January 2012

Because this is what can happen when Mom falters for but a moment . . .

. . . the entire toy closet on the floor, and a snotty sandy little Hitler mustache.  For today.

November 12, 2010

In keeping with tradition, we took Samuel to Pirate Island Pizza for his birthday dinner Friday night.  He had been talking about it for weeks.  He totally remembered the entrance that scared him a bit last year, and was even more scared this year.  He ran right through, and luckily we were there early enough that we didn’t have to wait.  But Sam stood there with his ears covered tight and wouldn’t even talk to the hostess when she tried to give him some pirate gold.  As soon as we were back in the dining room and arcade, Sam was totally fine.  Goober.  Our pirate greeted us at our table, and Sam was very happy to tell him that he was grown up now and turning four.  While we waited for our drinks, we got balloon animals.  And while we waited for our food we played some games and earned some tickets.  Owen loved ski ball and Dance Dance Revolution.  (He told me he wants to play DDR with his buddies Ben and Ethan, and see if they could ever be as awesome as their mommys were at it.)  Samuel loved anything that involved racing.  After dinner, we went back to finish using our pirate gold tokens, and used our tickets to collect the loot.  All Sam wanted were the toy soldiers, so he got 9 of them.  We made it back to the table for a little pirate rendition of Happy Birthday and a free ice cream sundae. 

On our way home, we stopped at Toys R Us so Samuel could spend his birthday Birthday Bucks that Geoffrey the Giraffe sent him.  He wanted a dragon so bad, but good ol’ Walmart bought the rights to the Dragon movie, so Sam had to ”settle” for another monster truck . . . his 11th.  By the time we got home, it was close to 8 and Owen was past done.  I took him up to bed, with a whisper to Erik, “If he doesn’t say anything, let’s not worry about doing presents for Sam tonight like we planned.”  I came back from putting O down to find Erik and Sam smirking at me.  “Sam, what were you going to ask Mom?”  “Mom, can I open my presents that you’re hiding in Daddy’s room now?!”  Fiiiiiine.   He made a decent haul.  It was so cute to see how excited and happy he was about each thing he opened.  Sam had spent the last several months talking about what he wanted for his birthday, and he had poured over catalogs and toy aisles soooo many times telling me he was going to get this and going to get that all on his birthday.  He had cut out pictures that he stuck to the fridge or hid under his pillow and kissed goodnight.  So I was a bit worried he would be disappointed when NONE of those things came his way.  But I was really proud of how gracious and pleased Samuel was about everything.  Such a sweet kid.  Erik and I let Sam stay up way too late as we both snuggled on the sofa watching our little Samuel enjoy his birthday goodness.  It had been a dang good day!

For real, he is the cutest.  This picture is my new favorite.  Love him.

I’ve been anticipating being able to use the exersaucer again.  We borrowed it again from the Ts, and O tried it out just last week for the first time.  He love love loves it.  It might be his favorite toy.  I thought it was cute that his initial reaction was much like Sam’s oh-so-long ago.  In fact, Owen went right for the giraffe, just like Sam did his first time.

October 2009

March 2006

PS, anyone who tells me my boys look the same –which is everyone– is crazy.

We started the day right with lots of balloons and a trip to Krispy Kreme.  After a lengthy and commotion-filled presidency meeting, 6 children included, Sam was ready for lunch and a nap.  Erik had worked until 4 am that morning, so he easily talked himself into taking the day off.  After naptime, we brought Samuel downstairs to open presents.  We played for a bit, then cashed a couple birthday checks and took off for Toys R Us.  Two horses, a John Deere, and a couple stow-away Christmas presents later, we were off to family dinner at Fuddruckers.  I am almost always up for a burger, and Sam will rarely turn down a cheeseburger and fries.  It’s also a great place to go because Sam has loads of fun thinking he is playing arcade games while we wait for our food.  Feeling a bit bad-mom-ish that I hadn’t even made Sam a cake, I stuck a couple candles in the cookie from his kids meal when we got home, and we went for round three of the Happy Birthday song.  The rest of the evening we chilled playing with all of Samuel’s new toys.  I am pretty sure he gets nothing for Christmas.

