Potty Training Time...What Fun!

Boy... am I glad we live in the country. We have recently started working hard with Samuel to potty train. Might I add that this is harder than it seems. I have learned so much by trial and error. Lots of errors I might add. Today he is running around in a pull up, Grandmama's flip flops and a fan around his neck. This sight mad me laugh so I had to take a picture.

Full of Emotions

Wow, what a summer. You never know when you wake up what the day will be like. On this particular summer day we were going to have Aunt Jill and Ella's birthday party. Of course, we could not have the party on their real birthdays because of busy schedules. So we managed to plan the parties a week later. Mom was going to head to Walmart for the last minute party supplies while Samuel was down for his nap. Just as she left I got a call on my phone. She told me to wake Samuel up and come outside. I was not sure what I would find but I did as I was told. As we walked out the front door, I could barely see a tree that had fallen across the road. Now I am not talking about a twig or a branch I am talking about an entire tree. Seeing this made me have a wide range of emotions. I began to think of someone we could call to help us. There was no way that mom and I could cut and move the tree. Of course, we both thought man I sure wish Dad were here. Not only could he most defiantly move the tree but he would have fun doing it. Since we could not call Dad, we called my brother Cale. He came from work to help. He could not help us out without a tractor so he called a family friend to come help. Roger came but had to go get a tractor to pull the tree off. As he came back down the driveway I filled with emotions again. He was drive a big yellow backhoe just as my father had for years. I had to fight back tears. He of course was able to successfully move the tree. And you guessed right...Samuel wanted to ride. Roger was kind enough to ride Samuel back down the driveway. Again, I fought back tears....if only Dad were still here....Samuel could ride everyday.....

We made it to WalMart and back just in time for the party to begin.

As I was posting this today Samuel so sweetly looked at the picture and said "PaPa". Wow! For a split second I was ready to say "yes baby that is Papa" because it would have been a natural thing to see. And yes, Roger does look a bit like Papa. I again fought back the tears.

It has been almost a year and a half since Dad went to heaven. I think I have done well dealing with all the emotions that come with losing a loved one but somehow I am reminded daily of him and how much we need, love and miss him.

Yesterday, I read the book Heaven Is Real. It was a fantastic book about a four year old boy who went to heaven. I was reassured that I would see Dad again and that Dad would know Samuel and they too would meet in heaven. Man, I cant wait!

Happy 4th!!

The 4th was a day spent eating, playing, and laughing with family. It was so great to have the entire family together. We had so much fun in the pool that even the watermelon went for a dive in the pool. Boy was that a bust. We were all hoping the watermelon would sink so we could see who could get the watermelon out. Instead the watermelon floated around with us. Oh well...maybe next year. We were going to head into town to watch fireworks but we decided to go buy a few instead. Samuel loved the fireworks. He enjoyed watching them in the sky but loved holding the little sparklers the best. I think he could have done it all night. I guess we will have to stock up for next year.

Did someone say FROGS?

Samuel is a little unsure about the water this year. He likes the idea of going swimming but once there only likes to sit on the steps. For awhile he was content to sit and splash around...that was until he discovered the skimmer. He now knows that he can find all kinds of insects and frogs. Instead of sitting and splashing in the water he now wants to hold a frog. So.... each day when it is time to swim we get dressed in swimming gear, spray on the sunscreen and get a towel. We sit in the water (on the steps) for a few seconds and off he goes to find a frog. He then comes back with frog in hand to sit on the steps. He will occasional send the frog into the water for a short swim and then scoops him back up. He flips and turns the frog and will sit the frog on the side of the pool. He will repeat these over and over and over again until the poor little frog dies. Then and only then can I convince him to put the frog in the grass. But don't worry...he heads straight to get another one.

New Milestone

Well, Samuel never fails to amaze me. We were heading to run errands the other day. I opened Samuel's door to help him into the car. As I opened the door, he begins to crawl in. As he was doing it, he said "I do it". I stood back to watch and to my amazement he climbed into the car and into his car seat. I was so shocked! It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened. All I can say is my baby is growing up. How sad!! Although I don't want him to grow up I must admit that it is nice for him to be able to do it by himself.

