A Found Treasure

I found this video when I was looking at our pictures.  It just shows how much Samuel has grown.  This video was when he we was two.

Peer Pressure

Samuel goes with his foam swords to David and asks, "Do you want to play pirates? Boys always like to play pirates." After Samuel answered the clarifying question in the affirmative that yes, all boys always like to play pirates, David agreed to play pirates.

Family Day

Because of where David works, we have never been able to see his office.  So in February when there was an Animal Programs Family Day, it was an extra special treat to see, for the first time ever, where David works and the back stage areas including many of the animal barns.  It was so much fun. Samuel was especially excited and he wore his Animal Kingdom Safari Guide outfit (this was given to Samuel on his first birthday by one of David's co-workers) so that he would feel even more official.  We of course weren't allowed to take too many pictures back stage, but here are some pictures that we did take!

On the Safari

Looking at Okapi while on the safari

Being the Safari Guide while waiting for the train to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch

Meeting the goats at the Affection Section of Rafiki's planet watch.  We will call this goat MacGyver....not that that is his official name or anything ;-)

Pictures on the Safari vehicle with Alexander.  Samuel and Alexander have been friends and gone to the same school since they were 8 weeks old.  Best buddies!

Easter 2012

I love Easter.  I think it is the best holiday.  This year was very busy.  On Saturday went to the library and we all got library cards.  Samuel has been very excited to get his own library cards because he wanted to borrow a book about knights.  After the library we went to birthday party for a friend and then we went home to dye eggs!  We dyed them in the front yard this year because the sun was shinning in the back and it would have been too warm!

On Sunday Samuel woke to find that the Easter Bunny had hit lots of little eggs all over the house.  Some were the regular pastel eggs, and then there were Spiderman eggs and eggs that looked like monkeys, fish, bees, and frogs!  Samuel also got a small Easter basket.  The Easter Bunny scored some great deals at the dollar store an was able to find a cowboy hat, Spiderman book, handy dandy notebook, and Spiderman game.   After Samuel found all of the eggs, we went to church.  Samuel really loves being a sunbeam!  After church Samuel asked if while I was making the "Easter Bunny dinner" he could have a treat.  I loved that he called it an Easter Bunny dinner.



Easter Feast

I don't typically write down recipes on this blog, but today I tried some new recipes and I want to remember them. I am really working on de-cluttering so I don't really want to keep the paper that I made my notes on so I thought perhaps a blog entry would be a good answer.  For our Easter lunch today we had ham, deviled eggs, carrots, scalloped potatoes...everything turned out pretty yummy.  I don't really like ham glazes that I have tried in the past so I was leery about what we should do when cooking the ham.  I read many, many recipes and then combined what I had read with ingredients that I had in the house and it turned out pretty well.

Easter Ham
5 lb Ham
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup orange juice

Place ham in the roasting pan.  Poke ham all over with a fork so that there are some holes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a pot combine all of the ingredients and bring to a boil.  When boiling slowly pour about half of the glaze over the ham.  Place a foil tent over the roasting pan and put in the oven.  Every 10-15 minutes based the ham with the left over glaze until there is only ab 1/2 cup of glaze left.  After the ham has baked for 60 minutes, remove the foil tent and pour the rest of the glaze over the ham.  Bake for an additional 10 minutes. 


Easter Carrots (this recipe I believe came from the food network...DELICIOUS!)
1 lb baby carrots
2 T Butter
2 T Honey
1 tsp lemon juice, I just used 1 fresh lemon

Bring a pot of water to boil.  Put in the carrots and boil until they are tender.  Drain.  Put carrots back into the pot and mix with remaining ingredients.  Cook for 5 minutes and serve.  Again, these were so yummy!

Hard Lesson

The past couple of months we have had several conversations with Samuel about having to do things that we don't want to do.  Some times these things make us uncomfortable and can even hurt a little.  Samuel's daily treatment is uncomfortable.  We, meaning all of us, don't like doing it, but we all are grateful for the results so it is worth that few minutes of discomfort.

Today he had his check up with the pediatrician.  There were 5 vaccinations that Samuel could have gotten, but the doctor and I felt no need to do them all at once.  We did 3 of them, and will do the next 2 when Samuel turns five.  Samuel wasn't happy that he was going to be pinched (that is what he calls it when he gets shots or has lab work) and after he got the shots he wasn't sure if he was ever going to be able to use his legs again!   (I am happy to report that he is back to running, jumping, and doing all the activities he wants to do.) But this again put us in the conversation that sometimes we have to do things that we may not want to do, but we know that they will help us.   It is a good lesson to learn and am sure that it is good to learn early in life, but poor guy, when does he have to learn this lesson so young? 
He is a good boy, and he is strong.  I used to think that his cries were heart breaking, but today I learned again that it is even more heart breaking when I can tell that he wants to cry and is trying to force himself to hold back the tears. That is what happened later and I held out my arms for him.  He came to me, buried his face in my neck and just let it all out.  I did the only thing I could, I hugged him and I cried too!

Cousins

Some of our favorite memories of growing up are of the times we spent with our siblings and cousins.  David and I both have wonderful families and great memories.  That is one of the hardest parts about living away from family - Samuel misses all of the cousin interaction.  However, last month Samuel had some great cousin time as two of my sisters come down with their families.  We had so much fun!
Here are some collages of our time with cousins!

Hollywood Studios

EPCOT - We actually got a couple pictures with the whole group!

A relaxing day with the younger cousins while the older cousins went to Universal