..sammy boy..

dear sammy boy, 

my sweet boy, you are already 2 1/2 years old (as of mid-april). is that crazy or what?? it has been far too long since i've done an update on you so here we go.....

from the very beginning i could tell that you were going to be full of personality, and i was right! you are such a fun little boy, and you remind me so much of your dad. you are very friendly, always saying hi to strangers at the mall and the grocery store. you have a little spark in your eye and the cutest little smile that totally draws people in. whenever we have friends over or are in a big group-type setting, you tend to just hang back and observe. i don't know if it's because there aren't tons of kids your age or maybe it is just the age you're at, but you don't really play with the other kids just yet. the other day we had a bbq and we were out around the fire-pit getting ready to roast 'mallows. i said "heeeyy sam, how ya doin'?" and in your cute voice you said "nuffing." the others got a kick outta that, and someone commented on how they never hear you talk! it was sort of surprising to me because i feel like you never stop talking, but then i thought about it, and when we are with lots of people, you are kinda quiet. it was an interesting observation. everyone thinks you are just the sweetest little dude. around others, you totally are, but when it's just us, you have quite the feisty side too. ;)

you idolize your big brother, and it warms my heart to no end. every day after dropping finn off at preschool we would go run errands, and about 30 minutes into it you would say "i want finn." if you wake up in the morning or from your nap before him, you head straight downstairs to wake him up. and if we are at home playing or at the park or splash pad playing with other kids and he leaves your side, you sadly come up to me and say "where's my finnjamin?" you are his little shadow and sidekick and it is just the cutest thing ever. since the day i found out you were a boy i had high hopes of you and finn being best friends. things seemed a little iffy there for a while (as in the past year and a half! haha) but slowly and surely i think we are headed in the right direction. you guys still butt heads, rough-house and fight plenty, but i can see how much love you have for each other and it makes me the happiest mama! 

you were a little unsure of your little brother when he was first born, but it didn't take you long to warm up to him. your personality can be a little overwhelming for gus i think, and you still aren't quite aware of how much bigger you are than him, or how rough you sometimes act haha, but gus' face lights up whenever he sees you, and that is another thing that just melts me. sometimes when we are in the car and finn isn't there, you and gus will talk to each other and play little games with each other, and it is so dang cute. i hope that all three of you will be the best of friends someday. 

you are very rough and tough on the outside, but inside you are as sweet and sensitive as they come. when you do something wrong (like hit finn or somehow accidentally hurt gus or the dogs) and i get mad at you, your lip quivers and you try with all your might to fight the tears from spilling out. there are times i've asked you to apologize to finn for something, and you can barely muster the strength to even look at him because you feel so bad. it is heartwarming, to say the least, to see that underneath that tough exterior you are just a sweet little teddy bear. 

your favorite person on the planet is grandma and whenever she is over, you don't leave her side except for bed. there have been times when she has spent the weekend with us, and whenever she goes back home, it is quite the rude awakening for you! you love her so dang much, it is adorable. and i don't blame you, she is pretty great. 

you have the blondest hair and cute little brown eyes, a round face and the sweetest dimples. you are solid from head to toe, which must be due to the fact that you're a bottomless pit. you love food and will eat just about anything most days. you don't like having your picture taken, which is so sad because you are pretty photogenic, so i don't have many great pictures of you because you usually turn your head away any time i try to take a picture. little stinker! you have the cutest voice on the planet! it is so high-pitched and singsongy. i seriously love hearing you talk (when you aren't whining ;)). you are obsessed with bubbles - we have probably gone though about $50 worth of bubbles in the past month (which is saying something because bubbles are cheap!). a few funny, bubble-related stories:

***a while back we were hanging out in the cul-de-sac with the clayton's and whitney's. you were blowing bubbles out on the lawn, when all the sudden the sprinklers turned on. instead of freaking out (like most kids or adults probably would have done) you just moved out of the way and kept blowing your bubbles. i didn't see it but celeste relayed the story to me and she could not get over how cute it was! 

