Christmas Wishlist 2013

I love watching the wish list change as Samuel grows.  This year for fun we are going to make a picture wish list.  When Samuel sees something he would like to add to the list we snap a picture.  This post will probably change as we go through the next couple weeks but we have had lots of fun so far on our trip to Costco!

Who doesn't want a huge panda bear!

A telescope - David would love this too!

A new bike

A scooter

Darth Tater - Samuel has a Potato Head like this but not a big Darth Vader

Basketball game - he would also like the Foosball table.....I just can't figure out where he thinks we could put these!

Darth Vader

Workbench - Samuel wants to be a builder

Piano

Drum set - the boy loves music!

Jake and the Neverland Pirates tree house - he would also like the ship.  I am glad he still likes this show.  He is growing fast I and now it will be soon that he will outgrow some of these shows and toys.

We took the longest at this display.  He loved all of the cars, trucks, helicopters and it was hard to decide which ones he wanted to include on his wish list.

A globe - he love to look a maps.  I love his face in this picture - it shows that it is hard to hold the whole world LOL!

LeapPad - I don't know if he has ever used one but he sure was excited to take a picture

He loves art so he was also very excited about this set

More tools

More cars

MOSI

Last weeked the Museum of Science and Industry had a family day which means discounted tickets!  We went and had a great part.  Of course, the highlight was the children's area and therefore those are the pictures that we have!

Fireman

Tug of War

Pumping Gas

Driving the delivery truck

Hockey player

Trying to use a wheelchair - it was hard work!  (another sad, blurry picture too)

Halloween

How have I not posted about Halloween?!  I got to go to Samuel's school and help with his Halloween party - it was so much fun.  This year he was a firefighter - I am pretty sure I have posted pictures of his costume before but here is picture of him at the Halloween Party!

Eating a cupcake - well, licking off the frosting at least

Mom & Son Days

School was out on Friday and Monday so I took the day off and Samuel and I got to spend some fun time together.  I really do enjoy my job and the people I work with, but nothing beats spending time with my little guy.  We started the first day by going on a breakfast date to his favorite restaurant, Cracker Barrel.

I know that he likes pancakes, but really I think the main draw for this restaurant is the gift shop :)

First Field Trip: Green Meadows Farm

We continue experiencing firsts and this month was the first field trip.  I loved being a chaperon - I am definitely not meant to be a kindergarten teacher, but I love being the mom of a kindergartner and experiencing some days through their eyes.  Plus, it is always fun to watch the little guy interact with his friends.

On the hay ride

Learning how to catch a chicken - although once in there he refused to touch one!

Closest he got to holding the baby chick - I'm sad that this is so blurry

Petting a goat - clearly goats are not as scary as chickens

Milking a cow - after doing this he exclaimed, "I am NEVER doing that again!"

Riding the pony - the highlight of the trip

At the end of the tour of the farm we exited through a pumpkin patch and everyone got to pick out their own pumpkin.  That night we carved our pumpkins.  Little guy's pumpkin is the front left, my pumpkin is front right, and David's pumpkin (this one we bought at the store because David didn't go on the field trip) is in the back. 

Benefits Fair

I don't know about your company, but when Disney holds a Benefits Fair for its employees, it does so with emphasis on FAIR!  Today we not only got to learn about different benefits but we also got to play a little basketball and soccer, get our faces painted, and get balloon animals made to order!

Princess, Superhero, Tiger  - Samuel got to choose what everyone in our family would get

School Nurse

The other night as I sat down to do homework with Samuel we had the following conversation:

Samuel:  I .went to the nurse today
Me:  Why?
Samuel:  My knee hurt.
Me:  I'm sorry you hurt your knee
Samuel:  I didn't hurt my knee.  My knee hurt.
Me:  Oh, well, what did the nurse do
Samuel, somewhat annoyed:  Nothing!  She doesn't have an x-ray machine!

One of the biproducts of having a child with medical needs, he is use to being around doctors, nurses, and the medical equipment.  Silly boy assumed that if she was a nurse then certainly she would be able to give me an xray to find out what is wrong with his knee.  I would have loved to be in the nurses office when Samuel walked in and asked for an xray!

Two days later Samuel was back in the nurses office getting a bandaid for his mosquito bite.

I am happy that Samuel feels comfortable at his school and that he knows there are people there that will care for him, but I do hope he doesn't make going to the nurses office a regular habit!

