Visit from Grandma in November

What a great way to start a post. Isn't he just too cute! We were on our way to the pool at the Y and he was hanging out around the house with no shirt on and his OSU (Go Bucks!) hat on.

So we were blessed with a visit from my mom. She took a red eye flight from Phoenix and when we picked her up early Wednesday morning she was a women with a plan. We started off with a visit to Dan's work and then we were off to the New England Aquarium.

Sam got a chance to check out where his dad works.
Checking out the high quality product that Pangea Shellfish (http://www.pangeashellfish.com/HOME/home.html) has to offer.

Before we headed off to the Aquarium we needed to re-fuel our systems. I asked my mom what she wanted to eat for lunch and she said "is there a good Mexican food place around here?" Let me remind you all that she just got off of a plane from Arizona. She is cool like that though - I think she was thinking of me and my absolute favorite food in the whole wide world is Mexican and we actually found a really great place.

Sam and Grandma had a great time dancing around at Quincy Market.

This kid is a flirt, even if it is with his Grandma.

Checking out the sea lions at the Aquarium. It is one of the cooler things to do at the Aquarium and its free to the general public.

Checking out all the BIIIIGGG FSSSSS.

Sam really got relaxed and checked out the fish. This was his second time to the NE Aquarium.

Here comes the shark!

Up close and personal with the Harbor Seal.

Messin around.

These two have a blast with each other! I don't know who gets more excited to see the other.

Sam plays with Abe and Zack.

TONKA!

Sam has become more aware of Luke these days. He trys to jump on him and ride him like a pony.

Or tackles him.

Break down, can Grandma fix it?

Cookie Time! Sam got more frosting on him then on the cookies. We kept this cookies for the family (in case any of you were wondering). The frosting spoon spent more time in Sam's mouth than scooping out frosting.

He is a good boy when it comes to clean up too. He sees the project through till the end (most of the time.)

Later that night we took a bath and realized it was the night before his first hair cut, so we wanted to document how long his hair actually was. If it weren't for the curls, he would have had it cut a long time ago.

Sam pee pee'd in his potty for the first time when Grandma was here, so she went out and bought him big boy underwear.

I think he'd rather be naked.

Morning before the haircut! Can you see the resemblance?

Last picture before the cut! He is waiting patiently for his turn. November 15th, 2009 Sams first haircut. I had a harder time then him. He looks like a different kid. It was so sad to see him transform from a baby to a kid. I cried.

The lady a the Snip Its acting like she'd never cut a little kids hair before, it was kind of annoying. I ended up holding the little guy.

Full on entertainment to get his mind off of the haircut!

Not so bad.

At the end Sam got a toy from the big machine. And he left a new kid!

Waiting for his celebratory McDonalds Ice Cream.

What a big kid.

Big kid eating a big banana.

The day after the haircut, my mom and I took Sam to get his 18 months pictures at Sears.

He'd rather be cleaning the house that sitting in a waiting room at Sears for pictures. Me too, in a way. They really aren't speedy in the photo department.

Waiting!

Still waiting!

More waiting, so he is taking it out on Elmo and Cookie.

While we were gone Dan started looking at the directions for the train table Grandma and Pap bought Sam for Christmas, and during Sam's nap Dan put it together. Nice Job Dan!

And this is what he woke up to. Sam loved it. It was kind of sad to see all the work that went into putting it together, just to see Sam level it after 30 minutes. Bless Dan's heart, each night after Sam goes to bed, he puts it back together again. I wonder how long that will last?

Choo Choo!

What a great gift - Thank you Pap and Grandma!

As always we had a great visit with my mom, we wish Pap could make it - maybe next time. It was sad to see her go, but we will visit Arizona in January.

Some things never change

I love pictures! It is easy to forget that Sam was a teeny little baby once. The first picture is from our vacation in Ohio this summer ... Sam was upset about something (who knows). You will notice that he looks the same at 15 months as he did when he was first born.

Sam was a gassy little baby, so I am sure that was the problem here.

Funny how some things (faces) never change ... I told Dan he would probably look the same way when he throws a hissy fit when he is a teenager too!

GUILTY

OK, this picture says it all! Here is the story. Sometimes for a snack I will give Sam "Cheetos", (his Grandma sends them in every box she sends us), typically I will give him 5 or 6 and then we call it quits. Let's be honest, it is almost impossible to stop eating them once you start. (I love them, and Sam is very much like his mother when it comes to this tasty snack). So, I turned my back for a second and when I turned around the boy had pulled the bag over to him and was 5 fingers deep in the bag, and to top that off he had the cheesiest smile on his face (no pun intended). It happen to be Halloween day, so I gave in. Funny thing is, once he got a hold of the bag he only ate 1 or 2 more.

How much fun can you have on a Sunday?

This is a late post! This fall has been fun as far as getting out and doing new things with Sam. It seems that when the weekends roll around, one day is rainy and the other is some what manageable - as far as getting out to do some exploring. The weekend before Halloween, Asher and Uncle Jeff came down to visit ... the boys had a fun time hanging out. What a lazy Sunday - it rained all day Saturday ... but we did manage to get out and pick up a potty chair for Sam. He has been telling us for a month or so that he has pooped - after he has pooped ... so we thought what a great time to start or introduce the potty chair. He loved it!

All I can say is that if a potty got this type of reaction, I can't wait until Christmas.
That is where poopy and pee pee go - he thought it was a toy!

He loved it ... but it didn't seem to work so well - It seemed like his little bubble butt didn't fit on the potty - so it did get returned.

He definitely got the hang of it! Who knows we may be done with diapers sooner than we thought!

Later that morning the boys came over! Here they are at snack time!

Caged up! The boys check out the back yard.

Doesn't it look like he just ram sacked the place - check out that face!

Playing nicely! Most of the time.

Boys will be boys - they already wrestle with each other. Watch out Asher you may be older, but Sammy has you on size. The boys really did have a fun time with each other.

Just hanging out!

After Sam got up from his nap, we went Pumpkin picking (a little late this year, blame it on the rain). Of course we have Mr. Congeniality waving to everybody.

We took that one home with us -

Ornery! He has a way about him, that makes you melt.

Sam and I have the same head of hair ... very fine, curly and one serious nap in the middle of the back of the head ... you can catch a glimpse of it here.

Who is that old lady? I have to ask myself, is this what other people see when they see me. I added it to the blog because I thought it captured a great moment of Sam and I. By the way this was a day I did not shower and tried to get away with combing my hair out and washing off yesterdays make up. I didn't think it was too bad.

Exploring on the pumpkin farm - what can we get into next?

Look guys, COWS!

OK, so he is a daddy's boy too!

An apple a day ... checking in on Sam at his 18 month appt.

Do you think if I still refer to Sam's age in months, he won't grow up so fast? I think I am finally starting to understand why parents refer to there child's age in months rather than years. So recently when people ask how old he is I have been responding - 1 1/2 and it just sounds like he is older than 18 months ... I may become one of those parents that Dan and I used to mock before we had kids (it won't be the first time). So on to the important stuff, Sam had his 18 months check up yesterday.

2 shots, 1 being the seasonal flu

weight: 30.4 (92%)

height: 34 3/4 (97%)

head: 50cm (not sure on %, but it is big)