Afternoon at the Museum

It's official - our Spring Break is finally here.  And this year's break consists of super fun things around our own town.  

So on Saturday we decided to invite Uncle Noley & Aunt Christy to come with us to the Dinosaur museum.  They had never been before so we offered to be their tour guides.  We took our tour guide jobs seriously (very seriously!) and showed them everything about one of our favorite museums.  

First up - looking at the cool exhibits.

Watch out - we found these little dinos hiding in a cave!

Watch out - more dinos behind you!  It's a BIG one!

Here's Sam trying to be as big as this super giant dino.

And here's me and Sam together - this is one of the giant dino's legs.  Some of these guys were sooooo big - it's hard to imagine!

And here we are with our Uncle and Aunt.

And we take our pictures with the baby Triceratops every time we come to this museum.  

Then there are the T-Rexs.  We're getting bigger every time we visit, but those T-Rexs are still so much bigger than us. 

 Dad took this great shot of the two T-Rexs.  Look at those teeth - scary!

Here's Sam.  

And here we are with our Uncle & Aunt.

I love me a good Triceratops.

And this one was Aunt Christy's favorite - the giant sea turtle.

The massive Megaladon doesn't scare us as much as he used to . . . but he is still scary!

And, of course, a picture with mom's favorite - the Woolly Mammoth.

In other activities from this week - we played some football in the yard, as well as some basketball.  We're also running as many nights as we can fit it in - we're training for a big race in two weeks.

Here's Sam running for a touchdown.

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - two more pictures from me for this week.  

Me outside playing my little heart out.  

And me striking a pose (at my own request) at the Dinosaur museum.  We had so much fun.  It never gets old, and in fact it gets better when you get to show things you love to other people!

Sam out!

Just Playing

 We had a nice quiet week - - at least that's our story and we're sticking to it!  Mom was out of town this week and there are absolutely NO pictures to prove anything that may or may not have happened while she was away.

We did have a relaxing weekend around the house, just playing . . . 

Here I am watching some fun (and educational) PBS shows on Saturday morning.  

And check out this huge accomplishment - - I was playing ball against the door and ceiling and the ball totally landed just like this . . . . balanced on the tippy top of the door.  Couldn't have done that if I'd tried.  And believe me - Sam and I spent most of the rest of the weekend trying to make it happen all over again.  Lightening doesn't strike twice apparently!

Here are dad and Sam playing some chess.  Sam is still taking chess lessons at school.

And look at this - he beat dad!  Good job Sam!

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - I earned my Golden Key Award this week.  It is the BIG award for Kindergartners at my school.  It means I have met proficiency in math, reading, and phonics. I've been working hard for this  all year and finally got it!  

This is one happy boy you're looking at!  

Sam out - have a great week.

More of This and That

 It was a quiet week.  Not much was going on around our house.  School, work, Spring, Winter, basketball, art, rocks, cooking . . . .  That about sums it up.

We had a couple of relatively warm days that gave us some basketball time outside.  We're getting to be pros at HORSE with dad, although he still wins most of the time.

Here's Sam working on his shot from his "sweet spot".  

 And then it was winter again.  We had some snow today.  Crazy ole weather. 

I enjoyed doing some cooking this weekend.  And we enjoyed some family time at the Gem Faire looking at fossils and cool rocks. 

Sam and I also worked on an art project.  It is a long art project that we're not even close to finishing yet.  Stay tuned for the final unveiling.

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone.  I made some serious progress on my art project.  We have an art fair at school in the next month and we're trying to get a jump on some project ideas.  Still lots to do though.  

Take care and have a great week!

Speech Festival 2014

Speech Festival at our school comes around once a year and we have been practicing long and hard for this year's festival.  Our hard work paid off because both Sam and I qualified for our grade-level school-wide competitions this week.  

Here I am waiting for my turn.  The 1st graders had just finished up and received their awards.  Surprisingly enough I wasn't very nervous.

Ignore the fuzzy, blurry video.  Something is wrong with mom's camera.  Turn up the volume and you can hear me recite "The Daring One" by Edwin Markham.  It's one of my favorites.

I didn't place in the top three this year, but I was very proud of myself.  I did my best and there wasn't anything I would have changed.

And Sam's competition was the next day.  Here he is waiting for his turn.  

Again - ignore the blurry video.  He chose "Sick" by Shel Silverstein.  It was perfect for him!

Kindergartner awards will be given out at the Merit assembly right before school is out in the spring.  So we don't know how he placed for a few more months.  He also was very proud of his speech - he did his best and enjoyed the process.

We each got to select a special treat for doing so well.  I chose ice cream.  

Sam chose doughnuts but we didn't take any pictures of those.  

In other events from the week - there was a lot of reading happening.  

Reading is one of my most favorite things to do!

We had a special breakfast on St. Patrick's morning - Green Eggs and yogurt in a green container!  

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - Sam here.  We had a beautiful warm day today.  We got to spend a little time outside again enjoying the sun.  Mason did some bug hunting.  

And I played basketball.  Here I am shooting from "my sweet spot".  I am getting pretty darn good.

Sam out!  Have a great week!

The Great Outdoors

Ah - warm(er) spring-like weather is a wonderful thing!  And we had lots of it this week.  

Of course there was homework to be done before we could go outside and enjoy some sun.

I don't look too happy do I?

Here's Sam smiling about doing his homework - although he's still at school in this picture so the lure of the outdoors isn't calling quite as loudly (yet).

On Saturday dad helped us put together our new basketball hoop from Christmas.  

And here we are with it all put together.  Thanks Santa!

There was A LOT of basketball playing this weekend.  

And there were some big smiles too!

There was also some swinging . . . .

. . . . and playing in the sandbox.

And there was more basketball playing.  Dad played HORSE with us for a long time.

Check out that form!  Good shot Sambo.

Here I am making a shot.  

There was also some bike riding.

And more bike riding.  

Oh how we love the great outdoors!

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - I love school and I love my teachers.  I arrived at the same time as one of my teachers one day this week and she asked me to be her special helper.  I got to carry some fun art supplies in to the classroom for her.  I love helping!

Take care everyone - Sam out!