Because I am partially evil...

I know that some of you read my sister in laws blog, and you may remember that she wrote a blog a little while back about her hatred for dolls. She also mentioned in her blog how mom and I think that this is hilarious.

It is true.

I can not lie.

We find this so funny.

You have got to realize that this girl seems to be able to do anything she puts her mind to. She has run countless marathons, flown across the country with just her and her sweet little boy, and has gotten kicked out of a movie for standing up to some crazy guy for kicking her seat. But she will crumble at the sight of a doll.

Do you see why we think this is humorous?

So like Kat has mentioned, we use Elf of the Shelf.

Which we love.

And as the tradition goes, at Christmas Eve the elf goes to the North Pole and stays there until next year. When he comes back to watch over the children.

So on Christmas Eve when I was putting our Elf on the Shelf (Raykul is what Conner named him) up to my room. I passed by the room that Kat and Andrew are staying in and I saw an oppurtunity that I just couldn't pass up.

Mainly because I have a little streak of evil in me.

So this is what I did.

Just in case you are wondering, this Andrew and Kat's bed.

Do you see how I just couldn't pass that up?

A little while later I heard some grumbling and something get through on the floor, then Andrew came up to me and handed me back our little Elf.

The next morning, Kat came up to me and said that she was going to plant a positive pregnancy test in my bathroom.

Hehehe. Love that girl.

Merry Christmas!

This may not be the most joyous Christmas for us.

But one thing we know for sure is that dad is having the most joyous Christmas he has ever had.

Birthday Boy

Today my oldest baby turns 4!

Wild Man is wearing Pop's glasses

Boy what a year we have had.

You have grown up so much.

 

You were completely potty trained in 3 days.


You have learned that your little brother is actually an ok person to hang out with.

Romeo worships the ground you walk on. 

 

You enjoy telling people that Romeo does what ever you do.

You also like to tell me when it is your turn to take care of Romeo.


We have had our share of boo boos.

 

I am pretty sure that it will a long time until you will get close to an exercise band.

We homeschooled this year and you loved it.

 

 

Your favorite parts were when we made a mess.

Apparently there was an educational purpose for getting shaving cream all over the kitchen, but I am having a total brain fart as to what the reason was.

You love to learn and know how things work.

You have also turned into mom's little helper.

 

 

 

You are still my silly boy.

 

 

Who got a new spiky haircut to match your spiky personality.

You have learned to love our new home in a whole new state.

Wild Man, I love you and I am so proud of the little boy you are turning into. I can't wait to see what this year brings...Maybe it will include learning to wipe yourself.

Hard Day

When I first found out the dad went to be with the Lord, I had to explain to my boys what happened to Pop. Since I had no experience in this area, nor have I prepared what to say. All I could think of is to say that Pop has gone to be with Jesus in heaven.

It seemed to be a good thing to say. The boys haven't ask for Pop and other then a few questions as to why he is in heaven and when will he be back, I thought we were doing good.

Then we move forward to today.

After the boys nap we went to The Bethlehem Marketplace.

We went last year for the first time and it is really neat. It is not only a live nativity but it shows you what the whole city of Bethlehem was like on the day of Jesus' birth.

When you first walk in there is a shepherd telling us about the big star they saw in the sky and that he saw the Savior...Jesus... and he is right over there!

JJ was holding Wild Man's hand. When the Shepherd said that Jesus was in the next room. Wild man got really excited and then started asking JJ where Pop was.

He assumed if Jesus was there then Pop was there too.

Then when we got in "Bethlehem city" Wild Man was searching for everywhere for Pop and asking constantly where he was.

It just broke our heart.

Needed comic relief

Today mom and I wanted to get out of the house and not do anything that had to do with dad (aka taking dad's name off of bills, or talking to life insurance people). So we decided to go to the mall and get the boys pictures taken with Santa.


Why I thought it would go normal is beyond me.

Conner didn't want to sit on Santa's lap.

So I told him that Santa won't bring him any toys unless he did.

I am so wrong.

And well Mason was just Mason.

