Sunday, October 31, 2010

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2010!!!


Well, folks....it's that time of year again! Time for people to dress like ghouls and goblins...witches and wizards...or in my case: A Cowboy!


I am a huge fan of Woody from Toy Story, so Mom and Dad thought it might be fun to dress up like him for Halloween. I already had the shirt, and they found an adorable little cowboy outfit for me.

My Halloween festivities were mostly on Friday because they were associated with Daycare...(Please note that I have cleverly made sure that you can't see any faces of the kids in daycare, since I don't think it's appropriate to post their faces on the web :-) )

It was a busy day! In the morning we had our annual Halloween Parade (My first because I was a little too young last year) Mom took the day off and worked from home so I got to go with both Mom AND Dad! How fun! We showed up right on time, and I found out that my friend made me a Trick Or Treat bag!!


We all gathered outside our Daycare and got in line...lots of kids of all ages dressed in all sorts of costumes! Various animals, an octopus, ladybugs, lots of superheroes, and yes...one other cowboy.

We all walked around the office buildings outside our daycare, and some people came out to see us from the offices. I got to walk with both Mom and Dad, and lots of my friends. It was so much fun!

We walked around the building twice, and even though it was a bit windy (Which is one of the reasons I wasn't wearing my hat....the other being that I didn't want to wear my hat) it was a lot of fun!

So...let's talk about the next phase of the day...something they like to call "Trick or Treating"
Now, Mom and Dad told me about this last year, but I was a bit skeptical. I mean, you go around saying trick or treat and people just give you candy! For nothing! Just for dressing up and saying those three magic words...I mean, you can't get much better than that! (In theory they could possibly be giving you treats to avoid having tricks played on them. This is apparently where the "Trick or Treat!" saying comes from. (More on this if anyone ever denies me treats)


So we all went upstairs where people from the office building had gathered in a circle in a conference room. We were led in in groups, and got to walk around the circle saying "Trick or Treat" to each person. Mom did a good job teaching me how to say it, and while Dad walked around behind the people taking pictures, Mom walked with me to get candy.


At each person (I skipped a few because I was excited) I would say "Trick or Treat" and they would give me something good like candy, lollipops, or pretzels! I'd then say "Thank You" People thought I was adorable, and I moved on to the next one!


After this whirlwind of free treats, we went back downstairs and called it a day for the time being. We all went home, inventoried my haul, and Mom let me count lollipops with her for awhile (Even though I wasn't quite old enough to eat them yet) We later took a long well-deserved nap.

When I woke up, there was no WAY I was interested in getting out of bed...but as soon as Dad mentioned my party at Daycare, I got RIGHT up!

Mom and Dad dressed me up in my costume again, and we walked back to Daycare.

They had a pizza party set up, and Mom & Dad helped by bringing drinks! There was pizza, snacks, and lots of merriment! The Daycare had pumpkins carved into Jack-O-Lanterns, and the decorations were awesome! Lots of scarecrows and skeletons (Which I insisted on giving high-fives to) and some great spooky stuff!

They had Sam-Sized pieces of pizza cut for me (Mom and Dad also got to have some grown-up slices) in addition to pumpkin cookies, muffins, "Spooky Punch", cider...it was so much fun!

After eating, they were playing some music and I got to dance with one of my best friends at Daycare!


If you know anything about me, you know that I LOVE to dance! It was a blast! I got to play with some toys at Daycare and got to climb around on the tumbling mats! As always, Daycare threw a great party! It was fun to see all of my friends in their costumes, and to get to hang out with both Mom and Dad! They told me that they ALSO had a lot of fun!

The party ended kind of abruptly when a fire alarm went off. It was a false alarm, but the staff still moved quickly in getting everyone out. They did a great job! Even though we were told that it was a false alarm, it had already seemed like a good spot to head home, so we continued on ahead....but not before the alarm unnerved me enough to still be talking about it today. The cool part was that we got to see two fire trucks show up! They were all lit up and had their sirens going! It was the closest I had ever been to fire trucks when they had their sirens and lights on...it was pretty amazing!

