Hannah's Birthday Party!

Fun from this morning. Kids attended in costume.


Eric was cracking Freddie up.


I loved that Lisa got up on a chair with Hannah. She held her through a hello, a prayer, a song and the birthday song. The chair would have surrendered had I attempted that with my three year old, I'm certain of it.


I loved that Shae (holding Matthew) was making sure Cal didn't sample the cake during Lisa's speech. (Leah, Eric, did y'all miss this? :) )


Sammy was so happy.


"I wish I loved anything as much as my kids love [balloons]." (See Knocked Up. You'll get it.)

GMI Fall Festival

our baby scarecrow


Caillou!!!


We made cookies. (Sammy really like the container with M&Ms - he pulled that to him and dug in as soon as he sat down. And kept going back for more to "decorate" his cookie.)


Trick-or-treat fishing


Cuteness. He kept crewing on his hat strings.


Poop. Yep. Part of the Zoo exhibit.

Ghost Cookie

Look what had to happen to Slobber Face's clothes

I had to have them cut and made into shirts. That's what happens when you have a looooong baby, folks. Onsies do. not. work. (And neither do rompers.) These are clothes the fit aside from the snaps, and all hand-me-downs (thanks, Leah and big brother Sammy!) and/or gifted. Now he has a full winter wardrobe. Woot! :)

Little boys, pumpkins and leaves.

Three of many reasons I love the fall. Look at these kids.


Rolling around in the leaves - after Mom and Leah raked them into big piles to bag up, of course! (oooh, look on Sammy's shirt - it's his Junior Firefighter Bagde sticker)


Oh, yeah, this guy is walking! Thankfully he's not too fast yet so he's still photographable. The other two, eh, they move too much or make goofy faces. I think most of my good pictures are of Isaac LOL. And Freddie slept through the whole outdoor adventure.


Leah buried Cal in the leaves and Isaac wanted to get in too!


The boys baggin 'em up!

Raking up leaves is so much more fun when your friends help!

The Firefighter's Visit to Sammy's School

Yesterday a Firefighter opened the door for us at Sammy's school. From the time he got out of the car Sammy was facinated by him, and sure enough, as soon as he got in the car to go home he was Mr. Motor Mouth about the Firefighter's visit to his classroom. He told me, "There was a fireman at our school today. I colored a fire truck." Then, "He said 'Don't touch fire. Don't touch the stove. Don't touch hot water.'" (There was constant chatter the entire ride home - all of 5 minutes, yes - but this is the most he's ever shared w/o prompting.)

When we arrived home he was very eager to go through his backpack and show me his fire book. It consists of about fire pages related to fire trucks and fire safety. He did indeed color a firetruck, and the last page had little boxes with pictures of all the things that are hot and not safe to touch, most of which he told me in the car.

Oh, and he also got a Junior Firefighter sticker in the shape of a badge for his shirt. Last night he took it off yesterday's shirt and put it very carefully on his red chair for the night. Then this morning he put it on today's shirt.

I'd say fire safety day was a HUGE hit! :)

Sammy's been working on his b-day wish list.

Seriously, he's been looking through catalogs and telling me and Jacob what he likes. On Saturday he was the perfect blend of his two parents - watching the Longhorns game while perusing a catalog - without pants. If anyone is interested in this list feel free to send us an email. (It's too lengthy to post here. JK!)

Here's the photographic proof:

Pumpkin Patch

The fam headed out for pumpkins this beautiful fall morning.




On the hunt... (Sammy really enjoyed pushing the cart and the pulling the wagon - see below. That's his thing, though.)


baby pumpkin (Freddie really enjoyed, um, well he tried to eat some straw. So, I guess he liked the straw.)


Soooo many to choose from! (It was muddy and there were a lot of rotting nasty pumpkins to navigate through. Sammy was frustrated each time the cart got stuck on a pumpking carcass.)


Our pumpkins!


....and... our Pumpkins! (Aren't they beautiful? **love**)

Jump Happy

Freddie's been wanting to jump lately so this morning Jacob brought up the jumper. We had one happy baby!

Nose of a...

Couple of cute Sammy things:

When we have to go back upstairs to give him a kiss goodnight or something, he can always tell if we've snuck a treat beforehand. He'll ask, "What you ate?" I like that he knows to use past tense, but doesn't know the subtly of the English language well enough to know that it doesn't work in that question. (Some grammar person could probably explain the reasons behind this more eloquently than I can, but I'm sure most of you regular folk know what I mean :)

One more thing, this evening he was playing a game he started last week in Texas. I must have made a good dinner because, as he's chowing down, he says, "It's yummy, Dianne!" Then he laughs and says, "Grandma Dianne. Sammy Dianne. Papa Dianne." Ah, you had to be there. But I guess he now associates his Grandma with good cooking and a goofy name game.

