Samuel's first day of school!

Yay! The first day of school finally arrived. Since we have gone through this before, he acted like he was an old hat at it, but he really was very excited. He got a new batman backpack this year, him and his best bud Hayden got the same ones. Joe was home, so we all were outside really early waiting on the bus. We even had people walking by, telling Sam good luck on the first day of school! It was cute.

Look at me, ma!
Jack was so jealous! He wanted a backpack too.
Oh, he is so handsome. Where has the time gone?!?
Jack just wanted to be in the pictures too!
Mom and Sam.

Daddy and boys.

Jack was so cute, after we were done taking pictures here, he went back over and sat down. He looks at me, like hey! take my picture! Smiling the whole time.

Mom, I am going to ride my bike to school instead!

Waiting on the bus.

So, the bus finally came. Sam immediately got real quiet, and didn't talk. He just got on the bus and stared at us the whole time, looking like he was going to cry, but he was so brave! It helped that we had Tom again as the bus driver, he drove Sam home last year. Our little boy is getting so big, and handsome!

Art by Samuel

So, Sam's favorite thing to do is get into my purse and take out my camera and start taking pictures. I should have thought to do this before, but I will make this a usual thing to do to publish some photos courtesy of Samuel. Here are the latest....

I love how Eli got into it.
I could NOT believe that sam took this picture!
Hayden having jello.
Most pictures are from this view, of Sam on top of the counter after he has taken the camera from my purse. (which sits on top of the refrigerator, to keep him out!)
Jack playing with Dad's watch.

Orientation day

Today was orientation day at Sam's school. Mama and Daddy got to go with him so he could see his classroom, look at all the different activities that he will be able to do, and meet all his new teachers. He has 3 teachers. Mrs. Christensen, Mrs. Klein, and Mrs. Taylor. Also, his speech teacher, Mrs. Hartmann. He was a little shy at first, but he got over that real quick! We started out taking some pictures at home first...

Look at me!

Sam was smiling for the picture, and Jack got in there at the last second. Isn't it cute?

He was so excited!

He got new shoes yesterday and was demonstrating that he can run faster!

Here he is in the classroom. He can name all the colors.

Hi everybody! I am a big kid now!

I will have more pictures Wednesday, which is his official first day of school.

Day in the park

Yesterday, we went to Battle Creek Park to celebrate Saturn of St. Paul's Summit Award. It was a great time, with us bringing our own picnic, and winning some great prizes! It was the first colder day of the year. I cannot believe it is already Fall! Wow. We just went swimming last week! Here are some great pictures from Cami of course! Here is a rare picture! Sam hugging Jack! I love it!
Best buddies Sam and Hayden. Sam is so silly, and Hayden usually laughs at silly Sam!
Sam bugging Jack as usual.
Jack thinking, "you are taking my picture again, lady?!"
Sam climbing the rock wall. The bigguns can climb the rock wall, but can you imagine Eli (just turned 2) he also climbed it!
"Hello??"
Love the tongue.
Happy Jack Jack.
"Hello, NANA??"
Sam found another baseball! Sam has a knack for finding them in parks. Sam has been hitting the baseball in the backyard with daddy lately, and he is REALLY good! He keeps his eye on the ball, and really hits it! Yay!

Yearly pictures

Well, every year I get pictures done of the kids right after their birthdays. I will be one of those mothers that have every single year of their lives up at their graduation party! Sam's 4Th birthday was in June, so I got Sam's pictures done, and I also at this point get one of Sam and Jack together. Here are some of the faves.
I think I got more poses than what I usually do, because they were so good this year! Last year, there were slim pickings, so this year I was very happy! Let me know what you think!

MN State Fair

Well, today was the day. The day that we decided to tackle the MN state fair. Lets set this scenario up....One mama with a 20 month old, and a 4 year old who is too old for a stroller. (me)Another mama with a 2 year old, and a 3 1/2 year old who is also too big for a stroller. (Cami)

I don't know if you all know, but the MN state fair is the biggest state fair in the United States besides Texas. There were literally THOUSANDS of people there. It was absolute chaos! Sam and Hayden want to run and play and look at all the COOL stuff that there is! Look! an ARCADE! Look! a SPIDER MAN DOLL! Look! a SHINY OBJECT! I mean, they would really want to run everywhere. If one mama wasn't yelling at them to GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!, the other one was. I think I said Sam's name more times today than I have his entire life. Hayden has just become potty trained, so in the beginning they have to go to the bathroom ALL THE TIME! I totally sympathize, I have been there! At one point he says he needs to go, and Cami takes off running, because you do not want any accidents. We were RUNNING! Pop and cookies were flying everywhere! It was hilarious! :) Then you have to factor in that we walked everywhere! I think we looped the entire fair at least 2 times. We have to find all the best food you know! We had corn on the cob, cheese curds, corn dogs, deep fried pickles, root beer, lemonade, pop, popcorn, cotton candy, greek pitas and homemade cookies. Man, it was awesome! But, I think that was pretty much the only reason why we went. The food. With 2 strollers, it is really hard to navigate anywhere. Today was an adventure, but I think we will not be doing it again for a couple of years. Lets wait until the kids will be a little older.

This is an old fire truck, of course we had to get a picture! Sam loves fire trucks! He was mad that he didn't get to sit in it. (they wouldn't let him).These pics are at the very end of the day before we got on the bus to go home. Jack is all smiles still! But he got to ride all day! :0) Here is Sam being silly. Mama thinking "get me the heck out of here!" Also, she was thinking "Vote McCain". MMM-MMMM we have differing opinions here and we were trading barbs all day! She got the Vote McCain button, and I went to two different places to get an Vote Obama pin and they were all out! *sigh*.Here is smiley Eli. He is going to be 2 years old on Monday! By this time, Hayden was having none of it! No way. So, I said OK! I will take your picture anyway! Cutie.

Random photos...

Sand day! Sam and Hayden thought they would go and play in the sandbox. Well, by the time they were done, alot of the sand ended up outside the sandbox! There was so much sand in their hair, I was still picking it out later that night! But, they had fun. They always do.While the "bigguns" had fun in the sandbox, Jack was having fun on the swing. Isn't he so cute?My dad and stepmom Lori went and visited Parker today. Here they are. It is nice seeing Dad hold her. Parker gets bigger every time we see her!