Tricky fingers...

My dad has been teaching Sam some "tricks."  You know how you can bend your thumb, hold it in front of your other thumb, and make it look like you can take it off your hand and back on again?  If you don't, you're missing out. Sam is fascinated by it. My dad does it with him, Anthony's dad does it, Anthony does it, and I do it with him. Well, I got an email from his teacher the other day:

Forgot to tell you. Everyday Sam wants to get the whole class' attention & tell them something. He actually gets everyone quiet and usually tells them something about a truck he saw, or something he did with his dad. Today he informed the class that just about everyone in his family can safely remove their fingers & put them back. He tried a demo, and all the kids were amazed. He cracks me up!!!!!

 

We are a very talented family. 

Alex's birthday...

Alex turned 1 on December 29th.  We just had family here, but I did at least make my own little invitations.  Alex's nursery is "The Very Hungry Caterpillar,"  so it was pretty easy for me to come up with a theme. He's still not quite walking yet, but he can push that toy and walk behind it all day long.  He is a fabulous eater, and I'm hoping that continues.  On to the birthday pictures...

 

 Smash cake.  I can't figure out why the picture won't post right side up.

 Birthday cake

 Sam "helped" him unwrap his presents.  He then insisted on playing with them before Alex did. 

  Happy birthday, sweet love!

 

Christmas pageant...

I don't have a ton to say about the Christmas pageant.  I mean, Sam is only 4, so he certainly didn't have a speaking part.  He was a lamb, one of the "friendly beasts."  Good think he was actually friendly that night.  The pageant was super-cute, though.  I was really glad he got to take part.

Catching up...

Yes, it's January 14th.  (My mom's birthday, by the way.) I'm behind--as usual. At least it was Jan. 14th when I started this, but my pictures weren't uploading, so...

We had an absolutely fabulous Christmas.  I'm pretty sure I haven't mentioned it, but my parents have moved much closer to us--about 8 miles away--so we didn't really have to travel this year.  We got to spend plenty of time with both sets of grandparents, and we really enjoyed ourselves.  Sam got an obnoxious amount of presents from Santa, us, and his grandparents.  Of course, Alex got his share, although we tried to be sensible since he won't have any memory of it.

A little advice--try very, very, hard to avoid having pictures taken at Bass Pro.  Don't get me wrong, my kid loves going, and it's very cute the way it's set up.  But we waited at least 30 minutes on a random Tuesday night.  Lesson learned.

 Sam was fine with Santa, and Alex seemed to tolerate him pretty well.  Our Santa had a pierced ear.  Not sure if that's North Pole approved.  

 Christmas Eve pics.  Alex is tolerating Sam here...

  Still tolerating...

 Not tolerating.

 My youngest brother with us on Christmas Eve.

The boys waiting to open presents at Papa & Sissy's house.  

 

Christmas morning.  This is Alex's "McKayla Maroney is not impressed" face.

 Dinosaur puzzles and a toolbench.  What every 4-year-old boy wants. 

 

 

 Christmas morning hugs.  My children had on matching pajamas that I made them.  Alex peed all over his.  Typical.

 

 Papa and Sissy gave Sam some straw glasses.  They are excellent for chocolate milk.