Anyways...Have a fun and safe Halloween tonight, and I hope you've all had a spooky (But not TOO spooky) month leading up to, what is my Dad's, arguably favorite holiday. I hope you had a fun time going to parties this weekend, and that it's been a fun time for all!

I think if I were an actual cowboy, I would go ahead and say....YEEEEE HAAAAW!

HAPPY
HALLOWEEN!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Off to the Pumpkin Patch 2010!


On Saturday, Mom and Dad decided that they would change things up a bit. Halloween is Dad's favorite time of year, so usually, Mom and Dad get a pumpkin to carve at a nearby supermarket. But not this year...they decided that this year they would go all out and find a nearby farm that had a pumpkin patch! That way we could go and pick our own pumpkin, and have lots of fun doing it while we did!

Mom researched nearby farms, and found one that was only about 40 minutes away. (Trust me...that was still pretty close, considering where we live!)

Mom got me all settled into my nap early, Dad managed to get home on time, and everything seemed to come together really well! We packed up, and headed off to the farm!

When we arrived, it was a little overwhelming! There were lots of people, and it was a real working farm with tractors, animals, and LOTS of stuff to see!

We hopped a hayride that was pulled by a tractor! It brought us out into the fields to look around in the pumpkin patch for just the right pumpkin. The ride was so much fun! There were lots of kids and even a bunch of grown-ups on the hayride. There was hay all over, and it was weird to sit down on. We had so much fun watching the fields go by as we drove!

When we arrived at the pumpkin patch (4 out of 5 moms and dads agree, that there is nothing cuter than me saying "pumpkin patch) Mom helped me find one that was just my size, and even though it was small, I still had a hard time carrying it! These things are heavy!


It was just the right amount of time...we didn't feel rushed, but it wasn't like we spent forever there. All of us got to look around, take in the scenery, and enjoy our time without feeling like we had to leave right away. It really was a lovely time!


I got to run around for awhile with Mom and Dad while Dad found the perfect pumpkin for him and Mom to share. It was tough with all the vines, and little holes here and there, but wow it was a blast!


I had the urge to throw my pumpkin a couple times, but it was only because it looked just like a ball! And stuff that looks like a ball is just begging to be thrown. Mom and Dad convinced me that it would be unwise to throw the pumpkin anymore, so I stopped.


We hopped back onto the hayride, and it brought us back to the farm.




We walked around to see the animals that they had at their little petting zoo. I saw lots of goats, chickens, and in the distance there were some pigs. The animals were super cute.

Before we left, we also explored the Farm stand, but didn't find anything that we wanted to buy. It was still fun to walk around and see all the preserves, cookies, apples, and cider that they sold!

There were also some Halloween scarecrows scattered throughout the farm which I did not approve of. Dad gently took me close to one to see that it was a decoration...while I felt better about the whole thing, they still weirded me out.


When we left, I was so happy with my pumpkin, that I didn't even think about the fact that we were leaving the farm and wouldn't come back until next year...

Although, I hear they do Christmas Trees in the winter....

Friday, October 15, 2010

More daycare wall-mounted shenanigans!


Dad got a kick out of these and asked me to post them. At daycare, we learn lots of things...one of the most recent ones was learning about different feelings and emotions...so they took pictures of us, and matched the pictures to various feelings and emotions...they matched mine with "Scared" and "Surprised" which look uncannily similar to one another. I guess you could say that I was surprised that they scared me when they took the picture, right?

Thursday, October 14, 2010

A Fall Visit From Gramma Mindy!

Once again, we had a visit! Gramma Mindy used her Columbus Day Holiday to drop by and see us!


We got to go to the train station for the second time in a week (Last time was to pick up Mom after a business trip) and I got to have pizza, pasta and meatballs at Sbarro in the train station. (Mom and Dad insist that there is better Italian food out there, but for a quick service joint in a train station, it's not half bad!)

Unfortunately, Mom was battling another illness, and Gramma Mindy spent a lot of time chasing me around and making dinner for everyone while Mom was sick. She, however, seems to enjoy any time she gets to spend with me, so it wasn't all bad. :-)

Mom and Dad got to go to the movies one night while Mom was still feeling up to it, and Gramma Mindy and I got to hang out. She sang me songs, and we got to lay down on the big bed together and hang out while I drifted off to sleep. It was cozy, and lots of fun.

