Camera Day @ Tumbling

This week is Camera Week at Jump Start Gymnastics, so Grandma Howerter & Mommy got to take more pictures of our little monkey :) As you will see in the pictures, our baby has become quite independent these days. He prefers to do things my "self".

"Look Mom & Grandma, I'm tall enough to reach the bar all by myself...."

Before we sing our goodbye song, we get to play with the bubbles! Sammy has gotten pretty good at blowing the bubbles all by himself!

Santa...Santa Ho! Ho! Ho!

First, to explain the title of this blog entry....If you don't know already, Sammy has become obsessed with Mickey Mouse. A couple of weeks ago Sammy watched a christmas episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at Grandma's House (Mommy didn't know that he had already watched this particular episode). So, that evening we picked out the same episode at our house. Mickey was trying to find Santa and he started saying 'Santa Santa..Ho, Ho, Ho'...and Sammy was singing along :) So now when we talk about Santa at our house, we like to say the entire verse....Santa Santa, Ho Ho Ho.

This year he is very interested in watching Santa....but isn't quite sure about sitting on his lap. Last weekend we went to the Steamfitter's local christmas party with Grandma & Grandpa Howerter, Aunt Mimi, Unle Andy, Jojo & Daddy. Here are a couple of pictures from our visit with Santa.

Sammy & Jojo talking to Santa

I don't really want to be sitting on Santa's lap.....

Christmas Cookies

On Monday night Sammy and I decided to try our hand at baking some Christmas Sugar Cookies. We first had to wash the cookie cutters, because we have been using them to cut out shapes from our play-doh :)
Mommy decided to 'cheat' this year and opted for the pre-made pillsbury cookie dough. Maybe next year we will try the 'from scratch' version.
Sammy LOVES to help in the kitchen, so he was quite anxious when we got our chair pulled up to the counter so he could reach and help roll-out the dough.
Since we have been 'practicing' the cutting out part with our play-doh, Sammy was already an expert at this step......But, I think Sammy's favorite part was sneaking bites of the dough....Daddy caught him in the act in this last picture :)

Sammy Wisdom

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share this tidbit of wisdom from Sammy.....

To preface this story, you should all know that Sammy is now able to hold a relatively coherent conversation. Now, keep in mind our conversation topics are pretty simple these days, like which animal is your favorite? He usually responds with Zebra or Llama. So, as you can see, our conversations are more like mommy asking questions and Sammy answering :)

Yesterday when he came home from Grandma Nancy's I thought I would try something a little more complex. I started out with an easy one, "Did you eat lunch with Aunt Mimi today?" He answered with "mmm Hmm" (we aren't sure why, but he currently prefers to use that 'slang' noise for a Yes answer). So, I went onto the more complex question....I asked "Sammy, where did you eat lunch?" Sammy responded, "At the table." What a wise answer!..hehe

Three Generations of Builders

Sammy, Daddy & Grandpa Swain building towers.....

Thanksgiving 2008

This year for Thanksgiving we traveled to Jacksonville, IL to spend the holiday with Grandma & Grandpa Swain. On Thanksgiving day we went to 'Aunt Dana's house' (Sammy's description). Sammy was glad to get to play with his 2nd cousins' Eva & Jackson. They were all three great sports about posing for this picture....
On Saturday, Sammy and Mommy visited 'The Barn' with grandma Nancy. If you have never been to the Walnut Grove Farm over the weekend after Thanksgiving you should join us next year. They always have great artists & unique crafts as well as amazing holiday floral/greenery (which is their specialty....as a side note, they were the folks that did the flowers/greenery for our wedding way back 4 years ago...hehe). Sammy enjoyed picking out his own pine cones and his favorite part of the barn was getting to ride in the horse drawn wagon.

Christmas Tree Up before Thanksgiving

Yikes, I know...doesn't sound like Marcy does it? Well, we were inspired by helping to decorate our church the weekend before Thanksgiving...so when we got home and Sammy woke up from his nap, we decided to bring out our tree and some Christmas decorations. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the afternoon....

Will making sure the tree was straight :)

Will & Sammy taking a break and enjoy a cold beverage
What is this mommy? It looks like a GREAT cape!
Hanging ornaments is fun!

