This and That

Here are a few pics from our recent adventures. There's no continuous theme here... just this and that.

Sam likes to "help" me pop out my fake tooth (which will be done away with shortly!).




Sam LOVES playing with friends - especially Kay Lynn and Kenslee. Here's a cute pic of Kenslee when she was over the other day. Sam thought it was so funny that they were eating lunch together - and then Kenslee started playing peek-a-boo with Sam. Wish I had taken pics of that!


Sam thinks it's funny to shake his sippy cup upside down until he gets a few drops of milk on his tray. It's a maddening thing, but I let him do it this time for the picture before his sippy cup went in a time out. :)

It's tricky taking pics of Sam these days. He REALLY wants the camera and the moment you start shooting, he makes a beeline for you. Here he is after my first pic the other day. In the process of standing up so he can attack me.

Sam LOVES Baths

'nuff said.

Eyebrow Raising Contest

Sam and Matt held an eyebrow raising contest on Saturday. It was quite entertaining - and Sam makes the funniest faces when raising his eyebrows! See for yourself...

My Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

Tough Guy

Here is Sam's "tough guy" face.

After the fingerpainting adventure, we had to strip Sam down halfway to clean up. Sam went over to play with the magnets on the fridge, and Matt and I love this buddha belly shot.

Fingerpainting with Sam

We fingerpainted with Sam for the first time with vanilla and chocolate pudding in his high chair. We'll let him experiment there a couple times before we attempt anywhere else.

It was hilarious. Sam discovered after a few smears that this "fingerpaint" was tasty so he attempted to pick it up and eat it. He also found that when he clapped his hands, pudding would spray both him and his parents - which Sam found quite funny.

Check out this chain of events... No Sam! Don't rub it all over you face!

...and Ta Da!

Here's Sam having one of his eyebrow raising contests...

Going Postal

We have not received mail in 5 days. No credit card offers, junk mail, magazines, bills. Nothing.

We live on the first floor of a two-family home. Our neighbors upstairs have been receiving their mail. I called the post office yesterday and asked why. They said it was because our walkway was poorly shoveled, so our mail delivery person put a stop on the delivery of our mail.

Our neighbors share the same walkway, the same front steps. Our mailbox is hung directly above theirs. Noone at the post office could explain why our mail was stopped and not theirs.

I have to go to the PO to pick up our mail today and ask them to resume delivery. Something is fishy here...

"It's just carbon and hydrogen" OR "I like it fine."

First of all, THANKS to our loyal readership for posting comments! It was so fun to check my blog today and see SIX new comments! Wahoo!

Now, on to eating...

I've discovered that there are two ends on the eater type continuum. Matt represents one end and I'm the other. Let me explain...

I love food. I get excited about brownies, thai food, or a smoothie. My heart will race when I see my favorite Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I salivate at a delectable avacado with a pinch of salt or a flat of perfectly ripe and sweet raspberries (which I ate all by myself yesterday).

Matt thinks of food and eating more as a chore. It's just something you do to make your body go, do your work, have energy, etc. He's known for saying, "It's just carbon and hydrogen."

This used to cause problems in the first months of our marriage. I would make a new dish for dinner and be oh so excited about it. Matt and I would eat and I'd say, "How'd you like that?" He'd respond, "I like it fine." Finally I probed - what does this statement mean? How can he possibly like all of this varied food just fine? Well - it's because he simply doesn't view eating the same way I do.

Sam is like Matt. I can't think of any foods that Sam goes ga-ga for. He eats what's on his tray in no big hurry - whether it's cheese, crackers, fruit, veggies, or chocolatey cocoa puffs! There is one, only one thing he shows any zest for (and it's minor in my book), and that is graham crackers. Sam does love graham crackers... at least as much as he loves anything.

So, on Saturday, Matt was feeling a bit snackish and went into the kitchen to rummage. I found Sam and Matt like this:

I said, "AHA! Now I know where Sam gets his love of graham crackers!"
Matt replied, "Yah, I guess graham crackers are good. They're still just carbon and hydrogen."

Sniffle Blues

Yes, yes, for those of you living nearby or whom I've talked with on the phone, you know that I'm suffering from a serious case of sniffle blues. This feels like the worst cold I've had in a while... with the sneezing, runny nose, sore throat (REALLY sore), lost voice, coughing, etc. Not to mention the sheer congestion. On Saturday, every time I moved around, I felt like my head was going "wonga wonga wonga wonga". Don't tell me you don't know what I mean... :)

Drugs don't seem to help much - even Nyquil! Sleeping is the worst since once I'm horizontal, I can't breathe at all. Matt told me that I was making honking sounds through my nose last night. How does that happen???

Anyway, with both Sam and me sick, Matt's just a matter of time. He's been lucky so far and popping Airborne right and left. Hopefully he escapes the sniffle blues (and hopefully Sam and I will be better soon)!

Hooray for Friends

The Steenbliks spent their last weekend living in NYC... in BOSTON with us! What a treat! We played games (thanks for introducing us to our new game addiction - Bohnanza), stayed up too late, talked, played, watched our kids play, etc. It was a fabulous weekend. The Steenbliks are off to London after a few stops in SLC, CA, and Spain. We're thinking that they might be returning the hosting favor before too long. Europe would be quite a fun vacation!

Here are some pics...

Brian and Kay reading a book

Just minutes before they leave, Brock figured out how to open and dump out a box of cereal. Pretty funny!

Cute little Kay Lynn.

Sam cuddling up to his momma.

Sam with his cookie monster and Kay's Elmo (Kay was not too happy about this!).