It was a good laugh that we needed right now.

Sorry for the bad photo quality. Since there is no longer any tech support in the house to help us with the scanner, we had to take a picture of the picture.

Doubt

Did my dad really pass away?

Isn't he just on a business trip?

Are you sure he isn't going to just run in the door any minute?

These are the questions that run through my mind constantly.

Every morning that I wake up I am having to remind myself that this isn't Thanksgiving weekend, so I will remember why I am here.

I know that we had a memorial service for dad, but at the same time I keep asking myself it that really happened.

I am sure that this is a stage in the grieving process...but since I am not experienced in this at all.

Actually this is something I would talk to my dad about.

I miss him so much.

Some stories

I wrote a few funny stories about my dad.
http://thetedcelebration.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-dad.html

Thankful

One of the many things that I have learned from my dad is to be thankful.

No matter the circumstances.

Find something...anything...to be thankful for, and focus on that.

So I will do that.

Right now this is what I am thankful for:

• I am so thankful that Matt accendently scheduled us to come to TN for Thanksgiving a day earlier. It was wonderful to have an extra 24 hours with my dad.
• I am thankful that I am a cheapskate and had the boys birthday party together over Thanksgiving weekend. One of the last memories is dad doing what he loved...playing with his grandkids and acting crazy like the kids.
• I am thankful that for the phone call from dad on Tuesday to make sure that he was getting the right birthday present for mom. Me and the boys all got to tell him we loved him and miss him.
• I am thankful that dad got mom's birthday present early. What a wonderful blessing to have one last gift from dad. Then to be able to use that gift card to get something to wear to the celebration service.
  
• I am thankful that we didn't go to the library on Wednesday morning. 
  
• I sent a text to my neighbor asking if they would like to come over because my boys wanted to show her boys the toys they got from their birthday party. She took an hour to respond back. So in that time I got the boys dressed, started getting them in their car seats to go to the library instead. Then she texted me back to say they will be over in 20 minutes.
• I was feeding all our boys lunch when I got the call from mom about dad. So my neighbor took care of the boys while I tried to pick myself up from the kitchen floor to process what just happened and what we need to do next.

• I am thankful that I have to take the written driver's license test to get a license in IL. 
• My Bible study leader's daughter, who is 15, and is also about to take the written driver's test. Randomly stopped by to give me the book to study, right when my neighbor needing to leave to put her kids down for a nap.  So she stayed with my boys while I tried to pack and hold my self together until Matt got home.

• I am thankful that Eli is too young to understand what was happening when dad when to be with our Savior.
• When mom was giving dad CPR, the 911 operator told her to count outloud.
• Eli thought mom was playing a game and started counting with her.

• I am thankful that Wild Man is in the beginning stages of understanding what is going on.
• The first thing Wild Man said to mom when we walked into the house was. "I really wish I could see Pop too."

• I am so thankful that the boys are not constantly asking for Pop to play with him. That would just be so hard to hear right now.
  
• If the amount of food you receive has any indication by how much a person is loved. He is the most loved man this side of the Mason Dixon Line.
• I am so thankful for all the people that came near and far to pay their respects to my dad. I really meant a lot to us.
• I am so thankful that God has blessed Matt with a job the provides so I do not have to work and I can stay here with mom for the rest of the month.

So right now I am trying to focus on those things.

I do realize that we are still in shock.

I keep thinking that dad is going to run into the house saying, "Hey everyone sorry I am late and missed everything." With that big smile on his face.

One thing I really hope people understand.

Please understand that I wish I could have talked to every one of you that came to dad's service and individually thank you for being there.

We were overwhelmed with the amount of love people had for dad.

Even dad's dental hygentist came.

Thank you all.

We love you.

Dad's blog

Anyone that has meet my dad knows that he was a one of a kind guy.

He was so humble, truly loved the Lord, loved everyone around him... and was crazy.

My dad had a smile on his face ALL. THE. TIME. even on his death bed.

We know he was smiling because he was finally seeing our Lord and Savior face to face.

