A couple of funny Sam Sayings

Last week, on a lazy off day, I went upstairs and put up my hair to get it out of my face. When I came back downstairs where Sam was watching TV, Sam looked up and said, "Mommy, you look beautiful. I like your hair like that, up in that ponytail. It's so cute!" (I know, I don't get many compliments!)

Then this morning, at Walmart, we were making a return. It's very cold here today and I had hurried him in the store to get out of the cold. The clerk said something to Sam about how he looked good and bundled up. He said, "I know. I have my boots, and my hat, and my mittens. I'm all bundled up so I don't freeze my booty off." The clerk laughed. Then he said, "My mom says that." A proud parenting moment for sure.

Gross Out Contest

One of the guys I work with and I are having a gross-out contest. Not intentionally, really, it started on Monday with a couple of odd-ball stories. Here's my latest attempt from my lunch out with Kate yesterday:

Towards the end of lunch out, Janet and I started to smell something a little foul. Sure enough, Kate was stinky. No problem. Being the second-kid mom I am, I grabbed the container of wipes and a diaper and headed to the bathroom. Turns out her entire left thigh was covered. The jeans she had on were completely unsalvageable, and we lost a sock in the diaper changing process. So by the time I cleaned her up, which took several minutes even for a pro, she looked like this: christmas sweater, onesie that was not too damaged in the assult, one sock, two shoes. No pants. Plus, it was about 30 degrees here yesterday. Naturally, I had no change of clothes with me-- she never does this! And I'm a pro! So Janet made a quick trip to the closest store, a dollar store, with not a pant in sight. Janet returned with a sweatshirt she had in the car. We stuck one leg in each arm and carried her out to the car, because of course I had to pick up Sam from preschool afterwards. Kate was fine until we tried to buckle her in the car seat, and the hood from the sweatshirt made the buckle a little bit tight, not to mention looking pretty odd. We survived it all with only a few odd looks at preschool, and when I told Sam's teacher we both laughed. All in a day's work...

Sicky

Kate and I have been sick for about 2 weeks now. We both went on an antibiotic last Wednesday, but she particularly did not seem any better, so back to the doctor we went this morning. She now has a double ear infection, instead of just her right ear, and has been upgraded to some sort of super-antibiotic.

She really is walking well, but I think her ears may be making her a little wobbly. Or maybe that's just being in her second week of walking. Either way, her spirit has been pretty good, just drippy and goopy and generally tired looking. Good thing we took pictures Friday. That was a good day!

A Great Joy

One of the greatest joys of my life as a parent was taking Sam to his very first KU basketball game on Thursday night. I know that sounds a little exaggerated, but there was something that made me so simultaneously proud-- proud to show Sam where I had gone to school and the things that were fun and important to me, and proud to be with Sam, who was such a great sport and so much fun.

It really was like we were the only ones there at the game. I usually notice everyone else and what they are wearing and judge how old I look-- could I fit in with the students (no) or the faculty (no), where do I fit? But this time, I just noticed Sam. His eyes were so wide and he noticed so many things-- he noticed an old mascot costume on the way in that I didn't even see. He asked about the people in the pictures, and recognized Sasha Kaun (who he went from pronouncing "sashaka" early in the night to correctly calling him Sasha Kaun). He enjoyed the music (of course), the atmosphere, the popcorn, and even a little bit of the game. It was such a great moment and it made me so proud to be a parent and to learn again from Sam the look of pure, unadulterated joy.

I took pics on my cell phone, so they aren't terrific quality, but you'll get the idea.

Halloween, Part II

Granddad carrying Kate after a successful Treat.

Kate hiding behind Granddad

Sam's after-party costume. He's a robot, can you tell?

Halloween Pictures

Kate crawling around at Nanny's, post nap

Sam and Nanny looking at pictures

Sam and Kate trick or treating. Kate's in the wagon.

Superman, I mean Sam, in the wagon. He's just Sam dressed like Superman, he told me several times.

