Thanksgiving in Arkansas

The house was beautifully decorated. The boys worked hard all week to trash the place.


Freddie with Jacob face.


Sammy was happy to ride bikes outside again.


Ba made triking more fun.


The whole family was enjoying some outdoor time before the cold weather set in.


Farm ATVing


Sammy totally looks at home on the farm. But he really wasn't comfortable with the 4-wheeler.


See?


Sammy loved the outside deck and patio. He wants one at our house now. Oh, he's licking the bowl here.


Ba hung these for Freddie. I couldn't resist a picture - they look so purty.


Baby's first Thanksgiving. Showing off his Christmas jammies.


Both boys love Dominique (aka Aunt Nikki) and Kiki. Freddie laughed everytime Kiki licked him.


Sammy and Jess drinking hot cider on Thanksgiving.


Ba carving the tofurky. Which was disgusting, BTW.


Nana making final preparations for our feast.


Um, yum?


Sitting by the fireplace right before bedtime.

How to pack when traveling with small children.

So happy and proud

Sammy earned Arthur for being potty trained! His smile says it all.

He was two weeks trained/learned when he earned Arhur last Monday, November 19th - and had 7 #2s on the potty by then.

It all started when the boy put sunglasses on the dog...

You know you're laughing.

Israelian Idol?

So after listening to the killer contemporary jazz they play on the Weather Channel (TWC for short), Sammy wanted to hear some more music. After surfing through several Sirius channels, we settled on the Holiday channel which was playing a Clay Aiken Christmas song.

Sammy asked, "is that Jesus singing?" I laughed and said, "not quite."

Sammy then responded, "it must be American Idol."

I was unaware that my son was familiar with both Clay Aiken and American Idol. Guess not.

Jacob

Smiling, even though he gets no cake.

Birthday Cake!

He helped me mix the cake. And helped clean up, too.


The cake! Sammy chose it - chocolate cake with chocolate icing and "Lemon-M's" on top! yummmmm..... !

birthDAY celebrations

Sammy opened two presents in the morning, then I went with him to preschool for the morning. At preschool the class sang to him, he got to pick out three treats from the birthday bucket, and he got to sit on a special star mat at the front of group time with Miss Michelle. He chose a book for me to bring and read to the class (Chugga Chugga Choo Choo) and when I read it to the class Cal joined Sammy on the star mat. My two boys. :) It was very sweet. Michelle calls them "the friends" but I was surprised that while they do hang out and talk to each other the most, they don't do every single thing together - i.e. Cal and Sammy sat at different tables for snack and worked on different projects during the morning.

More bday pictures to come. Photobucket is being annoying again...

Party at Choo Choo Bob's: Partying

At the train tables




Pin the balloon on the firetruck


Opening presents


Rockin' the depot

(Ash, note the shirt he chose to wear.)

Party at Choo Choo Bob's: Cake time

waiting patiently in the chair of honor


after singing - posing with mom and dad - Sammy blew out all the candles all by himself!!!


eating cake and coloring his train - two of the greatest things ever


best friend Cal sat next to the birthday boy, of course :)

Party at Choo Choo Bob's: Friends in attendance

Cal


Jacob


Phoebe


Arianna


Andrew


Hannah


Kennedy

Babies

Isaac


Matthew

Luke
Freddie

The Hottest Chick

Jacob was checking out Sammy's preschool class picture and asked, "Who's the hottest chick in your class?"

I, of course, had to translate because at 3 we're not *quite* ranking chicks in order of hottness. So, I asked, "Sammy's who's your favorite girl?"

Sammy answers, "Hannedy." No lie, folks. "Hannedy."

Hannah + Kennedy = Hannedy

Can you blame him?

You know a day just isn't complete unless you end it with vomit (Freddie's) and boogers (Sammy's and Freddie's) on your clothes.

Ah, the magic of childhood.

How to feed a baby.

Step 1: Collect meager amount onto spoon.
Step 2: Shove into baby's mouth.


Final result: Confused and hungry baby.

Editor's Note: This is what happens when Mommy showers during breakfast.