You are invited! Come! Either on-line or IRL.

**Local friends - look for an evite in your mail box soon!**

You are invited to an Usborne Books eShow to explore the world of Usborne Books. A child's interest in reading and learning is stimulated by the lavish illustrations and informative content. There are over 1300 bright, colorful and fun titles covering activities, puzzles and a wide range of subjects for children of all ages.

Usborne Books - the books kids love to read!

Hosted by: Leah **/Jessica **
Place: www.ubah.com/HOS97185
When: Today thru 11/8/2007 11:59:00 PM
Everyone is welcome, so invite a friend.


These books make awesome presents. Birthdays and Christmas are approaching!!!

I'll post a picture of Sammy's tomorrow. Off the top of my head he has: Farmyard Tales The Complete Storybook, Trucks, Diggers, That's Not My Tractor, That's Not My Bear, The Dinosaur, The Moon, Mouse on the Moon, 1001 Things to Find (can't remember which version), and the thin, informative books on Castles, Dinosaurs, Trucks, and something else. These are awesome books!

Halloween Party

We had SO. MUCH. FUN today at Cal's house! We had a Halloween party! We decorated pumpkins, decorated and ate brownie cupcakes, and jumped in the balls. I am so lucky that I 1.) have a friend like Leah who loves hosting seasonal parties and 2.) have a friend like Leah who is totally cool having about six bajillion kids and their parents at her house at one time. We love you, Leah! (and for more than just your parties!)

Who was there? Me, with Mom and Freddie; Leah, Cal and Isaac; Sarah and Atticus; Holly, Kennedy, Carlos and Rony; Melissa and Andrew.

Here are a few pictures, and there is also a Halloween slideshow of our cupcake making below. Woot!


Andrew kept trying to get Sammy to wrestle. They were having a grand time in the balls. Andrew is a *fast* jumper! I tried several times to get an action shot. But couldn't.


Yeah, he's happy. Melissa was playing with him. :)


Kennedy loooooves Freddie (well, I think she loves babies). Freddie looooves to chew.


Sammy actually playing side-by-side with Atticus rather than terrorizing him. They're hammering. Boys. And I didn't get the redeye out so he looks devilish.


Isaac has a very adorable fluffy butt.


He's pretty cute from the front, too. Poor kid, he didn't get any brownie.


I thought this was so sweet - baby A (guess he's a toddler now) fed his mama Sarah some of his frosting. Sammy would never ever share his frosting with me anymore. Yet expects to get my whole brownie. What is it with these big kids?! ;)


Ah, he's still fun. And my favorite boy. (Big boy, Freddie. There's no competition here, Slobber Face!)


The balls are a big hit at the Cal's house!


Destined to be a drummer. He's the accessories king. LOL

Okay, sorry Leah. I got nothing. Not one shot of you. Probably because you had to keep going back to the kitchen to get more knives because Cal kept eating the frosting off of them. :)

Halloween cupcakes

Slobber Face eats "solids"

Also last week my baby brother started eating solid foods. Well, mushy foods. He ate mushed bananas in Texas, was constipated by the time we returned home, so he moved on to pears on Saturday to help with the digestive track issues. He also started eating prunes today. Babies. He gets all cute and excited when Mom feeds him, flapping his arms all around, squawking and whatnot, and cries when the foods all gone. He's pretty messy, too, but did I mention he's really CUTE when he eats? :)

Today he ate two ice cubes of pears (mama-made!), 1.5 tablespoons of oatmeal single-grain cereal, and one tiny container of Gerber Organic Prunes. I tasted the prunes because I thought it was chocolate pudding. It, uh, wasn't. :p But Freddie loooooved 'em!

"Deep in the Heart of Texas!"

We were in Texas last week, staying at Grandma's house. Here is a quick trip recap and some pictures from our adventures...

It was fun for us to celebrate my Papa's birthday with him last Friday.

Papa and Freddie

I really had fun playing with "Weeell" or, Cousin William. (Weeeell, I reeeeally hope you can come to my birthday party at Choo-Choo Bob's next month! Start working on Aunt Wendy and soon-to-be Uncle Lau ASAP!) Oh, yeah, BIG CONGRATS to Aunt Wendy - she and her boyfriend Lau are engaged. We are so happy for them. They are all mushy and in love. *gag* JK *hugs*

The two blonde, blue-eyed grandsons.

Grandma was so great. She entertained us all week while Papa went to work. She took us to the Texas Zoo.

Chickens (yes, at the zoo :) lol)


Tortoises. I said hello to nearly every animal. I'm friendly that way.


A sweet, sweaty little boy - baby brother in background.


