Sam cutting a rug

Sam really likes Metallica. It's my fault, as I listened to this almost endlessly while pregnant with him. Perhaps some of you might question my taste in music. The only retort I have is: You try driving for an hour and a half between potty breaks in the morning while 8 months pregnant and we'll see how many cups of coffee or even water you can hold in your bladder!. Anyway, the bedspread he's dancing on doubles as a train track for anything he declares a train, at least when he's bored with the lego table as a train track.

Awyn crashes on her Bear chair

  

Sauce boy

  

Sam cooks

 
I'm hoping this picture isn't too racy, as it was a lot of fun. Sam decided to help me make spagetti, but was naked, and splashing sauce around, so I put an apron on him to protect his skin from the hot sauce. I just thought this was funny. 

Awyn as a horse

  

Super Sam can Share

  

I'm Awake!

 
Awyn gets up after a nap in her newly converted toddler bed. This was a little earlier than we'd planned, but she didn't sleep in the crib anyway, so now we have a bed she really likes. 

Music, potty training, and dancing

Sam is coming along in our potty training saga. Some may remember that a few of my original posts were about Sam and potty training, well over a year ago. So it's been an ongoing process. He wears underwear during the day, and diapers at night. We still have accidents, and while he occasionally surprises us and takes himself into the bathroom, and does whatever business he needs to, most days we have to remind him to go pee, and stop whatever game he's playing. Pooping, well, he wants to do it on the potty, but he has a few positioning issues, and is freaked out when he makes a mess, so sometimes he'll poop on a potty, and sometimes he picks a special location in the house, like his sister's bed and pillow.

Sam and Awyn both love to dance. So we blast music and rock out with the kids. Sam does some great jamming to Metallica. Eric doesn't think we're going to need to censor our music, but sometimes I worry about the lyrics being belted out by a 3 year old. We've got a great video of Sam and his dancing/singing along with his favorite heavy metal band.

Speaking of listening to music, I recently discovered a new band. Well, they're not new, but I'd never heard of them. This goes back to my signing up for a myspace account to see if any old friends/classmates were on it, and to see what the hype was about. I didn't find any friends, just a bunch of solicitations from guys who obviously didn't read my bio or age, or even look at the picture I posted. Chad and Debbie found me, but we're family, so does that count? My friend Tracy from college found me too, so there are obviously people I know there, but I can't seem to find any of the friends I was trying to look up. Well, after checking out my extremely small circle of friends, I saw a button that said music and clicked on it, expecting to see too-modern 'rock' or other not-so-good bands advertised. Instead, the first thing that comes up is a blurb on a band called Flogging Molly. The name for some reason caught my attention, so I read the description. I think it said something like L.A. hard rock band with a traditional Irish influence, an eclectic mix of accordian, electric guitar, bass, fiddle, and vocals. Well after that description I had no idea what it was, so I clicked on the play button to have a listen. The intro was only ok, and then they exploded and we ordered the album that evening. They are fantastic. My parents probably wouldn't like it, but most of my siblings probably would. So look them up and have a listen. They have a website, just google Flogging Molly. Their latest album comes with a DVD documentary about the band and the last two years of touring and it is listed on amazon.com.

Sam and his lego table

 
Sam insists on building a track on his lego table. Normally anything he drives around on it becomes a train, but he can be flexible. From helicopters that need Superman to rescue them to maurading velociraptors, he uses his imagination to play for hours. He does get pretty upset when Awyn runs over to steal a lego. 

Hat?!

  

Another new outfit

 
Awyn and her new skort outfit. Also note the shoes. Awyn is wearing Chinese squeaky shoes, a gift from the Northrip family. They are so cute, and we can now keep track of her as she walks through the house. I recommend them for any toddler that seems to be a tip-toe walker. The squeakers are in the heels. 

Before

 
Sam and Awyn play with a stuffed dog. Awyn loves this dog, probably because it can't run away from her. As Sam knows that it is really his toy, sometimes he will exert himself to keep it from his sister, mostly just to make her scream, as lately he only seems to want it if he knows we've given it to Awyn. He took it out of her crib. It used to sit on his bed, but I moved it to try to keep Awyn interested in her crib. No dice. 

After

 
Awyn really wanted her doggie. 

Sharing is fun

 
Sam shared his "peaches". Of course I didn't have any peaches to give him, so I gave him a little cup of frozen mixed veggies. Good enough, as he went through several refills, and shared with his sister and his dinosaur. Today the dinosaur had to eat all meals with his master. Right before lunch Sam insisted that his dinosaur was hungry. I offered the dinosaur a cracker. No, the dino didn't want a cracker, he wanted cheerios. So I put a handful on the table, and the dino stomped and tromped through his cheerios, biting Awyn from time to time as she tried to put the cheerios to better use (in her mind) and ate the dinosaur's lunch. 

Sweet Pea

 
Sam is sharing his frozen veggie snacks. 

Awyn's new clothes

 
Awyn received several new outfits from her grandma Debbie, and we couldn't resist throwing this on her before heading off to the playground because she put the hat on, said and signed hat, and clearly wanted to wear it. 

Moon over noisy contraption

 
We have a new well behind our house. This monster was parked outside our house for the last week, and woke us up bright and early on the first morning, at about 6:45 am. As it is right outside our bedroom window, the whole family was treated to this joy. On a normal morning, we let the kids sleep in until we've showered and dressed. Not that morning. After that they seemed to work more practical hours. 

Sam the Cinematographer

On the Fourth of July, Sam decided to make me crazy. He found the digital camera, right where I'd carelessly left it, at the computer. He took several movies, but I think this one is the best. It was also his last.



Also, I was posting pictures of the kids and their day with daddy at Tornillo Creek, but the software I was using had an error, so after a few pictures, they quit showing up on the blog. I'm stopping for the night, as it's really late.

At the Watering Hole

 
Sam loved this deep puddle! 

Yook, I fwimming!

 
Eric says that Sam found the only deep spots in the entire creek and decided to 'swim' in them. 

Tornillo Creek fun

 
Eric took the kids to Tornillo Creek today. It looks like they had a lot of fun. 

 
This was also taken at the same time as the other, while Eric was gone. Sam was falling asleep anywhere but his bed, and really wanted his daddy. 

Missing Daddy?

 
I took this picture while Eric was out of town, intending to post pictures of the kids on my blog so he could look at them, but I didn't get a lot of computer time while he was away. He's back now, had a great time at Stanford, and I'm glad to have him home again.