Important Sayings of a 2 Year Old

My wise sister keeps asking me if I have written down all of Samuel's cute says. My answer is always...no not yet....I will. She continues to inform me that if I do not I will forget. Well, here goes my attempt to write down the cute way Samuel says things.

"Fip-Flops....I need fip flops...I put fip-flops on." And this continues nonstop until you put on his flip flops. Samuel is in LOVE with this flip flops. He wants them on the minute he wakes up each morning and will wear them ALL day long. He even wants everyone else in the house to put on their flip flops. If he can not find his flip flops that is fine too because he will just find the another pair of flip flops that belong to someone else and put them on. He will clonk around the house until he comes across HIS flip flops. If you remember several post back these same flip flops were the cause of his first bloody nose. These flip flops have been washed twice this summer because of the horrible smell they had and he has almost worn the bottoms completely away.

"I hold keys.....I mash buuuuttons......I beep the horororororn." Right next in line to his love for flip flops is his love for buttons. He loves to hold my car keys and make the horn blow. I love to hear him say "hororororn".

"I ride in mommy's cars." This is Samuel's code for "Please take me for a ride in your car." He always calls a car...cars. I am not sure why he puts the s on the end of it. I try to correct him so he knows how to correctly say the word but I must add that it is so darn cute.

"I need memote." is Samuel's code for "May I please hold the remote." He loves a remote. If you cant see the pattern here I will spell it out for you. The child loves anything with buttons (cell phones, house phones, car keys, remotes) that is an adults. He does not want the play keys, phones or remotes he wants the real things. He knows if it really works or not. He gets really mad if you try to give him the play junk.

"Mommy hold you." I am sure most children say this from time to time. Samuel will say this when he wants me to pick him up.

"I get ououououououout" This is what he says when he wants to get out of his car seat which is normally about 5 minutes into the ride. Boy am I glad we are not making this 3 hour trip back and forth from Ga.

"Bear, Papiece, muuuusic" If you lay Samuel down to sleep, you will hear these 3 things. He must have his bear, papiece and music. Once he has all three, he will go down to sleep without much fight.

911 What Is Your Emergency

Samuel has recently started having conversations with people on the phone. (Might I add that these conversations are not with real people.) The conversation normally go something like this...."Hey. How are you? What you doing? Good. I at Grandmama's house." He then calls someone else. On Monday, Samuel and I went to visit B. Of course, Sweet Little B allows Samuel to play with her real, working cell phone. I heard Samuel on the phone having his normally conversation. As he got close to me I could hear someone talking back. I put the phone to my ear and I heard someone talking. I was so shocked that I did not give myself time to process what she was saying. I handed the phone to B. She said "Hello" and the lady very nicely says "911 what is your emergency". B was so shocked that she says "Oh, we are fine...no I mean we are REALLY fine." Man, am I glad that I caught him before the police, firemen, etc. arrive at her house expecting an emergency. Boy what a mess that would have been.

North Carolina Zoo Trip

Boy does she like to have her picture taken!!! I wonder where she gets it from!!! Any ideas......

Samuel's favorite part was the helicopter. He kept saying "I ride the helcacockter". He did not want to get off. I had to pull him off screaming. Thankfully the zoo were not a lot of people there to see this event.

The elephants were my favorite. They played around the most. They both got into the water a played around for a while. Then they both got out and threw dirt on themselves. Too funny! Ella thought it was terrible funny! She is still talking about it.

I have never seen a white alligator before. The sign said it you looked into his eyes you would have good luck. I tried very hard....but he would not turn around!

We had to ride twice! It was so much fun!!!

Here we are riding the train. We tried to take some time to cool off! Boy were we HOT!

Ella posing for a picture. (Sorry this one got earsed!!! I hate it becasue it was a beautiful picture!)

He is all BOY!

Time for fun in the garden park. What a cute theme for a park

Trip to Children's Museum

Ella and Samuel's special trip with Grandmama was to the NC zoo and children's museum.

Samuel enjoyed riding the car.

Ella had fun playing with the magnets.

Samuel's favorite was walking over the bridge. He must have done this 10 times.

They both enjoyed the music areas.

