Bad Christmas Karma?

It's not yet December, but Sam is already in the Christmas spirit. Here are a couple of shots of him sharing the joy around town.


Here he is leaving Santa hanging in mid-high-five. Not cool, Sam.


And here he is riding a reindeer. Hard.

At this point we are only expecting coal in the stocking. We will keep you posted.

Thanksgiving at the Beach

It's always wonderful to see Bruce's extended family at Thanksgiving, but this year they stepped it up a bit. Everyone got together at the beach. And you know that Thanksgiving plus beach equals bestThanksgivingever. On the plus side, everyone stayed in the same house together. On the down side, everyone stayed in the same house together. Actually there was no real downside to it, except that Sam had near constant access to his cousins, for whom he is madly, deeply, crazy in love. I fear he may have harrassed them overly, particularly Daniel, the sixth-grader, whom Sam holds in the highest esteem. Sam would cry himself to sleep at night to the refrain of "I want to play with Daniellllll!!!!!" And then, in the fog of near sleep, "I want to play with Donna!!!!" (But we knew he meant Daniel. Donna is the nice lady who cuts his hair.)

The lesson I learned about Thanksgiving is that I need to take a book or a project or something, because my son left me utterly alone for the entirety of the visit. I was a little lonely.

Here are some highlights.


One of our many unplanned stops along the way to the Outer Banks. Turns out Sam only needs to take a bathroom break AFTER we have passed civilization.


Sam and cousin Alexis.


Sam and Alexis plotting something.


A game of strategy with uncles and cousins on Thanksgiving morning.

And some beach shots. It was blustery!
 






Great shot with Dad and Grandma!


You can actually see him trying to pull away to go find Daniel.


And this is a terrible shot due to the backlighting, but you can see the youngest of the cousins together here with their Grandma, who is holding the newest edition, sweet James Patrick. Here's hoping that in a couple of years Sam and JP will have just as much fun together at the holidays as Sam has with his older cousins now. And speaking of older cousins, that's Daniel on the far left, holding Sam on his lap. Seriously, that kid is great. He earned himself quite the Christmas present. And do you see Sam's expression? That's pretty much the way he was the whole trip. Like almost hysterical.

On the way home, we stopped at the Aquarium to help Sam get his mind off the fact that he was leaving his cousins behind.







 Phew. The End. (And Sam took some serious naps after we got home.)

Pumpkin Patch Express

Due to the potential of inclement weather in N.C. the weekend before Halloween (Hello, Sandy), our excursion to The Museum of Life and Science for their Pumpkin Patch Express was postponed until last weekend. I was disappointed, but it was all the same to Sam.


Waiting for the train.



The train pulls into the station!


Quick photo op with Mom.


And Dad.


The family unit.


Yep, Sam covering his ears.


Got his face painted!!


Trying to participate in something called "Punkin' Chunkin."



Portrait time, interrupted.



Celebrating the new Alpaca exhibit (they were so awesome).

Finally, if you'll indulge me, a then and now moment.

Last year's Lucky No. 7:


And this year's Lucky No. 7:

The saddest firetruck

Could Sam be more pitiful in this photo of his preschool class during "Imagination Day" last Friday? Why, you might ask, is Sam upset? Take this quiz and test your Sam IQ.

A) He wanted to help me take the picture.
B) He wondered why Minny Mouse (front, right, red polka-dots) didn't have EARS.
C) Giant evil pumpkin boy had just slammed him into the wall.
D) All of the above.

If you guessed "D," you win!

Halloweentime

"It's almost Halloweentime," Sam has been saying for several weeks now. Finally, yesterday, Halloweentime was upon us, and we spent it with Sam's buddies, Eli and James.


We have, from left-to-right, a firefighter in his truck, a tiny Spiderman, and a construction worker.




A close-up might make you wonder about my excellent face painting. And why? Sam is still reeling from the fact that he couldn't get his face painted at the Fall Festival. So he wanted to be a cat. He is, officially, a Firefighting Cat, or a Feline Firefighter, for those of you interested in alliteration.


And, an action shot. (You can see Spidey running ahead in the distance.)

Weekend Roundup (pt. 2): Family Visit

Sam sees his Mama Jane and Papa Furman often enough, but, sadly, he sees his Aunt Robin and Uncle Randy only rarely. We were excited to be able to spend some time with all of them over the weekend, and the only thing that made Sam feel better about their departure was the fact that we will see them again at Christmas.

Here's a shot of the brood.



And a shot of the sisters plus Sam!


And here's a crazy-eyed, bed-head photo that Aunt Robin took of Sam first thing in the morning (note the injury from the fall festival).