Silent Night

The nights are not so silent anymore -- and neither are the days! That's because Poppy and Grammie gave Sam his very own harmonica!

Sam is showing a real aptitude for the harmonica -- playing Silent Night, Away In the Manager and his favorite, Jingle Bells, with gusto.

He'll be happy to play for you anytime!

Emphasis On The Sugar

Before heading out of town for Christmas, we had some friends over for dinner -- and when we were finished with dinner, it was time for Ben, Andrew and Sam to start decorating sugar cookies.

There was probably enough frosting used to frost about 10 dozen cookies -- yet they only had about 3 dozen to work with! Sprinkles and sanding sugar were everywhere and the boys had a great time.

The boys won't have to worry about sharing their cookies with anyone -- they didn't look very appetizing to anyone but them!

Ben, Sam and Andrew getting started.

Andrew with his own creation.

Sam's teeth match his shirt!

Father Doesn't Always Know Best

Sam loves to read and has been sounding out words for a while now. He is especially good at three-letter words.

Here's a little conversation Sam had with his Dad tonight while building with Tinker Toys.




Sam: Dad, I want to build this. What is it called?
Dad: That's an airplane.
Sam: (Sounding it out) J...ET. Dad, that not an airplane, it's a jet!

Dad stands corrected!

The Perfect Christmas Card Photo....Not

Trying to get a picture of the boys for our annual Christmas card is proving to be quite a challenge. Nobody wants to sit still!

When the camera comes out -- they get crazy. We have dozens and dozens of shots that won't be making the cut.

Just so you have a little perspective when you receive our Christmas card -- this is what we have to work with:

And this...


And this...

So when you receive our Christmas card and wonder -- is that the best picture they have of their children?

Yes. Yes it is.

O Christmas Tree!

It was time for our annual trek to Thornton's Treeland to pick out our Christmas tree! Sam has so much fun there -- feeding the animals, playing hide and seek in the trees. I'm sure Zak will feel the same way when he's a little older.

The tree farm is right across the street from our church, so every week Sam makes a comment about going to pick out our Christmas tree. He says, "Our tree is in there somewhere. Let's not get the same one we did last year!"

Sam is excited about decorating the tree this year. Matthew will work on getting the lights on it this afternoon and then we'll start decorating when Sam get's home from preschool tomorrow.

It was a fun day!

Sam and Zak were ready to hunt for the perfect tree.

Sam thought this would be a great tree for us.
Unfortunately we do not have 20 foot ceilings.

Is he not the cutest thing you've ever seen?

The boys with our tree!

The goats were very greedy eaters!

The donkey was so sweet.

A new tradition was born today -- a stop at Krispy Kreme for doughnuts and hot chocolate!

Zak ate his first doughnut. he liked to eat it,
but he didn't want to touch it.

Sam just loves sprinkles!

Our Little Climber

I wish I had a picture of him from the day I found him standing on the table. But being a responsible parent, I grabbed Zak instead of my camera!

I'm already having nightmares about Zak and the Christmas tree!

Thanksgiving Family Fun

This last weekend we headed south to Matthew's parents' house for Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time spending time with family. The time always goes by too quick!

Nancy always makes something special -- this year
it was leaves with our names on them!

The kids played pin the hat on the turkey.

Zak opted not to use the blindfold.

A few of the players.

Sam hanging out at the park!

Caleb and Sam!

Trying to get a picture of the five
grandkids was like herding cats!

Joanna and Zak had fun spinning around in the chair.

Crazy cousins!

Sam hanging out in Uncle Vlad's room!

The kids "helped" Nana by talking ALL the Christmas
lights out of the boxes -- without being asked!
There were a lot of lights.

Zak was a big help too!

The kids also "helped" Nana by decorating the tree!

Best of all -- spending time with
Grandpa and Nana and all the cousins!

Peek!

Sam's Feast Day

Today was the Thanksgiving Feast with Sam's preschool class. Matthew was able to go in late to work, so everybody was able to attend!