Kate NOT sitting still to have her pictures taken.

I'll write more when I get a chance, but wanted to get a few pictures up. Unfortunately, my pictures were TERRIBLE this year. So, here are the a few to hold you over. Chronological from early in the night to late.

Halloween Eve

Bill and Janet answered my cry for help and offered to let us carve pumpkins at their house Tuesday night. Sam was interested in the tools and the stencils, but when it came to touching the pumpkin, not so much. Thankfully, Bill was a trooper and did most (all) of the dirty work. I did trace the stencils, so that was really a big help. Janet made them a Halloween themed dinner with Monsterghetti, Frozen Ghoul-ade (frozen fruit salad), Dragon Toes (green beans), and Vampire Bread (garlic bread).

On the way home, Sam was looking out the car window at the stars. Of course, he started to name them. He started out with “Starry”, and said, “Who are your other friends, Starry? Oh, I can name them? Thank you.”

So he named them: “Starry, Gus, Dexter, Twinkle, Jonas Brothers.” “Oh, hi, Jonas Brothers. I didn’t see you there.”

I thought, isn’t the Jonas Brothers a group? Yes, I just saw them on Ellen. How in the world does Sam know who they are? It can’t be a coincidence.

So, casually, I asked, ‘Sam who are the Jonas Brothers.’

“Well, I called the stars that, but they are really a group that plays and sings music.”

“Where did you see them,” I asked.

“On Disney, and Zach and Cody. They sing a song that goes…” and he began to sing a song I have heard, but I couldn’t repeat it now.

See, even when you don’t purposely expose them to pop culture, they can’t help but absorb it. You may as well teach them how to respond rather than try and shield them!

Kate's First Birthday

October 28 is Kate's birthday, and we celebrated all weekend long with family and friends. Her party was on Saturday, and featured presents and cake. That's it. No big production, nothing too scheduled, just cake and presents. Presents and cake. It was great. Thanks to all of our good friends and family who were able to stop by and celebrate with us.

The big show was Kate's cake-eating. It was a classic, first birthday scene-- like you might see in a movie-- she ate cake. Lots. She showed no fear. Nothing-- not icing or dog or cardboard would keep her from eating the cake. She grabbed it by the handful and stuck her face in it. She ended up with it in her hair and ears and eyes, which is when she finally had to stop. She ate almost half of the little cake. Here are the pics...

Kate's First Haircut

Just in time for her big birthday, Kate had her haircut. My friend (and stylist) Rebecca graciously agreed to tackle the growing, but unruly mane. Both stylist and baby were great. Rebecca had the brilliant idea to give her a sucker, and though sticky, it worked. See pictures for more fun!

Last Football Game

Saturday was Sam's last football practice of the season and they had their big "game". Sam actually ran the right direction and scored 2 touchdowns! He's turned into quite the athlete, although he was still more concerned with waving to the sidelines than getting flags. Here are a few pictures from the game, courtesy of Janet.

School days

Miss Madeline, one of Sam's teachers, overheard her explaining to another student that they were going to eat in a different room today, but be picked up by their parents in the same room that they are always in on Friday. Sam said, "It's like how you leave your laundry in one place and then go back and pick it up when it's done in the same place."

Right, just like that.

Daddy is a superhero!

Stuart and Clarence worked hard all weekend (helped by Mary and my mom) to clean out the garage so that we can put two cars in it (a major undertaking, if you've seen my garage!) Sam is so proud of it, he keeps saying, "Look mom, we can get two cars in here! Isn't that amazing!?!"

When we left for school yesterday, he said again, "Mom, isn't it so great that I worked hard and got the garage all nice and clean. Well, Daddy and Granddad helped too."

Later, when we left the house, he said, "Mommy, when did Nanny drive to our house?" I thought he might be confused about the origins of our new wheels, courtesy of my grandmother, and said, "She hasn't driven here for a long time. This is our car now, Sam."

