THE STARS AT NIGHT!

...you know you want to finish that...



ARE BIG AND BRIGHT!



What can I say? Home fry has home pride.

DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!

Sammy's Art

One! Two! Three!

Already pinning each other down.




And when baby gets in the way, just step over him.

eh, it was payback.

I do have a 3 year old!

Here's proof!

(I had to hold Elmo to the side. Punk.)

Food is good.

Nothing like a hearty breakfast of egg yolk, blueberries (in mesh pouch), cheerios and a TJ's cereal bar.



And a tale from our trip to Duluth: we went out for lunch and ordered Sammy a kids' chicken quesadilla meal, which oddly enough came with fries and applesauce (Toto, we are *not* in Texas anymore). We ordered an extra applesauce for Freddie, figuring he'd eat a piece of Sammy's quesadilla. As it turns out, Sammy ate his applesauce, a few bites of his churrito and nibbled on his quesadilla. In contrast, Freddie ate the remainder of the quesadilla, all his applesauce, a side of beans off my plate, half a dozen chips and a good handful of baby puffs. It's no wonder he's Babyzilla.

The Back Carry with Freddie

Today I tested out a new carry with Freddie in the Mei Tai (making preparations for our trip to Walt Disney World!). In case you've never tried to take pictures of your own back with a baby on it, let me tell you it is not the easiest thing to photograph. Without further ado, my attempt...

Freddie


Freddie's back


Cool! I can mess with mama better from this angle!


And the best pic of the two of us. Me, tired and unmade-up but happy to have gotten this back carry thing working. Freddie, desperately wanting the camera. To chew on.


Overall I'd say he's happy. As usual.

Happy Valentine's Day 2008!

The receiving of the treats. Very exciting. Of course I sent him to preschool hyped up a bit today.



Freddie is wearing the same outfit Sammy wore for his second V-day. (Except the onesie snaps have been cut off to make it a hemmed shirt.) That's nuts.



I couldn't find a picture of Sammy in the same outfit, but for comparison, here's a picture of Sammy circa Feb 2006. He was 15 months old.

Oh, and good, another Emma pic. :)

Preparing for the Bear Class V-day Party

Putting stickers on the cards


Begging for a lollipop. I bribed him for a smile and this is what I got.


I was graciously allowed another picture of his face once lollipop was received. But he stuck his tongue out. Lovely.

Oh, and there's Emma for those of you complaining that you don't see enough of her.

Strangers commenting on The Hair.

Just this morning:

"Would you get a look at that hair!"

"His hair is so... cute."

"Hey buddy! I like your hair."

My poor child is going to have a complex. We cannot go *anywhere* without someone commenting.

Even at churh on Sunday, a friend's husband said, "Freddie is hairy today."

Yes. Yes. It does this naturally.

And yes. I know. It stands a good three inches (at least) above his scalp.

This from my Aunt Pattie: "Freddie you have hair just like [your] Mommy did when she was your age - it won't stay down for nothing it was always fly away."

Here's another one for effect.


He doesn't seem to mind.

"Put down the duckie!"

On Friday Sammy found a Songs from the Street CD sampler he received around Halloweentime, and has pretty much been jammin' out to it ever since. His fav song? "Put Down the Duckie" featuring Ernie, Hoots the Owl, and Rubber Duckie (as in You're the One). Here are a couple of pictures of him rockin' out.



Luckily for us, the DVD player Grandma and Papa gave him for Christmas also plays CDs. Now we just need to round up a Sammy-size pair of headphones. STAT! :)



Please excuse the pudding face (it was after dinner) and the weird shorts/cow legwarmers (it was after his Mr. Rogers time, that time of day when Sammy decides he needs a wardrobe change, which is usually right before Jacob comes home).

A NEWBORN'S CONVERSATION WITH GOD

My way of forwarding:

A baby asked God, 'They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow,
but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?'
God said, 'Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.'

The child further inquired, 'But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do
anything but sing and smile to be happy.'
God said, 'Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy.'

Again the child asked, 'And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?' God said, 'Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.'

'And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?'
God replied, 'Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray'

'Who will protect me?'
God said, 'Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.'

'But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.'
God said,'Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me,
even though I will always be next to you.'

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, 'God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.'

And God said, 'You will simply call her, 'Mom.'

*sniff sniff*

Why are you so happy?

You know he makes you want to smile.





Jacob regularly asks Freddie, "Why are you so happy?" Well, at the moment pictured above Freddie is happy because he found the door stopper and was making it vibrate. It's the simple things in life, you know.

Also, bit of a side note here. You'll notice Freddie is pantless in a bunch of pictures. Here are a few reasons why:
1. He's a dude.
2. He's a much better (and more eager) crawler sans los pantalones.
3. Sometimes his mama just likes to see his cute cloth diapered butt.

I hope you're not reading and drinking....

This picture made me laugh out loud. He is SUCH a nut.


I was trying to take a few pictures of the kids while the sun made a surprise appearance this afternoon but Sammy made a game of running from me. Here he is hiding behind the glider. And singing. I think.

More photography by Sammy

Emma continues to be one of his favorite subjects. I like the shocking use of flash on this one. There were some of Arthur this round but not as good, mostly little fingers with a spot of yellow or red to identify his friend.

Everything becomes a percussion instrument

Sammy must be a born drummer. Because ringing the bell isn't quite enough. The bell must also be hit with a wooden handle taken off a dresser.

Argh! I forgot red eye - again. Whatever. He'll be more of a kick a$$ drummer if he looks a bit demonic, right?

The anniversary pretties.

Says Sammy to a playgroup friend Monday morning, "Ooooh, look! My daddy brought my mommy some flowers."


That's two dozen. From a guy who really isn't that into giving flowers (or anything kind of gift that is what he considers trite) but he knows a girl loves to get flowers once in a while. Yeah, he loves me. :)

Freddie eats pizza.

I've decided to spice up Freddie's diet a bit. He had pizza for the first time on Sunday and looooooved it! He was especially fond of the crust.

*nom nom nom*


Leave me to my pizza Woman! (Hey he kind of looks like me in this one. Right?)

The one that looks like Daddy.

I love him anyway. ;)


I just love Freddie's expression in this one! ha!


And 'cause he's so cute when he's happy. (And he's *always* happy!)