New Office

A couple of month's ago John's office moved to a new location. Kyle and I received the grand tour this weekend. I enjoyed the tour and it was good to see where John spends countless hours per week "makin' the bacon". Kyle's favorite thing about Da-Dee's new office was the phone. Kyle loves to "talk" on the phone and is extremely animated when he does... he really believes he is carrying on a real conversation! He also loved exploring and wanted to play at all the desks. I really hope no one noticed anything out of place when they arrived to work yeaterday...LOL!

Happy Birthday!!

Today is John's birthday! Unfortunately, for him it was an ordinary day at work, but he was able to come home this evening and celebrate with his little family. He was greeted at the door with a bag full of birthday cards and a few gifts. John was pleasantly surprised since our new kitchen was his birthday gift. Inside his festive bag, he unwrapped cologne...Eternity and Cool Water and a new book. Kyle and I also took him out to dinner this evening to Red Robin. It's always a good decision since the restaurant is very Kyle friendly and holds his attention long enough to enjoy our meal. We hope you had a wonderful birthday...Kyle and I love you very much!

Strawberry Picking

On Sunday, the Spence Family headed out for a day of family fun! We took an hour drive to Eckert's Farm in Belleview, IL. for strawberry picking. We have been to Eckert's in the past for peach picking, apple picking, and Halloween fun, but today was our first trip to pick strawberries. We had a good time, but we can safely say that summer is definitely here...it was hot! Kyle enjoyed the tractor ride out to the strawberry fields and he was excited about finding the strawberries only for a very short while. He was more entertained by running up and down the field. We didn't stay in the strawberry fields for long and only picked a little over a pound of strawberries. We will be sugaring the strawberries, so we can enjoy some strawberry shortcake...YUM!!

After the strawberry picking, we headed over to the "Fun Corral" for some Kyle style fun...including an airplane swing ride and a pony ride. He LOVED the airplane swing and rode it three times! Kyle also had fun exploring the tractors which were on display and got the chance to climb/drive them. John and I also had our fun while we were there, by shopping in the Country General Store and the garden center. Below are several pictures to highlight our day at Eckert's Farm.

Kyle on the tractor ride

Kyle finding a pretty red strawberry...

and another one! Kyle getting his exercise in the strawberry patch What a cool tractor!

Kyle's first airplane swing ride with Daddy watching!

And another swing ride!

Kyle riding the pony with Daddy!

Six Year Celebration

Saturday night John and I celebrated our six year wedding anniversary. Technically, our anniversary was Sunday, May 17th, but since we were unable to celebrate last weekend we decided to do it this weekend. We had a fabulous evening! We chose to have dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse! They sprinkled rose petals on our table to signify that we were celebrating our anniversary! Everyone who came by wished us "Happy Anniversary"! We thought it was a special touch to the dining experience. Wow, the meal was fantastic! We began with the shrimp cocktail appetizer, John ordered filet with lobster tails, and I had petite filet with shrimp....everything was absolutely delicious! Unfortunately, desert was out of the question since we were extremely full!

After dinner, we made our way over to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel to enjoy some cocktails. John and I first met at the Ritz-Carlton in 2002, so we enjoy seeing where "our story" began...although, we didn't officially start dating until six months after we met at the Ritz. We look forward to many happy years to come!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Dining Room

This week on Kelly's Show Us Where You Live Friday tour the feature room is the Dining Room. The dining room is the first room people see as they enter our home. We don't use the room very often so it is usually very neat, clean, and organized. I love the furniture in our dining room and several of the pieces have family and senitmental value.

The dining room table and the chairs are beautiful, unique antique mahogony pieces which belonged to my late grandmother. Within the past six years we have had the table and chairs refinished, but it didn't take away from the original beauty. The china cabinet and china certainly are special since they belonged to my sister who passed away several years ago. Because of the sentimental value of the china, my husband and I chose to use this china instead of picking our own pattern when we got married. The wine cabinet, side board, and display table were purchased once we moved into the house. I love the open feeling of the room, as well as the bay window, which provides plenty of natural light.

I hope everyone enjoyed the tour of my dining room. To view other dining rooms please visit Kelly's blog. I will certainly be back next Friday to take everyone on a tour of Kyle's room.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend!

View of the dining room from the entry foyer The dining room enters into the kitchen

Bay window which opens to the front of our home Wine cabinet which took us a very long time to locate China cabinet with the china and crystal displayed

Future Monet In The Making?

Last month, the local school district hosted an Art Fair. I was very surprised to learn that a piece of Kyle's artwork was selected to be on display at the fair. Unfortunately, I found this out after the fair took place so we didn't attend the fair to see Kyle's artistic debut. If I do say so myself, I think his "masterpiece" is very impressive for a three year old. We plan to frame the artwork and display it in Kyle's playroom.

Balloons for Kayleigh

For many months, I have been following the story of a little girl named Kayleigh Anne Freeman who was a micro preemie born weighing just one pound one ounce. Last week Kayleigh passed away and today her parents asked everyone to release pink balloons in her memory. Below are several pictures of the balloons being released here in St.Louis, Missouri.

Three pink balloons for Kayleigh

Kyle, our micro-preemie miracle releasing the balloons Up, Up...

And Away!