Birthday Boy Coma

Zorrrom, Zorrrom Goes The Train

Sam got a big boy train for his birthday. He is so excited to play with it ... he makes a funny little "zorrrom, zorrrom" sounds as he moves the train on the track. It is so very funny and sweet.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Today is Mr. Sam 1st birthday and we had a little party at Nana and Pop pop's house to celebrate. We had lots of friends, lots balloons, and lots of cake ... everything you need to have a good time.





Anna was such a great big sister today. She played with all her friends during the party, helped Sam blow out his candle, and helped him open his presents.



In addition to all our friends and family, we had a special little guest named Robert come to the party. He is my second cousin and Anna's new favorite little boy. He is such a sweet little guy, I really wish we lived closer to him and his family.



Bugle hands ... what every party needs.

This May Cause Nightmares

Anna likes to greet Sam as he wakes up from his nap each day. Since he usually starts screaming soon after he wakes up, I asked Anna to show me exactly what she does. She climbed into his crib so I could get the perspective of "see Anna like Sam."



She yells really loudly ... "wake up now little buddy! Time to say HELLO to the sun!" Once he stops screaming, he gets a nice smile from Anna. Hum ... I am not sure if it is the scary face or the screaming that is going to give him nightmares until he is 15.

Making Music

Sam loves to pull himself up to the train table to bang a hammer, a plastic wrench, or stick on his new xylophone. Sam thinks he is super funny when he starts to make the "music." We all laugh and smile, so it must be true. He is such a sweet little guy.



He is also fond of stopping playing and crawling over to give big kisses once he sees that you are watching him.

Pre-School Puppets

Anna's pre-school hosted a puppet show tonight. Anna had seen the puppet show during the Hawthorne Street Festival a few weeks ago. So she was extra excited about the story and all the puppets.



After the show all the kids got a chance to meet the puppeteer and see the puppets up close.

Chicken Pot Pie

I got a lot of help with dinner tonight. Charles, with help from Anna, made the crust. Anna had lots of fun with the flour, the pastry brush, and the scrapper. I had lots of fun laughing, eating, and of course sweeping.



Anna's cute little flour cakes cheeks with her new chicken shirt.



Chicken pot pie is not her favorite she likes apple. Anna was a little disappointed at dinner when the pie really was chicken and not apple.

Balloons, I like Them

Sam really, really likes balloons. When he gets one he clenches the string and drags them around the house, screams if he looses the string from his grip, or if the string is to high for him to reach. Currently we have four inflated balloons in the house. Luckily I found out that you can buy them at the Dollar Store because the free Trader Joe's ones cause lots of tears when they deflate in one day.

Three Weeks

Charles asked Anna if she knew when we were going to Disneyland ... "yep, three weeks!" She is right on the three weeks; but, really does not know how long three weeks actually is ... "hum not tomorrow, I go to preschool tomorrow."



Anna has been getting everyone in the Disney mood around her. She has also been taking advantage of Stella being so sick to make her wear silly hats and bonnets.

Spending The Day The George And Martha Way

Or I could have called this post, how Anna celebrated being staples free today. She was really brave and did not fuss at all at the doctor's office. She decided to spend the rest of the day "the George and Martha way." I learned that this was pretty much involved wearing her footed PJ's with hippo's on them, wanting to eat lollipop's, and toy hoarding from Sam.



Sam decided to spend his afternoon organizing his tool box.





A little update on our dog Stella, she is doing much better then earlier this week. She is back to eating and has stopped vomiting. Right now we are just taking it day by day. I hope that she responds to the medicine well and I like to think that they are working some magical cure on her poor failing gallbladder.

The Dino Is Back

Sam on the dino at age 11 months (August 2009). He was pretty excited about riding on it and figured out very quickly how to make it rock.



Anna on the dino at age 13 months (March 2007). She loved to ride it on ... we have at least fifty photo's of her on it.

Very, Very Busy

Anna was very busy working on art projects all morning.



Sam was a little sad to be left out of the fun, so he tried to join in.

The Evidence Of Not Sleeping

Four Staples

Anna jumped out of the shower last night and slipped on the landing. She hit the back of her head with the tile shower lip, passed out for a few seconds, and ended up in the ER for a few hours. Lucky for us Anna is OK and will not suffer any lasting damage. The little scar will be covered by her hair. The ER doctor was a woman who understood the importance of having hair. She gave Anna 4 staples (it was as bad as it sounds) instead of shaving her hair and giving her stitches. We ended up coming home very late with band-aids, a pop cycle, 100's of stickers, and a new plush Stitch waiting for Anna on the table.

New Tricks

America's Number One Selling Model

Anna and Sam have so much fun with the cozy coup car, I now know why it is the best selling car in America.



Sam is especially fond of the car. He cries to get in it and cries if he he not going fast enough ... full on temper tantrum if he has to get out.



He can push himself backwards, but does not have the forwards yet.

Funny Little Guy

Sam had a good day today. First he was a little bit naughty,



next he was a little funny (notice he super cute crooked little teeth),



and finally he was really super funny ...

Fairy Eater

"Oh No, is Sammy a Fairy Eater?"

Duct Work

We are building a playroom downstairs right now. In anticipation of closing off partial access to some of the ducts we had them cleaned yesterday. Not only did I get nice cleaned ducts, I also got four hours of endless excitement and entertainment for Anna and Sam. They loved everything about the process from the big truck, big hoses, to the loud funny noises. My photo's are terrible, but what they were both doing was going from the door to a vent and then back to the door so they could watch the hoses. It was a fun day ... who knew ducts would be so interesting.

Antique Powerland

We went to Boring for the Great American Steam Up at Antique Powerland today. What a fun place. We rode on model trains, watched the parade, ate shaved ice, and watched a log cutting demonstration.



Anna's favorite in the parade was the small sized Caterpillar tractors. What was really great is that she would point out each time the tractor driver was a female ... "hey that's a girl driving that big tractor!" She told me that she wanted to drive a really one someday when she was much bigger.

Watermelon Teeth

Nana taught Anna a new twist on an old favorite ...



Sam just wanted to eat the melon. He is really has far too few teeth to be aiming for fancy green ones.

Fremont Fest

This year we finally did the Fremont Fest Kids Parade. The first year Anna was too little, then the next year it was to hot, last year I was too pregnant, so this was our year ... our wagon theme was Dollar Store Tropical. It was fun and I was glad that we got to do the parade for the first time with Katie and Max.



Anna walked the entire parade and carried her purse. She wore her Lilo and Stitch inspired dress and spent the entire parade route saying "I'm Lilo!"



I had Nana, Pop pop's, Charles, and Scott scatted along the route to yell and wave at the kids. I thought it might be more fun if they knew who was yelling for them. Anna was really excited when we walked by the bookstore and saw Bookstore Carly (who is also our babysitter).