Moving into Fall - If We Have To . . . . .

It's hard to let summer go - it was a great one!  Warm and long lazy days, and warm nights.  But whether we like it or not, fall seems to be working its way into our not so lazy days lately.  And that's ok - especially when the calendar changes to October.  When October arrives, we start getting excited for fall, for a great vacation to come, and for Halloween.  It seems a little easier to let summer drift away and to let fall in with all that fun to look forward to.  (Of course there's the never ending raking of leaves and winter prep that has to be done, but we'll deal with that in the weeks to come.)

 

Reading is a big part of my life - I LoVe to read!  If things are quiet for more than about 3 minutes, you can hunt around the house to find me sitting or laying somewhere with a book in front of me.  It's hardly a bad habit to have, though, isn't it!

 



And Sam loves to talk on the phone - here he is having a conversation with his Chocolate Monster twin (Aunt Jen Jen).  

 

We spent a couple of afternoons crafting this week - making some new Halloween decorations for our rooms.  These little foam crafts are soooooo much fun!

 

We spent a good chunk of Saturday helping dad with some house chores and mom with some house cleaning.  Yep, that's Sam having a snack while he "helps" dad under the kitchen sink.

 Of course, fall always means soccer.  I had a great game again yesterday and scored another goal.  I had a couple of great assists for scores as well.  My team is really good this year. 

 

 And we had a fun outing with mom yesterday that really got us in the fall spirit - a trip to Gardner Village to see the witches.  They always have the funniest witches around that we love to watch.  See which ones we found on this trip:

 

1. The "fire witch"

 

2. The umbrella witch

 3. The cart witch

4.  The bird witch

 

5. The flying bike witch - our favorite!

 

 6. "Witchy poo"

 7. The frog witch

 

Mom says we can go back again soon in our costumes - gotta make the most of our costumes every year.  We know there are more witches we didn't get to see. 

 

And here we are watching a Thomas the train movie.  Sometimes it's nice to just kick back and have a relaxing afternoon.

 

Sam Alert:  Hey there - it's me, Sam.  Here are a few pictures from me for the week.  First up - me and my dad.  I sure do love him!

 

And I had Western Days at school this week - I have been so looking forward to it.  Yee Haw!

 Here's a little known fact about cowboys that I bet you'll find interesting - cowboys love to play marbles.  Yep, it's true. 

Have a great week everyone - Sam out!

Sam Is In Charge!

Sam here - I'm in charge of the blog today.  I have a few fun pictures from this week to share with you. 

 

First up - Mason and I did some serious car racing the other day.  We tested out a whole bunch of our cars and raced them against each other.  Mason had the top winner and one of my cars came in second place. 

We spent our Saturday morning at Mason's soccer game.  It was surprisingly windy and a little chilly outside.  That's me all bundled up in the blanket.  

 

Here are a few pictures of Mason playing in his game.  

His team played against a team full of girls - and they were GOOD!  

 

Here is Mas during a break hanging with Uncle Noley and his hat.

And here I am demonstrating how Spiderman spins his webs with his hands.  Great pose, huh!

I love being outside.  I went for a great bike ride the other day.

 

 Mason Alert:  Hey everyone - Mason here.  I have one picture for you this week . . . . me and dad doing some mowing.  You can always count on one thing - the grass always needs mowing . . . every week.   

 

Have a great week everybody!

Play is the Work of a Child

This is an old child development theory that we hold near and dear at our house!  Play is an important part of our lives - and boy was it a good week for play. 

 

Dad had to work late on Monday night we the rest of us saddled up and headed down to the Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point.  It was a great night for visiting - dark clouds outside, not a lot of people there.  We rode the horses . . .

 

And fed the goats. 

 

We talked to the cows and Banjo, the donkey. And we did a fun leaf craft too.



On Tuesday, I got my cast off.  The look on my face would lead you to believe it was incredibly painful - but really it was just the loud noise of the cast saw that was a little scary.  

And here I am with my healed up arm.  I have to wear a brace for a few more weeks - whenever I'm playing sports or at school.  The doctor says it looks great!

We played with our cars, played in the sandbox, rode our bikes and scooters, and just tried to have a lot of fun time outside this week.  

I had a great soccer game on Saturday.  I scored a goal.  It would have been two goals, but a kid on the other team decided to catch the ball with his hands as it was going in the goal.  I was very happy with my goal - I have a pretty good team again this year.

