Happy Halloween!

Boo at the Zoo

Our little monkeys at the zoo!

Pumpkin Patch

Visiting this farm has become our favorite family outing this month. We have been there four times! Sam just can't get enough. "punkin patch, big barn, tractor, animals...pleeaase!" How can we refuse this evening of family fun.

Here is his quest for the perfect pumpkin
Pony riderunning through the hay maze
petting zoo
and the cutest pumpkin in the patch

arts and athletics

Sam likes to throw things. He loves basketball and baseball. He loves throwing rocks. He likes throwing the fallen leaves. We spend several hours each day honing these athletic skills. Sam also likes to throw everything else especially his dinner (and lunch and breakfast and snacks and everything that goes along with these meals) I've tried everything I can think of to break him of this wonderful habit, but nothing is working yet. Anyone have any good ideas?

Today, Sam decided he no longer wanted his yogurt and threw it across the room. He spent a few minutes in timeout while I cleaned up the floor and walls. I must have missed a spot,because awhile later I heard him singing the alphabet song and drawing on the window. Here is his finger paint (or rather yogurt) art. Now I am all for encouraging creativity through art, but I would prefer other mediums at the moment.

Dreaming of...

Does this ever happen to you?
Your alarm goes off, but you don't want to get up yet and so you accidentally allow yourself a little extra snooze time. You fall back asleep, but you dream that you got up and are going about getting ready for your day and then you think you are so on top of it until you wake up and realize you are still in bed and are late! ( This used to happen to me all the time. Now, my alarms are a little more noisy and impatient and seldom allow me to get any extra morning snooze time)
Yesterday morning, I had a the opposite occur. I was sitting on the couch and I had just finished feeding Molly and we were watching Sam play when I dozed off and dreamed that I was in my bed sleeping! Do you suppose my dreams will really come true!

Four Weeks

4 weeks old already!

Molly is starting to smile at us. She will be fussy in her bouncer and then I walk over to talk to her and as soon as she sees my face she flashes me an adorable grin. Too precious.
This little one loves her grandpa. She is so content when she is held by him. She loves to just stare at him. I was lucky enough to catch them smiling at one another the other night. Aren't they a cute pair?

Aquarium

We had a surprise one day visit from dad and so we all went on our favorite daytime outing - a trip to the aquarium.

It's the little things

Sam loves trains and he loves playing with his Thomas the Tank Engine train. However, his good friend Thomas can sometimes cause him major frustration (screaming and throwing Thomas and Percy and other train cars across the room, and ripping the tracks apart). This frustration used to sometimes be caused by the trains not sticking together. It took awhile to learn to turn on of the engines around for the magnets to attract each other. For his 2nd birthday Sam received two Thomas gifts. One was a book with magnetic pages and magnetic trains. We thought this would be a great book especially during church. (We figured magnets would not poke anyone's eye out if he threw them four pews ahead). However, one of the pages of the book has two tunnels pictured. Sam was so frustrated that he could not push his magnet Thomas through the tunnel. He whined and cried and threw poor Thomas on the ground and then tried again with the same result. He wouldn't let us put the book away, but just continued to try to get Thomas through that tunnel. The other Thomas frustration of late is his other birthday present - a Thomas shed (pictured above). Sam loves opening and closing doors, so I was sure this was the perfect Thomas accessory for him. For 2 weeks Sam enthusiastically enjoyed opening and closing the door and scooting Thomas out with the lever. The problem arose two days ago when Sam got out another engine and train car. The shed only will fit 2 engines. If you try to cram 3 or 4 in there- it just doesn't work. The poor guy will cry and will plead for help. It is just so sad. "Momma, help pleeeasse, shut shut." This frustration has turned in to several wild temper tantrums in recent days. I kept hiding the extra engines, but he would always find another one. I hoped that he would figure it out and just accept the facts. Last night I hid all the engines except two small ones and now...Thomas and Sam are friends again.