 {1} I looove balloons.  Kind of lamed out on the present wrapping, though.  {2} I’m not sure what this face was about. {3} Lining up Radiator Springs.  {6} “Why is Mom still trying to take my picture, and what is Dad doing sticking his fingers in my face?”  {8} Sam saw the candles and said, “Oooo! Hot fireworks cookie.”

Do you know how wild I am about this boy?  Do you know how much this goober means to me?  Do you know that two years is nothing?!  I know that my life is so blessed.  {Practically Perfect in Every Way}  Love you so so much, Sam-a-rama.  Happy Birthday!!

My camera died and we have noooo AA batteries left, and sometimes it’s a pain to get out Erik’s camera.  Plus, we just haven’t been doing that much worth taking pictures!  Here are a couple every day photos, though, that do a good job capturing almost-2-years-old Samuel.

Samuel loves cars.  Cars the movie, cars the toys, cars the big things the fly down the street.  He loves cars!  Ok, but particularly the movie.  Samuel has a Lightning McQueen {“Stickers”} a Chick Hicks {“Car Chick”} and Mack {“BACK! BACK!”}  Without fail, every morning starts the same.  We go downstairs, Sam says “Car, where is it?”  He and I search for his special cars, often left in the kitchen cabinet, because that’s where cars sleep, duh.  And as soon as Lightning and Co. are in Sam’s hands he sits down on the floor and says, “Ok, watch Cars.”

Samuel found my secret stash of peanut M&Ms and made a healthy and nutritious breakfast out of them.  Smug little chocolate stealer.

One morning Samuel got the idea that his cars needed a house.  He brought me his wagon of blocks and explained, “Blocks, build house cars.”  So I threw together a little something, Samuel added his standard finishing touch {the “tower”} and welcomed his cars home.  I had to take a picture because I am always fascinated with the way Sam lines up, groups, and organizes.  I suggested such a cool house needed some dinosaurs to guard it, and Samuel thought that was a great idea.  Then I told him to go sit by the house and say cheese so I could take a picture.  Eat your heart out, Kiddie Kandids.

[Ah, yes, you noticed the missing cushion cover.  It was still in the wash from the day earlier, after being barfed all over right before I called the doctor in a panic and was scheduled for an emergency appointment to tend to Sam's concussion.  Oh, I didn't tell you about that . . . ?]

And, last but certainly not least, Samuel has officially adopted new blankets and fully initiated them to the world of chewed-on stinky corners of yuckiness.  I still think it’s bizarre that he went 4 weeks without even glancing at his nasty blanket replacements, and then all of sudden decided the ones that had been sitting in his crib the whole time might be good enough afterall.

Keep reading if you want some laughs . . . the toddler humor kind, nothing fancy here.

By yesterday Samuel was finally almost back to 100%, and it was Erik’s birthday!  So what better to do than take a day to blow some serious cash?  Many thanks to George Dub and his ingenious plan to end the recession for a whole weekend.  We had no problem fulfilling our patriotic duty.

I got ready nice and early so after Sam was up we could run a couple errands.  We came home with balloons and yummy Gandolfo’s breakfast sandwiches to start off Daddio’s 29th b-day.  {Old fart!  He keeps me young!}  I had put out his presents, but was going to make him wait.  Erik had a good argument, though.  “It’s like Christmas.  I’m up, so give me my presents.”  Sam gave his dad a bridge and tracks set to go with his trains.  I got Erik weed killer for the lawn, new jeans and a shirt, and a book.  {It sounds lame now.  Here I am thinking I made his birthday special.  Wahoo.}

Then we headed over to the hobby shop to get Erik his BIG birthday present: an RC truck.  It’s supposed to be in by Thursday, so I’m sure Erik will have some exciting videos and pics to share on his blog.  Next stop was Toys R Us to get the backyard play set Erik and I decided on for Sam after hours of research the night before.  Out of stock!  Everywhere!  So after Sam’s nap, we bit the {more expensive} bullet and got the one we had seen at Sam’s Club the night before.  Erik borrowed his friend’s Durango and filled it to the max, even after taking everything out of the two huge boxes.  Sam was excited just by the big pieces all over the lawn.  We couldn’t wait to see the reaction once it was all together.  We finished the night with friends, cake, ice cream, and several tivo-ed episodes of Unbeatable Bansuke.

