Trying New Things

Howdy, y'all!

Sam and I visited McKinney's Storybook Ranch with some friends a few weeks ago.  It was a cute little patch of farmland that had pumpkins, pony rides, a petting zoo, and bounce houses.  I was

shocked

that Sam tried, and loved, all of these things!  I thought for sure we'd just be quiet observers at this playdate.

The pony rides were the first attraction of the day and at first Sam wasn't sure about riding.  He watched some of his friends sit on their pony while the lady pushed the bar around and around in a circle.  I asked him if he wanted to ride a pony and he said no.  When the first round of kiddos was done I asked him, "Which pony do you want?" and that worked!  He said "That one", and pointed to "Brittany", the pony with a flag blanket under her saddle.  Sam was a little quiet at first, but really warmed up to this whole cowboy thing rather quickly. 

I couldn't get him to wear his cowboy hat, but when our friend Liz asked him to put it on, he complied, of course.  And then, thanks to all the moms who were cheering Sam on, I got that great shot of my little cowboy smiling and holding up his hat on his pony.

After his pony ride, he ran through a hay maze and chased after some baby pigs.   He thought the pigs were hilarious, but was a tiny bit scared when the goats started chewing at my sweater.  I have to admit, I didn't really like that either! 

I thought for sure that would be our last activity of the day, but Sam decided today was the day he was going to try a bounce house.  He's wanted to try one before, but didn't like that other kids were bouncing in there with him.  I guess it made it too bouncy.  This time having other kids bouncing with him was fun.  If they left one bounce house to go and try another, Sam was close behind.  Again, I was pretty surprised!

Before leaving he got to ride a pony

again

(!) and then we were told to chose our own pumpkin to take home.  Sam picked a pretty good one - our first official pumpkin of the season - and it's still on our entryway niche outside his room.  It was a very successful playdate, with Sam trying lots of new things.  We were very proud of our Cowboy Sam!  Yee-haw!!

Peanut Butter on Top, Butter Down

It's how he orders his waffles...

Peanut butter on the top waffle, butter on the bottom waffle, milk in his Pluto cup.  Happy boy!

Heard-Craig House

Sam and I recently visited the grounds of McKinney's Heard-Craig House with some friends to take some pictures.

  It was a very pretty day and Sam had fun running around the garden.  We need more days like this here in Texas!

Day One

School is back in session - Hallelujah!

Can you tell I'm just a little bit excited that Mother's Day Out has started? Being cooped up with Sam this triple-digit summer has been tough! 

Sam's excited, too. He has two very sweet teachers, one of whom was a teacher in his class last year. When I pick him up I can tell he's had a great day. They do such a great job there and he's learning so much, academically and otherwise. He's talking so much more compared to this time last year and can tell me in detail all about his day.

Last week we went to the grocery store after school and as I was pushing the cart, browsing for our dinner ingredients, Sam told me a story about a woman who ate an apple. He mumbled something about someone being "mad" at her for eating the apple and when I asked him to repeat it he said "She ate the apple and God was MAD!".

"Oh!", I said. "You're talking about Eve!"

"No! Not STEVE, Mama!!", he said. I told him I didn't say "Steve" I said "Eve", because that was the woman's name - the one who ate the apple.

I was so happy he was a.) listening during Chapel and b.) able to retell the story to me! As a former teacher, these little successes make me very happy!

Yeah Daddy

Sam is our hero.

He stayed very calm and followed directions very well after he LOCKED US OUT OF THE HOUSE!

Brian was outside watering after doing yardwork and I went outside to tell him I had put the garage door down. I hadn't been out for more than a few seconds when I turned around and found the front door locked. It took a few seconds to realize what had happened. I turned to Brian and said, "He locked us out". I ran around to the back of the house, knowing I had shut the garage door, but hoping the back door was open.

Nope. Locked up tight.

I told Brian it was a no-go and we looked at each other like, "What are we going to do?" We knew if need be we could break a window, but not wanting to pay for a new window, we tried talking to Sam first. Sam had just finished helping Brian put knobs on the kitchen cabinets, so he knew just what to say.

Here's a transcript of Brian and Sam's discussion through the door:

B: Sam?

S: Hi Daddy!

B: How many knobs do you see on the door?

S: Two!

B: See the one on top, the one up high?

S: Yeah Daddy!

B: I need you to turn it and let us in.

S: (Sam tries turning the lock the wrong way) I can't do it Daddy! I can't do it!

B: Turn it the other way!

Ta-Da! It worked!

So far we haven't been locked out again...yet. Little Turkey.

Splash Park

Found another splash park to go to with friends.

It's just about the only thing to do in this stifling heat.

Play Dough

Sam and I made play dough this week.

We made the cooked kind, and used gel food coloring to get the awesome colors. When I took the pot off the stove to stir it and pour it out onto the wax paper I showed it to Sam. I said, "It's playdough!" He said, "Dat's not playdough. Dat's dinner!"

Thankfully, no playdough has been consumed...yet.

Water Wiggle

Toddlers + water = wiggle.

Bunk Mate

I've been waking up to a new face, lately.

Sam's been waking up a lot at night these past couple of weeks. We think his last molars might be coming in.

