Max's request

Max advised me that Jake and Sam's birthday cakes were on the blog, and his wasn't. So to keep the Jan Brady syndrome under control...here is Max's birthday cake.

So to catch everyone up on our summer...Sam turned two at the end of June. He seemed to know it was his special day, so he started off his day lounging in Mom and Dad's big bed with some friends.

He is obsessed with music of all types. He steals my ipod whenever he sees it. He can switch it to coverflow so he selects the songs by pictures. He totally knows how to work all the dials and can find his favorites easily. On this day it was Benny Goodman and now his fav is Chaka Kahn! Interesting ...
For whatever reason he insisted on wearing his mouse ears half the day. Here he is favoring us with a piano piece. He gives a private recital nearly every day.
This was his favorite present. Nana gave this to him and he played with it for hours!
The brothers helped him unwrap.
Jason teaching Sam how to ride his new trike. As gigantic as he is his feet don't quite touch the pedals, but he can operate the bell expertly!
Demonstrating his bell technique.
Sam is the Cookie Monster, so we decided to make his cake reflect this. I think my fingers are still blue from dying the frosting.

Making a wish!

The busy Spear Family

We have gotten a few queries as to why we haven't updated in a while. My original intention was to do some sort of post each week...ha! I promise to try to do better! We have been moving at a pretty constant pace the last couple of months. Life with three active boys doesn't leave a lot of down time. So if you haven't heard from me in a while here are my reasons...

Reason #1- The computer hog!
Jake loves to go on game websites and read up on the current and upcoming video games (which limits my computer time). He can even impress the 22 year old game store guy with his knowledge. He knows the month and year of release for most of the popular games (rated E , or course. He is so smart, and totally has Jason's crazy memory. Those of you who remember the days when I had your social security numbers memorized, have no fear! Jake took all my memory brain cells...your numbers are safe!
Reason # 2 - The Academy Award hopeful!
It's hasn't been a day at the Spear house unless Max has played out at least one dramatic scene. He can be carrying on like the funeral scene in Steele Magnolias...and when I get to the bottom of it it's usually something like "Jake said he's going to throw me in the trash can" When he isn't laying down the drama, he is my sweetheart. One week, he made sure he picked a flower for me every day! (He was really not bothered by the "don't pick the flowers" sign at Sea World) He is always the one who stops to smell the flowers and watch the snail crawling to his home.
Reason #3 - Curious George!
Sam has to check out everything! Anything his big brothers are doing, he needs to be a part of too! He is not very popular when they are trying to play chess, or pokemon cards. If they are drawing, he comes and takes the lion's share of the crayons. He found all the erasers from Jake's pencil box and wore them on his fingers one day (pictured below). He exhibits most of Jake's personality traits from the same age (this isn't all good!) But if we need to know where anything is we just ask Sam...he has Dad's scary memory too!

Reason #4 - Creative Venture
In May, I became a consultant for Close to my Heart. I got hooked on all the cool stuff they sell, and wanted to show people how to use it. Each month I have a "club" where people come to our house, and I show them different techniques, and they leave with four pages completed. It has been a lot of fun so far! Below is a page the boys and I made for father's day and framed for Jason's office. (Jake's hand is the same size as mine!)