Not Eating

A few days after starting the new school I received a panicked phone call from Samuel's teacher.  My heart of course almost stopped when I answered the phone and she told me who she was.  Then she said that Samuel didn't eat lunch and now that school is over she is worried about him because he must be so hungry.  She offered him some goldfish crackers and he is scarfing them down!  I took off work to go get him - I wasn't worried but I also didn't want the teacher to think I was a horrible mother because I was just going to let him wait until David normally would pick him up.
When I arrived at the school Samuel was happily sitting with his friends in the aftercare program.  He was eating his snack and laughing so I was relieved.  As we were walking out I asked him why he didn't get a lunch.  He said he just wasn't hungry.  I asked why he wasn't hungry and he responded, "I only want to eat every once in a while."

Unfortunately the cute little anecdote doesn't end there.  I told Samuel that even if he isn't hungry he needs to go ahead and buy the lunch.  He was concerned that this would be wasteful but I told him that he needs to try to eat something otherwise the teacher worries. 
I explained to the teacher that sometimes Samuel just isn't hungry and that even at home sometimes he just doesn't want to eat.  He is not starved - he is growing and gaining the appropriate amout of weight.  Sometimes he eats everything and sometimes nothing.

Well, one week after the first incident of him not buying/eating lunch, I get a phone message from the school that Samuel didn't eat even one bite of his lunch and that he was sitting with his lunch in the nurses office because they are worried about him.  Upon receiving this message (an hour after the message was left because I was in a meeting) I called the nurse.  Samuel had been allowed to return to class.  The teacher had told them to not worry about it that I said sometimes he just chooses not to eat.  Now, however, Samuel knows that the school has a nurses office....a place he will choose to visit whenever he feels he should get some medical advice (see blog post titled School Nurse).

New rule for lunch:  Samuel gets to choose whether he will eat school lunch or pack his lunch.  However, when lunch time comes, if he is not hungry, he at least needs to bite parts of his lunch so that the cute little lunch ladies will not worry about him and send him to the nurses office.

New School Uniform and a Haircut

Well a couple weeks ago we were notified that a spot opened up for Samuel for a good school close to our home.  This was great news.  Samuel wasn't too happy to start a new school after getting use to the other school, but he has quickly adjusted and we really like the school he goes to now.  He is growing so quickly and learning fast too!  Of course, his haircut made him look even more grown up.  Why is it that a haircut seems to make my baby (and perhaps all little ones) lose some of his baby.  In the past couple months he has grown so quickly adding another inch to his height!

 

Serious Pose (as serious as I could get, at least)

Silly pose

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

We got to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and we had a blast.  Samuel dressed up like a fireman, and we went trick or treating through Magic Kingdom getting tons of candy.  We watched the parade twice.  Well, to be truthful, David and I watched the parade twice, Samuel was asleep right before the second parade time.  The parade was great and I have lots of video - I will upload the video to YouTube and then put those in a separate blog post.  I really don't know how well the video turned out, but we really did enjoy the parade.   

 



 

Here are a few more pictures of Samuel modelling his wonderful firefighter costume.  The boy loves to dress up and so he really loved putting on his costume and having me take pictures.  However, he had just gotten a haircut and asked for it to be spikey so he did not want to put on the hat because he didn't want to mess up the hair.

 

Silly face fireman

Serious

I love this face - he is such a great kid!

Oh so cool!

Taking a break from the hard work

Have no fear, he will protect you!

Busch Gardens

We still love going to Busch Gardens, but we like it best when it isn't terribly hot.  We also like it after the summer crowds have left.  We went a couple weeks ago and had a great time - Samuel pretended to be our tour driver :)

 

Building at Lowes

I just really love the workshops that Lowes and Home Depot have for little builders.

Do you like zebras?

Last night Samuel became ill really quickly. He was fine when I picked him up from school, but two hours later he was spiking a fever over 102, shivering and shaking, and just wanting to go to bed.  He also asked to go to the doctor, the dentist, AND the hospital in hopes that someone would be able to make him feel better.  Poor guy! 
We gave him some Tylenol and David gave him a blessing.  He quickly fell asleep in our bed and slept soundly.  I was laying on the bed looking at Pinterest when he woke up and we had this conversation:

Samuel: Did you know my teacher likes zebras and your pajamas kind of look like zebras?
Me:  I didn't know she likes zebras.
Samuel:  She does.  I told her lions eat zebras, but they kill them first.  Lions and tigers and cheetahs and hyenas all eat zebras.

On that note he fell back to sleep for the rest of the night.  Funny boy.  I wonder what his teacher thought upon telling the class her favorite animal only to have Samuel announce what animals eat that animal. 

First Day of Kindergarten!