"Then how did it know to open our garage?" he asked.

"Oh, well, Daddy fixed the car so that it would open our garage instead of Nanny's. He did that last night," I replied.

"Daddy can fix ANYTHING," Sam said, fully in awe of his Daddy. "But sometimes he needs a little help from me and Granddad."

My pants man

Here's my grown-up pants man in his new superman pj pants and non-matching shirt. And sunglasses. What can I say, he's got eclectic taste!



For those who are curious, above find a picture of Stuart and I at a recent fundraiser for the Truman Heartland Community Foundation. We're all dressed up and fancy and stuff.

Dancing Sam

Most of you know of Sam's dancing exploits. He dances to all types of music, and I have rather unfortunatly exposed him to many a classic 80s song, Mamma Mia by Abba, and most recently, Toby Mac. So, dancing he does. Often.

Last night at church, they did some dancing in preschool choir. Sam loves preschool choir and the leaders are so good about filling the time with fun activities. Apparently there was some dancing, and Sam was shaking his booty with the rest. I know this because every teacher, individually, made a comment to me about the source of Sam's dancing ability. "His butt seems to move in a full circle," one said. Yes, it's a gift.

Then I found out that there was a visitor (whose mom has been attending our class, no less" that Sam enjoyed shaking his booty with. So on Sunday, I'll be apologizing for any dancing exploits that may have permanently injured another girl's psyche. We may be looking for a church before long.

Family Fun Night

Granddad, Grandma, Kate and Sam on a hayride

Grandma and Sam working on Sam's scarecrow

Sam and his scarecrow (It's supposed to look like SuperWhy, but I don't really think he does. What, you don't know who SuperWhy is?!!)

Sam in the maze

Sam and his friends (he didn't want to sit with us) on the hayride.

Monday night was Fall Fun Night at Sam's preschool. It was lots of fun. We went early and took Kate and Grandma and Granddad along for the fun. Sam had such a good time, he didn't want to leave.

Sicky

I was awakened last night by a little voice... "MOM! I spit up!" I came downstairs and he showed me a messy hand. I blame it on the late hour because I didn't realize at first what had happened. I washed his hand, brushed his teeth and gave him a drink. Then I went in the room. FYI, spit up=throw up.

"I know what it was, Mommy," he said. "I'm not sick, I just forgot to brush my teeth. That's all."

We woke up Daddy and got it all taken care of. When we were ready to put Sam back in bed, he said, "Sorry, mommy, for making a mess." And told Daddy "Thank you, Daddy" for making his bed. What a sweetheart he was. Poor thing.

Then he woke up this morning about 7, as usual, and I found him downstairs. When I went in his room, he'd done a little more in the bowl I gave him to use, and I said, "When did that happen?"

"Oh Mom," he said, "That was a long time ago. I feel fine now." I found out a long time ago was when he woke up.

He really was fine after that. Didn't have a huge appetite, but kept everything down and was singing and dancing with Fireman Sam this afternoon. No other collateral damages so far, so here's hoping no one else gets sick...

Recent Pictures

First Day of Preschool, 2007

First Day of Preschool, 2007

Our big walker-- her first steps were Thursday, September 20! (just 1-2 and then boom! That's status quo right now)

Sam and Stu at football practice

Sam's big catch (don't ask which way he ran afterwards!)

Too much

Today we were getting ready for preschool, and as usual, I set out Sam's clothes to get dressed while I was doing the same. He came up with his button-up shirt on and had all of the buttons done, which was big news! (He did miss a hole, so they were a little off, but they were done up well!) After my button praise, he came back up when he had his jeans on.

"You look really nice today Sam!" I said.

"Do you think it's too much?" he replied.

Too much? Where did he hear that phrase?! Probably HSM2. It was funny, nonetheless. More like something I would say to Stuart, rather than a comment from a 4-year-old. He's an old soul. :)

PS: Pictures from the first day of preschool are coming. Really. Any day now.