Me and Grandma checking out the tigers. Probably my favorite exhibit.


Why isn't this little animal in a cage? JK, JK! (sort of...)


The speed in which we tore through the zoo - the view Mom and Grandma had!

I also almost flooded Grandma's house one afternoon when everyone thought I was taking a nap. Mom was laying down with Freddie, Grandma had run to the store right around the corner, and I snuck out of my room and was happy as a clam playing with Grandma and Papa's big water cooler.

When Grandma returned home from the store I asked, "Where were you?" Not concerned in the least at having been all alone in her home. She asked where Mom was and I said, "Home Depot" (???) We went to the kitchen together to put away the groceries and she heard me "splish-splash" and realized I had emptied about a gallon of water onto the kitchen floor. I then told her, "I cleaned. Just a little bit." LOL! Grandma was a good sport. She put up with a lot from me. :) Now she knows that Mom doesn't call me Gale Force for nothin'!

Grandma also saved the day at the airport. She braved the parking garage, ticket counter and even security (this last one is a biggie as Grandma has two metal hips!) to help mom make it to the gate - sans Daddy - with both us kids and all our junk. (My mom must have really looked like a spaz shuffling the two of us around because the lady at the ticket counter offered up a gate pass to grandma without any suggestion from us...!)


Here she is waiting at the gate with me, still smiling! She even got to see our airplane with the red tail before we "flyed" in it - we were checking it out together. I asked her if she wanted to get on her belly and play with me but alas, she did not. What a great grandma I have!

We had a good week in Texas. It was boiling hot and over 100 percent humidity (really, it *had* to of been), and there was something awful and allergenic in the air, but it was so nice to stay and visit with G and P on our own. And good to see the teeny little bit of family that we saw, too.

Oh, and Freddie did great on his first two flights, if anyone was curious. Not a peep out of him. And, I, of course, received like, 500 compliments on how good I was. I even got to meet the pilot on the first flight - he gave me a special airplane card. Ah, the perks of being a kid!

A note from Jess

So I changed the name of Sammy's blog. I wonder if he'll mind - ? In case y'all were wondering, he's Gale Force because he moves at a very high speed and he's destructive. Do I need to explain any more? And Freddie is obviously a Slobber Face. I mean, the kid now requires a bib at all times. It mostly kills the cute look he's going for, but it's either that or let him get all soaking wet. Seriously - soaking. I never knew one tiny person (yes, I realize tiny is relative) could produce SO much slobber.

Moving on - I am still having issues posting pictures from photobucket. For some reason I cannot paste into blogger. Punk websites. But then, blogger is looking weird to me for some reason, too, and I wonder if it's stopped being compatable w/Macs? I dunno. If anyone has any guidance on this please shoot me an email.

For now the only way I can upload pix to the blog is through blogger and that takes forever. But I love the one of Cal's cupcakes from his party so I'm going to *try* to upload that one so you can all see the amazingness (word?) of The Baker's Wife, and Leah to find such a fun local bakery.




mmmmm.... cupcakes.... mmmmm.... drool.... cupcakes...

Baptism of Sammy and Freddie

Here we are, up at the well. Pictured are Pastor Greg, Ashley and Cody (our sponsors/Godparents), Mommy hugging me (she was about to cry - big ol' sap), and Daddy holding Freddie.

Also in attendance but not pictured are Mom-Mom and Pop, Aunt Pattie, Nana and Ba, and Eric and Leah. (Cal and Isaac were there, too, but in Splashville/ThePond) My brother and I are very blessed to have so many people who love us and who are dedicated to helping bring us up in Christ. We love all of you and it truly means the world to us that you came to witness our baptism and share this with us.

And, she wasn't there, but I have to thank Hannah's mom Lisa for giving us the amazing Sing Over Me CD that included what is now our baptism song - Hold on to Jesus. I love having song to associate with this very special time in my life.

Also, I wanted to post what Cody read during the service. From Matthew: "[Sammy and Freddie] Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven."

Sep 28-30th

We had a busy weekend! Last Friday Codes-n-Ash arrived at our house while I was asleep, and it was so fun to see them Saturday morning when I woke up! Then, Nana and Ba arrived right before my nap on Saturday, so I took a quick one, and then Nana, Mommy and I went to Cal's birthday party! When I got home from Cal's Mom-mom, Pop and Aunt Pattie were at my house, too!

All these people came to town to see me and Freddie (aka Slobber Face) get baptised on Sunday. It was awesome. I'll post pictures once Photobucket and Blogger will talk to each other. (I'm slightly frustrated with the pair of them right now as I really want to show everyone my pictures!) Oh, and once we get the DVD of the baptism, I'll post a youtube video so anyone who wants to watch the blessed event can.

Love,
Sammy