Today Sam had a fantastic time playing on his new play set.  Thanks again, Georgie!  And, as a thoughtful way to tell me what a wonderful mother and wife I am on this special day, Erik gave me the lai he got in Primary for his birthday, and Sam handed me back the rose the deacons gave me after Sacrament meeting.  Erik is downstairs making me snickerdoodles, and I did hear him bragging to Sam that today I had been attractive, clever, and a good cook — all in the same day!  I guess I’ll just take what I can get.

Heaven forbid we go anywhere without it!

We all got haircuts yesterday!  I cut Erik’s, Erik cut Sam’s, and Fantastic Sams cut mine.  Since Sam’s cut was by far that most drastic, I’ve got a before and after sampling.  (Seriously, it is almost impossible to get a picture of Sam!)

Here is Erik catching a few long stragglers.  Erik’s cut looks good, too, don’t you think?!  I’m surprised at how well I did.  Last time I tried was almost 4 years ago.  Erik’s shaved his head ever since, until now.

This year Easter was maybe more of a flop than a hop.  I’ve been feeling miserable so a lot of cute stuff I had planned didn’t pan out.  Erik reminded me at this point in time, it’s still pretty pointless, so I wasn’t too upset.  But it sure makes for lame-o pictures.  I wanted family pics in our Sunday best, but of course that didn’t happen.  (Erik said I couldn’t just throw family pictures at him spur of the moment.  He reminded me what happened last time there were spur of the moment family pictures . . . Sam wasn’t in them!)  So this time it’s only Sam in his handsome Easter outfit, even down to the socks!  Thanks, Mormor.

Anyway, the Easter Bunny stopped by during Sam’s nap time.  He left a few outside sand toys, too much candy . . .

. . . and THIS . . .

It’s going to take some practice, but Sam went bonkers over it!

That evening for dinner I cooked my little butt off — glazed ham, scalloped potatoes (my own recipe! yum!), spinach salad, green beans (Grandma B’s recipe, which I learned in Oregon came from her mother), homemade rolls, and tres leches.  Scrumptious.

So I realize most of those pictures are dumb and poor quality.  What can I say?  I’m going to take a few tylenol and lie down.

On Saturday we were trying to figure out what to do.  We like to do something to mix things up a bit, and since I had already gone to Wal-Mart that morning, we were hard pressed for other adventurous options.  Then we realized we still hadn’t been to Ikea, and it was about time!  So off we went.

It was quite an adventure!  It was like going to the Smithsonian, it was so huge and so full of people.  Erik seemed to think it was more like a gigantic herd of cattle.  Either way, it was fun.  We didn’t fall in love with anything, but we did find a really cute toy for Sam.  Erik and I saw it was only $7.99, and both agreed it was one of those toys “every kid should have,” so we grabbed it.

{Sam playing with his toy once we got home.  Ah yes, what you are seeing on Sam’s head is, in fact, sweaty-car-seat-nap-hair!}

Then Sam threw up all over himself and his mommy (it was his morning yogurt; looks like he hasn’t outgrown the milk intolerance afterall) so we went to the bathroom to clean up.  We didn’t see Erik when we came back, so we wandered around looking for him.  We found him a few aisles down from where we left him, with a stroller full of several more toys that “every kid should have.”

Mom and Dad didn’t find the coffee table or entertainment center they were looking for, but Sam sure hit the jackpot!