Bradley Basketball has begun

Many of you know that we are big college basketball fans. After moving away from ACC country, we weren't sure what we were going to do. We have been pleasantly surprised at how exciting the Bradley Braves have been over the past couple of years. Last year Will received a mini-pack of tickets for Christmas and we had so much fun we decided to get a full season ticket package this year. Oh yeah, one other important piece of information about the Bradley games. Sammy's friend Baylee is sitting next to us again this year. They LOVE cheering together...sometimes even in the same seat......

Busy November

Hi Everyone -
Well, my sister pointed out to me that I had not been very good at keeping my blog up to date this month..so the next few entries will hopefully bring everyone up to date as to what the Swain family has been up to for the past month.....Enjoy.

Leaves are FUN!!

We have had unseasonably warm weather for the beginning of November, which has given us a great opportunity to enjoy the fall folliage. Sam discovered the joy of raking and playing in the leaves this week. We had a beautiful afternoon on Tuesday, so Sam and I decided to 'work' in the yard. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from all of our hard work. As you can see, we quickly gave up on the work part and spent most of our time playing.

Creating the first pile of leaves.

These leaves are pretty cool!

We made it into the middle of the pile

Leaves also make a pretty good bed :)

Trick or Treat

Our little fisherman enjoyed his 2nd Halloween tonight. He enjoyed visiting a few of our neighbors and getting 'treats' :) Then, we went to Aunt Mimi & Uncle Andy's for supper and got to help hand out some treats to the other kids.

A little snack before trick or treating.

Showing off my teeth.

Needed a little rest with the pumpkin before 'hitting the street'!

Passing out candy to the other kids.

Pumpkin Carving with Aunt Mimi

One of Sammy's favorite activities this Halloween season was carving a pumpkin with Aunt Mimi. He was a little apprehensive about digging in at first, but after a few minutes of observation, he decided it looked pretty fun and 'dug right in'!

Laundry

Lets hope that in a few years Sammy will continue to be super excited when I mention the word laundry.....Okay, so this week I learned the real reason behind his extreme excitment at the word 'laundry'. While he does do a great job of helping me move the clothes from the washer to the dryer, his FAVORITE part it turns out is when the clothes come out of the dryer and he can sneak in for a quick rest.

Trip to Dallas

This was not Sammy's first trip to Dallas, but it was his first 'road-trip' to Dallas. We left Jacksonville on Thursday evening, stopping for a quick overnight with Aunt Teresa & Uncle Tom. Then, Friday was drove the remaining 8 hours to Aunt Gina, Uncle Matt & Cousin Hudson's house just outside fo Dallas. Sammy was an awesome traveler!!!

On Saturday, we all went to a neat Museum to see the 'Dinosaur's Alive' exhibit. Sammy and Hudson were a little apprehensive of the life-like dinosaurs at first, but by the end of the trail, they seemed to really be enjoying the dinosaurs. They even got to ride one :)

On Sunday we got to visit the 'Big Orange Pumpkin' farm. I think Sammy's favorite part was feeding the goats. He was even 'teaching' the goats about sharing. When the goats started lining up anxiously awaiting the food, Sammy very politely would move down the line to ensure that they all got some food!

On Monday we were 'on the road again' back to Illinois with another quick stop at Aunt Teresa & Uncle Tom's. This picture shows Sammy 'relaxing' with Uncle Tom after a long car ride...

Is it really Fall?

So, it hasn't really felt all that much like Fall around here, but we are starting to enjoy the leaves changing color and on Sunday we went to our first wiener roast at Mamaw & Papa Howerter's house. Sammy really enjoyed sitting by the firepit with Papa. He didn't get to actually help adjust the logs on the fire because it was too hot, but he did like to play with the gloves that Papa used to keep the fire going.

JHS Cross Country

Will has been helping out with the Jacksonville High School Cross Country team this season. So, a couple of weekends ago we made it to the Jacksonville Invitational and helped keep the meet running smoothly :) Sammy got to enjoy the meet for a few hours in the morning. This picture is him trying to keep up running with the big kids.

