Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow - how did it get to be Thanksgiving already? Well it was very nice and enjoyable. We ate ourselves silly . . . more on that in a minute.

First up - Sam and I made pilgrim hats at school the other day. Mom and dad got to come to school and have a feast with us before the holiday. It was lots of fun!

We spent our Thanksgiving afternoon over at Uncle Noley and Aunt Christy's. Grandpa and Grandma L. joined us. I grabbed mom's camera for this quick shot. After dinner and a round of desserts we played and played. Sam loves to build things and take them apart.
Grandma L. read to us.And we took a family photo before everyone went home for the night.The next morning we got up early and headed out to the desert. Uncle Noley and Grandpa L. came along for some walking and shooting. Here we are getting ready to leave.
We found this great little pond to shoot in to. Don't worry - no fish were harmed in our adventures. Check out the splash the bullets make though.
A few sticks didn't make it home to their moms that night however. It was a fairly warm day, if you were in the sun. But the wind kicked up and kept us chilled every so often. It was nice to eat our lunch out of the wind.
Mom had to work that day, but we had ourselves a great day!
In other fun activities from this week - we were introduced to the wonders of Rootbeer Floats. Tasty!We helped with some yard work. This is round #3 or 4 of leaf duty . . . we've lost count. But it does appear that we are almost done.
And we enjoyed our first showing of "The Polar Express" . . . but definitely not the last showing of the season! It is one of our favorite shows of all time.
Sam Alert: Howdy ya'll. Wanna know my new favorite thing? Glad you asked! It's OLIVES - yes those little black pearls of yumminess. I love olives - put one on every finger and pop it into my tummy and I am one happy boy. Who knew those little things tasted so great? And we've all known about my love for whipped cream. I actually got to make some homemade whipped cream for Thanksgiving desserts. It's quite surprising there was any left for everybody else. Mmmm, Mmmm, Good! Sam out!

Keys, Cars, Parties, and Snow

Now that was a good week! First up - and probably most importantly, I earned my Golden Key on Monday of this week - the very first day possible that anyone in my class could have earned it! The Golden Key is earned by mastering my blends, digraphs, irregular vowels, consonant blends, and one- and two-vowel rules. I am a smartie pants! We got to go out to dinner to celebrate. In other fun activities from this week, we played and played and played with our cars. Between trains and cars, we have more of them than any twenty kids should have! But they are fun!

I also got to go to my very first friends birthday party for one of my friends at school. Good times!

And in other good times - it snowed again this weekend. We had a couple of inches at our house. So we snow-suited up and went out to play.

I made a snow angel . . . And so did Sam.We rode on the sled.
And rode some more . . . .
. . . . and used me as a sled jump.
We had a snowball fight.It was so much fun - look at our smiles.
Of course, we had to get our picture taker too (mom!)
Sam Alert: Hi everybody. Sam here - I have two pictures to share this week. First up - me and mom at dinner the other night. I love my mom lots and lots . . . yes, I love dad too.And check out my smile - snow is fun, even if it is cold. Have a great week! Enjoy your turkey.

It's Us Again

It was another quiet and simple week around our house. There's not very much going on unless you count school and work and being sick. We've all had nasty colds and Sam's, of course, turned into croup. But we know how to handle croup like old pros - so, while there isn't a lot of sleep being had, there are some nice long walks in the cold night air which allows for some good bonding between child and parent.

Here we are just playing cars. Good times!

And here we are playing in the leaves . . . . the leaves that so desperately need to be raked up before the snow doesn't melt so quickly. Fall has truly come and gone in a blink this year. All it left behind are leaves that can't seem to fall directly in to our trash cans. We managed to stay outside for all of about 1 minute 35 seconds on Saturday - the wind was just too cold to make any progress on the leaf battle.And here we are with the turkeys that we made this afternoon. Soon enough some nice turkey will be hanging out in our tummies after a yummy Thanksgiving dinner!
Sam Alert: Howdy y'all - Sam here. Yep, I've been good and sick this week. That means I had to miss a few days of school. On Friday I got to go to work with mom for a few hours (it was her holiday and so hardly anyone but us was there). I've been wanting to go to her work for a long time and finally got my wish. Here I am taking a ride on the cart.
And here I am hanging out with the leaves. We're hoping for a few kind-of-warmer days this week to get caught up on some yard work. Wish us luck.
Here's to a no fever, no coughing, no runny nose kind of week for everyone. Sam out.

Some Quick Pics

Well it was a pretty simple week around our house. We thought we'd catch you up with a few more pictures of our recent trip to Jackson, Wy.

Take a peek at this picture that daddy took - doesn't it look like a postcard? It's taken from the Gros Ventre road over on the eastern side of the Teton Valley.

And here's a fun picture of all of us. Uncle Noley and Aunt Christy joined us for most of our trip. We called this the "elephant tree".

Here are the boys - hanging out on a fallen tree.We did a lot of hiking and running around (along with rock throwing and just simply enjoying nature!). And we found lots of really cool places to take our picture - watch for more to appear around Christmas time!
Here we are doing some more running - there's really nothing better than being out in the fresh air running around.
And here we are on another hike up Cache Creek Canyon.
Oh - and here we are with the bear. One day we'll find all of our pictures taken at this very spot so you can see how quick we're growing up.And here's one more family photo. It really was a fabulous trip! In other events from this week . . . . well really not much happened. We did get some snow and it turned really cold out. So that explains our lack of getting out and doing much. We do have a lot of leaves that need to be cleaned up, but that will have to wait for another week. Here's Sam and I just lounging around the house.And here I am playing on the iPad. Love that thing!
Sam Alert: Howdy everyone - just a few quick pics of me. Here I am having a little lunch this weekend - who doesn't love Spaghetti-O's with turkey dogs? It's one of my most favorite meals!And here's a picture of me from our trip - I do love being outside! Plus I can really be a goof when I want to be. Mason and I really got a good workout on "posing" for all the pictures that were taken of us on that trip. Check out my form!
Have a great week - stay warm!