Sam loves "his" new stuff

My awesome playgroup and church friends from Muscatine had a shower for Sadie on Sunday. It was wonderful to see everyone again, and they were very generous in all of their gifts for Sadie (and Sam, too). One of the items we got was a double stroller.

Some of you know that Sam is not a big fan of being strapped in a stroller (and his protests usually get him out of having to ride in one), but once Sadie gets here I figure there is no way I can chase him and keep an eye on her, so he is going to have to get over his issues with being restrained. I decided the double stroller would be my best bet......and I was right (at least for now)! We opened up the box Monday night and Sam "helped" Joe put it together. He then decided he needed to eat his supper (a hamburger from Culver's) while sitting in it. Then we HAD to take it when we went to the park later that evening (I am sure everyone who saw us was wondering what kind of crazy women uses a double stroller to push ONE child 3 blocks, but oh well!).

Here Sam is, happy to be strapped in!

A few more Tahoe pics

Here's some more pictures from Tahoe, so I can finally move on and get on to blogging about the rest of the summer.......2 weeks later and I still haven't moved on!

Uncle Carl would be proud!




For some reason, this picture reminds me of our godson, Mason.



We wanted a cute cousins shot - too bad the 2 of them couldn't coordinate their smiles. I also have some nice ones with Molly smiling and Sam looking dazed, but since this is MY blog, I picked the smiling Sam. You'll have to see Stacy for a smiling Molly one.



The boys having fun rolling around on the golf course.



Sam and Molly swimming. David is under the water, in case you were worried we stuck them out there alone.



Granddaddy hurt his ankle (something about tripping over his pants while putting them on one morning, but you'll have to ask him for the whole story) and spent a good part of one afternoon sitting on the deck with his shoe off and ankle elevated. Sam took a break from picking up pine cones to empathize. I couldn't figure out what he was doing, so I went over to him to ask what was going on.


"My ankle hurts. I have to sit here and rest," he told me.

Fishermen (and woman)

One of the other fun things Lana got for vacation was a fishing pole for Sam (and one for Joe, too). We decided not to put a hook on Sam's line, and although Joe was allowed a hook, he was praying not to catch one, for fear he'd have to do something with it once caught.

We were quite the sight around the pond the first night - me with my camera, Lana with a glass of wine in one hand and her camera in the other (which she obviously put down for some of the photos below), Dave, and Joe - all trying to get Sam to have a grand time fishing. We were a bit noisy and felt slightly badly for the fisherman down just a little bit from us - he seemed like he really was trying to catch fish. Then we noticed the bright yellow and blue plastic-looking pole he was using, along with the matching tackle box - both quite obviously Fisher Price of Little Tikes. He must not have been THAT serious.

Here's Lana showing Sam how to cast.


And more lessons from Lana.



Granddaddy and Sam having fun.


Joe helping Sam.


Don't they look serious.

My Grandmommy is the best!

She bought me the BEST popsicles on vacation - can you see all the yummy drips on my tummy? My mom made me take a shower each time I ate one!

Everybody needs a Bob and Juice

When Sam gets tired or upset, he always asks for "Bob and Juice." Bob is his little stuffed dog/blanky thing, and in these circumstances his cup of juice gets treated as its own being, deserving of a capital letter at the beginning.

One of Sam's favorite activities in Tahoe was "picking up stuff." The stuff usually consisted of rocks and pine cones. He started lining up his findings on the ledge near the hot tub. Soon he was telling me that one rock was Mom, one was Dad, and one was Sam. Then he had to find a Bob rock and a Juice rock for the Sam rock. Next, he found a sister rock. Later, he was outside with Grandmommy and added a rock or pine cone for everyone in the extended family, as well as Bob and Juice rocks for everybody.

Here's some pictures of the "family," each with a Bob and Juice.

I need to save some

The other night Sam woke up and didn't feel good. I brought him to bed with us and gave him something to drink. He took a few sips, put the cup down, looked right at me and said, "I better save some. For the airplane."

"For the airplane?"

"Yup, (with a quick glance over toward Joe) Daddy might take me on an airplane tomorrow."

Good luck with that, kid.

Lions and tigers and .............

Sam and Joe go to the zoo just about every Saturday. I usually stay home and work on a math book. I always ask Sam what animals he is going to look for. Usually his answer is a simple "tigers" or "monkeys."

Today he said, "Lions, and tigers, and...

(he paused for a moment to think of what to say next -my jaw was going to hit the floor if he said bears,because I swear he has never heard that phrase before -however, I didn't need to be impressed)

... and ice cream!" he finished. "And then I'll look for a bench to sit on so I can lick it."