was his favorite part of his first day! but he did have a pretty great day, in general. some highlights? he ordered lunch from school for the first time (chicken nuggets and green beans with chocolate milk), he enjoyed Spanish lessons (“hola, mom!”), and he couldn’t stop telling us all about “PE” (“that means exercise, guys!”). we think this is going to be an awesome year for our little learner! and next year, when jackson graduates into 1st grade, phoebe will be a student at mvms, too!

what better way to celebrate the 4th of July than to go blueberry picking? well, to be honest, we tried to go picking up in thurmont on july 3rd, but were turned away! apparently, their bushes were all picked out?! so instead, we headed in the total opposite direction, to a new blueberry farm in southwest frederick county.

this time we called frog eye farm before we headed out, and asked if there were enough blueberries to pick (smart, right?)! and the farm’s owner assured us there were enough gigantic blueberries to pick for ages! and boy was he right. some of these blueberries were the largest and juiciest we’d ever seen!

we left grandpa kurt at home to work on the bathroom renovation project, but grandma joined us! she was intent on picking the very best berries, as these are her favorite fruit! jackson was helpful, as always.

it was seriously humid and super buggy, but the kids powered through!

jackson couldn’t stop picking! even on our way back he kept drifting over to what he thought was a good bush to pick (and eat!) some more.

nice berries, dave and marcia!

as an early father’s day treat, we made a trip in early june to skyline drive and shenandoah national park in virginia and we loved it so much, we reserved another night’s stay in november, so we can see the park in all its fall glory! shenandoah national park is known as the yellowstone of the east, and for good reason. the scenery, the animals (we saw tons of deer, a few turkeys, and even a mama bear and her cubs!), the hospitality, and the amenities were reminiscent of what we saw on our trip to yellowstone back in 2007. and we don’t have to take a long plane ride to enjoy them! we stayed at skyland, the more northern of the two resort areas in the park, built by the civilian conservation corps. awesome history for two buffs like us!

but before we got to the park, we made a stop at one of the many caverns in the region, skyline caverns, for a cool (in more ways than one) tour! the kids liked the caverns, but were a little weirded out when the tour guide turned off the lights!

we made several hikes during our two-day, one-night stay. dave brought the backpack to carry phoebe, but she wanted to RUN! and she did a really good job, too. almost made it the entire way up stony man trail.

what an awesome view at the top of stony man. we all stayed up there a while, eating breakfast and enjoying the cool breezes and incredible sights. oh, and taking lots of pictures.

another trail we enjoyed hiking was “story of the forest,” which a park ranger told us about. the ranger gave us a free illustrated book which gave clues to find interesting points on the trail, such as crazy trees or interesting bridges. jackson got a kick out of the scavenger hunt-like hike!

another thing jackson got a kick out of was carrying his own camera with him, and snapping away at pretty much everything he saw. it paid off with the shot above! check out that great action of a mama deer and her baby. awesome job, j-man!

for more photos of our adventures, click through the images below!

when our favorite local toy shop dancing bear toys and gifts blogs about something, we listen. this has lead to lots of great toy and game finds, of course. but this week, our friends at the bear blogged about a special crafty art project that could help teach kids about helping others. so, naturally, we headed to the bear this afternoon to get involved.

the bear’s owners, marlene and tom, are offering free kits for kids to help them create original artwork. the projects will be auctioned off in late april to benefit hope alive, a frederick county nonprofit that offers transitional housing and support services to homeless mothers and their children. according to the group’s website, hope alive’s children’s programs “are committed to providing a safe, stable, nurturing and stimulating learning environment for children while their mothers build a more stable life by working, attending school, seeking counseling or obtaining a GED.”

several different kinds of kits were available to choose from, but jackson and molly chose a paint-your-own birdhouse!

jackson loved the idea of painting the entire birdhouse red, but, as you can see, the paint tubs that came with the kit were rather small, so we had to get crafty in our planning!

jackson grabbed a bunch of his old national geographic kids magazines, and he and molly clipped out photos of some of his favorite animals. then, they grabbed paintbrushes and mod podge, and the house took shape!

here it is, in progress…

… and here’s the finished project, full of skunks and frogs and gorillas and zebras and meerkats and elephants and more!

thanks to marlene and tom at dancing bear for always providing inspiration and for letting us know about this project. we are excited to submit our finished birdhouse, and to see whether it brings in some big cash for kids in need!

jackson had a big idea today — let’s bake something! so he got out his “favorite cooker’s book,” also known as paula deen’s cookbook for kids (don’t ask!), and found a cinnamon bun recipe. of course, paula wanted us to use a can of crescent roll dough, and not only did I not have any, but I also took offense! I mean, how hard could it be to make them from scratch? well, we found out — not too hard at all! time consuming, yes! messy, yes! but worth it? yes!!! so worth it. special thanks to one of molly’s favorite “cooker” blogs — the pioneer woman — for the recipe and great instructions. deeeeee-lish!

