Just a Hint

There was just a hint of the coming spring in the air this week.  We actually spent some time playing outside - usually with a light jacket, but still . . . . outside in the clean air just the same!

We spent a little quality time with our remote controlled cars after school 

one day.  Ahh - good times!

 We went out to dinner with our friends one night for Uncle Randy's birthday.  Easton (his grandson) was there and we had the BEST time!  Easton and I even happened to have the exact same shirt on.  Yep - we're both cool like that!

 Saturday was a little cloudy and breezy but still on the warmer side of winter weather.  So we made the most of it and headed out for some adventures.  

We stopped for a visit to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point.  

Here we are mooing with the cow.

 This turkey was strutting around all puffed up.  He sure was handsome.  Makes us want a nice yummy turkey dinner with sweet potatoes, rolls, and cranberry salad.  Somehow I don't think he was dreaming about Thanksgiving dinner!

The Farm jail - hopefully not a sign of anything to come!

 We took a family spin around the Farm on the tractor-pulled wagon.  

And we did a little horse riding.  

Yee Haw Sam!

Our favorite part of the Farm is feeding the goats.  They did not disappoint.  They're always hungry and ready to eat.

After the Farm, we headed for mini golfing.  We tried a new place that we had never golfed at before - it was fun.  

Sam and I are learning to take mini golf a bit more seriously.  We're focusing on our shots and working hard to get the ball in the hole in as few hits as possible.

Mom and dad claim it's a lot more fun when we play seriously rather than us running around like squirrels the whole time.  

Mom lost the game by 2 strokes and had to treat us all to ice cream afterwards.  

It's nice to think that spring isn't too far away. 

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - Most of the snow you see in this picture has now melted.  The weather people say we're going to get more snow this week, but spring snow is always better than winter snow!  My remote controlled car doesn't like ANY snow however.

I wrote a note to my family for Valentine's Day - - - can you read it?  

It says "Happy Valentine's my family".

Sam out - have a great week!

Celebrations

We celebrated a couple of big events this week.  First - it was daddy's birthday.  He says he's 103 years old.  He looks surprisingly good for being that old.  Here we are in our traditional birthday boy sandwich pose.  We sure do love our daddy!

And we finished our Read-A-Thon at school this week.  I won first place in my class with over 2800 pages read.  Sam came in second place in his class with over 1000 pages read.  

We celebrated the Read-A-Thon wins with a trip out for ice cream.  Umm, umm, good!

In other events this week, we accompanied mom to a fun store on Saturday where we got to do some fun Valentine's crafts.  Here we are afterwards.

We also got to go to a movie - we saw the Lego Movie.  It was excellent! 

A great week was had by all.

 Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - Sam here.  

I worked really hard for my Read-A-Thon over the last few weeks.  I'm learning to love reading too.  

And here I am with one of my Valentine's crafts . . . a bow and arrow.  I've been "shooting" hearts at my family all weekend.  

Love Sam!

Little Mice

Our picture sharing is slim this week . . . because we were being little mice.  You know that old saying - "When the cat's away, the mice will play"?  Well we are the mice and mommy is the cat, so to speak.  She had meetings out of town last week and dad promised not to take incriminating pictures of all the things we did.  So we share with you only a few pictures from after she got home.  

We had a very small Chinese New Year Celebration this weekend.  It wasn't up to our usual standards but dad got sick so we kept things small and quiet.  And just to answer the obvious question before you ask it - I have no idea why I'm standing on the chair.

We played trains this afternoon.  It's been awhile since we set up a big train track to play with.  We got out one of our favorites and dad helped us set it up.

And here it is all put together.  Hours and hours of fun!  

Sam Alert:  I realize that we are dressed in pajamas in a lot of pictures you all get to see.  I just wanted to say that apparently mom has rubbed off on us.  Pajamas are the norm in our house unless we are headed some where.  They're just so comfy and cozy!  And we love it!

Sam out - more pictures next week.

Bouncing Off the Walls

Welcome to a new week - we enjoyed a great holiday on Monday.  

I was literally "Bouncing off the Walls".  I had some serious energy and just had to get it out.  

Sam and I did a fun art project this week.  We made snow globes.  Let look at these up close and personal:

Here's Sam's:  He painted a Santa Claus sitting in a chair at the North Pole.

And here's mine:  I painted Mrs. Claus' house. 