Samuel could not understand that the air made the ball float in the sky. He was so amazed.

I think their favorite part was the fish. They both just stood and watched. I have to admit. It was pretty cool.

After the day was over, we were all very tired!! They both were very well behaved.

VBS Friday Night Program

Friday night we had the VBS parent program. Our class was down to 2 children by Friday night. Two of them were sick, 1 child could not come because her mom had to work and 1 had a melt down right before the show. So....Samuel was the only one there to sing. Of course, he did the song very well ALL week however, he did NOT do it for the program. The entire time he kept saying flea song, flea song. So...after My God is so Big we had to sing the flea song.

Ella also did a wonderful job. She smiled so pretty the entire time.

MariAustin did all of her dance just perfectly!!! She puts so much into her dance.

Special Time With B

Since we have moved back home, we have been able to spend more time with Great Grandmother B. Samuel loves to visit and call B on the phone. On our last visit, Samuel had fun rocking in the small wooden rocker. Here he was giving us his smile for the camera face. Might I add that we got a WONDERFUL meal!!

VBS- New York

This year was Samuel's first year of VBS. Aunt Jill, Grandmama and I helped with Samuel's class. We had 5 almost 2 year olds. Let me say...this was an interesting week. Jill and I had planned all these cute, fun activities. The children were less than interested and their interest lasted about 2 mins per activity.

Samuel was happy to just open and shut the door all day!

It was so fun to watch him interact with new friends. These two had fun with the pop up game. They both laughed ad laughed.

Now this was the highlight of the week. We had a stick that we carried into the morning rally each morning. The children could not wait for their turn. Samuel's day was Thursday. He was for excited and proud.

Here we go down to the rally.

Samuel sporting his Statue of Liberty hat!!!

Nite Nite Time

John is a wonderful father he just does not always find certain routines as important as I do. I often send John and Samuel up after dinner to get ready for bed (bath, pjs, teeth, hair, bed, etc). Normally they do a fair job at completing the routine. The other night after about 45 minutes I went upstairs. I assumed that Samuel would be in bed by the time I got up there. However, that is NOT what I found. They were both in the floor rolling around. I guess that is what boys do!!! Samuel was having the best time.

Swimming With Old Friends

Two weeks ago we went swimming with two very good, old friends. My how times have changed. Cara, Kaysi and I have been friends since day care days. We are all grown up with children now, so we planned a day to have lunch and swim.
At first, Samuel wanted to do nothing but ride in the car. Yes...the pink car.

Now, let me set the stage for you a bit. There was a very big nice pool but the children all wanted to get in the blow up baby pool....go figure!!!!

By the end of the day everyone was enjoying the BIG pool and forgot all about the baby pool.

Luke even decided to jump off the diving board. Thanks for the great day Girls!!! And yes Cara we are glad that "your child" can count in Spanish!

John Deere Gator Time

Several weeks ago Samuel discovered Little Cale's Gator down in the shed. In case you have forgotten, Cale is now 9 years old. This means the Gator has been in the shed for at least 5 years. Samuel would not be happy until we pulled the Gator out of the shed. Of course it was very dirty and you guessed it....the battery was died. Samuel could not understand either of these. John and I, with Samuel's help, washed the Gator. We took the battery inside to charge.

After several days of charging...the time came. As you can see he already knew what to do!

Well, that was until he started heading for the rock bench. This meant Dad had to start running.

The rock bench was saved but the golf cart was not so lucky! Thankfully neither the Gator nor the golf cart were hurt.

The Gator was a hit for Samuel. I am sure many fun times are ahead!!

Broken Heart

Well, tonight was the first time that I broke Samuel's heart. As he has begun to get older I am trying to give him a little more freedom to roam around the house. Normally if he gets out of sight he will bring you whatever he finds. Most of the time he gets someones shoes or phone. Tonight was a different story. Grandmama and I were cleaning up the supper dishes and John was upstairs watching tv. Samuel walked into Grandmama's room and was gone for a minute or two. I walked back to see what he was doing and he was holding an old photograph of Grandmama's parents. He had pulled the pictures off of the cardboard frame. I freaked out. I said his name very firmly. You should have seen the look on his face. He did not know what to do. John and Grandmama came to see what was going on. He continued to be very upset for several minutes. He did not get better until he was able to help fix the pictures. I felt so bad for him. It broke my heart to see him so upset and crying. He would have nothing to do with John or Grandmama. I am sure this will be the first of many times he makes me feel like this.

