fall fun

Back in September Sam and went to a farm stand that had a corn maze and petting zoo with a few of the neighbors ... Sam had a blast! It took him a while to warm up because we got that there right after he woke up from a 3 hour nap. He had fun.

Scoping out the area!
Abe shared his petting zoo feed with Sam and tried to show Sam how to feed the animals.

What are you looking at?

Still warming up ... Sam takes his time getting acquainted with the animals.

Awh Shucks!

Contemplating his next move.

Peek a Boo!

Making friends with the baby goats. He was so funny to watch, he only wanted the goats to eat the food, he got so upset when they tried to eat the cup, Sam looked up at me as to say - Do something!

Baby goat is pressing his luck with Sam! In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - Sam had a huge hissy fit!

Taking a break!

Sweet sheep - or as Sam says BAAA BAAAA!

Wild Turkey! Argh, he scared me.

And the others. Sam really had fun pointing to the ducks, that was when he first started saying duck and you could actually understand what he was saying (not just Dan and I). So he kept looking for them and pointing DUCK..DUCK!

Are you gonna do something or just stand there mom?

In typical boy fashion, Sam found the old firetruck they had parked at the farm. He had fun exploring it.

My little boy is OBSESSED with garbage or trash ... everywhere we go he has to announce all of the garbage cans - it gets better, he looks for trash to put in it! Not so fun when you are at a petting zoo! Mommy used the work ICKY and awful lot that day.

Later that day we met up with Dad. Dan went golfing with the guys in the neighborhood and then they watched the Patriots game (yes, the DVR'd it). Sam and I dropped off some goodies and said hi. Doesn't he fit in with the guys eating potato chips (POOODAYTOE IPPPSSS).

We had a fun SUNDAY!

Mommy's little Helper - The Baker

We've been busy making meals for friends. Lot's of new babies and unfortunate injuries to people we are close too. There is nothing like a hot meal and some tasty treats to make you feel better. We know we loved it when people brought by food when they came for a visit after Sam was born. Anyway, lots of cooking and baking going on in the Light house. This evening Sam took some interest in what I was doing, so I pulled up a chair and let him help - he stood on this chair next to me for over an hour - we made pumpkin cheesecake bars and brown sugar cake. They both were pretty tasty. What the pictures will not show you is that 1/2 way into making the pumpkin cheesecake bars the hand mixer fried out. Dan went to the neighbors house to pick up a borrowed mixer ... he brought home a Kitchen Aid (Thanks Kim). Wow, it sure sped up the process. Throughout the baking session with Sam, I discovered the kid loves cream cheese, he couldn't keep his fingers out of the bowl. And I am proud to say he is following in his mom's footsteps - this little guy loves to like the bowl and anything else he can get is little paws or should I say tongue on - does that surprise you? We had a great time.

The trusty little hand mixer before it blew up - Mom has added a Kitchen Aid Mixer to her Christmas list.

It took him a while to get the box open ... great way to keep him busy.

Mom and her little buddy!

Swimming like a FISH

We recently started swim class with Sam, I went in the pool with him for his first class and Dan went to his second class with him ... so we have pictures of his first two classes. He really does seem to like it. He really isn't learning anything new per se. We just walk in circles and sing songs at this point. We are also working on pulling ourselves out of the pool, floating on our backs and tummy's. One of Sam's favorite parts of swim class is jumping off the side of the pool ... he stands at the ledge and grabs for my hands while he is chanting MORMORMOR!!! He loves it. So I think we are getting our money's worth - the point of the class was to get him acclimated to the water - and that he is.

Sam is a good little floater.
Big boy pulling himself out of the pool.

More singing and dancing.

Dan and Sam get ready for class. Look at his little belly - some day my little Sam won't have that belly.

Practice jumping in - at first he wasn't too sure of it - now he LOVES it.

Sam's new friends at the YMCA swim class.

Floating on his belly. I wonder at what point they tell you just to let go. Scary thought.

Fun at the Aquarium

With fall starting to settle into New England, we have started to venture out into Boston and try to get in some of the sights before it gets too cold to do anything outdoors but freeze your butt off. We went to the New England aquarium, one of Sam's latest words is Fish (ffssshhhh) so we thought it would be great to take him to see all kinds of fffsssshhhh! Jen, Jeff and Asher met us in town and toured the aquarium - we had a lot of fun. Sam enjoyed all the animals - penguins, turtles (when we left all he could talk about were the trr -- tle).

While we were waiting for the rest of the gang to show up, we watched the sea lions play, so was so intrigued.

Sam sported his new jean jacket for the first time - cool dude!

What a sweetie - he is such a sponge these days, he hates to miss a thing.

Uncle Dan (so much cuter when Asher says it) and the boys hanging out near the seals.

Uncle Jeff and Asher

One of Sam's books has a penguin in it and we always ask him what sound a penguin makes - wow, now we all know, it is such god awful sound - I didn't think they actually made a noise, I always just told Sam they walked funny - We all learned something today.

Silly boy, covering his ears.

Sam isn't the only silly one in the family.

The Boys outside of the Aquarium - What is Sam checking out?

Uncle Jay. T in Iraq

Jay.T will send pictures occasionally - here are some of the latest tour in Iraq. Things have been pretty low key which is tough and very boring for him. He has been in Iraq since the end of July and will be home at the beginning of December. If you would like to send him a note or something I have included his address in the post below. I wish I would of thought of adding it earlier. Anyway, if you get a chance send him a note - he really enjoys hearing from friends and family.

EOD1 JT McGraw
sotf-c area 4 Raptor Base
APO, AE 09342

What boys do when they are bored - BLOW UP THINGS!!! FIRE FIRE!!!

Jay. T with LT

Spending a day at the shooting range.

Luvin Naked Time

What can I say - this kid really loves to be naked! Here are some cute pictures of us trying to round Sam up for tubby time - he just loves to run around the house with no clothes on, so it can make getting in the bath tub a bear some nights - funny thing is that once he is in the tub he doesn't want to get out. He keeps us on our toes.

Hanging with Luke before the bath.

Nothing better than reading a book in the buff...with your mom.

It was a good book!

Squeezing the checks - how can a mom resist.

Yard Work

Dan and I took a few days off to go to the Jersey Shore in September ... as we got closer to the weekend we found out it was supposed to rain the entire weekend, so we decided that a 6 hour drive to LBI for a rainy weekend was not in the cards. We still took the days off thinking we might have some fun going to a movie, or going out to lunch after we dropped Sam off at school. Well it was all a nice idea, but as all you homeowners out there that can relate, we decided to stay home and tackle some long overdue projects around the house. I did the fall clean out indoors while Dan spent most of the time in the yard getting ready for fall clean up and getting rid of unwanted trees and shrubbery. It was quality time well spent. Here are the pictures from the outside work.

Dan dug out 4 small maple trees that lined the fence of our "soon to be" pool ... we figured we would get rid of them before they got too big - who wants to swim around in a salad bowl?

Hard at work!

We also got rid of the awful looking bushes in our front yard, they were dying anyway. We hope to plant hydrangea there some day - not now, but some day.

The boys had fun pulling them out! Argh Argh!

Hauling them off! Thanks for your help Mike!