***a few weeks ago we were playing outside, and every time anyone is outside, people start to congregate. i can't recall everyone that was there, but i remember sadie and adam came over. you were sitting on the driveway, happily blowing your bubbles when sadie came and sat next to you. i didn't see exactly how it happened, but sadie must have taken your bubbles from you and started pouring them out on the driveway. you stood up, started shaking, turned beet-red and screamed at the top of your lungs "NOOOOOOO SADIE!!!" then you ran around and hid behind dad's truck and started crying! it was the funniest/saddest/cutest thing i have ever seen! all you need to be happy in life is a container of bubbles. sadly we were all out of them, but later that night i went to the store and bought you tons of bubbles, because i felt so bad. 

i think you are heading out of the terrible-2 phase...i hope so anyway! whenever i think that to myself, you seem to digress again haha so maybe i shouldn't verbalize that? no, i can definitely tell that you are responding to discipline and behaving better. you are easier to take to dinner and in public, so i'd call that progress. i can only hope you have been a terrible 2-year-old and that you won't be a terrible 3-year-old, because i'm not sure if i'll survive. you have given me a run for my money, dear boy, but i'm pretty sure you will your whole life. ;) you bring me so much joy, but a lot of anxiety too haha. i wouldn't want you any other way. you are brave, smart, tough, sweet, silly, dirty, 100% boy, and one of my favorite people on the planet. i have so much fun watching you grow and figure out the world, and as crazy as you sometimes make me, you bring me so much pride and fill my heart with so much love. 

i love you more than you'll ever know, my sweet samuel james. 

love,

mom

mr golden sun

i can hardly believe that it is already june, which means the year is half-way over. what?! where does the time go? the more kids i have and the older i get, the more literal that saying becomes, "the days are along but the years are short." my oh my, what a harsh reality that is. i don't know if it is normal how sad i get at the thought that my kids are growing up so dang fast, but one thing is for sure, i wouldn't trade this time in my life for anything. life is crazy, but so so good.

summer officially started for us last week, but we stayed in the whole week - didn't do one single fun activity. part of it was due to the rain (which has since subsided for the time being - hallelujah!) but part of it was also me just being lazy. i thrive on a schedule and am a total creature of habit so i absolutely loved having the schedule of preschool these past nine months. i didn't quite know what to do with myself last week without that structure, even just those two days a week! with the help of the sun, it has been easier to get out and about this week (it is only tuesday, but i have high hopes for the rest of our week ;)) and i already feel such a difference in my attitude and outlook. lets hope the sun decides to stay. that rain was sure getting depressing!

yesterday we met shanelle and ellie and their kids at the splash pad out in foxboro. it was a little too windy for our liking, but the kids had so much fun running around and playing together. finn and krew play soooo well together. their personalities totally balance each other out and i love it. they can get kinda rough and mean at times, but i think they are really good together. finn just loves miss sadie and she holds her own and plays well with the boys. it sure is fun watching your kids make friends. sammy boy kept getting lost at the splash pad, it was kinda sad haha. every time i saw him wandering in the wrong direction i'd yell for him and wave him over. each time he came over crying, saying "where's my finnjamin?" that's what he's been calling finn lately and it sorta melts me! i can totally see how much they love each other, which has been a nice change of pace because for a while there i wondered if they'd ever be friends. they still fight plenty, but they definitely love each other.

sweet little gus, who is so easy-going and laid back, was not a fan of the splash pad. i don't know if it was the wind, or if he was just tired or what, but he was fussy the whole time we were there which is very un-like him. oh well, you win some you lose some, eh?

sam slept in his swim trunks last night and yesterday i bought finn some new ones, so i had him try them on this morning, and once he put them on he didn't want to take them off. so instead of going grocery shopping this morning like we should have, i decided to take them to city creek. i had to return something, and i also needed to buy finn some sandals or water shoes, so i figured i'd do that and then let them play in the fountains for a bit. they loved it so we'll chalk today up to a win also!

it's crazy what a little vitamin d can do to boost your spirits so here's to hoping that mr golden sun sticks around for a while!