After he recovered, we went to water the flowers and ride the golf cart. We rode down the Uncle's barn. When we got there the little black kitten came up the Samuel. Samuel wanted to pick up the kitten so I showed him how. He was so proud of himself. When he sat the kitten down, the kitten would come back and touch his pawn to Samuel's leg. It was so sweet!! I think the was a good ending to a not so good night.

Life on the Farm

Samuel has enjoyed being so close to family and the animals. Here he is pictured feeding and playing with Uncle's goats. Brownie is his favorite!!

We have only been here a week and it seems like our life in Ga is so far away. Today when I was showing Samuel the pictures from his egg hunt at daycare he could not or would not name his friends. Before we left, he could name all of his friends and teachers. It made me so sad. I realized that he will most likely not ever remember his friends and all the wonderful people we met during our time in GA.

Dont get me wrong, I am happy to be back but I do have a empty place in my heart. I met some of the most wonderful people during my 3 years in GA. I would even say I met many best friends. You all welcomed me and my family to a town, church, school, and daycare. I will never ever forget that. I will always be here for any of you who need me. I love you all and hope you will stay in touch.

I will be coming back very soon. I realized I left several items in storage so I must come back to get them. Yes, you can guess where you can find me.....HANNAH's. I will give you a date once I know more!!! Cant wait to see you!!!!!!

Boxes

During the packing time, I wondered how long it would take for Samuel to realize he could climb on the the boxes. He did discover it! It did not happen until the last week we were in GA. I took this picture to send everyone. He was so proud of himself. I guess he had no choice after all I did pack all of his toys!!! There was nothing left for him to do.

Moving Back Home

As you all know, we have moved back home to be closer to family. John took a job about 2 months ago back home. Samuel and I stayed in GA until the end of school. Samuel and I drove home each weekend to visit John. Each time he would say.."go see daddy". He was so excited to see him each weekend. I had to include a picture of his happy face.

Balloons!!!

He loves balloons! He wants to buy one every time he goes to Wal-Mart and Ingles. We have to sneak by them every time. I am thinking we may have to to a balloon themed party this year. I can think of nothing he likes more!!!!

Shopping With Mom

Samuel loves to shop. His favorite part is telling everyone Hi. You have to watch him. He would talk to a stranger. Look at this face. This is his typically smile for the camera face.

First Birthday Party For A Friend

Several weeks ago, I took Samuel to his first birthday party. Well, we have been to family parties but not a friend's party. A little boy from daycare invited him to his 2nd birthday party. I must admit... I was worried. I did not know if I would know anyone. As it turned out I knew several people. There were bounce houses at the party. Samuel had never been in one before. He had so much fun. This may be an idea for his 2nd party!?! We will have to work on his jumping skills.

Dancing

What can I say? The child loves music. He also likes to dance but dancing is not his thing. I guess he takes after his mother AND father. John likes to blame the bad dancing on me but.... In this picture he was also giving me a kiss.

Dressing Himself

My sister told me once that you have to pick your battles. I thought to myself...my child will NEVER go in public unless he is dressed perfectly. Boy....was I wrong. We were leaving to go to dinner when Samuel says "BOOTS" when I gave him is boots he then said "HAT". He wanted to wear them both. After teaching 6 year olds all day, I did not have the energy to fight. I said here you go lets go and that is what we did!

Like Father Like Son

A good friend of ours gave Samuel this lawn mower. We were on the porch with him one afternoon and he started working on it. He kept saying "I fix it" and " I work on it". If you cant tell, he even as a tool in his hand. I wonder if he grow up to be just like his dad?!

Playing the Piano

Samuel enjoys playing the piano. Who knows...maybe he will be like his daddy. Boy does the child like music. We will have to see about taking lessons soon.

Easter Lunch

After lunch we decided to take some pictures. However, you will see that it did not go so well.

Thanks Uncle for the bunny!!!