Don't my boys look cute in their shirts?
Brian and I love the show King of Queens. We especially love Arthur Spooner and the shirts he wears. Brian has a couple of shirts that we call "Arthur Spooner shirts" and I found Sam one as well. I took this picture before they left for some guy-time. While I stayed home and picked up the house, they went to lunch and played at the park. They rarely get time out by themselves and I think they had a great time!
Sam is our hero.
He stayed very calm and followed directions very well after he LOCKED US OUT OF THE HOUSE!
Brian was outside watering after doing yardwork and I went outside to tell him I had put the garage door down. I hadn't been out for more than a few seconds when I turned around and found the front door locked. It took a few seconds to realize what had happened. I turned to Brian and said, "He locked us out". I ran around to the back of the house, knowing I had shut the garage door, but hoping the back door was open.
Nope. Locked up tight.
I told Brian it was a no-go and we looked at each other like, "What are we going to do?" We knew if need be we could break a window, but not wanting to pay for a new window, we tried talking to Sam first. Sam had just finished helping Brian put knobs on the kitchen cabinets, so he knew just what to say.
Here's a transcript of Brian and Sam's discussion through the door:
B: Sam?
S: Hi Daddy!
B: How many knobs do you see on the door?
S: Two!
B: See the one on top, the one up high?
S: Yeah Daddy!
B: I need you to turn it and let us in.
S: (Sam tries turning the lock the wrong way) I can't do it Daddy! I can't do it!
B: Turn it the other way!
Ta-Da! It worked!
So far we haven't been locked out again...yet. Little Turkey.
I've been waking up to a new face, lately.
Sam's been waking up a lot at night these past couple of weeks. We think his last molars might be coming in.
Even though he's quite the flipper, flopper and kicker when he's asleep, it doesn't bother me too much. Poor Daddy has to sleep on the couch, though. There's just not enough room for three, especially when one sleeps slideways...
Yep. There's more...
Sam calls this song "new wock-n-roll" and we usually play it after the song in the first dancing video.
Not as much movement in this one, but there is a lot of shoulder action!
Let's Hear It from Sara Straka on Vimeo.
A very memorable parade, indeed.
We returned to the exact same parade spot we snagged last fourth to watch McKinney's parade Monday morning. Sam was in a little bit of a funk, for some unknown reason, so his pictures didn't turn out particularly "smiley". But the parade was a success overall...ask him what we saw that day and he will tell you every time, "fire twucks, motorcycles, and horse poop!"
Happy Fourth!
image credit: Daddy
image credit: Pops
image credit: Daddy
Our Fourth of July celebration started off right in our own neighborhood.
Saturday morning we walked down to the same corner we were at last year to watch our neighborhood's parade. There were fire trucks, police cars and kids on bikes throwing candy! That night Gram and Pops and I took Sam to see our fireworks display by the big bass lake. It was an awesome show and Sam did great. He fussed right at the end (just in time for the grand finale) but that's never a surprise on a no-nap day. I carried Sam home -
all the way home
- he was sound asleep, dead weight and sweaty!
The next day we just had to make a pa-wade with our trucks and cars and Sesame Street friends. Everyone loves a parade!
Or "care-hut", as he calls it.
He did really well, and in fact, didn't make a peep the whole time. His stylist, Mercedes, was very nice to him. She let him watch Yo Gabba Gabba on his own little t.v. and gave him a lollipop after she was finished. She gave him a nice cut, too, and he was pretty shaggy when we went in! He's our handsome boy!
Sam and I went on a little farewell-for-now tour on Friday.
We stopped by my school for the last-day-of-school assembly, visited Mrs. Ellis' library for some flashlight-reading as she was finishing up her last class for the year, then had one last dinner with Daddy, Gram, Pops and Andrew before Andrew goes to Austin for a few months. Not sure how Sam's going to handle not having Andrew to boss around...
"Popsicles", he says, "wike Pops".
I made several flavors this week - blueberry, peach-mango, and chocolate pudding - and Sam thinks they're pretty cool! I took these pictures the first night we had them, out on the porch before bed. He asked to try the blueberry. They were a little tart, as you can tell from his face!
Our little critter had a great time on his first trip to the zoo!
His favorite part? His new wagon!
Please don't feed the animals!!
There were those who soar and those who slither. And then there were those who flirt.
Among the birds at the zoo was the owner of this awesome pad, the stork.
And the beautiful, long-legged flamingoes.
Plump little penguins,
and Sam's favorite bird, the Bald Eagle!
In the Butterfly House!
This guy was trying to digest the meal he'd just devoured - ten whole mice!
(they're all sitting in that pouch there, underneath his throat)
And then there was this handsome bird - and old California Condor. He's fifty-eight and loves to flirt!
Some scaly critters...
Mr. Boudreaux, showing off his choppers!
Peek-A-Boo!
Some of the tamer animals for the little ones!
Best buddies!
A pretty barn owl and a giant bunny. These bunnies can grow to be three feet long and twenty pounds!
Sam and I went into the goat pen with Gram and Pops to pet and feed the goats. One of the goats tried to munch on Pops' shorts! Naughty goat!
Checking out the ponies!
Checking out the fish pond with Gram and Granny.
Best buddies!
Get ready for some hungry - and sleepy - animals.
These were some of the prettiest animals at the zoo, but also some of the sleepiest. I didn't know lions yawned so much!
The elephants weren't quite as sleepy as the lions. They were all walking around, playing with the hay in their corner of the "savannah". I think elephants seem sweet. They are my second favorite animal at the zoo :) This one looks like she's giving us a sheepish little smile!
Don't worry - I wasn't really this close to Miss Cheetah, I was behind some glass. She just liked walking close to us, showing off her spots!
We took a vote Monday and all agreed the giraffe was the Straka Family Favorite Zoo Animal. These sweet babies came right up to us, looking for food. Some of the kids there were feeding them romaine lettuce, supposedly one of their favorite foods, so I just snapped away. I could have stayed there all day, taking pictures of these guys. There were so sweet.
The lady on the left deserves special mention. Her name is Katie. She's pregnant. And she will be pregnant for *gulp*
fifteen months
. In a row. And that's not all - she will spend those months
standing up
, and will continue to stand up right on through, including during the grand finale when her baby will drop to the ground from about six feet up.
Yikes.
Good luck with that, Katie. Better you than me, that's for sure.
One of the giraffes checking out Sam and Gram.
SLURP!!!
This camel was taking a break...
A rhino!
Ha! This zoo speaks my kid's language!
We took a ride to the country recently, to test out Mama's new car.
Our neighborhood is just south of an area kind of known as "horse country", so we were hoping to see some horses and pretty ranches. We found some sweet mares, a couple of noisy donkeys, and caught a beautiful sunset on the way home. Oh, and Mama's new car is awesome!
Happy Birthday, Daddy.
Thanks for taking care of us and always being there for us. We think you're the best and had a great time celebrating YOU!
A little backyard fun before the sun set for the day.
Gotta love the Target dollar bin.
This ladybug magnifying glass has kept Sam quite busy, searching for bugs on the sidewalk and berries on the bushes. Even
Daddy
has been caught playing with it - specifically trying to show Sam how to burn leaves with it. Just what we need - a toddler who knows how to start fires with a toy and the sun.