I can not wait for the day to see my dad in heaven and get a big hug from him and hearing him call me sweet pea.

I am honored to be called Ted's daughter, and I cherish every moment I had with him.

One thing that is helping my brothers, mom and I is hearing the stories of dad. Whether they are about the spiritual influence he had on them or the funny and random thing he did to make them laugh. Hearing these stories help us know how loved he is while here on earth.

One of the hardest things right now is that our children will not know dad, but we want his legacy to live on.

In hopes to keep the legacy alive we started a blog for people to share their stories of dad aka "The Ted". We plan to put all of these stories together in a book and give to our children.

So I ask you. If you knew my dad and you feel compelled to do so, please tell us a story. Any story we would love to hear it.

The blog is www.thetedcelebration.blogspot.com.

You can either leave a comment on the first post or you can email me or email the address on dad's blog and we will post it on the blog.

Thank you again for all of your prayers, we feel them lifting us up.

Also people have been asking about donations. My dad had a heart for missions. He wanted everyone to know to not only did he love them but more importantly God loved them. So we are asking instead of flowers we a fund set up in Dad's name for the Missions Department at New Vision Baptist Church.

Clinging to his grace

Numb

Yesterday afternoon my dad, Theodore Manning Spottswood, passed away.

He got on his elliptical then got down to play with our nephew Eli.

Then he just fell down and went start to be with our Lord and savior.

To say this was unexpected is an understandment.

We are all in shock.

We are trying to process all of this.

We are clinging to the Lord through this.

Thank you all who have sent your prayers for us when we were too weak to pray.

Please continue to pray for my mom. Tomorrow is her birthday and on the 18th would have been my parents 33rd anniversary.

Thank you

December all ready?!!!

Holy Moly it is already December?

Boy this past month has gone fast.

Well we just got back from a whirlwind trip to TN for Thanksgiving.

The boys did GREAT flying back and forth. The best thing about the flights was that there was a play area for kids right next to our gate.

I mean that was a total gift from God above.

While in TN we had the boys birthday party at Bounce U.

It was so much fun! It was also an added bonus that I didn't have to clean up afterwards.

Since Romeo still doesn't have much of an opinion and worships the ground that Wild Man walks on, I let Wild Man pick the theme of the party.

Let me back track just a little bit. Last year the boys birthday was a Lightning McQueen party. I mentioned the day after the party LAST YEAR that I am sure that Wild man will still be all about the Cars movie and will probably have a mater party.

When I asked Wild Man what type of party he would like, he said, "Remember mom, we are having a mater party?"

Um, I think I need to watch what I said. Plus I need to think about everything I have done the past year and pray I have not done any perminate damage to my child.

So needless to say we had a mater birthday party at Bounce U.

Thanks mom for getting the cake, it was adorable and delicious.

We had to wake the boys up from their nap early for the party.

Wild Man stayed a little confused for the first half hour.

Mr. Genius' mom made the boy's shirts. She got mater fabric and put the age they are (or will be in 21 days). Thanks Teresa they were perfect.

The kids started bouncing on their way into the bouncing room.

Sweet Blake and Gabe. Wild Man may not have acting like it, but he was so excited to see you guys. He keeps asking when we can see you guys again.

 

 

 Notice Brady (the little boy in the red shirt standing in the front). Brady sat so content on the bench until he realized that he was getting his picture taken. As soon as he realized that he jumped up and ran away. It was so cute.

 

Getting ready for the cake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here is a cute story.

See that cute little girl in the big chair. That is Hallie, my college roommates little girl, and my future daughter in law.

Hallie is 6 months younger then Romeo. When we lived in TN Romeo LOVED Hallie. He would attack her with hugs and kisses, which just scared little Hallie into lots of tears.

We think she got scared from feeling the chemistry between them.

Now 6 months later Hallie did the love attacks to Romeo. Romeo just didn't know what to do so he just ran away.

Hence why Hallie is sitting in his chair.

We had a great time seeing each other, and we can't wait to see everyone again at Christmas!

A quick sorry for not getting Griffin's picture. Our camera died right before you guys got there.