In other happenings this week - we enjoyed some yummy ice cream with mom and dad.  It was sunny and warm that day and we enjoyed just soaking up the sun on the bench outside the ice cream place.  We were wishing we had our sunglasses on!

Here we are with mom, finishing up our ice cream.  

Sam Alert:  My faithful followers will remember that I love to be active.  Give me some outdoor time and I am a happy camper.  But in the winters my active moments are a little more calm and quiet.  Mom and I love to do yoga together.  We've been needing a yoga session and finally made time for one after school/work this week.  Here we are.  My favorite part on yoga on our backs is being able to hold mom's hand while we do our thing!

And in this picture (the lighting is awful) we're doing a hamstring stretch.  

Ah - yoga is great!  

 Sam Out - have a great week!

Winter-Ness

We're deep in "Winter-ness".  

It's cold outside and there is still lots of snow around.  School is in full-force and we're keeping busy and out of trouble (mostly!).  

We did manage to do a couple of fun things this week.  

Here we are with dad - oh how we love our dad!

And here is a family selfie.

We had date night with mom on Friday night.  (This is a cell phone photo and it doesn't import correctly - so turn your heads - - - or imagine that we're laying on our sides.  Which ever you prefer!)  We went out for dinner and did a little shopping.  We shared a shake three-ways.  Who knew you could get a neapolitan shake - chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry all in one - and not all mixed together. Each flavor all in its own section of the cup.  We were in heaven!

Dad's back was feeling good enough for a little wrestling this week.  We're all blurry because we were moving sooooo fast!

I got to go to one of my friend's birthday party.  They had a guy come from a local tropical animal place and he brought snakes (from tiny to humongous) and tortoises and lizards and tarantulas and all kinds of things.  It was so much fun!

Sam Alert: Hey everyone.  I had a good week too, except that I got sick on Saturday.  Just a little fever and just a sore throat.  I'm already feeling better today.  But this was how I spent yesterday evening.  Me and Mary Poppins on the dvd player!  A great way to be sick!

Sam out - talk to you soon.

Back In The Swing

Well Blogger is having troubles tonight - it won't let us upload any photos.  But that's ok, because we didn't really have any photos from this week.  This was a REALLY long week!  It's hard to come back from 2 weeks of time off to getting up really early every morning, working hard all day, homework, a school read-a-thon, Robotics, Spanish, and Chess lessons, and fitting in some sleep.  We're getting back in to the swing of things.  Maybe next week we'll actually take some pictures!

Have a great week everyone!

And A Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2013 ~ ~ and Hello 2014. 

We started our New Year's Eve off with some bowling. 

Sam is still using the ball ramp, but he's aiming and pushing it off all by himself now.  Here he is after a strike.

 

And I'm bowling without a ramp - it's harder than it looks!  Here's dad helping me with my finger placement.

 

Ah - dad and Sam.

 

Oh - me and mom.

 

Here's how we ended.  Neither one of us beat our best scores, but we had a really fun time!  (I'm Bones and Sam is Stitches, in case you're keeping track.)

 

We had a super yummy New Year's Eve dinner - mom was forced (by us) to abandon her Fondue tradition in favor of some delicious Surf 'n Turf.  We ate prime rib and shrimp and lobster.  Mmmm, mmmm, good!

 

We also made our New Year's wishes/toasts with some yummy sparkling apple cider.  

 

After dinner, we played lots and lots of games.  A little Go Fish anyone?

 

 

We celebrated our Countdown around 8:30ish . . . .

 

. . . . because we were getting up early the next morning to go shooting with Grandpa L and Uncle Noley and dad.



 

Here we are having some lunch.  It was a nice warm, sunny day out in the desert.

 

Two good shots!  

 

We also spent some much needed time at the local Bounce House this week, getting some energy out.  

 

We climbed and jumped and slid and bounced, for a long time!

 

This is truly one of our most favorite things to do!

 

It's so hard to catch a good picture because we move so fast when we're there!

 

We spent the rest of the week playing games . . . and having a sleepover at Uncle Noley's house.

 

We also built robots . . . .

 

 

. . . . and made lots of Lego creations.

 

 

Happy New Year Everyone!

 

Sam Alert:  Howdy y'all.  Mason and I both went to Chess Camp this week.  We had a chance to take a lesson from a Grandmaster through our school and we both had so much fun.  I think I'm going to get to take lessons with him this year while Mason does Robotics again.



 

We had a very enjoyable New Year's.  Mom handed over some noise makers and we managed to make even more noise than usual!

Sam Out - See you next week!