Is It Summer Yet?

 Right here is where you are supposed to be reading about our new Christmas tree and about decorating that tree and about a great week and weekend.

 

While our week and weekend were just ok, there is no tree and the associated decorating of that tree to tell about.  It's all because of SNOW!  It snowed this week, more than once . . . and it snowed a lot.  And to top it off - - - it was super dooper cold!

 

So while we did make it outside the house for school and work, and we did sneak in a dinner out and some Christmas shopping late Friday night . . . we decided to call it a snow weekend and hunkered down in the house.  Snow days almost always turn into pajama days . . . which are our favorite! 

 

Sam created a reading nest for himself.  Here he is doing some mid-Saturday reading.

And this is me doing some video game playing in my nest.  Comfy!

 Yep - there you have it.  The most exertion we had all weekend! 

 

We did talk Sam into venturing out to the first step on the front porch to take a picture in the snow last night.

 

And then, this morning after more overnight snow, both of us ventured out in our pajamas and snow boots.  Just for a minute.  The snow was super powdery - - not good for making a snowman.  Or else we would have definitely had snowman making pictures to show you.  

So there you have it - is it summer yet?

Disaster Thanksgiving

We forgot to upload a video from Thanksgiving for everyone's enjoyment.  This is a short story that I wrote at school. 

 

I present to you - Disaster Thanksgiving.

 

Giving Thanks

We have lots of things to be thankful for this year - our family, friends, house, school, pets, and so much more!  We had a great week which included our feast at school on Wednesday that dad and mom got to come to.  Then we had Uncle Noley, Aunt Christy, and Grandpa and Grandma L. over for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. 

 

We started with a little football in the yard.  We're learning about running patterns and trying to remember to catch the ball in the middle of all the running of patterns. 

 

 Grandpa even threw some balls for us.  Here's Sam catching one.

 

 And here I am catching one. 

 

We had lots of yummy food.  I especially loved the stuffing this year.  Sam particularly loves the sweet potatoes.  Mmmm, mmmm, good!

 

Here's Sam asking for another yummy roll.

 

I loved having everyone over and having our tasty food.  Thanksgiving food is all about traditions and Sam and I have already started deciding which foods will become our favorite traditions.

 

We did some game playing while we were letting our feast digest.  Here's Sam playing some chess with Uncle Noley.  

 

And here is a Thanksgiving evening family picture.  

 

We enjoyed a nice, long weekend off.  We spent a lot of time playing and relaxing.  We also got our Christmas decorations up, including our house lights.  Here are Sam and I helping with the lights.

 

We also added a little culture in to our lives this weekend.  We saw Frozen at the movie theater and totally LOVED it!  We also went to the Utah Children's Theater and saw a play - Tinkerbell and the Pirates.  It was excellent!

 

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - Sam here.  I am in chess club at school and I'm always trying to get someone to play against me so I can practice.  Dad and I finished this game in a stalemate. 

 

And here I am with my cool headband from school.  Hum - what is it?  Princess Leah?  Brown balloons?  Nope!

Turkey drumsticks!!!  Bet you didn't see that coming!

 

Ok - Sam out until next week.  Adios!

Dinner, Bowling, and Pets

Well we managed to get ourselves outside the house a few times this week other than for school and work. 

 

We had some dinner at "the yummy roll place" aka Texas Roadhouse.  It was . . . . yummy!

Sorry for the cell phone picture that imported upside down.  Don't get dizzy as you turn your heads to see our cute faces.

 

We also went bowling one night.  We got there after they turned the lights down and the laser lights up - so the pictures aren't great.  But here's Sam.

 

And here I am - I decided to bowl without the ramp this time.

 

A couple of cute but blurry boys!

 

And here are the final scores.  Sam won by a landslide - of course he used the ramp and I didn't.  We're learning to compete against ourselves . . . that's a hard thing to learn!

 

And yesterday we got to go do something super fun - - we got an EARLY Christmas present.  Aunt Jen Jen and Uncle Michael sent us gift cards to the Build-a-Bear Workshop.  And they wanted us to use them now so that we could pick out a Christmas themed pet before they were all gone after Christmas.  So we happily obliged! 

 

Here I am with my new friend - air bath time.

 

And here's Sam giving his new friend a brush.  

 

Another blurry picture - sorry.  We're just leaving with our new friends.