Gross

When feeding Kate tonight, I called her my girlfriend. As in, 'Okay, girlfriend, you have to keep your food in your mouth' or some such thing. Sam said, "Mom, she can't be your girlfriend."

"Why?" I asked.

"Only boys have girlfriends. Girls have boyfriends."

"Oh, I see. But you're too young to have a girlfriend, right?"

"Right, when I become a mommy or daddy or bigger like that, then I can be big enough to have a girlfriend," he said.

"But I'm big. I can have a boyfriend, right?"

"Yeah."

"Sweet. Daddy can be my boyfriend," I said.

"Yeah, Daddy is your boyfriend," Sam said. Then he added, "But don't kiss him. That would be gross."

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

Today in the car, Sam started to quote the introduction to the Veggie Tales Ultimate Silly Song Countdown. He knows the whole thing. This is new. He's always picked up songs really quickly, and can sing things he's heard only a few times, but now he quotes the words before or after the songs. When it comes to HSM, 1 or 2, he can quote most of the movie. It's amazing. My favorite part of the Veggie Tales quote is:

"Today we're going to do something, you lazies!"

"But we did something yesterday."

"All you did was order chinese!"

"It's hard to say Moo Goo Gai Pan"

You haven't lived until you've heard a 4 year old say Moo Goo Gai Pan. :)

Cute kids

We spontaneously went and had pictures taken yesterday. I've been trying to find time to have this done on a weekend for about a month, and it just hasn' t happened. So, when we had some spare time this morning, I called and got an appointment and packed up the crew. Here are some of the ones we ordered:

Funny but wrong

Someday, he'll be totally mortified by this story, but nevertheless it must be recorded for posterity.

We had a shower for Julie's new baby last Friday. It was an informal family event, kids and all. We were visiting upstairs and most of the kids were downstairs watching HSM2. I got a potty duty call and started downstairs. Sam was outside of the bathroom where the (mostly girls) were watching tv, pants down to his ankles, and he was dancing and singing "booty shaking, booty shaking." The girls were shrieking and laughing. I was filled with such shock, humor and embarassment-- I was awestruck. I ran down and ushered him to the bathroom. Once inside, I told him that he couldn't go around naked in front of other people, especially not girls. He asked why, and I came up with "Because God made those parts special and we need to keep them to ourselves."

"Why," he asked.

"Well, they're just special, that's why. Keep your pants on."

I went upstairs and informed the others that their daughters had just been exposed to some full frontal and backside nudity courtesy of Sam. Julie mentioned that her girls were wondering what Baby David would look like and how he would be different. I told her to fear no more, they now knew exactly what he'd look like! We were still laughing when Sam ran upstairs to play in the toy room with the other boys. A few seconds later, a parade of girls came up from downstairs chanting "Sam! Sam! Sam! Sam!"

It was a night to remember, that's for sure!

A Jaime Holiday

This is more a story about me than Sam or Kate, but I wanted to share it with you as a reminder of God's faithfulness in our lives.

I've been praying/worrying/praying for months about Sam's preschool schedule. We were thrown into a tailspin after a child care change, and I've been wondering how I was going to get Sam to his Thursday preschool session. Last weekend, my mother-in-law graciously volunteered to pickup and drop off on Thursdays, but I have really been praying to switch him to M/W instead of T/Th-- so that I could just change my working schedule and accommodate his needs.

The last few days have been low points for me spiritually, and I really was having a concentrated prayer and study time last night, including letting out some honest frustration. The study was on David's exhaustion after fighting the Philistines AGAIN later in his life, and I thought-- that is really how I feel right now. Like I am fighting the same battles, the same sins, the same temptations, over and over and over again. And I'm tired. Really.

