We are celebrating New Year’s this evening along with my birthday since Scott will be gone tomorrow afternoon and evening. Scott cooked my favorite, most decadant dinner—fettucini alfredo! He cooks it for me at my requests every year! We have all enjoyed sparkling grape juice in fancy glasses and then fireworks followed by cake. Now it’s time to watch the Gamecocks play their hearts out against Florida State. It has been such a great day!
Happy New Year to you and yours!
Sam and I spent election day out of school and in the apple orchard. We traveled to Windy Hill Orchard with special friends and had a wonderful day!
All Sam wanted to do was pick apples so he was less than thrilled about the apple press demonstration…or the hayride…until he saw apples on the trees. Then he was soooo excited! And it didn’t even matter that he didn’t actually get to pick them (we '”picked” apples from a big box"), he was just satisfied to have seen them in their natural habitat! Oh, and to chase chickens around!
Oh, those eyes!!!
We had a fabulous day today. Not only did Sam and I vote, but we joined some special friends on a fun adventure! Here’s a sneak peek:
(Original Post is Updated at the bottom)
I love going home and spending time with my family. Especially now that my Uncle “Bug” has moved back home. He’s an award winning professional photographer. You know, exactly what I want to be when I grow up! Recently, he was inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame (look under “media”) in recognition of his contribution to surfing through photography. I mention this because when I visit my family, and Uncle Bug, he usually surprises me a few weeks later with treats like these:
These two pictures are now included in “Mama’s Hall of Fame All-Time Favorite Photos!” Thanks so much, Uncle Bug, for always capturing Sam just as I see him and helping me hold onto his character and personality forever through your art. I love you. And I promise that one day I’ll learn how to use all those fancy buttons on my fancy camera and hopefully make you proud!
UPDATE: Uncle Bug just sent this one to me and I just had to add it…because like I said, he always captures “my” Sam beautifully!
Even though we made it to THREE Fall carnivals this year, Sam’s favorite part of Halloween 2010 was passing out candy to all the other kids! Man, I love this kid!! (And I’m also loving this picture of my husband!)
This past week was a really big week for us!
Sam LOVES school! And I LOVE my new favorite student!
Traveling back from my parent’s house today, Sam started singing “Do Your Ears Hang Low?” and when I looked back, because he had suddenly gotten quiet, this is what I found:
Do your ears hang low,
do they waggle to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot,
can you tie them is a bow?
Can you throw them o're your shoulder like a continental soldier?
Do your ears hang low?
How cute is this?
I’m making a reward system for Sam involving money so that while he’s being rewarded for good deeds/behaviors, he’s also learning about money. He’ll be learning about coin value and exchanging coins. I have a bunch of treats that he’ll be able to buy with his dollars as he earns them. Anyway, without boring you with the specifics of the system, I did have to share this cute dollar! I found it at this website and you can make your own with any picture you have. You can also use other currency values and currency from any country! It’s perfect for Sam’s money system!
UPDATE
Oh, I couldn’t resist! He’s worth many of these:
ANOTHER UPDATE!
I’ve spent all morning on it (when I should be getting ready for the beach!) but I finally finished Sam’s reward system. He seems really excited about it so I have my fingers crossed! Sam’s not a behavior problem. He does however have a few habits that we’d like to change and I think rewarding him for positive actions has always worked with him. Hopefully, this will lead to whine-free dinners, fuss-free bedtimes, and dry pull-ups every morning! Plus, he’s really getting into math with Daddy lately, adding and subtracting, and we think this will help him sharpen his money skills as well! The goal is to get the money from “Mom and Dad’s Wallet” into his piggy bank by adding up and exchanging coins. When he has enough money, he can go shopping at “My Toy Store.” He’s already picked out the toy he wants to buy first. He’s saving for a light saber, of course!
A closer look:
Look! Over there! See my new logo? Today I am officially advertising my design services. However, for now, I'm limiting the menu to custom ads and blog buttons. If you are interested, please contact me at: brightfishdesigns at hotmail dot com.
More changes are on the way! I am working on a summer design for my own blog even though I know the snowflakes actually cool you down a bit!
This day started a few weeks ago, actually, when I registered Sam for Pre-K at a school in my old district. I gathered all the necessary paperwork and walked into the office of the school we are zoned for. I was really excited about getting the ball rolling because I look most forward to the 2011-2012 school year, when Sam will be riding into school each day with me. I can’t wait to see him in the hallway and pass secret signals to each other! So, all these thoughts were going through my head as I sat down to fill out the paperwork. I had an “Aaawwww” moment when the very first blank asked for the “Student’s” name. A student. :) This is it. He’s on the public school system grid. Here goes the very conception of his education career. I was thrilled to write his name in the blank!
And that brings us to today! Sam’s Pre-K screening was scheduled for 10:30 and I did not think he’d make it until then. He was soooo excited to be going to school! I told him we’d be leaving after snacktime and he didn’t even want to eat a snack! He just wanted to go! So we went! And here’s my sweet little punk before he met the teacher. Can’t you just see the excitement in his eyes?
Sam was with the teacher for about a half hour while I filled out more paperwork. He came out with candy and stickers and a big smile on his face! Ms. Samuels (seriously, that was her name!) shared his results (which made me super proud!) and told me about one of his responses. When she asked him to tell his first name, he replied “Sam.” When she asked him for his last name (which he soooo knows) he replied “Sam the Man.” That’s what his Mimi calls him! I laughed hard and had to call Mimi to tell her. I heard that she worked with the rest of the kids all day making sure they knew their last names!
Here’s Sam afterwards, describing the screening and telling me how disappointed he was that he didn’t get to sing “Ears Hang Low” for her and then showing off his new stickers:
Boy, did we make a day of it!!! We ate lunch at Olive Garden because I was craving alfredo and we ordered all my favorites and then some!
Then we went to Barnes and Noble to play with the trains. Not a good trip. Two brats at the table wouldn’t share the trains, even at the urging of what appeared to be their babysitter. She finally turned to me and said “We’re gonna be here a while.” Gee, thanks for the warning! Sam was upset as I explained that we were leaving to go to the movies anyway and that we’d come back later when the mean boys were gone!
He was fine by the time we got to the theater and had a great time tossing coins and making wishes. His wishes included “I wish Nathan would come to my house.” “I wish Carson would come to my house.” and “I wish Abby would come to the pool.”
We had lots of fun at the movies, being the ONLY people in there! Then we returned to Barnes and Noble for some fabulous train time, stopped by the store to pick up some popsicles, then home to crash on the couch! What a fantabulous, fun, beautiful day ! And look! I figured out a way to get a picture of me and my boy future student!
…and he wasn’t asleep when I caught him doing this in bed:
In fact, I was thrilled! I put him in his bed, with his movie playing at 9:00 and listened to him talk for the next hour. I had no idea what he was talking about, but he just kept on and on. Finally, on my way to bed, I checked in on him and asked him what he was working on. He had filled an entire little notebook with his own Star Wars story! He continued to work for just a moment before he shared his story with me. Though impossible to tell from these pictures because my new lens is THAT good, the only light in the room was from the little book light on his notebook.
Oh, it does my heart soooooo good to see him enjoying writing!
When he was finished he began telling me all he had written and of course I captured it! But beware…these two videos are each several minutes long. I’m posting them for family, but if you do decide to watch, there are some really precious moments!
Sam’s Star Wars Story
PART I
Sam’s Star Wars Story
PART II