It happened too quickly!  My little baby started kindergarten.
So I hardly slept last night because I was so anxious.  I want him to go to school and learn and experience wonderful things, but I also want to be with him always and protect him from anything that may hurt.  This boy really is our most precious gift.
So Samuel woke this morning happy and excited.  He got up and got himself ready to go.  He was nervous, but still very excited. 
We arrived at school early, I had to get some information at the office.  Outside of the office we took his first day of school pictures.

A serious one

And of course a silly picture too!

After pictures we walked down to the lunch room.  We went through the breakfast line and Samuel did really well.  I love how the school had it all organized.  Samuel found his lunch card and then we went through the line.  When we got to the cash register the lunch lady took his card, complimented him on how well he did which just made him beam - he was doing so well on his first day!  Then he was told that he would need to go over to the other teacher who would help him to his seat.  It was at this point that tears began to flow, but not from Samuel!  Those were my tears - I really tried to hold them back so that Samuel wouldn't worry, but I was just so proud and also a little sad to see my baby be so grown up.
Samuel walked over so bravely and I think only I could tell that he was nervous.  The teacher greeted him and then introduced him to a boy that was a couple years older.  She asked that boy to help Samuel and then she introduced Samuel to all of the other children at the table.  I gave Samuel a quick hug and kiss, and then I left. 
After I drove away I called David and cried.  Who knew that I would be the one crying so much and that Samuel wouldn't even shed a tear!  Such a good little guy!

After school I picked him up and he was thrilled to see me.  He gave me a big hug.  I asked him how is first day was and he said, "It was great!  I can't wait for my second day of kindergarten!"
Oh how I love that boy! 

Birthday Celebration Part III

So day one was being by myself, day two was being with the family, and this third day was a day for David and I. It was wonderful. David surprised me with wonderful plans. We drove to Tampa where David had booked a wonderful Swedish massage. After the massage we went to lunch. David had it perfectly planned - he took me to Grimaldi's. We had gone to Grimaldi's in New York while he was doing his internship and it was wonderful. It was a little place under the Brooklyn bridge and the pizza was so good. It was wonderful to reminisce for a while, and we were not disappointed in this franchise in Tampa!

Driving to Tampa

Birthday Celebration Part II

This part of the celebration occurred on my birthday and it was a really great day.  It started by Samuel waking my and singing, "It's momma's birthday, it's momma's birthday" followed by him running in my room, jumping on my bed and giving me a big birthday hug.  He had been counting down to my birthday because he helped plan everything about it. 
While I got ready for the day, Samuel and David went downstairs and made cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  They were delicious. 
We then left to attend the orientation at Samuel's school where he would start kindergarten!  The orientation went really well and Samuel got excited to go to his new school.
After the orientation we went to see Disney's Planes.  Samuel really liked the movie, and I loved watching it with him. 
After the movie we went to lunch at Whispering Canyon at Disney's Fort Wilderness Lodge.  We had a delicious lunch.  Samuel particularly loved when he asked for ketchup that everyone who had ketchup on their table had to bring him their bottle, and then when  different customer asked for ketchup we had to deliver it to them.  So much fun!  (Samuel loved the entire theme of the restaurant.)

Perfect amount of ketchup for this ketchup lover!

Birthyday Celebration Part I

I took three days off of work for my birthday this year (well, and to get Samuel all ready to start school).  I have plenty of leave at work, in fact I am in the use it or lose it status so I really do have plenty, and this was a great opportunity to use some of that leave.

On the first day David went to work and Samuel went to the school (we have always called his daycare school), and I had some alone time.  First, I cleaned out my car and that was lovely.  Then I met David for lunch on my way to the temple.  I so enjoyed going to the temple.  I reminded me of so many blessings and also that I am loved very much by Heavenly Father. 

For my friends that are not members of the Church or Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have included a short video about why we build temples. 

 

I love spending time with my family, but I am so glad that I had this one day to myself to relax and remember.



Family Pizza Party

 

I love Publix!  They sell pizza dough and it was on sale so I bought it and for Sunday dinner we each made our own pizza.  I was really so much fun.  Samuel really thought it was awesome to get to shape the dough, put the sauce on, and then add cheese.  Such a fun family activity.  I think we will have to do it again!

Soccer

So soccer ended at the end of July.  Samuel was so excited to get a medal.  We are so proud of him and all that he accomplished during the season.  He improved as the season progressed and really had a great time.

Back Row: Coach Roy, Isaiah, Gabby, Jayla, Grace, ?
Front Row:  Zach, Lilly, ?, Samuel