Well, nothing really sparked, but I was thankful for the connection between the study and my life. I noticed some messages on the phone and went to check and guess what? A call from the preschool saying that they'd had a cancellation for M/W and Sam was in! I know that God didn't have to answer me that way because it's what I'd wanted, but I was just so thankful for yet another reminder that God is out there working together for good and bringing about His plans in His time. Today has been a virtual Jaime holiday too, filled with little reminders of the good that He's given me in my life. Tomorrow may be awful or chaotic again, but I am so thankful for the break and the reminder of His love.

I've got a meeting

We ran to the donut store before a meeting at church and saw our friend Sue who works there. When we were leaving, Sue said, "See you later Sam."

"No, I won't see you later. I've got a meeting," Sam said.

Groovin'

Kate's been fighting a cold/ear infection all week. And of course, she cut a new tooth.

Granddad was good enough to come by and take Sam out to play while I was home all day with Kate on Tuesday. We did get out in the morning long enough to go to the doctor, get some breakfast, and pick up her Rx. We were walking through Target, Sam was jumping on and off of the bottom of the cart and I gave him some instruction (I can't remember what now). "You threw off my groove mom!" He said back, laughing. Where in the world does a 4 year old learn a saying like that?

A true Sam saying

We had a great day yesterday. It was our first "day off" since vacation, so we are still adjusting to the heat and the need to get some things done for a change! We went to visit Nanny and saw "Everyone's Hero" with Stuart's parents. I'd highly recommend the movie-- it was great for kids and it was fun to watch. Very wholesome and cute. Then we went for a swim at Doug/Beth's last night after naps to cool off.

Sam's saying came last night as we were leaving the Whorton's. As we were the lucky recipients of dinner, I had taken over some brownies to leave for them and their house guests. Sam wanted one before we left, so I went to grab one on my way out the door and we had one of those typical, "You could just take the brownies. No you. No really, we don't need them" type discussions. Sam had heard all this and kept picking up the brownies off of the counter and saying, "Mom, Beth said we could take them. Let's just take them." Doug gave Sam a little baggie with some in it for later but he still insisted that we take the brownies. So finally, Sam says, "MOM, I don't think you are understanding what Beth is saying. We are supposed to take the brownies!" As we are often having discussions on being a good listener and being obedient, I often use those same words or the "are you listening" conversation. So to hear Sam say the same thing, in the same tone, to me, was just SO funny. Beth and I tried so hard to stifle our laughter. When we got in the car, he told me that we'd have to work on my understanding Beth next time. ;)

(In case you are wondering, we left the brownies.)

Sam's 4th birthday

Not to be left out, amidst all the camp news, is Sam's 4th birthday! He decided he wanted an ice cream cake, but I had a feeling he wouldn't like it, so I ordered one for our home party on Sunday night with Mary and Clarence. I was right, he liked the icing best, and there wasn't much on the ice cream cake (rainbow sherbet with white cake-- blech). He had a good birthday, and it just keeps on coming. We surprised him with a cake at camp so that our 'extended family' could be in on it. He's always wanted a surprise, he's said. When we surprised him, he said, "How'd you surprise me?!?" Like he's super sleuth or something. His big friend party is this Saturday, so more pics coming.

Maranatha 2007

Okay, here it is. The big vacation recap. ALL pictures.

Here's the gang on the Tammy Train-- riding to the beach.

The Wilkerson clan with Kate eating ICE CREAM.

We ran the kids ragged the whole week-- here's Kate asleep while she's supposed to be enjoying the beach.

Here are the kids before their big parents' night program. They are superheros!

Sam's surprise birthday cake.

Awww... isn't that sweet?

Lindsay and Sam

Mom and Kate on the beach

Playing in our room

Building a sand castle

Sam in a hole...

Kate loved dinner time!

Elizabeth, our bathing beauty!

ICE CREAM

Kate on our morning walk

Kate's quite a swimmer!

Sam enjoyed being the tennis ball boy for the Wilkerson matches...

Kate's favorite play spot: the bathtub.

Beth and her fan club

Buried in the sand

The infamous Buzz Lightyear jump