Even though he's quite the flipper, flopper and kicker when he's asleep, it doesn't bother me too much. Poor Daddy has to sleep on the couch, though. There's just not enough room for three, especially when one sleeps slideways...

Happy Birthday Lens Baby

We celebrated a special birthday today.

Our playgroup, Lens Baby, has been around for a whole year now. Can't believe it's only been a year, actually. Feels longer! We got together for an ice cream party and had a great time. Sam was...okay. He's still a toy-hoarder and let out a whopper of a scream here and there, but overall he's playing better than he used to. He loved his ice cream, that's for sure! As soon as I scooped the vanilla ice cream into his bowl he said "No chocolate!" So sprinkles it was.

The last picture is one I took of him at our first meetup, the same house where we were today.  He talked on a toy phone at our meetup today, too!

July 27th, 2010

Happy Birthday Lens Baby!

Fingerpainting

It's messy.

This was one of those art activities that Sam spent about five minutes doing, and I spent 15 minutes cleaning up. 

{sigh}

I'm now on the look-out for art projects that don't require bathing a toddler and mopping the kitchen floor.

Caps for Sale

Gram gave Sam two hats from her collection of plastic bowler hats that go back to the days when she taught the story "Caps for Sale" to her Kinders.

Sam was feeling silly very early on this particular morning. He was putting the hat on, then "sneezing" to make it fall off. You can see in picture #3 he's saying the "choo" in "achoo", his little lisp clearly visible!

It's a Pa-wade!

A very memorable parade, indeed.

We returned to the exact same parade spot we snagged last fourth to watch McKinney's parade Monday morning. Sam was in a little bit of a funk, for some unknown reason, so his pictures didn't turn out particularly "smiley". But the parade was a success overall...ask him what we saw that day and he will tell you every time, "fire twucks, motorcycles, and horse poop!"

Happy Fourth!

image credit:  Daddy

image credit:  Pops

image credit:  Daddy

Neighborhood Parade

Our Fourth of July celebration started off right in our own neighborhood.

Saturday morning we walked down to the same corner we were at last year to watch our neighborhood's parade.  There were fire trucks, police cars and kids on bikes throwing candy!  That night Gram and Pops and I took Sam to see our fireworks display by the big bass lake. It was an awesome show and Sam did great. He fussed right at the end (just in time for the grand finale) but that's never a surprise on a no-nap day. I carried Sam home -

all the way home

- he was sound asleep, dead weight and sweaty!

The next day we just had to make a pa-wade with our trucks and cars and Sesame Street friends.  Everyone loves a parade!

Sam's First Haircut

Or "care-hut", as he calls it.

He did really well, and in fact, didn't make a peep the whole time.  His stylist, Mercedes, was very nice to him.  She let him watch Yo Gabba Gabba on his own little t.v. and gave him a lollipop after she was finished.  She gave him a nice cut, too, and he was pretty shaggy when we went in!  He's our handsome boy!

Lavender Ridge

There's a pretty little lavender farm about an hour northwest of us, so Sam and I took a trip up there this week to check it out.  Sam loved the doggies, and I loved all the whimsical things there were on the farm to photograph!  We stayed for a couple of hours and enjoyed the quiet time in the country.  He did a great job using "zizzers" for the first time (with Mama's help) to cut the lavender, and carried the basket for me since I had my hands full, too.  We loved the animals there, especially the bunnies, and it was nice to cool down and have lunch at the picnic tables in the little forest with our doggie tour guides.

We stopped and had a snack at a downtown bakery located in one of the small towns we passed through on our way home, did some fabric shopping at their quilt shop, and dropped off a package at their post office.  We met lots of friendly people, too.  Sam was very chatty with the lady at the fabric shop and a man in line behind us at the post office!  He slept most of the way home - all that lavender-cutting and small-town folk-meetin' wore him out! 

 We had a great visit and plan to go back again sometime!

Swimming Pooool

I think this is where you'll find us most of the summer.

I wasn't quite sure how Sam would do at the pool this year, but he did great. In fact, he wants to do a lot more than he's ready for, so I have to watch him like a hawk. He loves hanging out in the kiddie pools, which is where we are in these pictures. The fountains are still a big hit (which he still calls "mountains"), and so is the big pool. He still likes for me to give him a "tour", which is just me holding him in the water as we bounce around the big pool, stopping occasionally to jump off any steps we find along the way.The only thing left to do is get Daddy out there!

Triangles

Triangles.

It's how the cool kids eat their peanut butter sandwiches.

The Cweek!

Sam and I had a fun playdate yesterday. Several of us "momtogs" and our boys met at a neighborhood creek to let the kids splash around in their rainboots. The water is very clear and shallow and the creek is nestled in a quiet spot, downhill from a walking trail. The only thing missing yesterday was a little sunshine, which would have made for some pretty sparkles on the water. But Sam had a pretty good time, anyway, especially considering we came directly from school when he's often tired and cranky. He was a little reserved in the water, but did wade out into the creek with me and had a great time playing with a stick on the "shore". We'll definitely have to go back to cool down on a hot sunny day this summer!

Lemonade for Sale!

A friend of mine from our photography group hosted a lemonade stand photoshoot and asked me to help with a few of the details. It turned out really pretty and the kids had fun. Sam was kind of whiny until the very end, then he decided to be a good sport and play lemonade stand for us so we could get some pics!