It started with a short program, involving songs about turkeys, jokes about turkeys and a Thanksgiving prayer -- Sam said the "Amen" -- he was very good! We then had a Thanksgiving potluck. The kids had a great time together.

Tragically, I accidentally deleted the cute video of the kids singing "I'm A Little Turkey" -- but Sam recreated it for me tonight.

Enjoy!

The kids in their Indian and Pilgrim
headbands -- Sam was an Indian.

Enjoying their Thanksgiving lunch!

Sam's solo of "I'm A Little Turkey"

We Have A Walker!

Take a look at Zak's latest accomplishment!

Trick or Treat!

It was a busy week of costume fun for Sam and Zak!

Thursday was Sam's Harvest Party at preschool. They got to wear their costumes that day and march in a parade. This is the first year Sam has dressed up for Halloween. When I asked him a couple of weeks ago what he wanted to dress up as -- his answer was fast and confident -- "something scary!". Since we hadn't talked about scary Halloween things -- I wondered how he got this idea. Apparently Tommy, in Sam's class, wanted to be something scary, so Sam thought that sounded like a good idea. I let him know that we don't dress up as scary things at our house and he could pick something else. He then decided on a lion -- and he does have a pretty scary roar!

On Halloween the boys put on their costumes and we headed over to our church's Harvest Carnival. On the way there, Sam was teaching Zak how to roar like a lion -- Zak was pretty good! Sam had a great time in the bounce house and playing games -- Zak was unimpressed.

Then it was a quick stop to pick up our pizza for dinner. Zak ate his first slice of pizza and loved it! We're going to have to start ordering a bigger size.

The boys then put on their costumes one more time and did a little trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Sam had so much fun visiting all the neighbors he knows -- and he came home with a ton of candy. I'm thinking we'll try and do some sort of exchange -- maybe candy for a DVD! Sam has several favorites that might be hard for him to part from -- namely Dots, Crunch bars and Smarties. Good choices!

Zak was a perfect Dumbo!

Sam trying to ring the bell -- maybe next year!

Makenna and Sam went trick-or-treating together.

Sam munching on a Crunch bar.

A boatload of candy with very little effort!

The boys trick-or-treating at
Grammie and Poppy's house last week.

Pumpkin Carving Time!

It was finally time to carve the pumpkins from the pumpkin patch! Mom scooped out the guts, Dad was the official carver and Sam designed the faces.

Sam wanted to carve his pumpkin just
like in his "Five Little Pumpkins" book.

Dad working hard -- he's a great pumpkin carver!

The final product -- and a sneak
peak at the boys' costumes!

Sacked Out

After spending a great day with his Dad at the Portland Children's Museum, Sam was having a little quiet time in his room. He was so worn out he fell asleep on his beanbag reading "his Bible". For some reason he has taken the book Emma and started calling it his "Bible" -- we don't know why.

Haven't we all fallen asleep reading our Bibles at one time or another?

Family, Friends & Fun

This past weekend we headed up for a visit to Poppy and Grammie's house. The boys had fun spending time with them and doing all the fun things there are to do there.

Sam loves to "make bubbles" in the sink. Armed with a turkey
baster and an egg beater he can get quite a bunch of bubbles.

The boys loved getting to see Auntie Paula!

Saturday afternoon we headed to the bowling alley to meet up with the cousins for a little fun. Five bowlers between the ages of three and seven provided much amusement.

At one point, Eli threw the ball overhand down the lane, Kate had a ball going so slow that someone had to go get it and Mae made the only strike! I am amazed that there were no dents in the floor -- balls were dropped more than rolled in this game. It was a little crazy -- but they all had fun!

Mae, Eli, Kate & Sam watching the action.

Sam liked to use the ramp when he bowled.

Zak and Dad hanging out at the ball return.

Sam barely edged out Ava for the win. Grammie pointed out
that his score is higher than her normal score!

Brunch with Grammie and Poppy after church!