We all got to hang out and I showed everyone how I played the piano and the guitar...

Also, Gramma Mindy found a card set that she had bought for me, and that ended up in some random box...It had a lot of faces drawn on them. They're designed to help you see and learn about differences in the faces (Some were happy, some were sad, some had purple glasses, and some had red glasses...some had no glasses, etc) The cards were fun to learn with, but also fun to bend and throw around.

Alas, all visits must end, and Monday saw us sending Gramma Mindy back off to the train station. I get to see her again in November, so THAT'S pretty exciting. It was great to see you, Gramma Mindy!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Welcome!

A hearty welcome to my new cousin Nicholas Matthew Grant...

He was born on October 8th 2010 at 11:10am....both my Aunt Amy and Nicholas are doing well after a long and particularly difficult labor....Everyone is finally home from the hospital, and are having fun so far!

Now...I know you may think that many babies look alike, but the resemblance to me is kind of uncanny....wouldn't you say? This is a picture of me at around the same age...

Weird, right? Since I look so similar to my Uncle Steve, the joke going around is that Nick will end up looking a lot like my Dad...I'll keep you posted on how that goes. :-)

I look very forward to going up to Connecticut in November to meet my brand new cousin!

CONGRATULATIONS UNCLE STEVE AND AUNT AMY!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

A Visit From JustRichy!

Now that I'm feeling a little better, I can catch up on the blog a bit. I feel like I'm always catching up with something or other...hopefully it's just like that when I'm a toddler, and that the trend doesn't continue into adulthood. It must get better.

Right?

But I digress....A few weeks ago, we were graced with a visit from JustRichy! He had a few days off in a row, and chose to spend it hanging out with us! How cool is THAT!?

We all got to hang out a lot...Mom, Dad and JustRichy got to have dinner together, and Dad and JustRichy even went down to the playground together!

I got to show JustRichy the slide I go down with Dad...here we are at the top....

And here we are at the bottom! Wheeee!

It's a pretty steep slide, so Dad or JustRichy were kind enough to offer me a hand on the way down.

JustRichy also was kind enough to put me on his shoulders and let me slide back on forth on this bar with a wheeled handle. It was really neat! And TONS of fun!


JustRichy came up into the top of the slide setup with me to listen to me playing the chimes that are up there. Mostly I bang around on them a lot, but in the midst of the cacophony, there are a few melodies that escape.


He also chased me around the fire engine that you can either drive, hang on monkey bars, or go down a little slide. Again...too much fun! It's my favorite spot on the playground, since I can run around it without too much help from anyone. Sometimes, I have someone hold me while I cross the monkey bars. It is awesome.


I was sad when JustRichy left, but it's always fun to be able to have some time with him whenever I can! Just last night, I pulled out the blankets and stuff that Mom and Dad had used to make him a bed and said "Richy's bed?"

Can you tell I miss him?

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Further Adventures of Sam....

I know the blog has been quiet for a couple weeks, but the family has been dealing with a bit of illness that sidelined us, not only from blogging, but from doing anything that was really blog-worthy. :-)

First I was sick enough to be out of daycare for three days (Dad stayed home with me one day, Mom stayed home the next two days) Mom then fell ill with a pretty serious case of strep throat. She had to stay home from work for a few days herself...now, Dad is fighting off some kind of cold, which he hopes is just due to the change in seasons...

Last night, I got to hang out with Adam...one of Mom's friends from back in the day...he played with me and the piano, in addition to singing along to me plucking away at the guitar (which I now refer to as a "Togo") It was a lot of fun, and we all went out for a walk together. Mom and Adam got to catch up, while Dad chased me around the fountains and the area outside the hotels up near the Metro. Then all three of us headed back in because the rain was creeping towards us. We got inside just in time! All of us got to play for a little while longer until Adam had to go off to meet a friend for dinner. Nice to meet you, Adam! Hope to see you again soon!

And to all my blog fans...I'm still out here...I'm recovered, and ready to have even more adventures!