After a couple of hours running around at the meet, Sammy got to go play with Aunt Linda & Uncle Johnny for the afternoon while we helped out at the finish line for the remainder of the meet. So, after Mommy & Daddy were worn out from keeping the high school & jr. high kids in order through the finish shoot and Sammy played hard with Linda & Johnny everyone was 'pooped'. Here are a couple of pictures of a couple of worn out boys:

Pumpkins, Apples & Raspberries

I'm a little late in getting this posting up, but wanted to share a couple of pictures from our trip to the Pumpkin Patch & Apple Orchard a couple of weekends ago.

While Daddy was playing golf with his NCC alumni buddies, Sammy & Mommy made a trip up 'North' to Loves Park to visit Aunt Judy, Aunt Jackie, Jenn, Dave, Emma & Isaac. Joining us on the adventure was Grandma Nancy, Aunt Mimi, Jojo & Uncle Andy. The first stop was the pumpkin patch...where Sam picked out his pumpkin within 2 minutes of entering and wanted to hold it the rest of the time. Here is a picture of Sam walking through the patch carrying his favorite pumpkin, which now sits proudly in our kitchen :)

You can't go to the pumpkin patch without getting one picture of your head through a wooden cut out :) Here is a cute one of the little pumpkins:

Next, it was on to the apple orchard. In addition to apples, the orchard also had 'Pick your own Raspberries', which happens to be one of Sams FAVORITE things to do whenever he visits Grandpa Swain....Grandpa has also taught Sam that you only pick the red ones :) Here are a few of my favorites of the weekend...Sam & his cousin Emma picking the raspberries and then enjoying a walk through the raspberries:

Jump Start Gymnastics

Today was camera day at Gymnastics......Oh, I guess I should back-up for those of you who we haven't talked to in a while. While I was watching the Olympics this summer, I happened to catch a commercial for a gymnastics center in Peoria and found out that they offer classes for young kids (part of what they call their 'diaper gym' program). I was reminded of how much fun I used to have in gymnastics as a kid and decided that with all of Sam's energy and climbing skills, we should try out a class or two. Well, it has been a month now since we started and Sam LOVES gymnastics. He gets to do everything mom & dad won't let him do at home, like climb over pretty much everything he sees, jump on 'beds', swinging from bars & other wild and crazy things. So, today the adults got to bring cameras into the gym area and capture some of the exciting things happening. Below are few of my favorites:

This first picture is Sam getting ready to jump....he decided he didn't want anything to do with crawling and rolling down the hill, but had more fun standing at the top and jumping down to the bouncy floor:

Next, we were off to another part of our obstacle course, which required a bit of climbing and crawling:

Then, we were off to the trampolines. Today was a special day at the trampolines, we go to pretend we were cowboys:

Finally, when it is time to say goodbye, Miss Dawn leads us in our 'goodbye song'. Sam has learned to play the 'drums' with Miss Dawn, but as you can see in the picture, we need to work on facing our friends when we say goodbye :) hehe

The ABCs with Sammy

For Grandma Nancy's birthday, Sammy learned his ABCs :) He needed a little prompting from Mommy and he can't quite do the entire alphabet in one sitting, so we captured the entire thing in 4 different videos. Enjoy!!

A - D

E - M

N - S

T - Z

Sam's First Haircut

We decided it was time for a haircut the week after Sam's first birthday. I think the day before the haircut was Sammy's most crazy 'hair day'...hehe The picture of Sam in the bathtub was taken the night before the haircut. The other picture was taken when we got home after his haircut. As you can see from his smile, he was very excited and proud of the haircut.

He was exceptinally good throughout the process. He got to sit in the chair all by himself and wore the fun 'cape'. And Bridget, the woman who cut his hair, let him play with a brush to keep him occupied. Then, when he was finished, he got a cookie for being such a good boy :)

Welcome

Well, after setting up our family website when Sam was born and then not being very good about keeping it current, I decided I needed to try something different to help keep family and friends up to date with 'The Swain Gang'. So, I have decided that I would try my hand at the blogging world.
I am optimistic that this technology will help me in my attempt to communicate more frequently with everyone.

With Summer underway, we have been keeping quite busy, so I will try to share some exciting highlights of our summer so far in my next few posts to the blog.