 

And here's Sam with Rudolph, his new reindeer.  His noes blinks and he is super cute.

 

Here I am with Elftic, my new polar bear.  He's well behaved and has made friends with my other stuffed animals.  He's also very energetic. 

Sam and Mason out - have a great week!

Another Quiet Week

 It was another quiet week for us.  Mom was out of town for a few days and you know what that means . . . . what happens at our house (when mom is away) stays at our house.  And there are absolutely, positively NO pictures to prove anything.

 

One fun thing we do while driving with dad in his truck is listen to his music on his iPod.  He has some great Irish music that we just love.  One day when we got home, Sam had written this note on his board and put it out in front of his room.

 

It says "the Irish tunes I 'heart' them".  And he really does.

So after seeing the note, we had to break the Irish tunes back out.  Here is a still shot of Sam doing his Irish jig.  For a little guy, he can sure move fast!  Nimble fellow.  Next time we'll take a video.

In other activities, our game marathon continues.  Here I am during a game of Cooties last night after mom got home from her trip.

And here is Sam playing Uno Moo.  He loves to really hide so that we can peek at his playing pieces.

Finally, we did an art project with mom this morning.  We made stained glass leaves for our window.  Pretty huh!

 

Ok - Mason and Sam out - see you next week.

A Quiet Week

Quiet weeks are still fun weeks . . . they're weeks where we make our own fun. 

This week we started a family Loopin' Louie tournament.  This is a super fun game that we love to play.  Sam is quite the Loopin' Louie shark but we've all done our fair share of winning.

We spent some "quality time" in the leaves again this weekend.  Here is Sam doing some sweeping.

Here is Sam doing some bike riding while the rest of us worked.  

And here is proof that I worked hard!  I even got my first go at the big lawn mower - after a safety lecture from both mom and dad.  Who knew that you mowed in lines?  I thought you just drove it around until it looked good.  Ah - something new to learn every day!

Finally - here's a little proof that we clean up nicely.  This is us on our way to church today.  Bet you've never seen such a couple of handsome guys as us!

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - as Mason said above, I am a great Loopin' Louie player.  I'll play anyone who wants to give it a go.  

Mom snapped this cute picture of me sleeping one night.  I love to snuggle under some blankets and cuddle my stuffed animals.  

Ok - Sam out for now.  Have a great week!

Wrapping up Halloween . . . Moving into November

We had a great Halloween this year!  We did a lot of fun things and lots of fun was had by all! 

 

We had our evening of pumpkin carving last weekend.  Sam and I gutted our pumpkins and dad helped with the sharp knife work. 

Here's Sam going after the guts.

 

And here I am - broken collar bone and all.

 

Pumpkin guts . . . . they don't scare us!

 

Dad followed Sam's instructions exactly . . . and even added a touch of his own.  His pumpkin has lots of teeth - just like him.  Sam's pumpkin is also missing his two front teeth - just like Sam!

 

And here's my pumpkin - he turned out great, didn't he!

 

Here they are in the dark.  Excellent!

 

We made our own mummy pizzas for Halloween dinner this year.  Yummy and fun, all at the same time.

 

And here we are, all dressed up.  I was a Glow-in-the-Dark Skeleton this year.  Sam was Harry Potter.  Aren't we adorable?!?!!  We had a great time trick or treating and have giant bags full of candy that will take us all year to get through.  Happy Halloween everyone!

 

After Halloween, it seems we spend endless hours doing yard work.  We have so many trees around our house.  The yard fills up with leaves . . . over and over and over and over and over.  But what makes all that work a little more endurable?  Playing in the leaves before we toss them in the trashcans. 

 

 

Here I am taking a short break, soaking up some sun.  Ahhh!!!

 

And what did we wake up to this morning?  Snow!!!  Not very much, but enough to coat the grass. It melted quickly and we had a beautiful, although very cold, afternoon. 

 

 

 Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - I do love being outside.  And give me even a tiny pile of leaves and you'll find me right in the middle of it. 

 

 

 Here I am with one of my many handfuls of sticks.  As the leaves blow down in our yard, lots of sticks and twigs come down with them.  And our mower doesn't pick them up well.  So one of Mason and my jobs is to go around and pick them up.  Mom says her back thanks us!

 

 That little bit of snow we had this morning produced some snowflakes big enough to catch on your tongue.  I had to work hard at it, but I finally caught a few. 

 

Sam out - here's to a great week!