dave’s big plan is to get molly interested in shooting photos again, with the master plan being she’ll become his second shooter/assistant at weddings. we say “again” because back at good, old penn state, molly took a photojournalism class, and loved it. of course, she was working with a film camera and much of the class focused on darkroom tasks. and that class was, oh, 10 or 12 years ago. yikes! so, molly was a bit intimidated when dave handed over his d700 nikon and said “have fun.” but she did have fun, shooting pics of phoebe and jackson at some baker park tennis courts during jackson’s lessons. here are the results…

to continue the 2010 theme of “pick-your-own,” we headed to baugher’s in westminster to see what kind of apple crop they were offering. and we were not disappointed! what a great farm! they had tons and tons of apples, hanging low enough for even the kids to grab and fill their bags. these red delicious (above) were so tasty, and so easy to gather!

we brought along our friends zach and kim on the super sunny day. we spent hours at the orchard, taking a hayride down to the apple trees and back, then waiting in a really long line to pay. luckily, they had delicious homemade ice cream for sale, and a big play area with a wooden train for the kids to stretch their legs!

even phoebe loved eating the apples!

thanks, grinevs, for joining us on our adventure!

yay for the crazy apple guy!

jackson began his first week of pre-kindergarten by boarding his bike and heading off to monocacy valley montessori public charter school with mommy. as a pre-k student, he’s still in miss heidi’s room, and he still attends 9-11:30 daily. but he’s one of the “big men on campus” because six new 3-year-olds have entered his class, and three new pre-k students entered as well.

a small amount of anxiety on day one (“mommy, I don’t want to talk to any of the new children who don’t know the rules.”) gave way to lots of smiles when jackson saw some of his buddies from last year, including daniel, garrett, and cayman and collin. jackson really likes that he can show all the “new kids who don’t know the rules” how to get along in the classroom. and he’s proud of himself, because he sees how much he’s grown since last year.to celebrate, jackson, phoebe, and daddy met mommy at work after school and we all had lunch at la paz, jackson’s favorite spot to get quesadillas with sour cream!

little sister enjoyed a quesadilla of her own, and a big-kid drink! she’ll start pre-k 3 at mvmpcs in only 2 years!
unfortunately, jackson was so exhausted from his big day, he slammed his fingers in the door at the restaurant. so, he soaked them in a cup of ice. poor guy.
all in all, it was a “delicious” first day, and a really successful first week back at school. jackson has had no trouble adjusting and he’s excited about all the new things he will learn this year!

our sweet phoebe has been with us for a full year, and to celebrate that milestone, molly made a cooler full of cupcakes and plenty of homemade icing, and we headed up to pennsylvania. all of her fellin-side cousins, aunts, uncles, and nana and pop pop, came to eagle rock for a cookout, swimming, and eating, of course! what a beautiful day – the weather was perfect, the food was yummy, and the company was awesome. phoebe had such a good time, especially once she finally got her hands on her special strawberry “smash cake” with strawberry icing!

we had two kinds of yummy martha stewart cupcakes — devil’s food (chocolate) and strawberry. some included plain white buttercream icing and others were topped with a strawberry buttercream, created with strawberry preserves from jill’s freezer! awesome.

but phoebe wasn’t the only one we celebrated that day. her godfather, colin, turned 16 on aug. 2, and so we all got to tease our favorite teenager by singing the happy birthday song to him, too! (how about those awesome cupcake toppers? another super-fun etsy find!)

in case you couldn’t tell, the “theme” for the party was ice cream! the kids’ favors were ice cream bowls, phoebe’s headband had a cone on it, and we all enjoyed some awesome homemade ice cream that jill brought along. afterward, phoebe tried out her pink howdy cow, which we found at our favorite toy shop, dancing bear in downtown frederick.

our little princess enjoyed all the attention!

big brother jackson couldn’t wait to show phoebe the present he had picked out for her. his love for his little sister just keeps growing, and it’s a joy to watch.

thanks to everyone who made phoebe’s 1st birthday so special. here’s to many, many more lovely birthday celebrations for her!

we brought together many of jackson’s biggest loves — train rides, the circus, animals, bright colors, and his best friends — to celebrate his 4th birthday. the centerpiece of the party was a colorful cupcake tower, featuring the birthday boy on top, clowns, and of course, lots of sprinkles! (props go out to martha stewart’s cupcakes book for the yummy recipes!)

but we’re getting ahead of ourselves… we didn’t eat the cupcakes until the very end of the party!

we started festivities at the walkersville southern railroad.

jackson got to explore the engine, and then, once we were all aboard the birthday caboose …

the real fun began!

jackson was joined by his buddies jillian, aidan, lucas, garrett, collin, cayman, and zach, as well as cousins sarah and josh. and of course, little sister phoebe, whose birthday is just a few weeks away!

the kids got crafty with some markers, decorating wooden trains or stars…

games included an elephant ring toss and “stick the nose on the clown,” during which all the kids figured out how to cheat by peeking through the bottom of the admittedly cheap paper “blindfold”!!

