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 :)