 

And if you need further proof that it was a relaxing and fun week, here we are just kicking back, playing, and enjoying life.

 

Sam Alert:  Howdy - It's official.  I'm the funniest person in our house.  Don't ask why - just take my word for it!

 

I give to you two pictures of me from this week - first up:

Me - just a cute Sambo.  

 And the second picture shows the BEST way to watch one of Mason's soccer games - with my Uncle Noley.  Ah, who cares who wins or loses when you're looking at the game on the next field over while giving/getting a super great hug!

 

 Sam out - until next week.

The Great Outdoors

 There really isn't anything better than spending some quality time in the great outdoors!  We are lucky enough to live in a place that has some of the best outdoor activities around - and we're also lucky enough to know a lot of people who like to enjoy the great outdoors with us!

Example #1 - the cabin.  After our sleepover at Uncle Noley & Aunt Christy's we headed up to the cabin with them, dad and mom, and Grandpa and Grandma L.  It was perfect - a great way to spend Labor Day.  



The cabin is still under renovation, but we played around all the work stuff.  We had our marshmallow shooters going full force.  

We did some hiking - thanks Grandma!

And we played some football - it is fall after all, you know!

 In between school days, we just played around the house.  Check out my mountain of pillows/cushions.

And we rode our bikes and scooter.  

Then on Saturday morning, soccer season got going.  Sam elected to not play soccer this year.  We have a feeling that he will be a great individual sport participant, but he's not into contact sports - at least not yet. My team is the Silver Dragons - and we are pretty darn good.  We had our first practice and then a short game against another team.  We did great!

 It's easy to spot me in the crowds with my orange cast on.  Hopefully this will be the only game I have to play with that cast on.  I sure do love soccer - I'm excited for the rest of the season.

Then after soccer, we headed up to the mountains for a day out with some of our friends - Sherry and Wendi and her family.  Sherry brought up her 4 wheelers for everyone to ride and Wendi cooked up the yummiest dutch oven dinner ever!

Here's me and dad on "Beep" the 4 wheeler.

And here's Sam and mom on "Scrambler".  We had sooooo much fun.  Sam was quoted as saying the following on our way home (right before he fell sound asleep) - "It's a shame that we don't have our own 4 wheelers!".

Here's me and dad going through a creek.

 And mom and Sam - creeks are the funnest!

 Here I am - man how I wish I was big enough to drive one of these by myself!

 And another picture of dad and Sam riding through a creek.  Dad was soaked by the time we were through.

 Here we are with Sherry - eating smores.  Umm Umm Good!

And here we are hiking with Wendi and Megan.  

As you might expect, one of the most fascinating things we did was have a campfire.  Megan was in charge of the fire - and she let us help put it out.  Cool!  Here we are pouring water on it - just like our friend Curious George!

Ah - now that was a great week!

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - hope your week was as great as ours!  Enjoy two cute pics of me from the week. 

First up - me and my snake.  This is Foxy the Fox Snake.  He's my pet and he loves me.  

And here I am collecting some sticks at the cabin.  I take this job very seriously!  It was great practice for collecting sticks for the campfire yesterday.  I gathered lots and lots and lots of sticks!  

Have a fantastic week everyone!

Things Overheard During a Wrestling Match

 One of our most favorite things to do with dad is wrestle.  It's always so much fun!  Well during our recent wrestling match, there were some pretty funny things overheard - listen in:

 

Sam - "You do that again daddy and I'm going to take you down!"

 

Mason - "Run for your life"

Mason & Sam - (at the end of the match)

"That was great!"

In other news of the week:

 

Sam earned his 4 year old Alphabet crown at school.  That means he recognizes all of the letters (upper and lower case) and he knows the sounds of them all.  Yeah Sam!  

Yoga was big at our house this week - our bodies needed some good stretching.  Everybody loves doing yoga with Sam - he holds your hand!

There was a lot of good game playing.  

 

And the weekend ended with a sleepover at Uncle Noley & Aunt Christy's.  That's always a good time - lots of marbles for Sam.

 

And tons of fun games for Mason.

 Sam Alert:  Hey everybody - I got to have a "mom day" yesterday.  Mason had a "dad day" but they didn't have the camera, so no pictures.  I decided we should go to the arcade, McDonalds, and the park.  Enjoy a few cute pics of me playing at the park.

 

 Climbing and sliding - can you ever really get enough?  Have a great week.