circus-theme tattoos included elephants, seals, lions, clowns, or the ringmaster!

guests snacked on popcorn, hot dogs, twizzlers, juice boxes, and lemonade!

aunt lynnie got caught up in all the fun!

the 90-minute ride went by really fast. the views were beautiful, and the trees provided lots of cool shade from the hot sun.

some of the best views came from the upper level seats on the caboose!

the kids spent most of the trip hanging out up there together, climbing up and down the slightly precarious ladders!

molly and dave also got in on the fun!

once our ride was over, we checked out the model trains next door, then headed to casa spence for more partying!

there’s those delish cupcakes again!

pool time!

those monocacy valley montessori kids just can’t get enough of mulch!

jackson’s always a bit timid when it comes time to sing the happy birthday song. we had to literally pull him out from under the table to blow out the candles!

phoebe had such a great time at her brother’s party, she said she’s really looking forward to her first on august 1st!

(special thanks go out to our “second photographer” tom fedor for several of the shots above!)

usually we wait until the end of summer to make a trip to the beach, but this year, we did the opposite, kicking off the steamy season with a weeklong trip to ocean city, new jersey, june 20 to 26.

we started our journey on fathers day by boarding the cape henlopen, one of the larger ferries in the cape may-lewes ferry fleet. what a fun way to start our day: a 90-minute trip across the delaware bay! once we, and our packed car, were back on solid ground, we made our way to ocean city to check out our rental. the barainyaks — beth, paul, sarah, jake, and josh — had already checked in. what a great, little place in a super neighborhood, very close to the beach! score!

we were fortunate to have beautiful, hot weather all week, with almost no rain or cloudy skies! we spent many days relaxing on the beach and playing in the waves, rented bikes and a surrey to ride on the boardwalk, checked out “toy story 3″ to escape some sunshine, played boardwalk mini-golf, visited the cape may county zoo, ate lots of tasty meals and desserts, and just generally enjoyed ourselves. check out the last three photos in the gallery below for a sneak peek at a beach portrait session for jackson and phoebe’s birthdays!

thanks to the barainyaks for sharing our vacation this year! what an awesome trip. the only downside? it’s already over!

we are just loving all the lovely flowers popping up in our backyard in the last week or so, though we cannot name most of them! both dave’s and molly’s moms have helped us fill in our garden spaces with some colorful blooms. the daylilies’ orange blossoms are sprinkled throughout the borders of our backyard. large hydrangea bushes that came with the house are really producing pretty light blue, purple, and pink flowers as well. molly’s mom helped us plant an absolutely gorgeous electric blue flower (delphinium — thanks Susan!) next to our back stairs that grew very tall and thin. it actually grew so tall that it fell over! so we cut the main stem off and plucked some of the bright blue blooms last night to put in our hair!

our hydrangeas produce mostly blue flowers, but we can get a few pink and purple blooms every once in a while. we grabbed this bunch to put on our dining room table. so lovely!jackson wanted a flower for his hair, too! he put a few of these blooms in a tiny vase and has been carrying them around with him, up to his room at bedtime, then down to the playroom in the morning. he just loves them.look at that pretty blue-eyed girl!yay, hydrangeas!

wonderful weather and a no-wedding saturday added up to lots of fun for the spence fam this weekend! on saturday, we hosted another yard sale on our driveway. we made a few bucks, but more importantly, got rid of a lot of stuff that’s been cluttering our garage! dave spent the morning organizing and now we can move pretty freely in there, which is a big relief! jackson was a bit confused about the whole process and even got a little upset when some people were “taking our stuff,” but he got over it!

also on saturday, we attended sts. peter & paul orthodox church greek festival for some delicious food. jackson’s favorite was “greek quesadillas,” also known as tiropita, or feta cheese wrapped in phyllo dough. basically, it’s spanikopita without the spinach!

jackson also had a few bites of molly’s gyro. (the guy above made the gyros for us — he was super. they were stuffed to the brim! yum!) the “sour cream sauce,” also known as tzatziki, won jackson over with that dish! he and phoebe are also huge fans of the homemade rice pudding. jackson would’ve eaten the entire container if we let him!

on sunday, we all ventured out to ellicott city. what a great, neat little town! dave met a couple there to do an engagement shoot, and molly, jackson, and phoebe spent a few hours exploring “old town.”

first stop was the b&o railroad museum, the birthplace of american railroading! there, the kids enjoyed exploring a caboose.

the train museum was a lot of fun. a few minutes after this picture was a taken, a “real” train drove right past us! jackson loved watching it, covering his ears when it got too loud! we also spent some time learning about how a telegraph works. jackson tried to tap out some letters and said he was “sending a mesh-age to america!”

after the museum, we did a little shopping, found lots of bargains, and lost phoebe’s sunhat! oh well.

finally, we met up with dave as he got done with his lovely couple. (see his favorite shots soon at spence photo’s blog!) dave and jackson got a quick lesson in handspun yarn (below) just before we got back into the car. totally fun weekend.